Schubert: 15 Lieder / Gundula Janowitz, Charles Spencer

This is my post from this week's Tuesday Blog.

This week’s Tuesday Blog is an installment of our Cover2Cover series, with a 1989 recording of the esteemed soprano Gundula Janowitz in a Milan recital, singing a selection of 15 lieder by Franz Schubert, accompanied at the piano by Charles Spencer.

According to classical-music.com, Schubert's body of work includes over 600 songs for voice and piano. That number alone is vastly impressive - many composers fail to reach that number of compositions in their entire output, let alone in a single genre. But it isn't just the quantity that's remarkable: Schubert consistently, and frequently, wrote songs of such beauty and quality that composers such as Schumann, Wolf and Brahms all credited him with reinventing, invigorating and bringing greater seriousness to a previously dilletante musical form.

Maybe it’s just me, but I sense there’s a preponderance of male Schubert singers; Schubert's Winterreise is performed by both men and women. However, even when there are implied "characters," the tendency is inconsistent: as an example, Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin is almost always sung by men, while Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen is split almost equally between men's and women's voices in performance.

Gundula Janowitz officially retired from the stage in 1990 and, according to most accounts, gave occasional recitals until around the middle of that decade with her final recital –captured for posterity in a bootleg recording - in September 1999. As far as I know, there are only two mainstream recordings of Ms Janowitz singing Schubert (with the exception of that final recital), one for DGG (with Irwin Gage at the piano) and this late-career recital with Spencer at the piano re-issued on The Nuova Era and Brilliant Classics labels.
I agree with some of the contemporaneous reviews of this and her final recital a decade or so later; the singer is in remarkably fresh voice throughout. There’s a certain loss of bloom, inevitably, and an occasional brittleness of intonation, but the unique sound is unmistakable, the delivery still clear and confident.

Happy Listening!

Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)

• Der Winterabend D938, Text by Karl Gottried von Leiner
• Auf dem See D543, Text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Das Lied im Grunen D917, Text by Fredrich Reil
• An die untergehende Sonne D457, Text by Ludwig Gotthard Theobul Kosegarten
• Der liebliche Stern D861, Text by Ernst Schulze
• An den Mond D296, Text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Nachtstuck D672, Text by Johann Baptist Mayrhofer
• Augenlied D297, Text by Johann Baptist Mayrhofer
• Der blinde Knabe D833, Text by Jakob Nikolaus de Jachelutta Craigher
• Am Grabe Anselmos D504, Text by Matthis Claudius
• Bei Dir allein D866, Text by Johann Gabriel Seidl
• Die abgebluhte Linde D514, Text by Ludwig Graf von Savar-Felso Videk Szechenyi
• Fischerweise D881, Text by Franz Xaver Freiherr von Schlechta
• Geheimnis D491, Text by Johann Baptist Mayrhofer
• An die Musik D547, Text by Franz von Schober

Gundula Janowitz, soprano
Charles Spencer, piano
Live Milan, Italy, 1989
Nuova Era 6860 [http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...bum_id=134490]

Internet Archive URL - https://archive.org/details/GundulaJanowitzFranzSchubert15Lieder
Video posted by Johnny BeGood

In Memoriam: Sir Jeffrey Tate (1943 - 2017)

No. 265 of the ongoing ITYWLTMT series of audio montages can be found in our archives at https://archive.org/details/pcast265

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Earlier this year, I posted a Tuesday Blog saluting g the career of conductor Sir Jeffrey Tate, who passed away this past June. This week’s post is another tip of the hat to Sir Jeffrey, this time in three symphonies by Joseph Haydn.

In 1985 Tate was appointed the first Principal Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra and began a major recording programme for EMI which included the complete Mozart symphonies as well as a number of Haydn's. Tate's Haydn and Mozart are in a class of their own. Using modern instrumental forces and often adopting tempi which are much broader than we have come to expect from period orchestras, Tate achieves a lightness and lyricism which make every note compelling.

As we discussed in yet another Tuesday Blog earlier this year, Haydn’s London symphonies can be categorized into two groups: Symphonies Nos. 93–98, composed during Haydn's first visit to London, and Symphonies Nos. 99–104, composed in Vienna and London for his second visit. Today’s trio of symphonies date from the first set and were presented to London audiences in a different order – they were his third, sixth and fourth.

Haydn's music contains many jokes, and the Surprise Symphony (no. 94) includes probably the most famous of all: a sudden fortissimo chord at the end of the otherwise piano opening theme in the variation-form second movement. The music then returns to its original quiet dynamic, as if nothing had happened, and the ensuing variations do not repeat the joke. (In German it is commonly referred to as the Symphony mit dem Paukenschlag - "with the kettledrum stroke").

The symphony no. 96 has been called the Miracle symphony due to the story that, during its premiere, a chandelier fell from the ceiling of the concert hall in which it was performed. The audience managed to dodge the chandelier successfully as they had all crowded to the front for the post-performance applause, and the symphony got its nickname from this. (More careful and recent research suggests that this event actually took place during the premiere of his Symphony No. 102).

Haydn was composing the Symphony no. 98 when he heard, and was greatly distressed by, the news of Mozart's death. The Adagio, solemn and hymn-like, makes noticeable use of material from two works by Mozart, the Coronation Mass and Symphony No. 41 ("Jupiter").

I think you will love this music too.

Project 366 - Early Music Time Capsules

Project 366 continues in 2017-18 with "Time capsules through the Musical Eras - A Continued journey through the Western Classical Music Repertoire". Read more here.

According to Wikipedia, Early music refers to music, especially Western art music, composed prior to the Classical era. The term generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600). Whether it also encompasses Baroque music (1600–1760) is a matter of opinion in some learned circles. Further, the term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises, instruments and other contemporary evidence."

To begin our set of time capsules, I thought I’d begin with a pair of listener guides that illustrate Medieval and Renaissance Music:

Listener Guide # 123 “Anonymous” - Anonymous works are works of art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. For the most part, works attributed to Anonymus pre-date the Baroque era, and can be thought of as being passed down following “oral” tradition (ITYWLTMT Montage #245 – 14 Apr. 2017)

Listener Guide # 124 “Robert Johnson: Lute Music” - Robert Johnson was the son of lutenist to Elizabeth I. Following the death of his father in 1594, Robert was taken under the care of Lord Hunsdon, later Lord Chamberlain to Elizabeth and the patron of the acting company later called The King’s Men of which Shakespeare was a member. This created a strong artistic influence on Johnson, who went on to write songs and music for this company including plays by Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Webster. Johnson's main claim to fame is that he composed the original settings for some of Shakespeare's lyrics, the best-known being probably those from The Tempest. (Cover2Cover #3 – 2 May 2017)

As general examples of baroque music, let me suggest the following pair of additional listener guides:

Listener Guide # 125 “Helmut Walcha - Organ Masters Before Bach” – This Guide provides an overview of compositions from the 16th to the 18th centuries that stands as a foundation for Bach’s great organ music. Bach walked a long distance to meet Buxtehude, and stayed with him for three months, absorbing much of his technique. Other composers represented include such well known names as Johann Pachelbel and Georg Böhm, as well as lesser known composers such as Nicolaus Bruhns, Samuel Scheidt and Vincent Lübeck. (Cover2Cover #2 – 4 April 2017)

More baroque organ can be found in earlier listener guides #7 and #10.

Listener Guide # 126 “Baroque Showcase” – Thius listener guide avoids the “usual suspects” – a few of whom we will focus on later - and provides a modest sampling of compositions by other baroque-era composers. (ITYWLTMT Montage #241 – 24 Feb. 2017)


  

Johann Sebastian Bach probably reigns supreme among Baroque composers – he will be the subject of his own chapter in December. Two other names deserve significant mention:

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)

Antonio Vivaldi was one of the most renowned figures in European baroque music. Born in Venice, Vivaldi was ordained as a priest though he instead chose to follow his passion for music. A prolific composer who created hundreds of works, he became renowned for his concertos in Baroque style, becoming a highly influential innovator in form and pattern. He was also known for his operas, including Argippo and Bajazet.

Full Biography – http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Vivaldi.htm

Vivaldi’s work catalog - http://www.musiqueorguequebec.ca/catal/vivaldi/viva.html

Listener Guide # 127 “Vivaldi – Trio Sonatas op. 1” – Vivaldi published a collection of twelve trio sonatas (his opus one) in 1705. This edition has only partly survived; today's performers rely on a reprint by Estienne Roger of Amsterdam which dates from around 1715. (Cover2Cover #4 – 26 Sept. 2017)

Listener Guide # 128 “Vivaldi - New Philharmonia Orchestra - Leopold Stokowski ‎– Le Quattro Stagioni” – Perhaps the finest "big band" version of the Four Seasons comes from this oft-reissued Phase 4 recording which brims with the conductor's characteristic and highly personal tonal color, rescoring and inflection, but it's deeply heartfelt and thoroughly delightful. (Vinyl’s Revenge #11 #4 – 13 Oct. 2015)

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)

George Frideric Handel composed operas, oratorios and instrumentals. Handel was born in Halle, Germany, in 1685. In 1705 he made his debut as an opera composer with Almira. He produced several operas with the Royal Academy of Music in England before forming the New Royal Academy of Music in 1727. When Italian operas fell out of fashion, he started composing oratorios, including his most famous, Messiah [Listener Guides #50 and 51].

Full Biography – http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Handel.htm

Handel’s work catalog - http://www.musiqueorguequebec.ca/catal/handel/hangf.html

Listener Guide # 129 “George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)” – A modest sampling of works by Handel, including his music for the Royal Fireworks. (ITYWLTMT Montage #244 – 31 Match 2017)

  

Listener Guide # 130 “Shellac's Revenge” – The Handel organ concertos, composed in London between 1735 and 1751, were written as interludes for performances of his oratorios. They were the first works of their kind for organ with chamber orchestra accompaniment and served as a model for later composers. (Once Upon the Internet #56 – 28 Match 2017)

Listener Guides #131 – 133 – “Handel: Radamisto” - [Opera in three acts]

Joyce DiDonato (Radamisto), Maite Beaumont (Zenobia), Zachary Stains (Tiridate), Patrizia Ciofi (Polissena), Carlo Lepore (Farasmane), Il Complesso Barocco under Alan Curtis (Once or Twice a Fortnight - 11 Mar 2014)

Synopsis @ https://www.operalogg.com/radamisto-opera-av-georg-friedrich-handel-synopsis/
Libretto @ http://www.haendel.it/composizioni/l...pdf/hwv_12.pdf

Project 366 - Time capsules through the Musical Eras

For Part One of Project 366, click here.

Part Two - Time capsules through the Musical Eras

A Continued journey through the Western Classical Music Repertoire

In Part One of Project 366, we launched a comprehensive look at the Classical Music repertoire through a series of thematic Listener Guides. So far, we have shared 122 of these, and launch in Part Two a second tranche of 122 guides following a long arc that will take us to the end of 2018.

Part One consisted of a series of chapters exploring different musical genres – from solo instrumental music, to Grand Opera and everything in between. In Part Two, we will start fresh, and intend to traverse the repertoire along a timeline that will feature musical eras, musical traditions and some of the great composers that marked these eras and traditions.

Layout of Part Two

500 years of Western Classical Music can be depicted along a simple timeline:

(Source: Hope of Detroit Music, http://hdamusic.com/archives/454)

There are four “great” classical music periods, which mirror the evolution of most art forms. The choice of the dates shown on the timeline is somewhat arbitrary; the dates 1600, 1750 and 1820 don’t represent anything specific or eventful as far as I can see. I view those as guide posts – call them timeposts – that allow us to provide a periodic context, nothing more. I will extend the Baroque to “the left” of the timeline by including renaissance and ancient music along with baroque under an “Early Music” era.

Each of the four main eras will be explored over several chapters, with a focus on four “significant” transitional and transformational figures: Johann Sebastian Bach (Early Music), Ludwig van Beethoven (classical), Peter Tchaikovsky (Romantic) and Igor Stravinsky (Modern) who will get chapters exclusively dedicated to them. We will meander more in the classical era, allowing us to showcase two of its significant architects – Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – to get significant airtime along with other contemporaries and pupils.

The final caveat I want to leave you with is that, though we will progress along the timeline methodically, I make no pretense to keep things in perfect chronological order (sometimes, music from other eras may intrude into some listener guides, for instance). I intend to keep to the spirit of this time-based approach, but not to the letter!

Early Music
Ealy Music Time capsules	123-133
Bach Gets my GOAT	134-143
Haydn, Mozart and the Classical Period
Postcards from the (Classical) Edge	144-153
Mozart Gets My GOAT too	154-163
Hooked on Haydn	164-173
Beethoven Floats my BOAT	174-184
The Romantics
Les Romantiques	185-194
Die Romantiker	195-208
Midsummer Romantics Mashup	209-217
No more Romantiki than Tchaikovsky	218-227
The Moderns
Modern Time Capsules	228-237
Stravinsky Time Capsules	238-244

Rachmaninov on Vinyl

This is my post from this week's Tuesday Blog.

This week’s Vinyl’s Revenge considers two orchestral works by Sergey Rachmaninov, emanating from two different periods in his composing career.

Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2 was written in 1906–07. The score is dedicated to Sergei Taneyev, a Russian composer, teacher, theorist, author, and pupil of Tchaikovsky. Alongside his second and third Piano Concertos, this symphony remains one Rachmaninov's best known compositions.

Parts of the third movement were used for pop singer Eric Carmen's 1976 song, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", which borrowed the introduction and main melody of the third movement as the song's chorus and bridge, respectively. The melody was also used by jazz pianist Danilo Pérez as the main theme of his tune "If I Ever Forget You" on his 2008 album Across the Crystal Sea.

The premiere was conducted by the composer himself in Saint Petersburg on 8 February 1908. Today’s performance is by Lorin Maazel and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Completed in 1940, the Symphonic Dances are Rachmaninov’s last composition. The work is fully representative of the composer's later style with its curious, shifting harmonies, the almost Prokofiev-like grotesquerie of the outer movements and the focus on individual instrumental tone colors throughout (highlighted by his use of an alto saxophone in the opening dance).

The Dances are an exercise in nostalgia for the Russia he had known; the opening three-note motif, introduced quietly but soon reinforced by heavily staccato chords and responsible for much of the movement's rhythmic vitality, is reminiscent of the Queen of Shemakha's theme in Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel, the only music by another composer that he had taken out of Russia with him in 1917.

They also effectively sum up his lifelong fascination with ecclesiastical chants. In the finale he quotes both the Dies Irae and the chant "Blessed be the Lord".

The version I retained – am old Melodiya recording by Evgenii Svetlaniv from the same ABC Classics reissue that contained Tchaikovsky’s Suite no. 4 shared earlier this year – has been posted on my YouTube channel for a while and (to my chagrin) misses the first few bars. I did remedy the situation by digging through my digital copies, and have rectified the situation in the Internet Archive (audio only) version.

Sergey RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
Symphony No.2 in E Minor, Op.27
Berliner Philharmoniker
Lorin Maazel, conducting
Deutsche Grammophon ‎-- 2532 102 (ADD, Released: 1983)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...j2MPR5iwPZ7VdL

Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
USSR Symphony Orchestra
Yevgeny Svetlanov conducting
ABC Classics AY 67032 (AAA, Recorded 1973)

Internet Archive URL - https://archive.org/details/05RachmaninovSymphonicDancesFI

John Field (1782-1837)

No. 264 of the ongoing  ITYWLTMT series of audio montages can be found in our archives at https://archive.org/details/pcast264

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Before Liszt, before Chopin, there was John Field, probably Ireland’s most notable export before Guinness Stout. Field was very highly regarded by his contemporaries and his playing and compositions influenced many major composers, including Chopin, Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann.

John Field was born in Dublin into a musical family, and received his early education there, in particular with the immigrant Tommaso Giordani. The Fields soon moved to London, where Field studied under Muzio Clementi. Under his tutelage, Field quickly became a famous and sought-after concert pianist. Together, master and pupil visited Paris, Vienna, and St. Petersburg.

Ambiguity surrounds Field's decision to remain in Russia from 1802 onwards, but it is likely that Field acted as a sales representative for the Clementi Pianos. Although little is known of Field in Russia, he undoubtedly contributed substantially to concerts and teaching, and to the development of the Russian piano school.

Field is best known as the instigator of the nocturne – 18 in total plus associated pieces such as Andante inedit, H 64. These works were some of the most influential music of the early Romantic period: they do not adhere to a strict formal scheme (such as the sonata form), and they create a mood without text or programme. A handful of these open today’s podcast.

Similarly influential were Field's early piano concertos, which occupy a central place in the development of the genre in the 19th century. One interesting trait of his piano concertos is their limited choice of keys: they all use either E-flat major or C major at some point (or both, in the last concerto's case). Composers such as Hummel, Kalkbrenner and Moscheles were influenced by these works, which are particularly notable for their central movements, frequently nocturne-like. I programmed his concerto no. 5 in today’s montage.

To close, I included an homage to Field by his fellow Irish countryman Hamilton Harty. Harty's career was mostly as a conductor, notably of the Halle Orchestra of Manchester, during which time he made it one of the best orchestras in Europe, and was part of the early rediscovery and promotion of Baroque music by creating orchestrations of Handel's music that were popular until the Period Instrument movement. Harty orchestrated some of Field's pieces to create a "John Field Suite" to promote the composer who had been mostly forgotten. Harty himself, however was an Edwardian composer who followed the example of contemporaries like Holst and Vaughan Williams and incorporated folk music into these pieces to make them practically the only Irish sounding works in the entire Classsical repertoire.

I think you will love this music too!