Piotr Anderszewski

Il quarantenne pianista polacco ha richiamato un pubblico più numeroso del solito all’Auditorium Toscanini per il sesto concerto della stagione. Non si è certamente risparmiato presentando ben due concerti di Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, che lui adora in modo speciale e modificando in parte il programma che in prima stesura prevedeva l’op.134 di Schumann. L’abbinamento dei concerti KV 453 e KV 456 trova ragion d’essere nell’anno della loro composizione (1784). Può essere interessante questo video realizzato in occasione della registrazione del CD con il KV 453 e il KV 466 alla Usher Hall di Edimburgo nel settembre 2005. (Anderszeski esegue l’ultimo movimento del KV 466, ma rende bene l’idea del suo stile).

Perfezionista, considera Richter, Gould e Benedetti-Michelangeli i suoi numi tutelari (e scusate se è poco!). Di certo Anderszewski sa quel che vuole e non si accontenta di una routine ripetitiva, ma è teso a risultati interpretativi sempre più alti. Il pubblico è affascinato oltre che dalla sua arte interpretativa, anche dal suo look anticonvenzionale che mira un po’ ad avvicinare palcoscenico e platea. A dirigere Jeffrey Tate, direttore onorario dell’Orchestra e in questi ultimi anni unico suo punto di riferimento.

Jeffrey Tate

Tate ha incorniciato il dittico mozartiano con due brani di due suoi autori prediletti (Mendelssohn e Haydn). Del primo l’ouverture “Le Ebridi” e del secondo la Sinfonia Hob.I n.95. Quest’ultima è l’unica delle sinfonie londinesi in tonalità minore ed è forse quella che io preferisco. In particolare il Minuetto con il Trio in cui il violoncello ha una parte solistica.

Por Gustavo D. Perednik

En el marco de un viejo debate acerca de cuándo comenzó el sionismo, se menciona aquí un episodio poco recordado que tuvo como protagonista a Moisés Mendelssohn, el filósofo que durante el Siglo de las Luces encarnó la modernidad de los judíos.

Como ocurre con todos los nombres, empero, el término viene a designar una idea y un movimiento que ya existían por mucho tiempo. No es fácil determinar con precisión cuánto tiempo, y las muchas respuestas al respecto se sitúan entre dos posibles extremos.

De un vértice, el rabino Judah Leib Maimon sostuvo que el sionismo nacía hace cuatro mil años, ya que el relato del Génesis define al patriarca Abraham siempre encaminado hacia la entonces tierra de Canaán. Esta lectura omite que la esencia del sionismo es eminentemente el retorno. No podría haber existido, ni siquiera como idea vaga, sin una tierra a la que regresar. Por lo tanto, aun si quisiéramos rastrearlo hasta su fuente primigenia, el momento más temprano posible para el sionismo no se ubicaría en la época patriarcal, sino en el nacimiento del anhelo de retorno a la Tierra de Israel por parte del pueblo hebreo.

El otro extremo para fijar el comienzo sionista, sería ubicar su génesis en la creación de la Organización Sionista Mundial en Basilea, Suiza, en 1897. Esta postura soslaya que cuando Teodoro Herzl convocó el célebre congreso, las grandes realizaciones sionistas, aun las más modernas, ya habían comenzado. Quince años habían transcurrido desde la denominada Primera Aliá, la pionera de las inmigraciones judías modernas que aspiraban a la restauración nacional de los israelitas en su tierra ancestral.

Incluso congresos sionistas, también hubo antes de Basilea. Dos notables fueron de Thorn, que se llevó a cabo en Alemania en 1860 y tuvo como fruto la fundación de la Sociedad para la Colonización de Palestina presidida por Jaim Lorje, y el de Kattowitz de 1884, que reunió a varios grupos de los jóvenes «amantes de Sión» bajo la presidencia de León Pinsker. No es ergo el congreso en sí la novedad de Herzl. Nos extenderemos sobre su obra innovadora en un artículo dedicado a Teodoro Herzl en julio de 2004, cuando se cumple su centenario.

Precursores del sionismo moderno

Distingamos por ahora entre el sionismo como añoranza, y el sionismo como movimiento político. El deseo colectivo de retorno a la tierra de Israel está presente en el pueblo judío, ininterrumpidamente, desde hace dos milenios y medio. Vio luz durante el Exilio en Babilonia y su primer documento escrito (la fuente de la idea sionista) puede leerse en la Biblia, en el salmo 137: «Junto a los ríos de Babilonia nos sentamos y lloramos recordando a Sión… si te olvidare, oh Jerusalén…»

Obviamente, el movimiento moderno tiene características que lo distinguen en mucho de la aspiración milenaria que le sirve de raíz. Pero no conviene olvidar la antigüedad de esta aspiración, a fin de que el sionismo no sea desfigurado en un fantoche advenedizo sin fundamento alguno.

Para discurrir sobre las características de la modernidad sionista, cabe dilucidar cuándo podría hablarse específicamente de precursores del movimiento político. En esto, las diversas ponencias se concentran respectivamente en los siglos XVII, XVIII y XIX.

Entre los que fijan a los precursores en el siglo XVII, el filósofo Martin Buber eleva al famoso rabino de Praga, el Maharal, al estatus de pionero. Son numerosas las exégesis en las que el Maharal se extiende sobre la necesidad de poner punto final al exilio impuesto a los judíos.

Por su parte, el primer gran historiador del sionismo, Najum Sokolow, corona como precursor al rabino Menashe Ben Israel de Ámsterdam, quien llevó la idea del retorno de los judíos a la negociación política, usándola como argumento ante la gente de Cromwell para que se readmitiera a los judíos en Inglaterra puritana.

Abraham Kariv, proclama a Baruj Spinoza como primer sionista moderno, debido a su desacralización de la historia judía y su previsión de que los judíos reconstruirían su comunidad estatal «cuando las circunstancias estuvieran maduras para ello».

Una cuarta opinión de quienes ven el nacimiento del sionismo moderno en el siglo XVII es la de Ioav Gelber, quien en su historia del sionismo atribuye a un no-judío, el danés Holger Paulli, la paternidad del movimiento.

Quienes optan por el siglo XVIII para reconocer las raíces del sionismo moderno, citan al pastor francés Pierre Jurieux, que propuso restablecer la república judía, o al marqués Felipe de Langallerie, que con el mismo objetivo, en 1714 inició tratativas con el embajador turco en La Haya y firmó con él un acuerdo sobre los derechos judíos.

Una tercera voz que opta por el Siglo de las Luces, fue uno de los más renombrados historiadores del sionismo, Walter Laqueur, quien señaló al filósofo Moisés Mendelssohn (1729-1786) como iniciador.

Mendelssohn fue un ardiente defensor del otorgamiento de derechos civiles para los judíos. Su amistad con el dramaturgo Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, nacida frente al tablero de ajedrez, fue pivote en el proceso emancipatorial de los judíos alemanes.

Lessing publicó los Discursos Filosóficos (1755) de Mendelssohn, y moldeó en base de éste al protagonista de su obra Natán el Sabio (1779).

Desde que Mendelssohn publicara su Fedón (1767) acerca de la inmortalidad del alma (ensayo estructurado como el diálogo homónimo de Platón) se conoció al filósofo judío como «el Sócrates alemán». Sus escritos judaicos no fueron menos importantes que los filosóficos, comenzando por la traducción de la Biblia al alemán, obra que abrió ante los judíos las compuertas de la lengua y literatura germanas.

Su tratado Jerusalén (1783) fue piedra angular de un novedoso análisis del judaísmo en su carácter de legislación y ya no de credo. Mendelssohn no fue en rigor el padre del sionismo, sino de la modernidad judía, en la que su aportación fue menos literaria que pragmática. Mendelssohn innovó al mostrar, con su propio ejemplo, que un judío podía tener un acabado conocimiento de la cultura moderna y hablar en términos de igualdad con las luces brillantes de su Europa, sin perder su fidelidad al judaísmo tradicional.En cuanto al sionismo, cabe citar un evento poco conocido de la vida de Mendelssohn, que roza la teoría del retorno a la tierra ancestral, a la que el filósofo pareciera no suscribir.

Los tres escollos del sionismo

Jerusalén, el libro judaico de Mendelssohn, se subtitula Acerca de la autoridad religiosa y el judaísmo. La génesis del proceso intelectual que llevó a Mendelssohn a escribirlo había comenzado unos quince años antes de la publicación, cuando su amigo de toda la vida John Caspar Lavater lo invita públicamente a convertirse al cristianismo, y Mendelssohn reacciona airado ante el hecho de que los intelectuales europeos, aun los más liberales de entre ellos, pudieran con tanta soltura sugerirle a los judíos que abandonaran su identidad a fin de «solucionar sus problemas».

Por esa época, un terrateniente sajón de nombre Rochus Friedrich Conde de Zu Lynar (que había sido diplomático danés) le presentó a Mendelssohn un proyecto de establecer un estado judío en Palestina. Se trata de un intercambio epistolar poco conocido. Lynar escribe el 23 de enero de 1770 y Mendelssohn responde a los tres días rechazando la idea, por tres motivos. Algunos resumen el argumento de Mendelssohn para negar en el siglo XVIII la posibilidad de un Estado, en que éste habría podido nacer solamente después de una guerra europea. La guerra era el resultado de que las potencias europeas iban a oponerse al proyecto. Valga agregar que efectivamente estalló una guerra europea para que el mundo reconociera la irreversibilidad del Estado judío, pero lo que Mendelssohn no previó es que dicha guerra tendría como eje la destrucción de la tercera parte de la judería mundial.

Con todo, la síntesis es insuficiente, ya que en el rechazo de Mendelssohn hay dos argumentos más muy elocuentes. Uno, es que los judíos, debido a su prolongada servidumbre, no serían capaces del espíritu de libertad que requería la empresa. Otro, que el proyecto demandaría una vasta fortuna y los judíos eran mayormente pobres. Un siglo después, Teodoro Herzl coincidió en que los judíos no contaban con las riquezas necesarias como para llevar a cabo la empresa, y propuso la creación de la Compañía Judía, «encargada de la liquidación de las pertenencias de los judíos emigrantes y de la organización de la vida económica en el nuevo país».En suma, había un obstáculo económico, que imponía la mentada solución de una especie de banco del pueblo judío, y un escollo político, que se traduciría en una guerra no deseada. Ambos reparos de Mendelssohn probaron ser ciertos, y de algún modo el Estado de Israel fue moldeado por sus necesidades de defensa militar y ayuda exterior.

Lo que permanece en el terreno de la especulación es el tercer punto. Mendelssohn consideraba que la empresa sionista estaría indisolublemente ligada al espíritu de libertad que animara a los judíos. Quizá también Herzl alude a este aspecto cuando con optimismo, al final de su obra El Estado Judío (1895) anuncia que «el mundo se liberta con nuestra libertad, se enriquece con nuestra riqueza y se engrandece con nuestra grandeza». Se necesitaba de capacidad para hacer la guerra, y de recursos económicos, pero la columna central en la que se apoyaría el Estado hebreo era su innegociable vocación de libertad.Es posible rechazar la condición de sionista de Mendelssohn, ya que, aunque colaboró en llevar al judío hacia la modernidad, la inmadurez de las condiciones históricas en las que vivió, le impidió la realización concreta de ninguna de las ideas que planteara en relación al sionismo.Así, Iaakov Katz, de la Universidad Hebrea, no considera que haya sionismo hasta tanto la idea no fuera traducida en fuerza social. Por ello, la mayor parte de los estudiosos establece el siglo XIX como catapulta, y ningún momento previo.

Shlomo Avineri, en La idea sionista, propone como padres de la innovación a dos historiadores que estructuraron la historia judía como la orgánica evolución de un pueblo-nación: Najman Krojmal y Heinrich Graetz. El primero en los años 1840 y el segundo en los años 1850, delinearon una historia judía cuyo corolario es el sionismo.

Los tres grandes precursores que explicitaron por primera vez ese corolario, lo hicieron en los años de 1860. Judá Alkalai, Zeví Kalisher y Moisés Hess fue el que trío planteó la necesidad de que los judíos tomaran la iniciativa en su retorno organizado a Sión. Cada uno de ellos merece referencias individuales que excederían el marco de este artículo.

Fuente: http://www.nodulo.org/ec/2004/n026p05.htm
El Catoblepas

The following is the contents of the 1964 Programme, held by Bayan Northcott and photographed when I visited him.

[p 1]

Wardour Castle

Concerts and Lectures

16–22 August 1964

President Michael Tippett

Musical Director Harrison Birtwistle

Price 5’-

[p 2]

[map of Tisbury]

[p 3]

Contents

Acknowledgements                        4

The Composers and Artists            5

Programmes

16 August            Lecture            13

Concert            13

17 August            Recital            19

Concert            19

18 August            Lecture            25

Concert            25

19 August            Recital            31

Discussion            31

20 August            Recital            37

Lecture            37

21 August            Concert            41

22 August            Concert            41

[p 4]

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Headmistress, Miss C. B. Galton, and the Governors of Cranborne Chase School for kindly allowing us to use the Castle, both for the Concerts and the Summer School; and the following people for their invaluable assistance:

Mrs. M. I. Mackintosh

Honorary Secretary

Mr. H. O. Young

Honorary Treasurer

Miss G. Selby-Smith

Honorary Librarian

Mrs. T. Hetherington

Miss Caroline Philips

Mrs. R. Porteous

Mr. Michael Thomas

for the loan of organ and harpsichord

The Revd. C. J. Godfrey

for the use of Donhead St. Andrew parish church

The Ministry of Works

for the permission to use the grounds of the Old Castle

Cover Design and Book            Anthony Denning

Programme Notes                        Anthony Gilbert

[p 5]

Notes on the Composers and Artists

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Harrison Birtwistle

was born in 1934; he studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Music. He is now teaching music at Cranborne Chase School. His works include: Refrains and Choruses, performed 1959 Cheltenham Festival; Music for Sleep, a work for children; Chorales for Orchestra; The World is Discovered, performed at this year’s I.S.C.M. Festival; Entr’acts and Sappho Fragments, performed at this year’s Cheltenham Festival; and Three Movement with Fanfares, commissioned by The Worship Company of Musicians for this year’s City of London Festival

Peter Maxwell Davies

was born in Manchester in 1934, and studied  1952-57 at Manchester University, and Manchester College of Music; 1957-58, Italian Government Scholarship; studied composition with Petrassi in Rome. Director of Music at the Grammar School, Cirencester, and for the past 18 months he has been at Princeton, New Jersey. His works include: Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, 1955; Five Piano Pieces, 1956; Alma Redemptoris Mater, 1957; St. Michael, for wind instruments first performed at the Cheltenham Festival, 1957; Prolation, for orchestra, 1958; Five Motets for a capella choir, 1959; O Magnum Mysterium, for choir, instruments and organ, 1960. His Sinfonia was presented at the Cheltenham Festival by the English Chamber Orchestra in 1962

Anthony Gilbert

was born in London in 1934. He started to study music in 1958; harmony and counterpoint with Anthony Milner; composition briefly with Mátyás Seiber; then since 1959 with Alexander Goehr. Works include: a Duo for Violin and Viola, a Serenade for Six Instruments (commissioned by the S.P.N.M.); and a recently completed Mass for choir and brass.

Alexander Goehr

was born in 1932 in Berlin. Son of the conductor Walter Goehr. Was brought to England as a baby and educated. Studied composition at Royal Manchester College of Music with Richard Hall, and in 1954 was awarded a French Government Scholarship and student at the Paris Conservatoire with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. For some years taught at Morley College and now works part time at the B.B.C., and its chairman of the Society for the Promotion of New Music. Principal works include: Sonata for Piano, The Deluge; Cantata after Leonardo da Vinci; Suters Gold; Cantata on a text by Eisenstein; Violin Concerto; and Little Symphony.

Michael Tippett

was born in 1905, and at the age of 18 entered the Royal College of Music where he studied composition with Charles Wood and R. O. Morris, and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcolm Sargent. In the early ‘forties he was the Musical Director of Morley College and was closely associated with Walter Goehr, who have many first performances of his music from this period. Works from this period were: Concerto for Double String Orchestra; an Oratorio; A Child of Our Time; and the First Symphony. In 1953 Covent Garden gave the first performance of his first opera, A Midsummer Marriage. In 1953 his second opera, King Priam, was given its first performance in Coventry, late at Covent Garden. This Piano Sonata to be played tonight was written shortly after “King Priam” and was given its first performance by Margaret Kitchin.

Hugh Wood

was born near Wigan in Lancashire in 1932. He started to study music when he was 22; academic work with Dr. Lloyd Webber and later with Anthony Milner; composition with Iain Hamilton and then with Mátyás Seiber. His compositions include: a set of variations for viola and piano; instrumental songs to texts by Christopher Logue; a trio for flute, viola and piano; quartets, the second of which was commissioned by the B.B.C. for the 1962 Cheltenham Festival. Several of these pieces have been broadcast. He has taught at Morley College for five years and also, latterly, at the Royal Academy of Music. He is married to the pianist Susan McGaw.

[p. 8/9]

Richard Adeney

wad born in London in 1920. He studied music at Dartington Hall and the Royal College of Music. He is now the principal flute of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra. Hs is unmarried and keenly interested in photography.

Lucy Berthoud

was born in Hertfordshire in 1942. Three years later she went to live in New York and there, at the age of 11, started to learn the flute with Ruth Freeman of the Julliard School of Music. When she was 17 she came to England and studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Derek Honner; in 1963-64 she went to Paris to study with Fernand Caratgé

John Carewe

was born in 1934 and studied with Roger Desormiere, Walter Goehr and Olivier Messiaen. For several years assisted John Pritchard with the Musica Viva Concerts in Liverpool, and has appeared as conductor with principal orchestras in this country. Is particularly interested in performance of new music and has given many first performances of works by young English composers.

Lamar Crowson

was born in American but completed his musical training with Arthur Benjamin at the Royal College of Music, with he is now professor of the piano. Among the many awards he has won are the Chappell Gold Medal, the Harriet Cohen International Medal and two first prizes for chamber music at the Munich International Competition. His is will known for his solo and chamber music productions.

Barbara Elsie

was born in Yorkshire in 1938 and at the age of 16 won a three-year Scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music in London. Her teacher was Winifred Radford, with whom she still works. Her oratorio repertoire is extensive and she performs regularly with principal choral societies in Great Britain. Since her first important engagement at York Minister in 1959 she has broadcast a cantata for her, and consequently she was invited to take part in the first performance of his opera “English Eccentrics,” which had u

Osian Ellis

was born in Flintshire. He started to play the harp at the age of 10 and at 17 he won scholarships which took him to the Royal Academy of Music, where he is now a professor. He has brought the harp into great prominence with his concert appearances, recitals and broadcasts, and he has taken part in most of the major European festivals. His performance of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with the Melos Ensemble was awarded a Premier Prix in 1962 by the French Society of Authors and Editors of Music. Ossian Ellis is an authority on Welsh Folk Music.

Emanuel Hurwitz

was born and educated in England. At the age of 14 he won the Bronislaw-Hubermann Scholarship for the Royal Academy of Music which was adjudicated by Hubermann in person. In 1939 he became the youngest member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra; he has played solos and obligatos with his orchestras and has always been singled out by the critics for his excellent performances. Since the war he has been leader of the Jacques Orchestra and is now leader of the English Chamber Orchestra. In 1954 he formed a string ensemble which has gained considerable success playing music of the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. He has been a member of the Melos Ensemble since 1955.

[p 10/11]

Margaret Kitchin

was born in Switzerland and studied with Jacqueline Blancard. She has played all over Europe, giving recitals and as a soloist with all the leading orchestras, playing classical and many modern works in which she specialises. She has given many first performance of modern works, including the Piano Sonata by Alexander Goehr, and work by Ian Hamilton, Peter Maxwell Davies, Peter Racine Fricker, etc.

Susan McGaw

studied at the Royal Academy of Music where she son the Liszt Scholarship and many other prizes. On leaving she won a Caird Scholarship and one from the French Government, and studied in Paris for two years with Yvonne Lefébure Since returning she has played regularly in London and the provinces. She is a frequent broadcaster. He husband is Hugh Wood. They have a son and daughter.

Gervase de Peyer

was a scholar at the Royal College of Music and completed his studying under Frederick Thurston in 1958. He has played for many of the London symphony and chamber orchestras and is at present principal clarinet in the London Symphony Orchestra. He is well known as a soloist and has performed with nearly all the major orchestras in the country under many well known conductors. He has also appeared at many festivals, including Edinburgh and Holland. He has made records for Decca, H.M.V., l’Oiseau Lyre and Parlophone.

Neill Sanders

was born in London in 1923, son of violinist, and has a brother who plays the flute. He won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1939, after which he did a season with the Scottish Orchestra before becoming principal horn with the L.S.O. He spent seven years with Denniss Brian in the Philharmonia Orchestra and is at present co-principal in the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra.

Michael Thomas

is at present recording concerts and making permanent recordings of music of keyboard instruments of exceptional historical importance on the continent and in England and Ireland. During the past few years he has recorded recitals on most of the famous old harpsichords, organs and clavichords. He is a person who has made the most thorough study of the technique, phrasing and ornamentation of old music and has, through his long experience and experiments with old instruments, learned how these techniques may best be applied to the old instruments that were used in historical times.

Terence Weil

studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won numerous prizes for Chamber Music including the Sir Edward Cooper prize. He was a member of the Hurwitz String Quartet until it disbanded in 1951. He has been principal ‘cello of many chamber orchestras but is at present free-lancing. He is a founder member of the Melos Ensemble.

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[advertisement, Universal Edition, for the path to the new music by Anton Webern]

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Sunday 16th August

5.0 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Concert

in the Assembly Room

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Music in Our Time

Lecture 5.0 p.m.

ALEXANDER GOEHR will lecture on certain aspects of contemporary music with particular reference to works being performed in the evening concert.

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Introduced by MICHAEL TIPPETT

A concert of contemporary English Music

Promoted by: Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Society for the Promotion of New Music

Barbara Elsie            Soprano

Margaret Kitchin            Pianoforte

Peter Maxwell Davies            Pianoforte

Richard Adeney            Flute

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Neill Sanders            Horn

Osian Ellis            Harp

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin

Terence Weil            ‘Cello

John Carewe            Conductor

Three Piano Pieces, op.5            Hugh Wood

These pieces were written for my wife to play, the first for a Wigmore Hall recital in January 1961, and the whole set for a midday recital at the 1963 Cheltenham Festival. the first, Lento, consists of a long tune with rises to a climax, after which some introductory material is heard again. The second, Energico, is the longest of the three, a rondo with episodes and an introduction; the first episode features constant trills, the second is lyrical, in a slower tempo. The main theme appears in a different register each time. The third piece, Calmo, is very short, reminiscent in its materials, valedictory in its nature.

[p 16]

Monody for Corpis Christi Harrison Birtwistle

[lyrics reproduced in original]

The first movement is a simple arch whose main member is the vocal line (to which all other parts are embellishments and from which they may be said to stem). Its rise and descent are emphasized by the gradual addition of instruments from the beginning and their subtraction towards the end, and by the gradually increasing complexity of the instrumental episodes separating the couplets.

This movement leads without a break into an instrumental fantasia Quasi fanfara in contrasting sections, at first very short and static, then longer and more flowing, the whole serving as a transition between the different levels of tension of the two movements for voice.

The third movement follows without interruption and again the overall form is very simple. Each stanza grows in intensity towards its end; in between the two there is a brief instrumental episode ending with a flute cadenza.

Sonata for Piano Anthony Gilbert

This sonata was written in 1961-62 and was first performed by Margaret Kitchin at the S.P.N.M. Cheltenham Festival concert in 1962. There are three movements:

1. Vivace. The overall shape is that of classical sonata form with two contrasting subject-groups, a bipartite section of development in which each group is treated in accordance with its individual character, and an elliptical reprise and coda.

2. Cantilena is a simple, song-type movement in three sections of continuous variation. The middle section, characterized by a pedal, forms a central point of repose for the whole sonata, while the third part recalls the other two and has the function of a coda.

[p 17]

3. Scherzo. This opens with two contrasting motifs and the first part of the movement is concerned with their development and gradual integration. As they become more completely combined the section reaches a climax which triggers off Trio 1, a set of short variations on a rhythmic motif. After a short link using first-section material there follows Trio 2, which is free and rhapsodic in character, and has echoes of the first and second movements. The final section is a telescoped and varied version of the first.

Sonata No.2 for Piano Michael Tippett

This Sonata was written early in 1962 and first performed by Margaret Kitchin at the

Edinburgh Festival of that year. It is in one continuous movement.

Composed very shortly after the completion of “King Priam,” the sonata derives form from the dramatic structure of at opera, and some of its materials from the orchestral piano part. It constitutes a complete departure from normal sonata procedure in that there is virtually no development; the sonata grows by statement – the constant addition of new material and by variation and repetition of material previously given. Constant use is made of new materials and by variation and repetition of material previously given. Constant use is made of contrasts: contrasts of texture, contrasts of tempi and timbres and contrasts between static and dynamic. Towards the end the phrases and motifs get shorter and tension grows until the final page, which is a coda concerned with the elimination of the principal motifs.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

Five Little Pieces Peter Maxwell Davies

(first performance)

The five little piano pieces were composed between 1960 and 1962.

Suite, op. 11            Alexander Goehr

This work was commissioned by the Aldeburgh Festival Committee for the Melos Ensemble who gave its first performance in June, 1961. The object was to produce a piece of light, serenade-like character with an important part for flute and harp. There are five movements.

The first is a quick movement in three main sections. The first and second of these alternate two sharply distinguished types of material in continually varied forms; the third in contrast is a flowing section for solo flute with string accompaniment. There are two repeats: the first section is played again immediately, and the second again after the third.

The second movement is an Intermezzo for harp in improvisatory style. The structural principle is the note-by-note changing of two superimposed chords by pedal shifts.

The third movement is a Scherzo. This is very lightly scored, being almost all in one part over a pedal. Of its two main motifs, the first on the ‘cello is recognisable as the clarinet motif from the first movement in equal notes. Its “head” is used throughout the movement as a sort of punctuation mark dividing sections. The Trio comes right at the end and is for the three stringed instruments only; finally there is an eight-bar coda on scherzo material.

The fourth movement is an Arietta for solo flute, backed by a horn pedal of three notes, with brief answering figures on viola, ‘cello and harp.

The finale is a true Quodlibet in which short blocks of material from all the previous movements are juxtaposed mosaic-wise. There are two cadenzas: one for flute on Scherzo material, and one for harp on Trio material. The whole is held together by a horn-call which recurs like a rondo-theme, and whose origins are revealed to the sharp ear on its final appearance.

[p 18]

[Advertisement for UE composers Harrison Birtwistle and Hugh Wood]

[p 19]

Monday, 17th August

5.0 p.m. RECITAL

in the Old Kitchen

8.30 p.m. CONCERT

in the Assembly Room

[p 20/21]

Early Organ Music            Recital 5.0 p.m.

Peter Maxwell Davies will introduce and play early music on a newly restored Snitzler organ. Works by: Dunstable, Taverner, Byrd, Tomkins, Gabrielli, Scheidt, Zipoli etc.

The Organ

The organ belongs to Peter Maxwell Davies and was made by Snitzler in 1768.

Snitzler’s soundboards have little pallets directly under the keys which are operated by a pin on the underside of the key, thus giving an extremely light and responsive touch. The disadvantage of this method is that the wind channels are small, so that it is only possible to play three or four rows of pipes at once.

This organ originally possessed an ordinary stopped Diapason 8’, and open Diapason 8’ which contrasted with it, a Dulciana with tongues and beards, and a very small scale, also 8’, and small Dulciana Principle: the effect was rather soft and lacked virility. The pipes were therefore transposed to give a stopped Diapason and Principle, and the Dulcianas became the 12th and 15th. In this way the incisive Snitzler tone was immediately regained.

Chamber Concert            8.30 p.m.

Melos Ensemble

Lamar Crowson            Piano

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin

Neill Sanders            Horn

Terence Weil            ‘Cello

Pianoforte Trio in F sharp minor Haydn

Haydn’s Piano Trios belong rather to his piano music than to that for string ensemble. The keyboard plays a dominant part in all of them and the use of the violin, and particularly the ‘cello, is held by some authorities to be optional. The first editions describe them as “Sonatas pour le piano-forte avec accompagnement de violon et violoncello,” and the violin rarely goes above 2nd position, the ‘cello merely duplicating the bass of the piano.

This interesting work is one of a group of three composed in or before 1795 and dedicated to his English friend, Mrs. Schroeter.

There are three movements, the first of which, a sonata allegro, is notable for its wealth but as it reaches the dominant cadence it acquires a minor flavour, providing an excuse to plunge straight into A for the middle section. The procedure in reverse brings back the tonic towards the end.

The Finale is a Minuet in F-sharp minor of great beauty, with a trio consisting of the same material transplanted to the tonic major. Without going beyond the canons of Haydn’s normal minuet procedure, it provided a most satisfactory ending to the work.

[p 22]

Six Little Piano Pieces, op. 19            Schoenberg

Light, tender

Slow.

Very slow.

Quick, but light.

Somewhat quick.

Very slow.

The first five of these pieces were written on 19th February, 1911; the sixth was written in June, just four weeks after the death of Mahler, to whom it constitutes a kind of epitaph.

Around this time perhaps more than at any other period Schoenberg was preoccupied with problems of form – particularly of finding more appropriate vessels for his rapidly evolving atonality. There is no doubt that he was struck by the aphoristic manner of Webern’s op. 6, and particularly of the violin pieces op. 7, to the extent of being impelled to see what possibilities the very short form held for himself.

In addition, in these little pieces we find him for the first time calling into question the traditional relationship between melody and accompaniment, and investigating the possibility of more interesting functions for the latter. So, for example, in Nos. 1, 2 and 4 it becomes merely an extension or feature of the melody, serving to heighten its expressiveness in various ways, and No. 6, the strangest piece of all, is concerned with the almost elimination of both elements.

Seven Sketches, op. 9            Bartok

These piano pieces were composed between 1908-10, and are, in a way, a diary of Bartók’s development as a composer in these years. The first ones reflect his early preoccupation with western mannerisms – particularly impressionism; the later ones show his growing interest in the folk-idioms of his own land.

1. Portrait of a Young Girl: to wit, Marta Ziegler, its dedicatee, whom he married in 1909. A short piece in ternary form, betraying the influence of, surprisingly enough, Busoni in its harmonic style and its treatment of material.

2. A Swing. Two motifs are used in alternation: the first a rocking, polytonal figure, the second a bagpipe tune in not quite a whole tone scale.

3. is dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Z. Kodály. The lack of title emphasizes Bartòk’s abandonment of impressionism; the piece is simply a rhapsodic melody unfolded in rubato-parlando style over an accompaniment of major tenths.

4. is another rhapsodic piece. After an 11-bar introduction a Hungarian-style melody is presented in varied forms over a florid accompaniment.

5. A Rumanian Folk Melody, and 6., a dance in the Valachian manner, are still closer to popular sources, and foreshadow the Bartók of Mikrokosmos.

7. In this piece, perhaps the most interesting of all the Sketches, brief modal phrases succeed one another with striking juxtapositions of tonality; there is a gradual metamorphosis to irregular rhythms and whole-tone scales, and in the long code to note-clusters.

Première Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano            Debussy

This piece was written in 1910 as a test piece for clarinet competitions at the Conservatoire at which it was Debussy’s duty to adjudicate. It was subsequently orchestrated (the style of the accompaniment seems to indicate that this was his intention all along) and in this form is said to have been regarded by Debussy as one of the most pleasing pieces he had written.

It is freely constructed (as befits a Rhapsody) from static blocks of contrasting material in three main categories: slow and dreamy, poco mosso and scherzando, sharply juxtaposed or joined by brief linking passages.

Four Pieces for clarinet and piano, op.5             Berg

These pieces were written in the summer of 1913, and are dedicated to Schoenberg’s “Society for Private Performances,” under whose auspices they were first played more than six years later. Their epigrammatic style is an untypical of Berg as Schoenberg’s op. 19, their obvious model, is of him.

1. The clarinet’s opening six-note figure is a skilful simultaneous exposition of all the motivic elements of the piece, which in any case all spring from the single governing principle of intervallic expansion. Its form is very simple – the piano and clarinet move in opposite directions to the central climax which is held for two bard and then quickly falls away to a code of static harmonies.

2. This utilizes the same motivic elements as No. 1 in a pianissimo conflict between two kinds of ostinato accompaniment in the piano and a simple melodic line in the clarinet. The climax is expressed without rising above p, simply being the point at which the conflict resolves in favour of one of the ostinati.

3. Another very quiet piece, falling into four sharply contrasted sections, the first two quick and nervous, the third slow and flowing and the fourth an elliptical reprise and headlong code to be played as quickly and quietly as possible.

4. This piece takes farther the idea inherent in No. 3. The contrasted sections, each characterized by a different ostinato, are again present (though the speeds are the reverse of those in No. 3); likewise the sonata-like reprise before the code. Now, however, in spite of the ostinato, the piece is not static: it is aimed at the explosive climax which ends the first part of the code. The coda proper is simply three bars of echo.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

[p 24]

Fantasia in C minor, K475            Mozart

This piece, written in 1875 for his gifted pupil Thérèse von Trattner, is one of four Fantasias for the piano composed in Mozart’s later years. It was customary for him to precede performances of his sonatas with an improvised introduction in the same key; the present Fantasia, published by Mozart as a prelude to the Sonata K457, may be taken as a fairly close indication of the nature of these improvisations.

It is made up of five contrasted open-ended sections: the first Adagio, the second a D major episode in the same tempo, the third a stormy Allegro in two halves, linked by a brief cadenza to the fourth, Andantino in B-flat; the fifth is another stormy Allegro. The whole is rounded off by a recapitulation and code on first-section material.

The organization of keys is interesting. The first, third and fifth sections are unstable and constantly modulating, any affirmations of the home (or any) key being rigorously avoided. The second and fourth are anchor sections firmly in keys two removes [sic] from home on the dominant and the subdominant sides respectively – so that the acute ear may sense an implied tonic midway between. However, not until the final section is the home key reached and established.

Trio for Piano, Violin and Horn, op.40            Brahms

This is one of a group of works composed after Brahms’ resignation in 1864 as Director of the Vienna Choral Society. It is a very much a horn trio; the horn part is as it were the backbone of the work, and the character of all the melodic material is determined by its appropriateness to that instrument.

The first movement is an Andante of unusual design, with boldly planned key relationships. There are two balancing sections, each in two contrasting parts, organised as follows: Andante in E-flat (2/4 time); poco più animato in C minor and G minor (9/8); Andante in E-flat; poco più animato in E-flat minor and B-flat minor, leading to a final Andante in G-flat which modulates back to the home key at the final climax.

The Scherzo begins with a long (12-bar) upbeat to the principal motif, whose four bars of 2/4 rhythm in 3 contrast strikingly with the overall 3/4 pulse.  The whole of the first section is built up from the material of these first 16 bars – a secondary motif given out by the horn on the next page plays little part in the growth of the movement. The Trio in the subdominant minor is less exuberant and decisive in character; the melody owes its outline to the “upbeat” motif of the previous section. After 76 bars uninterrupted by any form of full cadence the Scherzo is given de capo.

In the third movement, Adagio mesto in E-flat minor, there are four sections whose exact symmetry and the economy of whose material are belied by the flowing, almost rhapsodic manner in which the music unfolds.

The Finale is a lively movement in sonata form, through whose many modulations the horn is handled with such adroitness that accidentals seldom appear in the part.

[p 25]

Tuesday, 18th August

5.0 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Concert

in the Assembly Room

[p 26/27]

Quartet for the End of Time            Lecture 5.0 p.m.

Olivier Messiaen, the Man and His Music

given by Hugh Wood

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Members of the Melos Ensemble

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin [viola]

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Terence Weil            Violoncello

Lamar Crowson            Pianoforte

Clarinet Trio in E flat K498            Mozart

Andante;

Menuetto;

Rondo – Allegretto

The year 1786 was a trying one for Mozart. He was heavily in debt, his newly completed Marriage of Figaro had been withdrawn after only nine performances, and he had lost his third son. Nevertheless in the space of only six months he managed to turn out eight masterpieces, of which this Trio is one. It was written for his friends Francisca Jacquin and Anton Stadler with Mozart himself playing the viola part.

The unusual choice of instruments gives a mellow, closely-knit ensemble capable of considerable expressive power, and it was no doubt with this possibility in mind that Mozart made the first movement an andante rather than an allegro, almost – but not quite – discarding the sonata in favour of the song-form. The movement grows continuously from the motif in the first bar, and very little other material is introduced,

The second movement is a vigorous Minuet with a Trio effectively contrasting the timbres of the clarinet and viola in dialogue.

The theme of the final Rondo springs from a fragment of the “2nd subject” in the first movement. Little important music is given to the viola in the first section, in order to heighten the effect of its striking C-minor entry in the second episode. Save for a few bars of A-flat melody in the central part, its rôle is secondary until nearly the end, during a final brilliant reworking of the Rondo theme.

[p 28]

Four Impromptus, op. 142            Schubert

This is the style under which, mainly for commercial reasons. Schubert published the first of four piano sonatas written during the last 10 months of his life. And although undeniably a sonata of sorts, there is a certain looseness about its construction which suits its new name better.

For instance, in the first movement, Allegro moderato, there is an F-minor first subject and an A-major second subject, but where we might expect a development there is a longish passage of new material which moves into all sorts of interesting keys but does not grow. This innovation is taken a step further when the passage is reintroduced in the recapitulation, and at last Schubert’s scheme – a simple binary form – becomes apparent.

The second movement, Allegretto, is a Sarabande and trio going hand in hand with the first movement in key and character.

The third, Andante, is a set of variations on a tune from Rosamunde.

The finale, Allegro Scherzando, is in clearly defined ABA form, but the manner of organising the material in the outer sections gives it certain Rondo characteristics. It is perhaps the most imaginative of the movement. Cross-rhythms abound, the harmonic structure is striking, and the lead back from the central to the final section is magical.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

Quatuor pour la fin du temps Olivier Messiaen

“And I saw another might angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet were as pillars of fire… and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth… and standing upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his head to heaven; and he swore by him that liveth for ever… that time shall be no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished…” (Apocalypse of St. Jonn, Chapter X).

Conceived and written during my captivity, the Quatuor pour la fin du temps was first performed in Stalag Villa on 15th January, 1941, by Jean le Boulaire (violin), Henri Akoka (clarinet), Etienne Pasquier (‘cello) and myself on the piano. It was directly inspired by the above quotation from the Apocalypse. Its musical language is essentially immaterial, spiritual, catholic. Modes which, melodically and harmonically, realize a kind of tonal ubiquity, being the listener nearer to eternity in space or the infinite. Special rhythms, not bound by regular metre, powerful serve to put the temporal at a distance. (All this is but mere tentative stammering if one thinks of the overwhelming grandeur of its subject).

This “Quartet” is in eight movements. Why so? Seven is the perfect number, the six days of creation sanctified by the divine Sabbath; the seven of rest extends into eternity and becomes the eight of undecaying light, of unalterable peace.

1. “Liturgy of Crystal.” Between three and four in the morning, the birds awaken: a blackbird or solo nightingale improvises, surrounded by a fine sprinkling of sound, a halo of trills lost high in the treetops. Transfer this to the religious place, and you have the harmonious silence of heaven.

2. “Vocalise, for the Angel who announces the end of Time.” The first and third parts (very short) evoke the power of this mighty angel arrayed in cloud with a rainbow upon his head, who places one foot upon the sea and the other foot upon the land. The “middle section” depicts the impalpable harmonic of heaven. Gentle cascades of orange-blue chords on the piano surround with their distant carillon quasi-plainchant recitatives on violin and ‘cello.

3. “Abyss of the birds.” Clarinet solo. The abyss is Time, with its sadness, its wearinesses. The birds are the opposite of Time; they are our desire for light, stars, rainbows and paeans of jubilation.

4. “Interlude.” A Scherzo, more extrovert in character than the previous movement, but linked with them, nevertheless, by a number of melodic “reminders.”

5. “Praise to the Eternity of Jesus.” Jesus is considered here as the Word. A long ‘cello phrase, infinitely slow, magnifies with love and reverence the eternity of this might and gently Word, “whose years shall never be exhausted.” Majestically the melody spreads out, into the tender and sovereign distance. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

6. “Dance of fury for the seven trumpets.” Rhythmically, this is the most characteristic piece of the set. The four instruments playing in unison take on the sound of gongs and trumpets (the first six trumpets of the apocalypse following by various catastrophes, the trumpet of the seventh angel announcing the consummation of the mystery of God. Use is made of added values, augmented or diminished rhythms, and non-retrogradable rhythms. Stone music, formidable granitic sound; the irresistible movement of steel, enormous blocks of purple fury, glacial drunkenness. Listen above all to the terrible fortissimo augmentation of the theme with its notes all changed in register which comes towards the end of the piece.

7. “A confusion of rainbows, for the Angel who announced the end of Time.” Certain passages for the second movement return here. The almighty Angel appears, and so, particularly, does the rainbow which he wears (the rainbow, symbol of peach, goodness, and of all vibration in light and sound). In my dreams I hear and see groups of chords and melodies, known colours and shapes; then after this transitory phase I move into the unreal and experience with ecstasy a whirling and mingling together of superhuman sounds and chords. These fiery swords, these torrents of blue-orange lava, these sudden starts: these are confusions, these are rainbows.

8. “Praise to the Immortality of Jesus.” A broad violin solo, acting as pendant  to the ‘cello solo of the 5th movement. Why this second praise? It is addressed more particularly to the second aspect of Jesus, to Jesus the Man, to the Word made flesh, returning immortal to give us His life. It is all love. Its slow climb to the heights is the ascension of man towards his God, of the child of God towards its Father, of the beatified creatures towards Paradise.

– And I say again what I said above: “all thus us but mere tentative stammering if one thinks of the overwhelming grandeur of its subject.’

(Notes translated from score by Anthony Gilbert)

[p 30]

At the age of 56, Olivier Messiaen is almost certainly the most distinguished composer working in Europe today. He was born in 1908 at Avignon, song of a Shakespearean scholar and a poetess. He entered the Paris Conservatoire when he was only 11, and there studied the organ under Marcel Dupré, theory under Maurice Emmanuel and composition under Paul Dukas. At 18 he won the first prize for counterpoint and fugue, and he went on to win first prizes for piano accompaniment, organ playing, improvisation, music history and composition. His first mature work was, like so much of his later output, for the organ: Le Banquet Céleste, written in 1928. The Eight Preludes for piano followed in 1929: it was on the recommendation of Dukas that they were published. In 1931 he was appointed organist at the Great Organ of Holy Trinity, Paris. Other works of these years include Les Offrandes oubliées, L’Ancension, the Theme and Variations for Violin and Piano, and the Nativité du Seigneur cycle for organ. In 1936 he appeared as the leader of a group of young musicians calling themselbes “La Jeune France,” the other being André Jolivet, Daniel Lesur and Yves Baudrier. In this year also he was appointed professor at the Ecole Normale and at the Schola Cantorum. Works 1936-39: Poemes pour Mi, Chants de terre et de ciel, and the Corps glorieué for organ.

Messiaen enlisted at the beginning of the war and was taken prisoner during the fall of France in 1940. It was in a German prison camp in Silesia that he wrote the Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941). This work was the harbinger of the most prolific period of his career. He was repatriated to occupied France and then wrote the Visions de l’Amen for two pianos, for Trios petites liturgies de la Présence Divine (the first work of his to become widely known after the war), the immense piano work Vignt regards sur l’Enfant Jésus, the similarly large-scale song-cycle Harawi, and then his chef d’oeuvre the Turangalila Symphony. This was written in 1946-48 and has been performed many times all over Europe and in America since its first performance in Boston in 1949. In 1953 and 1954 two performance took place in London, conducted by Walter Goehr. The work has recently been recorded.

On his return to France, Messiaen had been appointed professor of harmony at the Conservatoire, and before the end of the war a lively group of young pupils had gathered themselves round him, including the 19-year-old Pierre Boulez. The title of his appointment was changed in 1947 to that of Professor of Aesthetics, rhythmic studies and of the analysis class; a wider range of pupils now included Karheinz Stockhausen, Jean Barraque, Yannis Xenakis and Gilbert Amy. During the years 1947-53 Messiaen gave classes at various musical centres, including Budapest, Sarrebruck, Tanglewood and Darmstadt. His Quatre Etudes de rhythme for piano was begun on Darmstaft in 1949, and this work has had a great influence on composers of the Darmstadt circle. Other works of this time: Canteyodjaya for piano; the Cinq Rechants for choir; the Messe de la Pentecote for organi; Le Merle Noir for flute and piano; and the Livre d’orgue.

During the last 10 years Messiaen’s name has become well-known all over the world and his importance recognised as one of the sources of new musical thought. Latterly his works are even to be heard in England, where in particular his organ music now received regular performances. A recent group of works springs from the composer’s lifelong preoccupation with bird-song: the Réveil des oiseaux (1953) for piano and orchestra; the Oiseaux exotiques (1956) for piano, wind ensemble and percussion, and the piano work Catalogue d’oiseaux (1959). More recent still is Chronochromie (1960), an important work for large orchestra, and the Haikai for piano and clarinet solo and chamber ensemble (1962).

Hugh Wood

[p 31]

Wednesday, 19th August

5.0 p.m. Recital

in the Old Kitchen

8.30 p.m. Discussion

in the Assemble Room

[p 32/33]

Flute and Harpsichord

Recital 5.0 pm

Lucy Berthoud            Flute

Michael Thomas            Harpsichord

Suite in D Major            Rameau

Sonata in B Minor            J. S. Bach

Ordre in B Minor            Couperin

Sonata No. 6 in E Minor            J. S. Bach

Rameau and Couperin

Couperin (Le Grand), 1668-1733. His music for clavecin was called “Ordres,” another name for suite. They were published between 1713-30 with varying numbers of movements, some with 10 or 15 and the longest 23. He was a master of a musical miniature and pieces include portrait studies and nature sketches, e.g. Les Tricoteuses and Les Petits Moulins a Vent.

Rameau, 1683-1764. He was the most prominent figure of his day in French opera but won fame in all musical arts including writing for the clavecin in which he followed Couperin. Picturesque titles of his music for harpsichord include La Poule and Les Tourbillons.            G.S.S.

Flute Sonatas J.S. Bach

Bach wrote six flute sonatas, the first three have a fully written up part for the right hand of the harpsichord and can, therefore, be regarded as trio sonatas with the harpsichord playing the solo melodic part as well as the base. No. 1 in B minor has a long first movement marked andante in which the flute and the harpsichord alternate in a long melodic line and, of course, often play the two subjects against each other. Indeed both subjects are played together in the very first line. The faster semiquaver subject can really be regarded as two parts in quavers, as is so common in much of Bach’s music, which looks like a single part. It contains no harmony but tonic and dominant till the third bar. The harmony changes abruptly when a chromatic movement is introduced. This is, of course, developed in the course of the movement. The middle section of the movement is a much lighter subject in quick moving triplets. This is perhaps the longest and one of the most beautiful movements in all the Bach sonatas. The 2nd movement, a largo, is really a development form the siciliano but considerable complications and additions have arisen in the rhythm by the second bar. The 3rd movement is a short movement marked presto and starts with a canon with the harpsichord following the flute nine bars later. This time there is a chromatic climbing movement. The movement is in the form of a fughetta without cadence to the end. The last movement is a jig but of the highly developed type and note suitable for dancing in so far as the first beat of the three semiquavers instead of being an articulated down beat is actually a sustained syncopation in the very first bar. Again this contains a canon but it is at the unison pitch instead of at the 5th, the harpsichord entering in the fourth bar. Bach’s flute sonata No. 6 begins with an adagio but which is a completely expressive work and it would be difficult to say that it was closely related to any of the dance movement but bears more resemblance to a slow movement by Quantz. The 2nd movement is allegro in straight-forward binary form and in the Italian style. The 3rd movement is again a siciliano. The 4th movement is allegro again in binary form.

[p 34/35]

The Harpsichord

While engaged in restoring harpsichords, Michael Thomas became interested in two types of this instrument, which seemed to him to be particularly fine: one being the Italian and the other the French type.

After much experimenting independent of any specific model, Michael Thomas constructed this instrument in which he has sought to incorporate the best qualities of each type.

He uses the light construction and small bridge found in the Italian model, thus giving it simultaneously a deep hollow resonance and an enormous harmonic range; and by bending the wood of the curved side only as far as it will naturally and easily go, he has obtained the depth of tone of the French instrument. A clear attack on each note is achieved by the use of quills for plucking the harpsichord.

Opera Today            Discussion 8.30 p.m.

Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Tippett

Chairman: Harrison Birtwistle

Opera Today

Michael Tippett’s activities in the operatic field are already well known to all. His two works for the stage, dating from 1952 and 1961 respectively, for which in both cases he was his own librettist, are among the most striking and original contributions to opera this century.

Peter Maxwell Davies has for the past two years been working on his first opera, based on the life of John Taverner, and now nearing completion.

Alexandr Goehr began, and abandoned, his first opera some years ago. Its subject was the Women of Troy, and a fragment survives in the orchestral work Hecuba’s Lament. His activities in recent months as musical director of various stage productions at the Mermaid Theatre have resulted in his increasing absorption with music on the stage, and he has recently been commissioned to write an opera on the play Arden of Feversham.

[p 36]

[advertisement for Schott’s composers: Banks, Blomdahl, Davies, Franciax, Fricker, Gilbert, Goehr, Hamilton, Hartman, Henze, Hindemith, Huber, Nono, Orff, Rainier, Schoenberg, Schuller, Searle, Seiber, Stravinsky and Tippett.]

[p 37]

Thursday, 20th August

5.0 p.m. Recital

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

[p 38/39]

Matinee for Erik Satie            Recital 5.0 p.m.

Susan McGaw            Piano

Four songs without words Mendlessohn

F sharp minor op. 19, no. 5

B minor op.67, no. 5

F minor op. 62, no. 3

A minor op. 38, no. 5

1st Gymnopedies Satie

3rd Gnossiemme Satie

Vieux sequins et Vielles Cuirasses Satie

Passion Sonata no. 6, A major            C. P. E. Bach

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

Pieces friod 1st set            Satie

Airs a faire fuire Satie

Three songs without words Mendelssohn

G major op. 62, no. 1

D major op. 85, no. 4

A major op. 102, no. 5

Erik Satie: 1866-1925

The amount of discussion of a non-musical nature aroused by Satie’s eccentricities led people for many years almost to forget he was a musician; now, with the arrival of new eccentrics on the musical scene, most people have even forgotten Satie the lunatic. Even when, at the age of 54, he suddenly found himself hailed as leader of the Parisian avant-garde, it was less as a musician than as High Priest of a new aesthetic cult devised by Cocteau that he was worshipped, and rarely at any period since his death have any but a dwindling number of devotees taken the trouble to disregard the funny words and listen simply to his music.

This is a pity, because although undeniably a most interesting character in many ways, it is in the light of his contribution as a composer pure and simple that he new deserves to be considered.

Maybe he never produced a large-scale masterpiece, and maybe his influence is not as profound or as far-reaching as other influences this century; nevertheless, musically he is a true original, and the best of his work has a timeless quality that puts it in another category altogether from all the bizarrerie.

His was a fairly prolific composer, the bulk of his output being for the piano, either solo or duet, and this portion of his work contains his best and most characteristic pieces. Few of them are long; most are in groups, generally of three; and quite often, like the Gymnopédies and the Sarabandes, they are just three ways of looking at the same idea.

He had a way of anticipating points of technique in other composers by some 15 or 20 years. In his earlier piano pieces are to be found harmonic innovations used much later by Debussy and Ravel; slightly later pieces gave Stravinsky his mechanical accompaniment figures, and in later ones still, in particular the “3 Valses du Précieux Dégoûté” and the 20 “Sports et Divertissements,” his masterpiece, we find utilizes Messiaen’s techniques of incantatory repetition and the systematic juxtaposition of brief unrelated phrases.

The groups of pieces we are to hear this afternoon are among his best-known and least-known works. The Gymnopédies were published in 1887 and quickly achieved popularity; Vieux Séquins et Vielles Cuirasses (1914) belongs to a period of advanced buffoonery through which Satie went during the years following his celebrated return to the Schola Cantorum

[p 40/41]

Lecture 8.30 p.m.

Musical Characterization in Mozart Opera

with particular reference to Don Giovanni

Stephen Pruslin, Princeton University

Friday, 21st August

8.30 p.m. Concert

at Old Wardour Castle

Saturday, 22nd August

8.30 p.m. Concert

at Donhead St. Andrew Parish Church

[p 42/43]

Concert 8.30

Nocturnal

A concert in the open air* of English and Italian echo-music from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for brass and voices.

Given by: Gabrieli Ensemble and Choir conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr.

Music by: Maschera, Isaac, A. and G. Gabrieli, Locke, etc.

* Under cover if wet

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Participants Concert

A concert given by the participants of the summer school

Conductors: John Carewe, Michael Tippett

Morgengesang C. P. E. Bach

Symphony Haydn

Sequentia Sanctia Evangeli Secundam Lucan, in illo Tempore XXII 14-20 Peter Maxwell Davies

(first performance written for the summer school)

Fantasias Gibbons

For these concerts a more comprehensive programme will be available on the day.

Our golden lady will be one of the singers that will perform on the ZDF concert for the first Sunday of Advent, that is, November 29 at 6:00 p.m.  The program will be Haendel and Mendelssohn, since both of these guys had their anniversary this year… and a bit of Dvorak.

A good way to start the season...

Magdalena will share the podium with american baritone super man Thomas Hampson and cellist Sol Gabetta, plus the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Saxon State Opera Choir. Christoph Eschenbach will lead this wonderful bunch.

By Felix Mendelssohn. También conocida como “Fingal’s Cave”.

Imaginez: vous êtes installé devant un écran à travailler, assis dans un fauteuil à lire ou bien en train de dessiner, cuisiner ou que sais-je encore… Quand quelques notes de musique vous parviennent aux oreilles. Et sans complètement vous en aperçevoir, un sourire se dessine sur votre visage, vos yeux se ferment à moitié et vos muscles se détendent…

Les quelques notes, ce sont les premières mesures du Concerto n°2 en Mi mineur Opus 64 pour Violon de Felix Mendelossohn…Allegro Molto Appassionato, Allegretto Ma Non Troppo et Allegro Molto Vivace en sont les trois mouvements.

Lorsque ce concerto commence, je ne peux m’empêcher de stopper le mouvement que j’étais en train de faire, que ce soit conscient ou pas! La mélodie du début est tellement belle et légère…et quand l’orchestre rentre, la musique devient pleine, ronde. Il est difficile de décrire une telle oeuvre. Juste peut-être les sensations qu’elle procure…Une sorte de contentement, de bonheur à se fondre dans la musique, à oublier ce qui nous entoure pour se concentrer uniquement sur les notes, les accords, les harmonies et les voix des instruments.

Il est notamment un moment du premier mouvement qui se répète deux fois, une note aigue, presque retenue tellement elle est douce et piano, qui à chaque fois me fait tant d’effet que ma gorge se serre et ma respiration ralentit…

Très subjectivement (j’adore ce violoniste), ma version favorite est l’enregistrement de Renaud Capuçon avec le chef d’orchestre Daniel Harding. Mais la version de la belle Hilary Hahn est magnifique également!

Un autre concerto qui me fait venir les larmes aux yeux est le Concerto pour Piano n° 21 en Do Majeur  (écrit en 1785) de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

La première fois que je l’ai entendu, c’était aux Folles Journées de Nantes. Le pianiste sur la scène s’appellait Piotr Anderszewski…Jouant au piano, il dirigeait également la Sinfonia Varsovia. Lorsque je suis sorti de la salle, dans un état second, mes yeux n’étaient pas secs…La force et la délicatesse, la gravité et l’intimité de ce concerto sont incomparables.

Pour ma plus grande joie, cette version a été enregistrée!

Ce matin, je n’ai pas lu dans le train…Mon lecteur MP3 a préféré jouer le Concerto de Mendelssohn… Peut-être ce soir, mettrai-je le Concerto de Mozart!

1964 Programme of Concerts as given in the publicity leaflet, a copy of which was given to me by Michael Hall. The comments are those by Hugh Wood. As further composers are interviewed their comments will be added alongside those by Wood.

Wardour Castle Summer Concerts

16-22 August, 1964

President: MICHAEL TIPPETT

Musical Director: HARRISON BIRTWISTLE

These concerts run concurrently with the Wardour Castle Summer School.

Sunday 16 August

8.30 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room

MUSIC IN OUR TIME

Introduced by Michael Tippett

A concert of contemporary English Music.

Promoted by: Institute for the Promotion of New Music

Morag Noble – Soprano

Margaret Kitchin – Pianoforte

Peter Maxwell Davies – Pianoforte

Melos Ensemble

Three Pieces for Piano – Hugh Wood

Suite for String Trio (first performance) – Neville Gambier

Piano Sonata – Anthony Gilbert

Second Piano Sonata – Michael Tippett

Monody for Corpus Christi – Harrison Birtwistle

Five Little Pieces (first performance) – Peter Maxwell Davies

Suite Op.11 – Alexander Goehr

Monday 17 August

8.30 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room

Chamber Concert

Melos Ensemble

Pianoforte Trio, F sharp minor – Haydn

Six Little Pieces – Bartok

Seven Sketches – Debussy

Première Rhapsody – Debussy

Vier Stüke – Berg

Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475 – Mozart

Horn Trio on E flat, Op.40 – Brahms

Tuesday 18 August

5.0 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room.

Lecture: Oliver Messiaen, The Man and His Music

Given by Hugh Wood

Wednesday 19 August

8.30 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room.

Discussion: Opera Today

Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Tippett.

Chairman: Harrison Birtwistle

5.0 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Rooms.

A Matinee for Erik Satie

Given by Susan McGaw – pianoforte

Gymnopédies – Satie

Sonatas – C. P. E. Bach

Vieux sequins et Vieilles Cuirasses – Satie

Songs without Words – Mendelssohn

Jack-in-the-Box – Satie

Friday 21 August

8.30 pm Old Wardour Castle

Nocturnal.

A concert in the open air* of English and Italian echo-music from the 16th and 17th centuries for brass and voices

Given by: Gabrieli Ensemble and Choir conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr.

Music by Maschera, Isaac, A and G. Gabrielli

* under cover if wet

Wood’s files included a document which gives the details of this concert:

Canzon Cornetto a 4 Scheidt

Quam Pulchra Es Dunstable

Courant Dolorosa a 4 Scheidt

Paduan a 4 Scheidt

Cor Mio, mentre vi miro Monteverdi

Air, Corante, Allemande, Corante, Saraband Cocke

INTERVAL

Sonata, Hora decima No. 6 Johannes Pezel

Sonata, Hora decima No. 39 Pezel

Adieu, Adieu, my heart’s lust Cornish

Fair Phyllis I saw Farmer

Draw on, sweet night Wilbye

April is in my mistress’s face Morley

Canzon Primi Toni a 8 Morley

Canzon Septimi Toni a 8 G. Gabrielli

Novak- Social Contract Part II of III parts

OK – I have learned that if I am out of town as a scholar in residence or at a conference, then I should put up a note. Well I am back from a combined Scholar-in residence gig and delivering a conference paper.

To continue with Novak-Social Contract from below.

11] Novak considers the Reform and Conservative movements as having applied Occam’s razor to Mendelssohn. Since Mendelssohn said that we need God and Torah to survive, they reduce  it down to the bare minimum needed. For Novak, Bible and Talmud as a cultural element is not enough. It has to be elective and mandate.

Novak says there are only four choices to Jewish identity in the modern era: conversion, secularism, antinomianism, or the natural law mandate.

He considers Conservative Judaism as antinomianism since it, according to Novak, it denies God, Torah and redemption. He states that since liberal Judaism forges- “no consistent connection to the historical Jewish traditions”- therefore they cannot make powerful claims on civil society. (But his treating shituf a social contract of trust, he considers as a strong connection to the Jewish tradition.)

For him, any connection to the land of Israel and the state of Israel only from a sense of the people chosen to bring the Noahide laws into the public sphere.
So any discussion of Israel without discussing the noahite laws is just tribalism

12] One of Nova k’s consistent themes is the need for a sense of Jewish election. A theological basis of election that is greater than the parochial interest in mizvot. Mendelssohn did not have a strong enough idea of election.
A similar idea to Novak’s was presented several decades ago by Arthur A Cohen, is his book Natural- Supernatural Jew, which was subjected to a critique by Walter Wurzburgerbecause one cannot have supernatural destiny without halakhah
But at least Arthur A Cohen left the idea of election as a positive metaphysical concept that said Jewish history is not just an aggregate of contingent events, there is a mystery that holds the Jewish people together. (In his later work, The Tremendum, it becomes a post-Holocaust negative identity.) But Novak makes it a zero-sum approach in which there has to be some special secret plan only done by the Jews and not those liberals.

13] Novak writes that our only friends on the social and political levels used to be the liberal Protestants so we did not support our natural theological allies, the conservative covenantal Christians. Jews have striking similarities to Christian political theology..

14] He wants Jewish identity to be their status as a chosen people, this should be considered before race, class, gender, democracy, liberalism, or politics. But he does not think this will lead to just provincialism and parochialism. He is against Rawls. We need to decide everything from within our Jewish condition

15] Novak considers that revelation is in the world but not of part of it. The revelation comes from the divine mandate.
In the case of the four dialectic thinkers discussed by Sagi, they each see a need to affirm the halakhah as the expression of faith and belief.
For Novak, the affirmed faith is the mandate for natural law and a sense of election.
But if it is natural law, then it is hard to claim that revelation is not part of the world. Let us see in his other book on Natural law if he resolves this.

16] Novak thinks that a Jew should be anti abortion as a value even if there are halakhic grounds to permit it. Meaning the halakhah is not what defines Judaism but the grundnorms on which it is bases. This seems to be Zechariah Frankel’s positive historical Judiasm but from a neo-con perspectives. There is an essence greater than the manifestation in the Oral Law.

17] Novak considers Judaism as a public language – not what does the tradition say but what does the Torah require us to do? It is not the texts but a an internalized sense that God wants you to change the public sphere. A mitzvah is the sense of God commanding what to do (cf. the ecstatic position his teacher Heschel who considers mizvot a connection to God; a prayer in the form of a deed, or the approach of Hirsch in which mizvot are uplifting in our own lives )
Novak wants to be able to speak in the first person about what Judaism requires and thinks that anyone who cannot speak for Judaism.in the first person has no business saying anything.

18] Novak criticizes Rabbi JD Bleich’s position on Noahite laws as halakhah to be decided by rabbis as irrational and undemocratic.Why would non-Jews want to come under Jewish scrutiny and Jewish moral authority as second class citizens?Novak finds the Orthodox version of social theory and bioethics- politically ineffectual and philosophic inadequate. No one is waiting to be declared a ger toshav- resident alien.
He also rejects Nathan Lewin’s sectarianism in always fighting only for particularistic self-interest.
He characterizes Orthodox provincialism and parochialism as the following (In sharp contrast to his own p & p) “People living in a democratic polity in such bad faith prevents them from exercising true moral influence on it, and thus makes them far more subject to the moral agendas of the enemies of Judaism.”
Any Jewish understanding of the Noahite laws has to come from our commitment to natural law. The Noahide laws are universal normative categories based on God given rationalism.

A few months ago, bride and groom, Jill and Kevin Heinz, entertained us all with the viral video of their wedding march to Chris Brown’s “Forever”. Though this video was wildly popular (getting over 25 million hits on YouTube) a choreographed dance to a pop song isn’t for everyone’s wedding. Looking for something more traditional for your ceremony, but finding classical music to be a bit daunting? Well rest easy. Before you meet with musicians, take a look – and a listen – to my starter suggestions of classical ceremony pieces:

Prelude Music: used as guests are being seated for the ceremony, which can take up to 30 minutes

Air on the G String (Bach)
One of my personal favorites! Beautiful as a string quartet.

Chorale Prelude: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Bach)
This piece can also be played on strings or a piano.

Processional Music: signals the beginning of the ceremony, including seating of the parents, bridal party, (sometimes of the grandparents), and finally the bride walking down the aisle

Trumpet Tune (Purcell)
You will feel like an actual princess walking down the aisle to this song.

Trumpet Voluntary The Prince Of Denmark March (Purcell)
The trumpets sound gorgeous and are a nice alternative to the more standard string instruments.

Cannon in D (Pachelbel)
Can also work as a processional, recessional, and postlude.

Bridal Chorus (Wagner)
You can’t go wrong with the classic Here Comes The Bride.

Interlude Music: generally a vocalist will sing these songs as the bride and groom give flowers to their parents, light a unity candle, etc.

Ave Maria (Schubert)
If you would like to add a modern spin to this classic, check out Beyonce’s version.

Recessional Music: played after bride and groom have been pronounced man and wife

Wedding March (Mendelssohn)
A timeless song for the couple to exit the ceremony as newlyweds to.

Ode To Joy (Beethoven)
The last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is an elegant piece.

Postlude Music: played until all guests have exited the ceremony

Water Music (Handel)
A lovely piece to end the ceremony with.

Happy (Music) Hunting!

Il programma del terzo concerto della stagione OSN Rai ha forse come filo conduttore le ricorrenze anniversarie dei tre compositori: i bicentenari di Schumann e Mendelssohn e il 60enario di Richard Strauss. A celebrare il rito due coetanei, giovani ma già affermati: il direttore Tomáš Netopil e il violinista Nikolaj Znaider.

Tomáš Netopil

Moravo, 34 anni, Netopil ha compiuto i suoi studi di violino e direzione d’orchestra in patria perfezionandosi poi alla scuola del grande Jorma Panula. Dotato di grande musicalità e slancio, riesce facilmente a conquistare orchestre e pubblico con interpretazioni trascinanti.

Nikolaj Znaider, nato a Copenhagen da famiglia polacco-israeliana, ha studiato con Boris Kushnir. A 16 anni vinse il primo premio alla quarta edizione della Carl Nielsen Competition, da allora ha intrapreso una carriera strepitosa che lo ha visto esibirsi con le maggiori istituzioni musicali del mondo e con i più grandi direttori di oggi. Suona un Guarneri del 1741 che fu del leggendario Fritz Kreisler.

Nikolaj Znaider

Il programma di ieri sera, in replica stasera, iniziava con l’Ouverture Julius Caesar che Schumann compose per un’opera che rimase solo un abbozzo. Pagina non frequente nei programmi dei concerti e nelle incisioni discografiche, che meriterebbe di essere più eseguita e conosciuta. Il secondo brano invece è conosciutissimo e quest’anno è già stato proposto a Torino almeno due volte: il Concerto in mi minore op.64 di Mendelssohn, ma è uno di quei capolavori che non ci si stancherebbe mai di ascoltare, sicuri che ogni volta darà nuove emozioni. A maggior ragione se a interpretarlo c’è un virtuoso come Znaider. Probabilmente non c’era invece necessità di riascoltare per una ennesima volta l’Also sprach Zarathustra di Richard Strauss, che deve la sua popolarità soprattutto al cinema di Stanley Kubrick. La popolarità di massa veramente si limita ai primi 90 secondi, forse i più ispirati e suggestivi di tutta la composizione. Comunque poiché la pagina rimane sempre un ottimo test per saggiare oltre che i propri impianti hifi casalinghi anche il livello delle orchestre ben venga tutto sommato la verifica. Superamento a pieni voti (nonostante un piccolissimo incidente perdonabilissimo e più che comprensibile) per orchestra e direttore.

Confermo il miglioramento dell’acustica in platea (ma forse anche in altri settori) dovuto alla copertura parziale del coro con una struttura in plexiglas. La stessa sensazione mi è stata confermata da altri spettatori. Insomma una dimostrazione che perseguendo alcuni obiettivi se ne raggiungono poi altri imprevisti. Che risultato invece abbiano le luci nelle riprese tv sarà da verificare quando saranno teletrasmesse. Spero che sia diverso da quello del concerto trasmesso su Raitre stanotte (all’1:40!!!) ripreso alla Scala da altro staff e altra regia: Daniele Gatti e gran parte degli orchestrali avevano la pelle così arrossata per l’effetto delle luci rosse soffuse da farli sembrare pronti per un immediato ricovero in un ospedale dermatologico.

1964 Programme of Concerts as given in the publicity leaflet, a copy of which was given to me by Michael Hall.

Wardour Castle Summer Concerts

16-22 August, 1964

President: MICHAEL TIPPETT

Musical Director: HARRISON BIRTWISTLE

These concerts run concurrently with the Wardour Castle Summer School.

Sunday 16 August

5.0 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room

Lecture: MUSIC IN OUR TIME

Given by Alexander Goehr

8.30 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room

MUSIC IN OUR TIME

Introduced by Michael Tippett

A concert of contemporary English Music.

Promoted by: Institute for the Promotion of New Music

Morag Noble – Soprano

Margaret Kitchin – Pianoforte

Peter Maxwell Davies – Pianoforte

Melos Ensemble

Three Pieces for Piano – Hugh Wood

Suite for String Trio (first performance) – Neville Gambier

Piano Sonata – Anthony Gilbert

Second Piano Sonata – Michael Tippett

Monody for Corpus Christi – Harrison Birtwistle

Five Little Pieces (first performance) – Peter Maxwell Davies

Suite Op.11 – Alexander Goehr

Mondat 17 August

5.0 pm The Old Kitchen, Wardour Castle

Recital: Early organ Music

Given on a newly-restored baroque organ by Peter Maxwell Davies

Music by: Dunstable, Taverner, Byrd, Tomkins, Gabrielli, Scheidt, Zipoli, etc.

8.30 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room

Chamber Concert

Melos Ensemble

Pianoforte Trio, F sharp minor – Haydn

Six Little Pieces – Bartok

Seven Sketches – Debussy

Première Rhapsody – Debussy

Vier Stüke – Berg

Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475 – Mozart

Horn Trio on E flat, Op.40 – Brahms

Tuesday 18 August

5.0 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room.

Lecture: Oliver Messiaen, The Man and His Music

Given by Hugh Wood

8.30 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room

Quartet for the End of Time

Members of the Melos Ensemble

Emmanuel Hurwitz – violin, viola

Gervase de Peyer – clarinet

Terrence Weil – Violoncello

Lamar Crowson – pianoforte

Clarinet Trio in E flat, K.498 – Mozart

Impromptus, Op. 142 – Schubert

Quatuor Pour la Fin du Temps – Oliver Messiaen

Wednesday 19 August

5.0 pm The Old Kitchen, Wardour Castle

Flute and Harpsichord

Lucy Berthoud – flute

Michael Thomas – harpsichord

Sonata No. 1 in B minor – Bach

Ordre B Minor – Couperin

Sonata No. 6 in E minor – Bach

8.30 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Room.

Discussion: Opera Today

Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Tippett.

Chairman: Harrison Birtwistle

Thursday 20 August

5.0 pm Wardour Castle Assembly Rooms.

A Matinee for Erik Satie

Given by Susan McGaw – pianoforte

Gymnopédies – Satie

Sonatas – C. P. E. Bach

Vieux sequins et Vieilles Cuirasses – Satie

Songs without Words – Mendelssohn

Jack-in-the-Box – Satie

8.30 pm Assemble Room Wardour Castle

Lecture: Musical Characterization in Mozart Opera.

Given by Stephen Pruslin, Princeton University.

Friday 21 August

8.30 pm Old Wardour Castle

Nocturnal.

A concert in the open air* of English and Italian echo-music from the 16th and 17th centuries for brass and voices

Given by: Gabrieli Ensemble and Choir conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr.

Music by Maschera, Isaac, A and G. Gabrieli

* under cover if wet

Saturday 22 August

8.30 pm Donhead St. Andrew Parish Church

Participants Concert

A concert given by the participants of the summer school.

Conductors: John Carewe, Michael Tippett.

Morgengesand – C. P. E. Bach

Symphony – Haydn

Sequentia Sanctia Evangeli – Peter Maxwell Davies

Secundam Lucan, in illo Tempore XXII 14-20 (first performance written for the summer school)

Fantasias – Gibbons

[…]

Cover Design by Antony Denning.

I have Epilepsy and am without medicine since my insurance was canceled w/out notice. Bad news for me, since a seizure and the wrong time and wrong place could kill me. There are also outside risk factors: I cannot look at flashing lights, I have to take my medication, try to avoid stress, and get more sleep than that average person. My grandfather died less than a month ago and last week, I got a call that my grandmother was in the hospital. In a rush, we got packed up and drove to be with her.
Of course, one the whole ride down, the sunlight was flickering through the trees. My seizure activity grew worse due to the lights. Imagine that your brain is a room in your house. You are trying to do something and someone just starts to turn the light on and off again; over and over. The more that my brain turns on and off; the greater the chances that I will lose consciousness. I began to have an aura (the sensation of knowing that I am about to have a big seizure that will lead to unconsciousness). My only option was to empty my mind of too many thoughts. The more you think, the more seizures you have (at least I do). But how do you clear your mind of thought? I scanned through the channels on the radio and prayed that I would not have a seizure. All the songs were much to fast; too much activity for my brain to handle at the time. Listening to those songs would have only hastened a seizure.
I finally found what must have been classical music channel. The music was soft, pleasing, and gentle. I did not recognize the composition at first, but all I cared about was that it was working. Listening to that music was actually helping me to slow my breathing while clearing my mind of the tornado of thoughts. Within minutes, my brain stopped flashing on and off. I was able to avoid a seizure by listening to what turned out to be Mendelssohn’s Midsummer’s Night Dream.
Can music be good for your health? Even when on my medication, I can have breakthrough seizures. Is it possible that music can be good for your body somehow? Since I was listening to classical music, I suppose that the proper question would be: Is it possible that listening to classical music can be good for your health?

Journal d’écoute du 25 octobre 2009

Aujourd’hui j’ai écouté:

• La septième symphonie de Beethoven interprété par le Berlin Philharmoniker, dirigé par Karajan
• Le concerto pour violon de Mendelssohn en DVD, interprété par Anne-Sophie Mutter

Quelques notes

J’ai eu la chance d’interviewer la violoniste Anne-Sophie Mutter au téléphone en début d’année. C’était mon premier article de musique classique dans La Presse, et j’étais très stressée. Elle a été fort gentille.

Son agent m’a fait parvenir son dernier enregistrement du concerto, à la fois sur CD et sur DVD. J’avais écouté le CD plusieurs fois, mais pas encore de DVD. En plus d’une performance en concert, il contient aussi l’extrait d’un documentaire sur Mendelssohn.

Anecdote: dans les jours qui ont suivi l’entrevue avec Mutter, j’ai eu une courte conversation avec Claude Gingras. Il m’a demandé si j’allais voir le concert de Mutter avec l’OSM. Je lui ai répondu que la dame des relations publiques de l’OSM avait oublié de m’offrir des billets, et que j’étais trop timide pour en demander. Il a alors pris le téléphone devant moi pour les appeler, et j’ai eu les meilleurs places de concert que j’avais jamais eus de ma vie, aux premières loges, du côté droit. Elle a joué de façon magistrale et poignante, je n’en ai pas perdu une note. Je connaissais déjà le concerto depuis longtemps puisqu’il faisait partie des pièces incontournables que l’on nous donnait à écouter dans les cours de littérature musicale au cégep. Mais l’interprétation que Mutter en fait est très personnelle, et totalement différente de la version que je connaissais.

Voici mon article sur elle, publié dans La Presse du 7 février 2009

*********************************************************************************************

Retour à Mendelssohn

Anne-Sophie Mutter revient à Montréal après 20 ans d’absence. Mais pour elle, c’est avant tout un retour au concerto en mi mineur de Mendelssohn, qu’elle n’avait pas joué depuis 10 ans.

Histoire de souligner le 200e anniversaire de naissance du compositeur, elle vient d’enregistrer l’oeuvre pour la deuxième fois, avec l’Orchestre du Gewandhaus, dirigé par Kurt Masur, sur Deutsche Grammophon.

Nous pourrons l’entendre les 10 et 11 février prochains avec l’OSM, sous la direction de Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

“Revenir à l’un des plus beaux concertos jamais écrits du répertoire pour violon est un moment marquant de ma vie, dit la musicienne, jointe à New York. Je retrouve tant de joie et de tendresse dans cette musique, que j’avoue voir Mendelssohn d’un oeil complètement différent aujourd’hui. Et je suis étonnée de constater qu’après 10 ans sans jouer le concerto, j’ai développé autant de passion pour lui.”

Il n’en a pas toujours été ainsi. Lorsqu’elle jouait Mendelssohn dans sa jeunesse, elle ne ressentait pas de connexion forte et immédiate avec le compositeur comme c’était le cas avec Mozart ou Beethoven.

“Je ne trouve aucune raison logique pour expliquer cela, c’était ainsi, tout simplement”, dit-elle.

Il en est tout autrement avec cette nouvelle interprétation très personnelle du concerto qu’elle nous offre. Son premier enregistrement de l’oeuvre datait de 1980, alors qu’elle jouait avec le Philarmonique de Berlin, dirigé par Herbert von Karajan. Qu’est-ce qui a changé depuis?

“Je crois que comparer un disque avec un autre n’est pas très sain, dit-elle, car à chaque instant de sa vie, un artiste essaie de donner le meilleur de lui-même. Chaque concert est une tentative pour se rapprocher le plus possible des intentions du compositeur. Mais c’est un travail en constante évolution.”

Sa récente interprétation du concerto se distingue de la précédente par l’emphase mise sur le côté passionné du premier mouvement, son dynamisme et cette impression de mouvement rapide et d’impatience caractéristique de Mendelssohn, explique la violoniste. Sans oublier la légèreté, l’élégance et l’articulation du dernier mouvement.

“Et bien sûr, je voulais souligner le caractère de romance sans paroles du second mouvement, qui le distingue d’un mouvement lent de concerto typique. Il nécessite une fluidité, pour ne pas le rendre romantique à outrance, ajoute-t-elle. Cette musique doit pouvoir se chanter. Je crois qu’avec Mendelssohn, comme chez Mozart, la simplicité est la clé.”

Elle a été inspirée dans cette direction notamment par les conseils du maestro Kurt Masur, qui a beaucoup travaillé à combattre les idées reçues sur le soi-disant manque de profondeur de Mendelssohn.

Mentionnons que l’Orchestre de Gewandhaus, avec lequel Mme Mutter vient d’enregistrer le concerto, est celui-là même qui l’avait joué pour la première fois à Leipzig, en 1845.

De retour à Montréal

Anne-Sophie Mutter n’en est pas à sa première collaboration avec l’OSM. Elle a participé à une tournée de l’orchestre en Europe avec Charles Dutoit. Sa dernière visite à Montréal remonte à 1989. Elle avait alors aussi joué le Mendelssohn.

“Je voulais revenir depuis longtemps, mais mon horaire ne le permettait pas, dit-elle. Je suis très contente de revenir et de jouer avec le maestro de Burgos, qui est l’un de mes chefs favoris. Nous avons travaillé plusieurs fois ensemble. Ma première en Espagne en 1978 était avec lui.”

C’est notamment parce qu’elle est une mère au travail “comme des millions d’autres”, insiste-t-elle, qu’elle n’a pas eu l’occasion de jouer souvent au Canada. Elle aimerait toutefois revenir avant longtemps pour présenter le concerto pour violon de la compositrice russe Sofia Goubaïdoulina, In Tempus Praesens, qui lui est dédié. Elle considère la pièce comme son “dernier grand amour en musique contemporaine”.

Plusieurs compositeurs ont créé des oeuvres pour la virtuose. C’est le cas, entre autres, de Penderecki et d’André Previn, son ex-mari.

“Rien ne se compare au moment où vous recevez une partition que vous êtes le premier à jouer, dit-elle. Bien entendu, vous n’en êtes pas propriétaire, mais un lien spécial se crée avec une oeuvre dont vous avez la primeur. Je suis toujours émue que les compositeurs me témoignent une telle confiance.”

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Voici un lien vers la critique de ce concert par Claude Gingras

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Déjeuner avec une diva, soirée avec Mozart

Aujourd’hui c’était vraiment une journée de musique. En plus des écoutes que j’ai faites, ce matin je suis allée déjeuner en compagnie d’une amie chanteuse d’opéra, que je ne nommerai pas ici puisqu’elle ne sait même pas que ce blogue existe, afin de lui poser diverses questions sur le chant lyrique. On apprend toujours énormément en compagnie de musiciens. Elle m’a également prêté trois livres sur l’opéra qui me seront très utiles. Évidemment mon amie n’est pas le moins du monde une diva, mais j’aime utiliser ce surnom de façon amicale.

Et ce soir, j’ai regardé le film Amadeus de Milos Forman avec mes amis, qui ne l’avaient jamais vu. Amadeus fait partie de mes films cultes depuis sa sortie en 1984. J’avais été le voir au cinéma avec ma mère à l’époque, j’avais alors quinze ans, et depuis, je crois que je l’ai regardé une bonne quinzaine de fois. Je le connais pratiquement par coeur. Toutefois, je ne l’avais pas vu depuis très longtemps.

Dans quelques semaines, nous allons assister à La Flûte enchantée à l’Opéra de Montréal et j’ai pensé que ce serait une bonne façon pour eux de s’initier au contexte de création de l’oeuvre et à la musique de Mozart, qu’ils ne connaissent pas tellement. Bien que ce film soit basé sur une pièce de théâtre et donne une aussi grande place à la fiction qu’à l’exactitude historique, je crois qu’il reste un excellent moyen de découvrir Mozart et sa musique. La trame sonore est extraordinaire, et j’apprécie particulièrement le passage où Mozart dicte à Salieri une partie de son Requiem.

Je voudrais que tout le monde puisse apprécier la musique classique, même s’ils n’ont pas eu la chance d’acquérir une culture musicale étant jeunes. À chaque fois que c’est possible, j’essaie d’inciter les gens qui m’entourent à en écouter et je leur disce que je sais sur les oeuvres et les compositeurs.

Seriously, though: fix your hair.

“RIVER” is to AKB48 what the 3rd Symphony, “Eroica,” was to Beethoven.

And the way I figure is this: “Eroica” was pretty much the first step in Beethoven revolutionizing the form of the symphony FOREVAR. Before that, his other symphonies had been cute little copies of Haydn, albeit already with the fancy-ass introductions and whackjob key changes that would become his trademark. But whereas, in the olden days, a symphony was supposed to be this 20-minute piece of fluff that you could knit to, Beethoven said to himself, fuck that shit, how about 20 minutes for the entire FIRST MOVEMENT. And how about the entire symphony be, like, 45 minutes long. I bet I can make those Viennese n00bs sit down and listen for 45 minutes if I felt like it!

So he did.

Fortunately, one does not need to sit down for 45 minutes to enjoy “RIVER” (although it would be awesome if you could), but you do have to sit down for 5 minutes and withstand a barrage of unexpected musical styles, including an entire first minute that is essentially notated as “N.C.” (no chord). The whole thing is as transformative as the idea of a 45-minute symphony; it’s a song that overturns the idea of AKB48—if not all of idoldom—being these randomly hyper dance-pop songs that you can knit to. (Besides knitting, they are also great for multiplayer shooter games. You try popping a cap upside the head of some bad dude in Uncharted 2 with “Aitakatta” blaring in the background. THUG LIFE.)

A great war commander.

Even thematically, they are similar: “Eroica,” after all, is moonspeak for “heroic” (and not some OTHER word you were thinking of, you perv), and “RIVER” is nothing if not an incredibly heroic song, both from an aural and visual perspective. Funny story about the “Eroica”: when Beethoven was working on it, he was planning on dedicating it to Napoleon, who at the time was a great war commander, much like Minami Takahashi. But then Napoleon let it get to his head and declared himself Supreme Ruler of the Moon, or something, at which point Beethoven decided he didn’t like Naps anymore and re-dedicated the symphony “to a great man.” I mean, I would be pretty freaked out (although not surprised) if, say, Atsuko Maeda went bonkers and decided to declare herself Empress of the Universe, at which point “RIVER” would be re-dedicated to … Jurina Matsui or something stupid.

The Empress of the Universe.

But “RIVER” does for the girl group pop song what “Eroica” did for the symphony.

Yoshimasa Inoue’s greatest masterpiece

You are probably familiar with Yoshimasa Inoue without realizing it. If you have enjoyed “Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru,” “Oogoe Diamond,” “10nenzakura,” “Namida Surprise!,” to name a few, you’ve been enjoying Inoue, who basically carries a large portion of songwriting duties for AKB48. Also, his given name is written in katakana (井上 ヨシマサ), kind of like Yasutaka Nakata of capsule and Perfume fame, which probably means it’s some kind of pen name. I mean, doesn’t “Yoshimasa” totally sound like some anime or video game character? He’s probably one of those anime protagonists where the naming convention is really cheesy and obvious, like they’re all named after seasons, or colors, or birds of prey, or like the guy is the main hero in the series so he’s called Hiro Nakamura (hurhurhurhur). So. Yoshimasa Inoue spelled with katakana.

Therefore, let us not give Yasushi Akimoto too much credit. He is, first and foremost, a lyricist and an impresario. He is the Bernie Taupin to Elton John, the Howard Ashman to Alan Menken,the Lorenzo da Ponte to Wolfgangus Theophilus Johannes Chrysostomus Mozart. (Ponte wrote the words to The Marriage of Figaro.) And also, as an impresario, he is doing a pretty bang-up job, because you always need a guy with a natural entrepreneurial flair to succeed in the music business. And it definitely looks like AKB48 is succeeding in the music business right now.

But about lyrics. The reason you don’t want to give Aki-P too much credit, is because there are really only 3 kinds of idol songs anyway:

1. Love is wonderful
2. Love sucks
3. Do your best

Guess what kind of song RIVARRRR is? Yes, it is No. 3. And its greatest contribution to the idol milieu, from a lyrical perspective, is that it sets the words of “Do your best” to a badass chant and stepping routine. I suppose Akimoto wrote the entire thing with a certain rhythmic concept in his head, told Inoue “I think it should sound like this,” and then Inoue wandered off to his studio, did all the REAL work, and vomited out this staggering pile of AWESOME.

I mean, nothing against his extensive body of work, but this may be Inoue’s greatest masterpiece. He made his reputation writing idol songs, and then finally comes up with the idol song that breaks all other idol songs. After years of everyone having convinced themselves that adhering to formula is the best way to proceed, Inoue is the one who shook the beaker of formula and made it explode.

The entire first minute alone seems to be a confrontational dare issued out to all of fandom. The military drill callout? That’s to stop stupid ass wotas from doing that ridiculous “Tiger! Cyber! Viber! Favre!” shit that they always do during the intro. (Mendelssohn did a similar trick with his E minor Violin Concerto, making the last note of each movement tie over to the next so that people would stop applauding in between movements.) The near-impossible stepping routine? That’s a challenge to everyone on YouTube; “Hey, why don’t you try copying THIS dance!” And the complete absence of traditional melody or harmony is going to trip up a lot of instrumentalists who thought they’d be able to play along to this one. (Just you wait. I have an idea for this on the piano.)

And it is not just the heroic introduction that smashes the structure of the traditional J-pop song (although it is certainly the most impressive part). The verse jumps right to the chorus without any sissy in-between prechorus. The bridge is two melodies at once; the call-and-response “AHH-AH-AH-AH” figure overlapping with a more standard lyric. And the final chorus stopping right on the dot instead of going to an outro—well, they probably needed that to keep it under 5 minutes, but it is also “RIVER”’s final act of self-assertion, proof that it will not, CANNOT, be bound to the traditional laws of song structure, any more than Mayu Watanabe’s blog posts can be bound to the traditional laws of Japanese spelling and grammar. “Yabyaa~” indeed.

Kawayusu~

“Actually, I like the B-side better”

One thing I have found strangely hilarious is the anti-”River” backlash that swelled up even before the single’s release date. And it went something like this. “I don’t like the chanting.” “I wanted ‘dark’ but the song isn’t dark enough.” (Well, what the hell kind of dark where you looking for? This is idol pop for goodness sakes! Are they supposed to sing about the maggots crawling under their skin while two metal guitarists shred off in the background?) “The chanting is different but the chorus sounds like all other AKB shit.” “There’s no coherence to the song, it’s like each section has nothing to do with each other.” (If you want to talk about melodic incoherence, listen to “10nenzakura” sometime. At least everything in “River” centers around a very specific ethnomusical aesthetic.) And the most damning of all, once the B-side PVs came out: “Actually, I like ‘Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara’ better.”

Which is kind of like saying, “Well, I prefer Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto to his Eroica symphony.” They were both composed around the same time but carry quite different levels of artistic importance! The Eroica is a freakin’ landmark of ALL OF MUSIC, while that piano concerto pretty much falls in the niche of piano fans and Beethoven fans, and even then it’s not the best of his piano concertos. (5th, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 1st, in that order.)

But hey, if you honestly like KimiKoto better, MOAR power to you! It’s an opinion, and everyone is entitled to one. Heck, for the record, I prefer the 4th Piano Concerto over the “Eroica” myself, because even though the “Eroica” is UTTERLY EPIC, it also ceases to hold my interest by about the the middle of the 2nd movement. (Although it wins me back during the 4th.) Ludwig-chan, you totally broke the mold for the structure of the symphony, but you also made it freaking LONG. Like Longcat. By which I mean, Yuki Kashiwagi.

Long Yukirin is LONG.

So. The 4th piano concerto (“Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara”). And the Eroica Symphony (“RIVER”). Two sides of the same disc (to say nothing of “Hikoukigumo”—which probably equates to one of the non-nicknamed piano sonatas), but of very different moods and ambitions. In fact, I put it this way:

“‘Kimi no Koto..’ starts on the same chords as ‘Iiwake,’ on the same instruments, keyed one note higher. Just saying.” [Pata quote]

Which may, in the end, not mean anything! Certainly not when one is too busy fawning over Lovetan’s dimples. But anyway. What is particularly clever about the song is how certain melody lines overlap each other at the points of greatest tension: the transitory phrase into the chorus (which coincidentially also sounds very much like the lead-in to the chorus of “Namida Surprise!”), and the “DA! I! SU! KI!” that connects the chorus’s first and second segments. If you’re gonna pick a place to “crowd” the voices and have someone sing over someone else, that’s pretty much the best place to put it. It’s not quite stretto, but it’s loli counterpoint, and it works specifically because you have however many girls running around cleaning up the pool and therefore have sufficient vocal resources to pull it off.

OMIGOD I WANT TO PINCH HER CHEEKS.

A glimmer of hope

To the asshats on 2ch who “leaked” the supposed “plot” of the PV which involved a rescue mission, a sniper, and Mariko forgetting her sunglasses: may God’s fire rain down upon your butt-shaped faces and send you to the same Hell as the place where the guy who wrote the “Hollywood version of Death Note” script is resting right now.

But more to the point of the PV: CLEARLY, JURINA IS THE SPY. C’mon, she doesn’t even LOOK twelve!

The cryptic ending of the real PV, meanwhile, has been a point of contention for a couple of weeks now. Flowers? That’s it? Did someone die? But when taken in context with the chord progressions used throughout the song, it totally makes freaking sense. Of course, not many people are interested in sense being made because they’re too busy living in the froo-froo world wailing and waving about sales figures.

But here’s what it is. You listen to the first verse of “RIVER.” It starts in the key of C# minor (SAD), a.k.a. the “Moonlight Sonata,” a.k.a. “Kanashimi Twilight,” which is pretty dark except without being forcibly emo about it. But in the space of just eight measures, it has moved to the chord of B major, which can mean a lot of things but in this particular situation implies most strongly the dominant of E major, meaning that it’s about to modulate to relative major (HAPPY) of C# minor. A glimmer of hope, right? SAD goes to HAPPY.

EXCEPT IT DOESN’T.

Instead, it drops the floor out from under you. You don’t get E major. The chorus of “RIVER” is in bloody E minor!!

The PARALLEL MINOR of the RELATIVE MAJOR of the original key!

Yabyaaaa~~~!!!

But so here comes the chorus. And it sounds a lot like Inoue’s other AKB48 choruses, I mean the bastard pretty much used the same progression in “Oogoe Diamond” and “10nenzakura” and did little to hide the fact, and again you’re getting the same thing here where you move via stepwise chord motion to get to the relative major of the key you’re in. Except “RIVER” is less obvious about it, although perceptive ears will still catch the hints in the tune: the lowest notes in each phrase of the first strain move downward from E to D to C to B. This song can’t help but move somewhere—moving where?—crossing the river, perhaps. And then, at the last line, you get … a glimmer of hope.

It moves to the most stable position in that key signature: the tonic major, G.

AND THEN IT DROPS THE FLOOR OUT FROM UNDER YOU AGAIN!

Because right after the last note of the chorus it jumps RIGHT BACK TO C# MINOR!! A frigging tritone interval! It is the most dramatic harmonic leap in all of Western music theory and “RIVER” fucking shoves it IN YOUR FACE!!!

And you start to realize what “RIVER” is totally about. It uses all these dark, minor tonalities to reflect the struggles of life but moves irrevocably toward the major key, always reaching toward the shining light of hope—only to have it ripped away at the last moment, at the end of the first verse, at the end of the first chorus, the end of the second verse, the end of the second chorus, even after the bridge (which is written in E major), because the struggles of life are never-ending. Only on that abrupt last chord does the song finally rest and say: “YOU CAN DO IT!!”

And even then, a four-word phrase that describes potential yet to be fulfilled, a promise of things to come, because we cannot for a moment rest on our accomplishments. Modulated to the major key? Now do it again from the relative minor! Got the entry-level job you were shooting for? Now prove that you have what it takes to lead a project team! Thrilled about meeting AKB48 in New York? Now fly to Japan and see them THERE!

Except, most stupid ass wotas are too thick to understand Yoshimasa Inoue’s mastery of the major-minor duality, so you gotta put it in obvious terms they can understand. Like the rest of the song’s lyrics. And also: the flowers.

If the entire harmonic structure of “RIVER” is a glimmer of hope amidst endless struggle, then the flowers in the PV codify it in tangible form, a convenient visual cue that stands out from everything else. The PV, after all, is everything that’s wrong with “realistic” and “gritty” video games these days: greens and browns and grays, from the props and backgrounds to the very school uniforms they’re wearing during the dance routine. But amidst all the drabness and grit: a shock of purple at the end, a sign that there are still Marios and Katamaris in a world full of Halo and Call of Duty. And that Mariko, if she actually did forget her sunglasses, can always come back for them.

Why Mr. and Mrs. Shinoda I had no idea you had such a lovely daughter.

So if this is Beethoven’s 3rd, what are the other singles?

The nice gentleman that I met at Webster Hall turned out to be, among other things, an aficionado of classical music. That made, like, two of us in the entire freaking venue. As it turns out, he was a big fan of symphonies in general, moreso than myself and my piano-centric fandom. Actually, I’m still not sure if I can forgive him for calling Chopin “one-dimensional.” Asshat!! Chopin is one of the pillars of piano literature! You wouldn’t understand.

So I ask myself why I declared “RIVER” to be the “Eroica.” Why not the epic and instantly memorable 5th Symphony? (Because “Aitakatta!” already took that spot. BUH BUH BUH BUMMMM!~~ = AITAKATTA! Don’t you hear it? 3 repeated notes and a major third down; 3 repeated notes and a perfect fourth up! They’re practically sisters of each other.) Why not the virtuosic “Waldstein” Sonata, which has enough ridiculous 16th-note runs to give the entire stepping routine a run for its money? And where the hell is “Für Elise”? Quite frankly, I like to stay as far away from “Für Elise” as possible, it being one of my most hated over-requested piano pieces that reminds me too much of Chinese six-year-old piano-playing robots who walk into piano stores with their moms and that’s the only thing they can play because they (and their parents) think it sounds cool. In fact, I am utterly convinced that there is this secret cadre of overcompetitive East Asian parents whose entire method of keeping score is based on how quickly their kid learns to play “Für Elise.”

I mean, it doesn’t even deserve to be on the Top 10 of Beethoven’s greatest works. It would be … like … one of those AKB songs that everyone adores but I just don’t give a shit about. “Für Elise” is “Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru.”

“BINGO!” is the “Spring” Violin Sonata because it’s just so full of hope and sunny optimism, plus the melody suits itself amazingly well to the violin. I can tell you this because I’ve tried it. Plus it a strings version of “BINGO!” would sound so sweet on the Nodame Cantabile soundtrack.

“Namida Surprise!” is probably the “Moonlight Sonata” because, like the “Moonlight,” it does a parallel minor-major shift (the “Moonlight” between movements, “Surprise!” between verse and chorus), and it has this goofy bit in the middle that seems to have been shoved in there just because they could (the Minuet vs. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MY FRIIIIEEENNNDDDD), and it’s only popular because there’s that one bit that everyone remembers (DUH-nuh-nuh Duh-nuh-nuh Duh-nuh-nuh) but they couldn’t give a crap about the rest of the piece, just like how everyone recognizes the chorus of “Namida Surprise!” but half of them can’t hum the verse to save their lives.

“Baby! Baby! Baby” is the 7th Symphony in A major because it is relentlessly joyful with lots of brass, and admit it, you’d pay a helluva lot closer attention to the 7th Symphony as well if it were performed by hawt girls in bikinis.

Also, a Bikini Symphony Orchestra would have no problems with ticket sales and funding.

But “RIVER” is where it is because of what it does. I would like to believe that it is not AKB48’s greatest achievement, but merely a herald of greatness to come. Greatness that comes in the form of 50 seconds of clap and slap, of a minor-keyed struggle reaching inexorably toward a glimmer of hope, of the very bones and flesh of the contemporary pop single being mutated into a new form. There will never be another “RIVER” again. Which is good, because Beethoven never made another “Eroica” either. Instead, he pressed ever onward, smashing barriers left and right until he left nothing but the corpses of the Classical period in his wake and a newly broken passageway into the blindling light of the Romantic era. A Watarirouka that you could Hashiri through, if you will. Let’s discuss this again in a few years when AKB is on life support and the Next Great Idol Unit is rising through the ranks. I’ll point out to you which of their songs is the “Ode to Joy.”

I can’t wait to hear how it’ll sound like.

En 2005 la marca de vaqueros Levi´s lanzó una campaña de San Valentín para promocionar su modelo 501. Esta campaña estaba diseñada alrededor de un pasaje de la obra El sueño de una noche de verano. El anuncio titulado Midsummer fue dirigido por Noam Murro y llevaba la extraordinaria música de Mendelssohn, todo con una puesta en escena que trasladaba la acción al moderno Los Ángeles en un contexto de pandillas de barrio y el amor. Protagonizan el anuncio Joshua Alba y Amanda Sudano.

En el anuncio, el protagonista es increpado por una pandilla callejera por el estilo de sus pantalones. Él, impasible, manifiesta en lenguaje clásico ante la cámara sus pensamientos, que representan valores como la seguridad, inconformismo, originalidad y atrevimiento. Finalmente la protagonista le cuenta que se ha quedado prendada de él.

El anuncio dio bastante que hablar y tuvo sus defensores y detractores por utilizar un fragmento de una obra de Shakespeare. El fragmento corresponde al momento en que Bottom se convierte en asno y Titania se enamora de él.

Los defensores señalaban que posiblemente hubiera gente que se acercaría a la obra gracias al anuncio y sus detractores que era una lástima que nadie tuviese que recurrir a Shakespeare para vender unos pantalones. En fin, este es el anuncio y más abajo el texto de la escena:

Fragmento versionado por Levi´s:

Chico Guapo Piensa : Advierto su vileza. Quieren que quede como un asno

Chico Malo Dice : Pandero

Chico Guapo Piensa : Para asustarme si pueden

Chico Malo Dice : Estais cambiado, ¿ qué veo en vos ?

Chico Guapo Piensa : Pero de aqui no me movere — – Chico Guapo Dice : Que es lo que veis, veis vuestra cara de asno, no?– –Chico Guapo Piensa : De un lado a otro caminare y cantare

Chica Guapa Dice : ¿Que angel me alzo de mi lecho de flores ?

Chico Guapo Piensa : Que no les temo demostrare

Chica guapa dice : Os lo suplico gentil mortal, cantad. Prendado esta mi oido de vuestro sonido, tan conmovido esta mi ojos por vuestras formas …. que os amo.

Fragmento de la obra:

Bottom: Ya entiendo su artimaña. Querrían convertirme en un borrico y asustarme si pudieran. Pero, hagan lo que hicieren, no he de moverme de aquí. Me pasearé de arriba abajo y cantaré para que me oigan y sepan que no tengo miedo. (Canta.)

El mirlo de negro color

con pico anaranjado oscuro,

el tordo, con su acento puro,

el reyezuelo volador…

Titania: (Despertando). ¿Qué ángel me despierta en mi lecho de flores?

Bottom: … la alondra, el pardillo, el pinzón,

el cuco gris, de simples cantos,

que, entre los hombres, oyen tantos

sin arriesgar contestación…

Titania: Ruégote, gentil mortal, que cantes de nuevo. Tu melodía ha cautivado mi oído, así como tu forma ha encantado mi vista. Y la fuerza de tu fascinación me mueve a la primera mirada a decirte, a jurarte que te amo.

Zeven stukken van drie Duitse componisten
Vrijdag 23 oktober zal de Duitse organist Wolfgang Zerer — onder meer docent aan het Conservatorium te Groningen — een recital verzorgen op het Van Oeckelen-orgel in de Lutherse Kerk te Groningen. Het concert begint om 20:15 uur en zal tot ongeveer kwart voor tien duren. Het is het tweede concert in de reeks Orgel Anders van het seizoen 2009/2010, dat in die periode steeds op de vierde vrijdagavond van de maand wordt gerealiseerd.
Het programma bestaat uit werken van uitsluitend Duitse componisten: Bach, Mendelssohn en Ritter. Het recital zal worden geopend met vier stukken van Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Praeludium & Fuga in A — BWV 536, ontstaan in de jaren 1708-1717 en drie koraalvoorspelen uit dezelfde periode op Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr’, respectievelijk BWV 662, 663 en 711.
Wolfgang Zerer presenteert in aansluiting daarop twee werken uit de negentiende eeuw: een orgelcompositie van Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847): de tweedelige Sonata in A gecomponeerd op 17 augustus 1844 — en samen met de andere vijf Sonata’s uitgegeven te Wenen in 1842 —, gevolgd door diens Variations sérieuses, gecomponeerd op 4 juni 1841 voor piano solo en thans gespeeld op het Van Oeckelen-orgel.
De orgelvoordracht zal worden besloten met de Dritte Orgelsonate in a kleine terts, opus 23, van August Gottfried Ritter (1811-1885). Het stuk, dat is opgedragen aan Franz Liszt (1811-1886), is omstreeks 1855 gecomponeerd.
___________
Afbeeldingen
1. De Duitse organist en orgeldocent Wolfgang Zerer.
2. De Duitse componist August Gottfried Ritter.

Saturday night’s London Philharmonic Orchestra performance of Medelssohn’s Elijah conducted by Kurt Masur was dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. 

Peter Reed in the online reviews site Classical Source:

 Masur is very closely linked with Mendelssohn’s dramatic oratorio and he has done this extraordinary work a very great service. We all remember performances of it that have seemed like walking through the accretions of many layers of dark, sticky varnish. This is the result of the heavily respectful, English annexation of a work that has diluted the Victorians’ understandable enthusiasm for it into a one-dimensional, worthy holiness. The LPO’s performance went a long way to clinching the process of de-anglicanisation by using the new bicentennial edition of the score, and by singing it in German, which had the effect of placing the work firmly in its early-romantic context as well as asserting its indebtedness to Bach.

And a thoughtful review from blog ‘Boulezian’:
The London Philharmonic sounded resplendent in from the opening bars, the Overture, which follows Elijah’s opening recitative, providing ample occasion both to appreciate its performance and to prepare oneself for the drama to come. There was especially fine solo work from woodwind principals, Jaime Martin (flute) and Daniel Bates (oboe). The latter’s obbligato contribution to the arioso, ‘Ja, es sollen wohl Berge weichen,’ was profoundly moving, quite outstanding. And the brass made the most of their opportunities, whether menacing or rejoicing, without ever sounding the slightest bit brash. The London Philharmonic Choir was outstanding: full of tone and equally incisive of attack. Large forces are called for here and the thrill of large forces we received.

London Philharmonic Orchestra website

LPO on Facebook

Our Gear in a Basement

Suprisingly enough Monday returns every week and I’m forced to find new music to showcase here.

I did get to see lots of music on the weekend, with the highlight being a wondrous symphony concert on Saturday. Beethoven and Mendelssohn were on the program and I was happy to be in attendance.

But here is something older but still packing a punch.

Peace,Love&GoodVibes
SnowDove,ArmsUp

p.s. I’m afraid of big people

Cả ngày bó chân ở nhà, kiểm được đủ thứ nhưng mà bản năng quá >:< Kế hoạch đi tong hết thảy , cả kế hoạch đi ngủ sớm nữa >:<

Vậy là giờ này vưỡn chưa đi ngủ…Khi mà đồng hồ sinh học sắp bắt kịp mặt trời mặt trăng thì mình lại sắp làm bạn với mấy con cú rồi )

Tự dưng cứ lang thang down hết link này đến link khác…rồi vớ đâu được 1 bạn rất chi tốt bụng, cả 1 kho nhạc classical bạn ấy up lên mediafire rồi public cả :*. Không 320k thì cũng lossless…đáng yêu làm sao!. Mà có con mèo nào chê mỡ đâu, mặc dù bình thường con mèo này thích ăn cá hơn ^^!

Tiếc là bạn ấy chả thích Vivaldi thì phải, nhưng bù lại bạn ấy rất khoái Mendelssohn và Beethoven có lẽ^^! Có cái violin concerto của Mendelssohn, giờ cover bằng flute mới quyến rũ làm sao. (

Nhưng thôi, cái gì cũng có giới hạn thôi…không đến lúc lại chửi thầm mình dễ dãi với bản thân :”> Nốt đêm nay thui nhé ^^!

Mà sao mình viết giọng lả lơi thế nhỉ…chắc tại nghe được cái bản cover kia nên phởn quá rồi )

Sáng mai …lớp Tae hok mở thì chắc phát điên quá.!! (đùa chứ càng ngày mình càng hiền :|, đến viết blog cũng hok lỡ chửi người ta=)) )

Am Dienstag (13.10.09) war die konstituierende Sitzung des Seminars “Außer Salons nichts gewesen?- Judentum in der Romantik” in dem neuen Bau der Hochschule für Jüdische Studien. Schwerpunkt des Seminars ist die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Kommunikationsmodell des Salons im 19. Jahrhundert, wobei die Salons in Berlin um 1800 eine Besonderheit darstellen. Die Frage, die aber im Seminartitel mitklingt, ist, inwieweit diese eher intellektuellen elitären Zirkel tatsächlich einen relevanten Teil des jüdischen Lebens um 1800 darstellten. Tatsächlich hatte diese Salonkultur eine beeindruckende Wirkungsgeschichte, die allerdings mit dem Großbürgertum Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts ihr Ende fand. Die Studierenden des Seminars äußerten ihr Interesse an der Vertiefung ihres Wissens von der Romantik und der besonderen Rolle der Salonièren in dieser Zeit. Interessant dürfte es auch sein, wenn erörtert wird, wie der preußische Staat unter Friedrich Wilhelm II. wichtige Entwicklungen versäumte und wie das daraus resultierende Unbehagen in intellektuellen Kreisen in der kulturellen Auseinandersetzung ein Ventil fand, deren Visionen noch heute eine Faszination haben. Die Idee, dass der Salon ein Freiraum der zweckfreien Kommunikation sein konnte und gleichzeitig Impulse in das öffentliche Leben vermittelte, war eine Vision, die gerade von denen ausging, denen am stärksten Freiräume verweigert wurden: Juden und Frauen. Bemerkenswert, dass es in Heidelberg, der so oft als romantisch verklärten Stadt, keine Salons gab. Doch wer weiß, vielleicht versteht es das Seminar, in diesem Zusammenhang einiges wiederzuentdecken.

7.00pm Saturday 17 October 2009, Royal Festival Hall

Kurt Masur conducts Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Unfortunately John Relyea has withdrawn from this performance owing to a severe throat infection.   His replacement in the role of Elijah is Alastair Miles

Full soloist list and ticket booking