I Hear A Symphony: A "classical" music topic?

[gruelingpace]

Sibelius: Symphony No.5 - Vänskä/LPO(2010Live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RwOxQBpVyg

I'm trying this.

[gruelingpace]

Nope.

[JK]

Nope.

You can't win 'em all, gh. Try this instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjyLWoJvtME

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swan_of_Tuonela

[gruelingpace]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8pVaQVJuY

[JK]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8pVaQVJuY

Wow, Erich Kleiber! Great choice there, gh. Better than Sibelius, eh?

Listening to it now. Thanks for sharing!

[gruelingpace]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8pVaQVJuY

Wow, Erich Kleiber! Great choice there, gh. Better than Sibelius, eh?

My preferences tend towards perfection of the warhorse .

[JK]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8pVaQVJuY

Wow, Erich Kleiber! Great choice there, gh. Better than Sibelius, eh?

My preferences tend towards perfection of the warhorse .

Aha. Are you familiar with the nine Beethoven symphonies under René Leibowitz? Fantastic!

You'll find them here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=leibowitz+beethoven

[JK]

Heard this today as the background music to a scene from Mr. Robot. Holst's The Planets suite has always afforded rich pickings for makers of films and TV programmes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-G272M77N0

https://songsfromsodeep.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/space-music-holsts-neptune-the-mystic/

[JK]

The soprano whom I used to help with her parts (she sings in a semi-professional choir) has resumed singing again after a bout of illness. One of the pieces I helped her with today was this incredibly moving Requiem by Herbert Howells:

Another work on that programme is Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater. (Not to be confused with the one written by his father Allessandro.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmmM-sgvXQk

https://www.stabatmater.info/componist/scarlatti-2/

[JK]

This spectacular sequence is from part two of Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible. Prokofiev supplies the equally spectacular music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tcPBx3O_H4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_(1944_film)#Part_2

[JK]

Michael Nyman's Music After a While narrowly avoided being unceremoniously dumped in the ambient thread. It was the association with Henry Purcell's Music For a While that saved the day (see details in link):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiQFJhvukVs

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8546907--if-michael-nyman-henry-purcell

[JK]

This is for you, zosobird. You know why.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cd3Mt2SDCw

[JK]

My last major project at the Endless Harmony forum was a seven-post rundown of Gustav Holst's orchestral suite The Planets.

That mini-series was prompted by the unexpected inclusion of the final movement, "Neptune, the Mystic", as background music in a TV show, where it represented alienation rather than the hush of concentration Holst intended. You'll need to crank up the volume considerably as I believe the loudest it gets is mezzo-piano:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26tYwaTFOzA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets

[JK]

It's that day again. This rendition of Wagner's "Good Friday Music" is for halblaineisgood aka Treatzapiza, who I hope is doing well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb9sx5G3YZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb9sx5G3YZw

[JK]

It's that other day again, folks...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQoGMgA3wR0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Easter_Festival_Overture

[JK]

Last week we attended a concert for string quartet. Normally I'm not a chamber music fan at all but this programme was special. Aside from Steve Reich's Different Trains for string quartet and tape (see today's ambient topic), what attracted us was a work by John Luther Adams, The Wind in High Places. We'd been bowled over by Adams's recent orchestral masterpiece Becoming Desert a while back and this older work didn't disappoint (read the linked wiki page for essential details). Here's part two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxYnROT9QUI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_in_High_Places

[JK]

I'm no fan of Bach (unless Glenn Gould is playing it) but this motet I heard at the funeral service of a local choral conductor was very moving indeed. Maybe the occasion had something to do with it. That said, the deceased was only the most fleeting of acquaintances. (The music starts about half a minute in.) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFbTZ9T7ogc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Jesu_Christ,_meins_Lebens_Licht,_BWV_118

[JK]

It was the use of music from The Planets (part of "Neptune" and a snippet from "Mars") in an episode, posted elsewhere by my blogger friend, of Mr. Robot that gave me the idea of tackling each of the seven movements of Holst's orchestral suite chronologically, accompanied by a potted description off the top of my head (this will explain any errors). This Smiley version has been slightly abridged and reduced to a single post. With thanks to CB for unwittingly instigating it!  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets

The work opens with "Mars, the Bringer of War". Begun, I believe, before WWI broke out, it is prophetic of the mechanized warfare to come. The 5/4 rhythm batters its way inexorably through the movement, with a brief lull about halfway and a cry of pain towards the end.

"Mars" has been used in a modified form by King Crimson in "The Devil's Triangle" from their second album In the Wake of Poseidon.

The version of The Planets I'll be linking is by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis. A brief anecdote (while I'm on a roll): Davis and I actually attended the same grammar school, although he was my senior by two or three years. When I was fourteen I took him a piece of music I'd written--just some derivative fluff. He played through it with all the care and attention worthy of a masterpiece, and then played (and sang) a big chunk of a cantata he had been working on. And now he's a world-famous conductor.

You should turn the volume up reasonably high to catch the hushed opening rhythm on the strings but you may find yourself turning it down later on!

Mars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuG8qxkcsdw

The second movement, "Venus, the Bringer of Peace", is the one that contrasts most with its predecessor in the suite. That rising horn figure, answered by cool flutes, ushers in a picture of serenity. Later a solo oboe rises to the occasion. After a gentle climax, a rippling celesta brings the movement to a close. Holst was a troubled man but nothing of it shows in these almost nine minutes of bliss.

Venus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1zKUUNjOA

"Mercury, the Winged Messenger" is mercurial in both name and nature. This last-named is expressed musically in two ways:

First, the key furthest away from C is F#, positioned midway between one C and the C an octave above (or below). This interval is called the tritone and it can be made great use of in the hands of a capable composer, as here. (I could probably do better to describe it as a sophisticated use of bitonality.)

Second, the rhythm alternates between bars of 3/4 and 6/8; these are sometimes heard simultaneously.

The effect of these two devices makes "Mercury" feel as light as air. It's also the shortest of the seven movements--indeed, it's more like an interlude or perhaps a scherzo.

Mercury: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ucD-sGXUhY

"Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" (lovely word, that) is the one you're most likely to hear on the radio. It simply brims over with great tunes.

Understandably in this light, it is the most plundered movement of the seven. Manfred Mann's Earthband even took one of the tunes (first heard at 1:05) into the charts as "Joybringer". And Frank Zappa introduced his "Ritual Dance Of The Giant Pumpkin" on Absolutely Free with another (first heard at 1:46).

The big tune at 3:15 was given lyrics and sung as a patriotic hymn ("I Vow to Thee, My Country") during WWI. I can't remember whether Holst sanctioned this move but it's totally out of keeping with the carefree nature of "Jupiter". (Regrettably, the video makes mention of this misuse in the title.) My favourite passage is the swirling, almost psychedelic treatment of this very tune just before the coda.

Jupiter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0GHYeAJ5LM

When I first heard "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age" I was in my mid teens. More than half a century later, it is still one of my favourite Holst pieces. (The title is somewhat more telling now, of course.)

It begins with two alternating chords representing the inexorable march of the years. Later, we get one of Holst's "sad processions"--he was haunted by these all his life--in the brass at first. Four flutes introduce a new, more urgent element that builds until the bells clang out an alarm. Panic briefly ensues before acceptance takes over and the movement ends in serene, widely spaced chords underpinned by low notes on the organ pedals.

Saturn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQoQ7bVHjrc

"Uranus, the Magician" has much in common with Dukas' Sorceror's Apprentice, except that this sorceror is in control from the get-go. The opening four-note incantation on the brass recurs throughout the movement, which builds until a shattering glissando on the organ transports us to a serene realm devoid of all hocus-pocus.

Uranus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzTk2ut6Ef0

"Neptune, the Mystic" is one of the quietest pieces ever written. (I don't believe it rises above mezzo-piano.) I remember the LP liner notes going on to describe this low volume as "the hush of concentration" rather than of despair or anything negative. The high G (here at 3:51) takes a while to impress itself on the senses. It is sung by female voices located in a room offstage. Dividing into six (?) parts, they carry the work to its conclusion. To sneakily quote an old Smiley post of mine, the door of the room closes slowly on the female choir with the final bar "repeated until the sound is lost in the distance".

Neptune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26tYwaTFOzA

PS: Anyone bold enough to investigate the full score can find it here. I remember gawping at its graphic qualities as a young child. Before then I'd heard The Planets only once on the radio, at night, drifting up the stairs to my bedroom where it conjured up multi-coloured visions of outer space.

EGDON HEATH

The CD that I've used to illustrate each planet concludes with my favourite among Holst's compositions, the orchestral miniature Egdon Heath. Written in 1927, the composer considered it his most perfectly realized work. (Not being a part of the series, I took the liberty of looking some things up at this point!)

The version linked here (recorded in 1961 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult) is the one I've always known and loved. The YouTube blurb is pretty well complete in itself, with the wiki page providing some additional background information:

"A place perfectly accordant with man's nature--neither ghastly, hateful nor ugly; neither commonplace, unmeaning nor tame; but like man, slighted and enduring; and withal singularly colossal and mysterious in its swarthy monotony." This quotation from Thomas Hardy's 1878 novel The Return of the Native appears on the score of Gustav Holst's tone poem Egdon Heath, dedicated to Hardy (who, at age 87, had one more year of life remaining), and long regarded by the composer as his finest work. It was commissioned by the New York Symphony Orchestra, which premiered it under the direction of Walter Damrosch at New York's Mecca Auditorium on 12 February 1928. The next day Holst led the City of Birmingham Symphony in the British premiere at Cheltenham, where the first major festival of Holst's music had taken place the previous year. Those initial performances went well, but another in London a few days later was greeted poorly by a noisy and unreceptive audience. This seems to have made Holst a bit anxious about the work, and may have led to his desire that the above Hardy quotation should always appear in any explanatory programme notes.

In her book on her father's music, Holst's daughter Imogen evokes the Hardy quotation in referring to the "mysterious monotony" of the tone poem, which begins with a sombre melody heard first in the double basses, then taken up by the rest of the strings. A nostalgic theme in the brass and woodwinds, and a scurrying theme in the strings and oboe, work their way into the texture as well, leading to moody, twilit music and what has been described as a "strange, ghostly dance". This dark, evocative work finishes the same way it started: quietly, and somewhat mysteriously. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msIL7eavgk4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egdon_Heath



Gustav Holst (21 September 1874--25 May 1934)

[JK]

Some of the streets in my area are named after composers, most of them big international names but also a few Dutch men and women, many of whom have slipped into obscurity. One street is named after the Dutchman Willem Landré (1874-1948). I remember a late composer friend not being particularly impressed with him (I must look it up). This "romantic piano concerto" from 1936 is pleasant enough. His son Guillaume (1905-1968) was also a composer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0ZIJwrVQG4

[JK]

It's time to do the topic title justice and get lost in a symphony (I find symphonies and landscape paintings are great places to lose oneself).

There's this Dutch TV presenter, a Bach fanatic, who once said that his mother used to say if you don't know who the composer is of the work you're listening to, it's probably Dvořák.   I heard the third movement of his Symphony No. 8 (my favourite Dvořák symphony) this morning on Dutch radio, in this version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ps_Pprg-ro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._8_(Dvořák)

[NOLA BB Fan]

Just a note to thank you for posting about The Planets, one of my favorite symphonies.
And I can't get enough Dvorak!
Thanks again.

E

PS wish I could figure out how to put accent marks in on my tablet.

Update: the tablet doesn't have the accent for the r, but has for the a - á. Not easy to work with it though. Miss my old PC at work - could do all the accents, different alphabets etc.
Accents are important . One of our Residents was preparing a slide presentation he was going to give in México. One of the slides was concerning a 5 year old child. This was in the old days before programs such as Powerpoint, so our audiovisual department had to make the slides. The text in the slides was in Spanish. The Resident freaked when he saw the slide about the child. It was supposed to have the word " año, " for "year." Instead it read " ano", er , not right!

[JK]

Just a note to thank you for posting about The Planets, one of my favorite symphonies.
And I can't get enough Dvorak!
Thanks again.

E

Thank you, Lizzie. That means a lot. Just a few words of thanks makes it all worthwhile. Same goes for rab, who thanked me for my ambient stuff and my non-BB music posts in general. I don't believe anyone "liked" those Holst posts at EH--at least I didn't see any likes when I sneaked in there to copy it--not even the dedicatee.

Curiously, Holst didn't consider The Planets among his best works and was bewildered by its success. All the same, this work and its composer are pretty synonymous in the public consciousness. I suspect most fans of The Planets would be hard put to name another work by Gustav H.    

PS wish I could figure out how to put accent marks in on my tablet.

Couldn't you do what I do and cut and paste names like Dvořák from the first correctly accented mention online?   

Update: the tablet doesn't have the accent for the r, but has for the a - á. Not easy to work with it though. Miss my old PC at work - could do all the accents, different alphabets etc.
Accents are important . One of our Residents was preparing a slide presentation he was going to give in México. One of the slides was concerning a 5 year old child. This was in the old days before programs such as Powerpoint, so our audiovisual department had to make the slides. The text in the slides was in Spanish. The Resident freaked when he saw the slide about the child. It was supposed to have the word " año, " for "year." Instead it read " ano", er , not right!

 

[JK]

I can't get enough Dvorak!

No sooner said than done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXsdubp5kFs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Spinning_Wheel_(Dvořák)

[JK]

I'm no fan of concertos as a rule--the idea of one instrument pitted against the rest simply doesn't appeal to me. The one I heard this morning is an exception (there are others). Here the two "parties" can be heard warmly working "in concert". A great start to the day then.     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nslGLvCVc_Q

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_(Barber)

[JK]

Christer Danielsson is a name that means nothing to me. Yet the fourth movement ("Alla Marcia") of his Concertant Suite for tuba and four horns, which I heard yesterday on the radio, is so familiar. Was it a theme tune from some past radio or TV programme? All I can find out about Danielsson is that he was Swedish and lived from 1942 to 1989. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9mDiM4pk3I