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Archive for the ‘Classical’ Category

Day 84. Mozart.

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Mira’s box-set fascination continues with the complete Mozart Piano Concertos (period instrument recordings with Malcom Bilson and John Eliot Gardiner). While Mozart’s symphonies are great pieces and are rightfully seen as a pillar in his oeuvre, along with his operas I see Mozart’s Piano Concertos as his most important works. Mostly because they are the most operatic of his purely instrumental works. The standards he helped set up and solidify for the classical concerto are on the same level as Haydn’s contribution to the sonata-allegro form. And the dramatic contrast of the soloist and the orchestra is developed to a very deep level. Since there is no text and they are more abstract then the operas, that these works have such strong dramatic form is even more impressive to me. And that the piano writing basically defines lyrical (for an instrument where the attack is so univocal) is even more impressive to me.

The first one I heard was on one of Tamiko’s Music History tapes (while I was still in high school and hadn’t heard much classical music yet). Number 20 in d minor is a pretty dark piece. Between that, what I had heard of the Requiem and snippets of the ‘Amadeus’ soundtrack, I though Mozart was one dark guy. Dark and intense! And while he does have those moments, that certainly isn’t the case for 95% of his music. So when he does write some dark music, it almost seems like he is saving it up. Mozart’s light is often quite pleasant, but when he gets dark he knew what he was doing.

I got the Bilson / Gardiner set after I knew Mozart’s work much better. I put on the disc with number 20 first and I was shocked at how different it sounded on the older instruments. The piano’s sound is thinner, and the thundering low octaves in parts of the first movement take on a different lyrical quality on the older instrument (where the octaves just help the line come out of the texture in a more balanced fashion. It was amazing to hear how much the same instruments (but in a much younger form) changed how a piece sounded. The music is intense in a different way. But with the older instruments the intensity actually works on a much more human level. Where on modern instruments it feels like the doom of the world, the older instruments make it feel like the doom of a man. The period instruments make the whole body of work more personal, and in some ways even more tragic. But it is also what makes the second movement even more beautiful. It is the voice of someone who has come through a storm. And it is strange to me that, at this more personal level, the works in general feel more universal.

Day 83. Corelli.

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

Corelli’s music (mostly summed up in six 12 piece collections) has resonated with me for some reason since I first heard it. During my History of Western Music classes at UC Berkeley, he was introduced just after Purcell’s drony Fantasias. Then, after Corelli we were given another example of Purcell’s music after he came into contact with Corelli’s music. The change is startling, and the difference comes from the strong tonal (dominant-tonic) structures that show up so distinctly in Corelli’s music. The strong dissonances in his counterpoint also struck my ears, and I remember heading to the record store that same day to see what there was. Eight discs. Op 1. through Op. 6. … 48 sonatas for two violins and continuo, 12 sonatas for violin and continuo and 12 concerti grossi.

And while I remember pretty clearly the first time I heard Corelli in class, the strongest memory I have of Corelli’s music comes from a drive up the California coast on Hwy. 1. One Friday afternoon after class at Berkeley I picked Tamiko up at work with enough clothes for the weekend, and headed for I-80 and the Bay Bridge. Tamiko had until we got to US 101 to decide if we would turn left or right, and Tamiko chose right (north) and we headed off toward the Golden Gate bridge. Once on the other side I would head toward Highway 1 and we would head north until we found a place to stay for the night. As luck would have it, I accidentally missed the turn-off for Highway 1 and we would up in Mill Valley (where the next weekend Tamiko and I would head for since we found it so cute… and eventually we decided that is where we would get married!). I eventually found my way to Highway 1, and we were driving past Stinson Beach as the sun was setting. We kept driving and as Bodega Bay, Corelli’s C minor Concerto (Op. 6 no. 3) was on the cd player. The driving rhythms seemed to match up with the moon flickering through the trees and reflecting off the water. It was a beautiful moment at the beginning of a great trip. Tamiko and I finally found a place to stay in Jenner (where the Russian River and the Pacific meet up)… it was a cabin with a piano, hot tub and a kitchen. The trip would continue up the coast to Mendocino and we got back to our apartment in Albany by Sunday night. And whenever I hear that concerto know, my memory of that trip comes right into my mind.

Day 82. Anonymous 4, Dufay Collective, Ensemble Organum and Fretwork.

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

The past couple of weeks have been very busy. I’ve been working with Richard Karpen on a couple of projects that involve a different approach to composing that involves a much more oral transmission of musical ideas to performers rather then a written medium. The results become pieces in much the same way that written scores do. For instance, we have started to notice with his guitar and electronics piece ‘Strand Lines’ written for Stefan Östersjö that there is a correct way to play the work as well as the danger of making mistakes. One of the conclusions Richard has come to as a result of this process is, if there can be mistakes and if there IS a right way to play the piece, then there must be a piece (even without it being written down).

The ephemeral quality of music in general (even when it has been written down, it is over once the air ceases to vibrate) is one of the most magical aspects of the medium. And tonight’s rips (recordings of music that is hundreds of year’s old) made me connect Richard’s music to how we choose to perform ‘ancient’ music. And in many ways, any music at all. The first disc was a collection by the Dufay Collective called ‘Music for Alfonso the Wise’. Alfonso being an Iberian king from the 13th century, and this collection is a reflection of of the music that was performed in his court. Sometimes the composer isn’t known, and I imagine all the instruments used for the performances are recreations of original instruments. When I was playing it in the background the other night, Tamiko asked if it was music from India, and sure enough once she said that I could hear the influences very clearly (not that this was music that was influence by the subcontinent in the 1200s, but that they must have some common ancestor, probably from the Middle East??? I really don’t know but am guessing). I also thought the Portland group ‘3 Leg Torso’ must get quite a bit from this kind of music. The instruments are more nasal string instruments and buzzy winds, and often have some thumpy drums as accompaniment.

Obviously, we have absolutely NO way to know exactly what this music sounded like, and I imagine there are a number of levels of translation between the written notation that does exist and what the performers on the disc are used to perform from. But I also imagine that with some practice and informed knowledge, these players are presenting (with modern fingers for modern ears) what we probably think the music may have sounded like. But I don’t think there is a belief on anyone’s part that what we are hearing is exactly what Alfonso the Wise would have been hearing. The musicians are creating now from a set of instructions what they can produce. They have direction, and need to shape what they can from the materials that they have. And once I find that I can accept what these ideas, I of course see that, really, this is what all music is. Richard’s work from the past couple weeks, when someone plays Beethoven, when someone uses a recording of a Stockhausen piece as part of their research into how to perform something or when a garage band gets together and starts off playing ‘Louie Louie’. What a great tradition to be part of… no?

So the rest of tonight’s rips are in this mode… music so old that we can’t even ask someone with connections of a couple generations back to its performance what they heard. Not that it would really matter… ask me what a concert a week ago sounded like, then ask someone else at the same concert and I think you would get two different takes on the performance, but when we are dealing with music that is 500 years old, I doubt we can find anyone around who can say ‘ah, yes, my grandfather heard that performed at the premiere and this is what he said it sounded like’ (this being a phrase that is not out of the question for Stravinsky or Debussy). The other discs are Anonymous 4’s ‘1000: A Mass for the End of Time’ (or the music that would have been around when people were worrying about the y1k bug, ‘La Bele Marie: Songs to the Virgin from 13th-century France’. Fretwork’s disc of Ottaviano dei Petrucci’s “Harmonice Musices Odhecaton” and Ensemble Organum’s ‘Le Chant des Templiers XIIè siècle : Manuscrit du Saint-Sépu’.

Pretty amazing that I can simply grab a disc with 0s and 1s on it and hear music performed that has over a 1000 years of history. I can only imagine what will happen by the year 3000.

Day 77. Isaac Stern.

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

Started to dig into the historical recordings I rediscovered a few weeks back finally, starting with the 6 discs of early concerto recordings with Isaac Stern on Columbia. Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven (the standards) with Bernstein, Sibelius and Ravel’s ‘Tzigane’ thrown in as well. These are all older mono recordings, and the violin tends to stand out quite a bit from the rest of the orchestra. Usually this would bother me, but it is part of the recording style from the period. And in this case it works out nicely… I have good recordings of all these pieces, but none of them are from a young Isaac Stern. The tone of his violin is a bit gritty, but it is hard to tell how much of that is the recording technology of the day or if it is extra sticky rosin on his bow. The Sibelius and the Ravel recordings stand out for me. ‘Tzigane’ is ALL about technique, and it is on brilliant display here. The piece feels fresh in this recording (not quite a show piece yet… still a very challenging work for the performer). And the Sibelius (with some of its darker tones, especially in the third movement) sounds great on the older recording. Plus – violinists just don’t play like this anymore… lots of fun.

In other news about the project, I just filled up the 250 GB drive that I started off with, and picked up a new TB drive to become the main drive. It was yesterday, when both drive were plugged in and I started to make the new backup (the backup is now the main drive) that I noticed something a little startling. The data transfer was SSSSSSSLLLLLOOOWWWW. Really slow. Just remembered that the old PowerBook must have USB 1 ports, and compared to the old Firewire drive data transfer is much worse. I plugged the two drives into my current laptop (with USB 2) for the initial transfer. This took about two hours (compared to the 7 days I estimate the PowerBook would have taken). I imagine these are the two drives I will end up with for some time now, and that the next component to go will be the old PowerBook. I’m actually amazed the thing is still ticking (going on 8 years now with a broken monitor and the original 1 GB of RAM in it!).

Day 76. Saint-Saëns and the Beastie Boys.

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

There were two albums that I bought as a kid that made my parents concerned. The first was ‘License to Ill’ by the Beastie Boys (followed by ‘Appetite for Destruction’ about a year later). I find it ironic that , 25 years after the first Beastie Boys album came out (and lewdness laws were created due to behavior at their concerts), that I think it would be hard to find a group of more artistic and politically involved individuals. They’ve created some ground-breaking work, and in many ways came of age along with MTV (certainly using the music video as an artistic vehicle with as much importance as the songs themselves). I remember listening to that record with my friend George as a kid (and George also introducing me to what was probably influencing the Beasite Boys as well… thanks George! I still remember hearing NWA on a tape deck outside your house!).

They were also part of one of my favorite music SNL memories:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tondtut3dOc

I remember seeing this with my friend Colin, and both of our jaws just dropping. What a rad moment (no matter how staged it may have been).

But the only Beastie Boys I have on CD is ‘The Sounds Of Science’, the two disc compilation they put out in 1999. It’s a good set, and my Beastie Boys vinyl is still in fine condition in case I was to hear all of ‘Paul’s Boutique’. But it is some of the extras on this disc that are just great. Their version of ‘Benny And The Jets’ with Biz Markie is one of the most brilliant and funny covers I’ve ever heard (violating the law that ‘a cover shouldn’t imitate the style of the original’ – but doing it in a brilliant fashion, even including the sound of a crowd cheering in the background).

The other discs ripped tonight were the complete Saint-Saëns symphonies with Jean Martinon. The third (‘The Organ’) has some great moments and deserves to be his best knows symphonic work, but my favorite is his second in A minor. The orchestral forces are small compared to the large romantic orchestral forces of the 3rd Symphony and the piano concertos, but along with that comes a nostalgia for the music written for smaller orchestras. Parts of the piece sound more like something Mozart would have done, and points even have some contrapuntal writing that is surprisingly clear and simple. But there are some striking dissonances in the piece and some very effective drama, all while clocking in at around 22 minutes. For a romantic symphony, it is almost a miniature, but taken out of its historical context I think it has some real strengths over his other symphonic works. The opening arpeggios let you know right away that this is a classical work, and the main theme (treated fugally) is lots of fun. But after Beethoven (and Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schuman and Brahms) the 7 minute LONG movement feels brief and succinct. Not that I have anything against long and developed… just that for some reason the proportions and material of this symphony have always captured my attention in a strange way. And playing it now (after not hearing it for MANY years) I’m glad to see that my impression of it is still intact.

Day 75. Dowland.

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

Today I imported the Complete Downland set on L’oiseau-Lyre. This is a 12 disc set with more ‘Lachrimae’ and Lute music then you can shake a stick at. Every known version of the ‘Lachrimae’ is on here, and there is something about it that reminds me of Chubby Checker doing multiple versions of ‘The Twist’ (then ‘Let’s Twist Again’ then ‘The Twist (1986)’ etc. etc. etc.). Downland may have beaten Pachelbel to the title of ‘First One Hit Wonder’ by a century or so in my book. And, like most one hit wonders, there is so much more when you dive in beyond that first piece. Pachelbel’s body of works are pretty great, and Dowland certainly does not disappoint either. I mentioned some time ago that the girls have pretty much fallen asleep to Arvo Pärt’s ‘Fur Alina’ since they were newborns, but with Mira I also would mix in Dowland’s Lute Music during her night time bottle (along with some late Beethoven quartets and Bach’s ‘Art of the Fugue’). She really liked Dowland though, and his body of lute music is fairly large (across 5 of these discs!) so I had a good amount of repertoire to become familiar with while also becoming familiar with the new baby girl. After some time, Celia also took to Dowland and asked to have a Dowland disc burned for her to play at night, and while I still get my nightly ‘Fur Alina’ from Mira’s sound monitor, ‘Can She Excuse’ and the ‘Queen’s Galliard’ stream out of Celia’s.
I learned from my friend Don (who studied guitar as an undergraduate) that Downland’s lute works are quite popular with college guitar students since the English lute was a much more standardized instrument then the continental companion. Six strings, tuned like the modern guitar with one exception (the G string was on F-sharp). When I learned this I remember thinking ‘Ooooh! I bet I could play those!’ before realizing that it is this exact thought that all those undergraduates think too. Having long ago put the guitar down (except for the occasional jazz strumming and playing) I thought this might be a good way to get back into some playing. I thought this a year ago… and I DO still think I will get to it. But it is a bit saddening how hard it can be to just get going again sometimes. Time is short, and while I have the best intentions, when it comes down to it I just might not be a guitarist anymore. I’d rather spend the time with the kids, or relaxing with Tamiko, etc. I’m sure I’ll get back into it eventually, and when I do a decent classical guitar and Dowland will surely be a good place to start.

Today I imported the Complete Downland set on L’oiseau-Lyre. This is a 12 disc set with more ‘Lachrimae’ and Lute music then you can shake a stick at. Every known version of the ‘Lachrimae’ is on here, and there is something about it that reminds me of Chubby Checker doing multiple versions of ‘The Twist’ (then ‘Let’s Twist Again’ then ‘The Twist (1986)’ etc. etc. etc.). Downland may have beaten Pachelbel to the title of ‘First One Hit Wonder’ by a century or so in my book. And, like most one hit wonders, there is so much more when you dive in beyond that first piece. Pachelbel’s body of works are pretty great, and Dowland certainly does not disappoint either. I mentioned some time ago that the girls have pretty much fallen asleep to Arvo Pärt’s ‘Fur Alina’ since they were newborns, but with Mira I also would mix in Dowland’s Lute Music during her night time bottle (along with some late Beethoven quartets and Bach’s ‘Art of the Fugue’). She really liked Dowland though, and his body of lute music is fairly large (across 5 of these discs!) so I had a good amount of repertoire to become familiar with while also becoming familiar with the new baby girl. After some time, Celia also took to Dowland and asked to have a Dowland disc burned for her to play at night, and while I still get my nightly ‘Fur Alina’ from Mira’s sound monitor, ‘Can She Excuse’ and the ‘Queen’s Galliard’ stream out of Celia’s.I learned from my friend Don (who studied guitar as an undergraduate) that Downland’s lute works are quite popular with college guitar students since the English lute was a much more standardized instrument then the continental companion. Six strings, tuned like the modern guitar with one exception (the G string was on F-sharp). When I learned this I remember thinking ‘Ooooh! I bet I could play those!’ before realizing that it is this exact thought that all those undergraduates think too. Having long ago put the guitar down (except for the occasional jazz strumming and playing) I thought this might be a good way to get back into some playing. I thought this a year ago… and I DO still think I will get to it. But it is a bit saddening how hard it can be to just get going again sometimes. Time is short, and while I have the best intentions, when it comes down to it I just might not be a guitarist anymore. I’d rather spend the time with the kids, or relaxing with Tamiko, etc. I’m sure I’ll get back into it eventually, and when I do a decent classical guitar and Dowland will surely be a good place to start.

Day 73. Beethoven and Bach.

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Though I just finished with the complete Bach box set, something that isn’t represented in that collection at all is the lute-harpsichord. Like it sounds, the instrument (pictured above) is basically a cross between the two instruments – a keyboard instrument with gut strings and the body of a HUGE lute. There is a good amount of research that suggests that Bach actually composed quite a bit on and for this instrument that basically disappeared by the late 1700s, and that his ‘Lute Suites’ were actually for this instrument (and not the more commonly found baroque lute). About a year ago I discovered a recording on eMusic of the lute suites performed on a replica lute-harpsichord and downloaded it, and was immediately struck by how different the instrument was from the harpsichord. It is a beautiful sound, more resonant then a lute (and able to sustain notes that would otherwise be deadened on a lute when a change of fret was needed) and less harsh then a harpsichord. The lute pieces on this recording (in Naxos with Elizabeth Farr) are beautiful. There are a handful of other recordings out there with the instrument (including a recording of the Goldberg Variations) that I hope to find someday soon.

This was also a recording I played quite a bit to help Mira sleep when she was still a newborn. She also liked Dowland quite a bit, as well as late Beethoven quartets. So as the little girl needed a little cuddle tonight (she’s is getting over a nasty croup cough) I put the late Beethoven quartets on (the A minor, op. 132) that I have on my computer (The Lindsays recording) and just held her for a bit. She’s so much bigger now… both her and Celia amaze me daily. And I’m glad that when they aren’t feeling well, that their daddy can still hold them for a bit with some Beethoven or Bach on in the background, and some imbedded memory helps remind them that everything is ok.

Last night Tamiko had a bit of hamster in her head as well… a video that Mira really like with Elmo and Ricky Gervais was running through her head, and the annoying parts of the song had Tamiko’s head spinning. I told her about how the late Beethoven quartets used to put Mira to sleep sometimes, ran downstairs to get my iPod and put them on… sure enough, Tamiko was out in about 5 minutes and I listened to the rest of the C-sharp minor quartet while holding her.

I’m so lucky.

Day 71. Bach box boxed.

Friday, April 9th, 2010

17 days. 155 discs. over 45 GB of disk space. The complete works of J.S. Bach is done. The box set is now packed away. Let’s see what box set Mira requests next.

Day 70. Rachmaninov.

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Tonight’s sets saw a huge amount of Rachmaninov – two box sets featuring performances by Vladimir Ashkenazy (symphonies and symphonic pieces in one, concertos with solo and piano duo pieces on the other) along with a single disc of his two piano trios. The late romanticism of Rachmaninov now is a bit of soft-spot for me though it hasn’t always been. I think it is important to keep in mind that many of his most important works were composed while Webern is experimenting with glistening orchestral clarity and Stravinsky was was writing his most daring ballets. Rachmaninov’s music was something I was snobbish about when I first started to take composing seriously… I saw it as derivative and schmaltzy. My opinion changed while I was at Cal and got to play the ‘Symphonic Dances’. After the first rehearsal or two, I felt like my suspicions of Rachmaninov were mostly confirmed. But as we got closer to the concert, I became more and more fascinated by the piece. After moving to Seattle I started some work on a set of piano pieces. Though they owe more to Ravel then to anyone else, I spent quite a bit of time listening to more and more Rachmaninov as well. The disc of piano trios is probably my favorite disc out of the discs I ripped tonight. The voicings in some of the melodic writing as well as the harmonic presentation is spaced quite wide sometimes. Surely this had quite a bit to do with the composer’s large hands and his unique ability to spread chords out quite a bit. At times they sound almost bell-like (and a little like Arvo Pärt). Some of the writing for the violin and cello also resembles some of the wider spacing of Ravel’s trio. By the time I started graduate school, my opinion of him had changed completely, but as the years went on though I listened less and less to him. Should be fun to return to some of this over the next day or two.

Day 65. More Bach.

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Back to ripping some CDs finally, but sticking with the Bach box set in hopes of finishing it up this weekend and putting it away. Plus it is Good Friday, and while I am in no way a practicing christian, there is something I like about throwing on a recording of one of the Bach passions every year. So I am hoping I can get to those discs after I finish up these last few discs of cantatas.

I’ve tried to alternate between the two Bach passions every years since my Bach class at Berkeley with John Butt. I know both of those pieces pretty well, and there is something very enjoyable about how dramatic these pieces can be, and also how beautifully melodic. So I’m not sure why I am so surprised that the cantatas are as well. I haven’t listened to all the cantata discs by any means, but I have been having lots of fun this past week throwing random ones on. These are pieces that Bach basically wrote as part of his weekly duties to the town church, and were performed by the town’s musicians. And the writing isn’t dumbed down… these must have been some pretty talented musicians that got to work with Bach in his church. And the vocal writing is just beautiful. The passions are really the closest thing we have to a Bach opera, but the cantatas show a lyrical side of Bach that can be overlooked if all you listen to is his instrumental music.

My friend Don (also a composer) and I were talking just the other day about ‘melodic’ music, and were in agreement that writing great melodies has always been difficult. Some composers had no problem with this and would just turn them out like it was nothing. Mozart was like this especially – so much so that sometimes it seems like he would create a beautiful melodic line that wouldn’t get developed… sometimes just to connect two sections, and that was it. He could afford to – there were more waiting. Beethoven struggled melodically, and often turned to motivic development instead. Not that there aren’t some great Beethoven melodies, but in general once he hit a good one, he worked it and got as much out of it as possible. Today, I think most composers just don’t know how to deal with it (myself included). I fall back on texture and dramatic tension, but there isn’t much I write that is singable… and when there is, I don’t think it reaches the level of even the lowest level of acceptable melody that Mozart would consider. And I know this, and find other ways to compose. So it is really quite amazing to hear these weekly works by Bach… this isn’t the academic Bach (that put together ‘Art of the Fugue’, nor is it the flashy Bach of the Brandenburg Concertos (applying for a job). This is the Bach that sat down every week to compose music for his church. It wasn’t entertainment, but it was for the people he lived with, and I get the sense that they appreciated the work he did. What a gig.