This Monday afternoon between 3 and 4pm join me for a Labor Day theme with music of leisure and labor, including the king of British light music, Eric Coates and his “Calling all Workers” from 1940:
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And for music of leisure, it’s hard to beat the Pastoral symphony of Beethoven. We’ll take a trip to the countryside outside of Vienna and stop to enjoy a “Scene by the Brook”:
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In addition to these pieces, we’ll hear work-related music from American composers Aaron Copland, who made a big fanfare about the common man, and George Gershwin, who reminds us of nice work if we can get it. And also, there will be leisurely ballet music depicting the changing seasons from that great Italian opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi. I hope you can join us Monday at 3pm.
When a tune catches on, there’s no telling where it might go.
Centuries ago, catchy dance tunes often became fodder for purley instrumental compostions intended not as dance music, but music to listen to. That’s what happened with the popular Renaissance dance tune “La folia,” possibly of Portuguese origin, which over the centuries inspired any number of composers to write sets of instrumental variations on it. Antonio Vivaldi was among the composers captivated by the plaintive harmonies and steady, graceful rhythms of “La folia.” He was so captivated, in fact, that he based his Trio Sonata in D minor, RV 63 on the tune.
Vivaldi’s Trio Sonata still makes for great listening, but can you dance to it? Well, yes. And we’ve got it on film. Baltic Baroque performs the work here on period instruments and in period dress, accompanying equally authentically clad dancers dancing presumably equally period-appropriate choreography.
There have been several studies recently on the affect of music on the psyche, particularly in regard to warding off depression or chasing away the blues. (Depression is of course much worse than “the blues” and music’s healing powers go back to scripture). Close to home, exceptional work on this has been done by OSU’s own David Huron, including his latest book, Sweet Anticipation (MIT Press) of which more anon.
I asked people what music they use to cheer themselves up. This writer included votes for pizza and chocolate (looking at me, you’d think I was chronically depressed-not so) and here are some responses. It ain’t zoloft and it ain’t food, except for the soul.
Christopher: Monteverdi Vespro della beate virgine (1610)
Linda: Anything by John Rutter (healing), and Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations (inspiring)…and lots by Rachmaninoff, Mozart Gershwin and Sondheim…and even some McCartney!
Rutter: Praise Ye the Lord (Turtle Creek Chorale/Timothy Seelig)
R. Schumann: Carnaval: Pierrot, Arlequin (Evgeny Kissin)
Akira: Zerbinetta’s aria from R. Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos in the original version sung by Edita Gruberova
Gerald: Some good piano and violin concertos. Also Beethoven and Brahms symphonies
Christine: Beethoven piano concertos…Bach…Oh, and I like the way Dawn Upshaw sings Gorecki
Gorecki: Symphony 3 I. exc. (Dawn Upshaw, London Sinf/Zinman)
Betsy: Bach’s b minor mass, for starters
William: Birgit Nilsson’s Songs of Scandanavia album
Debra: Chris, I know you think I’d rather go shopping at Saks to chase away my blues, but I’d rather play Chopin!
Jeff: The opening movement of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony; From the trio to the end of Der Rosenkavalier; and Dame Joan Sutherland singing My Hero from The Chocolate Soldier
Prokofiev: Symphony 1 “Classical” I. Allegro (Montreal Sym/Dutoit)
Tim: Strauss-Feierlicher Einzug…What a Feeling from Footloose
Amy: For me, it’s still that (presumably hot) record album I bought at Blakey’s circa 1970, Taj Mahal’s Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home…from the world of bel canto, it’s Monterrat Caballe’s Casta Diva
Bellini: Norma-Casta diva(Montserrat Caballe)
Jay: Gilbert and Sullivan
G&S: HMS Pinafore, Never mind the why and wherefore (Jean Hindmarsh, John Reed, Jeffrey Skitch; D’Oyly Carte Opera Co./Nash)
Jeanne: A good dose of Vivaldi, just about anything usually helps; also a California guitarist Nocy. Am listening also to an Icelandic guy named Jonsi, weird and kinda wonderful! And I just woke up to the fact one of the arrangers on the Jonsi CD is Nico Muhly!
Christopher: Brahms Haydn Variaitons
Brahms: Haydn Variations I. St. Antoni Chorale (Cincinatti Sym/Lopez-Cobos)
Christopher: (again, but it’s my show, what the hell) R. Strauss Der Rosenkavalier, opening of Act II
Let’s keep updating this so let us know what works for you!
–Christopher Purdy
PS
Because I can’t bear to leave off Der Rosenkavalier, here is the exquisite Presentation of the Rose scene from ActII. Enjoy.
Renee Fleming fills concert halls wherever she goes. She is one of those musicians whose reputation and name recognition extends far beyond the opera world where her reputation was established.
But just as professional golfers change their swing and pitchers learn new pitches, Renee Fleming is completely altering how she sings…forgetting everything she was taught…grabbing a hand mike and fronting a band.
WHAT?
Before you panic, Fleming is doing what others before her have done…she has begun to explore music beyond her comfort zone on her recording Dark Hope. Think Yo Yo Ma learning to improvise with Bobby McFerrin or Pavarotti singing with numerous singers from pop and jazz.
Her two teenage daughters have offered guidance and constructive criticism, lest they be embarrassed by Mom. She must have met their standards, because they appear in the video Endlessly, along with Renee’s sister Rachelle.
She spoke recently with Anthony Mason of CBS about stepping into a different musical world. –Boyce Lancaster
Music that tastes good and is good for you! It’s that time of summer when gardens are in full bloom and vegetables are everywhere, even on stage in concert halls! I saw a video that gives a whole new meaning to the expression “playing with your food.”
The music by the Vegetable Orchestra may not be to everyone’s taste, but the musicians’ zeal with zucchinis and percussive pumpkins can be edifying in a musicologically gastronomical sort of way. While its not uplifting music in the manner of Bach, Mozart or Scarlatti, or may not inspire you to heights of poetic fancy, its down-to-earth substantiality may make you want to have a salad.
No, I’m not advocating setting your Steinway ablaze. Rather, I’m cautioning you against inviting Tony Monaco to play any keyboard in your home…piano, midi, or especially a Hammond B-3, if you have one sitting around. Once his fingers hit the keys, anything flammable is in immediate danger.
A Columbus, Ohio native, Tony can be heard regularly around town preaching the gospel of jazz. Though he spent many years in the restaurant and food service business, (yes THAT Monaco’s Palace), his first love was music. Eventually, the call of jazz became too loud to ignore.
It was a midnight call that then 13-year-old Tony received from Jimmy Smith, already a jazz legend himself, that really caused Tony’s “jazz-gene” to fire.
Jimmy Smith
Tony had sent some recordings of himself to Smith’s California jazz club, prompting the call. Apparently, Jimmy heard something in Tony’s playing that he just had to encourage.
Labor Day weekend will find Tony Monaco at the Vail Jazz Festival in Colorado, supporting the next generation of jazz players and lovers through the Vail Jazz Foundation. If you see his name on a marquee, drop what you’re doing and go inside…just make sure to take a fire extinguisher. — Boyce Lancaster
Leonard Bernstein loved to dance. Whether or not he COULD dance, I don’t know, but dance he did, night after night in front of orchestras the world over. His conducting style became known by many as the “Lenny dance.” One never knew where he might wind up with a big finish.
One of his mentors, Fritz Reiner, was Bernstein’s polar opposite. He used an economy of motion and eye contact that could communicate volumes to the musicians.
His eyes could also burn a hole in you if you missed an entrance. (I trust he wouldn’t go as far as this guy.)
That was an April Fools joke played on his students, but I’m certain there are times conductors would have loved to do that very thing!
Cathy Berberian could sing anything. And did. She was born in North
Cathy Berberian (1925-1983)
Attleboro, Massachusetts in 1925. By 1950 she was a Fulbright Scholar in Italy and had married composer Luciano Berio. She became Europe’s leading exponent of new vocal music Her curiosity about music all music, seemed to be insatiable. As a child she had studied Armenian folk music and dance. Her career and her life in music were all about variety.
It’s hard to categorize Cathy Berberian. I suspect that was her intent. She had a lovely mezzo soprano voice, but in the era of Callas and Tebaldi it was not a voice to stand out on its own. Berberianwas perfectly capable in Bach and Mozart. Her Montevedi was sublime. Listen to the simple beauty of tone mixed with drama in the great Lamento d’Arianna, which she recorded with Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Berberian was a chamber music and an actress. She was a personality who sang. Her voice lacked the amplitude to ride over a large operatic orchestra, but as a recitalist. a chamber musician, a saloniste she had no peers. Her collaboration with Berio was fantastic and survived their 1964 divorce. Berberian was his muse, for a time his wife and the mother of his daughter Cristina. On stages and in studios throughout the world Cathy Berberian was a lot more than a composer’s wife. She recorded Monteverdi operas and Bach cantatas. She wrote her own theater pieces. Stripsody uses onomatopoeia and reflects her love of comic books. Her recital programs embraced Purcell, Stravinsky, Villa-Lobos, you name it. (Elegy for JFK was written for her). She loved spectacle, costumes, jewelry and all things theatrical. Here she is with a fearless performance of Xango by Villa-Lobos
Cathy Berberian died suddenly of a massive heart attack in her hotel room in Rome in 1983. She was preparing for a concert honoring the memory of Karl Marx! (How’s that for variety!) For twenty years in Europe as vocalists go there was Cathy Berberian and there was everybody else. Her artistic heirs would be Massillon Ohio’s Jan di Gaetani who was a close contemporary (1933-1989) and today, Dawn Upshaw. But really there was nobody like Cathy Berberian.
If you’d like to know more, here’s part of a documentary called Music is the Air I Breathe. This clip features interviews with Berio, Harnoncourt, the Swiss tenor Eric Tappy, Cathy’s daughter Cristina, and the lady herself
The Ninth Symphony of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was expected the be a big celebratory piece with a large orchestra, soloists, and chorus, a hymn to victory at the end of the Second World War. When it was premiered in November of 1945, what the audience got was something else. Instead of the ode to the triumph of the Soviet army over Nazi Germany, full of patriotic fervor, they heard a light-hearted piece with wit and perhaps, irony.
Shostakovich had written two wartime symphonies earlier, the bombastic Seventh Symphony, “Leningrad” from 1941, the real “victory” symphony, since it portrays a positive outcome for the Soviet Union, and the utterly devastating Eighth Symphony from 1943, which is an unvarnished expression of the horrors of war. The Ninth (just consider the symbolic resonance of that number with Beethoven) was going to be the completion of a “War Trilogy,” but no one expected this, a Haydnesque musical romp. Was it expressing relief that the war was finally over, or was it a direct snub aimed at Joseph Stalin?
Shostakovich had been in trouble before with the Soviet censors, and would be again. His opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, had earned him official condemnation in 1936 for its “modernist tendancies,” and it was his popular Symphony No. 5 the following year that returned him to favor. It is thought Joseph Stalin himself was involved in that censure. Not toeing the ideological party line was very dangerous in those times. People would disappear in the middle of the night.
The Ninth Symphony was initially received warmly enough by many, even if some were puzzled by its “non serious” nature. But in a second pogrom against creativity in 1948 led by Andrey Zhdanov, the composer was again in the hot seat. Shostakovich survived this as well, and it’s said that the second movement of the Tenth Symphony, which was first performed after Stalin’s death, is a musical portrait of the dictator. Its a brutal scherzo, music of a wild and crazed nature.
It’s up to the listener to decide if the Ninth Symphony is a satirical piece or a serious ending for a “War Trilogy.” This evening on Symphony at 7, you can hear a complete performance of this work, but here is a sample with Sir Georg Solti conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony:
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And for good measure, here is the scherzo from the Tenth Symphony performed by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel:
I recently visited the website of composer John Adams, one of America’s best-known and most-played composers. In a conversation I had with beloved Columbus Symphony Conductor Albert-George Schram, he said conductors have a certain, well, ego about them. Some believe that they are privy to how the music SHOULD be performed, regardless of WHAT the score says. Others are mindful of the composers’ intentions and do their best to bring that mindfulness to the music they conduct.
It seems for John Adams, the difficulty comes when you are a composer, a conductor, and…how shall I put this?…Alive. Adams recounts sitting through a performance of his music which he found, for lack of a better way to put it, a bit difficult to recognize. He goes on to tell the story of the couple seated next to him who had no idea he was the composer. Suffice it to say, be careful how you express your musical opinion…you never know who might be sitting next to you! The National Endowment for the Arts recently honored John Adams for his work, which you can see below…many others can be found on Adams’ website. — Boyce Lancaster
Renee Fleming fills concert halls wherever she goes. She is one of those musicians whose reputation and name recognition extends far beyond the opera world where her reputation was established.
