mikrokosmos

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Franck - Prelude, Fugue, et Variation, op.18

This piece was originally for organ, part of a series of six pieces that were meant to explore the different colors and sounds possible with new French technical innovation and organ engineering. While the music has a delicious neo-Baroque atmosphere, the prelude is especially gorgeous on piano. I can’t help but think of an English country house at the turn of the century, there’s fog outside, deer on the lawn. The prelude is built out of a melody in the shape of a wave, a melancholic mode that rises and falls through different keys, until a chordal transition brings us into the fugue built out of a long and complicated subject, though the texture is comparatively thin, slowly building to a heavy climax. The mood is still darker, somber, and then comes the variation, which is a restatement of the prelude but with more elaboration and ornamentation. Like many of Franck’s minor key works, it ends on a high note, redemption and peace.

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Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet Suite no. 3

If you haven’t listened to the entire 2hr 30min ballet, I encourage you to do so. The work has some of the most colorful and fun music in all of Prokofiev’s output, and at the same time, he employs the same gravity and pathos as you would find in his symphonies [because, hey, this is Shakespeare, it has to have it all]. This is one of the handful of suites after the ballet, and this particular one I picked because it has some of my favorite numbers. “Romeo at the Fountain” is a bit of a reworking of the music at the opening of the ballet, the rowdy “Morning Dance” comes from the first Act, and the cheerful “Aubade” comes from the third act. I’m also pretty positive that it was used in one of the Land Before Time animated films, because it triggers childhood memories.

Movements:

1. Romeo at the Fountain

2. Morning Dance

3. Juliet

4. The Nurse

5. Aubade

6. The Death of Juliet

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Boulanger - Les Sirènes (1911)

For choir and piano, this song is based off of a poem by Charles Grandmougin, and is a gorgeous depiction of mermaids singing in the ocean. The piano notes glitter along, meandering through keys in soft waves, as the mermaids sing over each other in echoing canons, and shifting from tonal chords to unconventional harmonies, giving off a sense of mystery. It’s beautiful, and mesmerizing, but almost otherworldly and distant. In only four minutes, Boulanger creates a soundworld that’s full of light, but also hints at the danger of the beautiful mermaids luring sailors to their deaths by drowning in the murky waves. While it follows conventional writing she’d mastered from the Conservatoire, it holds her unique personality, and it does a great job depicting the elusive and eerie nature of the mythological creatures, alongside similar pieces like Debussy’s Sirenes from the orchestral nocturnes, and Sibelius’ Oceanides. 

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classical morning playlist

been putting together some favorites to start the day with. what would you add to this list?

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Holst - The Planets (1916)

This might shock you, but I used to not like the Planets. I’d first heard it years ago, back in high school, and felt cold to it. I also thought it was too long. I tried listening to it a few more times over the years and it never clicked with me. So I shrugged it off as some “overrated’ music, maybe it’s only popular because of the program, or because of intro to music appreciation, or because of band students. Yesterday I was driving to work, and the Planets was playing on Sirius classical radio. I rolled my eyes and changed to my city’s classical station, but they were playing some Baroque concerto I wasn’t in the mood for, so I stuck around with the planets for the ten minute drive. I was taken in by the hypnotic and dream-like orchestration, and then colorful, fun music. So I admit I was wrong, the Planets is a great work for orchestra, and funny enough it is one of those pieces that the composer didn’t like. Holst grew to resent the Planets for taking so much attention from his other music. He was inspired by astrology, and had fun telling friend’s fortunes by palm reading and by the alignment of the planets. He was interested in the idea of the planets having an effect on the human psyche. Around that time he attended the English premiere of Schoenberg’s 5 Pieces for Orchestra, op. 16, and he bought a copy of the score. These inspirations came together and he wrote “Seven Pieces for Orchestra” based off of the astrological planets [excluding the sun and moon, and including Uranus and Neptune]. The suite has two points of focus; the first is Earth, so the order goes in the planets closest to Earth first. The second is Jupiter, which is in the middle of the suite, and acts as a mirror [for example, the suite opens loud and ends softly, Venus is serene while Uranus is vulgar, Mercury is a fun scherzo while Saturn is brooding]. It opens with Mars, an unrelenting war march with an ostinato building in intensity under brass fanfare. This dramatic writing will be the most obvious inspiration for later sci-fi film and tv soundtracks, especially John Williams’ iconic work for Star Wars. Venus is a stark contrast, opening with a calm solo horn, pentatonic winds, almost ‘pastorale’ [if the pasture were crushed under the pressure of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid]. After a wind chorale, the strings come in overhead, playing a gorgeous though angular melody. The work is also decorated with celesta chimes. Mercury is a quick scherzo, bouncing around with fluttering melodies overhead. The use of the triangle makes me think of servants in an English manor home being called. The middle section has a “grand” chorale elaboration of the theme. Jupiter is probably the most famous moment of the suite, opening with a three-note motif repeated in the strings, racing over each other as the brass introduces the grand melody. This has a great feeling of an “expanding” organic entity of sound. Timpani, brass, strings, winds, the entire orchestra blasts off with fun. The three-note theme is repeated over different modulations, then becomes the subject of what feels like a pub-song melody. After a breather, we get a new theme, a dignified and regal “chorale”. Then we bring back the energy of the opening, and the climax feels like a distortion of time as the main themes overlap, and we end on an exclamation of the three notes. Saturn was Holst’s personal favorite movement. Another stark contrast, it opens with a very quiet ostinato, like the ticking of a clock, but dull. That becomes the base for a slow build up to a crushing large climax, awe at the expanse of time itself, thinking that we are only a blip of eternity. After the echoes of the bells and the universal clock drift away, we get the gorgeous hypnotic passage I mentioned earlier, beautiful wind and string writing over soft organ droning, now seeing the beauty in this magnificence of being present in the moment of eternity. Uranus is described as a “vulgar magician”, so we get a lot of whimsical fun, shades of Dukas’ sorcerer, and we get a lot of orchestral color with modal writing, a lot of sonic “fire” and sparks. Especially the theatrical organ glisando, and the silly use of the xylophone. Finally, we get the most haunting planet, Neptune. The farthest from the sun, astronomers say that the sun looks like a bright star from this distance. Mysterious, cold, eerie. That is the music here, in unusual keys. Halfway through, we hear the moaning of a wordless choir of women, hidden off stage. They sing through, until the music drifts away [it’s instructed to slowly close the door]. This was the first major ‘fade away’ in music history, and Holst’s daughter Imogen recalls that the effect was so ethereal, you couldn’t tell the difference between the music and silence. This is probably my favorite movement of the suite for its haunting atmosphere, and the disturbing feeling of not knowing what rests beyond. 

Movements:

1. Mars, the Bringer of War

2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace

3. Mercury, the Winged Messenger

4. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

5. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age

6. Uranus, the Magician

7. Neptune, the Mystic

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midnight music again...no matter how many times i come back to this I feel the same strange sense of isolation and melancholy and fear of being outside in the middle of the night with no sound but the wind rustling against the trees

Chopin - Nocturne in bb minor, op. 9 no. 1 (1832)

Back when I first got into classical music, the Chopin nocturnes were my favorite pieces. I especially adored the very first published one, which is overshadowed by the more iconic second nocturne. The structure is so simple, ternary form where the B section repeats a few times before returning to A. But it achieves Chopin’s goal of using the nocturne to be like little opera arias for the piano. As a teen, I was quite the “Romantic”, so this piece always made me think of nighttime, the woods under moonlight, fields, stars, etc. The opening section has a melody flowing freely over the left hand pattern, ignoring the rhythm for its own coloratura pacing. This is what makes me think of shadowy trees, walking along in the dark, as if it’s the wind’s music. We then go into the middle section, in a major key but it isn’t really “happy” as it is a quiet contentment. The simple melody in octaves over the repeating left hand. Calmness at night. This music makes me think more of space, like the stars, the moon, without sticking to images on Earth. The melody builds up, gets louder, and we get a second voice in homophonic harmony. Then, it dies off again, the last repeat of the melody is soft, delicate, the two voices playing the simple harmony over the simple pattern in the left hand. And this simplicity has such a quiet beauty to it. We’re only here for a moment before going back to the opening section, the romantic Parisian salon section. We end with a few unexpected modulations, a soft descending pattern, and a rolled chord. I could listen to this over and over again, and never get tired. Even after all these years, the music gives me the same emotions and impressions I felt when I first heard it. I just listened to it again driving through country roads at dusk. There’s something about this time of day, the last glimpse of the world before everything gets dark. Those things are still there, the trees, the buildings, even though you can’t see them. Strange to think about how still it must feel in the most remote parts of the world. This nocturne gives me that strange sense of loneliness and stillness.

Pianist: Vladimir Ashkenazy

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Debussy - Prelude, “La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune” (1913)

The full moon was starting to creep up over the trees and my neighbor’s roof, so I thought I’d take some time to listen to music while staring at it and ‘meditating’. I remembered this work from Debussy’s second book of Preludes, and only picked it because of the lunar title. While staring at the sky, I was surprised that, despite how short the work is, a lot happens in this little time and it’s hard to know what is happening. Which isn’t a surprise, we are talking about Debussy after all. From dreamlike to mysterious to playful and impish, perfect for being an audience to moonlight.

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Have you discovered any new works recently?

yes! here are some pieces that I either haven't heard before, or pieces that I knew about but am only now giving more attention to....and I may be writing posts for these in the next few days;

Glazunov's Raymonda, prime example of Grand Ballet, I hadn't really listened to it before

Koechlin's Les Heures persanes, an unusual impressionist suite, very subdued and dreamlike throughout, will def write about it soon

Vierne's Violin Sonata, only know Vienre for his organ music and some piano works, this sonata was fun

Dukas' Piano Sonata, and the ballet La Peri, both are great

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Poulenc - Sonata for 2 Clarinets (1918)

There is a notable change with some composers of the early 20th century between their more wild "Modernist" statements and their later more refined styles. No surprise that the confidence that comes with being an older teenager / young adult can create this desire to shock an audience with something unexpected. I can only imagine how electrifying it must have been for young composers who first heard Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Paris and be shocked by new possibilities that hadn't been utilized before. This piece by Poulenc, written when he was 19, isn't a major work or anything, but it does show Stravinsky's influence in the aftermath of the Rite. The opening is dancelike with slight dissonances grinding against each other and moments where the clarinets start playing in different time signatures. Combined with tuplets, chromaticism, and unexpected intervals, we get the kind of dry and artificial sound that Stravinsky created, not just with the Rite but his other famous ballet Petrushka. I can't help but hear the same faux Calliope, The middle movement feels to me like a lullaby that the Bb clarinet "sings" while the A clarinet plays a rocking ostinato. The last movement is lighter and fun with the musical lines bouncing off of each other with flashy and impressive flourishes. The opening pattern slows in the coda as if to drift off, only to be interrupted by a rapid and loud finish, constantly winking at us with lighthearted sarcasm. Interesting musical ideas without taking itself too seriously. The full sonata is less than 7 minutes long, which also betrays the influence of Debussy who brought back the more baroque idea of the sonata, which is more brisk than the then expected Sonata genre of late Romanticism with its heavy handedness of structural complexity developing over a longer period of time. This Poulenc sonata is charming and fun and shows how even early on he was interested in a more detached aesthetic of music for its own sake.

Movements:

Presto

Andante

Vif

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With how good he was at orchestration, it makes me sad that Ravel never wrote a symphony

No need to be sad.

Why does the symphony matter? At the time period in France, especially with Debussy's influence, there was less interest in writing symphonies. The structure of the symphony and its tradition were considered too restrictive for the kinds of harmonies and sound-colors that the "impressionists" (or rather, Debussy and his fans) were interested in writing. Debussy never wrote a strict symphony because that would impose a restriction and structure onto him that he didn't care to follow. That's why we get orchestra works with expressive titles instead, and with it, more allowance for freeform movement.

Ravel doesn't need the symphony as a genre in order to write the poems and dance pieces he preferred. And the symphony as a form isn't inherently better than an orchestral suite.

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"Gustav Mahler Conducts his Symphony no. 1 in D Major"

funny, looking at this you'd expect the symphony to sound more cacophonous than The Rite of Spring, or the post-war avant-garde. Always interesting to see how people in the past reacted to the "new", especially when yesterday's "new" is today's "conventionality"...

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Mahler - Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Though I have to talk about the song cycle “Youth’s Magic Horn”, I have to admit I haven’t listened to this work much. It’s such a long cycle, and Das Lied is so much better, and also, similar to Rückert-Lieder, there doesn’t seem to be a set order that the songs have to be performed by, so different performances are unpredictable. Though listening to it again, I can appreciate Mahler’s orchestral writing, and I smile when I notice a song melody I recognize from his early symphonies. This is setting of several poems from the early 19th century anthology with the same name that was hugely influential in how Mahler expressed extra-musical ideas in his first four symphonies. At the same time we see the connecting thread of death which permeates everything Mahler wrote. Why was he so obsessed with death and finality? Leonard Bernstein suggests that maybe it isn’t the death part, but rather the promise of or hope for a better life after death? This is all speculation of course, and when talking about art it’s important to separate the art from the artist only to keep oneself from assuming ideas and opinions that the artist didn’t have. This cycle was worked over and over again, adding songs, taking some out, first writing it for piano and voice but expanding to a full orchestra and two soloists…the several versions probably attributes to the issue of deciding what songs should be performed and in what order. My personal favorite song in the entire set is St. Anthony of Padua’s Sermon to the Fish. It combines some iconic traits of Mahler’s music: juxtaposing the lighthearted and childishness with severity and the sublime. He uses this song as the base of the third movement of his second symphony, and elevates the sublime aspect there.

Movements [in this recording]:

1. Revelge 2. Rheinlegendchen 3. Lied Des Verfolgten Im Turm 4. Wer Hat Dies Liedlein Erdacht 5. Lob Des Hohen Verstandes 6. Der Schildwache Nachtlied 7. Wo Die Schönen Trompeten Blasen 8. Trost Im Unglück 9. Des Antonius Von Padua Fischpredigt 10. Verlor'ne Müh’ 11. Das Irdische Leben 12. Der Tamboursg'sell

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Now listening to my favorite song from the set, "I am Lost to the World", here is a recording of the original version with piano accompaniment,

Mahler - Rückert-Lieder

One of Mahler’s later song cycles was based on a set of poems by Friederich Rückert, the same poet had inspired Mahler to write his equally famous Kindertotenlieder. Of all of Mahler’s song cycles, this was the last one I’d come across, and coming to it, I had gotten exactly what I expected: beautiful melodies, fantastic orchestration, and unique harmonies, all sprinkled with Mahler’s personal touch to make them a set of gorgeous songs. However, unlike typical song cycles, this collection doesn’t “have” to be performed together, the only thing connecting the songs are the poem’s themes. But it would be silly to perform any by themselves instead of the entire set [maybe the wonderful and introspective Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen could be performed as a stand alone, but why do that and ignore the rest of the poems?]. Because there is less cohesion to this cycle than others, there is no set order for the songs to be performed. That is left to the conductor’s artistic interpretation. Here I am, after dinner, drunk and feeling lonely, listening to the type of music that makes me feel connected to everyone. If that makes any sense. As in, whatever negative thoughts I have, whatever dark emotions, I can at least empathize with or sympathize with others who have felt similar emotions before and who do so today. That’s why Mahler is so consistently relevant, to me.

Movements [as organized for this performance]:

1. Liebst du um Schönheit

2. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder! 

3. Um Mitternacht 

4. Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft

5. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

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Mahler - Das klagende Lied (1880)

Songs of Lamentation. This is basically the first major work Mahler wrote. A large cantata inspired by German folk tales. The orchestra is given more weight, making this almost a “symphonic cantata”, and the synthesis between song and symphony will come back again and again in his later works. It opens with a “Forest Legend”, a beautiful queen with a scornful heart promises her hand in marriage to any knight who can find a red rose in the forest. Two brothers, one chivalrous and the other wicked, go into the woods to find the flower. The good brother finds the rose, but then the evil brother kills him and takes the rose from his body. In this movement, we get the mournful, open sound of the orchestra, textures that will come back in the first symphony, along with distant hunting horns, and a build up into one of the main themes of the work, a simple but driving march tune. Here we get a recreation of the wind, “forest” sounds like birds and horns, and it sets the darker mood of the first movement’s plot, taking up the first half of the work. The next movement is “The Minstrel”, where a wandering minstrel finds a bone in the woods and carves it into a flute. He doesn’t know it’s a human bone from the body of the chivalrous brother, and when the minstrel plays it, the ghost of the brother describes how he was killed. The music here is very dramatic, and lyrically we get a duet between the soprano and tenor. The last movement, “Wedding Piece”, opens with a grand fanfare with great orchestral color. The minstrel arrives at the castle just as the wedding between the Queen and the Wicked Brother is about to take place. Even though he was described as “wicked”, the brother is pale and anxious, contemplating his rash decision to kill his own brother. Then the minstrel tries to play the flute, but the Wicked Brother takes it from him. Playing it himself, the ghost of the Good Brother accuses him of murder in front of the wedding party. The queen faints, and the guests flee as the entire castle collapses. It is a strange tale, and honestly this is the closest Mahler ever got to an opera. Even more strange is that, despite his intimate knowledge of the opera canon, and his ability to write wonderful lyrical melodies with a great sense of dramatic pacing, he never wrote an opera himself. The music here is awesome, and because it’s a fairy tale we can examine the meaning of the text deeper. I’m mostly interested in the ending, and how it made me think of Edgar Allen Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher. Torment and guilt causing the destruction of grand buildings.

Movements:

1. Waldmärchen

2. Der Spielmann

3. Hochzeitsstück

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"Gustav Mahler Conducts his Symphony no. 1 in D Major"

funny, looking at this you'd expect the symphony to sound more cacophonous than The Rite of Spring, or the post-war avant-garde. Always interesting to see how people in the past reacted to the "new", especially when yesterday's "new" is today's "conventionality"...

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Gustav Mahler ( 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911 )

Happy Birthday, Gustav!

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it's another July 4th where the worst aspects of American culture are presenting themselves all at once

Stravinsky - Arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner (1944)

After Stravinsky immigrated to America, and after spending time in Boston, he figured he would show a bit of patriotism by arranging a slight reharmonization of the national anthem. He said that his goal was to call back to Puritan times and emphasize a sense of religiosity in the music. But at one of the early concerts, audience members stood up to sing along, and were taken aback by the harmonies. They aren’t crazy, as you listen along you’ll notice differences but nothing super angular or anything. However it is different enough to hit the “uncanny valley” and so the audiences stopped singing and were a bit stunned. The press ran with audience reaction and overinflated it to being “Stravinsky mangles our national anthem!” and it became a mini-scandal in our culture. Whatever news sells well I guess. At the next concert, there was outcry from people who didn’t know better against Stravinsky’s version, and reporters and patrons and radio broadcasts were at the edge of their seats to hear what the controversy was, how he had “ruined” the anthem. And then the Boston police arrived to stop it. Yes, the police got involved. Because I guess there was some law recently passed [probably for a sense of nationalism during the wars] that said no one was allowed to tamper with the anthem as dance music, or as concert music, or embellished, or anything like that, and such things were deemed “disrespectful”. Before the concert they told Stravinsky not to play it, so instead he played a traditional version of the anthem, and everyone was disappointed that they missed out on the “scandalous” version. Which goes to show that hyped up sensationalized news that causes outrage over nothing has been a part of American culture for a long long time. On the one hand, I wasn’t in the mood to post anything today because it’s very hard to feel patriotic these days. But the silliness around how patriotism can go to far, as exemplified in this story, made me smile.