#and they played smetana and dvořák

[fitzrove]

Guessing favorite Composer is Schumann or Rachmaninoff

Omg! I love their eras so it would be a semi-correct assumption >:) But I actually haven't heard a lot from either (yet)! I don't know if I'm well-listened enough to for sure state a favourite composer, but I'm pretty into Dvořák, Smetana, Franz Schubert (when I was still taking piano lessons I played a lot of his waltzes) and Tchaikovsky :D

[melonthesprigatito]

Little Einsteins is the reason why I lost my shit when I heard Carmen-Overture playing in an episode of Bluey that one time (it was Faceytalk)

My brain permanently associates that song with Australia because of "Jump Joey, jump jump to the talent show! Jump Joey, jump! Jump Joey jump! 🦘🦘🦘🦘" and I heard it again in a different show set in Australia.

I also don't think of Fur Elise, I think of counting the planets.

I don't think of Trout Quartet, I think of Silly Sock.

I don't think of Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" by Antonín Dvořák, I think of one of Saturn's rings falling to the Earth.

I don't think of Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms, I think of the legend of the Golden Pyramid.

I don't think of  L'Arlésienne Suite No. 2 by Georges Bizet, I think of "ALLEGRO, HERE WE GO, HURRY UP JUST HURRY UP, JUST GO ALLEGRO"

I don't think of  Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I think of a mouse wanting to give a present to the Moon

I don't think of The Four Seasons: Spring by Antonio Vivaldi, I think of "Oh yes, oh yes, it's Spring time! Oh yes, oh yes it's Spring time!"

I don't think of Orchestral Suite No. 2 by Johann Sebastian Bach, I think of a woodpecker tapping along to the beat

I don't think of Symphony No. 40 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I think of Purple Plane

I don't think of Symphony No. 8: Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert, I think of Mr Penguin's ice cream train.

I don't think of The Moldau by Bedrich Smetana, I think of instrument dinosaurs and that one Andy Warhol volcano painting that scared the shit out of me as a kid.

I don't think of 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, I think of a unicorn and a fire truck

I don't think of Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Francois Gounod, I think of the three silly puppets

I don't think of William Tell Overture by Gioacchino Rossini, I think of Rocket kicking Big Jet's ass in the sky race

I didn't recognise the song OP mentioned until they said Melody the Music Pet and the song instantly started playing in my head.

The fact I remembered the songs and where they played but had to Google their names to write this post says a lot.

you know as much as i loved little einsteins as a kid i have to admit they kinda failed in their mission. they made the show going "okay we're going to use this as a platform to teach kids about classical art and music" except now as a 20-smth when i hear classical music i do not think "oh i know this, it's 'humoresque number 7 in g flat major opus.101'" i instead just think "oh holy shit guys it's melody the music pet"

[robertmarch82]

Regular visit to my PAH specialist. He changed my classification of PH from NYHA III to NYHA III - IV. NYHA IV is the last phase. My heart hurts.

And I wanted yet to order subscription of the magazine Centurion about history (no sense now, right?), go to mountains Beskydy for few days to relax in swimming pool and to change scenery, when I am 24/7 at home), dye my hair, get to 25th Fantasy festival, watch new TV show of Robert Carlyle, live long enough to see 4th season of The Handmaid´s tale, new TV show of Rufus Sewell, Star Trek: Picard, new season of Altered Carbon, Atypical, The good doctor, 2nd season of After life, The Boys, War of the worlds, Umbreally academy, new season of Criminal minds, Grace and Frankie, Young Sheldon, Victoria, Dicte, watch TV show Medici and Tudors…

Get to theatre to see my favourite actors in some good play. (Jan Fišar, Tomáš Jirman, Petr Houska, František Strnad, František Večeřa, Anna Cónová, Mrs.Logojdová…) At least for the last time see play Habadůra with my favourite Mrs. Forejtová…

Catch on my knowledge of history of Korea, Japan, China, India, Russia, Mongolia, Egypt, Persia, Peru, Great Britain, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Mexiko…

Listen to everything from André Rieu, german discography of Karel Gott and Judita Čeřovská, listen to Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Johann Strauss father and son, Oskar Nedbal, Rudolf Piskáček, Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana etc.

To watch grow up my lovely kitten Shlomo and my little niece…

Go with my mom to running sushi, be able to prepare asian food at home.

What I will be able to manage in time I have left? I feel physically and psychologically so horrible

[jicasas]

Sneaking pictures when I'm supposed to be playing... #Repost @seattlephil.harmonic ・・・ Yesterday was an evening of taking apart the Smetana, Forte, and Dvořák, working on details, and then putting them back together. 👩‍🔧 #rehearsalnight #smetana #moldau #forte #dvorak • • • • • #seattle #seattlephil #communitymusic #symphony #orchestra #philharmonic #classical #music September 20, 2018 at 01:46PM https://ift.tt/2OFuqFZ

[orchestrawellington]

SEASON 2018 - MEDIA RELEASE

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December 4, 2017

ORCHESTRA WELLINGTON ANNOUNCES SEASON '18 WITH SOLO PERFORMANCES BY CONCERTMASTER AMALIA HALL Orchestra Wellington Announces Season ’18 ‘Great And Noble’ With Solo Performances By Concertmaster Amalia Hall Two solo performances by virtuoso 28-year-old violinist Amalia Hall headline Orchestra Wellington’s Season ’18. Orchestra Wellington announces its ‘Great And Noble’ season of six ravishing concerts conducted by Marc Taddei at Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre and a one-off performance with Te Vaka of hit music from Disney’s Moana. Next year’s programme focuses on the symphonies of Antonin Dvorak, finishing with his ninth, and most popular, “New World” symphony. The extraordinary Czech composer’s music is inextricably linked with the music of his homeland, but his “New World” symphony, Dvorak, also drew on the three years he spent in the United States. The orchestra’s concertmaster Amalia Hall is playing musical chairs by taking up solo duties including the season opener on June 9th. This follows her stunning concerto debut last year with Orchestra Wellington and her appointment as the orchestra’s concertmaster last December when she became the youngest leader in the country of a professional orchestra. Hall’s sumptuous violin playing moves audiences with her inherent musicality and natural facility. Such was the case when she premiered Claire Cowan’s Stark Violin Concerto with Orchestra Wellington in 2016.  Here Hall performed an avant guard composition on a raised platform shimmering in the spotlight, leaving the audience wanting more. Hall has serious credentials as a prize-winning violinist on the world stage. She reached the semi-finals of the 15th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, in Poland in 2016.  Other prizes include the Postacchini International Violin Competition, the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, the International Violin Competition "Premio R. Lipizer'', and the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. Hall will play Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 on Saturday 9th June. She will wrap the series on December 1 premiering a new violin concerto by New Zealand composer Michael Norris. Norris is Orchestra Wellington’s composer-in-residence for 2018. Michael Houstoun performs Mozart Piano Concerto no. 14 on August 11. Fellow pianist Jian Liu plays Benjamin Britten’s Piano Concerto on July 7. Orchestra Wellington is introducing Christopher Park, a German-born pianist with Korean roots. He will play Bartok’s Piano Concerto on October 27. China’s first professional countertenor is coming to Wellington to sing Wild Cherry Tree, a new composition by Gao Ping. The five–movement symphony with songs is telling the story of a wanderer in the Tibetan region of China’s Sichuan province. Orchestra Wellington’s Gala Concert of Verdi’s Requiem is performed with the Orpheus Choir of Wellington on September 8. Acclaimed singers from across the Tasman, Antoinette Halloran, Soprano, Deborah Humble Mezzo Soprano, Diego Torre, Tenor, and Wellingtonian James Clayton, Bass, take the solo lines. Moana songwriter, Opetaia Foa’i is debuting with Orchestra Wellington in July to lead his band, Te Vaka, in its first live performance in the country of the soundtrack to Moana. With hit songs 'We Know The Way' and 'How Far I’ll Go’, the show titled ‘Songs of Moana’ features the best movie soundtrack since the Lion King. ORCHESTRA WELLINGTON Season ’18 – ‘Great and Noble’ www.orchestrawellington.co.nz 5: GOLDEN CITY Saturday 9 June, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 38 in D, ‘Prague’ Béla Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2 Amalia Hall, violin Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 5 in F major 6: THE PROPHECY Saturday 7 July, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Leoš Janáček Taras Bulba Benjamin Britten Piano Concerto in D Major Jian Liu, Piano Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 6 in D major 7: LONDON SYMPHONY Saturday 11 August, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Gao Ping Wild Cherry Tree (Orchestra Wellington commission) Xiao Ma, Countertenor, and Roger Wilson, Bass Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No 14 in E-flat Major Michael Houstoun, piano Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor REQUIEM Saturday 8 September, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Giuseppe Verdi Requiem Antoinette Halloran, Soprano Deborah Humble Mezzo Soprano Diego Torre, Tenor James Clayton, Bass Orpheus Choir of Wellington 8: THE RIVER Saturday 27 October, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Bedřich Smetana The Moldau Béla Bartók Piano Concerto No. 1 in A Major Christopher Park, Piano Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 8 in G major 9: NEW WORLD Saturday 1 December, 7.30pm Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Overture from Don Giovanni (arr. Busoni) Michael Norris Violin Concerto (OW commission) Amalia Hall, violin Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World" www.orchestrawellington.co.nz

[allkindsofgoodmusic]

The Albums: 

Antonín Dvořák - Piano Quartets Op 23 & 87/Busch Trio

Antonín Dvořák - String Quintet Op 97 & String Quartet Op 105/Takács Quartet

Antonín Dvořák - Piano Quintet Op 81 & String Quintet Op 97/Pavel Haas Quartet

2017 has been a really good year for the chamber music of Dvořák. Since Dvořák’s chamber music belongs to the pinnacles of romantic music, this is something to celebrate. Just in the last month or so we have had three excellent releases. Or more precisely, two of them are excellent, one is even better.

I’ve written about the Busch Trio before on this blog when they recorded Dvořák’s Piano Trios. Now they’re back with the Piano Quartets and the same qualities that made the trios so successful are evident again. I wrote about the Trios that: 

“Their playing is remarkably tight, rhythms are crisp and precise (essential in Dvořák) but at the same time they never come over as dry or clinical. The sweetness of Dvořák’s gorgeous melodies is there at all times and they are always ready to let the sunshine in.”

I can only repeat the same accolades again. Violist Miguel da Silva blends in perfectly with the Busch Trio and especially the second trio comes over very well. I have rarely heard the slow movement performed as beautifully as here and cellist Ori Epstein has a truly gorgeous tone.

Takács Quartet have recorded the late quartet op 105 which is not played as often as it deserves. It’s a lovely, more autumnal piece than most of his other quartets. Takács plays well as always. The scherzo and the slow movement are especially impressive with a combination of quick reflexes, subtle dynamics and strong accents. The only criticism is that in some places I felt that Takács sounded a little thin and strident. This is even more evident in the String Quintet op 97. They have added a star player in violist Lawrence Power and again the playing is in many ways excellent, but the quintet would do well with a little more opulence, especially in the finale.

Impressive as both Takács and Busch may be, pride of place certainly goes to Pavel Haas Quartet and their recording of the same String Quintet Takács recorded, but here it is coupled with what is perhaps Dvořák’s most beloved chamber piece, the second Piano Quintet. When comparing Takács and Pavel Haas in the String Quintet you immediately hear what was missing with Takács. Pavel Haas are capable to produce a more lush sound when needed and also have a dynamic range that Takács can’t match. That’s not to say that Pavel Haas interpretation is only a big boned romantic one. They can do details, sharp rhythms and subtle textures just as well as anyone else. 

In the Piano Quintet they are joined by pianist Boris Giltburg. The piano part is tricky since the virtuosity easily lures a less sensitive pianist to drown out the strings. But Giltburg and Pavel Haas are perfectly matched. The third movement especially is a great showcase of the range this team has. They start with supreme virtuosity (especially first violin Veronika Jarůšková), followed by the nimble and witty second subject. The middle section is suddenly wistful and nostalgic and gives Pavel Haas the opportunity to indulge in their warm luxurious sound, and finally Giltburg leads the whole movement to a truly showstopping end (Dvořák marked this movement as “Furiant”, which gives a hint of what Giltburg/Pavel Haas aims for).  

This is a reading that deserves to be compared to legendary classics such as Richter/Borodin Quartet, Curzon/Vienna Philharmonic Quartet and Štěpán/Smetana Quartet.

[dirjoh-blog]

Wilhelm Furtwängler (January 25, 1886 – November 30, 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.

Furtwängler was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic between 1922 and 1945, and from 1952 until 1954. He was also principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra (1922–26), and was a guest conductor of other major orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic.

I will focus on his work and life during the Nazi Era and especially his relationship with the Nazi leadership.

Furtwängler was very critical of Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor of Germany, and was convinced that Hitler would not stay in power for long.He had said of Hitler in 1932, “This hissing street pedlar will never get anywhere in Germany”.

In 1934, Furtwängler publicly described Hitler as an “enemy of the human race” and the political situation in Germany as a “Schweinerei” (“pigsty”).

On November 25, 1934, he wrote a letter in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, “Der Fall Hindemith” (“The Hindemith Case”), in support of the composer Paul Hindemith.

Hindemith had been labelled a degenerate artist by the Nazis. Furtwängler also conducted a piece by Hindemith, Mathis der Maler although the work had been banned by the Nazis.

The concert received enormous acclaim and unleashed a political storm. The Nazis (especially Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi Party’s chief racial theorist) formed a violent conspiracy against the conductor, who resigned from his official positions, including his titles as vice-president of the Reichsmusikkammer and of Staatsrat of Prussia. His resignation from the latter position was refused by Göring. He was also forced by Goebbels to give up all his artistic positions.

Furtwängler decided to leave Germany,[ but the Nazis prevented him. They seized the opportunity to “aryanize” the orchestra and its administrative staff. Most of the Jewish musicians of the orchestra had already left the country and found positions outside Germany, with Furtwängler’s assistance.

On February 28, 1935, Furtwängler met Goebbels, who wanted to keep Furtwängler in Germany, since he considered him, like Richard Strauss and Hans Pfitzner, a “national treasure”.

Goebbels asked him to pledge allegiance publicly to the new regime. Furtwängler refused. Goebbels then proposed that Furtwängler acknowledge publicly that Hitler was in charge of cultural policy. Furtwängler accepted: Hitler was a dictator and controlled everything in the country. But he added that it must be clear that he wanted nothing to do with the policy and that he would remain as a non-political artist, without any official position.The agreement was reached. Goebbels made an announcement declaring that Furtwängler’s article on Hindemith was not political: Furtwängler had spoken only from an artistic point of view, and it was Hitler who was in charge of the cultural policy in Germany.

The Nazi leaders searched for another conductor to counterbalance Furtwängler. A young, gifted Austrian conductor now appeared in the Third Reich: Herbert von Karajan.

Karajan had joined the Nazi Party early and was much more willing to participate in the propaganda of the new regime than Furtwängler.Furtwängler had attended several of his concerts, praising his technical gifts but criticizing his conducting style; he did not consider him a serious competitor. However, when Karajan conducted Fidelio and Tristan und Isolde in Berlin in late 1938, Göring decided to take the initiative. The music critic Edwin von der Nüll wrote a review of these concerts with the support of Göring. Its title, “The Karajan Miracle”, was a reference to the famous article “The Furtwängler Miracle” that had made Furtwängler famous as a young conductor in Mannheim. Von der Nüll championed Karajan saying, “A thirty-year-old man creates a performance for which our great fifty-year-olds can justifiably envy him”. Furtwängler’s photo was printed next to the article, making the reference clear.

During the war, Furtwängler tried to avoid conducting in occupied Europe. He said: “I will never play in a country such as France, which I am so much attached to, considering myself a ‘vanquisher’. I will conduct there again only when the country has been liberated”.He refused to go to France during its occupation, although the Nazis tried to force him to conduct there.Since he had said that he would conduct there only at the invitation of the French, Goebbels forced the French conductor Charles Munch to send him a personal invitation.

But Munch wrote in small characters at the bottom of his letter “in agreement with the German occupation authorities.” Furtwängler declined the invitation.

Furtwängler did conduct in Prague in November 1940 and March 1944. The 1940 program, chosen by Furtwängler, included Smetana’s Moldau. According to Prieberg, “This piece is part of the cycle in which the Czech master celebrated ‘Má vlast (My Country), and […] was intended to support his compatriots’ fight for the independence from Austrian domination […] When Furtwängler began with the ‘Moldau’ it was not a deliberate risk, but a statement of his stance towards the oppressed Czechs”.The 1944 concert marked the fifth anniversary of the German occupation and was the result of a deal between Furtwängler and Goebbels: Furtwängler did not want to perform in April for Hitler’s birthday in Berlin. He said to Goebbels in March (as he had in April 1943) that he was sick. Goebbels asked him to perform in Prague instead, where he conducted the Symphony No. 9 of Antonín Dvořák.

He conducted in Oslo in 1943, where he helped the Jewish conductor Issay Dobrowen to flee to Sweden.

In April 1942, Furtwängler conducted a performance of Beethoven’s ninth symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic for Hitler’s birthday.

This concert led to heavy criticism of Furtwängler after the war. In fact, Furtwängler had planned several concerts in Vienna during this period to avoid this celebration.But after the defeat of the German army during the Battle of Moscow, Goebbels had decided to make a long speech on the eve of Hitler’s birthday to galvanize the German nation. The speech would be followed by Beethoven’s ninth symphony. Goebbels wanted Furtwängler to conduct the symphony by whatever means to give a transcendent dimension to the event. He called Furtwängler shortly before to ask him to agree to conduct the symphony but the latter refused arguing that he had no time to rehearse and that he had to perform several concerts in Vienna. But Goebbels forced the organizers in Vienna (by threatening them) to cancel the concerts and ordered Furtwängler to return to Berlin In 1943 and 1944, Furtwängler provided false medical certificates in advance to be sure that such a situation would not happen again.

It is now known that Furtwängler continued to use his influence to help Jewish musicians and non-musicians escape the Third Reich. He managed to have Max Zweig, a nephew of conductor Fritz Zweig, released from Dachau concentration camp. Others, from an extensive list of Jews he helped, included Carl Flesch, Josef Krips and the composer Arnold Schoenberg.

Furtwängler refused to participate in the propaganda film Philharmoniker. Goebbels wanted Furtwängler to feature in it, but Furtwängler declined to take part. The film was finished in December 1943 showing many conductors connected with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, including Eugen Jochum, Karl Böhm, Hans Knappertsbusch, and Richard Strauss, but not Furtwängler. Goebbels also asked Furtwängler to direct the music in a film about Beethoven, again for propaganda purposes. They quarralled violently about this project. Furtwängler told him “You are wrong, Herr Minister, if you think you can exploit Beethoven in a film.” Goebbels gave up his plans for the film.

Friedelind Wagner (an outspoken opponent of the Third Reich) reported a conversation with her mother Winifred Wagner during the war, to the effect that Hitler did not trust or like Furtwängler, and that Göring and Goebbels were upset with Furtwängler’s continuous support for his “undesirable friends”.

https://dirkdeklein.net/2016/07/02/hitler-and-wagner/

Yet Hitler, in gratitude for Furtwängler’s refusal to leave Berlin even when it was being bombed, ordered Albert Speer to build a special air raid shelter for the conductor and his family. Furtwängler refused it, but the shelter was nevertheless built in the house against his will. Speer related that in December 1944 Furtwängler asked whether Germany had any chance of winning the war. Speer replied in the negative, and advised him to flee to Switzerland from possible Nazi retribution. In 1944, he was the only prominent German artist who refused to sign the brochure ‘We Stand and Fall with Adolf Hitler’.

Furtwängler’s name was included on the Gottbegnadeten list (“God-gifted List”) of September 1944, but was removed on December 7, 1944 because of his relationships with German resistance.Furtwängler had strong links to the German resistance which organized the 20 July plot.

He stated during his denazification trial that he knew an attack was being organized against Hitler, although he did not participate in its organization. He knew Claus von Stauffenberg very well and his doctor, Johannes Ludwig Schmitt, who wrote him many false health prescriptions to bypass official requirements, was a member of the Kreisau Circle.

Furtwängler’s concerts were sometimes chosen by the members of the German resistance as a meeting point. Rudolf Pechel, a member of the resistance group which organized the 20 July plot said to Furtwängler after the war: “In the circle of our resistance movement it was an accepted fact that you were the only one in the whole of our musical world who really resisted, and you were one of us.”Graf Kaunitz, also a member of that circle, stated: “In Furtwängler’s concerts we were one big family of the resistance.”

Furtwängler was “within a few hours of being arrested ” by the Gestapo when he fled to Switzerland, following a concert in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic on January 28, 1945. The Nazis had begun to crack down on German liberals. At the concert he conducted Brahms’s Second Symphony, which was recorded and is considered one of his greatest performances.

Once Adolf Hitler threatened to send Furtwängler to the Dachau concentration camp,whereupon he replied”At least I will be in good company”

Furtwängler was required to submit to a process of denazification. He was charged with having conducted two Nazi concerts during the period 1933–1945. The first was for the Hitler Youth on 3 February 1938. It was presented to Furtwängler as a way to acquaint younger generations with classical music. According to Fred Prieberg: “when he looked at the audience he realized that this was more than just a concert for school kids in uniform; a whole collection of prominent political figures were sitting there as well […] and it was the last time he raised his baton for this purpose”.

The second concert was the performance of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with the Vienna Philharmonic on 5 September 1938, on the evening before the Nazi congress in Nüremberg. Furtwängler had agreed to conduct this concert to help preserve the Vienna Philharmonic, and at his insistence the concert was not part of the congress.

He was charged for his honorary title of Staatsrat of Prussia (he had resigned from this title in 1934, but the Nazis had refused his resignation) and with making an anti-semitic remark against the part-Jewish conductor Victor de Sabata.The chair of the commission, Alex Vogel, started the trial with the following statement:

“The investigations showed that Furtwängler had not been a member of any [Nazi] organization, that he tried to help people persecuted because of their race, and that he also avoided… formalities such as giving the Hitler salute.”

At the end of the trial, musicians certified that Furtwängler helped many people during Nazi era such as Hugo Strelitzer, who declared:

If I am alive today, I owe this to this great man. Furtwängler helped and protected a great number of Jewish musicians and this attitude shows a great deal of courage since he did it under the eyes of the Nazis, in Germany itself. History will be his judge

    Wilhelm Furtwängler- The Orchestra Conductor who insulted Hitler and survived. Wilhelm Furtwängler (January 25, 1886 – November 30, 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.