Month: July 2013

Developing Motives

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Like Beethoven, Johannes Brahms approached music motivically. Listen to Brahms’s Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2 and pay attention to the first three notes. The entire piece develops organically from this small, seemingly insignificant musical cell. These three notes and the underlying harmony set up a musical question in search of an answer…a problem to be resolved. The next three notes reach further, heightening expectation. Can you sense an evolving process working itself out as the music searches for just the right note? Where is each phrase, or musical sentence leading? Consider these questions and get a general sense of the piece as you listen to this performance by pianist, Radu Lupu:

[button link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/radu-lupu-plays-brahms/id110704075″]Find on iTunes[/button] [button link=”http://www.amazon.com/Brahms-Piano-Pieces-Opp-117-118/dp/B0015S1ORY”]Find on Amazon[/button]

Think about the emotions you felt as you listened. Did you sense something majestic, dreamlike, maybe a touch of sadness? The power of this music lies in its ability to communicate all of these emotions and more, in a way that goes beyond words.

Now, let’s go back and listen again. Pay close attention to the harmony in the opening six notes. When these six notes return at 0:13, notice that Brahms gives us a completely new harmony. How does harmony effect the emotional meaning of the music? Why does it feel different the second time? You probably noticed other examples of this throughout the piece. (Listen at 0:46, 1:41-1:56 and 2:49-3:13). In each case, the same handful of notes are harmonized in different and unexpected ways, leading to different emotional connotations.

Focus on all voices within the texture. At 1:17 notice the opening motive popping up down in the lowest voice of the pianist’s left hand. Listen to the imitative counterpoint between voices at 2:15.

This piece is an example of Binary form, meaning that it has two distinct sections. The “B” section begins at 2:13. How does this section contrast what came before? Listen to the magical moment when the “A” section returns (3:41-3:58). It’s as if the music is trying to “remember” the opening motive after all of the adventures of the “B” section.

The more you listen to this piece, the more you’ll hear. I’ve started you off by pointing out a few details in the music, but I hope you will also listen freely and allow the music to wash over you. Have fun as you continue to listen and leave a comment in the thread below with your thoughts.

Summer Nights with Berlioz

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Lake Ähtärinjärvi at summer night

French composer Hector Berlioz was an innovator and a revolutionary. He heard strange, shocking new music which had never before been imagined. Berlioz’s song cycle Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights), written in 1841 is deeply psychological and infused with the ideals of Romanticism. This is music of hallucination, at times venturing into the eerie and the supernatural. It plays with our sense of time, sometimes seeming static and unsure, as if wandering through a dream. At other times (as in the fifth song) the music restlessly searches for an allusive goal, remaining quietly apprehensive, unsettled and ghostly. At moments it becomes schizophrenic, taking sudden and unexpected melodic and harmonic turns. 

Summer Nights is a setting of six poems by Theophile Gautier. As you listen, consider how Berlioz captures the atmosphere of each poem through music. Pay attention to the combination of instruments he uses. What musical colors are created and how do these colors make us feel the drama of the text? Can you hear a shadowy, veiled, angelic form passing a ray of light in a dark cemetery in the fifth song? (25:08-25:49) The final chord of this passage is so dissonant that it would not be out of place in the sound world of the twentieth century. Notice the sweeping violin passages evoking a “maritime breeze” in the final song.

Here it is performed by mezzo-soprano Susan Graham with Pierre Boulez conducting the Chicago Symphony:

Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights), Op. 7…Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

[ordered_list style=”decimal”]

  1. Villanelle 
  2. Le spectre de la rose 
  3. Sur les lagunes 
  4. Absence 
  5. Au cimetière 
  6. L’île inconnue 

[/ordered_list]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcHOXF6VqvM

[button link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hector-berlioz-les-nuits-dete/id305749288″]Find on iTunes[/button] [button link=”http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000003FSU”]Find on Amazon[/button]

Here is more historical background on Summer Nights and Berlioz’s life. Leave a comment in the thread below and share your thoughts on this song cycle. What did you find striking about the music? What are your favorite moments?

An Exciting New Vaughan Williams CD

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British conductor Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra have released an exciting new CD featuring music of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). The disk includes A London Symphony (Symphony No. 2) and Serenade to Music, performed by RPO Concertmaster Juliana Athayde and singers from Mercury Opera Rochester. Music director of the RPO for 13 years, currently Seaman holds the title of Conductor Laureate.

Written in 1914, A London Symphony musically captures the varied moods of London from its dense fog to the chimes of Big Ben along the River Thames. The music is lushly atmospheric and this recording brings out a rich tapestry of orchestral color. Vaughan Williams draws on English folk music throughout.

Here are what some critics have said about the CD:

[quote style=”boxed”](A) fine recording of an English classic. It is rich in accuracy of detail and felicity of mood throughout. The majesty of the finale (of the symphony) is as impressive as I have ever heard. -Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph (UK)[/quote]

[quote style=”boxed”]A wonderfully atmospheric account of VW’s London portrait … (Seaman) finds rapture and vitality in the symphony’s impressionist tableaux.—Andrew Clark, Financial Times (UK) [/quote]

[quote style=”boxed”]They (the RPO) seem to have an instinctive feel and affection for Vaughan Williams’s language. —Andrew McGregor, CD Review (BBC Radio 3)[/quote]

[quote style=”boxed”]The fruitful partnership here of British conductor Christopher Seaman and his American orchestra (after 13 years as music director Seaman is now Rochester Philharmonic’s conductor laureate) offers much gleam, warmth and vitality.—Fiona Maddocks, Guardian (UK)[/quote]

[quote style=”boxed”]Seaman emphasizes drama, contrast, luster: the quick refrain pings, the marches are stirring, the forte is forte.—Deanne Sole, popmatters.com [/quote]

[quote style=”boxed”]The playing from every section of the ensemble is first rate … always controlled and defined, but with plenty of punch too.—Gavin Dixon, classical-cd-reviews.com [/quote]

I highly recommend this recording. Start listening now and I’ll have a few more thoughts about A London Symphony in a future post.

[button link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/vaughan-williams-london-symphony/id499608678″ size=”small”]Find on iTunes[/button] [button link=”http://www.amazon.com/Vaughan-Williams-Symphony-London-Serenade/dp/B006OGSS3U” size=”small”]Find on Amazon[/button]

Three Lullabies by Gershwin

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New YorkThe lazy days of summer are here in the Northern Hemisphere. For many of us this is a time to rest and recharge, whether in the cool shade of a back yard hammock or the sun and sand of the beach. What music could be more appropriately relaxing and soothing than a lullaby, with its gentle rocking rhythm and simple repetitive melody?

[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”28″ size_format=”px”]Lullaby [/typography]

Barely out of his teenage years, George Gershwin wrote Lullaby in 1919 as a harmony exercise for his composition teacher. Even in this homework assignment, Gershwin’s distinct musical vocabulary seems fully formed. As you listen, consider what characteristics make the music sound distinctly “Gershwin.” Listen closely to the thick, shimmering inner voices under the melody. Notice that they often move in parallel motion. Do you hear anything that sounds like jazz or the French Impressionism of Debussy or Ravel? Pay attention to the harmony around 3:47-4:10 and 6:35-6:41. What kinds of emotions do you feel as you listen to the opening melody and the section beginning at 5:16?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z929ncJ9dg

[button link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gershwin-rhapsody-in-blue/id442994212″]Find on iTunes[/button] [button link=”http://www.amazon.com/Gershwin-Lullaby-string-orchestra/dp/B004VJI076″]Find on Amazon[/button]

[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”28″ size_format=”px”]Prelude No. 2[/typography]

Now let’s listen to a piece that Gershwin described as “a sort of blues lullaby.” This is Prelude No. 2 for piano, performed by Arthur Rubinstein:

[button link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gershwin-3-preludes-single/id586138952″]Find on iTunes[/button] [button link=”http://www.amazon.com/Bernstein-Clarinet-Sonata-Gershwin-Preludes/dp/B003QLY5HY”]Find on Amazon[/button]

Did you notice how Prelude No. 2, constructed on the blues scale, veers unexpectedly between minor and major? As the melody almost restlessly searches, there is something constant and unrelenting about the undulating chromatic harmony in the left hand. The tension between these two simultaneous musical personalities (one dreaming and striving, the other accepting reality) is resolved, only at the end of the phrase, as the impetuous top voice falls back in resignation. Despite its far flung adventures, the melody ends where it began (0:26). Notice that Gershwin never gives us a straightforward minor chord for these resolutions. It’s always a murky, crunching dissonance (1:10). Consider the overall mood of the music. Can you hear the deep sadness and yearning that characterizes the blues style? Did the last chord surprise you? Considering what came before, what is the significance of Gershwin’s choice to end this way?

[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”28″ size_format=”px”]Summertime[/typography]

Finally, let’s listen to the most famous of the three lullabies, Summertime from Gershwin’s opera, Porgy and Bess. Rob Kapilow provides a fascinating analysis in his What Makes It Great series. Can you feel the sultry, oppressive heat and humidity of the fictional Catfish Row, Charleston, South Carolina at the height of summer? How does the music create this atmosphere? Here is a clip from the opera:

[button link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gershwins-porgy-bess-new-broadway/id528266857″]Find on iTunes[/button] [button link=”http://www.amazon.com/Porgy-Bess-New-Broadway-Cast/dp/B007FEHA34″]Find on Amazon[/button]

As a fun bonus, let’s finish up with the bigger than life swing of Gershwin’s Broadway side. Here is the Girl Crazy Overture. Please share your thoughts in the thread below. Tell us what you hear in the music of George Gershwin.

Happy Independence Day

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John Philip Sousa’s marches embody qualities which are uniquely American. Listen to a British patriotic march like Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 and you’ll hear the slow, stately, majestic character of England. By contrast, Sousa’s marches are faster and more brash, reflecting the optimistic innocence of a young country just beginning to flex its muscles on the world stage. Sousa’s marches provide a musical snapshot of the spirit of America around the turn of the twentieth century. For fun, listen to the British Grenadier Guards try to make The Stars and Stripes Forever conform to that regal British style. Do you notice something missing in this performance?

In celebration of Independence Day, let’s listen to one of Sousa’s most emotionally charged marches, Hands Across the Sea, which he composed in 1899. Here, it’s performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, conducted by Fredrick Fennell. It’s followed by other popular Sousa marches including Washington Post, El Capitan, and The Stars and Stripes Forever. You can find this recording on iTunes and at Amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ftdfB0NEM

Hands Across the Sea immediately grabs our attention with small surprises. Listen one more time to the short, rip roaring introduction and pause at 0:07. Think about all the possibilities that could have come next. You probably didn’t expect the musical curve ball that Sousa throws-these two defiant chords, resolving in a surprise D minor. At 1:10 we get another surprise as Sousa moves to B-flat major for the trio section. This melody is as noble as any of Elgar’s marches, but this is nobility through an American lens. Listen to the way the melody plays with our sense of expectation, stepping higher and higher before an almost choral-like resolution.

Now that we’ve heard these marches as Sousa wrote them, let’s finish up with this fun and virtuosic arrangement of The Stars and Strips Forever, played by two violinists from “The President’s Own” Marine Chamber Orchestra: