Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres”: Activity and Stasis

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Fratres, meaning “brothers” in Latin, has been described as “a mesmerizing set of variations on a six-bar theme combining frantic activity and sublime stillness.” Composed in 1977 by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935), Fratres is set in three parts, without fixed instrumentation. With the serene timelessness of medieval organum, a chant-like melody floats over a drone made up of the pitches A and E. A percussive motif recurs between chord sequences. The structure …

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Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten: Sound and Silence

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“How we live depends on our relationship with death: how we make music depends on our relationship to silence,” writes Paul Hillier in his biography of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935). Sound and silence meet in Pärt’s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, scored for string orchestra and a single bell, sounding on the pitch of A. Composed in 1977, the work employs Pärt’s tintinnabulation style, rooted in Gregorian chant. It is …

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Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat Major: Music Born of Friendship

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In his catalogue, Mozart referred to the Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat Major, K. 495 as “a hunting horn concerto for Leutgeb.” (“Ein Waldhorn Konzert für den Leutgeb”). Joseph Leutgeb (1732-1811) was Austria’s preeminent horn player. While employed as a court musician in Salzburg, he had known Mozart as a child. Later in Vienna, the two became close friends. Composed in 1786, the Concerto is filled with warmth and good humor. …

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Bernstein on Schumann: An Analysis of the Second Symphony

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Through the years, conductors have tampered with the works of Robert Schumann, occasionally doubling instruments. Schumann’s works can be taxing for the orchestra, and some commentators cite weaknesses in the orchestration. In a 1953 analysis of Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61, Leonard Bernstein shatters this myth. He suggests that Schumann’s orchestration is, in fact, innovative. For example, there is the magical introduction in which the strings (traditionally at …

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Gabriella Smith’s “Maré”: yMusic

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“Maré” translates as “tide” in Portuguese. It is the title of a brief chamber work by American composer Gabriella Smith (b. 1991). Scored for flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, viola, and cello, it was written in 2017 for the New York-based sextet chamber ensemble, yMusic. It is included on the group’s fourth album, Ecstatic Science. Smith explains, I wrote it on an island in Brazil when I was staying at an artists’ colony. …

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Alexander Malofeev Plays Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor

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The opening of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 breaks all the rules. Heralded by four mighty descending notes, stated three times by the horns, the majestic and expansive theme sets up the wrong key—not the home key of B-flat minor, but its relative major, D-flat. Even more strangely, the iconic theme never returns. Still, the Russian musicologist, Francis Maes, has written that “the opening melody comprises the …

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Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041: Hilary Hahn and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

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“Bach has played a long part in my musical life,” said violinist Hilary Hahn in a 2018 interview. “I started playing the solo Bach Sonatas and Partitas when I was nine in preparation for a couple of movements that I played on my first full recital when I was ten, and shortly after that I started at Curtis…” While Bach’s six groundbreaking Sonatas and Partitas showcase the violin as an instrument capable …

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