Month: September 2023

Remembering Stephen Gould

by

Stephen Gould, the world-renowned tenor, passed away on September 19 in Chesapeake, Virginia. After withdrawing from  scheduled appearances at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany over the summer, Gould announced that he had been diagnosed with incurable bile duct cancer. He was 61. A leading interpreter of Wagner, Stephen Gould performed regularly at Bayreuth, where he was hailed as the “Wagner Marathon Man.” Following a musical theater stint which included a Broadway touring …

Read more

Bach’s Flute Partita in A Minor, BWV 1013: Music Shrouded in Mystery

by

J.S. Bach, who could create tantalizingly sophisticated music using the most economical means, famously wrote six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, and six Suites for solo cello. Less well known is the single work Bach left behind for the solo flute. The four-movement suite which has come to be known as the Flute Partita in A minor, BWV 1013 originally was inscribed with the simple title, Solo pour la Flute traversiere. …

Read more

Mahler’s First Symphony: The Titan

by

Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major is music rooted in nature and song. It is the work of a 28-year-old composer who was rapidly rising as one of Europe’s premier conductors, and who was coming out of a stormy love affair with Marion von Weber, the wife of the grandson of composer, Carl Maria von Weber. It is music which synthesizes the Romantic influences of Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt, and Bruckner, …

Read more

Michael Torke’s “Chancel” (“Sessions, 3 A.M.”): The Virtue of Simplicity

by

Chancel is the third single to be released from Sessions, 3 A.M, the latest album by the American composer, Michael Torke. The complete recording will be available in November. Recorded last May at the Samurai Hotel Studio in Queens, New York, Sessions, 3 A.M features a collection of fifteen brief and atmospheric pieces for solo piano which are performed by the composer. The excerpts that are currently available suggest the magical, nocturnal vibe of an …

Read more

Sibelius’ “The Dryad”: A Fleeting, Impressionistic Tone Poem

by

Jean Sibelius’ impressionistic tone poem, The Dryad (Dryaden), Op. 45, No. 1, is magical and fleeting. It begins with hushed, searching melodic strands which seem to drift over a dark, desolate, and frigid nordic landscape before coalescing into a high-spirited dance. At moments, the woodwinds erupt in cackling laughter and shrieks of merriment. Tonal colors capture the shimmering brilliance of sunlight on snow. The wood nymphs, upon which the piece is based, come …

Read more

Mozart’s “Il Re Pastore”: Excerpts from a Youthful Opera

by

Mozart’s two-act opera, Il re pastore (“The Shepherd King”), K. 208, written to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, tells a fanciful story in which love and faithfulness triumph over ambition. The following brief synopsis is provided by Opera Online: Alessandro, king of Macedonia (soprano), having just conquered the city of Sidon, wants it to be ruled by Aminta (soprano), the young legitimate heir who became a shepherd after he was removed from the throne …

Read more

Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major: David Oistrakh in Concert in 1968

by

Mozart’s earliest childhood performances as a violinist were recounted humorously by Johann Andreas Schachtner. In a 1792 letter to Mozart’s sister, Maria Anna, or “Nannerl,” Schachtner, a close friend of the family, recalled an occasion when he was invited to play second violin for an informal chamber music session at the Mozart house. Little Wolfgang asked to be allowed to play second violin. As he hadn’t had any lessons yet, your Papa …

Read more