Ljubica Marić’s “Ostinato Super Thema Octoïcha”: Byzantine Mysticism

by

Ljubica Marić (1909-2003) is widely considered to be the most important Serbian composer of the 20th century. Her music has been described as a synthesis of “medieval music with the avant-garde,” and a precursor to the mediative minimalism of Arvo Pärt and John Tavener. (Borislav Čičovački) “Ljubica Marić has used an entire arsenal of contemporary music in order to achieve a high goal,” wrote Shostakovich after examining Marić’s 1956 cantata, Songs of …

Read more

Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor: Reaching a Creative Pinnacle

by

Antonín Dvořák had weathered personal tragedy and intense inner conflict when, in 1883, he composed the Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor, Op. 65. Dvořák began work on the Trio six months after the death of his mother, with whom he had been especially close. The premature loss of three of his young children was still a fresh memory. As a composer, Dvořák, who enjoyed the support of Johannes Brahms, was …

Read more

Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005, Largo: Christian Tetzlaff

by

When it comes to J.S. Bach’s six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001-1006), we are never done learning. Once you begin to play and study this timeless, awe-inspiring music, new details reveal themselves continuously, in unending layers. An intrinsic part of the violin repertoire, the collection includes Baroque dances, three fugues, and a monumental chaconne. Bach gave multi-voice counterpoint to an instrument that is primarily associated with single melodic lines. …

Read more

Remembering Leif Segerstam

by

Leif Segerstam, the colorful Finnish conductor and composer, passed away last Wednesday following a brief illness. He was 80. Eccentric and larger-than-life, with an exuberant podium demeanor resembling Santa Claus, Segerstam embraced music with a childlike enthusiasm. He served as chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 to 2007, and later held the title of Chief Conductor Emeritus with the orchestra. He held similar positions with the Danish National Radio …

Read more

Brahms’ Violin Concerto: Christian Tetzlaff, Robin Ticciati, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

by

Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 was born out of a deep collaborative friendship. Brahms composed the monumental work during the summer of 1878, a year after completing his Second Symphony, in the southern Austrian lakeside town of Pörtschach am Wörthersee. The Concerto was dedicated to the Hungarian-born violinist, Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), who actively advised the composer on technical aspects of the violin in relation to the score. Joachim, …

Read more

Bach’s Cantata, BWV 140, “Wachet auf”: Boundless Imagination

by

J.S. Bach’s Cantata, BWV 140, Wachet auf (“Sleepers Awake”) has been called “a cantata without weakness, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order, its sheer perfection and boundless imagination rouse one’s wonder time and time again.” (William G. Whittaker) German musicologist Alfred Dürr described it as an expression of Christian mysticism in art, with the uniting of “earthly happiness in love and heavenly bliss.” Bach composed this …

Read more

Fauré’s Dolly Suite: Charming Portraits of Childhood

by

The French singer, Emma Bardac (1862-1934), was the love interest, first of Gabriel Fauré, and later Claude Debussy. Between 1893 and 1896, Fauré composed a set of six whimsically titled piano duets to mark birthdays and other events in the life of Bardac’s young daughter, Régina-Hélène, who was know as “Dolly.” In 1906, conductor Henri Rabaud orchestrated the “Dolly” Suite, and used it to accompany “an ingenious ballet” at Paris’ Théâtre des …

Read more