Hello again classical music lovers! It's almost August, but we're hangin' on to July as long as we can!
Summer is really goin’ by fast, but while it’s still July, we'll continue to highlight American composers, as you’ll see below.
Looking around the classical music world, I found some tantalizing hors d’oeuvres, and sadly we say goodbye to two great musicians.
Classical Music News
Farewell: Josef Suk and Cornell MacNeil
After a long illness, the great Czech violinist, Josef Suk, passed away earlier this month, just shy of his 82nd birthday.
The great-grandson of Antonin Dvorak, and grandson of the Czech composer Josef Suk (Dvorak’s son-in-law), he showed great talent at an early age and began a distinguished career as a solo violinist and violist in 1954. Suk received numerous awards for his recordings of Janacek, Berg, Bach, Debussy, and others. He was also renowned for his work in chamber music, forming the Suk Chamber Orchestra in the ‘70s. He carried the title National Artist in his home country. We will feature his performances of Bach Sonatas and Partitas in his honor. See below.
The great American baritone, Cornell MacNeil passed away earlier this month at 88.
MacNeil sang over 600 performances with the Metropolitan opera, and was especially known for his powerful upper range and vocal stamina in such roles as Otello, Rigoletto, and Scarpia.
Classical Music is Dusty, Fusty, and Musty…NOT
I know that many people think classical music is old-fashioned and only for people who still wear Victorian bustles and top coats, preferable black. Well they have another think coming:
Dig...
Tania Stavreva: Total Artist
Tania Stavreva, the young Bulgarian keyboard phenom, is a complete artist. Not only does she display dazzling skills with her performances of Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, and Scriabin, she throws her entire body into her work.
Stavreva is having her body painted (above right) by artist Danny Setiawan and will be displaying their collaboration in a series of upcoming recitals. I hear that keyboard-side tickets are going for scalper prices! FYI - She is on Facebook and MySpace. As they say, OMG!
Gravitation Quartet: Very Attracting
Notice anything special about this string quartet?
That’s right! They are all women in floral hats! They are the Russian quartet known as Gravitation. This is the cover photo for their latest CD. I can tell how talented they are and how exceptional their interpretations are just by lookin’! They join the growing ranks of all-female quartets such as The Colorado Quartet, Bond, Escala, The String Divas, and others. You can visit their website at http://www.savemoment.com/music/string_quartet.htm
What to Listen for as We Close Out July
July is the U.S. Birthday Month. In recognition of that, we’ve been featuring the music of many prominent American Composers. You can refer to my previous blog for composers notes, and as we close out July, here are some more highlights of what you’ll hear in the coming weeks on GotRadio’s Classical and Classical Voices channels:
Classical
• John Adams –The Chairman Dances: Perhaps Adams’ best known work, it was composed in 1985 from an “out take” (not an excerpt) of Act 3 of his opera Nixon in China. In the surreal scene, the widow Madame Mao has interrupted the Presidential banquet. She beckons to the orchestra to play a song and Chairman Mao comes out of his large hanging portrait on the wall to dance with her!
• Samuel Barber – Violin Concerto: Commissioned in 1939 on behalf of the young violinist Iso Briselli, this beautiful concerto was rejected due to Briselli’s dislike of the brief final movement. Nonetheless, it quickly became one of the most performed 20th century violin concertos.
• Aaron Copland – Quiet City and Letter from Home: Two of the more modestly scored and intimate works by Copland, Quiet City was written to accompany a 1939 play by Irwin Shaw concerning the night thoughts of several people in a great city, and Letter from Home, commissioned by Paul Whitman, is an obviously nostalgic piece written about the same time as Appalachian Spring.
• David Diamond – Rounds for String Orchestra: This is the most popular work by the outspoken composer, Julliard faculty member, and one-time instructor of Eric Whitacre!
• Irving Fine - Serious Song, A Lament for Orchestra: A friend of Leonard Bernstein, Fine likewise attended Harvard, studied under Walter Piston, and was mentored by Serge Koussevitzky. He died tragically young in 1962, only 47.
• George Gershwin – An American in Paris: Composed in 1928 after Gershwin’s visit to Paris, this tone poem depicts his impressions of the sounds and energy of Paris. Some of the music was arranged by Johnny Green for the eponymous 1951 Gene Kelly movie musical.
• Howard Hanson – Rhythmic Variations on Two Ancient Hymns, and Mosaics: The recently rediscovered Rhythmic Variations shows Hanson’s skill in dealing with a small and unusual ensemble, and Mosaics is also a set of rhythmical variations written in 1957 for the Cleveland Orchestra and George Szell.
• Roy Harris – Symphony #3: One of the more widely performed American Symphonies, Harris composed this piece on a commission from Hans Kindler, but gave it to mentor Serge Koussevitzky instead. Harris described it as being made of five sections - Tragic, Lyrical, Pastoral, Fugue Dramatic, Dramatic Tragic.
• Charles Ives – Symphony #4: Although composed in the early 1900s, Ives did not live to hear this work which wasn’t premiered until 1965. Its complexity often requires two conductors!
• Peter Mennin – Symphony #3: This very energetic symphony, by the one-time Julliard President, was written as a doctoral dissertation, premiering in 1947.
• We will be paying homage to Josef Suk, the great Czech Violinist who passed away this month, see above. We will be featuring his recordings of Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
Classical Voices
• Aaron Copland – In the Beginning: this difficult choral piece makes use of Chapter 1 and part of Chapter 2 of Genesis. While the soloist introduces each day, the chorus provides comment, often in a different key!
• Howard Hanson – Lament for Beowulf: this piece depicts the grief of the Gaetan people (Swedes) and Beowulf’s wife at the loss of their hero, during a burial ceremony.
• Charles Ives – Five Songs: These five brief, beautiful, songs display Ives’ sense of melody, Americana, and harmonic originality.
• Randall Thompson – Feast of Praise: This Cantata, commissioned by Stanford University in the early ‘60s, makes use of biblical texts, in three sections, and includes Thompson’s rare use of antiphonal writing.
• Eric Whitacre –Five Hebrew Love Songs and Three Songs of Faith: Perhaps the most famous American choral composer today, Whitacre wrote the music of the Hebrew Love Songs to poems provided to him by the women he later married, and the Songs of Faith take three poems by e. e. cummings and were written as a commission for Northern Arizona University in recognition of the 100th anniversary of their music department.
