Is it just me, or is this an attempt to emulate “Bull Session in the Rockies,” from Leonard Bernstein’s “The Joy of Music?” (Follow link for a clip of Bernstein conducting with his face!)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/12/21/132200010/what-happened-to-leonard-bernsteins-hands
Miss you, Lenny. Happy Birthday.
From all accounts, Edvard Grieg was a gentle-though-principled, generous soul. He was certainly Norway’s most important composer, and his example proved an inspiration not only to Scandinavians, but also to musicians worldwide seeking to find a way around the Austro-German stranglehold on music.
Is it any wonder that he attracted such a devoted following? Tchaikovsky dedicated his “Hamlet Fantasy Overture” to Grieg. Liszt performed his piano concerto. Antonin Dvorak was a friend. Frederick Delius worshipped him.
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll listen to an hour of music dedicated to Grieg by his friends and admirers.
The American composer Edward MacDowell never actually met Grieg, though he shared a certain musical affinity. He contacted the Norwegian to ask permission to dedicate to him his Piano Sonata No. 3, which he subtitled the “Norse.” Grieg was full of compliments about the piece, and he enthusiastically accepted. The two men enjoyed an admiring, though unfortunately short-lived correspondence, since both were already nearing the end of their lives. (MacDowell died in 1908, at the age of 47; he was already in the throes of the illness that would claim him at the time Grieg passed in 1907, at the age of 64.)
Julius Röntgen was born in Leipzig, but by his early 20s he settled in Amsterdam. He went on to become one of the most important figures in Dutch music, establishing the city’s music conservatory and participating in the founding of the Concertgebouw. Rontgen was successful in becoming a good friend not only of Johannes Brahms (no mean feat), but also Grieg, whom he visited in Norway 14 times. The result was a number of works he composed on Norwegian themes. Röntgen dedicated his suite “Aus Jotunheim,” inspired by a hike he had taken with the composer through the Norwegian mountains, to Grieg and his wife, on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary.
Grieg encountered the tireless Australian pianist Percy Grainger only toward the end of his life, but he was convinced he had found his ideal interpreter. He invited Grainger to perform his Piano Concerto in A Minor under his own direction. Sadly, Grieg died before it could come to pass. Nevertheless, Grainger continued to champion Grieg’s music for the rest of his life. Also, he dedicated a number of folk-inspired works to the memory of the Norwegian master. We’ll hear two historical recordings, of Grainger playing music of Grieg and then one of his own such works.
I hope you’ll join me for “Grieg-arious,” music by Grieg’s dedicated friends. You can enjoy it tonight at 10 ET, with a repeat at 3 a.m. Friday, or listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.
PHOTO: (left to right) Grieg, Grainger, Nina Grieg & Röntgen at Grieg’s home, Troldhaugen, in 1907
Today is the birthday of Constant Lambert, a composer perhaps too gifted, and certainly too much in love with women and drink.
Lambert was the enormously talented conductor of the Vic-Wells ballet. Like Leonard Bernstein, he believed, with justification, that his conducting duties diluted his achievements as a composer.
Nevertheless, he managed to craft some very interesting works. He was the first English composer to be commissioned by the Ballet Russes, for which he wrote “Romeo and Juliet” (1928). Perhaps more memorable is his ballet “Horoscope” (1938), based on astrological themes. The work propelled to fame the dancer Margot Fonteyn, with whom Lambert enjoyed a long, on-again, off-again affair.
His choral work, “Summer’s Last Will and Testament” (1932-35), after the Elizabethan poet Thomas Nashe, is a grim, remarkable achievement, a fatalistic meditation on plague, disease and death.
He may have been down on symphonic jazz (he assessed “Rhapsody in Blue” as neither good jazz, nor good Liszt) and neoclassicism, yet both color his Concerto for Piano and Nine Instruments (1931).
His most enduring success is “The Rio Grande” (1928), a work for vocal and piano soloists, chorus and orchestra. The text was by his friend, Sacheverell Sitwell. Lambert achieved fame, in part, as one of the speakers of Sacheverell’s sister Edith’s nonsense poems, set to music by William Walton as “Façade.”
His book, “Music Ho!,” is a quirky, entertainingly subjective piece of music criticism, in which he praises Sibelius, Liszt, Chabrier, Duke Ellington and the Marx Brothers, while taking swipes at the superficiality of “time travelers” like Francis Poulenc (who embrace all styles without achieving any depth), the neoclassicism of Stravinsky (who misapprehends the classical style), and the Russian nationalists and English pastoralists (whose music is reduced to incessant repetition of folk tunes).
You don’t have to agree with Lambert’s opinions to be delighted by his wit or stimulated by his observations.
Michael Kownacky will be presenting two hours of Lambert’s music this evening, on his program, “A Little Night Music,” which begins at 10 ET. You can hear it at http://www.wwfm.org.
Happy birthday, Constant Lambert!
Lambert conducts three numbers from his ballet “Horoscope”:
PHOTO: Lambert flaunting his fashion sense and philosophy for healthy living
Is there a radio host who takes greater joy in sharing his discoveries? Marvin Rosen knows more about the contemporary music scene than just about anyone. Also, he happens to be a heck of a nice guy.
Rosen is the host of “Classical Discoveries,” which can be heard Wednesdays from 5:30 to 11 a.m. ET on WPRB, the radio station of Princeton University. Over the summer, he also hosts two spin-off shows, “Classical Discoveries Goes Avant Garde”(which can be heard Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and “Treasures of Early Music” (Saturdays from 5:30 to 9 a.m.). WPRB broadcasts on 103.3 FM, and can be heard online at http://www.wprb.com/
Check out my profile of Rosen and his shows in today’s Trenton Times.
http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2014/08/host_marvin_rosen_airs_overloo.html
You might also be interested in visiting the Classical Discoveries website:
http://www.classicaldiscoveries.org/
PHOTO: (left to right) Rosen with Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Crumb and artistic director of Orchestra 2001, James Freeman
With less than two weeks left in August, summer has nearly run its course, but there’s still time for a quick European vacation. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we glance across the pond for an hour of music from foreign films with summer settings.
“A Summer Story,” based on a tale of John Galsworthy, tells of young London lawyer and a farm girl who fall profoundly in love at the turn of last century. Georges Delerue provides the poignant score.
The juxtaposition of “Igmar Bergman” and “comedy” may seem like something of an oxymoron, but the dour Swede’s “Smiles of a Summer Night” proves to be a witty examination of the folly of the human heart. Frequent Bergman collaborator Erik Nordgren wrote the music.
Director Yves Robert adapted the memoirs of Marcel Pagnol, who spent his childhood summers in the south of France, into two lovely films, “My Father’s Glory” and “My Mother’s Castle.” We’ll hear music composed for both by Vladimir Cosma. Pagnol’s experiences in Provence marked him for life, informing the films and writings of his maturity, including “The Baker’s Wife,” and “Jean de Florette.”
Finally, we’ll have a generous sampling from one of Ennio Morricone’s most beloved scores, that for “Cinema Paradiso.” “Cinema Paradiso,” set in a post-war Siciy where it seems always to be summer, is a nostalgic paean to the shared experience of film and the significance it holds in our lives. It won a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was honored with an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.
Join me for summer overseas this week, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6 ET, or enjoy it later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.
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