Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Ravel’s Unexpected English Pupil

Maurice Ravel was one of the greatest of French composers. Reluctantly, he also became the teacher of one of England’s.

Ralph Vaughan Williams studied in Paris with Ravel for three months in 1907-08. Ravel betrayed some hesitancy at first. He took few pupils, but this untidy bear of an Englishman was not about to take no for an answer. Despite his earthy disposition (his response to Ravel’s assignment to write a minuet in the manner of Mozart was met with an unprintable response), Vaughan Williams quickly earned his teacher’s admiration and soon his friendship. Ravel later remarked of Vaughan Williams, “He is my only pupil who does not write my music.” That is to say, RVW remained his own man.

For his part, Vaughan Williams credited Ravel with having helped him to overcome the heavy Teutonic influence on his earlier training. Ravel had the effect of lightening the textures in Vaughan Williams’ music and sharpening its focus. RVW, already in his mid-30s and three years older than his teacher, learned his lessons well (at least the ones he considered valid), assimilated what he found useful, and applied it to the achievement of his own objectives. It could be said that Ravel’s greatest gift to his English pupil was the courage to be himself.

Ravel organized the first French performance of Vaughan Williams’ “On Wenlock Edge” in Paris in 1912. RVW later recollected that it was one of the worst things he’d ever heard. But he was thankful for Ravel’s advocacy in a country that rarely showed much interest in English music. Ravel also visited Vaughan Williams in London and quite enjoyed steak and kidney pudding with stout at Waterloo Station.

The two friends continued to correspond through World War I, during which both served as, among other things, ambulance drivers. Vaughan Williams had some experience with the “big guns,” which contributed to his gradual deafness, and Ravel was rejected from the air force for being too short. Ravel wrote RVW after the war and urged him to return to Paris. “I would be happy to see you after so many terrible years,” he confessed.

Pictured are some of Ravel’s letters to his friend. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, Vaughan Williams’ letters to Ravel have not survived.

Remembering Ravel’s influence on one of my favorite composers –happy birthday, Maurice Ravel!

March 7, 2023
Hamantaschen Hunt Central Jersey Purim Music

The Jewish festival of Purim begins at sunset. Which means tomorrow morning I will hit the road in search of Central Jersey’s tastiest hamantaschen.

Hamantaschen, in case you don’t know, are triangular, filled-pocket pastries associated with Haman, the villain of the Purim story as related in the Book of Esther – “tash” meaning “pocket” or “pouch” in Yiddish. In Hebrew, they’re sometimes referred to as “Haman’s ears.” And what an appetizing image that is, especially when biting into the fruity center!

The cookie is often filled with apricot, raspberry, poppy seed, or my personal favorite, prune – which may sound a little geriatric, but trust me, with a good cup of coffee, it infuses one with a ridiculous sense of well-being.

The best hamantaschen I ever had were from Rindelaub’s Bakery, then located right across the street from one of my many Philadelphia apartments, on South 18th Street, just a few doors north of Rittenhouse Square. That was decades ago, when I was in my 20s. A prune-centered hamantasch and a large cup of coffee consumed in the square on a sunny afternoon was a recipe for pure bliss. Alas, once a Philadelphia institution, Rindelaub’s is no more.

Or is it? I see, doing a Google search, there’s an article about it that ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2008, but it’s paywalled. If someone subscribes, please let me know to what far-flung suburb the bakery has retreated.

In the name of all that’s holy, avoid hamantaschen from the local grocery store. They’re generally pretty terrible – hard jelly in a tasteless cookie that will turn to powder as soon as you bite into it. But if you can find them at an actual bakery, give them a shot.

In the Trenton-Princeton area, I have had mixed success trying to recapture Rindelaub’s perfection of flavor and ratio of pastry to filling. Again, if someone knows of a great Jewish bakery in the area, let me know.

Ever hear of the whole megillah? Or Magilla Gorilla? In Hebrew, the Megillah is one of five books read on special Jewish feast days. On Purim, it’s Megillat Esther, the reading punctuated with boos and the grinding of groggers at each mention of Haman.

The best-known musical response to Purim is still probably George Frideric Handel’s “Esther,” from 1732. Handel’s first English oratorio recounts the events of the Biblical book, by way of an Old Testament drama by Jean Racine. The Hebrew Esther becomes Queen of Persia and thwarts the machinations of the king’s jealous vizier, which would have resulted in the extermination of her people.

In 1954, Jan Meyerowitz composed his “Symphony: Midrash Esther.” Meyerowitz’s family experienced an analogous threat in Germany in the 1930s, but their solution was the opposite of Esther’s. Rather than reveal their Jewishness, they chose to conceal it, converting to Christianity shortly before Meyerowitz’s birth. So carefully kept was the secret that the composer himself didn’t learn of his true heritage until the age of 18.

Meyerowitz studied in Berlin, then in Rome with Ottorino Respighi and Alfredo Casella. He emigrated to the United States in 1946, where he found employment at Tanglewood, then Brooklyn College and the City College of New York. The symphony was first performed in 1957, by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Dimitri Mitropoulos.

You can listen to it here, on tracks 5 to 8

As a bonus, track 1 is “Queen Esther’s Prayer” from “Four Biblical Tableaux” by Aaron Avshalomov, from 1928, .

Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti’s “Ester” is believed to be the first work in oratorio form to be set to a Hebrew libretto (by Rabbi Jacob Saraval). Composed in 1774, it was rediscovered only in 1997!

Finally, here’s Eugen d’Albert’s overture after Franz Grillparzer’s “Esther.” D’Albert was a mighty pianist, who studied with Franz Liszt. He composed no less than 21 operas. He was married six times. He met his match in Teresa Carreño, “The Valkyrie of the Piano,” herself married four times. What a Ragnarok their union must have been!

I only recently came across another piece of music inspired by Esther, somewhere in my CD collection, and it’s making me crazy, because now I can’t remember what it is! It was something from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. I’ll add it here should I remember it.

Remember tomorrow to pour a cup of coffee and taste deeply of Haman’s ear for Purim!

IMAGE: “Esther Denouncing Haman to King Ahasuerus” (1888) by Ernest Norman, with hamantasch added by me

March 6, 2023
Rediscovering Louise Farrenc & Neglected Romantics

Nearly 150 years after her death, composer Louise Farrenc is finally coming into her own. Farrenc (1804-1875) was the only female professor at the Paris Conservatory during the whole of the 19th century. Of course, she was only allowed to teach women.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear Farrenc’s remarkable Third Symphony, on a program of music by three neglected French Romantics.

A pupil of Moscheles (teacher of Mendelssohn) and Hummel (who studied with Mozart), Farrenc was a formidable pianist, who also took private lessons with Conservatory professor Anton Reicha. She paused in her career as a performer in order to start a successful publishing house, with her husband, Éditions Farrenc, which flourished for nearly 40 years.

Beginning in 1842, Farrenc was finally accepted it into the Paris Conservatory, as a professor. There, she taught piano, but not composition. However, her stature was such that she was able to demand – and receive – equal pay.

We’ll also hear music by Augusta Holmès (1847- 1903), French composer of Irish ancestry. Holmès received encouragement from Liszt and Wagner, as well as multiple marriage proposals from Saint-Saëns (which she declined). She became a pupil of César Franck. It’s said that Franck’s Piano Quintet enshrines the teacher’s ardent longing for his student. Saint-Saëns, who participated in the work’s scandalous premiere, was not amused.

Holmès will be represented by her symphonic poem “Andromède,” from 1883. Andromeda, you may recall from Greek mythology, is the daughter of Cassiopeia, who incurs the wrath of the gods when she brags of Andromeda’s extraordinary beauty (comparing her favorably to the Nereids). Andromeda is chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea serpent, but rescued from her fate by Perseus, who arrives just in the nick of time, astride the winged horse Pegasus and bearing the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa, with which he turns the serpent to stone.

Finally, Marie Gandval (1830-1907) studied with Flotow, then Chopin, and later Saint-Saëns. Saint-Saëns dedicated his Christmas Oratorio to her. She was the most frequently performed composer on concerts of the Société Nationale de Musique. The Société was founded by Saint-Saëns with an aim to promote orchestral music, which he found underserved in opera-mad France, where orchestras were tied to the theatres. Grandval herself was a composer of opera and choral music, but tonight there will be just enough time for her “Deux pièces” for oboe, cello and piano.

Look for the women on “Cherchez la Femme,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 5, 2023
Villa-Lobos: Joan Baez Sings Bachianas Brasileiras

On the birthday of Brazil’s most celebrated composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, here’s an interesting curio: his most famous music, the “Aria” from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, sung by none other than Joan Baez.

It was the composer’s aim in his nine suites for various instrumental combinations (and this one with voice) to fuse the folk spirit of his native land with the forms of Johann Sebastian Bach.

No. 5 consists of two movements. The “Aria (Cantilena)” is one of the most famous pieces of classical music to come out of the 20th century. Here’s an English translation of the text, a poem by Ruth Corrêa, which is sung in Portuguese:

“In the evening, a dreamy, pretty cloud, slow and transparent, covers outer space with pink. In the infinite the moon rises sweetly, beautifying the evening, like a friendly girl who prepares herself and dreamily makes the evening beautiful. A soul anxious to be pretty shouts to the sky, the land, all of Nature. The birds silence themselves to her complaints, and the sea reflects all of Her [the moon’s] wealth. The gentle light of the moon now awakens the cruel saudade [nostalgic or melancholic longing] that laughs and cries. In the evening, a dreamy, pretty cloud, slow and transparent, covers outer space with pink.”

For some reason, the “Aria” is mostly performed separately from the brief, contrasting “Dança (Martelo)” that follows (on a nostalgic poem by Manuel Bandeira about the birds of the Cariri Mountains).

In this performance, among the eight cellists that accompany the singer is David Soyer, he of Guarneri String Quartet fame. Soyer would have been 100 on February 24. The conductor is Maurice Abravanel, longtime music director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

Baez’s “Bachianas” appeared on her fifth album, “Joan Baez/5,” released in 1964 (the year the Guarneri Quartet was founded). The content was divided between contemporary and folk material. Interestingly, the liner notes were by Langston Hughes.

When released as a 45, the notes (which can be magnified at the link) were by musicologist and Beethoven and Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon.

https://www.45cat.com/record/tfe18014

The material on the B-side consists of the Neapolitan song “‘Nu Bello Cardillo” and the Mexican song, “El Preso Numero Nueve.”

Thanks, Joan, and happy birthday, Heitor Villa-Lobos!

The classic recording of Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, both the “Aria” and “Dansa,” with Victoria de los Angeles and the composer conducting:

Villa-Lobos conducts the complete set of Bachianas Brasileiras… and more! Consult the index under the video for direct links.

March 5, 2023
Aliens Outland Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi

I’m happy to report, Roy and I survived our encounter with “Aliens” (1986), James Cameron’s testosterone-soaked sequel to Ridley Scott’s haunted-house-in-space original. It’s interesting that the women – one of them a child – are all tougher than the men, even the Space Marines. But the “Alien” franchise has always been full of fascinating inversions. At the core of the mythos are anxiety and revulsion at the biological process of birth. Or maybe the films are just metaphors for a really nasty cold. Either way, the men aren’t equipped to handle it. We may love our explosions and our military hardware, but give us an impacted toenail and we start shopping for gravesites. Roy and I do our best to put on a brave face, but I’ve got my handkerchief with me, just in case.

Next week, we’ll hang on to our grim determination when mining “Outland” (1981), which to me always seems to occupy the same universe as “Alien.” “Blade Runner” too, for that matter. There’s certainly plenty of corporate greed and corruption to revile as workers are put in peril on a mining colony located on one of the moons of Jupiter. Sean Connery plays the righteous marshal who won’t look the other way.

It was not lost on critics and some audience members at the time that the film owes a fair amount to “High Noon.” It’s yet another example of how, after “Star Wars,” all the good westerns moved to space. We’ll be looking to deputize you in the comments section on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. I’ll be riding shotgun when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., next Friday evening at 7:30 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

March 4, 2023

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