Has anyone seen this?
The premise reminds me of J. Meade Falkner’s “The Lost Stradivarius” (1895), which I finally got around to reading only a few years ago. Except in that one, the violin summons the spirit of a profligate as opposed to the Antichrist. Points then, for the film swinging for the fences.
Rutger Hauer as a Satanic composer? I’m in!
On this most controversial of federal holidays, here’s a reminder of Manuel de Falla’s scenic cantata “Atlántida.” “Atlántida” tells the story of the lost continent of Atlantis, with appearances by Hercules, Pyrene (the Queen of the Pyrenees), the Hesperides (nymphs who tend a blissful garden), Queen Isabella… and a shipwrecked Christopher Columbus.
Distilled to its essence, the plot, synthesized from legends and myths into a grandiose verse epic by 19th century Catalan poet Jacint Verdaguer, follows the great flood that submerged Atlantis, Hercules sparing Spain from its waters, and from Spain the discovery of the New World.
Interestingly, Falla eschews the overtly Spanish idioms that make his ballets, “El amor brujo” and “The Three-Cornered Hat,” so insistently memorable. The result is something much more austere, akin to the choral works of Stravinsky and Arthur Honegger.
It is Falla’s most ambitious work, at which he labored for 20 years, up until his death in 1946. The composer envisioned it as his magnum opus, yet it is very seldom heard. Falla disciple Ernesto Halffter arranged the incomplete sketches into a performing edition, which he conducted at the work’s premiere in 1961. He revised the piece in 1976, at the request of Falla’s publisher, allegedly bringing the work closer to the composer’s vision.
There are a few recordings on YouTube, and some in better sound, but here’s a notable television broadcast featuring Montserrat Caballé and Teresa Berganza, with Jesús López Cobos conducting. Caballé and Berganza are interviewed as part of an intermission feature, around the 48-minute mark. Depending on your proficiency with Spanish, you may need to use some sort of translator.
Columbus Day was established as a federal holiday by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage; but his true intention was to stem anti-immigrant sentiment and violence against Italian-Americans. (11 Italian immigrants had recently been lynched in New Orleans by American “nativists.”) There was no sinister agenda to force Columbus down anyone’s throats or to excuse his personal flaws. Rather, Columbus Day was perceived as a time to celebrate American patriotism, citizenship, and social progress. That’s how people thought back then, in those hopelessly naïve times, before social media.
But really, my aim in posting this is not political, but musical, even if it is the one day a year I pause to acknowledge my Italian-American side.
On this most controversial of federal holidays, here’s a reminder of Manuel de Falla’s scenic cantata “Atlántida.” “Atlántida” tells the story of the lost continent of Atlantis, with appearances by Hercules, Pyrene (the Queen of the Pyrenees), the Hesperides (nymphs who tend a blissful garden), Queen Isabella… and a shipwrecked Christopher Columbus.
Distilled to its essence, the plot, synthesized from legends and myths into a grandiose verse epic by 19th century Catalan poet Jacint Verdaguer, follows the great flood that submerged Atlantis, Hercules sparing Spain from its waters, and from Spain the discovery of the New World.
Interestingly, Falla eschews the overtly Spanish idioms that make his ballets, “El amor brujo” and “The Three-Cornered Hat,” so insistently memorable. The result is something much more austere, akin to the choral works of Stravinsky and Arthur Honegger.
It is Falla’s most ambitious work, at which he labored for 20 years, up until his death in 1946. The composer envisioned it as his magnum opus, yet it is very seldom heard. Falla disciple Ernesto Halffter arranged the incomplete sketches into a performing edition, which he conducted at the work’s premiere in 1961. He revised the piece in 1976, at the request of Falla’s publisher, allegedly bringing the work closer to the composer’s vision.
There are a few recordings on YouTube, and some in better sound, but here’s a notable television broadcast featuring Montserrat Caballé and Teresa Berganza, with Jesús López Cobos conducting. Caballé and Berganza are interviewed as part of an intermission feature, around the 48-minute mark. Depending on your proficiency with Spanish, you may need to use some sort of translator.
Columbus Day was established as a federal holiday by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage; but his true intention was to stem anti-immigrant sentiment and violence against Italian-Americans. (11 Italian immigrants had recently been lynched in New Orleans by American “nativists.”) There was no sinister agenda to force Columbus down anyone’s throats or to excuse his personal flaws. Rather, Columbus Day was perceived as a time to celebrate American patriotism, citizenship, and social progress. That’s how people thought back then, in those hopelessly naïve times, before social media.
But really, my aim in posting this is not political, but musical, even if it is the one day a year I pause to acknowledge my Italian-American side.
Here’s a little something that springs to mind, on this, the birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
I am the proud owner of two Sibelius signatures. One is at the end of a typed letter, of which admittedly many exist, in which the composer extends his thanks to a grateful fan for the gift of some “excellent cigars.” This I obtained from another dealer during my years in the book trade. The other is a signed photograph given to me by the composer’s grandson, with whom I had formed a friendship during his years in Philadelphia. Needless to say, I am beyond happy to have these.
But I might have had three, had I been able to make up my mind to commit to the considerable expense of a letter I found online a few years ago, which was written by Sibelius to Vaughan Williams on the occasion of the latter’s 80th birthday.
Sibelius and Vaughan Williams are my two favorite composers in the entire history of the world. The two inhabited a mutual admiration society, with Vaughan Williams dedicating his Symphony No. 5 to Sibelius, “without permission and with the sincerest flattery.” (For whatever reason, Sibelius exercised an incalculable influence over composers in the U.K. And thank goodness for it!) Fortunately, Sibelius very much enjoyed the piece. So clearly this letter would have had powerful associations for me.
Sadly, prudence prevailed. In my hesitation, someone else bought it, and a while later I found it on another site listed at a higher price. Eventually, it turned up at auction, where it sold for £2400.
It’s a decision that still tugs at my heart. It would have been an enormous expenditure for me, but it’s not like it would have put me on the streets. I just wouldn’t have paid any bills and not eaten very well and been stressed out for a while. It’s not like it hadn’t happened before. I’d have gotten by somehow.
Since then, I kind of wish I had just made the leap into the void. Now, I’m doomed to look back wistfully, as in the poem of Whittier:
For of all sad words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”
PHOTOS: Vaughan Williams with Foxy; and the one that got away
As you may have read here before, Yo-Yo Ma turned 70 this week. Arguably the most visible and charismatic cellist of his generation, Ma was born on October 7, 1955. We follow up on our salute to this beloved figure and his work in film, heard on Friday’s “Picture Perfect” (on which was featured music from “Seven Years in Tibet,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), by programming two of his more unusual recordings on “The Lost Chord.”
Ma has long been acclaimed for his performances of the Bach Cello Suites, chamber music by Beethoven and Brahms, and most of the major concertos for cello and orchestra. However, his first commercial recording, believe it or not, was of music by the English composer Gerald Finzi.
Nor is Finzi’s Cello Concerto likely what we would expect from a composer largely known for his wistful, though innocuous choral works and endlessly melodic string miniatures. In fact, there’s an urgency to the first movement of the piece that seems to predict his diagnosis with leukemia, of which he learned just before his 50th birthday. The slow movement of the work unfolds in the composer’s characteristically straightforward and easily assimilated musical language. The third movement fulfills audience expectations of an optimistic and buoyant finale.
The completed concerto was given its first performance in July of 1955. It would be the last music Finzi ever heard, when, a little over a year later, he listened to a concert broadcast of a performance from his hospital room the night before he died.
Ma recorded the piece while in his early 20s, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vernon Handley.
More recently, having conquered the classical concert hall and established his mastery of the standard repertoire, Ma has proved increasingly restless and exploratory, with forays into Baroque music on period instruments, American bluegrass, Argentinean tango, improvisatory duets with Bobby McFerrin, and several musical journeys along the Silk Road.
The excitement and purity of working out musical ideas with artists from diverse cultures color his album titled “Silk Road Journeys.” We’ll hear Ma on an instrument called the morin khuur, performing with Mongolian vocalist Ganbaatar Khongorzul, in “Legend of Herlen,” built on a traditional long-song about the Herlen River, by Byambasuren Sharav. They’ll be joined by trombonists and percussionists of The Silk Road Ensemble, a group assembled by Ma to satisfy his curiosity about musical traditions existing beyond the confines of Western culture.
I hope you’ll join me for “Yo-Yo, around the World.” It’s more than just a party trick. Our heart belongs to Ma, on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
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