In 1907, Gustav Mahler visited Helsinki, where he met Jean Sibelius. The two towering composers went for a walk in nature, when unsurprisingly the talk turned to shop.
It was Mahler who lent an exclamation point, as they swapped observations on the symphony. Poor Sibelius was taken off-guard, as he was merely contemplating the nuts and bolts. “I admire its severity of form and profound logic,” he said. To which Mahler, seizing the advantage, replied, “A SYMPHONY MUST BE LIKE THE WORLD. IT MUST EMBRACE EVERYTHING!”
If I know Sibelius, after that, his private thoughts were full of vodka and cigars.
Here’s a glimpse at some of my birthday booty from the other day.
The CD of works by Alice Mary Smith was released on Chandos Records in 2005, but somehow I only learned about it this year. Very happy to have it! Smith, who lived from 1839 to 1884, is believed to be the first English woman to compose a symphony. A student of William Sterndale Bennett and George Alexander Macfarran, she wrote two symphonies, six concert overtures, four piano quartets, three string quartets, a clarinet sonata, a respectable collection of sacred choral works and cantatas, and a couple of works for the stage, including an operetta. There is something about her Andante for Clarinet and Orchestra that caught my ear, when I encountered it on the radio. (It’s actually an orchestral version of the slow movement from her sonata.) The first movement of her Symphony in A minor is also impressive; the last movement is memorable and keeps up a good head of steam. If you like Mendelssohn or Arthur Sullivan, with maybe a little Schubert in the orchestration, that’s the kind of musical language you can pretty much expect.
Andante for Clarinet and Orchestra
Symphony in A minor
The other disc contains the world premiere recording of a work by Ralph Vaughan Williams, incidental music for the masque “Pan’s Anniversary” by Ben Jonson. Vaughan Williams and Pan? Come on! I am SO there!! Apparently, RVW was under time constraints when writing the work, so some of the dance arrangements had to be delegated to his good friend, Gustav Holst. The program also includes some other unexpected gems, including an arrangement of one of RVW’s most popular works, the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis,” for voices and string octet.
The CD is issued on Albion Records, the recording branch of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, which has done so much to ferret out and document rare, neglected, and forgotten works by the composer. A nice surprise in RVW’s sesquicentennial year, being celebrated with enthusiasm in the U.K. and seemingly ignored everywhere else.
A preview of the contents of “Pan’s Anniversary” here:
Looking forward to giving this a good listen today!
Vladimir Ashkenazy is 85 today. One of the great pianists, he was born in Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. He left the Soviet Union for London in 1963. From there, he and his wife, Dódý, moved to her native Iceland. The two met as students at the Moscow Conservatory. Ashkenazy has held Icelandic citizenship since 1972. In 1978, the couple relocated to Lucerne, Switzerland, where they remain.
In concert, Ashkenazy has been known to eschew neckties in favor of turtlenecks, and for running, as opposed to walking, on and off stage. Midway through his career, he decided to diversify and picked up the baton. He was principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1987 to 1994, chief conductor and music director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestre Berlin from 1988 and 1996, and principal conductor of the Czech Philharmonic from 1998 to 2003. He is conductor laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. He was music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra. Outside Europe, he served as music director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2007 and chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2009 to 2013.
From 1987 to 1994, he was principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. The only time I ever saw him live was as a conductor, leading the Cleveland Orchestra at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music in works by Barber, Korngold, and Brahms. Perhaps a decade later, he was scheduled to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra in Liszt’s rarely-heard, 30-minute symphonic poem “Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne,” but at the last minute, the program changed, so I didn’t go. I’m sorry to say, I never saw him as a pianist.
On January 17, 2020, he retired without warning, effective immediately. No explanation was given. As far as I know, he is still healthy and enjoying his retirement. Happy birthday, Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Mussorgsky, “Pictures at an Exhibition” in concert
Rachmaninoff, “Etudes Tableaux” in concert
Rachmaninoff, “Corelli Variations” in concert
Mozart with Barenboim
Live Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2
Conducting Sibelius, “En Saga”
As soloist in Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Piano Concerto No. 3
Current events and the latest incarnation of Facebook have come together to take the wind out of my sails, so I’m posting a little later than usual today. Whatever they are doing with the latest Facebook, I find it especially vexing.
My “news feed” is full of recommended posts that seem calculated to nail down my political views. When I select the option to hide posts from certain sources that I either find abhorrent or simply have no interest in, I get slammed with posts from others presumably reflective of an opposing viewpoint. Whether I happen to agree with it or not, I’m not here for those, either. So again I hide them, and the algorithm swings back again.
Where the hell are all the posts about things that I actually come here for? You know, LIKE THE STUFF I’VE BEEN WRITING ABOUT EVERY DAY FOR THE PAST EIGHT YEARS? I’m not hard to figure out.
As it stands, my feed is currently reflective of everything I find nauseating about this country: political hostility, “reality TV”-like garbage, and vapid “inspirational” sayings rendered in kitschy fonts.
What happened to the cozy space I created, Facebook? You had me with the classical music, classic movies, and heartwarming animal videos. Right now, you’re really stomping my buzz.
I watch “Holiday Inn” once a year, whether I need it or not. If you don’t know the premise, worn-out crooner Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) plans to retire from showbiz, but after a year of hard labor at his “retreat” on a Connecticut farm, he hits upon the idea to convert his home into a nightclub that’s only open (wait for it) ON HOLIDAYS.
Of course, along the way, there are plenty of farcical digressions, as he and his former partner, hoofer Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire), become involved in successive love triangles. The preposterous framework gives Berlin a chance to write a song for every festive occasion, and then some.
The results are a mixed bag. On the one hand we’ve got “White Christmas.” On the other, songs like “I Can’t Tell a Lie” (for Washington’s Birthday). And it’s best not even to bring up the Lincoln number in the 21st century.
That said, how can I pass on Bing as the Freedom Man?
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