More enticing than a fistful of candy hearts – the “Valentine Waltzes,” by Trenton’s own George Antheil.
-
Antheil’s Valentine Waltzes Trenton Composer
by
-
St Valentine Skull Doomed Love on Classical Network
by
5 responses
Valentine’s memento mori: My annual posting of the skull of St. Valentine.
I hope you’ll join me for a paean to doomed love – including music from “Somewhere in Time” (John Barry), “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” (Bernard Herrmann), “Always” (John Williams), and “Wuthering Heights” (Alfred Newman) – on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
-
Robert Moran Featured Composer Datebook
by
4 responses
Robert Moran is featured on today’s “Composers Datebook.”
https://www.yourclassical.org/programs/composers-datebook/episodes/2020/02/13
Moran happened to be in Buffalo one summer when he sat down at the piano and in about 20 minutes came up with a waltz he thought sounded an awful lot like Maurice Ravel. This prompted him to call his friend, Robert Helps. He told Helps he had just written this piece of music and asked, rhetorically, “Does anyone write waltzes anymore?” Helps was astonished, as, he confessed, he had just completed a waltz himself.
This was the start of “The Waltz Project,” for which Moran approached a number of his composer-colleagues to contribute. Some didn’t have the time, others had exclusive contracts that barred their participation. Those who could – including such unlikely bedfellows as Philip Glass, Milton Babbitt, Lou Harrison, Roger Sessions, Joan Tower, John Cage, and Virgil Thomson – had their contributions recorded by Nonesuch Records. These were released on an LP that is still much sought-after by collectors.
Robert Moran’s “Waltz. In Memoriam Maurice Ravel”
His orchestration of Philip Glass’ “Modern Love Waltz”
The original Nonesuch LP and its 17 composers:
https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Waltz-Project-17-Contemporary-Waltzes-For-Piano/release/1223767This must be a sign from the cosmos, as Bob and I are supposed to have lunch today!
-
Two Ludwigs at Marlboro
by
9 responses
It’s a tale of two Ludwigs, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro.”
For a time, Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859) – recognized everywhere, outside of his native Germany, as Louis (pronounced “Louie,” as in the French) – was as highly regarded as Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827).
A triple threat – a violinist, a conductor, and a composer – he churned out music in all genres. He wrote 9 symphonies, 10 operas, 15 violin concertos, 4 clarinet concertos, and 36 string quartets. Add to those, innumerable chamber works for all sorts of instrumental combinations, with a special emphasis on the harp – since the harp was the instrument of his wife, with whom he often appeared in concert.
Following his death, in 1859, Spohr’s reputation plummeted. It wasn’t until the late 20th century that his music underwent a significant revival.
Today, we’ll have chance to enjoy his Sextet for Strings in C major, Op. 140, a comparatively late work, but one imbued with a remarkably youthful spirit. A supporter of German unification, republicanism, and democratic causes, Spohr was inspired by the revolutions that swept across Europe in 1848.
From the 1980 Marlboro Music Festival, we’ll hear it performed by violinists Pina Carmirelli and Veronica Knittel, violists Philipp Naegele and Karen Dreyfus, and cellists Peter Wiley and Georg Faust.
A friend of Beethoven, Spohr participated in a memorable run-through of his colleague’s “Ghost” Trio, with the composer banging away at an out-of-tune piano. He also played in the premiere of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
By way of contrast, but also honoring their association, we’ll open the hour with Beethoven’s Octet for Winds in E-flat major, Op. 103, from 1792. Despite the high opus number, the work was actually written in the composer’s hometown of Bonn, prior to his move to Vienna.
We’ll hear it in a 1957 recording featuring Marlboro cofounder Marcel Moyse, as director of an ensemble made up of oboists Alfred Genovese and Earl Schuster, clarinetists Harold Wright and Richard Lesser, bassoonists Anthony Checchia and Roland Small, and hornists Myron Bloom and Richard Mackey.
Get ready to flip your wig for two Ludwigs, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page
When the cravat was king: Beethoven (left) and Louis Spohr
-
Roy Harris Gettysburg Symphony on WWFM
by
6 responses
Roy Harris (1898-1979) was born in a log cabin, in Lincoln County, OK, on Lincoln’s birthday – albeit 89 years later. If that doesn’t imbue a composer with a sense of destiny, I don’t know what will.
Harris went on to became one of our great American symphonists. In particular, his Symphony No. 3 of 1939 has been much beloved and frequently performed. Unfortunately, we don’t hear all that much of his music anymore. And that’s a damned shame.
Join me this afternoon on The Classical Network, as we celebrate these dual birthdays with a recording of Roy Harris’ Symphony No. 6. Subtitled “Gettysburg,” each of the symphony’s four movements bears a superscription taken from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:
I. Awakening (“Fourscore and seven years ago…”);
II. Conflict (“Now we are engaged in a great civil war…”);
III. Dedication (“We are met on a great battlefield of that war…”);
IV. Affirmation (“…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…).
Of course, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t also hear Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” Copland lent Harris a helping hand by putting in a good word for him with his teacher, Nadia Boulanger. The piece is a stirring reminder of a time when America still produced articulate, conscientious, and compassionate statesmen. The great William Warfield will recite Lincoln’s words, from an out-of-print LP on the Mercury label. Warfield always did such a fine job with Copland’s “Old American Songs.”
At 6:00, it’s another “Music from Marlboro,” chamber music performances of works by Beethoven and Louis Spohr. We’ll see what else we can come up with, along the way.
You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. This man’s legs are long enough to reach the ground, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Tag Cloud
Aaron Copland (93) Beethoven (95) Composer (114) Film Music (145) Film Score (143) Film Scores (255) Halloween (94) John Williams (195) KWAX (229) Leonard Bernstein (104) Marlboro Music Festival (125) Movie Music (160) Mozart (91) Opera (213) Philadelphia Orchestra (89) Picture Perfect (174) Princeton Symphony Orchestra (109) Radio (88) Ross Amico (244) Roy's Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner (290) The Classical Network (101) The Lost Chord (269) Vaughan Williams (105) WPRB (397) WWFM (881)
8 responses