Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “Bachianas Brasileiras” suites are fascinating experiments, attempts to marry the composer’s native Brazilian folk music with the forms of Johann Sebastian Bach. Arguably one of the most evocative of these, the “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4,” will act as a bridge from today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, which has featured The Dryden Ensemble in music by Bach and his contemporaries. The Villa-Lobos work will begin around 1:40 p.m. EDT.
Then, in the 2:00 hour, we’ll shift gears and enjoy the Symphony in B flat by Alexander Zemlinsky. The symphony was composed very much under the influence of Brahms and Dvořák. Some of Zemlinsky’s mature works undoubtedly achieved greater distinction, but there’s something to be said for great tunes and abundant charm. The composer also happened to be the teacher of Arnold Schoenberg and Vienna’s great musical prodigy of the day, Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Korngold, of course, went on to become one of the great film composers. He applied the same romantic opulence that made his operas so successful to his work for the silver screen. His Piano Trio in D major, Op. 1, written at the age of 13, reveals him to be already in command of the distinctive musical language that would later serve him so well.
Schoenberg too wound up in Hollywood. He may have been the godfather of dodecaphonic music, but his neoclassical Suite for String Orchestra in G, his first piece composed in the New World, could almost be described as a charmer. This work “in the olden style” is wholly tonal and betrays the composer’s love of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Clearly, what goes around comes around, from roughly 1:40 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Zemlinsky and Schoenberg: Let us entertain you.
