Benjamin Britten Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell @MrVektriol

MrVektriol Benjamin Britten Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell [The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra,1945]
Theme: Allegro maestoso e largamente
[Tutti, woodwinds, brass, strings, then percussion]
Variation A: Presto
[Piccolo and flute]
Variation B: Lento
[Oboes]
Variation C: Moderato
[Clarinets]
Variation D: Allegro alla marcia
[Bassoons]
Variation E: Brillante – alla polacca
[Violins]
Variation F: Meno mosso
[Violas]
Variation G: Lusingando
[Cellos]
Variation H: Cominciando lento ma poco a poco accelerando all'Allegro
[Double basses]
Variation I: Maestoso
[Harp]
Variation J: L'istesso tempo
[Horns]
Variation K: Vivace
Trumpets
Variation L: Allegro pomposo
[Trombones and bass tuba]
Variation M: Moderato
[Percussion (timpani; bass drum & cymbals; tambourine & triangle; snare drum & wood block; xylophone; castanets & tamtam; whip; percussion tutti)]
Fugue: Allegro molto

Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Antonio de Almeida, conductor

Painting: Joan Eardley, Street Kids, about 1949-1951 Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland

updated 8 years ago

Benjamin Britten Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell

MrVektriol 2016-06-16 | Benjamin Britten Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell [The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra,1945]
Theme: Allegro maestoso e largamente
[Tutti, woodwinds, brass, strings, then percussion]
Variation A: Presto
[Piccolo and flute]
Variation B: Lento
[Oboes]
Variation C: Moderato
[Clarinets]
Variation D: Allegro alla marcia
[Bassoons]
Variation E: Brillante – alla polacca
[Violins]
Variation F: Meno mosso
[Violas]
Variation G: Lusingando
[Cellos]
Variation H: Cominciando lento ma poco a poco accelerando all'Allegro
[Double basses]
Variation I: Maestoso
[Harp]
Variation J: L'istesso tempo
[Horns]
Variation K: Vivace
Trumpets
Variation L: Allegro pomposo
[Trombones and bass tuba]
Variation M: Moderato
[Percussion (timpani; bass drum & cymbals; tambourine & triangle; snare drum & wood block; xylophone; castanets & tamtam; whip; percussion tutti)]
Fugue: Allegro molto

Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Antonio de Almeida, conductor

Painting: Joan Eardley, Street Kids, about 1949-1951 Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland

Purcell King Arthur ~ Frost Scene

MrVektriol 2017-09-01 | Henry Purcell
King Arthur or The British Worthy
Text by John Dryden
Frost Scene from Act 3

Deller Consort
The Deller Choir
Alfred Deller, director
The King’s Musick
Roderick Skeaping, director

Painting: Thomas Gainsborough, The Painter's Two Daughters, 1758, London, Victoria and Albert Museum (Photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
The musical sections of Purcell's semi-opera form interludes within the main action mostly at the ends of each of the acts of Dryden's text. [...] In Act 3, as an illustration of the power of love, Cupid descends on a wintry landscape and even the Cold Genius and his colleagues are warmed by his gift.
From Synopsis in http://www.boosey.com

THIRD ACT ~ Frost Scene
Cupid
What ho! thou genius of this isle, what ho!
Liest thou asleep beneath those hills of snow?
Stretch out thy lazy limbs. Awake, awake!
And winter from thy furry mantle shake.

Cold Genius
What power art thou, who from below
Hast made me rise unwillingly and slow
From beds of everlasting snow?
See'st thou not how stiff and wondrous old
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold,
I can scarcely move or draw my breath?
Let me, let me freeze again to death.

Cupid
Thou doting fool, forbear, forbear!
What dost thou mean by freezing here?
At Love's appearing,
All the sky clearing,
The stormy winds their fury spare.
Thou doting fool, forbear, forbear!
What dost thou mean by freezing here?
Winter subduing,
And Spring renewing,
My beams create a more glorious year.

Cold Genius
Great Love, I know thee now:
Eldest of the gods art thou.
Heav'n and earth by thee were made.
Human nature is thy creature.
Ev'rywhere thou art obey'd.

Cupid
No part of my dominion shall be waste:
To spread my sway and sing my praise,
E'en here, e'en here I will a people raise
Of kind embracing lovers and embrac'd.

Chorus of Cold People
See, see, we assemble
Thy revels to hold,
Tho' quiv'ring with cold,
We chatter and tremble.

Cupid
'Tis I, 'tis I that have warm'd ye.
In spite of cold weather
I've brought ye together.

Chorus
'Tis Love that has warm'd us?

Cupid & Genius
Sound a parley, ye fair, and surrender.
Set yourselves and your lovers at ease.
He's a grateful offender
Who pleasure dare seize:
But the whining pretender
Is sure to displease.
Sound a parley?
Since the fruit of desire is possessing,
'Tis unmanly to sigh and complain.
When we kneel for redressing,
We move your disdain.
Love was made for a blessing
And not for a pain.

Chorus
'Tis Love that has warm'd us?

Georg Friedrich Händel (?) Gloria for Soprano, 2 Violins & Continuo

MrVektriol 2016-11-21 | Georg Friedrich Händel (?)
Gloria for soprano, two violins and continuo
HWV deest
Gloria in excelsis Deo 00:00
Et in terra pax 02:10
Laudamus te 04:51
Domine Deus 06:59
Qui tollis peccata mundi 08:15
Quoniam tu solus 12:05
Cum Sancto Spiritu 13:32

Gemma Bertagnolli, soprano
Enrico Onofri, violin I
Stefano Barneschi, violin II

Painting: José de Madrazo y Agudo, The Eternal Happiness, 1813

Giovanni Sgambati Mélodie de Gluck in D Minor

MrVektriol 2016-11-21 | Giovanni Sgambati
Mélodie de Gluck in D minor

Pietro Spada, piano

Benedetto Gennari, Orpheus Playing His Lyre, Peoria, Riverfront Museum

Erik Satie Socrate ~ Symphonic Drama with Voices in Three Parts

MrVektriol 2016-11-20 | Erik Satie
Socrate ~ Symphonic Drama with Voices in Three Parts
Part I 00:00
Part II 06:27
Part III 15:07

First Orchestral Performance: Paris, 1920

Marie-Thérèse Escribano, Socrate
Michèle Bedard, Phèdre
Emiko Liyma, Alcibiade
Gerlinde Lorenz, Phédon
Ensemble Die Reihe
Friedrich Cehra, conductor

Painting: Giambettino Cignaroli, The Death of Socrates, 1762, Budapest Szépmûvészeti Múzeum

D. Kabalevsky Romeo and Juliet ~ Suite from the Incidental Music

MrVektriol 2016-11-20 | Dmitri Kabalevsky
Romeo and Juliet
Suite from Incidental Music To Shakespeare’s Tragedy (1956)
Introduction 00;00
Morning in Verona 03:14
Preparation for the ball 05:07
Procession of the Guests 06:48
Quick dance 10:15
Lyrical dance 11:45
In the cell of Friar Laurence 16:57
Tarantella 20:08
Romeo and Juliet 23:35
Death and Reconciliation 26:32

Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Vasily Jelvakov, conductor

Francis Bacon, Reclining Figure, No. 1, c. 1961

Gustav Holst The Planets Op. 32 for Two Pianos

MrVektriol 2016-11-19 | Gustav Holst
The Planets Op. 32 for Two Pianos
Mars, The Bringer of War 00:00
Venus, The Bringer of Peace 06:47
Mercury, The Winged Messenger 13:54
Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity 17:46
Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age 25:33
Uranus, The Magician 32:42
Neptune, The Mystic 38:34

First Orchestral Performance: London, 1920

Len Vorster & Robert Chamberlain, pianos

Painting: Jan Gossart, Young Girl with Astronomic Instrument, c. 1530, London. National Gallery

Robert Schumann Stücke in Volkston for Cello and Piano Op. 102

MrVektriol 2016-11-19 | Robert Schumann
Stücke in Volkston for cello and piano Op. 102 (1849)
‘Vanitas Vanitatum’. Mit Humor 00:00
Langsam 03:10
Nicht schnell, mit viel Ton zu spielen 06:44
Nicht zu rasch 10:48
Stark und markirt 12:53

Rocco Filippini, cello
Michele Campanella, piano

Painting: Francesco Hayez, Melancholy

Michael Nyman String Quartet No. 3 (1990)

MrVektriol 2016-11-18 | Michael Nyman
String Quartet No. 3 (1990)
Balanescu Quartet
beginning
fig. D

Alexander Balanescu, violin I
Jonathan Carney, violin II
Kate Musker, viola
Anthony Hinnigan, cello

Painting: Lucian Freud, Boy Smoking, 1950-1951

String Quartet No. 3 (1990), commissioned by Alexander Balanescu, is based on Romanian folk music, along with material from his choral work Out of the Ruins, via a process Nyman describes as "translation." It affected much of Nyman's composition throughout the 1990s—riffs, in particular, a seven-note scalar ostinato, from it appear in À la folie, Carrington (in which it was used as a temp track and ultimately was transformed into a theme for Lytton Strachey), Practical Magic (not used in the finished film), The End of the Affair, and The Claim. The translation is not as simple as it may sound, as Pwyll ap Siôn notes, the first violin has new melodic material higher than the highest notes of the soprano melody, which is largely for the second violin. In addition, he elides caesuras and makes use of the stringed instruments' ability to sustain far longer than a human voice. Among the passages new to the string quartet are measures 17-24, 125-126, and a cello part beginning at measure 63.
Some cause of the variation is that the quartet is a celebration of the fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu, whereas Out of the Ruins is an expression of the hopelessness after an earthquake. Siôn describes numerous places where the accents and descriptors of the work indicate a very different feeling and approach to the music, with the quartet being much more aggravated, while the choral work reflects sorrow without indignation.
Like the first String Quartet, the piece is a reflection of Nyman's postgraduate work with Thurston Dart, who sent him to Romania in 1965 to gather folk music. The Romanian folk melodies that have been added to Out of the Ruins were all gathered on that trip
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartets_1%E2%80%933

Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Concerto in A Minor No. 1 Op. 77

MrVektriol 2016-11-15 | Dmitri Shostakovich
Violin Concerto in A Minor No. 1 Op. 77 (1947/1955)
Nocturne: moderato 00:00
Scherzo: allegro 10:55
Passacaglia: andante – cadenza 17:11
Burlesque: allegro con brio 29:55

David Oistrakh, violin
Czech Philarmonic Orchestra
Yevgeny Mravinsky, conductor
Czech Radio Broadcast live May 1957

Painting: Francis Bacon, Figure with Left Arm Raised, No. 2, c. 1957-1961

Enrique Granados 7 Dances from Danzas Españolas Op. 37

MrVektriol 2016-11-15 | Enrique Granados
7 Dances from Danzas Españolas Op. 37 (1890)
No. 5 Andaluza 00:00
No. 2 Oriental 03:52
No. 1 Galante 08:43
No. 4 Villanesca 10:46
No. 6 Rondalla Aragonesa 18:46
No. 10 Melancólica 23:39
No. 12 Arabesca 27:16

Michel Block, piano

Painting: Augustus Leopold Egg, Feria in Seville

F.P. Ricci Stabat Mater for 2 Sopranos, Bass, Orchestra and Continuo

MrVektriol 2016-11-14 | Francesco Pasquale Ricci (1732-1817)
Stabat Mater for 2 sopranos, bass, orchestra and continuo
Stabat mater dolorosa (tutti): Lento lamentevole 00:00
O quam tristis et afflicta (soprano*): Andantino 03:09
Quis est homo qui non fleret (2 sopranos) Agitato 06:57
Vidit suum dulcem natum (basso) Maestoso 09:31
Tui nati vulnerati (soprano°): Dolce 12:17
Fac ut portem Christi mortem (tutti) Vivace 15:29
Quando corpus morietur (soprano° & oboe solo): Largo 18:27
Amen (Tutti): Alla breve 23:01

Maryline Fallot, soprano*
Patrizia Macrelli, soprano°
Emidio Guidotti, bass
Capriccio Italiano Ensemble
Daniele Ferrari, conductor

Painting: Master of Badia ad Isola, Madonna and Child (detail)

Gabriel Fauré Pelléas et Mélisande ~ Piano Suite

MrVektriol 2016-11-14 | Gabriel Fauré
Pelléas et Mélisande (1898)
Piano Suite from incidental music to the drama by Maeterlinck
Prélude: Quasi adagio 00:00
Fileuse: Andantino quasi allegretto (tr. Alfred Cortot) 06:43
Sicilienne (Allegro molto moderato) 09:41
Mort de Mélisande: Molto adagio 13:25

Pierre-Alain Volondat, piano

Painting: Heinrich Vogeler, Sensucht

Ottorino Respighi Impressioni Brasiliane [Brazilian Impressions]

MrVektriol 2016-11-14 | Ottorino Respighi
Impressioni Brasiliane [Brazilian Impressions] (1928)
Notte tropicale [Tropical Night] 00:00
Butantan 10:26
Canzona e danza [Song and Dance] 14:54

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Painting by Henri Rousseau Le Douanier

Ernest Bloch Schelomo For Cello & Orchestra (1916)

MrVektriol 2016-11-13 | Ernest Bloch
Schelomo For Cello & Orchestra (1916)
Lento moderato – Allegro moderato – Andante moderato

Maria Kliegel, cello
National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
Gerhard Markson, conductor

Painting: Edvard Munch, The man who walks at night

Arvo Pärt Magnificat for Mixed Choir (1989)

MrVektriol 2016-11-13 | Arvo Pärt
Magnificat for Mixed Choir (1989)

Elora Festival Singers
Noel Edison, conductor

Painting: Francisco de Zurbarán, Virgin of Mercy with Carthusian Monks, circa 1630-50

Igor Stravinsky Concerto in E Flat Major ‘Dumbarton Oaks’

MrVektriol 2016-11-12 | Igor Stravinsky
Concerto in E Flat Major ‘Dumbarton Oaks’ (1938)
Tempo giusto 00:00
Allegretto 04:57
Con moto 10:08

Philarmonia Hungarica
Othmar Mága, conductor

Painting: Mario Sironi, The Lamp

Robert Schumann Carnaval Op. 9 ~ Ballet for Orchestra

MrVektriol 2016-11-12 | Robert Schumann
Carnaval Op. 9 ~ Ballet for Orchestra
Préambule (orch. Arensky)
Pierrot (orch. Glazunov)
Arlequin (orch. Klenovsky)
Valse noble (orch. Petrov)
Eusebius (arch. Glazunov)
Florestan (orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Coquette (orch. Kalafati)
Replique (orch. Kalafati)
Papillons (orch. Tcherepnin)
A.S.C.H – S.C.H.A. (Lettres dansantes) (orch. Liadov)
Chiarina (orch. Kalafati)
Chopin (orch. Glazunov)
Estrella (orch. Vinkler)
Reconnaissance (orch. Wihtol)
Pantalon et Colombine (orch. Arensky)
Valse allemande (orch. Liadov)
Paganini (orch. Liadov)
Aveu (orch. Sokolov)
Promenade (orch. Klenovsky)
Pause (orch. Glazunov & Kalafati)
Marche des "Davidsbündler" contre les Philistins (orch. Glazunov & Kalafati) 2'26

Philarmonia Orchestra
Robert Irving, conductor

Willem Cornelisz Duyster, Carnival Clowns, c. 1620, Berlin, Staatliche Museen

Schumann composed no ballet music, but his piano cycle of 21 pieces entitled Carnaval, composed between 1833 and 1835, has been seen by many composers a ripe for orchestration. Most of these later composers were Russian, which reflects the Slavic interest in ballet music for its own sake and the success with which the music of a German pianist-composer may be trasferred to the stage.
Music Notes by Robert Dearling

Alfredo Casella Undici Pezzi Infantili [Eleven Children’s Pieces]

MrVektriol 2016-11-12 | Alfredo Casella
Undici Pezzi Infantili [Eleven Children’s Pieces] Op. 35 (1920)
Preludio 00:00
Valse diatonique 01:08
Canone 02:19
Bolero 3:14
Omaggio a Clementi 04:25
Siciliana 05:18
Giga 07:54
Minuetto 09:08
Carillon 12:39
Berceuse 13:33
Galop Final 15:49

Luca Ballerini, piano

Painting: Felice Casorati, The two Children

Michael Nyman String Quartet No. 2 (1988)

MrVektriol 2016-11-12 | Michael Nyman
String Quartet No. 2 (1988)
I
II
III
IV
V
VI

Balanescu Quartet
Alexander Balanescu, violin I
Jonathan Carney, violin II
Kate Musker, viola
Anthony Hinnigan, cello

Painting: Lucian Freud, Man with a Thistle (Self-Portrait), 1946

String Quartet No. 2 (1988) was commissioned for a dance work called Miniatures, choreographed and performed by Shobana Jeyasingh, who dictated the rhythmic structure of the piece, based on the South Indian Bharata Natyam tradition. Melodically and harmonically, it is Western classical music, while structurally it is Karnatak music. The Balanescu Quartet performed this work with the original dance as well as adding it to their concert repertoire. Miniatures was renamed Configurations when Jeyasingh added two additional dancers to the choreography.
Each of the six movements are in different rhythms: the first movement is 4-beat, the second 5-beat, the third 6-beat, the fourth 7-beat, and the fifth, 9-beat (2+3+2+2). The sixth and final movement is in multiple cycles of the preceding beat patterns.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartets_1%E2%80%933

Dmitri Shostakovich Cello Sonata in D Minor Op. 40

MrVektriol 2016-11-11 | Dmitri Shostakovich
Sonata for Cello & Piano in D Minor Op. 40
Moderato 00:00
Moderato con moto 10:52
Largo 14:05
Allegretto 22:08

Dmitri Shostakovich, piano
Mstislav Rostropovich, cello
Recorded in 1959
Recording of the Moskow Radio

Painting: Wassily Kandinsky, Schwarzer Fleck, 1921, Zürich, Kunsthaus

Guillaume Lekeu Piano Trio In C Minor (1891)

MrVektriol 2016-11-08 | Guillaume Lekeu
Trio for piano, violin and cello in C minor (1891)
Lent. Allegro 00:00
Très lent 12:51
Très animé 24:21
Lent. Animé 31:16

Spiller Trio
Silvia Natiello-Spiller, piano
Antonio Spiller, violin
Wen-Sinn Yang, cello

Painting: Francis Bacon, Collapsed Figure, c. 1957-1961

Leoš Janáček String Quartet No. 2 ‘Intimate Letters’

MrVektriol 2016-11-08 | Leoš Janáček
String Quartet No. 2 ‘Intimate Letters’
Andante con moto – Allegro 00:00
Adagio – Vivace 06:22
Moderato – Adagio – Allegro 12:16
Allegro – Andante – Adagio 18:27

Vlach Quartet Prague

Painting: Harry George Theaker, Ladies in a Field

Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2, "Intimate Letters", was written in 1928. It has been referred to as Janáček's "manifesto on love".
The "Intimate Letters" quartet was the second to be composed after a request from the Bohemian Quartet who, in 1923, requested Janáček to compose two string quartets for them. Unusually for a classical work, the nickname "Intimate Letters" ("Listy důvěrné" in Czech) was given by the composer, as it was inspired by his long and spiritual friendship with Kamila Stösslová, a married woman 38 years his junior. The composition was intended to reflect the character of their relationship as revealed in more than 700 letters they exchanged with each other:
"You stand behind every note, you, living, forceful, loving. The fragrance of your body, the glow of your kisses – no, really of mine. Those notes of mine kiss all of you. They call for you passionately..."
The première of the work took place on 11 September 1928, a month after Janáček died. The composition was performed by Moravian Quartet.
The viola assumes a prominent role throughout the composition, as this instrument is intended to personify Kamila. The viola part was originally written for a viola d'amore, however the conventional viola was substituted when Janáček found the viola d'amore did not match the texture. Milan Škampa of the Smetana Quartet has interpreted the third "letter", or movement, as a lullaby for the son that Janáček and Kamila Stösslová never had together.
The work is essentially tonal albeit not in the traditional sense. For example, the work closes with six D-flat major chords (Janáček's favourite chord), but with the added dissonance of an E-flat.
Extract from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._2_(Jan%C3%A1%C4%8Dek)

Michael Nyman String Quartet No. 1

MrVektriol 2016-11-07 | Michael Nyman
String Quartet No. 1
beginning
fig. B
C
D
F
G
H
I
J
K
L

Balanescu Quartet
Alexander Balanescu, violin I
Jonathan Carney, violin II
Kate Musker, viola
Anthony Hinnigan, cello

Painting: Francis Bacon, Triptych August 1972, 1972

The String Quartet No. 1 (1985) was commissioned by the Arditti Quartet. Nyman had attended a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Grosse Fuge by the group, and found it the most theatrical performance on a string quartet he had ever witnessed, performed as though Beethoven had been trying to break through the limitations of the string quartet to create an orchestral sound. The quartet was originally intended to be a "compendium" of string quartet literature, but he decided that two pieces from different eras were enough of a contrast. It is built out of three distinct and diverse pre-existing music sources: John Bull's Walsingham Variations, Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2, and Alex North's "Unchained Melody". The use of Bull is an homage to his professor, Thurston Dart, who presented Nyman with the Musica Britannica edition of Bull's keyboard works as a graduation gift. "Walsingham" was a popular song in Bull's time, and Nyman's use of "Unchained Melody" (originally written for a 1955 prison film titled Unchained and famously covered by The Righteous Brothers, and the favorite song of Nyman's wife, Aet) is a contemporary equivalent. As noted by Pwyll Ap Siôn,[3] "Unchained Melody" is musically related to "Walsingham", as its opening three-note pattern of C-D-E is a slight variation of the melody of "Walsingham". "Unchained Melody" enters in figure H (measure 274) over a bass line of variation 9 of "Walsingham" that previously appeared in figure E.
Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2 is notable in two ways: first, it broke with convention by adding a part for a soprano vocalist, and second, it broke away from the tonal language standard and paved the way for modernist music. Nyman incorporates the Schoenberg material beginning in figure B, and it does not return until figure I. The material Nyman uses is an eight-note (two-measure) phrase for the cello transcribed by Nyman for first violin. Siôn notes that Nyman compresses the nearly two-octave phrase into one octave. When it returns in figure I, Nyman has added tremolo, as well as syncopation more characteristic of his own style.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartets_1%E2%80%933

Mikhael Pavane For Piano

MrVektriol 2016-11-07 | Mikhael
Pavane for Piano
From the work ‘The Blue Flame’ ~ Piano Euphonic Improvisations (1988)

Mikhael, piano

Painting: Frank Cadogan Cowper, Vanity, 1907, London, Royal Academy of Arts

Saverio Mercadante Concerto in D Major for Flute and Orchestra

MrVektriol 2016-11-06 | Saverio Mercadante
Concerto in D major for flute and orchestra
Allegro 00:00
Andante alla siciliana 08:48
Polacca. Allegro brillante 11:55

Marzio Conti, flute
Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese
Vittorio Antonellini, conductor

Painting: Circle of Jacques-Louis David, Portrait of the Flautist François Devienne

Alfredo Casella Concerto for Strings, Piano, Timpani & Percussion

MrVektriol 2016-11-06 | Alfredo Casella
Concerto for strings, piano, timpani and percussion Op. 69 (1943)
Allegro alquanto pesante 00:00
Sarabanda 05:06
Allegro molto vivace 12:32

Piero Barbareschi, piano
Festival Orchestra di Villa Marigola
Giuseppe Garbarino, conductor

Painting: Mario Sironi, The Student, 1924

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Piano Trio in D Minor Op. 49

MrVektriol 2016-11-05 | Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Piano Trio in D Minor Op. 49 (1839)
Molto allegro agitato 00:00
Andante con moto tranquillo 09:25
Scherzo: leggero e vivace 15:25
Finale: Allegro appassionato 18:58

Fortepiano Trio Florestan
Jan Vermeulen, pianoforte Érard Paris 1840
Peter Despielgaere, violin
Karel Steylaerts, cello
Recorded on period intruments

Watercolour: Georgia O'Keeffe, Untitled (Abstraction/Portrait of Paul Strand), 1917

Erik Satie Parade ~ Ballet Réaliste sur un Thème de Jean Cocteau

MrVektriol 2016-11-05 | Erik Satie
Parade ~ Ballet Réaliste en un Tableau sur un Thème de Jean Cocteau (1917)
Choral
Prélude du Rideau rouge
Prestigiditateur Chinois
Petite fille Américaine
Rag-Time du Paquebot Ragtime
Acrobates
Final
Suite au Prélude du Rideau rouge

Symphonieorchester Radio Luxemburg
Louis de Froment, conductor

Painting: Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises, 1910

Not content with Dada anticipations, Satie was the first to create a "manifestation” of Cubism in music. He began the revolutionary score for Parade in 1915, writing for an orchestra expanded to include typewriters, sirens, pistols, a lottery-wheel, and so on, and infusing the music with an intoxicating concentrate of ragtime rhythms and catchy tune fragments. This self-styled "realistic" ballet in one scene with scenario by Cocteau, decor by Picasso, and choreography by Massine, was one of the most sensational Diaghilev Ballets Russes stage spectaculars when it was first produced in Paris, May 18, 1917, with Ernest Ansermet conducting. The "story" is a mere, but apt, springboard for the stage action and, of course, Satie's music: there is a circus parade with a Chinese magician, American ingenue, and acrobats giving free samples of their acts to entice onlookers into buying tickets for the full performance... but the crowd mistakes this preview for the main show and disperses without paying despite all the anguished entreaties of the actors and their three managers. There are no real breaks in the some quarter-hour flow of the music, but its components are subtitled Chorale, Red Curtain Prelude, Chinese Prestidigitator, little American Girl, River-Boat Ragtime, Acrobats, and Reprise of the Red Curtain Prelude.
Music Notes by R.D. Darrell

Johann Sebastian Bach Triple Concerto in A Minor BWV 1044

MrVektriol 2016-11-03 | Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord in A minor BWV 1044 'Triple Concerto' (1738-40?)
Allegro 00:00
Adagio, ma non tanto e dolce 08:49
Alla breve 13:49

Francesco Padovani, flute
Isabella Longo, violin
Roberto Loreggian, harpsichord
Accademia della Magnifica Comunità

Work by Robert Rauschenberg

Franz Schubert 3 Military Marches for piano duet Op. 51 D.733

MrVektriol 2016-11-03 | Franz Schubert
Three Military Marches for piano duet Op. 51 D.733
(First edition: 1826)
Military March No. 1 in D major: Allegro vivace 00:00
Military March No. 2 in G major: Allegro molto moderato 04:46
Military March No. 3 in E flat major: Allegro moderato 08:24
Cristina Frosini & Massimiliano Baggio, piano

Painting: Édouard Detaille, French Hussars Review, 1879

Gabriel Fauré Cello Sonata No. 2 In G Minor Op. 117

MrVektriol 2016-11-02 | Gabriel Fauré
Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor Op. 117 (1921)
Allegro 00:00
Andante 05:57
Final – Allegro vivo 13:34

Paul Tortelier, cello
Jean Hubeau, piano

Picture: Eugène Atget, Versailles, 1924-25

Erik Satie Trois Gymnopédies Pour Orchestre

MrVektriol 2016-11-01 | Erik Satie
Trois Gymnopédies pour orchestre (1888)
Première Gymnopédie: Lent et douloureux* 00:00
Deuxième Gymnopédie: Lent et triste** 04:03
Troisième Gymnopédie: Lent et grave* 06:45

*Orchestration by Claude Debussy
** Orchestration by Roland-Manuel

Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy
Jérôme Kaltenbach, conductor

Painting: Charles Sims, The Wood beyond the World, 1913

Jules Massenet Suite No. 2 ‘Scènes Hongroises’

MrVektriol 2016-10-31 | Jules Massenet
Suite No. 2 ‘Scènes Hongroises’ (1871)
Allegro risoluto
Allegretto leggero
Allegro risoluto
Andante
Allegro risoluto

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Jean-Yves Ossonce, conductor

Painting: Laszlo Neogrady, Fall Landscape

Franz Schubert Divertissement à la Hongroise for Piano Duet

MrVektriol 2016-10-31 | Franz Schubert
Divertissement à la hongroise in G minor for piano duet Op. 54 D.818
(First edition: 1826)
Andante 00:00
Marcia: Andante con moto 13:14
Allegretto 16:40

Cristina Frosini & Massimiliano Baggio, piano

Painting:Augustus Leopold Egg, The Travelling Companions, 1862

Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 BWV 1049

MrVektriol 2016-10-31 | Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major BWV 1049
Allegro 00:00
Andante 06:34
Presto 10:28

Chiara De Ziller, recorder
Gianpaolo Capuzzo, recorder
Enrico Casazza, violin
Accademia della Magnifica Comunità

Watercolour: Georgia O'Keeffe, Sunrise, 1916

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme Op. 33

MrVektriol 2016-10-30 | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Variations on a Rococo Theme Op. 33
(Version: 1876)

Julian Lloyd-Webber, cello
London Symphony Orchestra
Maxim Shostakovich, conductor

Painting: Honoré Fragonard, The Musical Contest

Alfredo Casella La Giara [The Jar] Op. 41bis ~ Symphonic Suite

MrVektriol 2016-10-29 | Alfredo Casella
La Giara [The Jar] Op. 41bis ~ Symphonic Suite (1924)
I
Preludio 00:00
Chiòvu: Danza popolare siciliana
II
La storia della fanciulla rapita dai pirati* 08:30
Danza di Nela
Entrata dei contadini
Brindisi
Danza generale
Finale

*Marco Beasley, tenor
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
Christian Benda, conductor

Painting: Renato Guttuso, Prickly Pears

Claudio Monteverdi Magnificat from Vespers of the Blessed Virgin

MrVektriol 2016-10-28 | Claudio Monteverdi
Magnificat from Vespers of the Blessed Virgin
(first printed edition: 1610)
Magnificat
Et exultavit
Quia respexit
Quia fecit mihi magna
Et misericodia
Fecit potentiam
Deposuit potentes de sede
Esurientes implevit bonis
Suscepit Israel
Sicut locutus est
Gloria Patri
Sicut erat in principio

The Scholars Baroque Ensemble

Painting: Sandro Botticelli, Madonna of the Magnificat, 1481, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi

Gabriel Fauré Élégie in C Minor for Cello & Piano Op. 24

MrVektriol 2016-10-28 | Gabriel Fauré
Élégie in C Minor for Cello & Piano Op. 24 (1883)

Paul Tortelier, cello
Jean Hubeau, piano

Painting: Peter Schlosser, Girl with Peacock

Igor Stravinsky Four Russian Songs (1955)

MrVektriol 2016-10-28 | Igor Stravinsky
Four Russian Songs for Mezzo-Soprano, Flute, Harp and Guitar (1955)
The Drake 00:00
A Russian Spiritual 01:16
Geese and Swans 03:19
Tilim-bom 03:58

Ingrid Silveus, mezzo-soprano
The Schirmer Ensemble
Brett Kelly, conductor

Painting by Raoul Dufy

Antonio Lotti Sonata in G Major for Flute, Cello and Continuo

MrVektriol 2016-10-27 | Antonio Lotti
Sonata in G Major for Flute Cello and Continuo
Largo 00:00
Allegro 01:50
Adagio 03:30
Vivace 05:29

Romano Pucci, flute
Clare Ibbot, cello
Marina Vaccarini, harpsichord

Painting: Sigismondo Coccapani, A Flutist

Manuel de Falla Cuatro Piezas Españolas [Four Spanish Pieces]

MrVektriol 2016-10-26 | Manuel de Falla
Cuatro Piezas Españolas [Four Spanish Pieces] (1902-1908)
Aragonesa 00:00
Cubana 03:17
Montañesa 07:18
Andaluza 12:21

Michel Block, piano

Painting: Juan Gris, The Musician’s Table, 1926

Leoš Janáček String Quartet No. 1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ (1923)

MrVektriol 2016-10-26 | Leoš Janáček
String Quartet No. 1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ (1923)
Adagio con moto 00:00
Con moto 04:24
Con moto: Vivace – Andante 08:58
Con moto: Adagio 13:10

Vlach Quartet Prague

Painting: Felice Casorati, Persons (detail), 1910

Leos Janácek's String Quartet No. 1 is subtitled ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’, after the story by Leo Tolstoy upon which it is based; the title of Tolstoy's story, of course, is taken from Ludwig van Beethoven's ninth violin sonata. This was not the first work Janácek wrote based on this Tolstoy story; a piano trio from 1908 is now lost. According to Josef Suk, who led the premiere of the quartet on October 17, 1924, Janácek wished with this work to protest the tyranny of men over women; in the story, a female heroine seeks refuge from an unhappy marriage in the arms of an amoral seducer, and dies tragically after doing so. Although Janácek did not attempt a line-by-line re-creation of Tolstoy's story, the music clearly suggests certain programmatic correspondences. The first movement seems to depict the heroine's unhappy situation, with a yearning, almost questing theme bracketed by agitated figures; a pastoral theme that follows breaks up and then suddenly cuts off, yielding to an even more passionate version of the yearning theme. The second movement takes the approximate form of a Czech polka, and introduces a theme which seems to belong to the seducer; this theme has to contend with both agitated ponticello and quiet, private music, but keeps popping back up, as suave as ever. The third movement begins with a canonic duet between first violin and cello; the music they play recalls the gorgeous second subject of the first movement of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. Even this music, however, is broken up by spasms of dissonance in the other two instruments, suggesting doubts and fears. These are realized in a violent middle section in which the violin and cello trade hysterical phrases, before collapsing into a somewhat uneasy intimacy again. The fourth movement begins slowly and sadly, and after the music speeds up, it seems all too eager, and winds itself up too tightly. The middle section of the third movement reappears, transformed, and the music reaches a wrenching climax, followed by a pathetic coda. Janácek's passion for the rights of women is as evident here as his typically sensitive use of programmatic material and his impeccable craftsmanship, making the ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ a memorable quartet.
Andrew Lindemann Malone in AllMusic

Jan Blockx Flemish Fair from ‘Millenka’ (1888)

MrVektriol 2016-10-25 | Jan Blockx
Flemish Fair from ‘Millenka’ (1888)
Fair
Clog-dance
Entry of the rhetoricians
Love scene
Entry of the gipsies

BRTN Philarmonic Orchestra Brussels
Alexander Rahbari, conductor

Painting: Pieter Paul Rubens, Flemish Kermesse, 1635-38, Paris, Musée du Louvre

‘Millenka’ is a ballet-pantomime in two scenes. Flemish fair, which comprises the most important parts of the second scene, was edited as a separate work for orchestra. It can be seen as a ballet suite with a popular character. The five parts succeed without interruption.
Extract from Music Notes by Luc Leytens

Frederick Delius Intermezzo and Serenade from ‘Hassan’

MrVektriol 2016-10-25 | Frederick Delius
Intermezzo and Serenade from ‘Hassan’ (1920)

Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Neville Marriner, conductor

Painting: Charles Sprague Pearce, Lamentation Over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt, 1877

Composed in 1920, the incidental music for James Elroy Fletcher’s play ‘Hassan’ was the last work that Delius was able to write in his own hand. Thomas Beecham made this arrangement. The music is characterised by a wistful, rocking simplicity.

Gabriel Fauré Cello Sonata No. 1 In D Minor Op. 109

MrVektriol 2016-10-24 | Gabriel Fauré
Cello Sonata No. 1 in D minor Op. 109 (1917)
Allegro 00:00
Andante 05:11
Final – Allegro comodo 12:34

Paul Tortelier, cello
Jean Hubeau, piano

Painting: Gustave Caillebotte, Self-Portrait with an Easel, ca 1879-1880

Anatoly Lyadov Three Tone-Pictures of Russian Popular Fairy-Tales

MrVektriol 2016-10-24 | Anatoly Lyadov
Three Tone-Pictures of Russian Popular Fairy-Tales
Baba Yaga in D minor Op. 56 00:00
The Enchanted Lake in D flat major Op. 62 03:15
Kikimora in E minor Op. 63 10:14

Russian Philarmonic Orchestra
Samuel Friedmann, conductor

Picture: Jack Goldstein, The Pull, 1976

Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 BWV 1047

MrVektriol 2016-10-23 | Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major BWV 1047
[Allegro] 00:00
Andante 04:28
Allegro assai 08:25

Fabiano Ruin, trumpet
Gianpaolo Capuzzo, recorder
Arrigo Pietrobon, oboe
Enrico Casazza, violin
Accademia della Magnifica Comunità

Work: Alberto Burri, Rosso Plastica, 1963

Sergei Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major Op. 94a

MrVektriol 2016-10-23 | Sergei Prokofiev
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major Op. 94a
Moderato 00:00
Scherzo: Allegro scherzando 08:21
Andante 13:22
Allegro con brio 16:42

Andrew Hardy, violin
Luc Devos, piano

Bronze Sculpture: Alberto Giacometti, Woman of Venice VII, 1956, Art Gallery of New South Wales

Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94a, was based on the composer's own Flute Sonata in D, Op. 94, written in 1942 but arranged for violin in 1943 when Prokofiev was living in Perm in the Ural Mountains, a remote shelter for Soviet artists during the Second World War. Prokofiev transformed the work into a violin sonata at the prompting of his close friend violinist David Oistrakh. It was premiered on 17 June 1944 by David Oistrakh and Lev Oborin.
The work is highly classical in design: it opens with a sonata movement which is followed by a scherzo, a slow movement, and a great finale. The violin part is replete with virtuosic display but is also highly lyrical and elegant, evidence of the work's inception as a sonata for flute.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata_No._2_(Prokofiev)

Benjamin Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20 (1940)

MrVektriol 2016-10-21 | Benjamin Britten
Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20 (1940)
Lacrymosa
Dies Irae
Requiem aeternam

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Myer Fredman, conductor

Picture: London, August 1929

Benjamin Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20, for orchestra is a symphony written by Benjamin Britten in 1940 at the age of 26.It was one of several works commissioned from different composers by the Japanese government to mark the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese Empire. The Japanese government rejected the Sinfonia for its use of Latin titles from the Catholic Requiem for its three movements and for its somber overall character, but it was received positively at its world premiere in New York City under John Barbirolli. […]
The Sinfonia is Britten's largest purely orchestral work for the concert hall.
The symphony is in three movements played without a break. Britten's analysis, quoted in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra's program notes, reads:
I. Lacrymosa. A slow marching lament in a persistent 6/8 rhythm with a strong tonal center on D. There are three main motives: 1) a syncopated, sequential theme announced by the cellos and answered by a solo bassoon; 2) a broad theme, based on the interval of a major seventh; 3) alternating chords on flute and trombones, outlined by piano, harps and trombones. The first section of the movement is quietly pulsating; the second is a long crescendo leading to a climax based on the first cello theme. There is no pause before:
II. Dies irae. A form of Dance of Death, with occasional moments of quiet marching rhythm. The dominating motif of this movement is announced at the start by the flutes and includes an important tremolando figure. Other motives are a triplet repeated-note figure in the trumpets, a slow, smooth tune on the saxophone, and a livelier syncopated one in the brass. The scheme of the movement is a series of climaxes of which the last is the most powerful, causing the music to disintegrate and to lead directly to:
III. Requiem aeternam. Very quietly, over a background of solo strings and harps, the flutes announce the quiet D-major tune, the principal motive of the movement. There is a middle section in which the strings play a flowing melody. This grows to a short climax, but the opening tune is soon resumed, and the work ends quietly in a long sustained clarinet note.

The headings of the three movements are taken from the Roman Catholic Mass for the dead, but the composition has no liturgical associations. Britten described the movements respectively as "a slow, marching lament", "a form of Dance of Death" and "the final resolution". All its movements have D as their tonal center.
According to Herbert Glass, Britten composed the Sinfonia da Requiem as a memorial to his parents. It was also an expression of the composer’s lifelong pacifism and a reaction to the darkening political developments that led eventually to the Second World War. He had, in fact, recently settled in the United States because of Britain's involvement in the war. In an article published on 27 April 1940, he told the New York Sun, "I'm making it just as anti-war as possible ... I don't believe you can express social or political or economic theories in music, but by coupling new music with well-known musical phrases, I think it's possible to get over certain ideas ... all I'm sure of is my own anti-war conviction as I write it."
Extract from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinfonia_da_Requiem