Igor Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2016-12-26 | Composer: Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (17 June 1882 -- 6 April 1971)Orchestra: Chicago Symphony OrchestraConductor: Sir Georg SoltiThe Symphony of Psalms, written in 193000:00 - 1st movement03:24 - 2nd movement10:07 - 3rd movementThe Symphony of Psalms is a three-movement choral symphony and was composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1930 during his neoclassical period. The work was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The symphony derives its name from the use of Psalm texts in the choral parts.According to Stravinsky, the commission for the work came about from "a routine suggestion" from Koussevitzky, who was also Stravinsky's publisher, that he write something "popular" for orchestra without chorus. Stravinsky, however, insisted on the psalm-symphony idea, which he had had in mind for some time. The choice of Psalm 150, however, was in part because of the popularity of that text. The symphony was written in Nice and Echarvines, which was Stravinsky's summer home in those years. The three movements are performed without a break, and the texts sung by the chorus are drawn from the Vulgate versions in Latin. Unlike many pieces composed for chorus and orchestra, Stravinsky said that “it is not a symphony in which I have included Psalms to be sung. On the contrary, it is the singing of the Psalms that I am symphonizing."Although the piece was written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere was actually given in Brussels by the Société Philharmonique de Bruxelles on December 13, 1930, under the direction of Ernest Ansermet. The American premiere of the piece was given soon afterwards by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with the chorus of the Cecilia Society (trained by Arthur Fiedler) on December 19, 1930. The first recording was made by Stravinsky himself with the Orchestre des Concerts Straram and the Alexis Vlassay Choir at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on February 17 and 18, 1931. "The choir, throaty, full-blooded, darkly, inwardly passionate, sing with liturgical conviction and intensity in a memorable performance."Like many of Stravinsky's other works, including Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, the Symphony of Psalms occasionally employs the octatonic scale (which alternates whole steps and half steps), the longest stretch being eleven bars between rehearsal numbers 4 and 6 in the first movement. Stravinsky stated that the root of the entire symphony is "the sequences of two minor thirds joined by a major third... derived from the trumpet-harp motive at the beginning of the allegro in Psalm 150".Stravinsky portrays the religious nature of the text through his compositional techniques. He wrote substantial portions of the piece in fugal counterpoint, which was used widely in the church in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. He also uses the large chorus to create a ritual atmosphere like that of the Church.Original Audio: youtube.com/watch?v=7AEyByiiN7g (and 2 others)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Die Zauberflöte K. 620 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-11-29 | Original audio: youtu.be/xssOb9JCdA0Timestamp soon
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Così fan tutte, K. 588 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-11-10 | Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)Libretto: Lorenzo da PonteConductor: René JacobsPerformers: Véronique Gens (Fiordiligi), Bernarda Fink (Dorabella), Werner Güra (Ferrando), Marcel Boone (Guglielmo), Graciela Oddone (Despina), Pietro Spagnoli (Don Alfonso)Choir: Kölner KammerchorOrchestra: Concerto KölnCosì fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti, K. 588, opera buffa in two acts, written in 179000:00 - OuverturaAtto primo04:06 - I. Terzetto: "La mia Dorabella capace non è"07:03 - II. Terzetto: "È la fede delle femine come l'araba fenice"09:34 - III. Terzetto: "Una bella serenata"11:42 - IV. Duetto: "Ah guarda sorella"17:51 - V. Aria: "Vorrei dir, e cor non ho, e cor non ho"19:32 - VI. Quintetto: "Sento, o Dio, che questo piede"24:42 - VII. Duettino: "Al fato dàn legge quegli occhi vezzosi"26:46 - VIII. Coro: "Bella vita militar"28:51 - VIIIa. Quintetto: "Di scrivermi ogni giorno"31:39 - IX. Coro: "Bella vita militar"33:19 - X. Terzettino: "Soave sia il vento"40:12 - XI. Aria: "Smanie implacabili"44:04 - XII. Aria: "In uomini, in soldati"49:28 - XIII. Sestetto: "Alla bella Despinetta"57:17 - XIV. Aria: "Come scoglio immoto resta"01:02:54 - XV. Aria: "Non siate ritrosi"01:04:37 - XVI. Terzetto: "E voi ridete?"01:06:27 - XVII. Aria: "Un' aura amorosa"01:13:50 - XVIII. Finale: "Ah che tutta in un momento"01:31:41 - Atto secondo01:34:55 - XIX. Aria: "Una donna a quindici anni dèe saper ogni gran moda"01:40:03 - XX. Duetto: "Prenderò quel brunettino, che più lepido mi par"01:43:14 - XXI. Duetto con coro: "Secondate, aurette amiche"01:47:00 - XXII. Quartetto: "La mano a me date"01:52:25 - XXIII. Duetto: "Il core vi dono, bell' idolo mio!"01:58:29 - XXIV. Aria: "Ah! Io veggio, quell' anima bella al mio pianto resister non sà"02:04:01 - XXV. Rondò: "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona, all' error"02:15:54 - XXVI. Aria: "Donne mie, la fate a tanti, a tanti, a tanti"02:20:33 - XXVII. Cavatina: "Tradito, schernito dal perfido cor"02:26:42 - XXVIII. Aria: "È Amore un ladroncello"02:32:43 - XXIX. Duetto: "Fra gli amplessi in pochi istanti"02:41:09 - XXX. Terzetto: "Tutti accusan le donne, ed io le scuso"02:42:48 - XXXI. Finale: "Fate presto, o cari amici"Così fan tutte (All women act that way) is the last of Mozart's three "da Ponte" operas -- those composed to libretti by Lorenzo da Ponte (the other two are Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni). Long neglected and misunderstood, Così emerged from obscurity in the twentieth century and has come to be regarded as among the composer's finest, if also most problematic, works.It has been assumed that the opera was commissioned by Emperor Joseph II, probably sometime during the summer of 1789. Coming as it did during a fallow period in Mozart's output, the work was a financial boon to him and allowed for the repayment of some debt. Little is known about the creation of the work, but the first rehearsal took place in Mozart's apartment on January 21, 1790, and the first performance was at the Burgtheater in Vienna five days later. This initial run was extremely brief, due to Joseph II's death after only five performances had been mounted; the closing of the Viennese theaters prevented any further performances until June.Da Ponte's libretto is presumed to be an original work, but its numerous literary precedents included episodes in Ovid's Metamorphosis as well as da Ponte's own libretto for Martin y Soler's L'abore di Diana; the latter was written coincidentally with Così. Suggestions that the plot was based on actual events within Viennese society have not been substantiated. Two friends, Ferrando and Guglielmo, wager with Don Alfonso that their lovers, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, will remain constant in their absence. To prove the point, they depart under false pretenses and return as "Albanians" who try to woo the women away.The libretto has long been considered flimsy, misogynistic, immoral, and dramatically unresolvable. However, any judgement of the opera as a whole must take account of Mozart's exceedingly fine and deeply interesting score. Through music, Fiordiligi transcends her role as the victim of cruel manipulation, revealing a complex personality that is sincere, capable of growth, and inarguably sympathetic. In contrast, Guglielmo never progresses beyond concern for his own ego and interests; his music, fittingly, remains within the stock traditions of opera buffa. Each of the six characters receives an equally insightful portrait, and the ambigous nature of the ending (who actually loves whom?), while vexing to directors and audiences, can be seen as appropriate, given the emotional issues aired during the drama.[...][allmusic.com]
Francis Poulenc - Les mamelles de Tirésias [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-11-06 | -Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)-Librettist: Guillaume Apollinaire-Orchestra, Choir: Orchestre et Chœur du Théatre National de l’Opéra Comique-Conductor: André Cluytens-Performers: Denise Duval (Thérèse), Jean Giraudeau (The Husband), Emile Rousseau (The Gendarme), Gilbert Jullia (A Bearded Gentleman), Frédéric Leprin (Lacouf), Julien Thirache (Presto), Serge Rallier (The Journalist), Robert Jeantet (The Manager), Marguerite Legouhy (The Newspaper Vender, A Fat Lady), Jacques Hivert (The Son)00:00 - PrologueAct I06:43 - Scène 111:36 - Scène 213:25 - Scène 313:53 - Scène 415:42 - Scène 519:33 - Scène 623:43 - Scène 726:46 - Scène 830:11 - Entr'acteAct II32:56 - Scène 134:09 - Scène 238:23 - Scène 339:57 - Scène 442:16 - Scène 542:58 - Scène 643:31 - Scène 749:02 - Scène 8Poulenc wrote four operas and they fall into three distinct categories. His grand opera is "Les Dialogues des Carmelites". The work is serious in demeanor, with little of the humor that characterizes much of Poulenc's output. In subject matter, and in much of the writing, the work resembles Poulenc's numerous religious works. "La Voix Humaine" is a monologue for a soprano who is, on the phone, begging her lover not to leave her. It is an revealing look at intimate thoughts and personal despair. The second of these monologues was "La Dame de Monte Carlo". And then there is "Les Mamelles de Tiresias". Witty, zany, rambunctious, ridiculous, and outrageous are appropriate terms for this Opera-bouffe in two acts and a prologue. However there is also a touch of seriousness in the opera. Poulenc stated; "Whenever in the midst of the worst buffoonery a phrase can effect a change in the lyric tone, towards a certain melancholy, I have not hesitated thus to alter the character of the music, well knowing what sadness was hidden behind Apollinaire's smile". Completed in 1947, the work was originally paired, in performance, with Puccini's "La Boheme" or Bizet's "Les Pecheurs des Perles". It is not surprising that it did not please lovers of those two examples of extreme lyricism. The original play was set in 1903 in Zanzibar. Poulenc updated the story to 1917, and changed the location to somewhere between Nice and Monte Carlo. The settings were by Erte. The story comprises a number of sketches that somehow make enough sense to push the opera along. The title character is a feminist, who, by making her breasts fly away, turns her husband, with the help of an incubator, into a baby factory, with an output of thousands of children a day. Around this central theme is interwoven other odd plot devices like the simultaneous dueling deaths of Lacouf and Presto, and the creation of sons, one of whom hoards skim milk, another a journalist turned blackmailer. Poulenc's music contains many amusing devices, including the then popular, now forgotten dance, the Boston. The vocal writing is wordy but still trips lightly. The often conflicting influences of Emmanuel Chabrier, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, Jules Massenet, Darius Milhaud, and especially Jacques Offenbach scamper through the piece. It is just this cross fertilization of styles that makes Poulenc so captivating, for he was as capable of sentimentality as hi-jinx. The orchestration, utilizing the same orchestra as Carmen, is clever without being cute, and Poulenc said: "The truth is that I believe much more in the novelty of mind than of matter". Occasional revivals of this work prove its viability as a theater piece, although the first recording, with many of the originators of the parts, especially Denise Duval and Jean Giraudeau, is as close to a perfect realization of the characters as one is likely to get.[allmusic.com]
Francis Poulenc - Chansons gaillardes [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | -Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)-Performers: Gilles Cachemaille (voice), Pascal Rogé (piano)Chansons gaillardes, song cycle for voice and piano, FP 42, written in 1925-2600:00 - I. La Maîtresse volage00:47 - II. Chanson à boire03:21 - III. Madrigal03:55 - IV. Invocation aux Parques05:45 - V. Couplets bachiques07:06 - VI. L'Offrande08:03 - VII. La Belle Jeunesse09:41 - VIII. SérénadeBy 1926, when Heugel published the Chansons gaillardes, Poulenc was already the popular composer of the Trois Mouvements perpétuels, for piano and the hit ballet Les Biches and was in constant touch with everyone who was anyone in Paris -- Stravinsky (whose influence he gratefully acknowledged) and Falla, Stokowski, and Koussevitzky, Diaghilev and Landowska, Cocteau and Max Jacob, to take names at random. But if his great lyrical gifts and smartalecky chic brought him eager acclaim, he was both avid and insecure regarding technique, his private studies with Koechlin having finished but two years previously. And if the Chansons gaillardes -- ribald songs -- do not yet share the exquisite balance and appositeness of his mature mélodies, especially those set to poems by Apollinaire and Eluard, they nevertheless partake imperishably of the insouciance and brilliant whirl of the pampered playboy-composer. In The Diary of My Songs, Poulenc remarked of the Chansons gaillardes, "I am fond of this collection where I tried to show that outright obscenity can adapt itself to music...The texts were found in an anthology of songs of the seventeenth century (an old edition)." Wry comment on the fidelity of his mistress and frenzied panegyrics to wine and the pleasures of the bed -- "'Couplets bachiques' and 'La belle jeunesse' must be performed very fast," Poulenc noted -- alternate with an eerily serene prayer to the Fates and the elegant conceit of Sérénade. The airy madrigal tells little Jeanneton that, while she's lovely as an angel and sweet as a lamb, a girl without breasts is like partridge served without orange. By postmodern standards, "L'Offrande" is the only truly obscene item in the collection -- a virgin offers the god of love a candle to obtain a lover and he replies that, while she waits, she could always make use of her offering ("Servez-vous toujours de l'offrande"). The first performance of the Chansons gaillardes was given by baritone Pierre Bernac with Poulenc accompanying on May 2, 1926, in company with the premiere of the latter's Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano (dedicated to Falla), and works by Auric at a concert so well attended that over 200 people had to be turned away. From 1934 until his retirement in 1960, Bernac was Poulenc's preferred interpreter, giving premieres and recording many of his songs with the composer, including two numbers from Chansons gaillardes.[allmusic.com]
Francis Poulenc - Sonata for two Pianos [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | -Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)-Performers: Pascal Rogé and Jean-Philippe CollardSonata for two Pianos FP 156, written in 1952-5300:00 - I. Prologue. Extremement lent et calme05:59 - II. Allegro molto. Très rythmé11:06 - III. Andante lyrico. Lentement17:23 - IV. Epilogue. Allegro giocosoWhile extensive, Francis Poulenc's catalogue of music for the piano consists largely of miniatures and character pieces, both singly and in sets. Poulenc's Sonata for Piano Duo is one of the composer's most ambitious and substantial works for the instrument; as such, it has emerged as one of the standards of the two-piano repertoire.Though Poulenc had written a Sonata for Piano Duet (that is, for two players at one instrument) in 1918, it wasn't until late in his career that he began to produce works for two pianos. He dedicated the Sonata for Piano Duo, completed in 1953, to the piano duo of Gold and Fizdale, who had long championed the composer's Concerto for Two Pianos (1932). While the Sonata is a serious and demanding work for audiences and performers alike, Poulenc's essential qualities as a composer are evident throughout; at no time does his musical language lapse into arcana.The contrast between bustling movement and extraordinary calm is one of the hallmarks of the Sonata. The work contains a number of allusions to church bells -- not the clangorous peals of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, but evocations of a gentler sort, more like the suggestion of a village church. The first movement, marked Prologue, is assertive and passionate, almost Schumannesque. The central section provides a moment of quiet contrast, while a tolling effect in the coda brings the movement to its end. The Allegro Molto is a scherzo characterized by jaunty, agitated themes. The Trio starts dramatically, ultimately receding into ethereal quiet. The Andante Lyrico opens with a chorale that summons forth the sound of a carillon; this simple beginning builds with an ever-increasing weight. The sprightly, playful Epilogue rounds out the work with the kind of exuberant finish that is characteristic of Poulenc's multimovement works. The mood darkens as the movement pushes forward to a tragic climax; the gravity is dissipated, however, with a spirited burst at the conclusion.[allmusic.com]
György Ligeti - Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | -Composer: György Sándor Ligeti (28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006)-Performers: Marie-Luise Neunecker (horn), Saschko Gawriloff (violin), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano ("Hommage à Brahms"), written in 19820:00 - I. Andante con tenerezza6:17 - II. Vivacissimo molto ritmico11:46 - III. Alla marcia15:02 - IV. Lamento. AdagioLigeti's Trio for violin, horn, and piano was completed in 1982 and premiered on August 7 of that year. Apart from some smaller works, including Hungarian Rock (chaconne) and Passacaglia ungherese for harpsichord, Ligeti had composed very little since completing Le Grand Macabre in 1977. The extreme eclecticism and physical scope of the opera seem to have cast the composer into a compositional crisis: what does one write when one has just finished writing everything? As many composers before him had done, Ligeti turned to music history and other musical cultures for an answer. Though Ligeti had never been averse to history, his more explicit turn in that direction is reflected in the chaconne and passacaglia forms in the 1978 harpsichord pieces and in the final scene of Le Grand Macabre, which itself is a passacaglia. In the late 1970s and early '80s, Ligeti gained inspiration from many sources, but most particularly from study of sub-Saharan African drumming and from research into fractal procedures in mathematics. In 1980 Ligeti also discovered the music of American expatriate composer Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997), whose multi-layered, complex studies for player piano closely paralleled Ligeti's rhythmic interests at the time.Ligeti also became interested in the music of Chopin and Schumann, particularly in their use of rubato and hemiola (a subverting of the predominant rhythmic pattern with a different division of the beat). The idea of a melodic line carrying its own distinct rhythmic burden became one of the main concerns of the Trio for violin, horn, and piano. Ligeti had another, even more specific influence in the horn trio of Brahms Op. 40 (1865). Ligeti's musical language, having emerged from the vex of a writer's block, is paradoxically purified and direct in its presentation of ambiguous rhythmic cross-relations and skewed harmonic clichés, such as several versions of the common "horn fifths" motif. In the first movement the violin and horn engage in a duet of two tempos, but the relationship between the two is relatively exact. The horn is the main melodic instrument, soaring in high, fast runs. In spite of the apparent complexity of the melodic language, the harmonic profile of the movement, and of the piece as a whole, is surprisingly diatonic. After the circumspect first movement, the motoric but dancing rhythms of the second and third movements show the results of Ligeti's knowledge of the musics of Africa and the Caribbean, and of Nancarrow. The second movement is in an eighth note pulse that is further subdivided into groups of three plus two plus three. Ligeti manipulates the groupings of this pattern to produce seemingly different tempos among the three instruments, a technique he took even further in the Six Piano Études of the following year. The third movement begins with a stuttering rhythmic unison that gradually goes out of phase. A lyrical, legato section succeeds this material with differing phrase lengths among the instruments. The final movement is a lament based loosely on the sorrowful, descending funeral chants of several Eastern European cultures. Again, the varying phrase lengths are an important expressive aspect of the music.The Trio for violin, horn, and piano led directly to the Études for piano, Book I of 1985 and to the Piano Concerto of 1985-1988. Portions of all three works share virtually the same concerns, and reuse very specific gestures and modes of expression, just as Ligeti reused those ticking clocks and harmonic clouds throughout his earlier music.[allmusic.com]
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 6) [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 -- 27 April 1992)Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaen's wife)Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'oiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 6 (Sixième livre)X. Le Merle de roche (Common rock thrush)"Le merle de roche" (the rock thrush), another nocturnal setting, comprises the sixth book; Messiaen literally renders the elusive bird with silences, disguising the bird's motive.
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 7) [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 -- 27 April 1992)Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaen's wife)Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'oiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 7 (Septième livre)00:15 - XI. La Buse variable (Common buzzard)10:34 - XII. Le Traquet rieur (Black wheatear)19:48 - XIII. Le Courlis cendré (Eurasian curlew)Book VII concludes the cycle, recapitulating birdsongs similar to earlier movements, with the dodecaphonic "La buse variable" (the buzzard), the playful "Le traquet rieur" (the black wheatear), and "Le courlis cendre" (the curlew), a stark depiction of the French coastline.
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 5) [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 -- 27 April 1992)Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaen's wife)Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'oiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 5 (Cinquième livre)00:15 - VIII. L'Alouette calandrelle (Greater short-toed lark)05:58 - IX. La Bouscarle de Cetti (Cetti's warbler)The shortest movement, "L'alouette calandrelle" (the short-toed lark) follows, recalling "Le loriot" with its simple evocation of the songs of larks. "La bouscarle" (Cetti's warbler) closes the fifth book with an evocation of a river as well as the bird.
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 4) [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 -- 27 April 1992)Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaen's wife)Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'oiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 4 (Quatrième livre)VII. La Rousserolle effarvatte (Eurasian reed warbler)The fourth book contains the seventh and central movement, "La rousserolle effarvatte" (the reed warbler), at over half an hour the longest movement. Like the fourth movement and like Messiaen's earlier Reveil des oiseaux, it outlines more than a day of birdsong, with dozens of birds heard.
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 3) [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 -- 27 April 1992)Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaen's wife)Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'oiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 3 (Troisième livre)00:15 - V. La Chouette hulotte (Tawny owl)06:49 - VI. L'Alouette lulu (Woodlark)The third book contains two shorter pieces: "La chouette hulotte" (the tawny owl) and "L'alouette lulu" (the woodlark). Each piece depicts night, the former as terrifying, the latter as peaceful.
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 2) [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2022-10-29 | Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 -- 27 April 1992)Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaen's wife)Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue d'oiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 2 (Deuxième livre)IV. Le Traquet Stapazin (Western black-eared wheatear)The tranquil "Le traquet stapazin" (the black-eared wheatear) comprises the second book; the movement programmatically moves from sunrise to sunset.
Gabriel Fauré - 9 Préludes [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2021-07-24 | -Composer: Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924)-Performer: Germaine Thyssens-Valentin9 Preludes for Piano, op. 103, written in 1909-1000:00 - I. Andante molto moderato03:27 - II. Allegro05:34 - III. Andante09:06 - IV. Allegretto moderato10:56 - V. Allegro13:24 - VI. Andante16:07 - VII. Andante moderato18:28 - VIII. Allegro19:32 - IX. AdagioComposed in 1910, the Préludes are Fauré at his most old-masterly. They are also exactly contemporary with Debussy's first book of Préludes; where the latter, for all their exquisiteness, are extroverted public statements, Fauré's are a concentrated, inward utterance. The first three Préludes date from January and were performed for the first time by Marguerite Long at a Société Nationale concert on May 17, 1910, before being published by Heugel that year. But over July and into the autumn six more Préludes followed, and it seems that Fauré then intended to work his way through the cycle of major and minor keys -- a plan which fell by the wayside with the resumption of work on his lyric drama, Pénélope. The remaining six were issued separately by Heugel the following year and eventually published together with the initial Préludes in a single collection in 1923. If their piecemeal appearance and small number helped drop them into obscurity, they are comparable, nevertheless, to Chopin's and Debussy's contributions to the genre in point of pith and emotional power.In D flat, the first prélude looks back to the Verlaine settings of the 1890s wistfully and with tendresse, interrupted by a plangent B section which seems to toll the passing hour, rising to a tense climax soothed by the return of the initial strain and rounded with a coda-like a benediction. Likewise, the restless C sharp triplets of the second prélude are met by a carillon-like admonition. The third prélude seems to recall the dreaming, hesitant interludes of the joyous Third Impromptu for piano, of 1883, in a somber G minor rife with nostalgia. In F, the fourth prélude looks forward and backward; it includes a phrase which turns up again in the Menuet of Masques et bergamasques in 1918, and also harks back to the blithe world of the Verlaine settings. The following D minor outburst takes one by surprise -- anger yielding almost conversationally to resignation. In E flat, the sixth prélude takes the form of a canon at the octave in a severe, obsessive meditation. The anxious flight of the seventh prélude, in A -- composed in early September -- is associated with the final illness of Fauré's father-in-law, the sculptor, Emmanuel Fremiet. The tiny C minor study in repeated notes suggests a wryly sec serenade; the final prélude in E minor -- a mere 33 bars -- calls to mind the meditative compactness of Bach, albeit with an harmonic motility lending its straightforward statement tortuous piquancy. Taken together, the Préludes afford several direct, hence rare, glimpses of Fauré's inner being -- in Wallace Stevens' phrase, "a self returning mostly memory."[allmusic.com]
Gabriel Fauré - 13 Barcarolles [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2021-07-22 | -Composer: Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924)-Piano: Delphine Bardin13 Barcarolles for Piano (1880 – 1921)00:00 - I. Allegretto moderato, op. 26 (1880)04:50 - II. Allegretto quasi Allegro, op. 41 (1885)11:47 - III. Andante quasi Allegretto, op. 42 (1885)18:43 - IV. Allegretto, op. 44 (1886)22:42 - V. Allegretto moderato, op. 66 (1894)28:45 - VI. Allegretto vivo, op. 70 (1896)32:31 - VII. Allegretto moderato, op. 90 (1905)35:35 - VIII. Allegretto moderato, op. 96 (1906)39:10 - IX. Andante moderato, op. 101 (1909)43:22 - X. Allegretto moderato, op. 104/2 (1913)46:43 - XI. Allegretto moderato, op. 105 (1913)51:10 - XII. Allegretto giocoso, op. 106bis (1915)54:31 - XIII. Allegretto, op. 116 (1921)Barcarolles were originally folk songs sung by Venetian gondoliers. In Morrison's phrase, Fauré's use of the term was more convenient than precise. Fauré was not attracted by fanciful titles for musical pieces, and maintained that he would not use even such generic titles as "barcarolle" if his publishers did not insist. His son Philippe recalled, "he would far rather have given his Nocturnes, Impromptus, and even his Barcarolles the simple title Piano Piece no. so-and-so." Nevertheless, following the precedents of Chopin and most conspicuously Mendelssohn, Fauré made extensive use of the barcarolle, in what his biographer Jessica Duchen calls "an evocation of the rhythmic rocking and lapping of water around appropriately lyrical melodies."Fauré's ambidexterity is reflected in the layout of many of his piano works, notably in the barcarolles, where the main melodic line is often in the middle register, with the accompaniments in the high treble part of the keyboard as well as in the bass. Duchen likens the effect of this in the barcarolles to that of a reflection shining up through the water.Like the nocturnes, the barcarolles span nearly the whole of Fauré's composing career, and they similarly display the evolution of his style from the uncomplicated charm of the early pieces to the withdrawn and enigmatic quality of the late works. All are written with compound time signatures (6/8, 9/8, or 6/4).[more on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_music_of_Gabriel_Faur%C3%A9#Barcarolles]
Robert Schumann - Romanzen und Balladen III, op. 53 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2021-07-20 | -Composer: Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)-Performers: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Bariton), Christoph Eschenbach (Piano)Romanzen und Balladen III, 3 Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 53, written in 184000:00 - I. Blondels Lied {Blondel's Song}05:37 - II. Loreley 06:36 - III. Der arme Peter {Poor Peter} - I. Der Hans und die Grete tanzen herum {Hans and Grete dance about}08:02 - III - II. In meiner Brust, da sitzt ein Weh {Within my breast lies a woe}09:19 - III - III. Der arme Peter wankt vorbei {Poor Peter staggers by}Schumann's third set of Romanzen und Balladen, Op. 53, was the last group of songs from his legendary "year of song" (1840) to be published. In the company of so many outstanding lieder, especially the song cycles Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und -leben, the three (actually five) songs of Op. 53 have often been lost in the shuffle and are not especially familiar to listeners. But stylistically, poetically, and more importantly in their animating spirit, they are every bit as representative of Schumann the song composer. The best-known and most interesting song is the third, Der arme Peter (Poor Peter), which is actually three songs in one, and therefore a self-contained song cycle in miniature somewhat like Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte. It is often excerpted and performed on its own.Although composed separately and to poems of three different authors, the Op. 53 songs are unified by the theme of devotion. The first song, Blondels Lied, is by the poet Johann Gabriel Seidl, and is the tale of a medieval minstrel keeping a vigil in song for his king. At times reminiscent of Auf einer Berg from the Op. 39 Liederkreis, and even Talismane from Myrthen, it is constructed around a repeated refrain of the text "Suche treu, so findest du!" (Seek in faith and you shall find!). Loreley is among Schumann's shortest songs and usually takes less than one minute to perform. But in that brief span it manages to capture the very spirit of Romantic poetry and song writing in its evocation of a ghostly moment -- the disembodied refrain, "Remember me," mingling with the sounds of the sea. Finally, Heinrich Heine's Der arme Peter is the unfortunate tale of a young man driven to suicide by the loss of his love. He first sees her dancing with her new groom; then avoids her for fear of saddening her with his grief; and finally determines that the grave is where he most belongs. As is typical of both Schumann and Heine, Peter's sad tale is infused with enough irony to be both sad and humorous, but never sentimental.[allmusic.com]
Robert Schumann - Romanzen und Balladen II, op. 49 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2021-07-19 | -Composer: Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)-Performers: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Bariton; I and II), Christoph Eschenbach (Piano; I and II), Olaf Bär (Bariton; III), Helmut Deutsch (Piano; III)Romanzen und Balladen II, 3 Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 49, written in 184000:00 - I. Die beiden Grenadiere {The two Grenadiers}03:49 - II. Die feindlichen Brüder {The warring Brothers}05:59 - III. Die Nonne {The Nun}1840 was Schumann's first great lieder year, the one that produced the great song cycles Myrthen, the Heine and the Eichendorff Liederkreis, Dichterliebe, Frauenliebe und -Leben, and the Kerner Zwölf Gedichte. As if this was not enough, he also wrote individual songs, many of which, like these, he collected into small "Romance and Ballad Collections." He wrote Die feindlichen Bruder in April and Die bieden Grenadiere in May, both to Heine poems, and Die Nonne to a Fröhlich poem in November. They were published, however, with Die beiden Grenadiere as the first, making a cyclic progression from war among nations, to war between brothers, and finally to war with one's emotions in a cloister, supposedly a place of peace.Die beiden Grenadiere is one of Schumann's masterpieces, setting up in generally less than four minutes a drama that it might take a movie half an hour to present. The music begins dispiritedly, though still with military discipline, slowly grows in pride and resolve, bursting out with passionate energy with the famous quotation from the Marseillaise, and then falling back. This last stroke adds poignancy to a song that otherwise could be just bombast; the listener is left to speculate whether the soldier has fallen prey to despair or to death. Ironically, while Schumann's version is the more insightful and effective, Richard Wagner's, written only months before, was far more successful, particularly in France (doubtless Wagner's more optimistic ending, using the Marseillaise triumphantly, was more appealing to French sensibilities!).While this song is certainly the best known and for the most effective, with its vivid characterization and intense drama, the other two songs have their own merits. The deliberately archaic style Heine adopted for Die feindlichen Bruder is reflected in the rushed, slightly breathless vocal lines and subdued piano figures suggesting the flashing of the swords; this is not an eye-witness account of either the duel or a sighting of its ghostly repetition, but rather a fireside narration, evoking a sense of spookiness rather than terror. (Some performers have even interpreted it as an ironic treatment of the craze for Gothic stories of duels, tragic loves and rivalries, and ghosts.) Die Nonne, with its contrasting sorrow and merriment, shows Schumann's ability to handle pathos with a delicate touch that keeps it from becoming overwrought, and so, he makes the final drooping notes a particularly striking portrayal of quiet, unexpressed grief.[allmusic.com]
Robert Schumann - Romanzen und Balladen I, op. 45 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2021-07-18 | -Composer: Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)-Performers: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Bariton), Gerald Moore (Piano; I and II), Jörg Demus (Piano; III)Romanzen und Balladen I, 3 Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 45, written in 184000:00 - I. Der Schatzgräber {The Treasure-Seeker}03:15 - II. Frühlingsfahrt {A Spring Journey}06:17 - III. Abends am Strand {Evening by the Sea}Schumann wrote these three songs during 1840, one of his most prolific and happy periods. However, the first song, Abends am Strand (which is third in the collection), was written in April, to a Heine poem, and the second two were written in October to Eichendorff poems, but they are still somewhat unified by a theme, if not as tightly as a song cycle; each concerns a search, the first, an obsessive search for treasure, the second, the varying searches of two friends for accomplishments, the last, the search for other lands.Only one of these searches is unambiguously successful. The first begins with ominous, heavy minor descending passages from the piano, depicting the frenzied digging and also the eventual rock fall. There is a moment of melodious contrast with the angels' song, and an almost mockingly light touch as the rocks and debris crush the treasure hunter, and his search ends with his death.In the second, the assured, almost strutting marching theme that opens the song and the happiness of one man, with his wife and children and home (written with such a warmth and tenderness the listener can imagine Schumann is reflecting his own seemingly assured future happiness with Clara), are a vivid contrast to the more adventuresome melodiousness of the one who went further afield in his searches, and was drawn by seductive sirens. Whether this is a sad contrast or not is up to the interpreters.Though the piano paints a clear picture of the rising mists and rippling waters, Schumann also carefully preserved the ambiguity of the last poem, which makes it unclear whether the sailor is enjoying rest after his voyages or wishes to be upon the boat disappearing over the horizon. The music describing the strange lands is compelling, but so is the tranquility of the music depicting the night, without any overt cry of longing for those lands.[allmusic.com]
Gabriel Fauré - Masques et Bergamasques, Suite for Orchestra [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2021-07-16 | -Composer: Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924)-Orchestra: English Sinfonia-Conductor: Sir Charles GrovesMasques et Bergamasques, Suite for Orchestra, op. 112, written in 191900:00 - I. Ouverture03:49 - II. Menuet06:50 - III. Gavotte10:19 - IV. PastoraleFauré's last, inwardly turning manner -- spare, abrupt, arching toward ever finer gradations of luminosity -- had been embarked upon for more than a decade when Prince Albert I of Monaco asked him in 1918 (at Saint-Saëns' prompting) for a brief divertissement to be performed at the Monte Carlo theater, which would become known as Masques et bergamasques. In collaboration with theater director Raoul Gunsbourg and René Fauchois, librettist of Pénélope, Fauré was to provide music for a fête galant in the spirit of Verlaine, drawing largely upon his earlier works. In the upshot, only the orchestrated version of the mélodie Clair de lune, from 1888, contained verse by "the Faun" (as Verlaine was known to his café cronies), though the Pavane for chorus and orchestra of 1887 featured lines by Count Robert de Montesquiou deliberately imitative of Verlaine's style. Madrigal for chorus and orchestra (1884) and the mélodie Le plus doux chemin (1904) to poems by Armand Silvestre dovetailed well with the spirit of the thing. The slender conceit of the scenario, in which the commedia del arte characters who flit through Verlaine's early verse appear in person to observe and mock the eighteenth century lords and ladies accustomed to being entertained by them, owes as much to Watteau -- who inspired the décor -- as to the poet.For the Overture and two orchestral numbers, Fauré revised movements of an abandoned symphony dating from 1869 -- his 24th year -- to which he added a Pastorale, the only newly composed music for Masques et bergamasques. The latter revives his galant style with a loving, old-masterly touch. While the Overture is not pastiche, the young Fauré was obviously moved by classical models -- Reynaldo Hahn disarmingly suggested "Mozart imitating Fauré." Likewise, the Gavotte and Menuet were inspired by an even more remote era. Following the horrors of the Great War, and taken together, the oddments of this elegant trifle loomed larger than their sum. They still evoke a grand nostalgia, not merely for the belle époque, but for the eternally enchanted paysages that haunt Verlaine's early verse. And the freshly felicitous first orchestral essays, indeed, seem predestined for just this use. The Pastorale was Fauré's last orchestral work -- in its brief magic there is something of Prospero's "Our revels now are ended." The Monte Carlo production opened April 10, 1919, scoring an immediate success, which led to it being re-staged at the Paris Opéra-Comique on March 4, 1920. As a theater piece, Masques et bergamasques has frequently been revived in France, while the suite of orchestral numbers drawn from it -- Overture, Gavotte, Menuet, and Pastorale -- has achieved an enduring popularity the world over.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume III), op. 43 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2021-07-16 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Håkon Austbø6 Lyric Pieces Book III, op. 43, written in 188600:00 - I. Sommerfugl (Butterfly)01:39 - II. Ensom vandrer (Lone wanderer)03:18 - III. I Hjemmet (In my native land)05:05 - IV. Småfugl (Little bird)06:55 - V. Erotikk (Erotikon)09:10 - VI. Til våren (To spring)Grieg quickly discovered that his greatest talent was for short, evocative compositions. Naturally, a shift in the emphasis of his music from longer and more abstract pieces to shorter pieces took place. Even when he wrote short pieces, he tended at first to give them abstract (tempo marking) titles; his first forty piano compositions (in five sets) were titleless. He first assigned titles in 1867, in a suite he called "Lyric Pieces." This came to be Book 1 of ten sets. Each was a great success and thus delighted his publisher, particularly beginning around 1885, when Grieg turned out a set about every two or three years. Each sold out upon publication.The first two or three movements were written while Grieg was staying in Denmark. It is "At Home", which was actually composed while longing for home: Grieg had written to his friend Frants Beyer about his wish to go out in a boat on a quiet morning. "The other day I was so full of this longing that it turned itself into a gentle song of thanksgiving. There is nothing new in it, but it is genuine and as it is really nothing other than a message to you, I enclose it here." He wrote the other four movements, including "Solitary Wanderer" (where expressed the longing he alluded to in his letter), back in Norway. "Erotikon" was inspired by his love for his wife, Nina. The final movement, "To Spring, " stands as the programmatic representative for the whole set, for, as Grieg wrote to his publisher, all six pieces comprise a set of "spring songs."[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume II), op. 38 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2021-07-16 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Håkon Austbø8 Lyric Pieces Book II, op. 38, written in 1877-ca.8300:00 - I. Berceuse02:17 - II. Folkevise {Folksong}03:44 - III. Melody05:23 - IV. Halling {Norwegian Dance}06:06 - V. Spring Dance {Skip dance}07:30 - VI. Elegy09:36 - VII. Waltz10:34 - VIII. CanonEdvard Grieg published his Second Book of Lyric Pieces as Op. 38 in 1883. This group stands chronologically between Grieg's Cello Sonata and the Holberg Suite. At that time, Grieg was having a difficult time with his spouse, Nina, and infatuated with Elsie Schjelderup, a 26-year old "bohemian" painter living in Paris. Grieg left Nina in July 1883, though the intervention of friends brought the two back together over time.The finished set contains eight pieces, and these differ from other sets of Lyric Pieces in Grieg's offhand and somewhat synthetic approach to their construction. Grieg's superficial attitude might reflect the tension at home; other sets of Lyric Pieces are suffused in emotional expressions, but not this one.In the opening "Cradle Song" ("Vuggevise," or "Berceuse," not to be confused with the famous "Cradle Song" of Op. 68/6) a simple tune, decorated with gentle grace notes, is twice played. A more troubled middle section in the minor follows, rising to a climax which would surely "wake the baby." However, all is well as the first tune returns."Folk Song" ("Folkvise," or "Folk Melody") consists of a 3/4 dance step with stresses on the first and second beats of alternating bars. The melody is voiced mostly in sixths and thirds."Melodie" betrays the influence of Liszt's Libesträume, and is replete with C major arpeggios and harmonic rallentandi, typical identifying marks of nineteenth-century salon music.More momentous are the two dances, "Halling" and "Springdans" ("Spring or "Leaping Dance"), that follow. These are based on traditional Norwegian dance forms associated with the playing of the Hardanger fiddle, the "Halling Dance" being in 2/4 time and the "Spring Dance" in a pattern similar to that of the "Folk Song." Part of "Halling" bears a resemblance to the first movement "bridge" in Grieg's Piano Concerto.We find ourselves back in the salon again with "Elegy," which nonetheless has some interesting features, including a drooping, irregular chromatic figure that opens the tune and a diminished octave achieved by pitting an upward chromatic scale against a pedal tone.The "Waltz" ("Vals") is only a minute long and is in obvious debt to Chopin, though not as floridly pianistic as the Polish master. The concluding "Canon" is not strict, but the melody of the first section is answered in canonic imitation. The second part harkens back to the "troubled section" of the "Cradle Song." The "Trio" of this piece is in the major and is set to the "Spring Dance" rhythm. There is a bit of editorial trouble here in that some editions lack a da capo indication at the end of the middle section; in truth, the minor section is repeated and a B flat minor chord is played at the end.[allmusic.com]
Robert Schumann - Myrthen, op. 25 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-10-25 | -Composer: Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)-Performers: Dorothea Röschmann (Soprano), Ian Bostridge (Tenor), Graham Johnson (Piano)Myrthen, 26 Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 25, written in 184000:00 - I. Widmung (I. B.)02:26 - II. Freisinn (I. B.)03:41 - III. Der Nussbaum (D. R.)07:09 - IV. Jemand (D. R.)08:43 - V. Lieder aus dem Schenkenbuch im Divan I (I. B.)09:21 - VI. Lieder aus dem Schenkenbuch im Divan II (I. B.)10:23 - VII. Die Lotosblume (D. R.)12:05 - VIII. Talismane (I. B.)14:29 - IX. Lied der Suleika (D. R.)17:27 - X. Die Hochländer-Witwe (D. R.)19:03 - XI. Lied der Braut aus dem Liebesfrühling I (D. R.)21:35 - XII. Lied der Braut aus dem Liebesfruhling II (D. R.)23:22 - XIII. Hochländers Abschied (I. B.)24:55 - XIV. Hochländisches Wiegenlied (D. R.)27:44 - XV. Aus den hebräischen Gesangen (I. B.)32:26 - XVI. Rätsel (D. R.)34:12 - XVII. Venetianisches Lied I (I. B.)36:02 - XVIII. Venetianisches Lied II (I. B.)37:06 - XIX. Hauptmann's Weib (I. B.)38:08 - XX. Weit, weit (D. R.)41:12 - XXI. Was will die einsame Träne (I. B.)43:48 - XXII. Niemand (I. B.)44:50 - XXIII. Im Westen (D. R.)46:07 - XXIV. Du bist wie eine Blume (I. B.)47:53 - XXV. Aus den östlichen Rosen (D. R.)49:57 - XXVI. Zum Schluss (I. B.)Published in October 1840 by Kistner, Myrthen, Op. 25, is dedicated to the composer's wife, Clara Schumann. Myrthen, or myrtles, are European evergreen shrubs with white or rosy flowers that are often used to make bridal wreaths. The 26 poems included were presented to Clara on the occasion of their wedding.Unlike Dichterliebe of Frauenliebe und -leben, the texts of Myrthen are not by a single poet. Among them are eight poems in translation by Robert Burns (1759-96), five by Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866), and three each by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) and Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). The remaining seven are by Lord Byron, Thomas Moore, J. Mosen, and Catherine Fanshawe.In the Myrthen collection of songs we find a clear contrast between Schumann's two musical personalities, "Florestan" and "Eusebius." Those in the "Florestan" style have a lively, confident character especially evident in Freisinn, Niemand, and the Hochländer lieder. Eusebius' more contemplative mood comes through in Mein Herz ist schwer and Was will die einsame Träne? Schumann also confronts numerous other emotions associated with love and marriage, such as devotion (Lied der Saleika and the two Lied der Braut), maternity (Im Westen, Hochländiches Wiegenlied), loneliness (Die Hochländer Witwe, Weit, weit) and bravery (Hauptmanns Weib). A few special gems are worth discussing in detail.Heine's Du bist wie eine Blume (You are like a flower) receives Schumann's most ceremonial treatment. Set in A flat major, a key associated with wedding ceremonies, the song's repeated chords provide a stately foundation for the free, almost recitative-like declamation of the brief text. A flat major is also important as the key of the first and last songs of the collection.Schumann confronts longing and separation in two of the songs, Der Nussbaum by Mosen, and Aus den östlichen Rosen by Rückert. Der Nussbaum is notable particularly for Schumann's integration of the piano part into the overall rhetoric of the song. The opening piano measures later become both the completions of vocal phrases and, before "Sie flüstern von einem Mägdlein," the beginning of the phrase. In both songs the piano depicts leaves fluttering in the wind -- In Der Nussbaum with constant arpeggios, in Aus den östlichen Rosen, with a rapid, quiet twisting figure -- while supporting a delicate, narrow-ranged voice part.Schumann's setting of Byron's Rätsel is especially clever. The poem describes something without saying what it is. At the end is the question, "What is it?" Byron's answer is "a breeze," rendered in German as "Hauch." Schumann, however, omits this word from the text, leaving the piano to play the final note, a B natural -- an "H" in German.[allmusic.com]
R. Schumann, J. Brahms, A. Dietrich - F-A-E Sonata [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-10-01 | -Composers: Albert Dietrich (28 August 1829 – 20 November 1908)Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897)-Performers: Isabelle Faust (Violin), Alexander Melnikov (Piano) (Played on period instruments)F-A-E Sonata for Violin and Piano, written in 185300:00 - I. Allegro (Albert Dietrich)11:55 - II. Intermezzo. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (Robert Schumann)14:20 - III. Scherzo. Allegro (Johannes Brahms)19:04 - IV. Finale. Markiertes, ziemlich lebhaftes Tempo (Robert Schumann)The sonata was Schumann's idea as a gift and tribute to violinist Joseph Joachim, whom the three composers had recently befriended. Joachim had adopted the Romantic German phrase "Frei aber einsam" ("free but lonely") as his personal motto. The composition's movements are all based on the musical notes F-A-E, the motto's initials, as a musical cryptogram.Schumann assigned each movement to one of the composers. Dietrich wrote the substantial first movement in sonata form. Schumann followed with a short Intermezzo as the second movement. The Scherzo was by Brahms, who had already proven himself a master of this form in his E flat minor Scherzo for piano and the scherzi in his first two piano sonatas. Schumann provided the finale.Schumann penned the following dedication on the original score: "F.A.E.: In Erwartung der Ankunft des verehrten und geliebten Freundes JOSEPH JOACHIM schrieben diese Sonate R.S., J.B., A.D." ("F.A.E.: In expectation of the arrival of their revered and beloved friend, Joseph Joachim, this sonata was written by R.S., J.B., A.D.").The composers presented the score to Joachim on 28 October at a soirée in the Schumann household, which Bettina von Arnim and her daughter Gisela also attended. The composers challenged Joachim to determine who composed each movement. Joachim played the work that evening, with Clara Schumann at the piano. Joachim identified each movement's author with ease.The complete work was not published during the composers' lifetimes. Schumann incorporated his two movements into his Violin Sonata No. 3. Joachim retained the original manuscript, from which he allowed only Brahms's Scherzo to be published in 1906, nearly ten years after Brahms's death. Whether Dietrich made any further use of his sonata-allegro is not known. The complete sonata was first published in 1935.[source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-A-E_Sonata]
Francis Poulenc - Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-30 | -Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)-Performers: Felicity Lott (Voice), Pascal Rogé (Piano)Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon for Voice and Piano, FP 122, written in 194300:00 - I. C03:08 - II. Fêtes galantes I. [...] The bridges of C, sometimes called Ce, are the four "Caesar Bridges" are near Angiers. In 51 B.C.E., the Gauls were defeated there by the Romans. In 1940, the Germans invaded at the same spot, and the French were again defeated.Louis Aragon, the poet, speaks of the ancient defeat, and the tales of glory that followed. Then he speaks of the present time and the ill-concealed tears for his beloved, abandoned France.Every line ends with a rhyme to the word "Ce". The vocal line moves syllabically, and the piano part is equally unextravagant. In total, this is one of those heartrending moments in music that achieves its goals through simple means.II. [...] While Aragon consciously evoked a period of France's past in the "C," here he ironically applies a title Watteau used in painting and Verlaine in poetry. But whereas these two creative artists of earlier times were celebrating grace and beauty, Aragon points out the ugliness -- and the absurdity of the ugliness -- of the period of Occupation. Every line except the last is a miniature portrait of yet another horror, always presented in the same way: "You see [On voit] fops on bicycles, you see pimps in kilts...you see motor cars run on gasogene...you see guttersnipes you see perverts, you see drowned folk...." This entire litany, eerily comic in its piling-on of horrors, rattles out from a music-hall accompaniment as the baritone declaims the text with extreme rapidity. Poulenc applies the tempo marking Incroyablement vite (Unbelievably Fast), with a tempo marking not less than quarter note = 152. Like Shostakovich did so often, Poulenc here confronts the drab, valueless life under a dictatorship with the commonplace, with banality, with the sound of a low cabaret.[allmusic.com]
Francis Poulenc - Métamorphoses [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-29 | -Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)-Performers: Catherine Dubosc (Voice) Pascal Rogé (Piano)Métamorphoses for Voice and Piano, FP 121, written in 194300:00 - I. Reine des mouettes {Queen of the gulls} 01:04 - II. C'est ainsi que tu es {That's how you are}03:11 - III. PaganiniThis is a quick and breezy cycle of three songs by Francis Poulenc (1899 -- 1963). If the opening and especially the last song are too rapid and breezy, the middle song is one that rises to the standards Poulenc set as one of the greatest of French song composers.It is not unusual that the poetess was a friend of Poulenc's -- early in his career he decided to write songs to texts of living poets whom he knew personally. His biographer Benjamin Ivry points out that like Schubert he sometimes set works of minor poets because he liked the particular writer.Poulenc wrote three song cycles and one separate song on poems by Louise de Vilmorin. This poet was one of Poulenc's favorite people, as he wrote in Journal de mes melodies (Diary of My Songs), his invaluable commentary on almost all his songs, "...because she is beautiful, because she is lame [she had a limp], because she writes innately immaculate French, because her name evokes flowers and vegetables, because she loves her brothers like a lover and her lovers like a sister." He also liked, in her poetry, its qualities of "sensitive audacity,...wantonness,...avidity which extended into song...."Others were not so kind. She is ranked as a minor poet, and the British novelist Evelyn Waugh called her "an Hungarian countess [she was French but had married a Hungarian count] who pretended to be a French poet."This cycle takes just four minutes. Part of Poulenc's motivation was to recapture his own memories of her, for she and her husband were trapped in Hungary at the outbreak of World War II and Poulenc did not know if he would ever see her again. (He did -- she returned to Paris, where she ended her days as the companion of writer André Malraux.)Poulenc does not seem to hold the cycle in very high regard. "I have not a great deal to say about these," he begins his uncharacteristically brief and generally unhelpful notes about this song in the Journal."Reine des mouettes" (Queen of the Seagulls) is unpretentious, with airy gracefulness. Pierre Bernac (Poulenc's greatest song interpreter) points out that it is not about an actual bird but a "charming and elegant young woman blushing behind gray muslin veils." Short and light, it serves well as an introduction to the next song, but does not stand well on its own."C'est ainsi que tu es" (It Is Thus That You Are) is very beautiful, quite romantic, and highly lyrical. Do not "...fear to surrender to it," advises Bernac; Poulenc simply says to sing it "without affectation." This is the one song of the set that works well in its own right.The conclusion, "Paganini," consists of some dazzling word play, rapid singing, and a perfunctory ending. Poulenc actually thought of it as a transitional song rather than as a concluding one, so it brings the cycle to a poor ending. He was right.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Der Jäger {The Hunter}, EG 157 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-26 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Ilmo Ranta (Piano)Der Jäger {The Hunter} for Voice and Piano, EG 157, written in 1905
Edvard Grieg - Slåtter, op. 72 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-24 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Einar Steen-Nøkleberg17 Slåtter (Norwegian Peasant Dances) for Piano, op. 72, written in 1902-0300:00 - I. Giboen's bridal march02:48 - II. John Vestafe's springdans04:44 - III. Bridal march from Telemark08:17 - IV. Halling from the hills (Tune from the Fairy Hill)12:06 - V. Prillar from the churchplay Os (Tune for the Goat-horn)13:19 - VI. Gangar14:42 - VII. Røtnams-Knut. Halling19:16 - VIII. Myllarguten's wedding march22:51 - IX. Nils Rekve's halling23:59 - X. Knut Luråsen's Halling I25:17 - XI. Knut Luråsen's Halling II28:03 - XII. Myllarguten's Spring dance29:09 - XIII. Havard Gibboen's dream on the Oterholts bridge30:55 - XIV. The goblin's bridal procession at Vossevangen. Gangar33:17 - XV. The bride of Skuldal. Gangar36:08 - XVI. The girls from Kivledal. Spring dance38:09 - XVII. The girls from Kivledal. GangarIn April 1888, Edvard Grieg was contacted by Knut Dale, who requested that the composer aid him in an effort to notate some of the slåtter, or folk dance tunes, that he was known for performing on the hardanger-fiddle. The hardanger-fiddle was regarded as the national instrument of Norway at the time. These folk dance tunes, most of which had been passed along for many generations, were passed to Dale from another fiddler, Torgier Augundsson, who was also known as Myllarguten, or The Miller's Boy. Augundsson often performed at Bull's National Theater in the town of Bergen in 1850. Grieg was not initially eager about the project due to the certain difficulty of transcribing this traditional style of folk music. Yet he decided to arrange for the preservation of these folkdance tunes because he feared that they would be forever lost in later times. The composer contacted the Norwegian violinist Johann Halvorsen in October of 1901 requesting that he spend time with Dale, in order to notate a number of the slåtter. Grieg would then transcribe the folk dance tunes for solo piano. By the end of the year, Halvorsen had completed the transcription of 17 of Dale's best folk dance tunes. Grieg spent almost an entire year working on arranging Halvorsen's work for piano, to produce his Norwegian Dances (1902).Norwegian Dances was published in its two versions, Halvorsen's for violin and his own for piano, in one volume at Grieg's insistence. The composer also insisted that it be made clear that his transcription for piano was based on Halvorsen's work. Both versions also include information on the extensive background of the folk dance tunes. Although the material for this work was conceived of originally by Grieg, it is nevertheless an important step in his musical development, as well as in the course of the early twentieth century. In fact, in 1906, the work made quite an impression on the young Impressionist musicians of Paris, who referred to it as "the new Grieg."The first of these folk dance tunes for piano is "Havard Gibeon's Bridal March," which is rhythmically strict throughout. The next of the tunes, "Jon Vestafe's Sprindans," can be described rhythmically as being bouncy. Jon Vestafe, according to legend, was suspected of murder and at his trial he asked for just one wish, to play one slått. He played so amazingly that he was immediately set free. The sixth slåtter, "Myllarguten's Gangar," is very complex rhythmically with confusing patterns of accenting and slurring. The eighth folk dance tune is "Myllarguten's Wedding March," a somber song which was written by Augundsson for a former love interest who left him to marry someone else. Arguably the finest piece of the cycle is the 11th slåtter, "Knut Lurasen's Halling II." It is the most stylistically varied of the entire set of folk dance tunes. The 13th folk dance tune contains the most dissonant passages of the composition, but also has very tender sections. The final slåtter transcription ends the work fittingly in a stately, nationalistic manner.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume X), op. 71 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-23 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Håkon Austbø7 Lyric Pieces Book X, op. 71, written in 190100:00 - I. Der var engang {Once upon a time}03:56 - II. Sommeraften {Summer evening}06:17 - III. Småtrold {Goblin; Puck}08:03 - IV. Skovstilhed {Silence of the woods}13:19 - V. Halling {Norwegian dance}16:24 - VI. Forbi {Gone}18:23 - VII. Efterklang {Remembrances}The final installment in Grieg's sets of Lyric Pieces comes very late in the composer's output in 1901, a time where illness kept him largely confined to his home, Troldhaugen, outside Bergen. In a September 1902 letter to American critic (and later, Grieg biographer) Henry T. Finck, Grieg writes:"...if I told you that I was not composing anymore, this must not be taken literally. Last Christmas there appeared the tenth volume of Lyric Pieces. Soon all the ten parts will be published in a sumptuous volume by Peters."With the printing of all ten sets together, Grieg seems to have been satisfied that he'd completed his work in this realm, and was probably glad to make a final break with the genre.The tenth set of Lyric Pieces was published as Op. 71 and is dedicated to Mrs. Mien Röntgen, wife of the composer Julius Röntgen, dedicatee of the fifth set of Lyric Pieces, Op. 54. The opening "Der var engang" (Once Upon a Time) is in the form of a mini-tone poem. The outer sections are in the nature of a Swedish folk song, harmonized as a quiet chorale. The middle section is a lively Norwegian spring dance set in Grieg's best folk dance idiom, with bare fifths and subtle adjacent tones spelling out both accompaniment and rhythm. "Sommeraften" (Summer Evening) is a nocturnal reminiscence that bears resemblance to then-emerging trends in French music. "Småtrold" (Little Troll) returns to the musical terrain that Grieg famously explored in "March of the Trolls" from Op. 54. "Skovstilhed" (Still Woods) is likewise reflective; a quiet forest scene in a manner that recalls the music of Robert Schumann. The "Halling" that follows is one of the best known examples of this 2/4 Norwegian dance that Grieg composed. Here, as in "Summer evening," the French sound is alluded to, particularly in a remarkable passage where the C major dance rhythm is interrupted by an insistent D flat pedal tone. "Forbi" (Gone) is subtitled "In Memoriam," specifically to whom is apparently not a matter of record. However several of Grieg's closet confederates died in 1900 - 1901, including his publisher Max Abraham, composer and close friend J.P.E. Hartmann, Grieg's brother John, and his father-in-law Herman Hagerup. Clearly expressive of deep sorrow, "In Memoriam" is scored in E minor, and it is one of the most chromatic and harmonically unpredictable of all Grieg's works. In this piece the listener experiences a mood hinted at in several of Grieg's letters of this time: "It is as if this beautiful old word 'saga' acquires a new and deeper meaning for me as my own life belongs more and more to the past. Soon everything will be saga, saga!" "Efterklang" (Remembrances) is a wistful and simple waltz that paraphrases the melody of the Op. 12, No. 1 "Arietta," the first of the Lyric Pieces. With this Grieg brings his Lyric piano cycle full circle, and to its close.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - 5 Songs, op. 70 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-22 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Roger Vignoles (Piano)5 Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 70, written in 190000:00 - I. Eros03:03 - II. Jeg lever et Liv i Længsel {I live a life of longing}05:42 - III. Lys Nat {Lucent night}07:42 - IV. Se dig for, når du vælger din Vej {Beware when you choose your way}09:41 - V. Digtervise (Poet's song)
Edvard Grieg - 5 Songs, op. 69 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-21 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Roger Vignoles (Piano)5 Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 69, written in 190000:00 - I. Der gynger en Båd på Bølge {A boat is rocking on the wave}02:54 - II. Til min Dreng {To my little son}06:29 - III. Ved Moders Grav {At mother's grave}09:10 - IV. Snegl, Snegl! {Snail, snail, come out of your house}12:28 - V. Drømme (Dream)
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume IX), op. 68 (Piano, Orch.) [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-20 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Håkon Austbø-Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra-Conductor: Ole Kristian Ruud6 Lyric Pieces Book IX, op. 68, written in 1898-99, orchestrated in 1899Piano00:00 - I. Matrosernes Opsang {Sailors’ Song}01:59 - II. Bedstemors menuett {Grandmother’s Minuet}04:05 - III. For dine Fötter {At Your Feet}07:11 - IV. Aften på Højfjeldet {Evening in the Mountains}09:44 - V. Bådnlåt {At the Cradle}12:05 - VI. Valse mélancoliqueOrchestra15:58 - Aften på Højfjeldet {Evening in the Mountains}19:59 - Bådnlåt {At the Cradle}The ninth book of Grieg's Lyric Pieces were written in 1898 - 1899, and while the fragile state of the composer's health was not great during this time, he was at least in these years stable and productive. In the early part of 1898, Grieg was chief organizer of a music festival in Bergen. Directly against the wishes of the festival's board of directors, and the advice of his closest friends, Grieg went to the trouble of bringing in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw under Willem Mengelberg to Norway. The ninth book of Lyric Pieces was complete by September 1899, as in a letter he records playing them in a rare public recital in Bergen; "The little mountain piece sounded just the way I had imagined it. People continued to clap, but I did not do it da capo. Afterward I played one of the other pieces in the same volume: 'At the Cradle.'" Despairing of the Lyric Pieces and their unbridled popularity in letters of 1896, Grieg nonetheless seems to have come to terms with the new set by the time of its introduction in 1899.Outside of the two pieces mentioned in Grieg's letter, there are no real standouts in the ninth book; however, this group is remarkable in its consistency of style as a whole, and the pieces are relatively easy to play. These five pieces are all short, and the whole book takes less than 20 minutes to play, as compared to a half an hour for the sixth book. The opening "Matrosernes Opsang" (Sailor's Song) is a stately march in cut time. "Bedstemors Menuet" (Grandmother's Minuet) is a skewed vision of an early nineteenth-century musical form, invaded by Grieg's stylistic tendency towards repeating figures in octaves. "For dine Födder" (At Your Feet) is a warm, romantic fireside piece that captures a snapshot suggesting the contentment of a long-married couple. "Aften på Höjfeldet" (From the Mountains) is a stark impression of Norwegian folk melody that would be worthy of inclusion in Bartók's Mikrokosmos. More than half the piece is played as a solo melody in the right hand, and as Grieg suggests, a da capo repeat of the first section wouldn't really work. "Bådenlåt" (Cradle Song) is a truly lovely miniature that utilizes parallel harmony in a manner suggestive of French impressionism. The concluding "Valse mélancolique" likewise is French in style, but more in step with the practice of d'Indy in its use of wandering, chromatic underpinnings and a heavy accent on the second beat of the bar.[...] There are five compositions on Grieg's works list having the title Bådnlåt, all essentially lullabies. Three are adaptations of folk songs, all appearing in his set of 19 folk song arrangements for piano, Op. 66 (1896 - 1897), and one is this effort from Book 9 of his Lyric Pieces series. The fifth Bådnlåt is a transcription of this piano piece for strings. Grieg also wrote five other lullabies (some as songs), demonstrating he was not only fond of the genre, but always highly skilled at it. While he lived another decade after writing this Op. 68 effort, he never wrote another lullaby. In a way, Grieg, generally upbeat and light in his works, was the perfect composer for this kind of music. Here he presents a lovely, quite simple melody that is instantly recognizable as his own, mainly owing to the subtle harmonies that impart a slightly exotic Nordic character to the dreaminess and innocence of the melody. The brief middle section is playful, though gently so, and after a return of the lovely main theme, the music quietly ends. Lasting about two-and-a-half minutes, this piece is yet another example of the composer's melodic skills and deft ability to charm the ear with seemingly simple materials.
Edvard Grieg - Haugtussa {The Mountain Maid}, op. 67 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-19 | -Composer Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Love Derwinger (Piano)Haugtussa {The Mountain Maid}, Song Cycle for Voice and Piano, op. 67, written in 189500:00 - I. Det syng {The Enticement}03:30 - II. Veslemöy {Veslemöy. The Young Maiden}06:20 - III. Blåbær-Li {Blueberry Slope}09:14 - IV. Møte {The Tryst}13:30 - V. Elsk {Love}16:05 - VI. Killingdans {Kid's Dance}17:42 - VII. Vond Dag {Hurtful Day}20:22 - VIII. Ved Gjætle-Bekken {At the Brook}
Edvard Grieg - 19 Norwegian Folk Songs for Piano, op. 66 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-18 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Gerhard Oppitz19 Norwegian Folk Songs for Piano, op. 66, written in 1896-9700:00 - I. Kulokk {Cow-Call}01:16 - II Det er den største Dårlighed {It is the greatest Foolishness}02:25 - III. En Konge hersked i Østerland {A King ruled in the East}03:33 - IV. Siri Dale-visen {The Siri Dale Song}04:51 - V. Det var i min Ungdom {It was in my youth}07:27 - VI. Lok og bådnlåt {Cow-Call and cradle song}08:58 - VII. Bådnlåt (Cradle song)09:51 - VIII. Lokk {Cow-Call}10:54 - IX. Liten va guten {Small was the Lad}11:54 - X. Morgo ska du få gifta deg {Tomorrow you shall marry}13:19 - XI. Det stander to Piger {There stood two Girls}14:50 - XII. Ranveig15:18 - XIII. En liten grå Man {A little grey man}16:07 - XIV. I Ola-dalom, i Ola-Kjønn {In Ola valley, in Ola lake}18:13 - XV. Bådnlåt {Cradle song}20:29 - XVI. Ho vesle Kari var {Little Astrid}21:27 - XVII. Bådnlåt {Cradle song}24:05 - XVIII. Jeg gar i tusen tanker {I wander deep in thought}28:17 - XIX. Gjendines Bådnlåt {Gjendine's cradle song}The 19 Norwegian Folksongs, Op. 66 are remarkable pieces, as Grieg himself knew. He wrote to the Dutch composer, Julius Röntgen, of having "put some hair-raising chromatic chords on paper. The excuse is that they originated not on the piano but in my mind. If one has the Vøringfoss beneath one's feet, one feels them more independent and daring than down in the valley."Indeed, the harmonies that Grieg employs in Op. 66 are even more strongly chromatic in flavor than those in his previous set of Norwegian Folk Tunes Op. 17, often to the extent that some of the chords and progressions would undoubtedly grate on the ear of the folk song purist. Nevertheless, given the fundamentally banal character of the original songs, some commentators have conceded that Grieg's chromatic treatment tends to enhance their haunting charm.Among the 19 tunes are several longer pieces, as well as three derived from "cattle calls," the brief snatches of melody that were originally sounded to call cattle back to the fold, and have a kind of charming, far-away character. Among the most attractive is "I Ola-Dalom, i Ola-Kjönn" (In Ola Dale), No. 14, which Delius later used as the source of the theme for "On hearing the first cuckoo in spring." The melody is treated strophically, and an interlude between each verse determines the style of accompaniment for the next.Another remarkable piece is No. 18, "Jeg går i tusind Tanker" (In deepest thought I wander), the most purely pianistic and -- at four minutes long -- the longest of the collection. Based on a flowing 16-bar tune, the piece is marked andante religioso, and is characterized by the same fervor and sincerity of Grieg's last opus (74), the "Four Psalms" for unaccompanied choir.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume VIII), op. 65 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-17 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes6 Lyric Pieces, op. 65, written in 189600:00 - I. Fra Ungdomsdagene {From Early Years}04:39 - II. Bondens Sang {Peasant’s Song}07:02 - III. Tungsinn {Melancholy}11:50 - IV. Salon13:45 - V. I Balladetone {Ballad}17:53 - VI. Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen {Wedding Day at Troldhaugen}Edvard Grieg has a longstanding place among Romantic musical miniaturists, standing in the direct lineage of Mendelssohn and Schumann. He was born in Bergen, Western Norway in 1843. By the time of his death there in 1907, his principal achievement was to have successfully engineered a fusion between nationalistic elements commonly found within indigenous Nordic song, and some of the most progressive innovations of mainstream Romanticism, notably the rapid advance of musical impressionism as applied to the keyboard miniature.Taking the broad view of Grieg's output, we can say that the impact of folkloristic idioms can be found to pervade most of his compositions for solo piano. The links are strongest, perhaps, in the Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7, of 1865, the Pictures from Country Life, Op. 19, and of course, the ten books devoted to Lyric Pieces, some sixty-six miniatures in all which were published in the years 1867-1901. It was, wrote Grieg, the celebrated Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Borneman Bull who "opened my eyes to the beauty and unspoilt nature of Norwegian music," although in these works, it would be hard to overlook the demonstrable impact that exerted upon Grieg's creative processes by the seminal German Romantic miniaturists, and by the music of Chopin, whose expressive instincts are also closely mirrored. As Joachim Dorfmüller has written "To this traditional aspect, however, Grieg added a novel element in the form of folk music, which, in a number of pieces may be regarded as a genuine source of inspiration."Writing to his publisher, the head of Peters Edition Henri Hinrichsen in 1901, the composer remarked that his Lyric Pieces were "an intimate slice of life," and indeed, it would be very hard to challenge such an assertion. Book 8, published as Grieg's Op. 65, comprises of the following numbers: 1) From days of Youth, 2) Peasant's Song, 3) Melancholy, 4) Salon, 5) In Ballad Vein, 6) Wedding Day at Troldhaugen. The final piece in the set has good claims to be the best-loved and most universally performed of all Grieg's piano works, great or small. This is the piece known as "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen," Op. 65 No. 6. As Dorfmüller explains, "Trolls are quintessentially Norwegian creatures, and it was in their honour that Grieg and his wife Nina named the plot of land on which they built their house on the outskirts of Bergen in 1884-85; 'Troldhaugen' or 'Troll Hill'." In this delightful piece, the march-like outer sections, illustrating the guests greeting the happy couple, frame a more lyrically reflective central episode. Other pieces, notably Op. 65 No. 5 "In Ballad Vein" set a much more melancholic tone, in its broad chorale-like phrases. Finally, as Dorfmüller concludes, in his Lyric Pieces, and indeed in much of his remaining piano music, "Grieg thrust aside tradition--no doubt, in the final analysis, to his own astonishment as much as to that of his contemporaries--and in his last great creative period he set out on a virtually impressionistic path."[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume VII), op. 62 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-16 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Gerhard Oppitz6 Lyric Pieces Book VII, op. 62, written in 1893-9500:00 - I. Sylfide {Sylph}02:03 - II. Takk {Gratitude}06:54 - III. Fransk serenade {French Serenade}09:13 - IV. Bekken {Brooklet}10:53 - V. Drömmesyn {Phantom}14:45 - VI. Hjemad {Homeward}Edvard Grieg spent most of the winter and spring of 1894 - 1895 holed up in the Hotel King of Denmark in Bergen, sick with the flu. In March 1895 the state of Grieg's health caused him to cancel an important personal appearance in Berlin. In the spring, Grieg traveled mountains of the north for a rest cure in the clean, cold Norwegian air, and returned to his home, Troldhaugen, in May in good health and spirits. The composition of the seventh Lyric Suite for piano, Op. 62, likely extended through both Grieg's time of illness and that of his recovery.Certainly a rejuvenated Grieg is heard in the brilliant opener, "Sylfide" (Sylph). Lithe and balletic, this quick-footed piece is cast in a 3/4 time that's mostly missing its third beat, and the melody skips around with the frosty agility of a snowflake. Not so the following "Tak" (Thanks) in which a grateful melody is framed in an uninteresting chorale setting, interrupted only by a predictable crescendo built on decorated half notes. Ballet rhythms return in "Fransk Serenade" (French Serenade) which is mainly of the period; it is charming and short. Brilliantly pianistic and étude-like is the "Bekken" (The Brook) which follows, Grieg achieving very effective minor-key sonorities from the piano in the last page. "Drommesyn" (The Phantom) is based around a single melodic period that is characterized by a limpid four-against-six pattern at the end. Grieg varies this idea only with a single repeated note. Grieg takes his period through some unusual harmonic changes, and the overall economy of means used in "The Phantom" is reminiscent of that in Liszt's late piano works.In March 1895, Grieg assisted his friend the composer Johan Halverson with the preparation of a four-hand piano score for publication of the latter's "Entry of the Boyars." At about that time Grieg composed his own rousing, but very different march under the title of "Hjemad" (Homeward). The outer sections of the march are tremendously thrilling, with an excellently realized progression leading to the coda.While the seventh book of Grieg's Lyric Suites contains individual numbers that are among the best found in these sets, this collection as a whole is generally not thought of as being one of the stronger entries in the canon.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - 7 Childrens Songs, op. 61 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-15 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Love Derwinger (Piano)7 Barnlige Sange {Children's Songs} for Voice and Piano, op. 61, written in 189400:00 - I. Havet {The Ocean}01:09 - II. Sang til Juletæet {The Christmas Tree}03:38 - III. Lok {Farmyard Song}04:26 - IV. Fiskervise {Fisherman's Song}05:36 - V. Kveldssang for Blakken {Good-night Song for Dobbin}08:15 - VI. De norske fjelde {The Norwegian Mountains}11:48 - VII. Fædrelands-Salme {Hymn of the Fatherland}
Edvard Grieg - 5 Songs, op. 60 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-14 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Ilmo Ranta (Piano)5 songs for Voice and Piano, op. 60, written in 1893-9400:00 - I. Liden Kirsten {Little Kirsten}03:48 - II. Moderen synger {The mother's lament}06:14 - III. Mens jeg venter {While I wait}08:33 - IV. Der skreg en Fugl {There Screeched a Bird}10:37 - V. Og jeg vil ha mig en Hjertenskjær {And I will take a sweetheart}The five songs in Digte (Poems), Op. 60, were completed in 1894 and composed to texts by Vilhelm Krag. Dedicated to the Dutch baritone Johannes Messchaert (regarded as among the finest concert singers of his age), they were premiered by him in Copenhagen on January 20, 1894. Krag's arch-Romantic imagery served Grieg well in the creation of these unceasingly interesting lyric expressions.The first song, "Liden Kirsten" (Little Kirsten) has a folk-like temperament, well suited to the bright simplicity of the poem. The second song, "Moderen synger" (The Mother Sings) is an anguished lament, arrestingly modern in its use of a hesitating melody set over an unsettlingly dissonant accompaniment. "Mens jeg venter" (While I Wait) is frequently performed apart from the other songs in this opus and presents a superb example of the composer's sophistication as well as his gift for freshness of utterance. The harmonization is chromatic, often changing key and supporting melodic cells with startling effect. The fourth song, "Der skreg en Fugl" (There Screeched a Bird) attests to the composer's close observation of nature's sounds. In the introduction and final measures of this song, Grieg used a motif from one of his sketchbooks, noted as "the cry of a seagull heard near the Hardanger fjord." The song is dramatic and impressionistic at the same time, prevailingly bleak and singular in its use of minor seventh chords near the ending, voiced over the sustaining pedal throughout the sequence to create a blurred and dissonant effect. The song seems to simply hang in suspension at its conclusion. The final song, "Og jeg vil ha mig en Hjertenskjær" (And I will Take a Sweetheart) is an exuberant outburst of high spirits and a superb encore piece. It is found in the song repertoires of many singers who do not otherwise program much of Grieg's music.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - 6 Elegiac Songs, op. 59 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-13 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Roger Vignoles (Piano)6 Elegiac Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 59, written in 1893-9400:00 - I. Når jeg vil dø {Autumn Farewell; When I wish to die}01:55 - II. På Norges nøgne fjelde {The Pine Tree; On Norway's bare mountains}03:28 - III. Til Én 1 {To Her 1}05:38 - IV. Til Én 2 {To Her 2}07:26 - V. Farvel {Farewell}09:27 - VI. Nu Hviler du i Jorden {Now you are resting in the earth}
Edvard Grieg - 5 Songs of Norway, op. 58 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-12 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Roger Vignoles (Piano)Norge (Norway), Song Cycle for Voice and Piano, op. 58, written in 1893-9400:00 - I. Hjemkomst {Homecoming}03:26 - II. Til Norge {To Norway}04:45 - III. Henrik Wergeland08:27 - IV. Turisten {The Tourist}10:22 - V. Udvandreren {The emigrant}
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume VI), op. 57 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-11 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Gerhard Oppitz6 Lyric Pieces Book VI, op. 57, written in 1890-9300:00 - I. Svunne dager {Vanished Days}07:25 - II. Gade11:51 - III. Illsjon {Illusion}16:21 - IV. Hemmelighet {Secret}22:30 - V. Hun daser {She Dances}25:22 - VI. Hjemve {Homesickness}In the spring of 1893, Edvard Grieg was forced to cancel a scheduled tour of England due to ill health. Grieg's publisher Max Abraham came to the rescue, booking Grieg in a small number of concerts held in the climate-friendly south of Europe. Grieg, his wife Nina, and Abraham finally settled in Menton, located in southern France along the opulent Côte d'Azur, so that the composer could recover. A photograph of the party taken at this time shows Grieg with a baggy, oversize suit hanging off his perilously thin frame. Grieg was also soon to turn 50 and beginning to focus on thoughts of death, though this was not to come for another 14 years. The sixth book of Lyric Pieces, Op. 57, was written while Grieg was in Menton.The first piece, "Svunne dager" (Vanished Days) is one of the longest and most fully developed of all Grieg's Lyric Pieces. To the ear, "Vanished Days" seems to contain several sections developed along the lines of a sonata movement, but is actually cast in simple ternary form and is based around a motive of a rising and falling third. The second section consists of an exuberant dance melody. "Gade," a tribute to Grieg's friend and fellow composer Niels Gade, follows. In it a Norwegian folk melody is woven into a fabric of proper music-school counterpoint that would pass muster as a Conservatoire exercise. "Illusjon" (Illusion) is another somber minor key piece that works around a motive, this time stated in sixths. Grieg introduces a "falling off" figure that he attenuates by adding a bar of 9/8 into the 6/8 texture. He further extends the "falling off" idea in the following piece, "Secret." This piece is structurally interesting in that it consists of three brief phrases that are repeated three times, yet the entry of each part is cleverly disguised from the others, so that you get the impression of hearing something through-composed. An analogous scenario would be Nina tells Grieg a secret; Grieg mulls it over in his mind; gets agitated about it; Nina tells Grieg another secret, etc."Hun danser" (She Dances) hearkens back to "Anitra's Dance" from Peer Gynt, except that this is much livelier and rife with between-the-beat sixteenths. The closing movement, "Hjemve" (Homesickness) is, in certain ways, the most effective piece of the set. As in the first, third, and fourth pieces, Grieg starts out with a slow, somber tune, but here it is harmonized in a spare, four-part texture. In the second section, Grieg sets a folk melody with both hands in the treble registers of the piano, colored in a Lydian modality. This effect is similar to devices favored by so-called "New Age" pianists; in the context of Grieg, the passage is both highly attractive and surprisingly "modern" sounding.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume V), op. 54 (Piano, Orch.) [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-10 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer (Piano): Leif Ove Andsnes-Orchestra (Pieces 1 - 4): Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra-Conductor (Pieces 1 - 4): Ole Kristian Ruud-Orchestra (Piece 6): Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra-Conductor (Piece 6): Neeme Järvi6 Lyric Pieces Book V, op. 54, written in 1889-91, orchestrated in 1904Piano00:00 - I. Gjetergutt {Shepherd's Boy}04:17 - II. Gangar {Norwegian March}07:38 - III. Trolltog {March of the Dwarfs}10:40 - IV. Notturno14:58 - V. Scherzo18:10 - VI. Klokkeklang {Bell Ringing}Orchestra22:47 - I. Gjetergutt {Shepherd's Boy}28:25 - II. Gangar {Norwegian March}32:29 - III. Notturno37:08 - IV. Trolltog {March of the Dwarfs}40:39 - Klokkeklang {Bell Ringing}It is the influence of folkloristic idioms which can be said to pervade many of Grieg's works for solo piano, including the piano sonata in E minor, Op. 7, of 1865, the Pictures from Country Life, Op. 19, and of course, the ten books devoted to Lyric Pieces, some 66 miniatures in all, which were published in the years 1867 - 1901. It was, wrote Grieg, the celebrated Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Borneman Bull who "opened my eyes to the beauty and unspoilt nature of Norwegian music," although in these works, it would be hard to overlook the demonstrable impact that was exerted upon Grieg's creative processes by the seminal German Romantic miniaturists Mendelssohn and Schumann, while Chopin's expressive instincts are also closely mirrored.Writing to his publisher, the head of Peters Edition Henri Hinrichsen, in 1901, the composer remarked that his Lyric Pieces were "an intimate slice of life," and indeed, it would be very hard to challenge such an assertion. Book 5, published as Grieg's Op. 54, comprises of the following numbers: 1) Shepherd Boy, 2) Norwegian March, 3) March of the Trolls, 4) Nocturne, 5) Scherzo, 6) Bell-Ringing.Of particular interest is the third of the set "March of the Trolls." As Joachim Dorfmüller has written, "Trolls are quintessentially Norwegian creatures, and it was in their honour that Grieg and his wife Nina named the plot of land on which they built their house on the outskirts of Bergen in 1884 - 1885; 'Troldhaugen' or 'Troll Hill'." Op. 54 No. 5 is a scurrying, mercurial Scherzo reminiscent of Mendelssohn's in A Midsummer Night's Dream or the Octet for strings. Op. 54 No. 6, "Bell-Ringing," was written during 1891. As Dorfmüller points out, this was a full 16 years before Debussy composed his highly impressionistic tintinabulatory piece "Cloches à travers les feuilles," from his second book of Images. Grieg's previous example is also highly colored and often distinctly avant-gardist in feel. As Dorfmüller concludes, in his Lyric Pieces, and indeed in much of his remaining piano music, "Grieg thrust aside tradition -- no doubt, in the final analysis, to his own astonishment as much as to that of his contemporaries -- and in his last great creative period he set out on a virtually impressionistic path."[...] the idea to orchestrate some of the Lyric Pieces was not Grieg's at all. In 1903 it came to Grieg's attention that four pieces from the Opus 54 bunch had been orchestrated by the well-known conductor Anton Seidl; though enthusiastic about the idea, Grieg was not altogether satisfied by Seidl's rather Wagnerian approach. After securing the legal rights from Seidl's widow in 1904, Grieg proceeded to adapt the arrangements of three of them to better suit the translucent textures of the original piano ideas; the orchestration of the first piece in the suite is entirely Grieg's own. (It is touching to note that Grieg handed over the 1,000 marks he received from the sale of the Lyric Suite to Seidl's widow.)[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Song Transcriptions (Volume II), op. 52 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-09 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Gerhard OppitzPiano Transcriptions of Songs (Volume II), op. 52, written in 189000:00 - I. Modersorg {A Mother's Grief} (from Op. 15/4)03:21 - II. Det første møre {The first meeting} (from Op. 21/1)07:08 - III. Du fatter ej bølgernes evige gang {The Poet's Heart} (from Op. 5/2)09:12 - IV. Solveigs sang {Solveig's Song} (from incidental music: Peer Gynt)13:31 - V. Kjærlighed {Love} (from Op. 15/2)16:22 - VI. Gamle mor {The Old Mother} (from Op. 33/7)
Edvard Grieg - Old Norwegian Romance with Variations, op. 51 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-08 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907) -Performers (2 Pianos): Dena Piano Duo -Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra -Conductor: Ole Kristian Ruud Old Norwegian Romance with Variations, for Two Pianos or Orchestra, op. 51, written in 1890 Two Pianos 00:00 – Introduction (Poco tranquillo) 00:46 – Theme (Allegretto espressivo) 01:27 – Var. I 02:03 – Var. II (Energico) 02:32 – Var. III (Allegro leggiero) 03:05 – Var. IV (Poco Andante) 04:10 – Var. V (Maestoso) 05:31 – Var. VI (Allegro scherzando e leggiero) 06:12 – Var. VII (Andante) 07:49 – Var. VIII (Andante molto tranquillo) 09:51 – Var. IX (Presto) 10:30 – Var. X (Andante) 12:07 – Var. XI (Tempo di Menuetto) 13:25 – Var. XII (Allegro marcato) 14:04 – Var. XIII (Tempo di Valse) 15:05 – Var. XIV (Adagio, molto espressivo) 17:54 – Finale Orchestra 24:00 – Introduction (Poco tranquillo) 25:00 – Theme (Andantino espressivo) 25:54 – Var. I (Poco Allegro ma tranquillo) 26:30 – Var. II (Energico) 27:04 – Var. III (Allegro leggiero) 27:37 – Var. IV (Poco Andante) 29:11 – Var. V (Maestoso) 30:22 – Var. VI (Allegro scherzando e leggiero) 31:07 – Var. VII (Andante) 32:43 – Var. VIII (Andante molto tranquillo) 35:01 – Var. IX (Presto) 35:44 – Var. X (Tempo di Menuetto) 37:54 – Var. XI (Allegro marcato) 38:38 – Var. XII (Tempo di Valse) 39:47 – Var. XIII (Adagio molto espressivo) 43:00 – Finale A superb miniaturist, Grieg rarely turned his hand to large-scale musical structures. But here he brilliantly used the variation form, which is essentially a way to take a short musical example and create a large composition from a series of short pieces based on it. In this case, 24-minute work is generated from a tune found in L.M. Lindeman's fine collection of Norwegian folk tunes. Grieg composed it originally for two pianos. Its form is traditional: The theme is stated, with Grieg's own harmonization. Then follows about twenty minutes of variations upon it, and a finale which brings it back in grander fashion. While all the individual variations are interesting, what the composition lacks is a convincing feeling of over-all direction: The best sets of theme and variation lead the listener onward from variation to variation with a feeling of inevitability, and it is this that the Old Norwegian Romance lacks. The author is rather fond of it despite this fault, for the melodies (both the original one and the ones spun from it) are delightful, but it is not considered top drawer Grieg. [allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Olav Trygvason, op. 50 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-07 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Librettist: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson-Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra-Vocal Soloists: Solveig Kringelborn (Soprano), Ingebjørg Kosmo (Mezzo Soprano), Trond Halstein Moe (Baritone)-Choir: Bergen Philharmonic Choir-Conductor: Ole Kristian RuudOlav Trygvason, Opera Fragment, op. 50, written in 1873, 1888-8900:00 - Scene I07:52 - Scene II22:53 - Scene III
Edvard Grieg - 6 Songs, op. 49 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-06 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Roger Vignoles (Piano)6 Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 49, written in 1886-8900:00 - I. Saa du Knøsen, som strøg forbi? {Tell me now, Did You See the Lad?}04:14 - II. Vug, o Vove {Rock, o wave}11:17 - III. Vaer hilset, i damer {Kind Greetings, Fair Ladies}15:09 - IV. Nu er aftnen lys og lang {Now is Evening Light and Long}17:39 - V. Jule-sne [Christmas Snow}22:20 - VI. Foraarsregn {Spring Showers}
Edvard Grieg - 6 Songs, op. 48 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-05 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers: Monica Groop (Voice), Ilmo Ranta (Piano)6 Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 48, written in 1884-8800:00 - I. Gruss {Greeting}01:15 - II. Dereinst, Gedanke mein {Some day, my thought}04:33 - III. Lauf der Welt {The way of the world}06:10 - IV. Die verschwiegene Nachtigall {The silent nightingale}10:00 - V. Zur Rosenzeit {At Rose Time}12:35 - VI. Ein Traum {A Dream}The period between autumn of 1887 and the spring of 1890 found Grieg giving piano recitals throughout Europe and composing very little. The Six Songs, Op. 48 were, along with the Op. 49 Songs, the only works published during this period. More remarkably, the Op. 48 Songs were set to German texts, the first time since the Op. 4 set of songs that Grieg had used the German language (although the Op. 48 set is often sung in a Norwegian translation by Nordahl Rolfsen). In any event, these are much more mature than the early German settings; to this day they are periodically used as recital pieces.The first two of the set, according to the manuscripts, were written in September 1884 while Grieg was living in Lofthus, earlier than the other four. "Gruss" (Greeting), strikes a cheerful atmosphere from the outset with a series of upward arpeggio figures which then serve as an accompaniment to the vocal line. The through-composed song is based on a poem by Heine and is generally more German than Norwegian in style. The second song, "Dereinst," (Once upon a Time) is a setting of a poem by Emanuel Geibel, and is quite opposite in feeling to the exuberant "Gruss." Grieg sets this poem strophically, in a molto andante tempo and hymn-like style.The remaining four songs of the Op. 48 group were composed between August 15 and 20, 1889. "Lauf der Welt" (The Way of the World), is based on a three-stanza poem by Uhland. Set in ABA form, the song is peppered with folk music elements, notably a pedal tonic fifth through the first fourteen bars. "Die verschwiegene Nachtigall" (The Silent Nightingale), is based on a poem by Walther von der Vogelweide, the great German poet of the Middle Ages. It also features folk elements, with a strophic setting, embellished vocal line, and imitation of the nightingale's song in the accompaniment. The fifth song, "Zur Rosenzeit" (At Rose Time), is a setting of a poem by Goethe; its dissonant piano part, jarring syncopations, and angular vocal line suggest that rose time is not a happy time. The final and arguably most significant song of the set, "Ein Traum" (A Dream) is based on a poem by Friedrich Bodenstedt. Here, Grieg strikes a hopeful, contented mood, and accordingly the harmonies and vocal line are more serene than in the prior song. It is, moreover, a big song with a vocal range from middle C to high A flat -- a factor that may have contributed to its popularity.The six songs were first published by Peters in 1889, and were dedicated to the Swedish Wagnerian soprano, Ellen Nordgren Gulbranson.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces (Volume IV), op. 47 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-04 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Håkon Austbø7 Lyric Pieces Book IV, op. 47, written in 1885-8800:00 - I. Valse-Impromptu02:42 - II. Album Leaf06:15 - III. Melody09:30 - IV. Halling10:46 - V. Melancholy13:39 - VI. Springdans14:57 - VII. ElegyThe seven works that constitute Edvard Grieg's Fourth Book of Lyric Pieces, published as Op. 47 in 1888, were composed from 1885-88. By mid-1885, Grieg had reconciled with his wife Nina, and together they built a home outside Bergen at Troldhaugen ("Valley of the Trolls"). This would serve as home to the Griegs for the rest of their days. Once completed, the considerable expense of building this elaborate house would drive Grieg back to his worktable. In these years he shaped the First Peer Gynt Suite from his incidental music of 1874-5, revised his cantata Oleg Trygvason, and completed his Third Violin Sonata for the violinist Adolf Brodsky.It was at Brodsky's in Leipzig on New Year's Day, 1888 that Grieg enjoyed lunch in the company of fellow composers Johannes Brahms and Peter Tchaikovsky. Also in Leipzig, Grieg met the young English composer Frederick Delius; the two became fast friends, and Delius rejoined Grieg at Troldhaugen for the summer of that year. In May, Grieg traveled to London where he performed his A minor Piano Concerto for the last time. Joyous news arrived in the form of a letter from Grieg's publisher Max Abraham with C.F. Peters; Abraham agreed to assume the remaining debt on Troldhaugen and pay it off, relieving Grieg of the responsibility of having to raise the funds to do so.It was in this stimulating atmosphere of settling-in, reinvigorating his romance with Nina, cleaning up old business, and acquainting himself with his peers that Grieg composed the Fourth Book of Lyric Pieces.He saved many of his freshest ideas for this set; immediately established through the bitter melodic tinge of the opening "Valse-Impromptu," almost bi-tonal in its constant tension between the E major melody in the right hand against the E minor tonality in which the piece is rooted. "Albumblad" (Album-leaf) has an ecstatic quality that is reminiscent of somewhat later works of Scriabin. "Melodie" is stated over a grave, minimal, and insistent quarter- and eighth-note figure (in 6/8 time) which is sometimes voiced only in bare fifths for long stretches of bars. In "Halling," a setting of a traditional duple-time Norwegian dance, the bare fifths in the accompaniment return decorated by dissonant passing tones. The melody is likewise peppered with dissonant grace notes and adjacent pitches; at one point Grieg achieves a minor ninth in the melody. "Melancoli," marked Largo, is somber, as indicated by the title, and largely serves to provide thematic contrast between the "Halling" and "Springdans" (Spring or Leaping Dance) which follows. The "Springdans," a triple time Norwegian dance, is similar in approach to the "Halling"; Grieg adds huge leaps in the left hand to the treble register and some tricky triplet figures in the right. The concluding "Elegie" centers around a drooping chromatic melody that is harmonized by thirds in the manner of Massenet's Elegie. Perhaps an ending more respectable than ideal in this context, this piece is nevertheless haunting in its own distinctive way.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - 6 Reminiscences from Mountain and Fjord, op. 44 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-09-02 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Monica Groop (Voice), Roger Vignoles (Piano)Rejseminder fra Fjeld og Fjord {Reminiscences from Mountain and Fjord}, Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 44, written in 188600:00 - I. Prologue03:00 - II. Johanne05:39 - III. Ragnhild07:49 - IV. Ingeborg09:59 - V. Ragna12:11 - VI. Epilog
Edvard Grieg - Song Transcriptions (Volume I), op. 41 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-08-31 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Gerhard OppitzPiano Transcriptions of Songs (Volume I), op. 41, written in 188400:00 - I. Vuggesang {Cradle Song} (From op. 9/2)03:18 - II. Lille Haakon {Little Haakon} (From op. 15/1)06:41 - III. Jeg elsker dig {I love thee} (From op. 5/3)10:02 - IV. Hun er så hvid {She is so white} (From op. 18/2)11:44 - V. Prinsessen {The Princess} (From EG 133)16:59 - VI. Til våren {To Spring} (From op. 21/3)Each of these six short pieces is a beautiful miniature exemplifying the composer's unique late-Romantic style. The words of the original songs are written above the treble or below the bass, nearest whichever hand is currently playing the melody. The imagery of the texts is a great aid to interpretation as they reveal frequently unexpected meaning and narrative turns.The "Wiegenlied" (Cradle Song) opens in the harmonically rich key of G sharp minor in an Allegretto doloroso tempo. The simple modal melody is in the left hand, while the harmonies that float above it gradually move from plaintive chords within the scale to chromatic modifications which create tensions that follow the revelations of the text: "Sleep, my boy...laying so gently in your little bed; alas, she who once gave you life, lies peacefully in the cold, dark grave. She cannot now...cover you with love, sing to you in sweet calmness" (translations by this writer). The repetition of the theme begins with a male chorus-like four-voice harmonization in the bass. This is followed by concerto-like declamations before diminishing to a gentle coda."Klein Haakon" (Little Haakon) is another tune about a child and his mother. "Little Haakon had barely closed his eyes...then he saw...the most beautiful dream. A staircase rose to the vault of heaven on which God's angels descended....They watch over his slumber faithful throughout the night...your mother also watches." The lovely melody, in ABA form, remains in the major with touching substitute harmonies for the lines surrounding the dream, but modulates into F minor for the sleep imagery. Grieg then lets loose with romantic pianisms: rolling basses, three-against-two and three-against-four rhythms, and a splendid coda of warm chromaticisms and a wash of sparkling harp-like arpeggios in the high register."Ich liebe dich" (I love you) is a ballad with surprisingly modern harmonies, especially the minor seconds in the introduction. A melody in the baritone range expresses the barely restrained passion of the work: "...You of my heart's first salvation! I love you like nothing else in this world, I love you in time and eternity!" Similar to the other pieces, the melody is developed with fuller chords and emotional pulsations."Wenn einst sie lag an meiner Brust (Sie ist so weiss)" (When first she lay on my breast [she was so pure]) is the briefest work of this cycle. The text concerns a deceased lover, and the altered harmonies add a strange shadow to an almost waltzing melody."Die Prinzessin" (The Princess) is a small tone poem with many, moderately difficult coloristic effects about a princess who asks "the boy in the valley who blows on the schawm" to be quiet so that her thoughts may "roam freely when the sun sinks.""Dem Lenz soll mein Lied erklingen" (My song resounds to the springtime) contrasts a lyrical, pastoral melody with sprightly, dance figures (against a rhythmic drone).[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - Holberg Suite (Piano), op. 40 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-08-30 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performer: Gerhard OppitzFra Holbergs tid {From Holberg's Time} or "Holberg Suite" for Piano, op. 40, written in 188400:00 - I. Praeludium02:34 - II. Sarabande07:10 - III. Gavotte10:45 - IV. Air19:59 - V. RigaudonDespite the fact that Ludvig Holberg (1684 - 1754) lived most of his life in Denmark and was considered the father of Danish literature, his birthplace was Bergen, Norway, and for the bicentenary of his birth, Norwegians celebrated heartily. Even as a resident of Denmark, Holberg recalled in his works his childhood and celebrated the time that he spent there. Made a baron in 1747, his was an imposing reputation. Educated at the universities of Copenhagen and Oxford, Holberg's writings are regarded as having established Danish as a literary language. Prior to his time, Danish was employed only in ballads and hymns; plays were presented in French or German. Besides more than a dozen successful plays (several of them comedies), he wrote a history of his adopted country and published a collection of philosophical treatises.Notwithstanding his stronger relationship to Denmark, Norwegians were pleased to acknowledge Holberg, and Grieg, also a Bergen native, was one of those who directed the planning for the event. As early as 1878, he contributed a fee from his publisher to the erecting of a Holberg statue in Bergen. Further, he wrote two works, the first for male voices, a Cantata for the Unveiling of the Holberg Memorial, and a second (of more lasting consequence) entitled From Holberg's Time: Suite in Olden Style. Grieg himself, a more than capable pianist, premiered the piano suite just days after the dedication of the memorial. Its great success led Grieg to score it for string orchestra the following year. Both versions enjoy enduring popularity.The suite in five sections was intended by Grieg to recall the dance suites from Holberg's lifetime, which corresponded to the period of the Baroque. The Praeludium which opens the work is a section of such simple radiance that it imprints itself unforgettably on the listener's consciousness. The contrasting Sarabande moves soberly, reflectively, and with unfailing elegance. The Gavotte which forms the third section trips beguilingly over the course of its three minutes, yielding to the Andante religioso tempo of the Aria. The final section, a Rigaudon, returns the listener to the buoyant mood of the beginning prelude. Through each of the five sections, the level of invention is matched by a refinement and purity of feeling that marks this as among the most cherishable short works of the late nineteenth century.[allmusic.com]
Edvard Grieg - 6 Romances, op. 39 [With score] Damon J.H.K. 2020-08-29 | -Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)-Performers (Songs 1, 3, 5): Monica Groop (Voice), Ilmo Ranta (Piano)-Performers (Songs 2, 4): Marianne Hirsti (Voice), Rudolf Jansen (Piano)-Performers (Song 6): Knut Skram (Voice), Rudolf Jansen (Piano)00:00 - I. Fra Monte Pincio {From monte Pincio}04:53 - II. Dulgt kjærlighed {Hidden love}07:54 - III. I liden højt deroppe {High on the grassy slope}10:00 - IV. Millom rosor {Among roses}11:51 - V. Ved en ung hustrus båre {At the grave of a young wife}16:42 - VI. Hører jeg sangen klinge {Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen; When I hear that song}6 Romances for Voice and Piano, op. 39, written in 1869-84
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