Name: Kathleen Ferrier Ombra mai fù | George F. Handel, Serse, 1949 @Adagietto
Uploaded: 2024-10-23T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: Kathleen Ferrier Ombra mai fù | George F. Handel, Serse, 1949

Kathleen Ferrier Ombra mai fù | George F. Handel, Serse, 1949

Adagietto 2024-10-23 | Kathleen Ferrier Ombra mai fù | George F. Handel, Serse, 1949

Debussy plays Debussy | Pelléas et Mélisande, Act III - Mes Longs Cheveux (Mary Garden) (1904)

Adagietto 2018-07-13 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy | Pelléas et Mélisande, Opera in 5 acts, L. 93 (88) [1893-1902]
1. Act III - Mes Longs Cheveux [Mary Garden as Mélisande]
Claude Debussy with Mary Garden, 1904.

2. Interview with Mary Garden about Claude Debussy

Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk.

Debussy plays Debussy | Ariettes Oubliées, with Mary Garden (1904)

Adagietto 2018-07-12 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy | Ariettes Oubliées, song cycle for voice & piano, L. 63 (60) [1885-87]
No. 2 Il pleure dans mon coeur comme il pleut sur la ville
No. 3 L'ombre des arbes dans la rivière embrumée
No. 5 Green (Aquarelles 1)
Claude Debussy with Mary Garden, Piano, 1904.

Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk

Debussy plays Debussy | La Soirée dans Grenade (Evening in Granada), Estampes, No. 2 (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-11 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Estampes, for piano, L. 108 (100), No. 2 La Soirée dans Grenade (Evening in Granada). Mouvement de Habañera [1903]
Claude Debussy, Piano Roll, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk

Debussy plays Debussy | Dun Cahier DEsquisses (From A Sketchbook) (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-10 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
D'un Cahier D'Esquisses (From A Sketchbook), for piano, L. 112 (99) [1903]
Claude Debussy, Piano Roll, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk

Debussy plays Debussy | Childrens Corner (Le Coin des Enfants) suite for piano, complete (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-09 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Children's Corner (Le Coin des Enfants), suite for piano, L. 119 (113) [1906]
1. Docteur Gradus ad Parnassum. Modérément animé
2. Jumbo's Lullaby (Berceuse des éléphants). Assez modéré
3. Serenade for the Doll (Sérénade à la poupée). Allegretto ma non troppo
4. The Snow is Dancing (La Neige Danse). Modérément animé
5. The Little Shepherd (Le Petit Berger). Très modéré
6. Golliwogg's Cakewalk (La Marche de la poupée de chiffon). Allegro giusto)
Claude Debussy, Piano Roll, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk

Debussy plays Debussy | La Plus que Lente (A Slow Waltz) (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-09 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
La Plus que Lente (A Slow Waltz), waltz for piano, L. 128 (121) [1910]
Claude Debussy, Piano, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | La Danse de Puck (Dance of Puck), Prélude Book I, No. 11 (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-08 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Prélude for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117), No. 11 La danse de Puck (Dance of Puck). Capricieux et légere [1907-10]
Claude Debussy, Piano, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | Minstrels, Prélude Book I, No. 12 (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-07 | Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk

Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Prélude for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117), No. 12 Minstrels. Modéré [1907-10]
Claude Debussy, Piano Roll, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | Le vent dans la plaine (The wind on the plain), Prélude Book I, No.3 (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-06 | Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk

Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Prélude for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117), No. 3 Le vent dans la plaine (The wind on the plain). Animé [1907-10]
Claude Debussy, Piano Roll, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi), Prélude Book I, No.1 (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-05 | Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk

Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Prélude for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117), No. 1 Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi). Lent et grave [1907-10]
Claude Debussy, Piano Roll, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin (Girl with the Flaxen Hair), Prélude No.8 (1913)

Adagietto 2018-07-04 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Prélude for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117), No. 8 La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin (Girl with the Flaxen Hair). Très calme et doucement expressif [1907-10]
Claude Debussy, Piano Roll, 1913.

Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913): youtube.com/watch?v=W3NX_TrxfVk

Adagietto 2018-07-02 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy | Complete recordings made by Claude Debussy: The Composer as Pianist. Compilation from all Debussy recordings available "Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works" (1904-1913).

I Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Préludes for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117)
00:00 1. No. 1 Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi). Lent et grave [1907-10]
3:00 2. No. 3 Le vent dans la plaine (The wind on the plain). Animé
5:00 3. No.10 La cathedrale engloutie (The sunken cathedral). Profondément calme
10:39 4. No. 11 La danse de Puck (Dance of Puck). Capricieux et légere
13:04 5. No. 12 Minstrels. Modéré

14:50 Children's Corner (Le Coin des Enfants), suite for piano, L. 119 (113) [1906]
6. Docteur Gradus ad Parnassum. Modérément animé
7. Jumbo's Lullaby (Berceuse des éléphants). Assez modéré
8. Serenade for the Doll (Sérénade à la poupée). Allegretto ma non troppo
9. The Snow is Dancing (La Neige Danse). Modérément animé
10. The Little Shepherd (Le Petit Berger). Très modéré
11. Golliwogg's Cakewalk (La Marche de la poupée de chiffon). Allegro giusto)

27:22 12. D'un Cahier D'Esquisses (From A Sketchbook), for piano, L. 112 (99) [1903]
31:45 13. La Plus que Lente (A Slow Waltz), waltz for piano, L. 128 (121) [1910]
35:18 14. Estampes, for piano, L. 108 (100), No. 2 La Soirée dans Grenade (Evening in Granada). Mouvement de Habañera [1903]
40:23 15. Estampes, for piano, L. 108 (100), No. 3 Jardins sous la pluie. Net et vif (Gardens in the Rain) [1903]
43:52 16. Préludes for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117), No. 8 La fille aux cheveux de lin (Girl with the flaxen hair). Très calme et doucement expressif
46:05 17. Préludes for piano, Book II, L. 131 (123), No. 3 La Puerta del Vino (The Gateway of the Alhambra Palace). Mouvement de habanera [1910-12]
49:54 18. Arabesques for piano, L. 74 (66), No. 1 in E major. Andantino con moto [1888]
53:59 19. Arabesques for piano, L. 74 (66), No. 2 in G major. Allegretto scherzando [1891]
56:51 20. Préludes for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117), No.2 Voiles (Sails). Modéré
59:34 21. Clair de Lune, for piano (Mondglanz, Mondschein, Moonlight), Suite Bergamasque No. 3, L. 82/3 (75/3) [1890-1905]
1:03:17 22. Rêverie, for piano, L. 76 (68) [1890]
1:08:24 23. Images, for piano, Set II, L. 120 (111), No. 3 Poissons d'or (Goldfish). Animé [1907]
1:11:24 24. Images, for piano, Set I, L. 105 (110), No. 1 Reflets dans l'eau (Reflections in the Water). Andantino molto [1905]

II. Claude Debussy with Mary Garden, soprano:
Ariettes oubliées, song cycle for voice & piano, L. 63 (60) [1885-87]
1:17:25 25. No. 2 Il pleure dans mon coeur comme il pleut sur la ville
1:19:40 26. No. 3 L'ombre des arbes dans la rivière embrumée
1:22:06 27. No. 5 Green (Aquarelles 1)
Pelléas et Mélisande, Opera in 5 acts, L. 93 (88) [1893-1902]
1:23:48 28. Act III - Mes Longs cheveux [Mary Garden as Mélisande]
1:25:38 29. Interview with Mary Garden about Claude Debussy.

Dvořák Song to the Moon, Rusalka | Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém | Lucia Popp

Adagietto 2018-03-19 | Rusalka's "Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém" ("Song to the Moon", "Lied an den Mond", "Le Chant à la Lune", "Canción a la Luna") | Lucia Popp (1939-1993)
Antonín Leopold Dvořák - Rusalka Op.114, Opera, 1900.
Lucia Popp, Telecast.

"Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém
Svetlo tvé daleko vidi,
Po svete bloudis sirokém,
Divas se v pribytky lidi.

Mesicku, postuj chvili
reckni mi, kde je muj mily
Rekni mu, stribmy mesicku,
me ze jej objima rame,
aby si alespon chvilicku
vzpomenul ve sneni na mne.
Zasvet mu do daleka,
rekni mu, rekni m kdo tu nan ceka!
O mneli duse lidska sni,
at'se tou vzpominkou vzbudi!
Mesicku, nezhasni, nezhasni!"

Translation by Jules Brunelle, Royal Opera House, London:

"O, Moon high up in the deep, deep sky,
Your light sees far away regions,
You travel round the wide,
Wide world peering into human dwellings

O, Moon, stand still for a moment,
Tell me, ah, tell me where is my lover!
Tell him, please, silvery moon in the sky,
That I am hugging him firmly,
That he should for at least a while
Remember his dreams!
Light up his far away place,
Tell him, ah, tell him who is here waiting!
If his human soul is dreaming about me,
Let that remembrance wake him up!
O, Moon, don't disappear, disappear!"

RUSALKA is an opera about singing. Or rather, what happens when you cannot sing. Echoing the story of The Little Mermaid, Rusalka gives up her voice to be united with a Prince. But he is distinctly put out when his bride-to-be cannot say a word. Instead he accepts the hand of a Foreign Princess and Rusalka, obeying the witch Ježibaba’s curse, is doomed to live in the depths of the lake forever.

The aria 'Song to the Moon' comes right at the beginning of the story as Rusalka, still a nymph, sings with full-throated ease to the moon. There are nocturnal serenades throughout the repertoire and Dvořák starts his aria with the proverbial sweeping harp arpeggio, sounding just like a wooing guitarist tuning up. But rather than a trite tune under someone’s balcony, Rusalka’s aria is a luscious vocal display. The opening chords, passing to muted strings, hover in the air, seeking resolution. Two intertwining clarinets describe a still night and, when Rusalka begins her song, the music finally settles into a balmy major key. The rocking accompaniment has folk-like sincerity and Rusalka’s equal four-bar phrases give her song an uncomplicated sheen. The harmonic language, however, becomes more knotty just before Rusalka launches into the refrain - rather than being a simple hymn to the moon, Rusalka needs help. Moving slowly down in step, she asks where her beloved is. Her plea is underpinned by a subtle sequence of chords via E flat major to a crueller E flat minor. It’s a tiny harmonic indication of the tragedy in store.

This aria offers a beautiful showcase for the heroine, but it likewise tells us of the tragedy at the heart of the opera. The Prince may swim in the lake, but he’s never heard Rusalka sing and, if she becomes a human, he never will. For Dvořák that created a considerable structural problem; operatic love stories demand duets. And it’s only in the final act, when the lovers are reunited in death, that he is able to create such a moment. But there are plenty of other glories in the score. The Prince is a hero in the Wagnerian mould and Dvořák leaves us in little musical doubt as to why Rusalka is attracted to him. Their wedding banquet in the second act is littered with vivid choruses and dances, though Rusalka sits silently apart from the festivities. She has given up everything to be there and Dvořák writes equally theatrical music for world of the forest. Rusalka’s father Vodník is a suitably melancholic soul, while the witch Ježibaba is the quintessence of evil magic. The cheeky water sprites are very much like the Rhine maidens in Wagner’s Ring.

Although these characters provide great colour, the tragedy is ultimately Rusalka’s. And what is so fascinating about the opera is Dvořák’s ability to create both a charming fairytale and also to explore music as an overriding metaphor. Clearly without song our world would be considerably poorer and Rusalka’s aria offers a radiant warning.

LUCIA POPPOVÁ | "Lucia Popp, a lyric soprano who sang with a silken clarity that made her a favorite in Mozart and Strauss roles [...] An elegant, flexible interpreter whose voice had a light, transparent texture, Miss Popp brought emotional depth and perspective to a wide variety of roles. [...] One of the most gifted, attractive and intelligent singers of her generation, Lucia Popp delighted audiences in Europe and the United States [...] Lucia Popp was born at Uhorska Ves in Slovakia. She studied medicine at Bratislava University for two terms, then turned to drama and finally to singing. [...] The cause [of death] was a brain tumor."

Debussy plays Debussy | Clair de Lune (1913)

Adagietto 2017-11-21 | Claude-Achille Debussy - Clair de Lune (Mondglanz, Mondschein, Moonlight), Suite Bergamasque, Debussy, piano. The Suite bergamasque was first composed in 1890-1905.
"Claude Debussy Plays His Finest Works"
Claude Debussy, Piano Roll, 1913.

NOTE: This is NOT an ACOUSTIC RECORDING. This is a recording obtained by PIANO ROLL, see further details below. But acoustic recordings were made by Debussy with Mary Garden and you can hear here: youtu.be/W3NX_TrxfVk?t=1h17m25s (tempo 01:17:25)

From 1903 to 1913, Claude Debussy recorded several of his own pieces on piano rolls. Debussy was delighted with the reproduction quality, saying in a letter to Edwin Welte: “It is impossible to attain a greater perfection of reproduction than that of the Welte apparatus. I am happy to assure you in these lines of my astonishment and admiration of what I heard. I am, Dear Sir, Yours Faithfully, Claude Debussy.” More than one century old, these recordings allow us to listen to the great composer playing his own works. Debussy made his last recordings when he was 52 years old and suffering from cancer, in 1913. He died less than five years later, on March 25, 1918.

Rolls for the reproducing piano were generally made from the recorded performances of famous musicians. Typically, a pianist would sit at a specially designed recording piano, and the pitch and duration of any notes played would be either marked or perforated on a blank roll, together with the duration of the sustaining and soft pedal. Reproducing pianos can also re-create the dynamics of a pianist's performance by means of specially encoded control perforations placed towards the edges of a music roll, but this coding was never recorded automatically. Different companies had different ways of notating dynamics, some technically advanced (though not necessarily more effective), some secret, and some dependent entirely on a recording producer's handwritten notes, but in all cases these dynamic hieroglyphics had to be skillfully converted into the specialized perforated codes needed by the different types of instrument.

The playing of many pianists and composers is preserved on reproducing piano roll. Gustav Mahler, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg, Teresa Carreño, Claude Debussy, Manuel de Falla, Scott Joplin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin, Jelly Roll Morton and George Gershwin are amongst the composers and pianists who have had their performances recorded in this way.

Claude Debussy's famous Clair de lune is the third piece of the Suite bergamasque for piano, a work whose title was chosen as much for its composer's love of the word-sounds as for its Renaissance implications (though the work can rightly be described as something of a tribute to the French harpsichordists of olden days).

The D flat major of Clair de lune is perfectly chosen, the gleaming melody in parallel thirds (con sordina, Debussy requests) expertly balanced by the beautifully dissonant tempo rubato that follows it. During the un poco mosso middle section of Clair de lune, the music swells far past the pianissimo of the opening, and in its climax one might say that the young composer has crafted more of sunlight than of moonlight; the incessant arpeggios may well be overdone, but one can cherish them all the same. Little wisps of these arpeggios find their way over into the reprise of the opening music, and the rolling tones of the middle section are given a few measures to plead their case once more before the final chromatic cadence, a moment of absolute tranquility, is made.

Clair de Lune is a French poem written by Paul Verlaine in the year 1869. It is the inspiration for the third and most famous movement of Debussy's 1890 Suite bergamasque of the same name. 'Clair de lune' ('Moonlight') is from Verlaine's early collection Fêtes galantes (Gallant Parties, 1869).

Clair de lune

Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune,
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,

Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.

Paul Verlaine

Moonlight

Your soul is a select landscape fair
Where charming masqueraders and bergamaskers go
Playing the lute and dancing and almost
Sad beneath their fantastic disguises.

All sing in a minor key
Of victorious love and the opportune life,
They do not seem to believe in their happiness
And their song mingles with the moonlight,

With the still moonlight, sad and beautiful,
Which gives the birds to dream in the trees
And makes the fountain sprays sob in ecstasy,
The tall, slender fountain sprays among the marble statues.

Paul Verlaine

Debussy plays Debussy | La Cathédrale Engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral), Prélude Book I, No.10 (1913)

Adagietto 2017-11-20 | Claude Debussy plays Debussy (Piano Rolls, before 1913):
Prélude for piano, Book I, L. 125 (117), No.10 La Cathédrale Engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral). Profondément calme [Composed in 1909]
Claude Debussy, Piano, 1913.

La Cathédral Engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral): Debussy effects a striking musical depiction of the mythical submerged cathedral of Ys with "archaicisms" like modality and parallel harmonies. The work's rhythmic stasis, combined with its massive sonorities, creates an overwhelming sense of awe and grandeur.

Each of Debussy's Préludes, Book I (1907-1910) is a short but substantial work that conveys a particular mood or impression suggested by its title. Still, as musicologist Rollo Myers notes, "the pictorial element [is not] unduly stressed if stressed at all; these Préludes are pure music." In accordance with the composer's practice of assigning a title only after the completion of a work, the titles of the Préludes are placed at the foot of each, rather than at the head. The Préludes represent the pinnacle of Debussy's keyboard art; each may be rightly regarded as a miniature masterpiece.

Philippe Jaroussky - Lascia chio pianga | Händel - Rinaldo [HD]

Adagietto 2017-07-03 | George Friedrich Händel - Lascia ch'io pianga mia cruda sorte, from Rinaldo, opera, HWV 7, 1711 | Philippe Jaroussky, 2016.

"Lascia ch'io pianga
mia cruda sorte,
e che sospiri
la libertà.

Il duolo infranga
queste ritorte
de' miei martiri
sol per pietà.

"Let me weep over
my cruel fate,
and that I may sigh for
freedom

Let my sadness shatter
these chains
of my suffering,
if only out of pity.

Other Performances:
Philippe Jaroussky - Ombra mai fù youtu.be/MQm2C5UrERg

Lascia ch’io pianga, originally Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa, is an Italian-language soprano aria by composer George Frideric Handel that has become a popular concert piece. Its melody is first found in Act III of Handel’s 1705 opera Almira as a sarabande; the score for this can be seen on page 81 of Vol. 55 of Chrysander. Handel then used the tune for the aria Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa, or Leave the Thorn, Take the Rose, for the character Piacere in Part II of his 1707 oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (which was much later, in 1737, revised as Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità). Four years after that, in 1711, Handel used the music again, this time for his London opera Rinaldo and its Act II aria Lascia ch’io pianga, or Leave Me to Weep, sung by the character Almirena, a soprano role taken by Isabella Girardeau in the premiere. Rinaldo was a triumph, and it is with this work that the aria is chiefly associated.

After composing two Italian operas for Hamburg, two Italian oratorios for Rome, and a third Italian opera for Venice, George Frideric Handel moved to England in 1710 to compose his first Italian opera for London. Produced in the Queen's Theater in the Haymarket on February 24, 1711, Rinaldo would certainly have been an enormous success if the librettist and impresario Aaron Hill had not neglected to pay the tradesmen, thereby causing the Lord Chamberlain to revoke Hill's theater license nine days after the premiere. But Rinaldo paved the way for the quick success of Handel and Italian opera in London and the work was revived in 1712, then again in 1717, and again in 1731.

Hill's libretto is based on Tasso's epic poem on the First Crusade Gerusalamme liberata, but with a new plot and a new female lead to give the story appeal to a then-contemporary London audience. Handel's music is in part a pastiche drawn from many of his earlier dramatic works, and in part a newly composed work with deeply expressive arias and recitative adorned with extravagant trumpet and woodwind writing. Together, Hill's libretto and Handel's music create a powerful and plangent opera with strong and sympathetic leads in Rinaldo and Almirenda and a superbly coherent and convincing score.

Gustav Mahler - Kindertotenlieder

Adagietto 2017-04-06 | Gustav Mahler - Kindertotenlieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Rückert | Poems by Friedrich Rückert
Christa Ludwig, Alt (Contralto)
BPO, Herbert von Karajan.

I. Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n
II. Nun seh' ich wahl, warum so dunkle Flammen
III. Wenn dein Mutterlein
IV. Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen
V. In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus

Rückert-Lieder youtu.be/OJNaKMgvXRA

Kindertotenlieder

Gustav Mahler - Rückert-Lieder

Adagietto 2017-04-06 | Gustav Mahler - Rückert-Lieder | Fünf Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Rückert | Five Songs after poems by Friedrich Rückert | Cinq lieder d'après des poèmes de Friedrich Rückert | Cinque Lieder su poesie di Friedrich Rückert

Christa Ludwig, Alt (Contralto)
BPO, Herbert von Karajan

I. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
II. Liebst du um Schönheit
III. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
IV. Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft
V. Um Mitternacht

Kindertotenlieder youtu.be/u7tBocjEYnc

Johann Strauss II - The Blue Danube Waltz

Adagietto 2017-04-03 | Johann Strauss, Jr. (II) | An der schönen, blauen Donau (On the Beautiful, Blue Danube), waltz for orchestra (with chorus ad lib), Op. 314 (RV 314), 1867.

Johann Strauss Jr.'s status as an internationally recognized Austrian icon began with the success of his waltz, An der schönen, blauen Donau (The Blue Danube Waltz), at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. The Austrians, still smarting from their military defeat at the hands of the Prussians at Königgrätz in July of 1866, whole-heartedly supported Strauss's music; when the Blue Danube achieved a resounding success at the Paris exhibition, the Viennese felt they had shown the French that Austria, despite its recent military setback, was still an important cultural force. Writers even described Strauss's triumph with military imagery, calling Strauss a "Napoleon among composers."

Strauss's international triumph in Paris makes it easy to forget that this was neither the first performance of the Blue Danube, nor representative of the piece's original conception. Composed for the Wiener Männergesang-Verein (Vienna Men's Singing Society), the waltz was originally scored for four-part choir and orchestra or piano. Josef Weyl (1821-1895) supplied the text; it was in this version that the world first heard the Blue Danube waltz on February 15, 1867, sung by the Wiener Männergesang-Verein, and accompanied by the orchestra of the Forty-Second Infantry Regiment, directed by Rudolf Weinwurm. The waltz was first performed without voices probably on March 4, 1867, and was certainly played in its familiar format on March 10, 1867, at a benefit concert for Strauss's brothers.

The title An der schönen, blauen Donau may have been derived from a poem by Karl Beck (1817-1879) entitled, An der Donau; the poem, Die feindlichen Brüder also contains the line, "An der schönen, blauen Donau liegt mein Dörfchen still und fein." Strauss sold the Blue Danube for only 250fl. to Carl Anton Spina (1827-1906), who published the work in 1867. Spina realized an exceptional return on his investment.

Like most of Strauss's waltzes, the Blue Danube features five distinct "mini-waltzes," each with two sections. To modern listeners, the slow introduction to the Blue Danube is the ultimate tease, delaying what seemingly all of us know in our sleep. At the Paris exhibition, however, the opening probably produced a different effect: a heightened sense of anticipation, and curiosity about when the actual dance will begin. Even after the orchestra reaches a waltz tempo there still is no real tune, and the music seems to amble without aim.

Strauss's wealth of melodic material provides great contrast; waltz sections featuring melodies with large leaps give way to those with linear tunes within a narrow range. Quarter-note motion is juxtaposed with eighth-note motion and, of course, there are contrasting keys. The D major first waltz follows an introduction on the dominant, A major, while the second half of the second is in B flat and the entire fourth waltz is in F. The coda partially summarizes the entire piece, revisiting the first part of Waltzes two and four (again in F), and then Waltz one in D. Variations of the first waltz precede the work's rousing close.

Anyone who has traveled to Vienna knows that the Danube is not, in fact, blue, unless it is placid and reflecting the sky on a clear day. That is not the point. Like Strauss’s other large-scale waltzes, this one is a tone poem whose successive segments capture different facets of Austria’s charm. The tremolo strings evoke sunlight playing on the ripples of the river. The Danube meanders through picturesque countryside, past quaint villages nestled near its banks, beneath vineyards and ruined castles up in the hills. This waltz is perhaps Strauss’s most successful symphonic attempt to encapsulate the spirit of a city, a country, and a people.

Music: MusOpen

Vivaldi - Spring (The Four Seasons) 1/4

Adagietto 2017-03-30 | Antonio Lucio Vivaldi - Spring - The Four Seasons - Le Quattro Stagioni - "La Primavera", Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 8, RV 229
00:32 I. Allegro
03:53 II. Largo e Pianissimo sempre
06:48 III. Danza pastorale
I Musici Group. Violin Solo, Federico Agostini, 1988
Anton van Munster Film (1934-2009)

Other Concertos:
Complete Vivaldi - Four Seasons youtu.be/M9e_sINPL_0
(1/4) Spring - youtu.be/Ub5B3Ir1F48
(2/4) Summer - http://youtu.be/SNd9SxaLAAo
(3/4) Autumn - http://youtu.be/-pk_hw9Kcuk
(4/4) Winter - http://youtu.be/K0MoU40FRP4

Playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=M9e_sINPL_0&index=5&t=25s&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRWv0HafkZjRFkpjWXuJL3Jf

Antonio Vivaldi must be regarded as the indisputable king of the Baroque instrumental concerto. Four concertos, known collectively as The Four Seasons, were first published in 1725 as part of a set of twelve concerti, Op. 8, entitled Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention) and remains the composer's best-known and most characteristic work. Aside from the features that have come to be associated with most of Vivaldi's music - grace, virtuosity, energetic motoric rhythms - the concertos of The Four Seasons are remarkable for their extraordinary programmatic imagination, which is counterbalanced by close attention to formal structure. Each concerto is accompanied by a descriptive poem whose imagery becomes an essential element of the musical fabric. The birds that greet the season "with their joyful song" in La primavera (Spring), for example, are colorfully depicted in the work's elaborately ornamented figuration. L'estate (Summer) is painted in similarly vivid colors that portray both the piping of a shepherd and a gathering storm. L'autunno (Autumn) is marked by a folksy harvest celebration and the galloping of a hunting party on horseback. The bleakness and dissonance of L'inverno (Winter) create a severe but expressive portrait that provides a striking summation of Vivaldi's pictorial ingenuity in these four works.

SPRING:
This Concerto is the first of four in what is probably Vivaldi's most popular effort, The Four Seasons. Cast in three movements, the Concerto in E major is subtitled "Spring" and, like its three siblings, was inspired by an Italian sonnet, whose colorful pastoral scenes and events the composer depicts in his wonderfully imaginative music.

The opening movement's main theme is so familiar as to have reached well beyond the boundaries of classical music to attain popularity with the man and woman on the street. Marked Allegro, the music bounces along joyfully in the strings, the solo violin soon joining in to depict the chirping of birds and other pastoral sounds. The music brims with spirited joy here, but is suddenly interrupted by a violent trill - a storm. It is short lived, however, and the mood returns to the gaiety of the opening music.

The second movement, marked Largo e pianissimo sempre, is tranquil and dreamy, the soothing, though wistful music depicting a goatherder sleeping peacefully, his dog attending him amid the gentle rustling of nearby plants and leaves. Vivaldi's strings quiver and murmur here, imparting a rich nocturnal atmosphere, while mesmerizing the ear with lovely lyrical sounds.

The finale, marked Danza pastorale: Allegro, begins in a lively, bright manner, Vivaldi imaginatively bringing to life the festive scene of shepherds and nymphs dancing at the onset of spring. While the music here recalls the mood in the opening movement, it is a bit less vigorous, at times turning somewhat reflective, especially in the interior portions and the ending. Still, the overall character exudes a sense of both spirited cheer and pastoral calm.

I MUSICI
This is the Vídeo of the most popular classical works of all. I Musici were the driving force in the rediscovery of Baroque repertoire and their CD recording of The Four Seasons is one of the best-selling Philips discs of all time. I Musici are still considered to be one of the greatest 'modern' string ensembles. These performances by I Musici were filmed in key locations around Vivaldi's city of Venice. This aforementioned mega-hit video contain flashes of Venetian points of interest and art works. The film incorporates panoramic shots of the city as well as some of the great masterpieces of art to be found there by artists such as Canaletto, Guardi and Tintoretto. There are also shots of the fabulous costumes sported by Venice's citizens during its unique winter Carnival. All the four video thumbnails movements are from the Venice Carnival in the 4th last movement.

Les Quatre Saisons - As Quatro Estações - Die vier Jahreszeiten - 安東尼奧•維瓦爾第 - 四季 - ヴァイオリン協奏曲集「四季」（ヴィヴァルディ）

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 5 | Claudio Abbado

Adagietto 2017-01-21 | Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor, 1901-1902 | Claudio Abbado, 26.VI.1933 - 20.I.2014

Part One
I Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt
II Stürmisch bewegt. Mit größter Vehemenz

Part Two
III Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell

Part Three
IV Adagietto. Sehr langsam youtu.be/wJX-X-JHBZQ
V Rondo-Finale. Allegro

Mahler kept revising the orchestration of this work until his death. He conducted the first performance with the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne on October 18, 1904. It is scored for quadruple winds, six horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, tympani, three other drums, metal and wood percussion, harp, and string choir.

He'd begun the Fifth Symphony at Maiernegg in 1901 - writing the third, first and second movements in that order, after a death -obsessed song, "Der Tamboursg'sell," and the Kindertotenlieder cycle ("on the death of children"). After nearly bleeding to death the previous winter (from an intestinal hemorrhage), Mahler's symphonic orientation underwent a profound change. During his recovery he immersed himself in the complete works of Bach.

A new appreciation of counterpoint was born, but not yet a mastery of orchestral balances or effects - as subsequent events were to prove. Beginning with No. 5, he applied this new passion (which he called "intensive counterpoint") to five purely instrumental symphonies without Wunderhorn associations. Like the Resurrection Second and the first version of No. 1 (with the Blumine slow movement later abandoned) Mahler cast his Fifth Symphony in five movements that fall naturally into three parts.

The FIRST PART begins in C sharp minor with a funeral march, of measured tread and austere (Movement I). A sonata-form movement follows, marked "Stormily, with greatest vehemence" (Movement II), which shares themes as well as mood with the opening.

The SECOND PART (which Mahler composed first) is a scherzo: "Vigorously, not too fast" (Movement III) - the symphony's shortest large section, but its longest single movement. This emphatically joyous, albeit manic movement puts forward D major as the work's focal key. Although its form has remained a topic of debate since 1904, rondo and sonata-form elements are both present.

PART THREE begins with a seraphic Adagietto: "Very slowly" (Movement IV). This is indubitably related to the Rückert song Mahler composed in August 1901, "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (I have become lost to the world...I live alone in my heaven, in my loving, in my song). A Rondo-Finale: "Allegro giocoso, lively" (Movement V) concludes the symphony, although Mahler devised a form far removed from classic models. While sectional, in truth episodic, this too has elements of sonata form. To weld its diverse components into a unity he wrote four "fugal episodes," with a D major chorale just before the final Allegro molto.

Mahler's search for a new vocabulary caused him no end of orchestration problems. Before his death in 1911 he had made several versions, the original of which was published in 1904. C.F. Peters failed, however, to emend either mistakes or revisions in the first pocket score, although they re-engraved orchestral parts (at Mahler's expense) to include his first set of corrections. Not even Erwin Ratz's "first critical edition" of 1964 was the last word. Revisions Mahler made just before his terminal illness didn't come to light until the "second critical edition," by Karl Heinz Füssl, published just around 1989.

Mahler - Adagietto. Sehr Langsam | Claudio Abbado

Adagietto 2017-01-11 | Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 5. IV Adagietto. Sehr Langsam, 2004, Claudio Abbado, 26.VI.1933 - 20.I.2014

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor youtu.be/ESw1g5IVeWs

"In the Fourth movement, the famous Adagietto, harp and strings alone play. The opening melody recalls two of Mahler's songs, "Nun seh' ich wohl" (from Kindertotenlieder) and the separate Ruckert setting "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen". The long upbeats and expressive appoggiaturas of the melodic lines give the music a yearning, almost heart-breaking quality. The intensity that builds up inthis movement finaly assuages the darkness and doubts of the earlier movements, making the lighter mood and extrovert energy of the Rondo-Finale acceptable. Together, these two movements form the third part of the symphony. The formal function of the Adagietto is ambiguous. It acts as an introduction to the last movement, which follows without a break, and is thematically bound to it, for twice in the Finale we hear the Adagietto's main theme, now at a fast tempo. The Adagietto also functions as a slow interlude in F major, between two faster movements in D major; but is also has an expressive weight sufficient for it to stand on its own - indeed, it is often performed by itself.

Even without a text or programme, the music's emotional and referential content implies an existential dimension. Without an explicit programme or titles, we have few clues to the "meaning" of the Fifth Symphony other than the music itself. Mahler offers some guidance by grouping the five movements, which share some thematic Material, as well as an obsession with death, from the first part; the central scherzo stands alone as the second part; and the lat two movements, which are also linked thematically, form the third.

An essential aspect of Mahler's symphonies is the idea of emotional and spiritual progression, through various alternatives to a (provisional) conclusion. One important means he uses to articulate this spiritual journey is the technique of progressive tonality. In other symphonies he begins and ends movements in diferent keys, but in the Fifth each movement begins and ends in the same key; however as a whole, it moves from C sharp minor opening movement to the D major of the third and fifth movements.

One reason for Mahler's significance and influence as a composer is that he viewed his music as a means of seeking and expressing solutions to the problems of his personal, spiritual life. The Depth and seriousness of these problems naturally drew him to the largescale form of the symphony, wich he expanded in length and number of movements to unprecedented proportions.

Brahms - Symphony No. 4, Op. 98 | Carlos Kleiber

Adagietto 2016-10-21 | Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98, 1885 | Bavarian State Orchestra, Bayerische Staatsorchester München, Carlos Ludwig Kleiber, 21.X.1996

Movements:
I Allegro non troppo
II Andante moderato
III Allegro giocoso - Poco meno presto
IV Allegro energico e passionato - Più allegro

Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy-Overture | Valery Gergiev, London Symphony Orchestra

Adagietto 2016-10-18 | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet, fantasy-overture for orchestra in B minor, 1880. Maestro Valery Gergiev with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Numerous composers have responded to Shakespeare's timeless drama of forbidden and youthful love, but Tchaikovsky's response (along with Berlioz's and Prokofiev's) is at the top of the list. It is the only one of the three to be intended as a number in a symphony concert, and, hence is by default the most famous of the lot.

Tchaikovsky, a lawyer, was still developing as a composer at age 29 when Mily Balakirev (self-appointed father figure to Russian composers) persuaded him to write an orchestral work on the subject of the "star-cross'd lovers." Balakirev outlined the form, planned the keys, and even suggested some of the actual music. After the 1870 premiere, he convinced Tchaikovsky to revise it. The work's success in this form did much to transform the composer's tendency toward crippling doubt into useful self-criticism. (Not that the transformation was ever total; Tchaikovsky suffered bouts of depression and self-doubt throughout his career.) The composer revised it again in 1880; this version is almost universally the one played. While the final version is probably the best one, the 1869 text is also a fine work and very much worth hearing. The earlier version begins with a charming tune that carries elements of the great love theme. In the first and second revisions Tchaikovsky eliminated this and replaced it with the benedictory theme representing Friar Laurence. The effect of this change on the overture's structure is large. The first version seems to begin with Juliet still in a relatively childlike state, but with the potential for the great love present in the disguised premonitions of the love theme. The focus is, therefore, on the development of the drama as it unfolds. The later versions, beginning as it were with a prayer, seem to invite the hearer to look back on a tragedy that has already happened. Both versions proceed identically through depictions of the clashes between the houses of Montague and Capulet, and then unveil the great love music. After that, though, Tchaikovsky's original idea seems to this writer to be superior: There is a great development, fugal-sounding and allowing for contrapuntal conflict based on the overture's main rhythms and themes. It is tremendously exciting, more so than the music which replaced it. Justification for dropping it might be made along the lines that the original version has too much dramatic weight and overshadows the rest of the music. The main differences thereafter are in details of scoring, and in the finale, which in the original version is much too curt.

It is often instructive to see what a great composer has done at two different times with the same ideas and material. Whether or not it has greater musical merit, Tchaikovsky's blessing of his final version served to ensure that it is the one that prevailed, and in that form it is accepted as one of the greatest programmatic pieces in the symphonic repertoire. The yearning love theme, in particular, is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest melodies ever written, while the exciting fight music and Tchaikovsky's unfailingly clear and imaginative orchestration carry the listener through with hardly a misstep. But the original version is not far behind it in musical worth; it should be given more frequent revivals, if only for the sake of hearing the great fugato passage described above.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Romeo und Julia, Romeo y Julieta, Roméo et Juliette, Romeo e Giulietta, Romeo en Julia, Romeu e Julieta, Romeo and Juliet, Romeu i Julieta, Romeo a Juliet, Romeo og Julie, Romeo kaj Julieta, Romeo i Julija, Romeo e Xulieta, Romeo dan Julia, Rómeó és Júlia, Romeo și Julieta, Romeowan Juliet, Romeo dhe Xhuljeta, Romeo ja Julia, Romeo och Julia, Romeo at Julieta, Romeo un Džuljeta,

Schubert - Winterreise | Jonas Kaufmann

Adagietto 2016-10-01 | Franz Schubert - Winterreise, song cycle for voice & piano, D. 911 (Op. 89), 1827. Poems by Wilhelm Müller. Jonas Kaufmann, tenor and Helmut Deutsch, klavier. Konzert vom 25.IX.2004

Die Winterreise
1. Gute Nacht | Good Night
2. Die Wetterfahne | The Weather Vane
3. Gefror'ne Tränen | Frozen Tears
4. Erstarrung | Numbness
5. Der Lindenbaum | The Linden Tree
6. Wasserflut | Flood Water
7. Auf dem Flusse | On the River
8. Ruckblick | Backward Glance
9. Irrlicht | Will-o'-the-Wisp
10. Rast | Rest
11. Frühlingstraum | Dream of Spring
12. Einsamkeit | Solitude
13. Die Post | The Post
14. Der greise Kopf | The Grey Head
15. Die Krähe | The Crow
16. Letzte Hoffnung | Last Hope
17. Im Dorfe | In the Village
18. Der stürmische Morgen | The Stormy Morning
19. Täuschung | Delusion
20. Der Wegweiser | The Sign Post
21. Das Wirtshaus | The Inn
22. Mut | Courage
23. Die Nebensonnen | The False Suns
24. Der Leiermann | The Organ-Grinder (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man, barrel organ or roller organ)

Poems by Wilhelm Müller

Caspar David Friedrich - Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer, 1818. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany

The breadth of scholarly approaches to Franz Schubert's song cycle Die Winterreise testifies to the structural and dramatic complexity of the work; assessments range from complicated graphs, complete with interlocking axes and cryptic semantic labels, to outright sighs of resignation over the work's intractability. Perhaps this intrigue is what attracts performers and academics alike to the work; singer and scholar Michael Besack traces the ambiguous dramatic trajectory of Schubert's cycle back to antiquity. "Epic poetry and the tragic theater never produced a story with a moral," he pointed out.

A central question concerning the cycle is whether it really is one. The two dozen poems by Wilhelm Müller that Schubert took as his texts appeared piecemeal in three separate publications between 1822 and the completion of Schubert's setting in 1827; Müller's third publication, finally bearing the title Schubert would adopt, featured the newest poems along with the ones previously published (though the latter were reordered). The chronology of Schubert's setting also calls the idea of a continuous cyclical narrative into question: he set Müller's initial 12 songs early in 1827, then completed the other dozen later that year. Still, while some of the individual songs are frequently performed alone, one can easily read a composite story into the cycle. Literary scholar Cecilia Baumann describes the work as "a simple story of a rejected lover who leaves the town where his love resides and sets out in winter on an aimless journey." Schubert biographer Jacques Chailley reads a different kind of journey: "not simply that of a scorned lover -- he is only a phantom -- but an image behind which one can discern at each moment the journey of man toward the tomb: Die Winterreise is the sinister voyage of life." Such existential ideas gain support from the bleakness of Auf dem Flusse (At the River), in which the lover's description of the frozen stream seems to shade into one of a physical corpse, and of the melancholy hurdy-gurdy-man's lament that ends the cycle.

The songs ruminate on, rather than depict, events that have befallen the rejected lover; as the first two lines of the first song indicate ("A stranger I came hither, a stranger hence I go"), the journey has already taken place: the famous fifth song, Der Lindenbaum, likewise centers on symbols of remembrance. Schubert's introduction establishes a tranquil major mode with an airy, fluttering accompaniment; it becomes apparent that this figure represents the rustling of the eponymous lime tree. "Upon its bark when musing, fond words of love I made," the wanderer tells listeners, "and joy alike and sorrow still drew me to its shade." Only briefly do the mode and mood of the music change to minor, in direct correlation to the image of passing the tree in darkness. These pictorial elements lie only on the surface, however. Certain musical elements create a sense of geographical and chronological remove: the rustling figure is constantly interrupted by a leap up to a quaint stepwise descent; the echo of a "hunting horn" figure suggests distance -- spatial and temporal; the wind blows off the wanderer's hat, but he trudges forward without even turning around. The cold wind listeners that it is winter; the presence of leaves is unlikely. The rustling sound is not a real, but an imagined, phenomenon: "Now many leagues I'm far from/The dear old linden tree/[But still] I ever hear it murmur/'Peace thou wouldst find with me.'" Schubert's song does not evoke images; it evokes the act of remembering images.

Rule, Britannia! - Jonas Kaufmann | Last Night of the Proms 2015

Adagietto 2016-09-27 | Jonas Kaufmann with the BBC Singers, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Singers conducted by Marin Alsop at the Last Night of the Proms 2015, 12.IX.2015.

Thomas Arne - Rule, Britannia, for orchestra/band (with voice and/or chorus ad lib), 1740 (arr.)

Thomas Augustine Arne (1710-1778) was the son of a well-to-do artisan from Covent Garden in London. The future composer received legal training and began to practice that profession, but found that he preferred music instead. He started studying and attending musical events in disguise and managed enough early success to survive the explosion that came when his father found out.

Arne had his breakout year as a composer in 1740 with two major state-sponsored hits. The first was his musical setting of a masque written by Congreve, The Judgment of Paris. The success of this work led to Arne's being engaged by Frederick, Prince of Wales, to write music for a new masque, Alfred, that the Prince wished to stage to honor the accession of his father, King George I, to the British throne and to celebrate the birthday of Princess Augusta. Alfred was performed at Cliveden House in Maidenhead, the residence of Prince Frederick, in 1740. "Rule, Britannia!" was the stirring finale of the masque, and it was acclaimed from the start. The text was written by James Thompson (1700-1748).

"Rule, Britannia!" was not heard in London until 1745, but from its first performance there it became nearly universally known and loved. The Jacobite opponents of the Hanoverian dynasty even attempted to co-opt the song by writing their own words to its infectious, Handelian tune. In practice, the song is known primarily through its rousing refrain -- the part that actually begins with the words "Rule, Britannia!" The late Peter Pears once recorded the whole melody with all its several verses, revealing that in toto this famous song is actually pretty tedious.

But the good bits are still beloved by patriotic Britons who like to remember when the Royal Navy really did rule the waves. "Rule, Britannia!" still maintains its status as the favorite patriotic air of the British people and as an unofficial second national anthem.

Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition | Aldo Ciccolini, piano

Adagietto 2016-09-21 | Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (Kartínki s výstavki), for piano, 1874. Aldo Ciccolini, piano, live.

Pictures at an Exhibition:
1. Promenade
2. The Gnome [Gnomus]
3. Promenade
4. The Old Castle [Il vecchio castello]
5. Promenade
6. Dispute between children at play [Tuileries]
7. The Ox-Cart [Bydlo]
8. Promenade
9. Ballet of the unhatched chicks
10. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle
11. Promenade
12. The Market at Limoges [Limoges, le marché]
13. The Catacombs [Sepulchrum Romanum]
14. Cum mortuis in lingua mortua
15. Baba-Yaga [La cabane sur des pattes de poules]
16. The Great Gate of Kiev

Victor Hartmann, a Russian painter and architect, was one of Mussorgsky's close friends. When Hartmann died in St. Petersburg in 1873 at the age of 41, the composer was crushed. He wrote to the art critic Vladimir Stasov, paraphrasing Shakespeare: "Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, and the Hartmanns perish?" In January 1874, the Russian Academy of Arts organized an exhibition of Hartmann's work. Mussorgsky attended the show, where he saw the varied images that became the basis for Pictures of an Exhibition. On June 2, Mussorgsky began work on Pictures, a musical impression of ten of Hartmann's paintings (plus five "promenades") for piano, and finished the work later in the same month.

Pictures of an Exhibition opens with a "Promenade" in 5/4 that serves as a unifying device throughout; it is a portrayal of the composer himself walking from one painting to the next. The first picture is "Gnomus," inspired by a design for a toy nutcracker that Hartmann drew in 1869. Another promenade is followed by "The Old Castle," a mysterious, lonely evocation built on pedal tones. "Tuileries" is inspired by a watercolor of children at play in the garden of the Tuileries. This bright and impressionistic piece is followed by the heavy tread of "Bydlo" (a Polish oxcart). Mussorgsky's setting of "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" is a wildly imaginative scherzo. A stern melody in a Jewish-music-derived scale opens "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle," in which a wealthy Jew is portrayed by an insistent repeating figure in the treble, a poor Jew in the bass. The rapid patter of haggling housewives characterizes "The Market Place in Limoges." In another sudden change in mood, "Catacombs," which pictures Hartmann himself touring a vast catacomb of skulls, is rendered in naked chord progressions. "The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yaga)" was inspired by Hartmann's design for a fourteenth century-style clock in the shape of a witch's hat. Mussorgsky transforms it into a miniature tone poem about Baba Yaga, the legendary Russian witch who devoured the souls of children. After a grand flourish, the work ends with "The Great Gate of Kiev," inspired by a never-implemented design Hartmann submitted to an architecture competition. Pictures of an Exhibition comes to a close with rich, booming chords which evoke bells.

Although Mussorgsky is known to have played Pictures of an Exhibition in recital, the work did not appear in print until 1886, five years after the composer's death. It remained relatively little known until Ravel made a colorful orchestration of it in 1922, and in this form it has enjoyed even greater popularity than the original.

Maria Callas Interview

Adagietto 2016-09-18 | Maria Callas Interview with Mike Wallace.

Legendary Performances: youtube.com/watch?v=U-wiHzq_Bbk&index=7&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRV_HJnMhR98Qr-QuovmuWL5

Maria Callas Sediziose Voci!, Fine al rito | Vicenzo Bellini - Norma, 1958

Adagietto 2016-09-14 | Vicenzo Bellini - "Sediziose voci!", "Fine al rito",
Vicenzo Bellini (1801-1835) Norma, Opera, 1831.
Maria Callas (1923-1977), , Tito Gobbi (1913-1984), Georges Sébastian, conductor (1903-1989),
Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, 19.XII.1958.

Legendary Performances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcb6XxvEogs&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRV_HJnMhR98Qr-QuovmuWL5&index=1

Bellini followed up the success of his tender comedy La Sonnambula with this grand and exotic tale. In its keen characterization and its dramatic conflict between love and patriotic duty it anticipates the major themes of several Verdi operas. The conflict in the opera is between the native Druids of Britain and the Roman soldiers who are occupying the country. The Druid leaders are Oroveso (the High Priest) and Norma (the High Priestess), and the main Romans are the Proconsul Pollione and his centurion Flavio. Norma was Vincenzo Bellini's eighth opera and the one that completely secured his fame and fortune as a composer. Although, according to some contemporary reviews, the audience responded coolly to some aspects of Norma at its first performance at Milan's La Scala opera house on December 26, 1831, the public soon warmed to it and made it a popular success. In the nineteenth century, musicians as diverse as Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Johannes Brahms, and Gustav Mahler, regarded Norma as a pivotal work. Today Norma is accepted as Bellini's most successful tragic opera.

Felice Romani based the libretto on Alexandre Soumet's play of the same name, which had premiered in Paris in April 1831 to great critical acclaim. In 1998, David Kimbell noted that, despite this immediate literary source, the opera's plot and the nature of its title character have an earlier source in the Greek myth of Medea. Kimbell has also noted the distinct similarities between Romani's Norma and his text for Giovanni Pacini's opera La sacerdotessa d'Irminsul (1820).

The music of Norma is laden with all of the conventions of Italian opera in the first half of the nineteenth century, including solo vocal arias and duets, some of which follow the prototypical Rossinian crescendo into full-fledged end-of-act choruses. After the introduction, Pollione's cavatina ("Meco all'altar di Venere") foreshadows the events of the opera. Its form is essentially ternary, with the C minor tonality, nervous violin tremolo, and rhythmically active lower strings of the B section contrasting with the C major tonality of the A section. But Bellini avoids a complete reprise of the A section, returning ultimately to the disturbing minor-mode inflections and nervous instrumental texture of the B material. Pollione's cavatina is paired with a cabaletta ("Me protegge, mi defende"), in which he sings of the protective power of love, in the heroic key of E flat major and triumphant dotted rhythms. Norma's famed cavatina, "Casta diva," a prayer to the moon goddess, is introduced by a silvery flute solo over undulating violin arpeggios. Rather than independently, as previously in "Va crudele, al Dio spietato"/"E tu pure, ah! tu non sai!," Pollione and Adalgisa together in their duet "Vieni in Roma"/"Ciel! Così parlar l'ascolto sempre" complete musical phrases: once Adalgisa agrees to go to Rome with Pollione, she is under his musical control. A similar concept governs the Act II duet between Adalgisa and Norma ("Mira, o Norma"/"Ah! perchè la mia costanza"), in which Norma's weakening resolve to allow Adalgisa to beg for Pollione's return is mirrored in her willingness to adopt Adalgisa's musical language. The finale of Act I consists of a trio in which Norma is musically pitted against Pollione and Adalgisa, and in that of Act II, Oroveso and the chorus of druids punctuate Norma's central aria ("Deh! Non voleri vittime") as she ascends her funeral pyre.

Maria Callas - Casta Diva

Adagietto 2016-09-09 | Maria Callas - "Casta Diva". Vicenzo Bellini (1801-1835) Norma, Opera, 1831.Maria Callas (1923-1977), Gabriele Santini, conductor (1886-1964). Rai Orchestra Rome, 1957.

Legendary Performances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcb6XxvEogs&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRV_HJnMhR98Qr-QuovmuWL5&index=1

Bellini followed up the success of his tender comedy La Sonnambula with this grand and exotic tale. In its keen characterization and its dramatic conflict between love and patriotic duty it anticipates the major themes of several Verdi operas. The conflict in the opera is between the native Druids of Britain and the Roman soldiers who are occupying the country. The Druid leaders are Oroveso (the High Priest) and Norma (the High Priestess), and the main Romans are the Proconsul Pollione and his centurion Flavio. Norma was Vincenzo Bellini's eighth opera and the one that completely secured his fame and fortune as a composer. Although, according to some contemporary reviews, the audience responded coolly to some aspects of Norma at its first performance at Milan's La Scala opera house on December 26, 1831, the public soon warmed to it and made it a popular success. In the nineteenth century, musicians as diverse as Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Johannes Brahms, and Gustav Mahler, regarded Norma as a pivotal work. Today Norma is accepted as Bellini's most successful tragic opera.

Felice Romani based the libretto on Alexandre Soumet's play of the same name, which had premiered in Paris in April 1831 to great critical acclaim. In 1998, David Kimbell noted that, despite this immediate literary source, the opera's plot and the nature of its title character have an earlier source in the Greek myth of Medea. Kimbell has also noted the distinct similarities between Romani's Norma and his text for Giovanni Pacini's opera La sacerdotessa d'Irminsul (1820).

The music of Norma is laden with all of the conventions of Italian opera in the first half of the nineteenth century, including solo vocal arias and duets, some of which follow the prototypical Rossinian crescendo into full-fledged end-of-act choruses. After the introduction, Pollione's cavatina ("Meco all'altar di Venere") foreshadows the events of the opera. Its form is essentially ternary, with the C minor tonality, nervous violin tremolo, and rhythmically active lower strings of the B section contrasting with the C major tonality of the A section. But Bellini avoids a complete reprise of the A section, returning ultimately to the disturbing minor-mode inflections and nervous instrumental texture of the B material. Pollione's cavatina is paired with a cabaletta ("Me protegge, mi defende"), in which he sings of the protective power of love, in the heroic key of E flat major and triumphant dotted rhythms. Norma's famed cavatina, "Casta diva," a prayer to the moon goddess, is introduced by a silvery flute solo over undulating violin arpeggios. Rather than independently, as previously in "Va crudele, al Dio spietato"/"E tu pure, ah! tu non sai!," Pollione and Adalgisa together in their duet "Vieni in Roma"/"Ciel! Così parlar l'ascolto sempre" complete musical phrases: once Adalgisa agrees to go to Rome with Pollione, she is under his musical control. A similar concept governs the Act II duet between Adalgisa and Norma ("Mira, o Norma"/"Ah! perchè la mia costanza"), in which Norma's weakening resolve to allow Adalgisa to beg for Pollione's return is mirrored in her willingness to adopt Adalgisa's musical language. The finale of Act I consists of a trio in which Norma is musically pitted against Pollione and Adalgisa, and in that of Act II, Oroveso and the chorus of druids punctuate Norma's central aria ("Deh! Non voleri vittime") as she ascends her funeral pyre.

Schubert - Grand Rondo in A major D.951, Op.107 | Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim

Adagietto 2016-09-05 | Franz Schubert - Rondo for piano, 4 hands in A major D. 951, Op. 107 ("Grand Rondo" or "Grand Rondeau"), 1828. Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim, live.

The last year of Schubert's all too brief life was very productive and saw the creation of several of his finest works. Among these were the F minor fantasy for piano duet, a number of songs including the noteworthy "Serenade", the last three piano sonatas, these being the C minor, A, and B flat works, and the final version of the towering Great C Major symphony. A prodigious amount of work by any standard, this is all the more incredible considering that he was in the tertiary stage of syphilis and ultimately on his death bed of typhoid as a complication of this. In the midst of all of it, Schubert accepted a commission from Domenico Artari, his publisher, for a "Grand Rondeau" for four hands at the piano and, beginning in June of that year, began to set down a simple theme in two four time. Each subsequent digression from this theme presses gently in another direction, giving the impression all are siblings, very comfortable with each other. The work scales no great heights but neither does it betray what must have been the composer's depressed and even despairing frame of mind and in its ten minute length emerges as a melodic, fully scored, finely crafted and ultimately satisfying piece of piano music. The work is significant in Schubert's output more for the circumstances under which it was produced as against the fine piece of music it became. It is essentially a throwback to the time when Schubert would toss off brilliant and comfortable short pieces under no greater inspiration than a whim to produce something for him and his friends to play at a pleasant musical evening. While not evidently designed for performance by his friends or amateur musicians, the piece is not demanding of either performer or listener. It was published just a month after the composer's death.

Maria Callas Casta Diva | Vicenzo Bellini - Norma

Adagietto 2016-09-05 | Maria Callas - "Casta Diva". Vicenzo Bellini (1801-1835) Norma, Opera, 1831. Maria Callas (1923-1977), Georges Sébastian, conductor (1903-1989), Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, 19.XII.1958.

Legendary Performances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcb6XxvEogs&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRV_HJnMhR98Qr-QuovmuWL5&index=1

Bellini followed up the success of his tender comedy La Sonnambula with this grand and exotic tale. In its keen characterization and its dramatic conflict between love and patriotic duty it anticipates the major themes of several Verdi operas. The conflict in the opera is between the native Druids of Britain and the Roman soldiers who are occupying the country. The Druid leaders are Oroveso (the High Priest) and Norma (the High Priestess), and the main Romans are the Proconsul Pollione and his centurion Flavio. Norma was Vincenzo Bellini's eighth opera and the one that completely secured his fame and fortune as a composer. Although, according to some contemporary reviews, the audience responded coolly to some aspects of Norma at its first performance at Milan's La Scala opera house on December 26, 1831, the public soon warmed to it and made it a popular success. In the nineteenth century, musicians as diverse as Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Johannes Brahms, and Gustav Mahler, regarded Norma as a pivotal work. Today Norma is accepted as Bellini's most successful tragic opera.

Felice Romani based the libretto on Alexandre Soumet's play of the same name, which had premiered in Paris in April 1831 to great critical acclaim. In 1998, David Kimbell noted that, despite this immediate literary source, the opera's plot and the nature of its title character have an earlier source in the Greek myth of Medea. Kimbell has also noted the distinct similarities between Romani's Norma and his text for Giovanni Pacini's opera La sacerdotessa d'Irminsul (1820).

The music of Norma is laden with all of the conventions of Italian opera in the first half of the nineteenth century, including solo vocal arias and duets, some of which follow the prototypical Rossinian crescendo into full-fledged end-of-act choruses. After the introduction, Pollione's cavatina ("Meco all'altar di Venere") foreshadows the events of the opera. Its form is essentially ternary, with the C minor tonality, nervous violin tremolo, and rhythmically active lower strings of the B section contrasting with the C major tonality of the A section. But Bellini avoids a complete reprise of the A section, returning ultimately to the disturbing minor-mode inflections and nervous instrumental texture of the B material. Pollione's cavatina is paired with a cabaletta ("Me protegge, mi defende"), in which he sings of the protective power of love, in the heroic key of E flat major and triumphant dotted rhythms. Norma's famed cavatina, "Casta diva," a prayer to the moon goddess, is introduced by a silvery flute solo over undulating violin arpeggios. Rather than independently, as previously in "Va crudele, al Dio spietato"/"E tu pure, ah! tu non sai!," Pollione and Adalgisa together in their duet "Vieni in Roma"/"Ciel! Così parlar l'ascolto sempre" complete musical phrases: once Adalgisa agrees to go to Rome with Pollione, she is under his musical control. A similar concept governs the Act II duet between Adalgisa and Norma ("Mira, o Norma"/"Ah! perchè la mia costanza"), in which Norma's weakening resolve to allow Adalgisa to beg for Pollione's return is mirrored in her willingness to adopt Adalgisa's musical language. The finale of Act I consists of a trio in which Norma is musically pitted against Pollione and Adalgisa, and in that of Act II, Oroveso and the chorus of druids punctuate Norma's central aria ("Deh! Non voleri vittime") as she ascends her funeral pyre.

Maria Callas Una Voce Poco Fa | Rossini - The Barber of Seville

Adagietto 2016-09-02 | Gioacchino Rossini - "Una Voce Poco Fa",
Gioacchino Rossini (1791-1868) The Barber of Seville, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Opera, 1815.
Maria Callas (1923-1977), Georges Sébastian, conductor (1903-1989),
Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, 19.XII.1958.

Playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=U-wiHzq_Bbk&index=7&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRV_HJnMhR98Qr-QuovmuWL5

This 1815 masterpiece is widely considered the greatest of comic operas. Even when operas of the bel canto period (Rossini's period of flourishing) were rarely performed, its frequent presence on operatic stages of the world was unabated. The first performance, in Rome in 1816 was a fiasco. The older opera composer Giovanni Paisiello had composed an opera on the same story, also called The Barber of Seville, in 1782.

Rossini had misgivings about composing a new opera on the same text, so he first obtained Paisiello's gracious permission to go ahead, and originally called his new opera Almaviva. This did not prevent Paisiello's claque from sabotaging the premiere, a feat in which they were aided by under-rehearsal, sloppy production, and stage effects which failed to work properly. Soon afterward, with some changes, the opera was presented again. Without Paisiello's fans creating an uproar, the performance was a success, and by the third performance it resulted in ovations and quickly went on to sweep the operatic world. (As for Paisiello's opera, it was soon eclipsed by Rossini's, but more recently it has regained some appreciation in the operatic world.)

The Barber of Seville is the first of a trilogy of plays by the French dramatist Beaumarchais. These plays, which tended to depict nobility as buffoons dependant on and manipulated by their wily servants, were considered subversive in the late 1700s. (The Marriage of Figaro, the second of the plays, was turned into an opera by Mozart in 1786. It is Rossini's opera, by the way, not Mozart's, which has the comic aria "Largo al factotum" containing the call: "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro.") Figaro is the barber of the title. The plot involves the efforts of the amorous young Count Almaviva to woo and win the lovely Rosina, in the process outwitting her ward, Dr. Bartolo, who fancies her for himself.

There are textual difference among production of the opera. The primary decision is whether Rosina's part should be sung by a mezzo-soprano (as Rossini originally intended) or by a soprano, as it has commonly been done since 1826, apparently with Rossini's permission. An aria for Bartolo was lost, and has been replaced by one composed by a composer named Romani. And the "Lesson Scene" is also lost, so the soprano gets to choose music by another composer to use in its place. Some of the great popular numbers in the opera are Almaviva's serenade "Ecco ridente in cielo" and the more passionate "Se il mio nome." Rosina's"Una voce poco fa" is probably the most popular of all coloratura arias, while Bartolo gets his own aria, "La Calunnia" ("Calumny"), all about the evil power of slander. Incidentally, the famous overture to the opera, which is probably among the most frequently heard compositions of Rossini's in the concert hall, was not composed originally for this opera at all! Rossini was short of time, so he simply grabbed an overture he had written earlier.

Maria Callas O Mio Babbino Caro | Giacomo Puccini - Gianni Schicchi

Adagietto 2016-08-29 | Giacomo Puccini - 'O Mio Babbino Caro', Aria
Gianni Schicchi, Opera, 1918. Libretto, Giovacchino Forzano
Maria Callas (1923-1977), Georges Prêtre, conductor (1924-),
Orchestre National de l'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF), Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, May 1965.
EMI Classics/Warner Classics.

Callas Legendary Performances: youtube.com/watch?v=U-wiHzq_Bbk&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRV_HJnMhR98Qr-QuovmuWL5&index=1

O Mio Babbino Caro
Mi piace è bello, bello
Vo' andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l'anello!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se l'amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno!
Mi struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!

Oh my beloved father,
I love him, I love him!
I'll go to Porta Rossa,
To buy our wedding ring.
Oh yes, I really love him.
And if you still say no,
I'll go to Ponte Vecchio,
And throw myself below.
My love for which I suffer,
At last, I want to die.
Father I pray, I pray.
Father I pray, I pray.

Oh my dear papa,
I love him, he is handsome, handsome.
I want to go to Porta Rossa
To buy the ring!
Yes, yes, I want to go there!
And if my love were in vain,
I would go to the Ponte Vecchio
And throw myself in the Arno!
I am anguished and tormented!
Oh God, I would want to die!
Daddy, have mercy, have mercy!
Daddy, have mercy, have mercy!

Oh mon papa chéri,
Il me plaît, il est beau, il est beau !
Je m'en irai à Porta Rossa
pour acheter l'anneau.
Oui, oui, je veux y aller !
Et si mon amour était vain
J'irais sur le Ponte Vecchio
pour me jeter dans l'Arno !
Je me consume, je me tourmente !
Mon Dieu ! je voudrais mourir !
Papa, pitié, pitié !
Papa, pitié, pitié !

Oh meu papá querido
Eu amo-o, ele é tão belo;
quero ir até Porta Rossa
Para comprar o anel!
Sim, sim, eu quero!
E se o meu amor fosse em vão,
eu iria até Ponte Vecchio,
e me atiraria ao rio Arno!
Eu choro e sofro tormentas!
Oh Deus, preferia morrer!
Pai, tende piedade, tende piedade;
Pai, tende piedade, tende piedade!

Gianni Schicchi Opera, 1918, is the third and final installment of Il trittico, Giacomo Puccini's trilogy of one-act operas. Though the trilogy itself is not often performed, Schicchi has remained a perennial favorite -- well-loved for its lyrical concision and ensemble humor -- and is often cited as a masterpiece of Italian comedy.

The story, which comes from an apparently true-to-life passage in Dante's Inferno, was adapted for the stage by the librettist Giovecchino Forzano. A wealthy miser has died, and the greedy members of his family are horrified to find that he has written all of them out of his will. In a scheme to steal back their inheritance, they enlist the help of the morally ambiguous title character, who then succeeds in bilking them out of the money. A side plot involves the young romance between Schicchi's daughter, Lauretta, and a member of the "grieving" (none of them cared a whit for the old man!) family, Rinuccio.

Puccini's score is notable for its use of recurring themes as organizational devices, and the skillful integration of many different characters' short utterances into larger lyrical structures. Lauretta's aria, "O, mio babbino caro" (Oh, my dearest papa), is among the most famous excerpts in all of opera, and certainly the most anticipated moment in any performance. Other memorable moments include the opening "weeping" scene, in which the exaggerated sobbing of the opportunistic relatives combines with clever orchestral underpinnings; and Schicchi's final-scene impersonation of the dead man, Buoso, during which he rewrites "his" will to suit his own liking.

Liszt - Piano Concerto No.1 | Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim

Adagietto 2016-08-26 | Franz Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S. 124 (LW H4), 1857. Martha Argerich and The Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim, Live.

Movements:
I. Allegro maestoso
II. Quasi adagio
III. Allegretto vivace
IV. Allegro marziale animato

The genesis of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major dates to 1830, when the composer sketched out the main theme in a notebook. It wasn't until the 1840s, however, that Liszt actually commenced work on the concerto. As a neophyte in the art of orchestration -- his output to that point consisted almost entirely of keyboard music - Liszt enlisted the assistance of his pupil Joachim Raff in providing the work an instrumental skin. Liszt completed the concerto in 1849 but made a number of revisions over the next several years. The final version of the work dates from 1856.

The concerto's three main sections - Allegro maestoso, Quasi adagio-Allegretto vivace-Allegro animato and Allegro marziale animato - are joined seamlessly into a single large-scale structure. The opening statement, characterized by a bold, almost martial chromatic descent, contains the essential elements from which all subsequent thematic material is derived. The piano enters with a dramatic passage in characteristic Lisztian octaves, after which the main theme reappears in a more tranquil guise. The second subject in introduced in the piano, after which a dialogue between piano and clarinet ensues. The sweetness of the mood suddenly gives way to intensity as the main theme makes a dramatic, almost angry reappearance.

The second section begins with a quiet cantabile melody in the muted strings. After the piano takes up the theme, the mood grows restive with mercurial, dramatic statements from the orchestra that alternate with quasi-improvisatory passages in the piano. The tempo picks up as the flute, and then oboe and clarinet, take up the theme. Lyricism gives way to a more lighthearted spirit, signaled by a pair of delicate strokes on the triangle. (The prominence of this instrument in the latter portion of the work, in fact, elicited derisive commentary from a number of critics. Eduard Hanslick, for example, leapt on this feature in describing the work as Liszt's "Triangle Concerto.") The piano introduces a lively, playful theme in its upper register; other instruments gradually join the texture as the triangle continues to chime in with jovial comment. The mood darkens with the reappearance of the concerto's opening theme, as though to suggest a return to that musical sequence of events. Instead, the piano introduces the final section, which commences with a sped-up version of the cantabile theme from the second section. Other earlier themes reappear in various guises as the triangle continues to add its color throughout. Alternating between intricate passagework and thunderous octaves, the concerto draws to a close in the bravura manner with which Liszt is so closely associated.

Schumann - Liederkreis Op.39 | Ian Bostridge

Adagietto 2016-08-21 | Robert Schumann (1810-1856) - Liederkreis, 12 Songs for Voice & Piano, Op. 39, 1840. Ian Bostridge, tenor and Leif Ove Andsnes, piano. Live Recording, 2000.

"Liederkreis" Op.39:
I. In der Fremde
II. Intermezzo
III. Waldesgespräch
IV. Die Stille
V. Mondnacht
VI. Schöne Fremde
VII. Auf einer Burg
VIII. In der Fremde
IX. Wehmut
X. Zwielicht
XI. Im Walde
XII. Frühlingsnacht
Poems by Joseph Eichendorff's collection entitled Intermezzo

Schumann was such a quick and prolific composer that it's often difficult to draw distinct points of development in his style, but Schumann himself described these songs as "my most Romantic music ever." The Eichendorff texts are (with the exception of "Intermezzo," in which the location is not specified) all set outdoors, often with direct references to nature, and each refers to travel, whether thoughts traveling to a beloved or a physical journey, both typical Romantic concepts. They are also highly Romantic in their expressive moodiness, whether ecstatic or melancholy, and the occasional aura of mystery, whether the unexplained tears of the bride in "Auf einer Burg" or the supernatural in "Waldesgesprach." Schumann's selection of these varied poems itself creates a Romantic juxtaposition of emotions, and the passionate settings capture and emphasize those aspects.

They also show Schumann's increasing sophistication as a song composer; the piano becomes more important in its own right, and the scene painting from the piano is among Schumann's best, creating the desired effects immediately and with no excess. (The exception is the relentlessly jolly "Der frohe Wandersmann," which originally opened the cycle and which Schumann left out of the 1850 and subsequent editions.) For example, "Waldesgesprach" uses an alluring lyrical figure that quickly paints the seductive, wild figure of the Lorelei, a recitative-like dialog between the protagonists, and a hunting theme that first depicts the man as the hunter and the woman as the object of his hunt, and repeats at the end, ironically, to show the reversal of roles by the end of the song. There are quick characterizations, such as the sudden surge at "du schöne Braut" suggesting an eager lunge towards the lady, and the almost smugly seductive decrescendo on the honeyed "heim."

The cycle is atypical of Schumann in the relative lack of musical linkages between and among the songs. There is no piano postlude reprising a theme from the first song, as there is in "Frauenliebe und-leben" or "Dichterliebe," and while there are tonal connections between songs, most notably between "Auf einer Burg" and the following "In der Fremde" (which also share similar imagery), they are less closely constructed than the connections in other song cycles.

Schumann often integrated references to his and Clara's love in his songs and his instrumental and orchestral writing. In the second song, "Intermezzo," he includes the famous "Clara theme," a descending five-note pattern that in German notation spells out her name. Numerous elements of the cycle reflect events of Schumann's own life - from blissful love to the wedding procession that fills the listener with sorrow in "Im Walde," paranoia in "Zwielicht," and finally the various images of death.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings An Die Musik by Schubert

Adagietto 2016-08-08 | Franz Schubert - An die Musik ("Du holde Kunst..."), song for voice & piano, D. 547 (Op. 88/4), 1817. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore.

An die Musik

Du holde Kunst, in wieviel grauen Stunden,
Wo mich des Lebens wilder Kreis umstrickt,

Hast du mein Herz zu warmer Lieb' entzunden,
Hast mich in eine beßre Welt entrückt,
In eine beßre Welt entrückt!

Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir,

Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir!

Poem by Franz von Schober

To Music

You, noble Art, in how many grey hours,
When life's mad tumult wraps around me,

Have you kindled my heart to warm love,
Have you transported me into a better world,
Transported into a better world!

Often has a sigh flowing out from your harp,
A sweet, divine harmony from you

Unlocked to me the heaven of better times,
You, noble Art, I thank you for it!!
You, noble Art, I thank you!

Poem by Franz von Schober

Between 1815 and 1827, Franz Schubert set twelve poems (and one ill-fated opera libretto) of Franz von Schober to music. The two men, roughly the same age, enjoyed a close relationship -- so close, in fact, that they sometimes referred to themselves collectively as "Schobert." It was certainly this personal connection that inspired Schubert to set so many of his friend's texts, since, taken on literary merits alone, Schober's poetry was anything but outstanding.

Schober was a bit of an indulgent wanderer, his comfortable circumstances obviating the need to settle on a career (he was variously "employed" as a writer, thespian, painter, and civil servant); consequently, his ode to music may come across upon reading as a bit patronizing and pretentious. Still, Schubert's musical setting elevates what may seem to be naïve sentimentality to the level of prayer, uttered in all sincerity.

The most prominent feature of An die Musik is the plaintive melody, the arc of which leaps wistfully between chord tones. This gentle curve accompanies the germinal phrase of the poem: "O beloved art." Behind the lyrical melody, a simple chordal accompaniment softly undulates with rhythmic persistence, while a subtle but resolute bass line underscores the texture. The major sixth descent that gives the opening motive its characteristic reverence reappears throughout the song, lending to the otherwise restrained melody occasional moments of rhapsodic tenderness.
Early in his songwriting career, Schubert had encountered the challenge of reconciling the formal, technical, and expressive demands of music with the dramatic and/or pictorial suggestions of a text. Within a strophic (repeating) musical form this is particularly difficult, since poetic structures will align different images or thoughts with the same music in subsequent verses. In An die Musik, however, the simple strophic approach becomes a strength rather than a liability. Since the subject of the poem is music's inherent and independent expressive power, the music need not take its inspiration directly from the text; instead it demonstrates the poem's argument in real time -- the musical landscape stands for itself.

For those who must find discrete moments of text painting, two possibilities are presented in the second half of the poem. The lush, descending sixth from the initial motive now aligns itself with what may be its textual counterpart: "So often has a sigh from your harp escaped," with the word "sigh" ("Seufzer") corresponding with the moment of descent; and the smoothly tintinnabulating triads that have characterized the accompaniment throughout could arguably be the "precious, holy chord" that grants the poet "a heavenly glimpse of a better times."

Schumann - Hör ich das Liedchen klingen from Dichterliebe | Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Adagietto 2016-08-05 | Robert Schumann - "Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen" (When I Hear the Song), song for voice & piano (Dichterliebe), Op. 48 No. 10, 1840. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone, live.

"Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen"

Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen,
Das einst die Liebste sang,
So will mir die Brust zerspringen
Vor wildem Schmerzendrang.

Es treibt mich ein dunkles Sehnen
Hinauf zur Waldeshöh',
Dort löst sich auf in Tränen
Mein übergroßes Weh'.

Poem by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856)

"When I Hear the Song"

I hear the little song sounding
that my beloved once sang,
and my heart wants to shatter
from savage pain's pressure.

I am driven by a dark longing
up to the wooded heights,
there is dissolved in tears
my supremely great pain.

Hearing the familiar strains of a lover's tune, the protagonist of Robert Schumann's slow, sustained Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen, Op. 48/10 (When I Hear the Song), becomes tearful and retreats to the woods for comfort. The reminiscent air is suggested by a simple three-tone, seven-note melody that appears in the first two measures of the voice part. Throughout the work, the singer's notes are ghostly echoed by wafting, syncopated sixteenth notes that drop in groups of threes in the treble line of the accompaniment. The quiet dynamic level experiences no change until it is finally superseded by a crescendo during the stirring release of the poem's emotional intensity in the epilogue. This grief is eventually overcome in the last five measures, which chromatically climb downward. The song's text, by Heine, was also set by Meyerbeer in 1832, Robert Franz in 1843, and Edvard Grieg in the 1880s.

Schubert - Der Jüngling an der Quelle | Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Adagietto 2016-08-01 | Franz Schubert - "Der Jüngling an der Quelle" (The Youth at the Spring), D.300, 1815. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore. Deutsche Grammophon.

"Der Jüngling an der Quelle"

Leise, rieselnder Quell!
Ihr wallenden, flispernden Pappeln!
Euer Schlummergeräusch
Wecket die Liebe nur auf.
Linderung sucht ich bei euch,
Und sie zu vergessen, die Spröde,
Ach, und Blätter und Bach
Seufzen, Luise, dir zu.

Poem by Johann Gaudenz Freiherr von Salis-Seewis (1762-1834)

"The Youth at the Spring"

Softly rippling spring!
Ye wind-toss'd and rustling poplars!
Thy whispered sounds of slumber
Do but waken my love.

'Twas comfort I'd sought from thee,
And her coldness I'd thought to forget;
Ah, and yet brook and leaves
Still sigh, Louise, for thee!
Louise! Louise!

Not only is Schubert's setting of Johann von Salis-Seewis' poem "Der Jüngling an der Quelle" (The Youth By the Spring) (D. 300) his best Salis-Seewis setting, it is among his greatest songs, an innocent and ethereal yet deeply sensuous love song that only Schubert could have conceived. It is apparently simple - the tenor vocal melody is often only an arpeggiation of the tonic and dominant triads, the bass line of the piano sustains the roots of the tonic and dominant triads for most of the song, the alto line of the piano also arpeggiated the tonic and dominant triads, and the soprano line of the piano combines repeated notes with a slowly unfolding scalar melody - but the interaction of these parts is endlessly fascinating. But, as always with Schubert, the greatest interest in Der Jüngling an der Quelle is harmonic. With only a few accidentals, Schubert is able to illuminate the depths of the eight-line poem: The joyful awaking of love by sharps that lead to the dominant; the sorrowful realization of the beloved's aloofness in the flats that take the music to the minor sub-dominant; and the half-joyful, half-sorrowful realization that the spring sings only of the beloved in the return to the tonic at the song's end. In 29 bars, Schubert has created a model of musical perfection.

Philippe Jaroussky - Ombra mai fù | Händel - Serse

Adagietto 2016-07-13 | George Friedrich Händel - Ombra mai fù, Largo from the Serse (Xerxes), Opera, HWV 40, 1738 | Philippe Jaroussky. Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Vasily Petrenko. Sublime performance recently disappeared. Lyrics:

"Frondi tenere e belle
del mio platano amato
per voi risplenda il fato.
Tuoni, lampi, e procelle
non v'oltraggino mai la cara pace,
nè giunga a profanarvi austro rapace.

Ombra mai fu
di vegetabile,
cara ed amabile,
soave più.

"Tender and beautiful fronds
of my beloved plane tree,
let Fate smile upon you.
May thunder, lightning, and storms
never bother your dear peace,
nor may you by blowing winds be profaned.

A shade there never was,
of any plant,
dearer and more lovely,
or more sweet.

Other Performances:
Philippe Jaroussky - Lascia ch'io pianga youtu.be/u-74WzKsFzI
Kathleen Ferrier youtu.be/Z4wTylAZhxw

Serse (Xerxes, HWV 40) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. Handel's operas for the 1737-1738 season had to be postponed due to the death of Queen Caroline. Handel composed the funeral music for her, and there also was a period of mourning. Serse is a comedy. It has buffo elements in the plot, in the musical style, and in the cast of characters. Elviro is a buffo bass role, an old servant who is central to the mismanagement of Serse's love affair, and who is responsible for some of the comic situations that evolve around the love plots. The opera Serse confused audiences and critics alike. Some called it an opera buffo, others a farce, and Burney even thought it the product of a "diseased" mind. It was a bigger flop although it has been revived for the modern operatic theater. Some of the music is exquisite, however. The beautiful love lyric "Ombra mai fù" later became renowned as an instrumental piece, and the duets in the opera are imaginative, individual, and original.

Originally composed to be sung by a soprano castrato (and sung in modern performances of Serse by a countertenor, contralto or a mezzo-soprano), it has often been arranged for other voice types and instruments, including solo organ, solo piano, violin and piano, and string ensembles, often under the title "Largo from Xerxes", although the original tempo was larghetto.

The Art of Maria Callas

Adagietto 2016-06-30 | Maria Callas discusses her art. Interview with Lord Harewood

Beethoven - Last Piano Sonata, No. 32, Op. 111 | Maria João Pires

Adagietto 2016-06-01 | Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, 1821-22 | Maria João Pires, live recital.
Gezeitenkonzerte 2015, Neue Kirche in Emden, 04.VII.2015.

Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
I. Maestoso
II. Allegro con brio ed appassionato
III. Arietta. Adagio molto semplice e cantabile

Without doubt, this is one of the greatest piano sonatas ever written. While there are quite a few of Beethoven's own that are more popular, perhaps only one or two of them rival this one in sheer profundity. This sonata's stormy first movement and its ensuing lengthy Arietta, which makes up the theme and variations second panel, take the listener into soundworlds previously unexplored by other composers, making this work one of the most influential musical creations ever. Not only did it help shape the course of piano music, it influenced the orchestral compositions of Franck, Wagner, Mahler, and many others. Prokofiev modeled the structure of his Symphony No. 2 directly on the sonata -- an Allegro followed by a long theme-and-variations second movement. The sonata begins with a grim introduction (Maestoso), typical of the composer's serious style, because it starts the narrative with a question, or dilemma, with dark, emphatic chords followed by trills, which introduce an added element of uncertainty. One might wonder whether the remainder of the movement will search out some answer to the apparent question, as in the "Pathétique," but that does not happen. It seems that a lack of a resolution reflects the composer's realization that vicissitudes of life may inspire questions which cannot be answered. The main body of the first movement, marked Allegro con brio ed appassionato, begins in a sinister vein on the bass notes with the appearance of the main theme, itself a dark, hesitant creation. After it is presented in full, the tempo slows, ushering in another idea. Tranquil and reassuring, this new idea is short-lived, and the main theme returns. After the narrative is repeated, with some alterations, the development section begins. Here, in the midst of much brilliant contrapuntal writing, the mood darkens, and an element of dramatic tension is introduced as the main theme goes through several transformations. When the alternate theme appears after a climactic episode, the atmosphere changes from somber to mysterious. There is no reprise as such, since the main material is not repeated, but rather is reviewed in partial form before reaching a final climax, after which the music fades slowly.

The second movement (Adagio molto semplice e cantabile) opens with one of the composer's most serene creations in any genre. The theme sounds peaceful and angelic, but almost static, too, in its glacial pacing. It strikes one as not the kind of melody that might yield variations of sundry character. This theme and the first three variations form the first section of the movement, wherein the atmosphere and character of the music change from the sublime to the almost giddily joyous and back to the sublime. It is the fourth variation that marks the second half of the movement, the most profound music in this work. After a series of trills, this section begins with the variation slowly emerging from a haze and transporting the listener to the highest levels of musical experience. Some view this long closing section as a "farewell" by the composer. Indeed, Beethoven seems to fashion a musical language transcending terrestrial constraints, and the notes appear to be ascending into the heavens as the ending approaches.

Schubert - Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D.821 | António Meneses and Maria João Pires

Adagietto 2016-05-19 | Franz Schubert - Sonata For Arpeggione And Piano In A Minor, D. 821(arrangement for cello), 1824. António Meneses, cello and Maria João Pires, piano, live.

I. Allegro moderato
II. Adagio
III. Allegretto

The guitarre d'amour, or arpeggione as it came to be known, was invented sometime during 1823 or 1824 by the respected Viennese guitar maker Johann Georg Stauffer. The instrument -- a kind of enlarged guitar that could be bowed, cello-style, due to an altered fingerboard -- was by no means a success; within just a few years of its birth it had for all intents and purposes suffered extinction. To music lovers, however, this short-lived instrumental curiosity will be forever remembered as the vehicle for Franz Schubert's Sonata "per arpeggione" in A minor, D. 821 -- a work now played almost exclusively by violists and cellists, although it exists in arrangements for instruments as far afield as the euphonium.

Schubert composed the "Arpeggione" Sonata in November 1824 shortly after returning from Zseliz, where he had spent his second summer (the first one being in 1818) teaching music to the Count of Esterházy's two daughters. The three-movement Sonata must be altered somewhat if it is to be played on cello or viola: the arpeggione possessed six strings, tuned to the same pitches as a guitar's, and the resulting extended range can cause problems when the piece is transcribed; in most editions, certain portions of the piece are transposed up or down an octave from their original position to avoid the extreme registers. However, Schubert by and large avoided the kind of idiosyncratic arpeggiations that earned the original instrument its nickname, focusing instead on the same focused lyricism that drives a traditional sonata for string instrument and piano; in this way, the work readily adapts to modern performance.

The opening Allegro moderato is built around a wistful melody whose fame is such that many who have never heard or heard of the "Arpeggione" Sonata will find that they recognize the tune. A second theme proceeds in gentle gusts of sixteenth notes; the arpeggione could not play fast notes with much volume at all, and so the Sonata's quicker portions are almost always marked piano or pianissimo.

The Adagio is a rich but introverted musing on an almost hymn-like subject. Schubert places great emphasis on the Neapolitan chord -- a harmony also used to great effect in the opening movement -- during the movement's closing measures, weakening the power of the final cadence and thus inviting the soloist to improvise a brief transition into the final, multi-sectioned Allegretto.

Schubert - Complete Impromptus, D.899, Op.90 & D.935, Op. posth. 142 | Maria João Pires

Adagietto 2016-05-09 | Franz Schubert - 4 Impromptus D.899, Op.90 & 4 Impromptus D.935, Op. posth. 142, 1827. Maria João Pires, piano.
Recording: Haarlem, Concertgebouw, Lisbon, Palácio de Queluz, 1996

00:00 | 4 Impromptus D.899, Op.90:
00:00 Impromptu No. 1 in C minor. Allegro molto moderato
11:05 Impromptu No. 2 in E flat major. Allegro
15:51 Impromptu No. 3 in G flat major. Andante
21:41 Impromptu No. 4 in A flat major. Allegretto

29:50 | 4 Impromptus D.935, Op. posth. 142:
29:50 Impromptu No. 1 in F minor. Allegro moderato
42:16 Impromptu No. 2 in A flat major. Allegretto
50:17 Impromptu No. 3 in B flat major. Theme. Andante - Variations
1:03:23 Impromptu No. 4 in F minor. Allegro scherzando

Complete Impromptus: http://youtu.be/5yVZu05WZ9o

Complete Playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=5yVZu05WZ9o&index=9&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRWwjYotdsUNDiWyZbP79ZdA

"The Universal power of the greatest music - and some of the greatest music is Schubert's - comes from a prodigius coincidence: such music fits like a glove into the secret codes with which the body transmits its signals to the brain, and because body codes and music codes are the same, the brain treats the messages of such music as if they were coming from the heart, not the ear. Great music appropriates the transmission and enters the brain as both sound and pure feeling. And what is pure feeling? It is the reading of the very states of a living organism with which nature can compose any and all emotions, from the longing for the unattainable or the anguish of departure, to the resignation of the winter journey, the excitement that precedes adventure, the everpostponed visit to an otherwordly place. When the appropriation happens, the mind of the fortunate listener believes it is eavesdropping on the inner life of its being, connected to the source of existence and far, very far, from the mundane origin of the experience."
António R. Damásio, Neurocientist

Schubert did not himself invent the title "Impromptu"; the Bohemian composer Jan Vorisek had published the first set of works called Impromptus in 1822 in Vienna, works which Schubert certainly knew. Written in the lighter and less demanding style popular at the time, Vorisek's Impromptus proved both popular and, in their simple ternary structure and less virtuosic piano writing, capable of imitation.

It really isn't fair that such weighty compositions as the four pieces contained in Franz Schubert's Op. 90 (D. 899) were given the rather inappropriate title "Impromptus" by their publisher when the first two went to press in late 1827; it wasn't until 1857 that Op. 90, Nos. 3 and 4 appeared in print. These are not just pieces of higher-grade musical meat than the average short piano piece of the 1820s. These are pieces of considerable length, three of them even spanning more than 200 bars, each a well thought-out expression of pianism that creates no sense of improvisation. The four Impromptus, D. 899 were probably composed at least in part during the composer's stay in Dornbach in the summer of 1827; they seem all to have been put to paper by the time Schubert arrived in Graz in September.

Schubert may, in fact, have had something much larger in mind when he composed D. 935: Robert Schumann suggested that the key sequence of the four pieces (Nos. 1 and 4 in F minor, and Nos. 2 and 3 in A flat and B flat, respectively) formed a sonata in all but name. There is a markedly greater degree of overall unity among these Impromptus than we find in the more disparate first series, D. 899, and Schumann's observation is further strengthened by the unmistakable motivic associations between Nos. 1 and 4 - a quality often associated with the opening and closing movements of a sonata. However, it is easy for this line of thought to become strained, and, whatever Schubert's intentions may have been, the urgent, driving rhythms and decorative melodic style found in these four pieces aligns them with the first popular examples of the Impromptu genre, written in Hungary during the 1820s.

When applied to these works of Franz Schubert, the term Impromptu is doubly misleading. None of Schubert's works in the genre (there are two sets, D. 899, and D. 935, both written in the year 1827) suggest the salonesque, extemporaneous quality that the term connotes; quite to the contrary, these are tightly knit, structurally cohesive works, often of great lyric intensity. Nor should the term be taken -- again, as is often the case -- to represent any diminution of scale; the longest of Schubert's examples lasts well over ten minutes! It is not surprising then to realize that the title, "Impromptu," was assigned to these works by Schubert's Viennese Publisher, Haslinger, and not the composer himself.

Chopin - Songs, Op.74 (selection) | Hana Blažiková and Andreas Staier

Adagietto 2016-05-03 | Frédéric Chopin - 9 Songs for voice and piano Op.74, 1829-1836.
Hana Blažiková, Soprano and Andreas Staier, Piano Pleyel, 19th century piano. Live recital.
Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand, Eugène Delacroix.

Nine Polish Poems Songs for Voice and Piano, Op.74:
No. 3 | Smutna rzeka (The Sad River), Poem by S. Witwicki
No. 16 | Piosnka litewska (Lithuanian Song), tr. L. Osiński
No. 4 | Hulanka (Drinking Song), Poem by S. Witwicki
No.9 | Melodia (Melody), Poem by Z. Krasiński
No.1 | Zyczenie (The Wish), Poem by S. Witwicki
No.13 | Nie ma czego trzeba (Faded and vanished), Poem by B. Zaleski
No. 17 | Śpiew z mogiłki (Song from the Tomb), Poem by by W. Pol
No. 10 | Wojak (The Warrior), Poem by S. Witwicki
No. 8 | Śliczny chłopiec (Handsome Lad), Poem by B. Zaleski

Hana Blažiková (soprano) - Soprano and Gothic harpist recovering and restoring lost music dating back to the 13th century.

Andreas Staier (period piano) - One of the most prominent harpsichord and fortepiano performers in the world. In 2014, he was named ‘Artist of the Year' at the International Classical Music Awards.

Though neglected for years by singers unacquainted with the Polish language and by audiences demanding performances of his familiar piano masterpieces, Chopin's songs for voice and piano have enjoyed a modest resurgence. Some musicologists believe that one of the earliest of these songs, "Precz z moich oczu!" (Out of My Sight!), usually dated 1830, might actually have been written as early as 1827. In any event, two decades of creative activity on Chopin's part yielded just 18 songs. (He seems to have conceived about 30, but, curiously, left some unfinished.) Sixteen were published in 1856-1857, and two others appeared in 1910. It seems that Chopin never intended to have his songs published, though he apparently left Liszt and others with the impression he did.

The 17 songs in the Op. 74 set, arranged without regard to chronology in their published edition, fall into two categories: the romantic and the historical, or, put more simply, the personal and the public. All his songs are settings of text by Polish poets, 10 by Stefan Witwicki (1801-1847) alone; all of those texts are taken from Witwicki's 1830 collection, Idylls. Chopin's apparent doubts about the artistic worth of his songs probably had something to do with his conviction that his best piano music was patently superior. The songs are indeed less distinctive works, but they offer much that is of interest, including unusual insights into the epic side of Chopin's thinking and a wealth of beautiful piano writing. It is also interesting to ponder the shortcomings of the songs in view of the fact that Chopin's pianistic language was itself heavily influenced by vocal music, specificially that of Bellini. The composer himself never partook in any concert performance of his songs, which offers further evidence of his doubts about them.

Among the romantic songs, there are several quite appealing works in Op. 74 set. "The Maiden's Wish" (No. 1, 1829), on texts by Witwicki, is a two-minute creation whose piano writing is most attractive. But the vocal part, too, is lovely and well-conceived. In the historical realm, there are several notable songs as well: "Wojak" (The Warrior, No. 10, 1830), another Witwicki setting, and two Dumkas, Nos. 11 and 13 in the set respectively, "Dwojaki koniec" (The Two Corpses) and "Nie ma czego trzeba" (I Want What I Have Not), both from 1845 on texts by Zaleski.

Other worthwhile songs in the Op. 74 collection include "S'piew z mogi/ly" (Hymn from the Tomb, No. 17, 1836), the longest of the group. The piano writing in most of the songs is imaginative, but often distracting in the sense that similarities to other, better-known compositions in the keyboard realm make themselves noticed.

Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 3 - III. Largo (excerpt) | Maria João Pires

Adagietto 2016-04-27 | Frédéric Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58, 1844. Largo (excerpt) Maria João Pires, piano

Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
III. Largo (excerpt) youtu.be/nleh5rY4RCw?t=42m5s

Live Recording Sonata No.3 : youtu.be/nleh5rY4RCw?t=25m58s

The slow movement, Largo, is the heart of the sonata, conceptually as well as rhythmically. Stern but harmonically ambiguous chords lead to a delicate, nostalgic aria supported by a gentle heartbeat figure in the bass. This is soon supplanted by a long, flowing, rhapsodic section of quiet rumination. The opening theme, now with a more murmuring accompaniment, returns in more ornamented garb to escort the movement to its conclusion. The final movement, Presto, non tanto, makes a short transition from the Largo with a few swelling introductory bars that lead to the urgent, driving first theme of what turns out to be a rondo; this B minor material alternates with a contrasting, chord-launched section in the major designed to showcase the performer's agile fingerwork. Elements of both sections overlap for a grand coda.

Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 2 and No. 3 | Maria João Pires

Adagietto 2016-04-22 | Frédéric Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 and
Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58, 1837 and 1844.
Maria João Pires live in Frankfurt, 2004.

00:00 Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35
I. Grave - Doppio movimento
II. Scherzo
III. Marche funèbre. Lento
IV. Finale. Presto

25:57 Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
I. Allegro maestoso
II. Scherzo. Molto vivace
III. Largo youtu.be/uJQjlLcEFzU
IV. Finale. Presto, non tanto - Agitato

The Sonata No. 2 can be viewed as something of a life cycle. The first movement serves as the life force, struggling, loving, and suffering. The ensuing Scherzo enacts demonic forces in the main section and good forces in the lyrical alternate melody of the trio section. When this movement ends with a partial recalling of the second theme, it is not clear which set of forces has emerged victorious. The third movement Funeral March represents death or mourning for the hero of the first two movements. The ghostly finale, with its swirls of dark winds, has evoked many ominous images in the minds of listeners, and serves the life cycle here as a kind of final picture of the deceased, who lies in his quiet grave, with the rustles of the wind the only disturbance above.

There are many thematic and harmonic relationships between the movements, too. The harmonies in the Funeral March can be noticed in all three of the other panels. Also, there is a thematic kinship between the alternate melody in the first movement and the lovely theme in the trio to the Scherzo. Other ties between the first two movements exist: both are stormy and hard-driven at the outset, and each features a lyrical second theme. The structural likeness between the main themes in both these movements is also worth noting: each is built on repeating motifs, the first part of which is presented twice before moving upward on the keyboard to complete the thematic idea.

In the end, this sonata, while unorthodox in some respects, is a painstakingly worked out composition of great subtlety, hardly comprised of a loosely strung-together set of piano pieces. But for all its grand and profound design, it has always been Chopin's themes and keyboard writing that have made this work popular. The third movement Funeral March theme is as famous as any ever written, and the compelling nature of the fast themes in the first movements, and their alternate melodies as well, have made this sonata popular the world over.

The first movement of the Sonata No. 3, Allegro maestoso, falls into traditional sonata form, constructed from a decisive and sometimes impulsive first theme and a more extended second theme, highly lyrical with a detailed accompanimental filigree -- music that would not be out of place in Chopin's nocturnes. The musical texture thickens considerably in the central development section; Chopin devotes long passages to variants on the second subject, but much of the development is highly contrapuntal. Following the recapitulation, which again emphasizes the second subject, the movement ends with a surprisingly peaceful coda.

Chopin - Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No.2 | Maria João Pires

Adagietto 2016-04-13 | Frédéric Chopin - Waltz for piano No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No.2, 1846-47. Maria João Pires.
Live Concert at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, 16.I.2016.

The Trois Valses, Op.64 (published in 1847) were the last set of such works to be published during Frédéric Chopin's lifetime, and were among the very last works sketched by his prodigious pen before his disease rendered further work impossible. Each of the three is among the shortest of his entries in the waltz form (making them entirely unsuitable for effective use in the ballroom--a use that, at this stage in his life, would have been unthinkable to the composer); they are, rather than actual dances, dance-poems that reflect the weakened composer's attitudes from three very different points of view. It is as if Chopin's latter-day musical personality were put through a prism, with the light of the resulting, rather distinct persona cast upon three separate sheets of music-paper. More subdued than No.1 (and strikingly Slavic in tone, with undercurrents of mazurka-rhythm mingling with the characteristic waltz figure) is the Valse in C-sharp minor, Op.64, No.2 that follows. Although the opening is marked Tempo giusto, one hardly ever hears this work played without a heavy dose of rubato. The "veiled melancholy", as Huneker called it, of the primary melody is unrivalled among Chopin's works. The sad protagonist is called to the dance floor by a spinning passage in running eighth notes (which returns two times throughout the piece, each time its tiny antecedent-consequent phrase pair being stated twice), while the piu lento, D-flat major middle section offers some consolation.

Chopin - Piano Concerto No. 2 | Maria João Pires, Trevor Pinnock

Adagietto 2016-04-06 | Frédéric Chopin - Piano Concerto Nº 2 in F minor, Op. 21, 1830.
Maria João Pires with Trevor Pinnock and The German Chamber Philharmonic of Bremen.
Live Concert at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, 16.I.2016.

Piano Concerto Nº 2 in F minor, Op. 21:
I Maestoso
II Larghetto
III Allegro Vivace

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin was actually composed before his Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor. The F minor was begun in autumn 1829 and premiered on March, 3, 1830, while the E minor was begun shortly after the premiere of the F minor. The F minor is a less popular and more derivative work than the E minor; there is the sense that Chopin, having heard the F minor, decided to move beyond his models.

The opening Maestoso movement of the F minor is clearly modeled on the concertos of Mozart's pupil, Hummel. The central Larghetto is based almost literally on the Piano Concerto in G minor composed in 1820 by Ignaz Moscheles and the closing Allegro vivace is the most original movement of the three, a stylized Polish folk song. Within the movements, all the standard concerto principles are obeyed: an orchestra exposition of the main themes before a piano exposition of the same material, the usual contrast between the tonic minor and the relative major for the principal and subordinate themes, a lyrical slow movement in the relative minor, and a rondo-form finale in the tonic major.

While Chopin's piano writing is idiomatic and highly personal - the lyrical melodies and their ornamentations could have been composed by no one else - his orchestral writing is at best competent. This, however, is less a fault than a decision: Chopin, the greatest composer for the piano of his age, would never let anything obscure the brilliance of his piano writing.

MARIA JOÃO PIRES born in Lisbon on 23 July 1944 and played her first recital aged five. She studied composition and music theory at the Lisbon Conservatory, followed by further studies in Munich and Hanover, Germany. She made her London debut in 1986 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Frédéric Chopin Concerto para Piano em Fá menor N.º 2, Op. 21

Frédéric Chopin - The Nocturnes | Maria João Pires, live recital

Adagietto 2016-03-31 | Frédéric François Chopin - The Nocturnes | Maria João Pires, piano. Live Recital.
"Chopin is a poet. It’s very inner music and very deep. I don’t feel at all it’s for show. He had that in himself... Chopin is the deep poet of music. But he also invented this terrible thing called "Piano Recitals". That made me suffer all my life."

The Nocturnes | Chopin Night Music: "Of the tenderness, the charm, the awe and mystery which are to be found in the Nocturnes... Oh, those Nocturnes! Tones of infinite sadness! There is Music in them which fathoms the depths, which plunges us into the immensity; emotional force that rends our hearts; Horrible despair, bordering on the overwhelming immanence of death itsel; Divine ecstasy interrupted by a wail of sorrow, and again by a soft caress. And all is so sincere; the sincerity of one whose heart bleeds; whose soul is overflowing with tenderness!"
George Mathias, student of Chopin

Two Rare PIANO RECITALS with Maria João Pires playing CHOPIN's NOCTURNES:
00:00:00 I. Chopin's 200th Birthday. Legendary Late Night Prom in 2010 (The Proms).
Nocturne No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.9, No.1
Nocturne No.2 in E-flat major, Op.9, No.2
Nocturne No.3 in B major, Op.9, No.3
Nocturne No.4 in F major, Op.15, No.1
Nocturne No.5 in F-sharp major, Op.15, No.2
Nocturne No.6 in G minor, Op.15, No.3
Nocturne No.7 in C-sharp minor, Op.27, No.1
Nocturne No.8 in D-flat major, Op.27, No.2
Nocturne No.17 in B major, Op.62, No.1
Nocturne No.18 in E major, Op.62, No.2
Nocturne No.19 in E minor, Op.72, No.1
Nocturne No.20 in C-sharp minor, Op. posthume
(Encore) Nocturne No.11 in G minor, Op.37, No.1
Royal Albert Hall, London, 21.VII.2010.

01:08:13 II. Chopin Festival. Poland Recital in 2014.
Nocturne No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.9, No.1
Nocturne No.2 in E-flat major, Op.9, No.2
Nocturne No.3 in B major, Op.9, No.3
Nocturne No.7 in C-sharp minor, Op.27, No.1
Nocturne No.8 in D-flat major, Op.27, No.2
Nocturne No.14 in F-sharp minor, Op.48, No.2
Nocturne No.20 in C-sharp minor, Op. posthume
Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, Warsaw, 29.VIII.2014.

"The Royal Albert Hall is a wonderful and inspiring place to be, but acoustically it can very strange. Loud sounds bounce around that vast space like balls on a pin-ball machine. Yet for quiet music it can be magical. The sounds go straight from source to ear, so they have a lovely miniaturised clarity like the distant figures in a Van Eyck painting. That unexpected intimacy accounts for some of the intensity of Maria Joao Pires’s recital of Chopin Nocturnes. But it would have counted for nothing without her special poetry. She’s a tiny, almost bird-like figure, and she seemed even smaller in that huge space, which was packed with more people than I’ve ever seen for a late-night Prom. It must be daunting for a pianist, but Pires seemed perfectly at ease, as if she was playing for a few friends at home. That gives her performances an air of total sincerity. [...] Pires wants to get at the poetic heart of the music, and here she did that time after time. The word Nocturne implies something dreamy and indistinct, but Pires’ performances reminded us that the expressive range of Chopin’s pieces is much bigger than that. There was the total rapt stillness of the early Bb minor Nocturne, uncannily clear, like a moonlit landscape. There was the fascinating uncertainty of the G major Nocturne Op. 15, which she poised so perfectly on the cusp between hesitancy and impetuous ardour. The late Nocturne in E major suddenly becomes stormy at its mid-point, but Pires managed to project this while suggesting it was only a momentary flurry – maybe only a dream – while the night-time stillness was still continuing, somewhere beyond our hearing. That is artistry of a very special order." The Telegraph 2010

"The evening turned out to be a special one for piano fans. The Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires made a rare appearance with a generous selection of Chopin's nocturnes as the late-night event. Received wisdom suggests the Albert Hall is too big for such music, but in this case the sonic unpredictability of the venue conspired with the pianist herself to refute it. Pires's playing was unostentatious but commanding, controlled yet free-flying in its sensitivity to the fluidity of Chopin's lines, and in its responsiveness to the scope of pieces still sometimes marked down as delicate miniatures." The Guardian 2010

MARIA JOÃO PIRES born in Lisbon on 23 July 1944 and played her first recital aged five. She studied composition and music theory at the Lisbon Conservatory, followed by further studies in Munich and Hanover, Germany. She made her London debut in 1986 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
From Portugal, with Love