Show 105: The Warhorses

The fifth show, back in 2014, was about the so-called Warhorses.  I had got it into my head that unless I featured some pieces that everybody recognized as classics, I might lose a lot of potential listeners.  (My taste in music is pretty mainstream, but not as mainstream as some; for instance, most folks don't like Bach as much as I do, etc.)

I had started putting up these "podcasts" already, using Google as the server, and just about this fifth show rolled round, I was having trouble with uploading to the server.  Some weeks later, I sprang for space on the present server, and used Google only to host this text blog.  The links go to another server, for which I have to pay <cry-cry>.

Show 105--Warhorses was lost in the shuffle, so I'm remedying it now.  Here is the podcast of last night's show (2016/2/6), as it should have been.  I should remember to go back to the original post and insert a forward address to here.  But I probably won't.

Here's the original apologetic message about the server not working:

Sorry, fans of Archie's Archives; we’re having trouble uploading the files to the server (Google Sites).  After a couple more attempts, we will give up on it.  It looked very promising for a while ...

Anyhow, here is the more or less [accurate] transcript of the show.

Anyway, we now do have a reliable server, just in case you missed that memo.

Part A (minutes 0-28)

Part B (minutes 30-58)

Part C (minutes 60-88)

Part D (minutes 90-118)

1 -Introduction	Okay; I think it’s time to bring out the warhorses; that is, the famous classical tunes that everybody knows, or has at least heard on Bugs Bunny.   Now I’m planning to do an entire Bugs Bunny Introduces the Classics show —which is not a new idea, I know— so I’m going to keep away from Bugs Bunny classics, for the most part. Let’s try two things in this show: Firstly, let’s try to get you to know the names of these pieces, and the composers. Next, let’s try to introduce you to something else, which is equally good, or equally catchy, by the same composer.   A sort of ‘What’s on the B side?’ approach. Just a couple more things. Firstly, we have set up a website, called ArchiesWXPIArchives.Blogspot.Com, where we’re going to post these shows after they air, as podcasts. Second, I have an e-mail address now; it’s archieWXPI@gmail.com.   There’s a link to it at the website. Send me mail, and I’ll read it and reply, or read out a response right here.
2 Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring	This next piece is what my folks played at bedtime when I was just about four years old.   It should put me right to sleep, except that we sang it in school for a prize day one time, and I was totally hooked.   Here it is, sung by the Wiener Singerknaben, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.   It has a trumpet playing the soprano part.   (People don’t realize that the original scoring had the sopranos doubled with a trumpet.)   Listen to the inner parts.   The oboe is front and center, but there is a violin playing a really lovely counterpoint to it.   Also, the tenor voice has a really sweet line of music.   The bass line, of course, as in all of Bach music is interesting and important.
3, 4 Bach: Rondeau, Badinerie	Now I want to play something else by Bach. You’ve heard tons of Bach already, so I’m not going to try too hard.   But here is a pair of tunes that were actually on the B side of the record my Dad used to play.  Both of these are movements from the B minor (Orchestral) Suite.   These are the Rondeau, and the Badinerie.
5 Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers	Waltz of the Flowers, from the Nutcracker Ballet Suite by P. I. Tchaikovsky.   This is the whole thing, except for the Harp introduction, which I took out.
6 Tchaikovsky: Pathetic Symphony, movt ii	A lovely movement from Tchaikovsky is from his Pathetic Symphony (Symphony No 6).   This movement is in quintuple time, and the stress is on beats 1 and 3.   You’ve all heard Dave Brubeck’s Take Five.   That one is in compound quintuple; this one is in plain old quintuple.   It is in ABA form, or rather A1 B A2 form, where A1 and A2 are almost the same, but obviously, A2 is slightly modified, as an ending.
7 Beethoven: fragments from Symphonies 9, 5, and 3	There is a lot of Beethoven that people might have heard, including the famous Ode to Joy from the 9th Symphony: Then the famous 5th Symphony: A little less well known, but as brilliant, or even more brilliant, the Eroica, or the 3rd Symphony: I’ll play all of these movements in completeness sometime.
8, 9 Beethoven: Sonata No. 14, fragment from Movt 1, complete Movt 2.	Here is the recapitulation from the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata, by Wilhelm Kempff. Here is the middle movement, which is a lot less well-known, played by Emil Gilels.   Listen to his control of the piano!
10 Haydn: ‘Emperor’ Quartet, excerpt	Haydn was a major composer.   He practically invented the String Quartet, though really, it was a sort of team job. I’ve played a couple of Haydn pieces, notably an aria from the Creation.   Here is an excerpt from his Emperor Quartet, from which is taken the Austrian National Anthem, and the German National Anthem.
11 Haydn: Great Whales, from Die Schöpfung (Creation)	The aria ‘And God created Great Whales,’ from Haydn’s Creation.)   Note: the text of the entire oratorio was taken from Milton’s Paradise Lost.
12 The Seekers: Georgy Girl	It’s been some time since we heard a song from the Seekers being played.   The Seekers were an Australian group who sang lovely open harmony.   Here’s one that used to be really well known, because of being featured in a movie: Georgy Girl, starring Vanessa Redgrave (Sorry: it was Lynn Redgrave.)
13 Seekers: Walk with me	Another song by the same group is Walk With Me, which has a really lovely interlude, played on the 12-string guitar
14 Schubert:   Unfinished Symphony (excerpt)	Schubert is famous for his Unfinished Symphony.   It was not a symphony that he died before completing, in the sense that he ran out of time.   It was just one that was either complete in two movements, or one that he set aside.   Here’s the beginning of the first movement.   (I feel bad to play enormously long movements for obvious reasons, so this is just an excerpt.)   You could easily find it on YouTube, for instance, if you like it.
15 Schubert: Who is Silvia	Schubert also wrote a song based on a Shakespeare sonnet called To Silvia.   Here are the King’s Singers, singing it a capella.   You can hear them depicting the piano part.   Schubert was Austrian, but they loved Shakespeare over there (back then).
16 John Lennon: Imagine	John Lennon’s Imagine is really well known.   He did not write Yesterday, that was Paul McCartney.   So, here’s Imagine.   Does Religion create a world without strife, or does Religion add to the strife?   I think opinion is pretty well equally divided on the issue.
17 John Lennon:  Aisumasen	Another song he sang was Aisumasen, which is Japanese for I’m Sorry.   Listen to the awesome guitar interlude.
18 Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto	Felix Mendelssohn is credited with writing the tune to Hark the Herald Angels Sing.   One of the best known Wedding Marches is also his.   It’s taken from the music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.   Like I said, the German people of the nineteenth century thought Shakespeare was utterly romantic.   Here is a bit of it: Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto is one of the great entries in classical music.   Here are the first few minutes of the Violin Concerto in E-minor:
19 Wagner: Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin	I’ve played for you a couple of pieces by Wagner.   Many of you know the Ride of the Valkyries, from Apocalypse Now, and you know the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, which is often used as a wedding march.
20 Die Engel	Wagner wrote several beautiful Lieder, that is songs, that were nothing to do with opera at all.   Here’s one, called The Angel, one of the Wesendonck Lieder
21 Hollies: Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress	If you’ve heard of Crosby Stills and Nash, then you know about Graham Nash.   He was earlier a member of an awesome group called The Hollies.   Here are two songs by them; it’s hard to tell which of the two you might have heard.   This one is called The Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.
22 Hollies:   Bus Stop	The second song is one of my all-time favorites: Bus Stop.
23 Elgar: Pomp & Circumstances	At graduation time, this tune is heard all over the US: Actually it is part of a much longer march: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 by Edward Elgar.
24 Edward Elgar: Nimrod, from Enigma Variations	Almost better known than the Pomp and Circumstances marches is the set of variations called the Enigma Variations written by Elgar.   Out of these, the variation called Nimrod is the best known. It is a piece of great dignity (or rather gravity), and often used at funerals.   Here it is played by the London Philharmonic with Daniel Barenboim conducting.
25 George Gershwin: Summertime	Who comes next?   Let’s see whether you can identify the composer of this one.
26 Gershwin: Prelude 2	This is the famous Prelude No. 2
27 Brahms: Lullaby	The best-known piece by Brahms is his famous Lullaby (Weigenlied), one of a set of several songs he wrote for voice and piano.   Here’s the original.   All the versions we usually hear have been —improved— by various people.   I slightly improved this one by instrumenting it for strings and woodwind, and changing two notes.  Actually, 4 notes, since it is repeated.  I just couldn’t resist.   I might change them back before I put the show on the air.  (I didn’t.)
28 Brahms: Hungarian Dances	The obvious choice for the second piece by Brahms is his famous St. Anthony Chorale Variations, but I only have that on LP, and it’s too late in the week for me to make an mp3 out of that.   So it’s going to be one of the Hungarian Dances. The Hungarian Dances are not a dance suite, like the Bach Suites.   They’re collections of dances for people to play at home, so it’s music for amateurs to play.   Just about the time of Beethoven, which is about the time of the American Revolution, composers could no longer make a living from being court composers, so they had to start publishing printed collections for ordinary people.   Everything becomes more interesting if you connect it up.   Certainly history becomes more interesting. Well, guess what.   I found it hard to pick one of the dances to play for you; the first seven of the collection of 21 were all familiar.   Robin Fountain and the Williamsport Symphony played several in orchestral versions back in 1993.   These were all originally written to be played by two people at the same piano, called piano four hands.   A lot of fun.   This one is no. 5 in G minor.
29, 30, 31 Mozart: Sonata K545 in C, Movts 1, 2, 3	For Mozart, let’s play this well-known Sonata in C major, sometimes called the Easy Sonata (or the same thing in French, you can look it up), K 545.   This is played by Glenn Gould, who was supposed not to care for Mozart very much, so he races through this first movement.   He also plays without much pedal, which was something a lot of people didn’t like.   But he plays it so fast that I can play all three movements for you.   Here’s the first movement.   The first part introduces two themes.   The middle part develops them.   Then there’s a recap of the two themes, with a slight variation. For the middle movement, I’m going to play a recording by Walter Klien, who is a much more reasonable pianist —now don’t go quoting me on these things— anyway, it’s a little slower and quieter.   It is a Rondo, which is in an ABACA, or ABACADA form.   Many pop songs have this structure. Okay, back to Glenn Gould for the last movement.   I think that the theme is supposed to represent “ha ha ha, hee hee hee”   Listen, and tell me what you think.   You also see how on the money Peter Schaffer’s play Amadeus was.   All the little musical bits are actually taken from Mozart music.   It is not a parody of Mozart at all; it is a real depiction of the man, slightly exaggerated, and presented as a parody, for the sake of people who might be a little aghast at the sort of person Mozart really was.   The representation of Salieri in the play, however, is almost certainly a parody.
32 Mozart: Gran Partita, Movt 3	Talking about Amadeus, For the last piece, I’m going to play this movement from one of the Mozart Serenades.   This is the most famous one.   In Vienna, there were groups of guys who got instruments from somewhere, usually from wealthy families who sponsored them, and formed private music clubs, and walked around the streets at night, and played outside famous the town houses of these families.   Mozart wrote some of his best stuff for these roving minstrel bands, including this one.   It is a multi-movement work, and this is the third movement, the Adagio, which means slow.   (All the speed indications were in Italian.   If I said it had something to do with the Catholic Church, people would totally get on my case, but that’s what I think.)   This is from the Serenade no. K 361, or the Gran Partita.

That was the whole thing, except for three station breaks, during some of which I played that crazy march, about which I will explain sometime.  (The crazy march is Starlight Serenade, by Jonny Heykens.)  Thanks for listening!

Archie