Show 110: Concertos

[Added on 2015/7/18:  This used to be called Show 10.  I've renumbered the shows, so that this one is Show110.  The July 4th show for this year will be numbered numbered Show201, and so on.  If you didn't figure this out yet, my first show aired the week of July 4th, 2014.]

Part 1 (approx 1 hour)         Part 2 (approx 1 hour)


Introduction
Concertos were how I got into classical music.  I had started out by listening to Music Appreciation Records by Book Of The Month Club, back around 1962, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper's pet aphid, and got started listening to Beethoven's Fifth, and so on.

Concertos are works for solo instrument —or solo instruments— and orchestra.  Usually there are three movements.  We’ve already heard some slow movements from concertos; it’s time to listen to their first movements.  The first movement of a concerto is sort of the signature movement; most people remember that first movement.  We will also listen to some last movements, which are usually fast and exciting.  I’m going to shorten these clips, especially in the longer movements.

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No 5
The first movement we’re going to listen to is one of the most highly recognizable movements in the Baroque repertoire.  It is a triple concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord, and was one of the earliest concertos featuring the harpsichord as a solo instrument.  In those times, i.e., roughly the time of Benjamin Franklin, the harpsichord was a sort of background instrument.  When Bach used one as a solo instrument, people were startled, we’re told.  Here’s the Brandenburg concerto No 5 in D major, the First Movement.

Telemann: Concerto for Flute and Recorder
The flute and Recorder are very similar instruments.  Telemann, a composer who was very famous in his time, wrote a concerto for Flute and Recorder, which enables us to compare the two instruments side by side.  This is Michala Petri and William Bennet performing Georg Philip Telemann’s Concerto for Flute and Recorder, with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.  Try and see whether you can tell which is the recorder and which is the flute.  The recorder sounds like a whistle.

Haydn: Concerto for Trumpet
One of the first performance I heard of the Williamsport Symphony was the Haydn trumpet concerto, played by the then maestro Rolf Smedvig, who was the solo trumpeter.  Here’s the last movement, played by maestro Smedvig, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jahja Ling.  The second movement is very memorable, and I urge you to take a listen to it, perhaps on the Internet.

Mozart: Concerto No 23, K 488, Finale
Mozart was a child prodigy, and a fabulous pianist of that time.  This is the ending of one of his most famous concertos, written shortly before he died, at a time when he was deeply depressed.  There is absolutely no hint of his mental state in the music.  He was a very amazing man.

This performance is by Chick Corea, and the orchestra is the St Paul Chamber Orch, conducted by, of all people, Bobby McFerrin.  The performance is actually wonderful, crystal clear and well articulated.

Bobby McFerrin: Don’t Worry, Be Happy
Since we mentioned Bobby McFerrin, we have to play something from him which we all know well.

Beethoven: The Emperor Concerto
This is one of the most amazing last movements of any concerto: the finale of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto.  It is played by Leon Fleisher

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
Here’s a large chunk of the Mendelssohn violin concerto, whose slow movement I played in an earlier show on beautiful melodies.  The Mendelssohn family was of Jewish heritage, though they had converted to Lutheranism, and we can hear some Jewish inspiration if we try really hard.

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
We’ve already listened to the slow movement; this is the first movement played by Leila Josefowicz.

Brahms:  Piano concerto No 2.
As we were saying, Brahms wrote these major, utterly romantic, symphonic concertos, and his piano concerto no. 2 is one of them.  It was played some years ago in the Community Arts Center, by a famous South American pianist whose name I have forgotten.  Here are about ten minutes of the first movement.  The word romantic doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Mozart:  Sinfonia Concertante
Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante was written for violin and viola, and is considered one of his greatest works by many.  It is in four movements, and this is a part of the slow movement.
 
Hank Marvin: Dance On
The Shadows were a popular guitar group of the sixties in Britain.  They accompanied Cliff Richard, but they were far from being simply his backup group.  One of their most tuneful numbers was Dance On.

Mozart: Violin Concerto No 4
Mozart wrote five violin concertos, which were intended to be pure entertainment, and an opportunity to show off the skill of the violinist.  This is the classical tradition of the concerto: an element of showcasing skills, and the dramatic contrast between the soloists and the orchestra.
I have several versions of Mozart’s violin concerto No 4, and just to see the difference between them, here is Viktoria Mullova playing a few seconds of the first movement, followed by Pinchas Zukerman playing the same portion.  (We finished that segment with the Mullova recording of the complete first movement.)

Brahms: Violin Concerto, Movement 3
A little after Beethoven, concertos became less entertainment, and more what is called symphonic.  Symphonies from the time of late Mozart were intended to be expressive, and works of art.  There is smooth variation from entertainment to art, and most pieces and all performances have elements of both.  Brahms and those who came after him were more concerned with the artistic possibilities of concertos, and Brahm’s violin concerto is generally recognized as being symphonic.  In fact, Paganini, the great violinist, is famously supposed to have refused to play the Brahms concerto, because he said there was only one good tune in it, and that was given to the oboe.  Here’s the third movement of Brahms’s violin concerto, played by a brilliant young Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji.  (The first few bars sound as though there are two violins playing: but this is just a technique called double-stopping.  The violinist plays two strings at the same time.  Triple-stopping is also possible.)

The Shadows: Dance On
The Shadows were a guitar instrumental group from Britain, who accompanied Cliff Richard.  But they were far more than a mere backup band. This tune is a song, written by Valerie Murtagh: Dance On.

Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor
Jacqueline Du Pre was a brilliant British cellist, who was married to Daniel Barenboim, the pianist and conductor.  But Miss Du Pre died of multiple sclerosis at the tragic age of 42, --not 28, as I said on the air; that was the age at which she had to stop performing-- leaving everyone in shock.  Dvorak was one of the first to write a modern concerto for solo cello.  This is the first movement, played by Ms Du Pre, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Next week: Duets.  Unfortunately, I was able to lay my hands on too few duets, so there is a lot of stuff from the Lycoming College Parents’ Weekend concert.

[Posted earlier:
Due to a glitch in the realtime software the station uses, Show 10: Concertos did not air at all the week of Sept 13.  It will come on this Saturday (Sept 20, 2014) at 8:00 P.M.

What is the point of trying to popularize an appreciation (the appreciation of Classical Music) that is so closely identified with affluent city folks?  Why should ordinary working stiffs such as constitute the vast majority of Williamsport residents care about classical music?  The answer is firstly that I don't think the good things in life should be cornered by those who can afford big bucks.  It belongs to all of us.  In fact, arguably, the wealthy class is sadly uninterested in cultural pursuits.  They don't attend concerts, they don't support orchestras, they don't pay their taxes to support the arts in any way.  The joys of the wealthy have to do with impressing each other with how much wealth they have.  The 1% is not a genteel bunch.  There is more sensitivity to art and culture among the old, the feeble, the indigent and the unemployed than among the very affluent.
Secondly, if it is ever within the realm of possibility that we can afford to actually retire someday, books, music, theatre are all things that can make our declining years worth living, in addition to a bunch of healthy grandchildren to subvert!

Thirdly, classical music is actually cheaper than popular music to buy.

Finally, along with Jazz, classical music makes you think.  (This is always an advantage for older folks.)]

Arch

Setback, possibly permanent: we can't upload the podcasts

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 close text (transcript) of the show.

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, played from a MIDI file which I created using Finale.   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 faking 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 are in this form. 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.   It might well be a parody of Salieri.
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.  Thanks for listening!

Archie