CCCXXXIII. NANCARROW, Conlon: Sonatina for Piano

CCCXXXIII. NANCARROW, Conlon (1912-1997)

Sonatina for Piano (1941)
1. Presto
2. Moderato
3. Allegro molto
Matthew Edwards, piano
[scrolling score]
(6:02)

Previously posted were three of the Player Piano Studies (XXXIV, CXXXVIII and CCCXXX), as well as the Ensemble Modern's transcription of #9 (CLXXVII).

Here is an early work that was actually written for a human being. The piece is so difficult, it has been recorded in a four-hand version approved by the composer.

CCCXXXII. HAYDN, Franz Joseph: Missa in tempore belli ("Paukenmesse')

CCCXXXII. HAYDN, Franz Joseph (1732-1809)

Missa in tempore Belli ("Paukenmesse") (1796)
1. Kyrie
2. Gloria
3. Credo
4. Sanctus
5. Beneditus
6. Agnus Dei
Lucy Crowe, soprano
Paul Murrihy, mezzo-soprano
Robin Tritschler, tenor
Roderick Williams, baritone
Choir of King's College Cambridge
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Stephen Cleobury, cond.
(36:25)

Pauken = timpani. We'll get to that later.

**

One of Haydn's duties as Kapellmeister for Prince Esterházy was to compose a mass in honor of his wife Maria's name-day.

In 1796, the Austrians were losing in a war with France. Despite being in the happy key of C Major, most of the piece has an unsettled quality to it, partially due to Haydn's dips into chromaticism.

1. Kyrie

Like a symphony, the mass opens with a short Largo passage which concludes on a chord in the tonic in the 6/4 position, before bursting into Allegro:

The principal melody is interrupted by one bar of decoration by the violins:

2. Gloria

Divided into four parts:

1. Gloria in excelsis Deo
2. Qui tollis peccata mundi
3. Quoniam tu solus Sanctus
4. Cum sancto Spiritu

The first part is an energetic 3/4 meter with tutti chorus:

The Qui tollis features an exquisite duet with a solo cello and the solo baritone in A Major:

The third section moves back to C Major, 3/4, again with tutti chorus:

which flows into the fourth part. The melismatic amen features some beautiful stretto writing:

3. Credo

Full orchestra, chorus, C Major. Abruptly changes mood to C Minor, 3/4 for another baritone solo.

Check out the decorative flourishes first in the continuo, then the violins:

4. Sanctus

Again, the Allegro preceded by a slow Adagio.

5. Benedictus

6/8; pastoral feel, moving from minor to major:

6. Agnus Dei

And here is where the sobriquet comes in. The timpani beats out the unmistakable strokes of a dark war spirit.

Haydn is still full of surprises right up until the very end:

The held diminished chord (first inversion -- vii°/V) and the light descending C Major arpeggio in the violins are little touches that make Haydn the superb craftsman that he was.

CCCXXXI. STOCKHAUSEN, Karlheinz: Aries for Trumpet and Electronic Music

CCCXXXI. STOCKHAUSEN, Karlheinz (1928-2007)

Aries for Trumpet and Electronic Music (1977)
Part 1 (6:34)
Part 2 (6:48)
Part 3 (5:34)
Matthew Brown, trumpet
Karlheinz Stockhausen, electronic music

Written for Markus's 20th birthday.

CCCXXX. NANCARROW, Conlon: Study for Player Piano #26

CCCXXX. NANCARROW, Conlon (1912-1997)

Study for Player Piano #26 (1948-60)
(4:36)

This study is a canon in seven (octave-doubled) voices, each of which proceeds implacably, relentlessly, in whole notes. Their absolute regularity is only interrupted occasionally by one of two bars of rest, these rests coinciding, in all seven voices, at one point only, in measure 121. The first voice is heard alone for the first twelve bars, the other voices entering successively ... each voice is exactly 151 bars in duration, so they drop out in the reverse of the order in which they entered.

This piece is a study in polyphonic/textural perception. In the beginning -- and again at the end -- the integrity and continuity of individual voices is easily heard. By the time four or five voices have entered, however, the thickening texture becomes more and more difficult to hear polyphonically, becoming finally a compound-monophonic sequence of massive "block" chords, before returning to the polyphonic clarity of the beginning, as earlier voices drop out, one by one.

CCCXXIX. VICTORIA, Tomás Luis de: Quem vidistis pastores

CCCXXIX. VICTORIA, Tomás Luis de (1548-1611)

Quem vidistis pastores (1572)
Ensemble Plus Ultra
Michael Noone, cond.
[scrolling score]
(4:57)

"I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition."

[Michael Palin & Co. bursts through the door, dressed in bright red Spanish Inquisition costumes ...]

"No one expects the Spanish Inqusition."

-- Monty Python

Victoria's mother's family were conversos. Too soon to joke about?

As it turned out, Tomás Luis de Victoria became the greatest Spanish composer of sacred music of the 16th century. He adored Palestrina; might have studied with him.

This six-voice motet shows his mastery of the form; the voices in stretto, the part-writing, and the beautiful 4-3 suspensions (like the final bar) ...

CCCXXVIII. HAYDN, Franz Joseph: By the Stream So Cool and Clear

CCCXXVIII. HAYDN, Franz Joseph (1732-1809)

By the Stream So Cool and Clear (ca. 1800)
Lorna Anderson, soprano
Haydn Trio Eisenstadt
(1:38)

CCCXXVII. GLAZUNOV, Alexander: Symphony #8 in E-Flat Major, Op. 83

CCCXXVII. GLAZUNOV, Alexander (1865-1936)

Symphony #8 in E-Flat Major, Op. 83 (1905)
1. Allegro moderato
2. Mesto
3. Allegro
4. Finale: Moderato sostenuto -- Allegro moderato
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
Yevgeny Svetlanov, cond.
(42:40)

Conservative, even by the standards of 1905, this final symphony nevertheless is filled with beautiful melodies, sublime harmonies, and -- like most of the great Russians -- an uncanny knack for inventive orchestration ...

First Movement

A melody is introduced, first shared by bassoons and horns; clarinets and trumpets; and flutes and violins. This slightly syncopated tune permeates the entire movement; and in various disguises, the entire symphony!

A clever fugato in the parallel minor:

Second Movement

In E-Flat Minor (six flats), with a theme vaguely related to the first movement motif:

with such a distant tonality, Glazunov freely meanders around the circle of fifths -- darkening the mood here, lightening it there ...

Now and then, a glimpse of his influence on his pupil Shostakovich, who loved writing for solo instruments above pulsing strings, such as here:

Textbook orchestration; with the entire orchestra pounding away in short 1/8th-note phrases, he entrusts the melody in its lowest register to just bass clarinet, trombone, tuba and the lowest strings:

With the orchestration thinning out, three solo winds play in stretto, the movement ending with a gentle E-Flat Minor pulse ...

Third Movement

A four-bar chromatic motif establishes the musical material for most of the movement:

Fourth Movement

The winds carry a typical Russian hymn-like tune

as the original melody creeps back in. A clarinet introduces a contrasting motif in B Major:

a closer look at this bare brass blast:

Take a look at how Glazunov creates this with three trumpets, three trombones and tuba, rewritten in two clefs (the third trumpet is in F, sounding a Perfect Fourth above what's written):

and a mighty triumphant finish:

CCCXXVI. SHOSTAKOVICH, Dmitri: Orango

CCCXXVI. SHOSTAKOVICH, Dmitri (1906-1975)

Orango (1932/2011)
Gerard McBurney, orchestration
Natalia Pavlova, Suzanna
Natalia Jakimova, Renée
Aleksander Šagun, Armand Fleury
Aleksander Trofimov, Paul Mâche
Vladimir Babokin, Foreigner 1
Oleg Losev, Foreigner 2
Dmitro Koljeuško, Zoologist
Ivan Novoselov, Orango
Leo Elhardt, Voice from the Crowd
Denis Beganski, The Entertainer
Juri Jevtšuk, Bass solo
Dominante Choir
Murtosointu Choir
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Part 1 (9:30)
Part 2 (12:51)
Part 3 (11:48)

The image of someone picking through garbage cans summons up a Special Organized Crime Investigator, or maybe a paparazzo searching Brad Pitt's recycling bin.

But stranger than that, some unknown composer friend of Shostakovich's bribed his housemaid to regularly deliver the contents of his waste bins to him rather than throwing them in the garbage.

The seven sheets of manuscript paper which compromise the piano sketches for this work were among those found by the Russian musicologist Olgo Digonskaya in 2004. With Irina Shostakovich's (third wife) blessing, Gerard McBurney orchestrated the piano sketches (which contained the vocal parts) and the work was premiered in Los Angeles in 2011.

The inspiration for this bizarre idea came from an eccentric biologist -- Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, who unsuccessfully attempted to implant human sperm into female chimpanzees.

**

So how did it end up in the circular file?

In 1932, the Bloshoi Theatre commissioned the work to be performed on the 15th anniversary of the Revolution. Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (distant relative of Leo) and Alexander Osipovich Starchakov were engaged to write the libretto.

The two writers failed to meet their deadline, and Shostakovich was busy writing his opera, Lady Macbeth (see Post CCLXXXIV), so the project was abandoned, and DS tossed the pages into the garbage.

**

Of course, all we have of those seven pages is just the first part of the Prologue, which might have turned into a mighty opera, like Lady Macbeth.

But we are fortunate to have this fragment, which is most entertainingly presented in McBurney's version, along with a darkly satirical video accompaniment.

**

Oh yes -- Starchakov was arrested and shot by Stalin's secret police in 1937. I am unable to find any further details. One of millions -- murdered for some trifle, no doubt ...

CCCXXV. STRAVINSKY, Igor: Orpheus

CCCXXV. STRAVINSKY, Igor (1882-1971)

Orpheus (1947)
Scene 1
1. Orphée
2. Air de danse
3. L'Ange de la mort et sa danse
4. Interlude
Scene 2
5. The Furies
6. Air de danse
7. Pas d'action
8. Pas de deux
9. Interlude
10. Pas d'action
Scene 3
11. Apothéose d'Orphée
State Academic Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, cond.
(31:22)

To confine oneself to only knowing the three famous ballets from the teens (The Firebird [1910]; Petroushka [1911] and Le Sacre du Printemps [1913]) is to deny the pleasure of getting to know the later ones -- from the so-called "Neoclassical" period ... they have much in common with the earlier works -- especially the motion of music accompanying bodies in motion.

1. Orphée

A harp imitates the plucking of the Lyre, in a 4/2 dirge-like passage.

2. Air de danse

Suddenly a gust of wind; and this persistant melody in the violins, using only two notes at first -- a third is added, then a fourth:

3. L'ange de la mort et sa danse

A somewhat disjointed dance leads to a moaning trombone solo, as Hades leads Orpheus to the underworld.

4. Interlude

Notice the wide intervallic leaps which occur in much of Stravinsky's music from this period:

5. The Furies

Stravinsky conveys the Furies' agitation with a marking of Agitato!

Over a rhythmic A Major Seventh chord the violins play an intense chopped-up melody:

6. Air de danse

Again, the harp imitates Orpheus's Lyre ...

7. Pas d'action

Hades -- moved by Orpheus's tender playing -- has returned Eurydice to him. But the music only portends sadness and separation.

8. Pas de deux

As Orpheus and Eurydice dance in front of the curtain, Stravinsky begins the mournful music in unison and very gradually it gathers momentum until the fateful moment that Orpheus removes his mask, looks upon his beloved, who immediately drops dead.

Stravinsky, after a measure of silence, responds:

9. Interlude

Discordant brass:

10. Pas d'action

The Bacchantes tear Orpheus apart.

11. Apothéose d'Orphée

A more or less literal repeat of the first part; Apollo has taken the Lyre and is playing to the gods.