DLXXVI. STRAVINSKY, Igor: Octet

DLXXVI. STRAVINSKY, Igor (1882-1971)

Octet (1923)
1. Sinfonia (Lento -- Allegro moderato)
2. Tema con variazioni (Andantino)
3. Finale (Sempre 1/4-note=116, Tempo giusto)
"The President's Own" United States Marine Band
(16:10)

Abandoning the "neo-primitivist" Russian style of the big ballets of the Nineteen-teens, this work firmly belongs in the new "neo-classic" period which was to occupy Stravinsky for the rest of his life.

The critics thought it a "bad joke of 18th-century mannerisms." It was also uncomfortably "dissonant."

A century later, we can simply declare it as a masterpiece of unusually-scored chamber music -- flute, clarinet, two bassoons, two trumpets and two trombones.

First movement

The opening Lento contains the melodic and harmonic seeds of what's to follow:

Allegro moderato; the main theme:

Second movement

In a letter Ernest Ansermet, Stravinsky wrote that Mozart was for him what Ingres was to Picasso.

Hmm; a comparison is in order:

Ingres: Grande Baigneuse (1808)

Picasso: Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1906)

The theme is presented by the high winds, then the second trumpet:

The following variation ("Variation A") is used as an introduction to the second, fourth and seventh variations. Stravinsky referred to it as the "ribbon of scales." It is spectacular music:

a march:

(Variation A)

a waltz:

(Variation A)

a can-can

(Variation A)

A solemn fugue in 5/8:

Third movement

The Russian circle-dance (khorovod) made previous appearances in The Firebird and Le Sacre ... here its 3+3+2 rhythm is gradually insinuated:

and made explicit here:

We see it again in the trumpet just bars before the end:

DLXXV. BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van: Sonata #9 in E Major for Piano, Op. 14, No. 1

DLXXV. BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van (1770-1827)

Sonata #9 in E Major for Piano, Op. 14, No. 1 (1798)
1. Allegro
2. Allegretto
3. Rondo -- Allegro comodo
Igor Levit, piano
(12:57)

An early work which Beethoven later transcribed for string quartet (Hess 34), raising the key a semitone to F Major.

First movement

Opens simply and quickly becomes more complex. Beethoven crashes into an F-Sharp Major chord, used as a secondary dominant to B Major:

After a whirlwind development, Beethoven returns to the opening 1/2-notes, in a beautiful bass register, before closing softly:

Second movement

A beautiful short, minuet-like movement in E Minor:

moving to C Major:

Third movement

A seriously fast-moving rondo:

Notice how with one note (A-natural), Beethoven turns the B chord into a dominant seventh to return to the tonic!

Check out the syncopation (a look forward) which precedes the final bars:

DLXXIV. GLAZUNOV, Alexander: Symphony #6 in C Minor, Op. 58

DLXXIV. GLAZUNOV, Alexander (1805-1936)

Symphony #6 in C Minor, Op. 58 (1896)
1. Adagio -- Allegro passionato
2. Tema con variazioni: Andante
3. Intermezzo (Scherzo allegretto)
4. Finale: Andante maestoso
Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Anissimov, cond.
(38:08)

Seemingly an anachronism in an age when composers were experimenting in radically different forms, Glazunov remained stubbornly attached to the Tchaikovsky-like symphony.

He was an orchestrator par-excellence. His musical materials were bright and interesting, and he definitely does not deserve to have been buried in the trash heap of underperformed composers, as he seems to have been.

I urge you to check him out!!

First movement

A slow introduction climbs to a brief climax:

and a faster tempo:

A secondary theme; much calmer:

Both themes are developed and returned, before an exciting coda:

Second movement

A theme and seven variations, in the dominant G Major:

Var. I. The winds vary the theme with chromatic underscoring:

Var II. A change of meter (3/8) and a pastoral feeling beginning with a solo oboe:

Var. III. A key change (E Major), marked Scherzino, begun by the flutes:

Var IV. A short Fugato:

leads into Var V., in B Major, marked Notturno:

Var VI. (Allegro moderato) features the winds, but note how the strings -- in fleeting 16th-note triplets -- accompany them, moving along in a whirl ...

Var VII. Finale, opening with rugged punctuation by trumpets and trombones. The harmony moves gradually from E Minor to G Major.

Third movement

Intermezzo; E-Flat Major. Glazunov modulates to different key centers frequently in this delightfully light-hearted movement:

Fourth movement

Deep gravitas in the tonic (C Minor [with many modulations]) beginning in  4/2 meter:

Later, Glazunov moves to a subdivided 9/4, which seems to recall a Renaissance dance!

Triumphant finish in C Major:

DLXXIII. DEL TREDICI, David: Zyzygy

DLXXIII. DEL TREDICI, David (1937-2023)

Syzygy (1966)
1. Ecce Puer (5:37)
2. Nightpiece (19:04)
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Jan Harshagen, French horn
Peppie Wiersma, tubular bells
Wim Vos, tubular bells
ASKO Ensemble
Oliver Knussen, cond.

DLXXII. PENDERECKI, Krzysztof: Hymne an den heilgen Daniel

DLXXII. PENDERECKI, Krzysztof (1933-2020)

Hymne an den heilgen Daniel (1997)
Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
Antoni Wit, cond.
(12:13)

DLXXI. REICH, Steve: City Life

DLXXI. REICH, Steve (1936-       )

City Life (1995)
1. Check it out
2. Pile driver/alarms
3. It's been a honeymoon -- can't take no mo'
4. Heartbeats/boats and buoys
5. Heavy smoke
The Steve Reich Ensemble
Bradley Lubman, cond.
(23:16)

"City Life is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 pianos, 2 samplers, 3 (or 4) percussion, string quartet and bass. Like several earlier works, it is an arch form (A-B-C-B-A). The first and last movements are speech samples as part of the musical fabric, and both feel like 'fast' movements, though the actual tempo of the first is moderate and the fairly rapid tempo of the last movement is harder to perceive because of the many sustained sounds. The harmonies leading to E-Flat or C Minor in the chorale that opens and closes the first movement reappear in the fifth movement in a more dissonant voicing and finally resolve to C Minor which then ambiguously ends as either a C dominant or C Minor chord. The second and fourth movements do not use any speech whatsoever. Instead, each uses a rhythmic sample that determines the tempo. In the second, it is a pile driver; in the fourth, heartbeats. Both start slow and increase in speed. In the second, this is only because the pile driver moves from quarter notes to eighths, and then to triplets. In the fourth movement, the heartbeats gradually get faster in each of the four sections of the movement. Both movements are harmonically based on the same cycle of four dominant chords. The third and central movement begins with only speech samples played by the two sampler players. When this duet has been fully built up, the rest of the strings, winds and percussion enter to double the pitches and rhythms of the interlocking speech samples. This central movement may well remind listeners of my early tape pieces It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966).

For the first movement, a street vendor in lower Manhattan was recorded saying, 'check it out.' The source of the third movement, 'it's been a honeymoon -- can't take no mo',' was recorded at a mostly African American political rally near City Hall. Most of the speech samples in the fifth movement are from actual field communications of the New York City Fire Department on February 6, 1993, the day the World Trade Center was bombed. They were made available to me through the courtesy of Assistant Commissioner for Communications Stephen Gregory. The samples heard in the fifth movement are:

'Heavy smoke'
'Stand by, stand by'
'It's full a' smoke'
'Full a' smoke'
'Urgent!'
'Guns, knives or weapons on ya?'
'Wha' were ya doin'?'
'Be careful'
'Where you go'
'Careful'
'Stand by'

-- SR

DLXX. BACH, J.S.: English Suite #2 in A Minor, BWV 807

DLXX. BACH, J.S. (1685-1750)

English Suite #2 in A Minor, BWV 807 (1713-14)
1. Prélude
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Sarabande
5. Bourrée I
6. Bourrée II
7. Gigue
Bertrand Cuiller, harpsichord
(22:08)

1. Prélude

2. Allemande

3. Courante

4. Sarabande

5. Bourrée I

6. Bourrée II

7. Gigue

DLXIX. STOCKHAUSEN, Karlheinz: Klavierstück IV

DLXIX. STOCKHAUSEN, Karlheinz (1928-2007)

Klavierstück IV (1952)
Aloys Kontarsky, piano
[scrolling score]
(2:05)

DLXVIII. PRAETORIUS, Michael: Six Dances from Terpsichore

DLXVIII. PRAETORIUS, Michael (1571-1621)

Six Dances from Terpsichore (1612)
1. Entrée -- Courante
2. Gavotte
3. Spagnoletta
4. La Bouré
5. Ballet
6. Volte
Collegium Terpsichore
Fritz Neumeyer, cond.
(14:43)

The son of a Lutheran pastor, he studied divinity and philosophy before entering the court of Wolfenbüttel as organist, and later Kapellmeister under Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was also a great music theorist.

Most of Praetorius's works were written for the Church; these dances are some of his only secular music that survived.

Entrée -- Courante

La Bouré

Ballet

Notice how he dips into the minor midway:

 

Volte

Check out how Praetorius creates a rhythm of four, with music written in three!