A viola concerto in four movements ... not the usual three.

Georg Phillip Telemann was a prolific composer with a very recognizable style.  In this, his first concerto for viola, he used a traditional style of slow-fast-slow-fast for the four movements, giving the viola a full range of opportunities to show the versatility of the instrument.  A high school orchestra teacher I once knew said that people who played the viola were just a bit different ... independent and willing to buck the system.  Viola rarely takes center stage as it does here.

Viola Concerto in G Major (GP Telemann)


Teleman was in a pretty good job during most of his composing years, holding the position of cantor to the major churches of Hamburg.  During a stint in Frankfurt, he was an officer in the Frauenstein Association, something of a philharmonic society, and they held weekly subscription concerts.  The viola concerto in g major was written for these concerts.

Enjoy the arpeggios and interplay of melody between the orchestra and the viola in this version conducted by Neville Marriner with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

Springtime double take

One of the more interesting pieces I like is Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.  It opens oh so peacefully, like the opening of spring in an early morning ... then it explodes (just after the three minute mark) with a set of stringed arpeggios in an odd way and then the brass (3 min 40 sec) with a transfer of the melody, counter playing against the continuing arpeggios of the strings, to the low horns.  The odd arpeggios are different in that instead of being fundamental - third - fundamental-third, it is fundamental - one octave down - fundamental - third.  It is a bit surprising and unusual.  The musical fight goes on for a bit, and, just as suddenly, at the 5 min 15 sec point, quiets down again.

Closing your eyes you can see spring unfolding ... flowers blooming, small animals awakening to a new day, imminent danger of the predator world, thunderstorms ... everything you would expect in the spring of year in the rolling Appalachian mountains.  Animals re-emerging after the rage of a storm with the rushing water.  Gentle breezes blow.  Nine min and 20 sec ... little animals bounding all around - bugs, beavers, then ... at 10 min and 20 sec - the bears and big beasties; hawks, eagles then roaming heards.  Finally, the great cacaphony at 12 minutes.  The animals hiding ... maybe a gentle shower?  Alert looks around ... fast running rabbits.  A chase and capture (13 and a half min); an escape.  Hide and seek of the animals.  Birds flitting around above.  Continued chase ... maybe the final kill.  Nature in full glory.  The death of one so that another may live (16 min).  The quiet and calm return; trees bend, animals drink at the brook, all is as it should be.  Then, the approach (18 min) of a gorgeous and fiery sunset.  Animals scurry to find their ways home.  Clouds pass quickly by - pink and red as the sun marches to the earth over the next mountain pass.  The  sky is an explosion or gold, red and purple.  Birds are silhouetted against the darkening sky.  The sun drops below the horizon ... the end of a perfectly splendid spring day.  The moon gently rises as the song fades out.

This has to be the most perfect song description of spring ever written.  The most perfect!  Except ...

The song has nothing to do with spring in the sense of a spring day in the mountains.  It was actually a commissioned piece that Copland wrote to celebrate American Heritage.  It was actually a ballet!  It was not even called Appalachian Spring when it was written.  It was about the building of a farm house in the 19th century.  There were 8 parts to the ballet and much choreography, as one might expect in a ballet.  Much of that part of the score was removed when Copland re-issued the piece as we most often hear it played.  The 8 parts are very logical ... introductions of key players, love song for the bride and groom, country preacher and his "flock", scenes of daily life - this is the part where the Shaker song "The Gift to be Simple" is "borrowed" in full (also the theme song for "On the Road with Charles Kuralt", a popular tv magazine of the late 20th century), and, finally, the couple left alone in their new home.

Copland often chuckled whenever anyone remarked to him that the song was such a "perfect description of spring in the mountains".

Enjoy Appalachian Spring (Aaron Copland)

Fireworks - the American passion needs a bit of British flair

Give an American an excuse for fireworks and they will spend a lot of money just to watch it go up in glorious smoke ... and light!  New Year's, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, numerous baseball games throughout the summer, Labor Day, Halloween, numerous football games ...  you get the picture.  I like to shoot them whenever I am at the beach for vacation.  Luckily, living near the South Carolina border, I can get my hands on pretty much any kind of fireworks available, notwithstanding the North Carolina ban on things that fly.

If you go to any of the really good city-sponsored fireworks displays in the US, there is usually musical accompaniment.  Unfortunately, the displays last, for the most part, less than 15 minutes, with the possible exception of New Year's and Independence Days.

The music composed by Handel for the Royal Fireworks celebrating the end of the War of Austrian Succession is rarely heard, but it would add quite a nice flair to any fireworks celebration.  Maybe the US sesquicentennial in 2026 would be a good spot for this ... a a nice touch since we broke from Great Britain.

For your listening enjoyment, the Neville Marriner version of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks

Music for the Royal Fireworks (Complete; Marriner)

First performed in 1749 (ten years prior to Handel's death at age 74) ... the pomp rings through nearly 300 years later.

No fancy title ... just a beautiful piece of music

Work travel has increased and my posts have decreased ... good example of cause and effect.  Modern classical music in the form of movie themes.  This particular on sets the perfect mood of peace and solitude, of being close to nature and experiencing natural beauty:

Opening Theme for "On Golden Pond" (Dave Grusin)

Is't not rock .... it's Rachmaninoff!

When I took piano lessons early in life I was not exposed to some of the piano masters and Rachmaninoff was one of these.  In fact I did not really know any of his music until my son played a killer rendition of Rachmaninoff's piano Prelude Opus 3 Number 2 in C# minor.

Written at the age of 19, just out of the conservatory, it was Rachmaninoff's first composition as a free artist.

When my son played this, at 18, in his last recital, it was on a grand piano in a church and he played with such vigor that the piano was shaking and the volume of the music in the chapel was deafening.

Enjoy this piece as I have referenced here three different renditions ... all different interpretations and all powerful.

Kissen version

Barton version  (this one has a great view from above the hands of the musician)

Asai version

All very good ... all awesome to listen to and NONE as good as what my son did!

Back to Bach

The second of four Bach Orchestral Suites was written to highlight the flute.  Bach actually called these pieces "Overtures" and that was the opening for each of the four suites ... an overture, followed by a formulaic group of songs ... usually including several dances.  Suite 2, in d minor (BWV 1067) ends with what is perhaps the most challenging flute piece and no one delivers this better than Neville Marriner's Academy of St. Martin in the Fields:

Bach Orchestral Suite #2 in d Minor (Marrier)

When Opera Isn't Opera

Until I stumbled across the video that is included below, I had no idea that one of my more favorite classical pieces was actually part of an opera.  I heard the Monteverdi piece on an LP many years ago and just loved the way that the song played out (the piece was also on one of Wendy Carlos' electronic interpretations of classical music on the Moog synthesizer).

L'Orfeo was written in 1607 by Claudio Monteverdi (Libretto - the words of a musical piece of work that are to be sung - by Alessandro Strigil).  As I said, I had only heard the overture, so I had no idea until doing some research on the piece, that it was actually part of an opera.

The opera is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, in particular, his descent into hades to bring his bride back into the world.  The libretto was based on books 10 and 11 of Ovid's Metamorphoses among many varied sources.

The version that follows is footage from the Opera as presented in Spain.  The dramatic entry of the conductor heightens the overture.  I just love the drummer - he could make a nice Dumbledore or Gandolf!  Placing the trumpets and drums in the alcove boxes on the sides of the stage was a very neat touch, adding drama and flair to the opening.

I will watch the entire two hours at some point soon, but for now, just enjoy the 2-3 minutes of the overture:

L'Orfeo - Monteverdi

Movies as modern classical music - continued ...

John Williams is one of our great modern composers of classical style music, especially in the movie genre.  It is interesting to me how certain styles of music become associated with specific activities.  In this score, we start out with a beautiful violin solo (technically not a solo since there is another instrument, the guitar, accompanying the violin).  This is perhaps one of the most beautiful violin passages ever written; the violin almost cries.  Interestingly, the theme of this solo both opens and closes the score.  In the middle, we crescendo to full orchestra, with interplaying melody and harmony, and then, finally, to fife and drums with horn overlay - handling the melody, absolutely stirring, which set the time of this film at the American Revolution.  As I said, styles are associated with activities.

The Patriot (John Williams)

The film is actually based on a real figure of the revolution, Francis Marion, aka "The Swamp Fox", one of South Carolina's most famous sons.  He operated, on at least one occasion, not far from where my father grew up in the Lancaster area of South Carolina, but most of his activity was around the coastal areas of South Carolina - deep in the swamps.

Music for a basketball rivalry (Duke and UNC)

I first heard the song on a US Marines commercial twenty-something years ago.  I even used it as the background music for a video that I have posted on Facebook about a trip I took to castle Chillon a few years ago.  It is an epic song with a lot of force and always seems to evoke feelings of war.  That is what the Duke - UNC basketball game usually resembles ... WAR.

Carmin Burana - O Fortuna (Andre Rieu)

I never understood the lyrics, but it seemed not to matter.  The lyrics are part of a Latin poem from the 13th century.  It is all about luck and fortune.  It was set to music by Carl Orff (Germany) in the 1930's as part of a cantata that he wrote.  The lyrics and translation (courtesy Wikipedia) are given below.  It actually speaks of impending doom!

O Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis, semper crescis aut decrescis; vita detestabilis nunc obdurat et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem, egestatem, potestatem dissolvit ut glaciem. Sors immanis et inanis, rota tu volubilis, status malus, vana salus semper dissolubilis, obumbrata et velata michi quoque niteris; nunc per ludum dorsum nudum fero tui sceleris. Sors salutis et virtutis michi nunc contraria, est affectus et defectus semper in angaria. Hac in hora sine mora corde pulsum tangite; quod per sortem sternit fortem, mecum omnes plangite!

O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice. Fate – monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy. Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved. So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the strong man, everyone weep with me!

Open the Brandenburg Gates

While we are on JS Bach, I love the Brandenburg Concertos.  Being a math/science guy the physics of the air vibrations that create sound coupled with the math of frequencies, harmonics, and beat frequencies all intrigue me.  Put on top of that the variety of instruments capable of producing the vibrations and it really just comes together.

I don't think there were many better than Bach at putting everything together.  The Brandenburg concertos were presented to Christian Ludwig, Margrave (medieval military commander's title for leaders of border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire) of Brandenburg-Schwedt in 1721.  Bach was essentially giving a gift based on the Margrave's love of music, Bach's in particular.

There are six concertos in this group, which were given to the Margrave as a single group.  My particular favorite is Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major (BWV 1047 - the six comprise BWV 1046 - 1051).  Concertos are usually in three parts.  The word is an apparent combination of two latin words for "join" and "compete".  This is usually the case as in the concerto the first movement places almost all of the instruments into a complex presentation, the second usually highlights a few instruments, and the third brings all together again.  For concerto number 2, the key instruments are the recorder, trumpet, oboe and violin supported by a group of strings and the harpsichord.  By the way, the third movement was inscribed onto the Gold Record that is attached to the deep space Voyager spacecraft launched in the 1970's and now out of the solar system.

For your enjoyment, using much of the instruments of the period ...

Brandenburg Concerto Number 2 - Freiburger Barokorchester

A little piece for Halloween (All Hallows Eve)

JS Bach was such a prolific composer across a wide variety of instruments it is hard to stay on the topic of organ music too long.  Nonetheless, I was listening recently to the Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) and it made me remember when my kids were young that I used to set up the stereo speakers near the front door and play this in a loop on Halloween.  It was dark outside and there was a stuffed man (pine straw jammed into pants and shirt) hanging from the tree in the front yard.  We had a headstone in the flower bed and I dressed up as the silent scream.  Kids would tremble as we gave out the candy!

This piece starts out stark and bold and then goes through the middle section where, the various hands play melody voices on top of one another and the repeating off beat notes that stand out so well against the main theme.

There is a lot of shifting back and forth between loud / stark to subtle and flowing.  The piece finally finishes up with a strong combination of runs punctuated with powerful chords.

Interestingly, there is some question as to the authorship of the piece.  Parts of the themes come from Pachabel, but borrowing themes was common as a way to bring new versions of themes into broader interpretation.  Most of the issues are attributed to several structural issues of the piece not being in keeping with the traditions of the time when Bach was alive.  I like to believe that such a creative individual was into experimentation and was simply unique.

The following version of the piece demonstrates one interesting thing about classical music in general and organ music in particular and that is the interpretation of both tempo and tone.

Toccata and Fugue in D minor - Stewart Foster

Take a good trip through YouTube's various versions and you will hear a wide variety of styles for this particular piece.  Nonetheless the same dark and foreboding feeling is invoked by all of them.  This particular video is really nice because of the complexity of the organ being played and the way that you see how the organist works - turning pages, adjusting his bench, utilizing his feet only at times and jumping between the different keyboards which have been set up to provide different tones from the pipes.

More than graduation

Sir Edward Elgar was a bridge in classical music from the baroque period to the modern period.  Elgar married up in society to a Ms. Caroline Alice Roberts, daughter of a wealthy military man.  She was disinherited by her family because they considered Elgar unworthy because he was both a Catholic and the son of a piano tuner - a common shop worker.  Alice got the last laugh because, although penniless at her marriage, she ended up quite wealthy.

Most of us know Elgar through our graduation marches from high school and, sometimes, college.  The seemingly endless march is actually a segment only of Elgars "Pomp and Circumstance" number 1, clipped from the middle of the march and repeated until all graduates have entered.

My favorite of the 6 Pomp marches is actually number four.  I heard it first in its clipped version in the soundtrack to the move "A Clockwork Orange".

For your enjoyment, here are Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance' marches number 1 and 4:

Pomp and Circumstance march number 4

Pomp and Circumstance number 1

Sleepers Wake

I have been fortunate enough to hear organ music in peaceful repose at several great cathedrals in Europe and at the distinctly unique Duke Chapel (below).  Organ music is one of the genres of classical music that is almost uniquely associated with sacred music.  It is not surprising that the best places to hear such great music is in a cathedral where the sound can resonate amongst the stone walls, floors and grandly arched ceilings.

One of my favorite things about watching someone play the organ is the fact that they play with their hands in a similar way to a piano player, but usually on two or more different keyboards at different heights, and, simultaneously, use both of their feet!

One of my all time favorite selections is Bach's Wachet Auf.  What we usually hear on the organ is the choral prelude which Bach transcribed from his sacred Cantata by a similar name (BWV 645 - nice thing about many classical composers is that someone takes the time to catalog all their work in simplified form so you don't have to look it up by title).  The cantata was written for the 27th Sunday after Trinity Sunday (the first Sunday after Pentecost).

The following link takes you to the choral prelude (BWV 140).  Listen closely as the right hand begins with the melody and the feet take up the harmony.  Soon, a second melody is brought in with the left hand while the right continues with melody and simultaneous harmony.  This pattern goes back and forth throughout the piece using tone and timbre as well as volume to shift your focus from point to point in the music.

Sleepers Wake (Wachet Auf) - Organ Version

I suggest listening to it twice.  The first time, watch the video to see the movements of the organists hands and feet and then a second time with your eyes closed and try to follow the pattern of one or another melody or harmony.

Ancient Music = small groups

I had my first exposure to small groups in the third grade when a small chamber group came to our school and talked and played for groups of 5-6 students at a time.  They had an oboe, bassoon, french horn and clarinet.  It was fascinating listening to each of them talk about their instruments and what it took to play them.  I particularly remember the oboe player who explained that you have to puff up your cheeks with air and force it through the tiny reed with such pressure that you thought your head might explode.  His whole face went red and with his puffed out cheeks he looked a bit like a beet.

Fast forward about 40 years and I heard a group on National Public Radio playing what they called "ancient" music.  It was music of the medieval period, generally used for dances.  The period instruments they played had strange names: sackbut (precursor to our trombone), shawm (a double reeded wind instrument that has morphed into the oboe), dulcian (double reeded wind instrument that became the bassoon), and crumhorns, lutes, and bagpipes.

The group is called Piffaro and is based in Philadelphia.

This is one of my favorite songs of theirs ... Anonimo Suite

Piffaro - Anonimo suite

Its sound takes you into a medieval English town, perhaps in the time of Shakespeare ...

Classical Music is not just OLD music

I like to think of classical music as a style.  During the explosion of its growth somewhere around the Renaissance, it encompassed full orchestras, small groups (string quartets, chamber groups), church music including great organ works and choral works, and solo performances on percussion instruments such as the harpsichord and clavichord.  With  this breadth of style, it is not too much of a jump to say that instrumental folk and mountain music, with and without singing (think arias and choruses and transition to solo singers and small groups), is a form or outgrowth of classical music.  Let's face it, it is tough to find a full orchestra in the Appalachian mountains in the late 1700's.  Likewise, as I noted in a previous post, much of rock-and-roll finds its roots in classical music (as does big band of the middle of the last century).  Of course, classical as defined above, being part of the Renaissance and flanking either side of it, could easily be traced back to what is classified as ancient music - recent ancient such as the 13th and 14th century and really ancient as in Greece, Rome, China, Native Indians.

So, where is the new classical, though?  I am not too much of a fan of some of the "NEW" classical.  These are the works of some composers who want to challenge the rules of tone and harmony and rhythm.  They generally sound like the output of a cat running across a keyboard or a mouse getting stuck amongst the piano strings.  They generally inspire tension, which is not the reason I choose to listen to any music.

If not these works, then what?  Where are the great orchestra works of modern times?

I would say that the answer lies in movies.  After the 1970's, and the fear that electronic music a la Robert Moog would replace the human orchestra, it seems that great movie producers/directors learned that truly orchestral music could set the mood for a movie or different points in movies.  This is truly an art form that challenges composers and has given us a wide variety of musical scores, enriching both the genre and the aural palate.  A few examples follow:

This first example embraces the timbral range of the music, evoking the vision of the start of a new day or a new exploration.  Gradually becoming more bright and complex, the vision is as if you are bursting into an opening of a new experience and culminating with the choral voices that could be the sounds of angels ... you will know the movie well.

Example 1

This next piece is the perfect example of the juxtaposition of two moods - serenity and the explosion of a sudden forceful event, complete with a tensional crossover ... (note the meaning of the choral insertion in the context of the film)

Example 2

Finally, a piece that does not match the mood of the title of the film, but one that perfectly brings you into a central tenet of a recurring theme in the movie ...

Example 3

This last one is a particularly useful one for me to listen to when I am thinking through the interpretation and meaning of a large swath of data that, at least at first, don't seem to tell a story ...

So, I think the new classical, as referenced to orchestral works, lies in the movies.

Rock and Roll Isn't so New

My parents would not have believed it.  Their followers are probably not aware of it.  The artists probably don't boast about it, but many rock and roll musicians were classically trained; Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Ian Anderson, and Keith Emerson to name a few.

Add to that the fact that plagiarism is widely accepted in the musical world (interesting to me that with the variables of around 100 notes, length of composition, combinations of harmony and so on, that composers widely "use" the work of others) and you have a strong influence of classical music on popular songs.

A bit of digging uncovers the following, which is only a partial listing of many more examples:

1960's

Elvis Presley:  It's Now or Never (O Solo Mio)
The Ventures:  Rap City (Brahms' Hungarian Dance in G Minor)
Procol Harum:  A Whiter Shade of Pale (Bach's Air on a G String and Sleeper's Wake)
John Lennon:  Because (Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata)
Deep Purple:  Prelude B - I'm So Glad (Rimsy-Korsakov's Shaharazade)
The Doors:  Abinoni's Adagio in G Minor (Abinoni's Adagio in G Minor)

1970's

Emerson Lake and Palmer:
Knife Edge (Leos Janacek's Sinfonietta) (
Abbadon's Bolero (Ravel's Bolero)
Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition)
Tocatta (Ginastera's First Piano Concerto, 4th Movement)
(MANY MORE)

Eric Carmen:  All By Myself (Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2)
John Denver:  Annie's Song (Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony, 2nd Movement)
Neil Diamond:  Song Sung Blue (Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 21, 2nd Movement)
Barry Manilow:  Could It Be Magic (Chopin Prelude in C Minor)
Yes:  Cans and Brahms (Brahms' Symphony no. 4, 3rd Movement)
Beach Boys:  Lady Linda (Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring)

1980's

Bad Manners: Can Can (Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld)

Billy Joel:
This Night (Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata)
And So It Goes (Charles Hubert Parry's Jerusalem)
Leningrad (Brahms' Waldesnacht, du Wunderkuehle)

Sting:  Russians (Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite, Opus 60)

1990's

Enigma:  Mea Culpa (Gregorian Chant Kyrie Eleison)
Rob Dougan:  Clubbed to Death (Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations)
Santana/Dave Matthews:  Love of My Life (Brahms' Symphony no 3, 3rd Movement)

Now for one comparative example that is,  note for note, the same for the greats:  Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Aaron Copland:

Hoedown (Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer)

Hoedown (Aaron Copland

So, it would seem that the two genre's are not so far apart!

The Genius of Composition - Mozart

I have always been fascinated by the creative process.  It amazes me that there are people who can have sound in their head and commit it to paper for musicians to read and play.  The movie Amadeus is the fictional story of the relationship between two composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri.  The whole movie is awesome.  In one part, we get a peek into the compositional process as Mozart dictates a score to Salieri ...

Confutatis from Mozart's Requiem

Starting with the voices and adding in layer after layer of instrumentation and having it all work together ... simply amazing.  I understand that this is a movie, but it is likely that the musical director, who happened to be Neville Marriner, provided a lot of insight.

The Confutatis is the 5th element of the Requiem.  The words are:

Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis, voca me cum benedictus. 
Oro supplex et acclinis, cor contritum quasi cinis, gere curam mei finis.

The English translation (courtesy of Memphis City Schools):

When the accused are confounded, and doomed to flames of woe, call me among the blessed. 
I kneel with submissive heart, my contrition is like ashes, help me in my final condition.

The full version of this part of the Requiem from Marriner:

Confutatis from Mozart's Requiem - Neville Marriner

The range of emotion, sound and interplay of instruments and the incredible harmonizations are simply beautiful.

Walter (Wendy) Carlos and the Moog Synthesizer

Some of my early exposure to classical music was in the form of electronic music.  In the late 60's Walter Carlos (later, Wendy Carlos after a medical procedure) pioneered the recording of electronic music using the Moog Synthesizer.  The photo (taken from the Moog website) is typical of the synthesizers of the time.  They consisted of wave generators and voltage controlled oscillators and they could be combined to generate overtones and more complex sounds.  The keyboard had to be tuned to the waveforms to allow for keys to match desired base tones.

Carlos then built an 8 track tape system and laid down individual tones mixes that represented individual "instruments".  The use of 8 tracks allowed him to develop "orchestrations.  It was an incredibly slow process, yet he insisted that every note be true to the original classical scores.

He had three purely classical albums:  "Switched on Bach", "The Well Tempered Synthesizer", and "Switched on Bach II".

Now, back to specific classical music.  The "Switched on Bach" album had, as its first track, Sinfonia to Cantata No. 29.  There followed a number of other songs, but the first suffices to show how difficult it must have been to play one note at a time and get the timing right, rewind the tape, go to the second track, do the same and so on.  Nonetheless, the output was great and so I began to become a fan of Bach.  Here are two versions of the Sinfonia:

Synthesizer version by Wendy Carlos  (This is actually a link to the entire side 1 of the album)

Orchestral version as originally intended

Pipe Organ version as I heard it in church

I find that listening to different versions of the same song really promotes an understanding of the different moods that you can get for the music as the different interpretations of artists and directors.