Dead-Composers Society

[Parker Owens]

Here's a composer I knew nothing about until the other day. John Marsh - an English contemporary of Mozart and Haydn.

 

[AC Benus]

43 minutes ago, Parker Owens said:

Here's a composer I knew nothing about until the other day. John Marsh - an English contemporary of Mozart and Haydn.

 

An intriguing find...1796 is the glorious year that saw Haydn write and perform his "Miracle" symphony in London, but I suspect March felt more in direct competition with his fellow Brit, Clementi. So I see your Marsh symphony with Clementi's breathtaking Symphony No. 1 from about the same time. (Oddly, this composer has two Symphony No. 1s, the first being from about 1785 and the latter dating to a decade later.)

Here is Francesco d'Avalos leading the The Philharmonia orchestra 

 

[AC Benus]

On 6/4/2021 at 2:40 PM, Zombie said:

N*gr* Melody

Number 10, Deep River, Op. 59 composed in 1905 by Englishman Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and performed by English brothers and sister Sheku (cello), Braimah (violin) and Isata (piano) Kanneh-Mason - just three of seven amazingly talented instrumentalist siblings

 

Paul Robeson performing Deep River in 1957

Nothing could be more sublime

[Zombie]

8 hours ago, AC Benus said:

Paul Robeson performing Deep River in 1957
Nothing could be more sublime

blank screen “this video is not available”  

is this the same?

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Zombie

[AC Benus]

@Zombie

* does "paul robeson deep river 1957" youtube search for you *

Hopefully one of these will work in your particular internet hinterland

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paul+robeson+deep+river+1957

 

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by AC Benus

[AC Benus]

Although the 1927 recording, with the magical Lawrence Brown on piano, gives me goosebumps 

 

[Parker Owens]

26 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

Although the 1927 recording, with the magical Lawrence Brown on piano, gives me goosebumps 

 

For more than a generation, Robeson defined the sound of the American basso. How ironic it is that his homeland couldn’t reconcile itself to color of his skin. 

[Lux Apollo]

I was in a C.P.E. Bach sort of mood tonight, and I came across this little gem performance of one of his symphonies, the Symphony in E flat Wq.179, composed in 1760. This is one of the nine so-called 'Berlin Symphonies' composed while in the employ of Frederick the Great, who neglected Bach as no more than just a household function. These symphonies were not composed for presentation at court, but rather for the intimate circle of the composer's appreciative friends and colleagues.

Listen for the unstable tonality and unstable emotional tenor of the opening movement. It's all jagged edges and sudden shifts, with a frenetic energy that even comes through in the more introspective, quiet moments. It sinks right into the slow movement, which seems more intent on being an uncertain calm rather than a soothing balm following all that instability. The last movement that follows has a jubilant hunting type motif and has a lot of thematic variety while maintaining that triplet hunting feel. 

This symphony also shows the level of increased variety in orchestration that would develop as the Classical era wore on with Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and their contemporaries - it shows early use of 'classical style' winds, though not the most creative use of their abilities here. This was the influence of the French opera orchestra of Lully, Charpentier, Rameau, and later Gluck, and to a lesser extent developments in Italy.

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Lux Apollo

[Zombie]

12 hours ago, AC Benus said:

@Zombie

* does "paul robeson deep river 1957" youtube search for you *

Hopefully one of these will work in your particular internet hinterland

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paul+robeson+deep+river+1957

Thanks. I wasn’t aware of this Blue Pie Records 1957 recording. I knew he had recorded Deep River early in his career (your 1927 version) and also in an old British movie which is the version I posted above. However, I’ve checked and that movie, The Proud Valley, was in fact made in Britain before WWII (so obviously not 1957) and is clearly very different (with orchestra and Welsh male choir) from your 1957 piano accompaniment version. It’s interesting how his voice had deepened by 1957 - or maybe he preferred to sing in a lower register - but listening to all three I prefer the 1927 version.

[AC Benus]

John Pizzarelli's 1992 recording of the Gershwins' "Little Jazz Bird." What you hear is the original 1924 orchestration of the piece for Broadway, which is awesome.

 

[Lux Apollo]

I was thinking about learning one of Bach's Toccatas and came across this interesting interpretation of BWV914 in e minor by the inimitable Clara Haskil:

 

 

I'm not sure whether I like it or not. It's very understated - not nearly as dramatic as it could be. What does everyone else think?

Edited February 4, 2022 by Lux Apollo
spelling

[AC Benus]

14 hours ago, Lux Apollo said:

I was thinking about learning one of Bach's Toccatas and came across this interesting interpretation of BWV914 in e minor by the inimitable Clara Haskil:

 

 

I'm not sure whether I like it or not. It's very understated - not nearly as dramatic as it could be. What does everyone else think?

It's a very inward looking performance, and there's nothing wrong with that. A rainy-evening type of interpretation like Gould's 1955 recording of the Goldberg Variations 

Edited February 4, 2022 by AC Benus

[Parker Owens]

21 minutes ago, Lux Apollo said:

It's very understated - not nearly as dramatic as it could be. What does everyone else think?

I agree it’s understated, but it’s also clear, transparent almost. Tonight, I find that appealing. 

[Zombie]

JS Bach Prelude No. 1 in C major BWV 924

This definitely was not an understated performance  in 2019 at Fuller Lodge, Los Alamos, when young Adrian Koo really went for it and delivered with faultless technique

Note that Adrian’s left hand continues to hold down the dominant (G) chord in his left hand for 7 bars in the closing passage for almost 30 seconds, as written. You might think those notes would fade away to nothing but they continue to sing by harmonic resonance until the piece finally resolves on the tonic (C)
 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Zombie

[Zombie]

Alessandro Marcello - Adagio from Oboe Concerto in D Minor rewritten by JS Bach BWV 974

 

While on the subject of interpretations of JS Bach, I previously posted an “understated” performance by Paul Barton of the adagio from an oboe concerto by Italian nobleman Alessandro Marcello (1673 - 1757) which Bach had rewritten for keyboard (he liked it so much). Contrast that performance with East End Londoner (and music student) George Harliono’s most beautiful performance in the Romantic tradition

 

Which is only right considering he’s so, er… fit! 

 

[Lux Apollo]

17 hours ago, Zombie said:

Alessandro Marcello - Adagio from Oboe Concerto in D Minor rewritten by JS Bach BWV 974

 

While on the subject of interpretations of JS Bach, I previously posted an “understated” performance by Paul Barton of the adagio from an oboe concerto by Italian nobleman Alessandro Marcello (1673 - 1757) which Bach had rewritten for keyboard (he liked it so much). Contrast that performance with East End Londoner (and music student) George Harliono’s most beautiful performance in the Romantic tradition

 

Which is only right considering he’s so, er… fit! 

 

I've had a lot of fun over the years playing Bach's keyboard arrangements of concerti, including this one. I also had the joy of performing continuo for this concerto when an oboist at my university won the concerto competition with this and it was to be played on a feature concert. It's a wonderful movement.

[Lux Apollo]

Maria Szymanowska was one of the most famous pianists in the early decades of the 19th century, yet her compositional output has largely been forgotten. She's mostly stile brilliante and her writing presages the direction Chopin's compositional output would follow. Have a listen to this little gem.

[Zombie]

1 hour ago, Lux Apollo said:

Maria Szymanowska was one of the most famous pianists in the early decades of the 19th century, yet her compositional output has largely been forgotten. She's mostly stile brilliante and her writing presages the direction Chopin's compositional output would follow. Have a listen to this little gem.

listening blind I would definitely have said an early Chopin Nocturne that I’d not heard. In fact it reminded me of the opening of Chopin’s Nocturne Op 9 No 2 in E flat major - the first note and chord so similar albeit, of course, in different keys. I especially enjoyed the mid-performance fight  with the page turner - I really thought those pages were heading for the floor 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Zombie

[Lux Apollo]

21 minutes ago, Zombie said:

 I especially enjoyed the mid-performance fight  with the page turner - I really thought those pages were heading for the floor 

Me too! It was a little entertaining, albeit distracting!

[AC Benus]

Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic perform the Adagio from Bruckner's 7th symphony 

 

[AC Benus]

Venus, fed to the teeth with her sister's frigid self-repression, sends her brat Cupid to cut down Diana's power-giving tree. Along way the gender-fluid 'boy' manipulates three clueless regular guys and three thirsty nymph(o)s. Toss all together with two of the best musical minds the golden age of the Vienna School ever produced and what do you get? The world best ever Valentine's Day opera!  

Lorenzo da Ponte's L'arbore di Diana with music by Vincent Martín i Soler

 

[Lux Apollo]

I was in the music store yesterday to purchase some scores at a discount for a couple of my students, and I decided to add a performer's edition of Muzio Clementi's Op. 36, a set of sonatinas that I often use in my teaching because of the incredible pedagogical value and wonderful exposure to the elements of classical style and good piano technique that it gives my students. I realized that, over the years, for whatever reason I'd never taught any of my students Op. 36 No. 4 in F major, and I couldn't remember what it sounded like. Well, when I started playing through it, I was immediately transported back to being twelve and playing this for my first piano teacher and her high expectations that set me on track to a successful career in music. It's not the best of the set, but still quite light and enjoyable - especially the tender second movement..

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Lux Apollo

[Lux Apollo]

Reinhold Gliere (1874-1956) was a Ukrainian composer, born in Kiev to a German father and a Polish mother. His life straddled the transition from the Russian Empire into the Soviet Union, and survived the two World Wars. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1920-1941. His symphonic idiom, which combines broad Slavic epics with cantabile lyricism has rich, colourful harmony, well-balanced orchestral colours and the perfection of traditional forms. His abilities secured his acceptance by both the Tsarist and Soviet authorities, but also created resentment from many composers who suffered intensely under the Soviet regime. He is regarded as the last genuine representative of the pre-revolutionary national Russian school of music - he was a 'living classic'. Due to this, he was largely overlooked and shielded from accusations of bourgeois decadence and the infamous events of 1936 and 1948 that shook the music community largely passed him by. 

 

[Parker Owens]

On 3/1/2022 at 10:34 AM, Lux Apollo said:

I was in the music store yesterday to purchase some scores at a discount for a couple of my students, and I decided to add a performer's edition of Muzio Clementi's Op. 36, a set of sonatinas that I often use in my teaching because of the incredible pedagogical value and wonderful exposure to the elements of classical style and good piano technique that it gives my students. I realized that, over the years, for whatever reason I'd never taught any of my students Op. 36 No. 4 in F major, and I couldn't remember what it sounded like. Well, when I started playing through it, I was immediately transported back to being twelve and playing this for my first piano teacher and her high expectations that set me on track to a successful career in music. It's not the best of the set, but still quite light and enjoyable - especially the tender second movement..

 

Thanks very much for sharing this with us. It’s delightful. 

[Lux Apollo]

Some more Glière... I hope the war ends soon.

Edited March 5, 2022 by Lux Apollo