He is one of a group of conductors--others include Herbert Blomstedt, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Michael Gielen, and the now-deceased Gunter Wand--who give me a lot of inspiration. Pushing 90 years old, they are at the height of their knowledge, wisdom, musical passion, and communicative power. They give me hope that I still have time to accomplish something in the years left to me.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Christoph von Dohnanyi
I just listened to von Dohnanyi's Cleveland recording of Bruckner's 5th symphony.
He is one of a group of conductors--others include Herbert Blomstedt, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Michael Gielen, and the now-deceased Gunter Wand--who give me a lot of inspiration. Pushing 90 years old, they are at the height of their knowledge, wisdom, musical passion, and communicative power. They give me hope that I still have time to accomplish something in the years left to me.
He is one of a group of conductors--others include Herbert Blomstedt, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Michael Gielen, and the now-deceased Gunter Wand--who give me a lot of inspiration. Pushing 90 years old, they are at the height of their knowledge, wisdom, musical passion, and communicative power. They give me hope that I still have time to accomplish something in the years left to me.
Monday, August 3, 2015
Resurrection
As noted in the previous post from a couple of months back, I have been working over the summer on a paper to submit for a conference. I'm nearing the end of that, so I thought I'd take the time for a couple of notes here about other things that have happened recently.
On July 12, Sandra and I went to the Oregon Bach Festival's performance of Mahler's 2nd symphony, titled "Resurrection". (My favorite piece of music, one that's meant a tremendous amount to me in a variety of contexts over the years. All of Mahler's symphonies mean a lot to me as I take the time to inhabit the worlds they create, but it's the 2nd that I always come back to.)
I didn't know how much to expect from this performance. Especially in the era of "historically informed performance", Bach and Mahler occupy rather different corners of the classical music universe. And Matthew Halls, the conductor, is someone I've never heard of before (though Sandra happened to run into him at Resurrection
And it was....perfect. I had no occasion to stop and question the conducting or performance, because I was hearing the music of Mahler from beginning to end, delivered with the utmost passion and devotion to the music. This is far more rare than it ought to be.
I believe it is the only concert I've attended that brought tears of emotion. I haven't listened to the 2nd symphony since, so as to not lose what I have of the memory of this performance. (Don't worry, I will.) But for those of you who didn't have this experience, I'll give you another good performance for your enjoyment.
The theme of resurrection is, of course, very Christian. Unlike Lutheran Bach and Catholic Bruckner, Mahler's religious/spiritual biography is complicated. Like Beethoven's, perhaps, but even more so. Mahler began, and arguably remained at heart, a Czech Jew. However, in order become conductor of the Vienna State Opera in the senescence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he had to convert to Catholicism, and did, seemingly without qualm. Looking at his music reveals a syncretist spirituality that was at its core Pantheistic. You get Jewish folk tunes throughout, settings of Catholic hymns and legends of at least one saint, Cinese nature poetry, and texts from Goethe and Nietzsche. And that's where I'm at: a naturalistic pantheist who takes inspiration from a variety of sources. I don't believe in resurrection after death, but do believe that the idea of resurrection can mean something in the course of one's life. And that music can be a part of it.
On July 12, Sandra and I went to the Oregon Bach Festival's performance of Mahler's 2nd symphony, titled "Resurrection". (My favorite piece of music, one that's meant a tremendous amount to me in a variety of contexts over the years. All of Mahler's symphonies mean a lot to me as I take the time to inhabit the worlds they create, but it's the 2nd that I always come back to.)
I didn't know how much to expect from this performance. Especially in the era of "historically informed performance", Bach and Mahler occupy rather different corners of the classical music universe. And Matthew Halls, the conductor, is someone I've never heard of before (though Sandra happened to run into him at Resurrection
And it was....perfect. I had no occasion to stop and question the conducting or performance, because I was hearing the music of Mahler from beginning to end, delivered with the utmost passion and devotion to the music. This is far more rare than it ought to be.
I believe it is the only concert I've attended that brought tears of emotion. I haven't listened to the 2nd symphony since, so as to not lose what I have of the memory of this performance. (Don't worry, I will.) But for those of you who didn't have this experience, I'll give you another good performance for your enjoyment.
The theme of resurrection is, of course, very Christian. Unlike Lutheran Bach and Catholic Bruckner, Mahler's religious/spiritual biography is complicated. Like Beethoven's, perhaps, but even more so. Mahler began, and arguably remained at heart, a Czech Jew. However, in order become conductor of the Vienna State Opera in the senescence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he had to convert to Catholicism, and did, seemingly without qualm. Looking at his music reveals a syncretist spirituality that was at its core Pantheistic. You get Jewish folk tunes throughout, settings of Catholic hymns and legends of at least one saint, Cinese nature poetry, and texts from Goethe and Nietzsche. And that's where I'm at: a naturalistic pantheist who takes inspiration from a variety of sources. I don't believe in resurrection after death, but do believe that the idea of resurrection can mean something in the course of one's life. And that music can be a part of it.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
Garrick Ohlsson and Rachmaninov
Last night Sandra and I went to the Eugene Symphony. The main work on the program was Rachmaninov's 3rd piano concerto (my favorite of the piano concerto repertoire) performed by Garrick Ohlsson, one of my favorite pianists.
My benchmark favorite performance has been Martha Argerich, with Riccardo Chailly conducting, readily available both on YouTube and CD.
The recording from which I "learned" the work is a bit obscure, but still a favorite of mine.
Somehow a British pianist and a bunch of Scottish musicians do a wonderful job with this epitome of Slavic pathos.
Unfortunately Eugene doesn't have a particularly compelling conductor in Danail Rachev. The orchestra itself is very good, as a couple of guest conductors have demonstrated. But Rachev seeks to play everything as loud as possible, jinning up the crescendos and snoozing through most everything else. This was particularly disastrous in Sibelius' 7th symphony, which was played before the intermission. Any sense of the work's structural integrity was chopped to bits. In the Rachmaninov, Ohlsson took a (relative to the work's baseline temperament) a more introspective approach to Argerich's above. Which led him to often being overpowered by the over-loud orchestra.
Below is a snippet from a performance where he and the conductor seemed to be more on the same page.
We also noted that he was a very gracious and friendly person. His visage beamed genuine gratitude for the enthusiastic reception from the audience. The following clip will give a sense of his persona.
My benchmark favorite performance has been Martha Argerich, with Riccardo Chailly conducting, readily available both on YouTube and CD.
The recording from which I "learned" the work is a bit obscure, but still a favorite of mine.
Somehow a British pianist and a bunch of Scottish musicians do a wonderful job with this epitome of Slavic pathos.
Unfortunately Eugene doesn't have a particularly compelling conductor in Danail Rachev. The orchestra itself is very good, as a couple of guest conductors have demonstrated. But Rachev seeks to play everything as loud as possible, jinning up the crescendos and snoozing through most everything else. This was particularly disastrous in Sibelius' 7th symphony, which was played before the intermission. Any sense of the work's structural integrity was chopped to bits. In the Rachmaninov, Ohlsson took a (relative to the work's baseline temperament) a more introspective approach to Argerich's above. Which led him to often being overpowered by the over-loud orchestra.
Below is a snippet from a performance where he and the conductor seemed to be more on the same page.
We also noted that he was a very gracious and friendly person. His visage beamed genuine gratitude for the enthusiastic reception from the audience. The following clip will give a sense of his persona.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Górecki
Alex Ross, my favorite music critic, writes about the completion of Polish composer Henryk Górecki's 4th symphony.
Despite the faddish fame that the 3rd symphony, "A Symphony of Sorrowful Songs", gained among a crowd looking for the next cool "spiritual" thing at a time when "Chant" also topped the charts, it is real music. When performed with true understanding, it is heartbreakingly beautiful real music. See below.
Despite the faddish fame that the 3rd symphony, "A Symphony of Sorrowful Songs", gained among a crowd looking for the next cool "spiritual" thing at a time when "Chant" also topped the charts, it is real music. When performed with true understanding, it is heartbreakingly beautiful real music. See below.
Monday, February 16, 2015
The Inextinguishable Symphony
Carl Nielsen's 4th Symphony, The Inextinguishable
At the top of the score to his fourth symphony, Carl Nielsen wrote what has come to be his most famous quote: "Music is life, and like it, inextinguishable." As Nielsen's symphony was devoted to the spirit of what is inextinguishable, what he called "the elemental will to live", so is this blog.
I will share items from my explorations in philosophy, my love of music, and my interactions with the world of nature that speak to this elemental will.
PS. Nielsen was Danish, and uudslukkelige is "inextinguishable" in Danish. (Where is the Internet going to be in another ten years, given that all the simple and straightforward website names, email addresses, usernames, etc., are already taken?)
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