Valentine
For Valentine’s Day, I give you Ich grolle nicht from Schumann’s Dichterliebe. Dichterliebe, Poet’s Love, is the best song cycle ever written. I won’t back away from that and say, it’s my favorite or, in my opinion it’s the best. …
Baroque
As we discussed earlier, the term classical music applies to music as diverse as Bach and Ligeti. Speaking of Bach, let’s talk about The Baroque period a little bit. The Baroque period preceded The Classical period and ran from 1600 …
Ligeti
Who was Gyorgi Ligeti? Born in Romania to a Hungarian Jewish family, Ligeti briefly lived in Hungary and ultimately became a citizen of Austria. His music is esoteric to the extreme. He appears to have been a favorite of movie …
Sacra/Profana
This week I headed over to Mission Hills to sit in on a rehearsal of Sacra/Profana. Who is Sacra/Profana? A semi-professional group founded and directed by one Krishan Oberoi. Krishan is a Yale educated musician with a master’s degree in …
Master and Servant
The term classical music is a generic term and covers a range of music too immense to quantify. There is also the classical period of music. The classical period is roughly 1750 to 1830 and the primary composers were Haydn, …
Play the King to Sleep
Chamber music is an interesting animal. The chamber referred to is a palace chamber. This music was originally written to be performed in the private chambers, or bedroom, of the patron. At the time chamber music originated, the composers and …
Lise Lindstrom
Turandot opened last night at The Civic Theater to a sold out audience. Before the show, I sat down to chat with Lise Lindstrom, the American soparano performing the title role. Lise was sitting in a chair having her Ice …
Mozart Romance
After realizing I’d forgotten Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata I started going back over other music I’d forgotten. I recalled that for several years Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 was a favorite of mine. I was especially obsessed with the middle “romance” …
Sitz
The Sitzprobe for Turnadot was magnificent this evening. What is a Sitzprobe? It is a rehearsal on the stage with the orchestra but without costumes or staging. The singers sit on stage and go through the entire show to make …
Moonlight
The Moonlight Sonata is not a piece of music I can write about except to mention some of the background story. The title of moonlight was given to this sonata by a music critic who compared the first movement to …
Pathetique
Speaking of Beethoven Piano Sonatas, The Pathetique is a good one. Pathetique translates as pathetic but think more along the lines of passion or pathos. The Pathetique Sonata is one of Beethoven’s most popular pieces of music. It even managed …
Waldstein
I was somewhat surprised to hear Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata on a commercial the other day. I’ve no problem with commercials using classical music. Often times it creates a point of reference for those who are not completely into classical music. …
Ring
In September of 1957 Decca Records released a recording of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, the first of the four Ring des Nibelungen operas. Over the next seven years, Decca would release the remaining three operas of The Ring Cycle: Die Walkure, …
Here Comes Wagner
The time has come. I must now come out of the closet and reveal myself as a Wagner fan. To my mind, Wagner is the most fascinating figure in all of classical music. Is there anyone else who creates as …
Scooping is Bad Singing?
I've heard many a person talk about scooping and how bad it is. I'm not sure where this idea comes from but I think I have a pretty good idea. Choir. Most of the singing many of us have done …
A Gem
Gustav Mahler opens his fifth symphony with a familiar, rhythmic figure. Dat-dat-dat-dah. It is the same figure Beethoven uses to open his fifth symphony. While Beethoven’s music is stern, it is also joyful and even manages to make fun of …
Fin de Siecle
Continuing with our theme of rebellion in fin de siècle Vienna, after Mahler, Schoenberg was waiting. Mahler wrote music with a tonality that would have made Wagner cringe. Mahler was depressed and disenfranchised but our ears still understand his musical …
Vienna
I was thinking about a third post on Shostakovich but I started connecting the dots in my mind and ended up in Vienna. For his second denunciation, Shostakovich was accused of “formalism”. In the Soviet Union, formalism meant music that …
New Year's Bolero
As many of you know, today was New Year’s Day. I decided to head to Lake Miramar and go for a run. I’m a somewhat accomplished runner having done three marathons, two half marathons, and a hand full of 10K’s. …
Shostakovich Fifth
Shostakovich wrote his fifth symphony to redeem himself in the eyes of the authorities. At the same time he could not capitulate to Stalin’s terror. His task was to write a symphony in the style of The Party’s “heroic classicism” …