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June 6, 2011
The great German Romantic composer, Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810 in Zwickau, Saxony. Schumann's music was immediately accepted as central to the classical canon and has stayed popular ever since, although these days it may not be played as often as in the mid-20th century, when pieces like Carnival, Symphonic Studies, and Fantasy in C seemed practically obligatory in piano recitals. A large portion of Schumann's music was written for piano solo – his first composition for an instrument other than piano didn't come till 1840, ten years since Variations on the name "Abegg" Op. 1 (it was Liederkreis, Op. 24, a song cycle on nine poems by Heinrich Heine). Schumann's first symphony came the following year, and a set of quartets – a year later.
Schumann's music needs no introduction, so we'll just present pieces from the different periods of his career. We'll start at the beginning: Variations on the name "Abegg," Op. 1. It's played by the brilliant Taiwanese pianist Jung Lin. Next is the piece that followed, Papillons Op. 2, performed by the pianist Tanya Gabrielian. Ms. Gabrielian was born in the US but currently lives in London. Following these two early pieces we'll play a much later work, Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70 (1849). It was originally written for the horn and piano, but these days it's usually heard in the arrangements for the viola or cello. You'll hear it performed by the Milan-based Duo Lopez Cafiero, the cellist Martina Lopez and the pianist Clelia Cafiero. Schumann wrote a large number of vocal works, as a lied composer he's on par with Schubert. We'll hear one of his most famous songs, Widmung, Op. 25, No. 1, the opening piece from the cycle Myrthen, his wedding present to Clara Wieck. It is sung by the soprano Hyunah Yu, with Alon Goldstein on the piano. We'll finish with one of his last compositions, Märchenerzählungen (Fairy tales), Op. 132, a trio for the clarinet, viola, and piano. It was written in 1853, three years before Schumann's death, when he was already deeply ill (the following year he would voluntarily enter a mental hospital). The performers are Trio di Colore. To listen, click here.
May 30, 2011
Recent anniversaries. We missed several of them in the last couple of weeks and would like to catch up. Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré were both born on May 12, Massenet in 1842 and Fauré three years later. (Doesn't Fauré sound much more contemporary? Massenet is so firmly planted in the 19th century French Romanticism, while Fauré influenced so much of the 20th century music). Here is Meditation from Massenet's opera Tais; it's performed by the flutist Katherine DeJongh with Yoko Yamada-Selvaggio on the piano. As for Faure, we selected his famous song, Après un rève, in a viola arrangement. It's performed (on the 1615 Amati "La Stauffer" viola) by Anna Serova, who is accompanied by Jenny Borgatti, piano. Click here to listen.
The wonderfully eccentric French composer Erik Satie was born on May 17, 1866. A friend of Debussy and Ravel, and later of the Dada artists, he's mostly famous for his brief pieces for piano, Gymnopédies and Gnossiene. Here's his Gnossiene No. 2, played by the pianist Tania Stavreva.
While some of Satie's pieces barely run a minute, some of the operas of Richard Wagner, who was born on May 22, 1813, run longer than 5 hours (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, depending on the conductor, takes about five and a half hours to perform). Although we love Wagner, our selection might be considered blasphemous by the Wagnerian purists: it's Ride of the Walküre, from the opera Die Walküre played by The Fauxharmonic Orchestra, Paul Henry Smith conducting. From Wikipedia: "The Fauxharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra made up of digital orchestral instruments, some including the Vienna Symphonic Library conducted by Paul Henry Smith using a Wii remote controller instead of a baton and a Wii balance board instead of a podium, both of which are programmed to modify the sounds in real time in response to the acoustics of the hall and the demands of the music." We think this performance is a lot of fun; listen to it here.
The French composer Jean Françaix was born on May 23, 1912. Françaix once said that his goal of is to "give pleasure." That he certainly does. Here is his charming Tema con variazioni. It's performed by the clarinetist István Kohán and Noémi Kanizsár is on the piano.
And last but not least of the recent anniversaries, Isaac Albéniz was born on May 29, 1860. His Cordoba, Op. 232, No. 4 is played by the Russian pianist Dmitry Paperno. To listen, click here.
May 23, 2011
The Italian pianist and composer Roberto Russo graduated summa cum laude from the Music Conservatory of Cosenza and then studied in Italy with Daniel Rivera and Franco Scala, and in Switzerland at the Geneva Conservatory with Maria Tipo. There he obtained the Diplome de perfectionnement (1992). He also took classes with Joerg Demus, Gherard Oppitz, Paul Badura-Skoda, and with Peter Schreier in German Lied.
Roberto started performing publicly in 1985, playing recitals and collaborating with chamber ensembles and orchestras. His tours brought him to the major cities of 12 countries, including New York, Washington, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, London, Geneva, Copenhagen, Bilbao, Rome, and Florence. His performances were reviewed by Italian and international press, and recorded and broadcast by RAI, Radio Vaticana, Radio Toscana Classica, Houston Public Radio, and Radio Televisiòn Argentina. In 2002 he recorded his first CD entirely devoted to the prelude form in the 20th century and in 2005, with Italian tenor Alessandro Maffucci, a CD devoted to Franz Liszt music for voice.
Roberto is also an accomplished composer. His music was presented at many prestigious venues and played by important ensembles. For example, his Pater Noster for choir was performed in Lyon, France, in 2006 by the Royal Chapel Choir of Copenhagen; Sonata for Viola and Piano was presented in 1995 at the Council Palace of Buenos Aires, and 12 Preludes for Piano were performed in Norway and in Krakow, Poland. The two-time winner of the Ibla International Music Competition (in 1996 as a pianist and in 1997 as a composer), Roberto Russo teaches courses and seminars at the Music Conservatories in Tromsoe, Norway; Oviedo, Spain; Bucharest and Krakow. Between 2000 and 2005 Roberto was the Artistic Director of the Liszt International Competition for Pianists and Composers in Grottammare, Italy. He currently teaches piano at his alma mater, the Conservatory of Cosenza.
We have a large selection of Roberto's performances in our library; for the playlist we selected several preludes, two of which are Roberto's own compositions. First is La sérénade interrompue, from Preludes, Book 1 by Claude Debussy, then Prelude op. 5 no. 2 by Dmitri Kabalevsky, followed by Prelude no. 4, from Five preludes without opus number, by Dmitry Shostakovich, and Para los acentos (no.1 of 12 Preludios Americanos) by Alberto Ginastera. Two preludes by Russo are: Piano Prelude in C major and Piano Prelude in G sharp minor, Homage to Dmitri Shostakovich. To listen, click here.
May 16, 2011
The American pianist Pnina Becher lives the life of a "regular" virtuoso: she performs in the US and abroad and has issued several successful CDs, but the arc of her professional career was highly unusual. Pinina was born to American parents in a small village, Moshav Beit Herut, in Israel. She was considered a prodigy in early childhood, and won medals and scholarships in piano competitions throughout Israel. After serving for two years in the Israeli army, she entered the Tel Aviv Rubin Academy of Music, studying with Emanuel Krasovsky. Although it was clear that a thriving musical career lay ahead, Pnina got married and moved to New York instead, and decided to stop playing the piano to concentrate on her family.
Eighteen years later, she moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, and started playing publicly again. She performed both as a soloist, and with orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Israel, and Australia, where she played at the prestigious Melbourne International Arts Festival and was enthusiastically received in her sold out concerts. Her first album, a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations has been critically acclaimed, and Pnina's second album, with works of Scarlatti, Chopin, and Debussy, has been recently released.
We'll hear four pieces performed by Pnina Becher. First, the Cat's fugue, a one-movement sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, Kk 30; then three excerpts from Pour le Piano by Claude Debussy: Prelude, Sarabande, and Tocatta. To listen, click here.
May 9, 2011
Today we're marking (albeit belatedly) anniversaries of two great composers: Johannes Brahms was born on May 7 in Hamburg, Germany in 1833, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky seven years later, in a small provincial town of Votkins, Russia. Both became famous during their lifetime, both wrote magnificent romantic symphonies and their piano and violin concertos are in the repertoire of every concretizing musician. What is surprising is how different the musical traditions were from which the two men came. Brahms, "one of the three Bs," as Bülow put it, followed in the steps of generations of composers. From Michael Praetorius and Heinrich Schütz in the early 17th century, to Buxtehude and Telemann, and then Bach, Gluck and on, classical music in Germany had been developing for hundreds of years. When Tchaikovsky was born, however, Russian classical music was all of 4 years old: Glinka's opera "Ivan Susanin," the first significant and authentically Russian musical composition, was completed in 1836. By the time of Tchaikovsky's death in 1893, Russian music was securely established as one of the leading national schools.
We have so many recordings of both composers that our listeners would do better by browsing the library. Still, here are two playlists. Brahms: the finale (fourth movement) of Piano Quartet Op.25 performed by Quartetto Anthos; Intermezzo in e minor, Op. 119, No. 2, played by the pianist Alon Goldstein; Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 (with Joachim's cadenza), Rachel Barton Pine, Violin, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Kalmar conducting. Tchaikovsky: the 1st movement (Moderato e semplice) of Quartet No. 1 Op. 11, in D Major, performed by the Avalon String Quartet; Valse-Scherzo in C Major, Dmitri Berlinsky, Violin, Elena Baksht, Piano; Piano Concerto No. 1 in b-flat minor, Op. 23 James Dick, Piano, Texas Festival Orchestra, Robert Spano conducting. To listen to the Brahms playlist, click here, for Tchaikovsky – here.
May 2, 2010
The violinist Andrew Kohji Taylor captivates audiences with probing musical insight, luminous tone, expressive phrasing and technical mastery. Born in Boston, Mr. Taylor began playing the violin at the age of four and at nine began studying with renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay, who remained his teacher until the end of high school. The late Henryk Szerying was his mentor for many years. Taylor has also worked with Masuko Ushioda at the New England Conservatory of Music, Syoko Aki at Yale University and Uwe Martin Haiberg at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin.
Mr. Taylor made his New York concerto debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall with Gerard Schwarz and The New York Chamber Symphony, and has recently given a recital at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival. He has also given solo recitals in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington DC. He performs at music festivals including the Marlboro and the Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Music Festival.
Taylor's recitals are frequently broadcasted on Boston's WGBH radio, NPR's "Performance Today," NHK Japan, and WFMT Chicago. He recorded works by Prokofiev, Janácek and Debussy for Warner Classic. He also recorded for the MMC label, Navona records, and Boston Records.
Our playlist consist of five pieces, three by the French composers, and two by Americans. First, Claude Debussy's Beau Soir arranged for violin and piano by Jascha Heifetz. We'll then hear Composer's Holiday, from Three American Pieces for Violin and Piano by Lukas Foss. Samuel Barber's Canzone for Violin and Piano follows the Foss. Then comes Le Printemps Op.18 by Darius Milhaud. We conclude with Maurice Ravel's Tzigane. Mr. Taylor is accompanied by the pianist Judith Gordon. To listen, click here.