November 8, 2010

Baroque Band, Part II. We continue exploring our collection of recordings by Baroque Band, a Chicago-based period-instrument orchestra. This week we present three pieces: one written by an Italian who became the founder of a French Baroque style, another by a German who turned into the most famous English composer, and the third by a Savoyard of a Scotch descent who lived and composed all over Europe.

Jean Baptiste Lully (or Giovanni Battista di Lulli, as he was originally known) was born in Florence in 1632, the son of a poor miller; 20 years later he became the court composer for the Sun king, Louis XIV and a friend to Molière. Lully created the French Baroque style known as "Classique" and became immensely influential in France and beyond. Here is his Suite from Bourgeois gentilhomme.

George Frideric Handel doesn’t need any introductions. Born in Halle in the auspicious year of 1685, he moved to London in 1710 and become one of England’s and the world’s most celebrated composers. Here is his Concerto Grosso Op. 3, No. 4.

Georg Muffat was born in Savoy in 1653 when Savoy was an independent Italian duchy (it’s now a French province). Muffat was of Scottish descent but, as far as we know, never visited Scotland. Instead he lived in Paris, Alsace, Vienna, Salzburg and Passau. Muffat was quite influenced by Lully. Here is his Passacaglia.

November 1, 2010

Several recent birthdays. Domenico Scarlatti was born on October 26, 1685, 225 years ago. He wrote 555 keyboard (for either the harpsichord or early fortepiano) sonatas, which these days are often performed on the piano. Here is Sonata in A major K.322 performed on a Roland Digital piano by Nuccio Trotta, and this is Sonata in c minor, K. 129 performed on pianoforte by David Schrader.

Niccolò Paganini was born on October 27, 1782. We’d like to present two versions of La Campanella, the theme from the final movement of his Violin Concerto No. 2, played here by the violinist Judy Kang, and here, in the famous Liszt’s arrangement, by Alexandre Dossin (piano).

And lastly, one performance that allows us to celebrate two composers at the same time. Johann Strauss Jr. was born on October 25, 1825. Carl Tausig, whose birthday falls on November 4, arranged his famous Nachtfalter Waltz from the cycle Nouvelles soirées De Vienne. Tausig, born in 1841, was probably the most talented pianist of all of Liszt’s pupils (at least according to Hans von Bülow and Eugen d'Albert, also pupils of Liszt). Tausig died at the age of 29 at the height of his brief career. Listen to the transcription, played here by the pianist Sandro Russo.

October 25, 2010

And now for something completely different… Turtle Island Quartet. What are the limits of classical music and where are they? Is there a definable line that can be drawn to label some music as “classical” and other as “not belonging,” however good it might be? Perhaps the modified Supreme Court test could work: “I know it when I hear it.” But sometimes even this test gives ambiguous results. Kronos Quartet inhabits this borderline land, and now the Turtle Island Quartet has just come out with yet another one of their typecast-defying CDs, this one based on the music of Jimi Hendrix and David Balakrishnan. As Andy Summers writes, “Translating the music of Jimi Hendrix visceral electric guitar music into the vernacular of the classical string quartet seems like an improbably idea. Yet in this remarkable recording…[the quartet] has once again hit what at first might seem a difficult target.” Here’s Jimi Hendrix’s “1983… A Merman I Should Turn To Be,” arranged by the violinist, composer, and the founder of Turtle Island Quartet David Balakrishnan. We’re not sure about the labels, but we think it sounds great.

October 18, 2010

The great Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt was born 199 year ago this week, on October 22 of 1811. We’ll celebrate him with several piano pieces, some from his years as a celebrity virtuoso and the subsequent Weimar period, and some from his last years (Liszt’s reputation was enhanced by Alfred Brendel’s incessant promotion of that period’s music).

We start with the sonata Après une Lecture de Dante, which was written in 1849. It is performed by the young Swiss pianist Beatrice Berrut. We follow with two etudes, Transcendental Etude No. 8 "Wilde Jagd" (Wild Hunt), written in 1853 (it’s played by Giorgi Latsabidze), and Gnomenreigen (Dance of the Gnomes) from 1862, which is performed by Nadejda Vlaeva. Then we play two pieces from Liszt’s last period: the 1877 composition Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este, whose harmonies foreshadow the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel (it is played by Jorge Federico Osorio), and a very unusual short composition from 1881, Nuages gris (Grey Clouds), performed by Carlos César Rodríguez. To listen, click here.

October 11, 2010

Wendy Warner and Irina Nuzova. The cellist Wendy Warner and the pianist Irina Nuzova recently issued a highly successful CD and are now following it up with a series of Chicago-area concerts. A collection of Russian music for Cello and Piano, the CD debuted last week at number 8 on the Billboard Classical Charts. It was produced by Cedille Records, a Chicago label devoted to promoting local classical musicians. The CD contains several rarely performed works, including Miaskovsky’s Sonata No. 2 in a minor (the composer dedicated it to the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich), and Alfred Schnitke’s Musica nostalgica. One of its pieces – Gregor Piatigorsky’s arrangement of Alexander Scriabin’s Etude Op.8 No. 11 – can be heard here.

Wendy Warner grew up in Chicago and first gained recognition as a soloist at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where she studied under Rostropovich. At 18, she won first prize at the Fourth International Rostropovich Competition in Paris in 1990 and then toured extensively with Rostropovich throughout Europe and the U.S. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Warner still feels her mentor’s influence as she performs with orchestras and chamber groups across the world. “He believed in pushing oneself, constantly striving to be better,” she says. “He always told me it wasn’t enough to be a great cellist, I had to search deeper into being a great musician.” When she isn’t performing, Warner mentors the next generation of artists by teaching at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, the Music Institute of Chicago, and the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Georgia.

Pianist Irina Nuzova made her New York recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in 1997, also appearing at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall, the Steinway Society in Princeton, New Jersey, and the Palazzo Minerva in Minerbio, Italy. She has won top prizes in international competitions, including the coveted Bruce Hungerford Award at the Young Concert Artist Auditions in New York, and the Beethoven Piano Sonata International Competition in Memphis, Tennessee. Ms. Nuzova studied in Russia and also the Juilliard, where she was taught by Oxana Yablonskaya and Jerome Lowenthal.

October 4, 2010

The Baroque Band is a period-instrument orchestra based in Chicago. It was founded in 2007 by the British violinist and conductor Garry Clarke. Garry moved to the US in 2004; while in the UK, he performed with The Academy of Ancient Music, The Sixteen, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and other ensembles. He has also worked with Christopher Hogwood, John Elliot Gardener, Sir Charles Mackaras and many other eminent conductors.

Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein hailed the Baroque Band as one of the top ten Chicago ensembles. He wrote: “The goal of Garry Clarke is to make the group a nexus of “authentic” pre-classical performance in the Midwest. An ambitious undertaking, but Clarke and friends are off to an auspicious start.”

We’re in the process of providing access to some of the live recordings made by the Baroque Band in the past three seasons. To whet your appetite, here are two recordings: Henry Purcell’s Suite from Dido and Aeneas (there’s much more to this music than the famous When I’m laid in earth aria), with the wonderful mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane and David Schrader at the harpsichord; and Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Suite from Les Indes Galantes. We’ll have more from the Baroque Band later; in the mean time you can listen here.