MUSIC SATURDAY - JOAQUÍN RODRIGO

“Losing my sight had nothing to do with my focus on music. My passion for music was already there, so it would be a mistake to give too much significance to my blindness.” - Andrea Bocelli

Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre (22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999) was a Spanish composer of classical music and a virtuoso pianist. In spite of being blind from an early age, he achieved great success. He was born in Sagunto, Valencia, and lost his sight almost completely at the age of three after contracting diphtheria.

He began to study piano and violin at the age of eight, but despite being best known for his guitar music, never mastered the instrument himself. Rodrigo studied music under Francisco Antich in Valencia and under Paul Dukas in Paris. After briefly returning to Spain, he went to Paris again to study musicology, first under Maurice Emmanuel and then under André Pirro.

In 1925 he received Spain’s National Prize for Orchestra for “Cinco piezas infantiles”. From 1947 Rodrigo was a professor of music history, holding the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, at Complutense University of Madrid. His most famous work, “Concierto de Aranjuez”, was composed in 1939 in Paris. It is a concerto for solo classical guitar and orchestra. The central adagio movement is one of the most recognisable in 20th century classical music, featuring the interplay of guitar with English horn.

The success of this concerto led to commissions from a number of prominent soloists, including the flautist James Galway and the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. In 1954 Rodrigo composed “Fantasía para un gentilhombre” at the request of Andrés Segovia. His “Concierto Andaluz”, for four guitars and orchestra, was commissioned by Celedonio Romero for himself and his three sons.

In 1991, Rodrigo was raised to the nobility by King Juan Carlos, given the title Marqués de los Jardines de Aranjuez [Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez]. He received the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award (Spain’s highest civilian honour) in 1996. He was named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1998. He married Victoria Kamhi, a Turkish-born pianist, on 19 January 1933, in Valencia. Their daughter, Cecilia, was born 27 January 1941. He died in 1999 in Madrid. Joaquín Rodrigo and his wife Victoria are buried at the cemetery at Aranjuez.

Here is his “Concerto de Aranjuez” (1939) with the DRSO. Soloist, Pepe Romero and conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

1. Allegro con spirito

2. Adagio

3. Allegro gentile

POETRY JAM - AN IMPOSSIBLE PLACE

“I see the entire world as Eden, and every time you take an inch of it away, you must do so with respect.” - Joni Mitchell

This week, Poetry Jam has given the instruction: “Set your poem this week in an impossible place”. Increasing population growth worldwide, escalating pollution, effects of climate change, dwindling resources and a spoilage of our natural environment make many of the world’s beautiful places no longer so. It is harder and harder for most people of the earth (who are rapidly becoming city dwellers in huge metropolises) to find a “natural”, unspoiled place where everything is “right”. This is the impossible place my poem yearns for…

Nocturne I

On the horizon low will sink the sun

And gentle sea the shore would kiss.

A gull the zephyr soft pursues

While fish in coralline castles hides.

Dolphin, Orion’s echoes searches for

And dances in the murky depths, anemone.

Unmarred by cloud the sky shines on

In ever deepening shadows phosphorescent.

Star burns in twilit backdrop smooth

And ceaselessly does the cicada drone.

Bird roosts in leafy bower still

The summer heat by evening unquelled.

For water sweet the arid earth does yearn

An earnest kiss the parchéd lips desire

A temperate lair the wild beast seeks

While living flesh caresses craves.

A want for cooling breeze is in the stifling air expressed

While for the music of the words of love ear hopes.

Pearl of a moon in opalescent ocean falls

The blue-white wave on velvet shore does break

In silence still the sea-sounds softly sing;

Enticed by mistress pale recedes the saline,

Shell glistens wet, crab backwards runs

And high above silver Cybele smiles.

For beauty endlessly the soul will search

In lover’s eyes would eyes be there reflected.

Heart needs to love, reason subduing

And arms would in embrace rejoice.

Perishable flesh be to your own attracted

And love while there still is time.

A TIMELY REMINDER...

For the Festive Season.

MUSIC SATURDAY - TELEMANN AGAIN!

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
 

For Music Saturday, Georg Philipp Telemann again with his 12 Parisian Quartets (1730 - 1738) for flute, violin, viola da gamba and continuo. With Barthold Kuijken (flute), Sigiswald Kuijken (violin), Wieland Kuijken (viola da gambe), and Gustav Leonhardt (continuo), on original instruments.

Georg Philipp Telemann,  (born March 14, 1681, Magdeburg, Brandenburg [Germany]—died June 25, 1767, Hamburg), was a German composer of the late Baroque period, who wrote both sacred and secular music but was most admired for his church compositions, which ranged from small cantatas to large-scale works for soloists, chorus, and orchestra.

Telemann wrote a lot of very good chamber music, but these Parisian Quartets show him at his best. They are full of wonderful melodies, and some amazing rhythmic quirks. If Telemann had not been so prolific, these works would be considered absolute masterpieces on the order of the Brandenburg Concertos of Bach - they are that good!
 
This is by far the best recording of these Quartets. The Kujiken brothers are skilled players of their instruments - a great achievement for self-taught musicians. Their version of these works of Telemann is fulfilled with virtuosity and panache, doing justice for the technically demanding scores. But there’s more than just technique. You will find a treasure trove of amazing, artful and delightful music in these works and their exceptional interpretation.
 
The painting is “The Love Letter” by François Boucher.

MUSIC SATURDAY - BOCCHERINI

“The only real elegance is in the mind; if you've got that, the rest really comes from it.” - Diana Vreeland
 
Rodolfo Luigi Boccherini (February 19, 1743 – May 28, 1805) was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centres. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275), and the Cello Concerto in B flat major (G 482). The latter work was long known in the heavily altered version by German cellist and prolific arranger Friedrich Grützmacher, but has recently been restored to its original version.
 
Boccherini composed several guitar quintets including the “Fandango” which was influenced by Spanish music. His biographer Elisabeth Le Guin noted among Boccherini’s musical qualities “an astonishing repetitiveness, an affection for extended passages with fascinating textures but virtually no melodic line, an obsession with soft dynamics, a unique ear for sonority, and an unusually rich palette of introverted and mournful affects.”
 
Boccherini’s overriding concern was the production of smooth, elegant music; thus, his favourite expression marks were soave (soft), con grazia (with grace), and dolcissimo (very sweetly). It is in his gentle warmth and superlative elegance—often with a hint of melancholy just below the surface—that Boccherini's most characteristic contribution may be found. His treatment of instrumental texture is richly varied, emerging as one of the most characteristic features of his music, particularly in his concertante writing, in which he obtained a wide variety of tone colours by writing high viola or cello parts (he was clearly influenced here by his own instrumental facility).
 
Here are his String Quintets Op.10, played by “La Magnifica Comunita”.

VIOLA DA GAMBA

“Who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once.” - Robert Browning
 

Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family’s wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city’s five main churches. While Telemann’s career prospered, his personal life was always troubled: His first wife died only a few months after their marriage, and his second wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling debt before leaving Telemann.
 

He was a remarkably prolific, skillful, and forward-thinking, one of the foremost musicians of his day, who wrote a great many sacred and secular vocal works as well as orchestral, chamber, and keyboard music. A contemporary of Bach and Handel, Telemann shared many of their musical techniques and wrote for many of the same genres; and though his music is overshadowed by theirs, it has many charms, perhaps more evident in Telemann’s modest instrumental works (of which the Suite for Flute & Strings in A is a good choice) than in his 40 operas, 600 overtures, 44 liturgical passions, and other large works. Handel said Telemann could write an eight-part motet with the ease that someone else would write a letter.
 

Here is some of his wonderful music for viola da gamba, played by Hille Perl (viola da gamba) accompanied by the Freiburger Barockorchester and directed by Petra Müllejans. The viola da gamba is a bowed, stringed musical instrument used principally in chamber music of the 16th to the 18th century. The viol shares with the Renaissance lute the tuning of its six strings (two fourths, a major third, two fourths) and the gut frets on its neck. It was made in three sizes: Treble, tenor, and bass, with the bottom string tuned, respectively, to D, G (or A), and D. To these sizes was later added the violone, a double bass viol often tuned an octave below the bass.

EXQUISITE BEAUTY

“We ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like him is to become holy, just, and wise.” - Plato
 

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704) was a French composer of the Baroque era. Exceptionally prolific and versatile, he produced compositions of the highest quality in several genres. His mastery in writing sacred vocal music, above all, was recognised and hailed by his contemporaries. He is unrelated to Gustave Charpentier, the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century French opera composer.
 

Here is his “Leçons de Ténèbres-Office du Vendredi Saint: Première Leçon.” It is music of exquisite beauty and showcases his mastery of polyphonic writing. Singers: Agnès Mellon: Dessus; Gérard Lesne: Haute-contre; Ian Honeyman: Taille; Jacques Bona: Basse-taille with Il Seminario Musicale-Gérard Lesne.
 

SATURDAY WITH SCHUBERT

“To love beauty is to see light.” - Victor Hugo
 
A Schubert symphony for Music Saturday. Amongst the classical composers, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) is one of my favourites in terms of his tuneful melodies, lovely harmonies and wonderful musicality. Besides his amazing lieder, there is a treasure trove to be discovered in his orchestral works.
 
The fifth of Schubert's nine numbered symphonies was written in 1816 and was performed in October, a month after its composition, at the house of Otto Hatwig, a violinist in the Burgtheater orchestra. The musicians concerned were otherwise amateurs from the group that had been accustomed to meet at the house of Schubert’s father.
 
The music is in the tradition of what Schubert in his diary that year described as the magic sound of Mozart, the immortal. It is scored for flute, pairs of oboes, bassoons and horns, with strings, while the Unfinished Symphony was to make use of a larger orchestra that included clarinets, trombones, trumpets and drums.
 
The first movement leads us through the charm of its principal melodic material to an excursion into stranger keys, until a recapitulation that opens with the first theme in the key of E fiat, before the original key of the movement is restored. There follows a slow movement that is in that essentially Viennese operatic idiom of which Mozart was the greatest exponent, succeeded by a lively Minuet and Trio in the keys of G minor and G major respectively. The symphony ends with a finale that contains all the dramatic contrasts that the customary form encourages.
 
Here are Les Musiciens du Louvre, conducted by Mark Minkowski playing this bright and beautiful symphony.
Enjoy!
 

BACH SERENITY

“Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.” Martin Luther
 

A restful Saturday, much needed even after the four-day work week, which was quite exhausting.
 

A lovely piece of music by Johann Sebastian Bach tonight. It is the Trio Sonata No.3 in D minor, BWV527. I. Andante & II. Allegro played by London Baroque: Ingrid Seifert~Violin, Richard Gwilt~Violin, Charles Medlam~Cello, Terence Charlston~Harpsichord.
 

MUSIC SATURDAY - TELEMANN

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” - Plato
 

For Music Saturday a wonderful set of works by Georg Philipp Telemann. It is his “Essercizii Musici”, a set of sonatas for chamber instruments, performed (beautifully!) in this case by Camerata Köln.



Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family’s wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music.
 

He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city's five main churches. While Telemann’s career prospered, his personal life was always troubled: His first wife died only a few months after their marriage, and his second wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling debt before leaving Telemann.
 

Telemann was one of the most prolific composers in history (at least in terms of surviving oeuvre) and was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time - he was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally.
 

Telemann’s music incorporates several national styles (French, Italian) and is even at times influenced by Polish popular music. He remained at the forefront of all new musical tendencies and his music is an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.

PEACE WITH BACH

“I worked hard. Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results.” - Johannes Sebastian Bach
 
I sat in the garden today and enjoyed some quiet time in the perfect warmth of a summery afternoon. The enveloping greenness of the burgeoning vegetation, the sweet perfume of the summer flowers, the light breeze, the cooling shade of the canopy above, and a wonderful book in my hands, were only complemented and enhanced by the sounds of a Bach concerto playing quietly in the background. Oh what joy to be alive and at peace with oneself! The world may have raged outside but in this summery afternoon in my enclosed garden all was well.
 
Here is the first movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s A minor violin concerto, performed by Lara St. John, accompanied by a graphical score by Stephen Malinowski.

SPIEGEL IM SPIEGEL

“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” - Ernest Holmes
 
“Spiegel im Spiegel” is a piece of music written by Arvo Pärt in 1978, just prior to his departure from Estonia. The piece is in the tintinnabular style of composition, wherein a melodic voice, operating over diatonic scales, and tintinnabular voice, operating within a triad on the tonic, accompany each other.
 
The piece was originally written for a single piano and violin - though the violin has often been replaced with either a cello or a viola. Versions also exist for double bass, clarinet, horn, flute and percussion. The piece is an example of minimal music.
 
The piece is in F major in 6/4 time, with the piano playing rising crotchet triads and the second instrument playing slow scales, alternately rising and falling, of increasing length, which all end on the note A (the mediant of F). The piano’s left hand also plays notes, syncopated with the violin (or other instrument).
 
“Spiegel im Spiegel” in German means “mirror in the mirror” referring to the infinity of images produced by parallel plane mirrors: The tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth. The English word for this phenomenon is “enfilade”.

TELEMANN FOR SATURDAY

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” – Ovid
 
A lovely Saturday, although quite hectic! The usual chores and shopping of a Saturday morning, followed by a visit, then some rest and an evening dining out at our friends’ place. Compatible company, pleasant conversation, nice food and wine and a relaxing evening.
 
Here is a delicious Concerto for flute, violin and cello in A major  by Telemann, that most prolific of composers of the Baroque era.

A RESTFUL SATURDAY

“Rest: the sweet sauce of labour” - Plutarch
 
A restful day today, spent indoors as the weather was not for outings. A beautiful baroque song for Song Saturday today. Whether it is by Bach (as it has been attributed for many years) or whether it is by Stölzel (as recent research shows), it is a lovely aria. Here it is sung by Plácido Domingo and Sissel Kyrkjebø.

Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden
Zum Sterben und zu meiner Ruh.
Ach, wie vergnügt wär so mein Ende,
Es drückten deine schönen Hände
Mir die getreuen Augen zu.
 

When thou art near, I go with joy
To death and to my rest.
O how pleasant would my end be,
If your fair hands
Would close my faithful eyes.
 
“Bist du bei mir” (BWV 508) is an aria in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. It was therefore attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, but the melody is part of the Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel opera “Diomedes, oder die triumphierende Unschuld” that was performed in Bayreuth on November 16, 1718. The opera score is lost. The aria had been part of the Berlin Singakademie music library and was considered lost in the Second World War, until it was rediscovered in 2000 in the Kiev Conservatory. The continuo part of BWV 508 is more agitated and continuous in its voice leading than the Stölzel aria; it is uncertain who provided it, as the entry in the Notebook is by Anna Magdalena Bach herself. In an essay in the Bach-Jahrbuch 2002, Andreas Glöckner speculates that either she obtained the song from the inventory of the Leipzig Opera that had gone bankrupt in 1720, or that it simply was a favourite known to nearly everybody in Leipzig that was particularly suitable for Hausmusik.

SAD SUNSET

“You know, I love the sunset when I am very sad…” – Antoine de St Exupéry
 

Even though the day in Perth today started out with rain and wind, the afternoon was simply beautiful. I walked along the banks of the Swan River and enjoyed the serenity of it. As the afternoon wore on into the evening, the sun set and the air became cool again. I then felt quite far away and a little lonely…
 

Here is the perfect piece for that wistful feeling as the orange fire of the sunset gives way to the blues and mauves of twilight: The second movement of Marcello’s concerto for oboe and strings.

VIVALDI FOR SATURDAY

“Music is the universal language of mankind” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow
 
A wintry Saturday today, with rain, cold and grey skies all day. We stayed in and enjoyed the warmth of the house, doing the household chores, having a leisurely lunch and watching a movie. The evening was lovely as usual…
 
Here is a delightful concerto by Vivaldi. It is the Oboe Concerto in C major, RV 450, played by Benoît Laurent, oboe and the Concerto Köln.

MEDITATION

“Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit” - Jeremy Taylor

It was a freezing night last night and another is forecast for tonight. The garden this morning was covered with frost and the plants sparkled with their decorations of ice crystals. I think some of the plants may have been damaged by the frost, but we shall see in a couple of days. At least it turned out to be a fine and sunny day, although it was still quite cold. We had a visitor with us for most of the day and that kept us busy until the afternoon. At least it was a nice evening…

For Song Saturday today a most beautiful piece interpreted wonderfully. It is Massenet’s  “Meditation” from the opera “ Thais” played by Yo-Yo Ma, cello and Kathryn Stott piano.

YARRA RIVER BY NIGHT

“Love is the river of life in the world.” - Henry Ward Beecher

A relaxing Saturday today, with the usual morning chores, some grocery shopping, then a relaxing afternoon and a wonderful evening out. Driving back home tonight, I couldn't resist stopping on Boathouse Drive by the Yarra and snapping a couple of shots of the city by night and the Swan St Bridge. The river flowed slowly, the night air was crisp and fresh and the only sounds I could hear were some distant traffic and the gentle lapping of the water. A quiet night as winter approaches and with most people warm as toast at home. It seems that only crazy photographers were out there taking photos...

Here’s Audrey Hepburn singing Henry Mancini’s “Moon River” from what is perhaps her most famous film: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.

AUTUMN REFLECTION

“The man who has seen the rising moon break out of the clouds at midnight has been present like an archangel at the creation of light and of the world” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another busy Saturday with a morning full of chores and the usual rushing around to try and get the things that accumulated during the week done. Thankfully the evening arrives and it was time to relax and enjoy a quiet time while the cold wind blew outside. What better than to relax with some heavenly Bach? Here is the adagio from the Concerto in C Minor for Violin and Oboe BWV 1060 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

AUTUMN SATURDAY SERENITY

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 

Another cool, gray Autumn day today. We went to the City this morning, but the rain came, fell and kept falling, finally defeating us so we came back home early. It was good to turn the heater on, have lunch and watch a movie.

Here is some Saturday Serenity with Alicia de Larrocha, piano and the English Chamber Orchestra London conducted by Sir Colin Davis playing one of the most sublime slow movements from Mozart’s piano concertos. This is the Adagio from Piano Concerto No.23 in A major K.488.