MOZART Symphony No 34, K 338

Symphony No. 34 in C major, K. 338, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780, and completed on 29 August. The work is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. Composed in Salzburg and dated August 29, 1780. A second movement - Minuet - was torn from the manuscript.Alfred Einstein advanced a theory in the third edition of the Köchel catalogue that the Minuet K. 409 was written at a later date by the composer for this work. However, there is no proof in the sources to support his thesis

WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Performers: The Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood. 

W. A. Mozart - KV 199 (161b/162a) - Symphony No. 27 in G major ...

Symphony No. 27 in G major, K. 199/161b, is a symphony composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in April, 1773 at the age of 17. The symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 horns, and strings. Mozart and his father returned from their last stay in Italy in March, 1773...during the time of this composition. 

 VIDEO: National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova Silvia Tabor, conductor. 

MOZART Symphony No 21 k 134

Symphony No. 21 in A major, K. 134, is a symphony that was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in August 1772, after the Mozarts' second visit to Italy and before the return of Leopold Mozart and his son to Milan later in the year.

 VIDEO: Mozart - Sym 21, K. 134 [complete] Symphony No. 21 in A major, K. 134, was a symphony composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in August, 1772. The symphony has the scoring of two flutes, two horns, and strings. There are four movements: 1. Allegro, 3/4 2. Andante, 2/4 3. Menuetto: Trio, 3/4 4. Allegro, 2/2.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Piano Concerto in A minor,

Description by Blair Johnston... Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Piano Concerto in A minor, the product of a fertile 13-year-old mind, is so generally unknown that most references -- especially older ones -- refer to the man as having composed only two concertos for the instrument, the Concerto No. 1 in G minor of 1831 and the Concerto No. 2 in D minor of 1837 (as you can see, the A minor Concerto has never even earned its own number, as it was absent from the scene when numbers were allotted). It was composed during the spring of 1822, in between the first and second batches of string symphonies, and can be reckoned a musical melting-pot of eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century methods and means: Haydn meets Hummel, with a just a hint of Beethoven thrown in for good measure, though it seems that the teenage Mendelssohn wasn't yet quite sure what to do with the assertive Bonn-born composer's music.

 VIDEO: Mendelssohn - Piano Concerto in A Minor {13 year old composer!) Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Piano Concerto in A Minor (1822) 1. Allegro 2. Adagio (13:30) 3. Finale: Allegro ma non troppo (22:09) Cyprien Katsaris, piano and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra conducted by Janos Rolla.

MENOTTI Sebastian

Gian Carlo Menotti (pronounced [dʒan ˈkarlo meˈnɔtːi]; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, along with over two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular taste. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice, for The Consul (1950) and for The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955). He founded the noted Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) in Spoleto in 1958 and its American counterpart, Spoleto Festival USA, in 1977. In 1986 he commenced a Melbourne Spoleto Festival in Australia, but he withdrew after three years. Menotti died on February 1, 2007, at the age of 95 in a hospital in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where he had a home. He was buried in East Lothian, Scotland.

SEBASTIAN Description by Joseph Stevenson Menotti composed this ballet score to his own libretto in 1944. The choreography of the original production was considered unsuccessful, but with restagings later it became a success. Sebastian is a Moorish slave, secretly in love with a courtesan. She, in her turn, shares love with the Prince of their Italian kingdom. The prince's sisters, desiring to end the affair, steal the courtesan's veil, which allows them to work black magic on her, which they can do with a life-sized wax figure covered with the veil; firing arrows into it will kill her. Sebastian learns of the plot, substitutes himself for the wax figure, and is shot with the arrows. The sacrifice breaks their spell over the courtesan, and she is reunited with her beloved. Menotti's music is ardent and romantic, sort of an Italian Prokofiev in style and sound. It is very listenable, a fine score of its type. There is a suite in seven movements drawn from the score.

 VIDEO: Menotti: Sebastian Suite, conducted by Stokowski (1954) Menotti: Sebastian - Ballet Suite (1944) NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski Recorded September 28, 1954, in Manhattan Center, New York City. Issued in April 1955 as Side 2 of RCA Victor Red Seal LM-1858 (coupled with Morton Gould's Dance Variations). The recording was actually also made in stereo, but unreleased as such until 1978, when it surfaced as RCA Gold Seal AGL1-2715 (coupled with selections from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" ballet score). Two different cover designs were used for LM-1858 - the original, of 1955, gives the Gould work top billing, and the reissue cover, from 1958, gives top billing to the Menotti instead. Both are reproduced in this video. My copy of LM-1858 has the revised cover; my thanks to Buster, at Big 10-Inch Record (big10inchrecord.blogspot.com), for providing me with a scan of the original design. Menotti's "Sebastian" Suite is in seven sections, played without pause: 1. Adagio 2. Barcarolle (at 2:12) 3. Street Fight (at 5:43) 4. Cortège (at 7:08) 5. Sebastian's Dance (at 11:54) 6. The Courtesan's Dance (at 15:10) 7. Pavane (at 19:07)

MENOTTI Amahl and the Night Visitors

Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast live on television from that venue as the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in America. WIKIPEDIA

Amahl, a boy known for his tall tales and the occasional lie, gets around on a crutch due to his disability. As he sits outside playing his shepherd's pipe, his mother calls for him to come inside. Amahl is slow to react to his mother's commands. Finally, after several attempts to get him inside, he walks into the house. Amahl tells his mom a grand story of a giant star rising high in the sky above their house. Of coarse she doesn't believe him and tell him to stop bothering her. Once the sun has set, Amahl's mother worries about her and her son's future.

VIDEO: Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti...Santa Rosa Symphonic Chorus, Dan Earl, director and conducting Santa Rosa Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas Xenelis, director Amahl: Danny Krive Mother: Melva Wheelwright Baltazar: Rob De Witt Melchior: Andrew Wheelwright Kaspar: Lynn Wheelwright Page: Jim Whittle Servants: Casey Hall, Jaden Groesbeck, Matt Kitchen Dancers: Jamie Meese, Christina Fullmer, Kristina Marsh, Nina Cheek, Marissa Kitchen, Sabrina Hall December 9, 2012 at the Glazer Center Live performance. 

MAHLER Symphony No 3

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 is not only Mahler’s longest work, but is the longest symphony in the standard repertoire. A typical performance lasts between 90 and 105 minutes. The six-movement piece is regarded as one of Mahler’s greatest, and has been recorded by all of the major orchestras. This recording of Mahler’s 3rd symphony was taken in Moscow, 1961, and features contralto Valentina Levko as well as the Ladies of the Moscow State Choir and Children’s Choir. Alongside Mahler’s work is Prokofiev’s October, Cantata Op 74, in a recording taken in Moscow in 1966. Both of these works feature the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Kirill Kondrashin. VIDEO: Great presentation of the legendary american conductor Leonard Bernstein, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Christa Ludwig (contralto solo), the Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Vienna Boys Choir playing the Symphony No. 3 of Gustav Mahler, at 1973.

MOZART: Oboe Quartet

 The Oboe Quartet in F major, K. 370/368b, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in early 1781. The quartet is scored for oboe, violin, viola and cello. In 1780, Mozart was invited to Munich to visit Elector Karl Theodor, who had commissioned the opera Idomeneo for a carnival celebration. While in Munich, Mozart renewed an acquaintance with Friedrich Ramm, a virtuoso oboist in the Munich orchestra. It was for Ramm that Mozart composed the quartet in order to show off his virtuosity and the improvements that had been made to the oboe at that time. One way that this piece showed off the instrument was the use of the "high F" above the staff, a note rarely played in any repertoire previously written for the oboe. This piece is a work of chamber music, but it has elements that harken to other musical genres, and requires a fair amount of virtuosity. Because of its large amount of virtuosic playing on the part of the oboe and the large degree to which the strings simply accompany the oboist, it almost resembles a concerto, but with only with four players instead of an entire orchestra. Despite this, there are also a number of places within the work that require ensemble playing, for example, the famous 13-bar passage in the finale in which the oboe plays in common time against a 6/8 accompaniment. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Mozart - Oboe Quartet in F major, K.370/368b Art-Offertorium (chamber ensemble)

 

MOZART Piano Concerto No 21

The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, was completed on March 9, 1785 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, four weeks after the completion of the previous D minor concerto, K. 466 The second movement was featured in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. This has led to an anachronistic nickname of Elvira Madigan for the concerto. Neil Diamond's 1972 song "Song Sung Blue" was based on a theme from the andante movement of the concerto. WIKIPEDIA An electronic arrangement of the concerto's first movement was used as the main theme of the TV series Whiz Kids.



VIDEO: Mozart:Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 Orchestra filarmonica della Scala Maurizio Pollini Riccardo Muti 2004

Mozart - Oboe Concerto in C, K. 314

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314 was originally composed in Spring or Summer 1777 for oboist Giuseppe Ferlendis (1755--1802) from Bergamo, then reworked by the composer as a concerto for flute in D major in 1778. The concerto is a widely-studied piece for both instruments and is one of the more important concerti for the oboe. As with his Flute Concerto No. 1, the piece is arranged for a standard set of orchestral strings, two oboes, and two horns. The piece itself is divided into three movements: I. Allegro aperto II. Adagio non troppo III. Rondo: Allegretto. While the original version for oboe had been lost before Alfred Einstein wrote Mozart: His Character, His Work, the oboe origin of the flute concerto was suspected then, in part because of references in letters to a now-missing oboe concerto, as Einstein wrote, and of similar details in the orchestral string lines which suggested a transposition was used. Also, Einstein noted the two scores in D Major and C Major of the K. 314 Concerto in the Library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, which led to the belief that the oboe concerto was the origin of the flute concerto. The orchestra parts of the composition and solo oboe part in C were rediscovered by Bernhard Paumgartner in Salzburg, in 1920. VIDEO:

 

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major, K. 449

The Piano Concerto No. 14 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, written in 1784, is a piano concerto in E-flat major, catalogued as K. 449. It is the first composition he entered into a notebook of his music he then kept for the next seven years, marking down main themes, dates of completion, and other important information. From this notebook we have the information that he finished the concerto on February 9. In the same year in succession he wrote several concertos, and in a letter to his father that May, wrote of the 15th and 16th concertos (in B flat and in D, KV. 450 and 451) that he "could not choose between them" but that "the one in E flat [No. 14] does not belong at all to the same category. It is one of a quite peculiar kind...". The 14th is regarded as being the first of the mature series of concertos Mozart wrote, and indeed, commentators such as Girdlestone and Hutchings valued it as one of the best, particularly as all three movements are of the highest standard. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Murray Perahia English Chamber Orchestra 1975
 

Mozart. Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466

 The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist. A few days after the first performance, the composer's father, Leopold, visiting in Vienna, wrote to his daughter Nannerl about her brother's recent success: "[I heard] an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got there, and your brother didn't even have time to play through the rondo because he had to oversee the copying operation." It is written in the key of D minor. Other works by the composer in that key include the Fantasia K. 397 for piano, Requiem, a Kyrie, the aria "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" from the opera The Magic Flute and parts of the opera Don Giovanni. It is the first of two piano concertos written in a minor key (No. 24 in C minor being the other). The young Ludwig van Beethoven admired this concerto and kept it in his repertoire. A bass run from the first movement appears for comic effect in Variation 22 of the Diabelli Variations. Daniel Barenboim contends that this concerto was Joseph Stalin's favorite piece of music. Composers who wrote cadenzas for it include Beethoven (WoO 58), Charles-Valentin Alkan, Johannes Brahms (WoO 16), Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ferruccio Busoni, and Clara Schumann. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Alexandre Rabinovitch, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto. Martha Argerich, piano. Palazzo Giusti, Padova, September 1998.

 

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453

 The Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, KV. 453, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was written in 1784. According to the date that the composer himself noted on the score, the concerto was completed on April 12, 1784. The date of the premiere is uncertain. In one view, the work is said to have been premiered by Mozart's student Barbara Ployer on June 13, 1784, at a concert to which Mozart had invited Giovanni Paisiello to hear both her and his new compositions, including also his recently written Quintet in E flat for Piano and Winds. Afterwards, Ployer was joined by Mozart in a performance of the Sonata for Two Pianos, K. 448. Another possibility, advanced by Lorenz (2006, 314), is that Mozart did not wait over two months to premiere the work, but performed it in his concert with Regina Strinasacchi on 29 April 1784 at the Kärntnertortheater. As a general consensus for researchers, it can be said with relative certainty that the work premiered during the mid-to-late spring of 1784, following its completion. The finale is a variation movement whose theme was sung by Mozart's starling.

 VIDEO: Mitsuko Uchida Jeffrey Tate English Chamber Orchestra
 

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K. 537 aka "Coronation"

The Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K. 537, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and completed on 24 February 1788. It is generally known as the "Coronation" Concerto. The traditional name associated with this work is not Mozart's own, nor was the work written on the occasion for which posterity has named it. Mozart remarks in a letter to his wife in April 1789 that he had just performed this concerto at court. But the nickname "Coronation" is derived from his playing of the work at the time of the coronation of Leopold II as Holy Roman Emperor in October 1790 in Frankfurt am Main.

 VIDEO: Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K 537, "Coronation" Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Orchestra: Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Conductor: Gerd Albrecht Soloist: Homero Francesh

 

Mozart Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat Major K. 271

  The Piano Concerto No. 9 Jenamy (Jeunehomme) in E-flat major, K. 271, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in Salzburg in 1777, when Mozart was 21 years old. The work is highly regarded by critics. Charles Rosen has called it "perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece of the classical style." Alfred Brendel has called it "one of the greatest wonders of the world." Alfred Einstein dubbed it "Mozart's Eroica." Girdlestone was not quite as effusive in his praise, however, noting that the slow movement, while a great leap forward for Mozart, was still somewhat limited and the work as a whole was not equal to the piano concertos from the composer's peak in Vienna from 1784–87, nor equal to his best compositions overall. The work has long been known as the Jeunehomme Concerto. Théodore de Wyzéwa and Georges de Saint-Foix claimed that Mozart wrote the piece for a French pianist 'Jeunehomme' visiting Salzburg. This name is however incorrect; in 2004 Michael Lorenz demonstrated that the name was actually Victoire Jenamy (1749–1812), a daughter of Jean-Georges Noverre, a dancer who was one of Mozart's friends. Mozart had made Victoire Jenamy's acquaintance during his stay in Vienna in 1773. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: W.A. Mozart Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat Major K. 271 "Jeunehomme" Mitsuko Uchida - Piano Jeffrey Tate - Conductor
 

Moncayo Tierra de Temporal

José Pablo Moncayo is best known as the author of Huapango, a bright, short symphonic piece that is sometimes included in pop concerts by American orchestras. Scholarly research about this composer in the United States is today still scarce. Despite being highly regarded in his own country, Moncayo has been the subject of scant academic research. Tierra de Temporal temporary earth...Completed, September 1949. Première, June 1950, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, Moncayo, conductor. Private performance at the National Conservatory. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1984.

 VIDEO: Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas. Guillermo Villarreal, director. Video por Alex Izaguirre. Edición por Alecs Santana. Teatro principal del Espacio Cultural Metropolitano. 14 de junio de 2012 

Moncayo: Huapango

The Huapango by José Pablo Moncayo (1912-1958) is especially popular; the work was inspired by three traditional Son Huastecas from Veracruz. Moncayo, who would have been 100 years old this June, created an unofficial Mexican national anthem with his Huapango from the year 1941; the work has entered into the repertory of classical symphonic music, pop music, and in turn, of mariachi groups as well. As composer, conductor, pianist and percussionist, Moncayo was, alongside Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Chávez, a representative of Mexican art music - and also part of the Grupo de los Cuatro with Blas Galindo - who sadly passed away at too young an age. His Huapango (8 min.) was premiered by the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México conducted by Chávez in 1941 and today, is a popular concert opener all over the world. In much the same way, the Sinfonietta (10 min.) also represents his typical Mexican style, by making one feel like saddling the horses. No less fun-loving and yet, dramatic, is his work Tierra de Temporal (11 min.) for orchestra. Moncayo’s death in 1958 is considered to be the end of the Mexican national school of composition.

 VIDEO: Orquesta Sinfònica Nacional de México bajo la dirección de Carlos Miguel Prieto

Arturo Márquez Danzón No. 2

Danzón No. 2 for orchestra is a composition by prominent Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. It is, along with José Pablo Moncayo's Huapango[es], Carlos Chávez's Sinfonia India and Silvestre Revueltas' Sensemaya, one of the most popular and significant frequently performed Mexican contemporary classical music compositions performed by orchestras. Danzón no. 2 was commissioned by the National Autonomous University of Mexico and was debuted in 1994 in Mexico City by the Orchestra Filarmonica de la UNAM under the direction of Francisco Savin. The piece focuses on the accents rather than the time signatures, thus the tempo might seem to vary even though it doesn't, however the precision in every measure remains constant. This contemporary Mexican music literature expresses and reflects on a dance style called Danzón, which has its origins in Cuba but is a very important part of the folklore of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Márquez got his inspiration while visiting a ballroom in Veracruz. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Danzón No. 2 - Alondra de la Parra dirigiendo la POA, de Arturo Márquez
 

Marquez Conga del Fuego Nuevo

Arturo Márquez (born 20 December 1950) is a Mexican composer of orchestral music who uses musical forms and styles of his native Mexico and incorporates them into his compositions. Márquez was born in Álamos, Sonora, in 1950 where his interest in music began. Márquez is the first born of nine children of Arturo Márquez and Aurora Márquez Navarro. Márquez was the only one of the nine siblings who became a musician. Márquez's father was a mariachi musician in Mexico and later in Los Angeles and his paternal grandfather was a Mexican folk musician in the northern states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Because of Márquez's father and grandfather, he was exposed to several musical styles in his childhood, particularly Mexican "salon music" which would be the impetus for his later musical repertoire. VIDEO: Landwehr Fribourg, Conga del Fuego Nuevo, for orchestra

MOZART Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338

Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780, and completed on August 29. The work is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. Although most symphonies have four movements, this symphony has only three, which was still common in the early classical period: 1. Allegro vivace, 4/4 2. Andante di molto (più tosto Allegretto), 2/4 in F major 3. Finale: Allegro vivace, 6/8. The symphony features the fanfares and flourishes typical of the "festive symphony" or "trumpet symphony", which is characteristic of Austrian symphonic writing in C major. This is the first of Mozart's C-major symphonies to exhibit this character, but the style would be revisited in his subsequent two works in this key, the 36th and 41st symphonies. The first movement is written in sonata form but also contains many styles and formal aspects of an Italian overture. There is no expositional repeat. The expositional coda contains an overture-like crescendo which is not included in the recapitulation. The development is based entirely on new material. The recapitulation on the exposition's first theme is abbreviated and interrupted by a brief development of that theme. Finally, the movement's coda contains nearly all of this first theme creating the appearance of a reverse-recapitulation common in Italian overtures. The second movement in F major is scored for strings sotto voce with divided violas and a single bassoon doubling the cellos and bass. Alfred Einstein advanced a theory in the third edition of the Köchel catalogue that the Minuet K. 409 was written at a later date by the composer for this work. However, there is no proof in the sources to support his thesis. Also, K. 409 calls for two flutes in its orchestration which does not match the rest of the symphony. The finale is in sonata form and features energetic tarantella or saltarello rhythms.

 

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