MUSIClassical notes: Works-D

Showing posts with label Works-D. Show all posts

Williams : The Dream of Olwen (While I live, 1947)

While I Live is a 1947 British drama film, directed by John Harlow. While I Live is best remembered for its musical theme "The Dream of Olwen" composed by Charles Williams,[photo,left] reprised at intervals throughout the film, which became hugely popular in its time and is still regularly performed. The film itself became widely known as The Dream of Olwen.

Charles Williams (8 May 1893 – 7 September 1978) was a British composer and conductor, contributing music to over 50 films. While his career ran from 1934 through 1968, much of his work came to the big screen as stock music and was therefore uncredited. He began his career as a freelance violinist in theatres, cinemas and symphony orchestras and later studied composition with Norman O'Neill at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1933, he went to Gaumont British Films as composer and stayed there until 1939. He composed for many British films and radio shows and after the end of World War II, he became the conductor of the new Queen's Hall Light Orchestra. Later, he formed his own Concert Orchestra. He died in Findon Valley, Worthing, West Sussex, aged 85. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEOS: Performing Artists: Philip Fowke, Proinnsías Ó Duinn & RTE Concert Orchestra

film scene...

Berlioz - La Damnation de Faust Op. 24

Brahms - Double Concerto in A minor, Op 102

The Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102, by Johannes Brahms is a concerto for violin, cello and orchestra. The orchestra consists of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns (4), trumpets, timpani and strings. The Double Concerto was Brahms' final work for orchestra. It was composed in the summer of 1887, and first performed on 18 October of that year in the Gürzenich in Köln, Germany. Brahms approached the project with anxiety over writing for instruments that were not his own. He wrote it for the cellist Robert Hausmann, a frequent chamber music collaborator, and his old but estranged friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim. The concerto was, in part, a gesture of reconciliation towards Joachim, after their long friendship had ruptured following Joachim's divorce from his wife Amalie. (Brahms had sided with Amalie in the dispute.) The concerto makes use of the musical motif A-E-F, a permutation of F-A-E, which stood for a personal motto of Joachim, Frei aber einsam ("free but lonely"). Thirty-four years earlier, Brahms had been involved in a collaborative work using the F-A-E motif in tribute to Joachim: the F-A-E Sonata of 1853. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Julia Fischer, violin Daniel Müller-Schott, cello Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Christoph Poppen, conductor

Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier/Waltz Suite Op.59

Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose or The Rose-Bearer), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. It was first performed at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden on 26 January 1911 under the direction of Max Reinhardt, Ernst von Schuch conducting. Until the premiere the working title was Ochs von Lerchenau. (The choice of the name Ochs is not accidental, for in German Ochs means ox, which depicts the character of the Baron throughout the opera.) The opera has four main characters: the aristocratic Marschallin, her very young lover Count Octavian Rofrano, her coarse cousin Baron Ochs and Ochs' prospective fiancée Sophie von Faninal, daughter of a rich bourgeois. At the Marschallin's suggestion Ochs gets Octavian to act as his Rosenkavalier and present the ceremonial silver rose to Sophie. But when Octavian meets Sophie they fall in love at first sight. By a comic intrigue they get rid of Ochs with the help of the Marschallin, who then yields Octavian to the younger woman.Although a comic opera, Der Rosenkavalier also operates at a deeper level. Conscious of the difference in age between herself and Octavian, the Marschallin muses in bittersweet fashion over the passing of time, growing old and men's inconstancy. There are many recordings of the opera and it is regularly performed.

VIDEO: Prom 57: Wagner, Berg, R. Strauss & Ravel R. Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier -- suite Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester Daniele Gatti conductor Royal Albert Hall, 26 August 2012

R Strauss: Salome - Dance of the Seven Veils

The Dance of the Seven Veils is a term used to refer to the dance performed by Salome before Herod Antipas. It is an elaboration on the biblical story of the execution of John the Baptist, which refers to Salome dancing before the king, but does not give the dance a name. The name "Dance of the Seven Veils" originates with Oscar Wilde's 1891 play Salome in the stage direction “[Salome dances the dance of the seven veils.]”. The dance was also incorporated into Richard Strauss's opera Salome. Wilde's choice of title for the dance has been linked to the popularity of orientalist "veil dances" in the period and to the emergence of striptease acts. Salome, Op. 54, is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer. The opera is famous (at the time of its premiere, infamous) for its "Dance of the Seven Veils". The final scene is frequently heard as a concert-piece for dramatic sopranos. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Richard Strauss - SALOME Salome : Erika Sunnegårdh Dance of the Seven Veils

Elgar Dream Children, Op. 42

Dream Children, Op 43 is a musical work for small orchestra by Sir Edward Elgar. There are two movements: These two pieces were written in 1902, when Elgar was approaching the peak of his fame and popularity. Unusually for Elgar they were not written to any commission. Michael Kennedy suggests that they may have been retrieved from the unused material for a symphony celebrating General Gordon which Elgar had been working on since 1898. They are not complete symphonic movements (the first movement takes a little over three minutes to perform and the second a little over four minutes) but it was Elgar's practice to work in small sections and then put them together into a whole. The orchestral score and parts were originally published by Joseph Williams Ltd. (London) in 1902, then in 1911 by Schott & Co. with the title "Enfants d'un Rêve" and the translation below this "(Dream-Children)". As with his earlier piece Salut d'Amour, Elgar agreed with the same publisher that the French title would sell better. The first performance was at the Queen's Hall on 4 September 1902, conducted by Arthur W Payne. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Performed by Symphony NOVA on September 29, 2012

Strauss - Don Juan op. 20

Don Juan, Op. 20, is a tone poem in E major for large orchestra written by the German composer Richard Strauss in 1888. It is singled out by Carl Dahlhaus as a "musical symbol of fin-de-siècle modernism", particularly for the "breakaway mood" of its opening bars. The premiere of Don Juan took place on 11 November 1889 in Weimar, where Strauss served as Court Kapellmeister; he conducted the orchestra of the Weimar Opera. The work, composed when Strauss was only twenty-four years old, became an international success and established his reputation. In comments written two days after the premiere, Strauss said, "Well then – Don Juan had a great success, it sounded wonderful and went very well. It unleashed a storm of applause rather unusual for Weimar."[this quote needs a citation] The Don Juan legend originated in Renaissance-era Spain. Strauss's tone poem is based on Don Juans Ende, a play derived from an unfinished 1844 retelling of the tale by poet Nikolaus Lenau (Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau). Strauss reprinted three excerpts from the play in his score. In Lenau's rendering, Don Juan's promiscuity springs from his determination to find the ideal woman. Despairing of ever finding her, he ultimately surrenders to melancholy and wills his own death. Performances of the work last around sixteen minutes. The difficulty of the work makes excerpts from Don Juan a staple of orchestral audition lists for many instruments. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Richard Strauss Don Juan, Symphonic Poem Op. 20 Herbert von Karajan Osaka, Japan 1984

R STRAUSS Don Quixote, Op. 35

Don Quixote, Op. 35, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss for cello, viola and large orchestra. Subtitled Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters (Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character), the work is based on the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. Strauss composed this work in Munich in 1897. The premiere took place in Cologne on 8 March 1898, with Friedrich Grützmacher as the cello soloist and Franz Wüllner as the conductor.The score is 45 minutes long and is written in theme and variations form, with the solo cello representing Don Quixote, and the solo viola, tenor tuba, and bass clarinet depicting the comic Sancho Panza. The second variation depicts an episode where Don Quixote encounters a herd of sheep and perceives them as an approaching army. Strauss uses dissonant flutter-tonguing in the brass to emulate the bleating of the sheep, an early instance of this extended technique. Strauss later quoted this passage in his music for Le bourgeois gentilhomme, at the moment a servant announces the dish of "leg of mutton in the Italian style". All of the "episodes" are taken directly from the Cervantes novel.

VIDEO: Performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. This is a live performance from 1991

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Wagner - Die Walküre: "The Ride of the Valkyries"

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), WWV 86B, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner with a German libretto by the composer. It is the second of the four operas that form Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). The story of the opera is based on the Norse mythology told in the Volsunga Saga and the Poetic Edda.[1][2] In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one in a group of female figures who decide which soldiers die in battle and which live. Die Walküre's best-known excerpt is the "Ride of the Valkyries". It received its premiere at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich on 26 June 1870. Wagner originally intended the opera to be premiered as part of the entire cycle, but was forced to allow the performance at the insistence of his patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It was first presented as part of the complete cycle on 14 August 1876 at Wagner's Bayreuth Festival. The opera made its United States premiere at the Academy of Music in New York on 2 April 1877. The "Ride of the Valkyries" (German: Walkürenritt or Ritt der Walküren) is the popular term for the beginning of act 3 of Die Walküre, the second of the four operas by Richard Wagner that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen. Ride of the Valkyries Performed by the American Symphony Orchestra for Edison Records in 1921 Problems playing this file? See media help. As a separate piece, the "Ride" is often heard in a purely instrumental version, which may be as short as three minutes. Together with the "Bridal Chorus" from Lohengrin, the Ride of the Valkyries is one of Wagner's best-known pieces.

VIDEO: Conducted by Pierre Boulez

Brahms - Double Concerto in A minor, Op 102

The Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102, by Johannes Brahms is a concerto for violin, cello and orchestra. The orchestra consists of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, timpani and strings. The Double Concerto was Brahms' final work for orchestra. It was composed in the summer of 1887, and first performed on 18 October of that year in the Gürzenich in Köln, Germany. Brahms approached the project with anxiety over writing for instruments that were not his own. He wrote it for the cellist Robert Hausmann, a frequent chamber music collaborator, and his old but estranged friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim. The concerto was, in part, a gesture of reconciliation towards Joachim, after their long friendship had ruptured following Joachim's divorce from his wife Amalie. Brahms had sided with Amalie in the dispute. VIDEO: Julia Fischer, violin Daniel Müller-Schott, cello Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Christoph Poppen, conductor

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

Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 "Death and The Maiden"

The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, known as Death and the Maiden, by Franz Schubert, is one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire. Composed in 1824, after the composer suffered through a serious illness and realized that he was dying, it is Schubert's testament to death. The quartet is named for the theme of the second movement, which Schubert took from a song he wrote in 1817 of the same title; but the theme of death is palpable in all four movements of the quartet. The quartet was first played in 1826 in a private home, and was not published until 1831, three years after Schubert's death. Yet, passed over in his lifetime, the quartet has become a staple of the quartet repertoire. It is D 810 in Otto Erich Deutsch's thematic catalog of Schubert's works. The quartet takes its name from the lied "Der Tod und das Mädchen", D 531, a setting of a poem of the same name by Matthias Claudius which Schubert wrote in 1817. The theme of the song forms the basis of the second movement of the quartet. The theme is a death knell that accompanies the song about the terror and comfort of death. WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Meridian Ensemble String Quartet Dominika Dancewicz, violin I Johnny Chang, violin II Whitney Bullock, viola Olive Chen, cello

Haydn Symphony No 103 'Drumroll' E flat major

The Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major, Hoboken 1/103, is the eleventh of the twelve so-called London Symphonies written by Joseph Haydn. This symphony is nicknamed "The Drumroll", after the long roll on the timpani with which it begins. Composition and premiere The symphony was the last but one of twelve that were composed for performance in England during Haydn's two journeys there (1791--1792, 1794--1795). Haydn's music was well known in England well before the composer traveled there, and members of the British musical public had long expressed the wish that Haydn would visit. The composer's reception in England was in fact very enthusiastic, and the English visits were one of the most fruitful and happy periods of the composer's life. Haydn composed the "Drumroll" Symphony while living in London during the winter of 1794--1795. The "Drumroll" Symphony was premiered on March 2, 1795 as part of a concert series called the "Opera Concerts", at the King's Theatre. The orchestra was unusually large for the time, consisting of about 60 players. The task of directing the work was divided between the concertmaster Viotti and Haydn, who sat at a fortepiano. The premiere was evidently a success, and the Morning Chronicle's reviewer wrote: Another new Overture [i.e., symphony], by the fertile and enchanting Haydn, was performed; which, as usual, had continual strokes of genius, both in air and harmony. The Introduction excited deepest attention, the Allegro charmed, the Andante was encored, the Minuets, especially the trio, were playful and sweet, and the last movement was equal, if not superior to the preceding." The Sun wrote: HAYDN's new Overture was much applauded. It is a fine mixture of grandeur and fancy ... the second movement was encored. Haydn later performed the work in Vienna, and for this purpose made a small cut in the final movement, which is usually respected by conductors today. Scoring The work is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. VIDEO:Mark Minkowski

HAYDN Symphony No 60 in C Il Distrato

The Symphony No. 60 in C major, Hoboken I/60, was written by Joseph Haydn. It is sometimes given the nickname Il Distratto (The Distracted), or in German, Der Zerstreute. It was completed in or by 1775 (most likely November 1774). The symphony makes use of music Haydn wrote for a play, Le Distrait, by Jean-François Regnard, given a German revival in 1774 by Karl Wahr under the German title Der Zerstreute (Il Distratto is the title that appears on Haydn's incidental music, however). Symphony no. 60 contains the overture, four entr'actes and finale from the music composed for the five-act play.

WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Haydn: Symphony No. 60 'Il distratto' - Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Martinon (1965)

SCHUMANN Dichterliebe

Dichterliebe, 'A Poet's Love' (composed 1840), is the best-known song cycle of Robert Schumann (Op. 48). The texts for the 16 songs come from the Lyrisches Intermezzo of Heinrich Heine, composed 1822–1823, published as part of the poet's Das Buch der Lieder. Following the song-cycles of Franz Schubert (Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise), those of Schumann constitute part of the central core of the genre in musical literature.

WIKIPEDIA

Transcription by Andrew Parker on cd The Singing Oboe
on the MSR Records label. Alan Huckleberry on piano...

VIDEO: Schumann's wonderful song-cycle given a beautiful performance by Klara Kolonits accompanied by Daniel Dinyes at the 2013 Indian Summer in Levoca Festival. The songs are: Im wunderschönen Monat Mai - Aus meinen Tränen spriessen - Die Rose, die Lilie -Wenn ich in deine Augen seh'- Ich will meine Seele tauchen - Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome - Ich grolle nicht - Und wüssten's die Blumen - Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen - Hör' ich das Liedchen Klagen - Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen - Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen - Ich hab' im Traum geweinet - Allnächtlich im Traume - Aus alten Märchen winkt es - Die alten, bösen Lieder.

Berlioz The Damnation of Faust, Op 24, Dance of the Sylphides; Hungarian March; Menuet des follets

La damnation de Faust (English: The Damnation of Faust), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "légende dramatique" (dramatic legend). It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 6 December 1846. Three instrumental passages, the Marche Hongroise (Hungarian March), Ballet des sylphes, and Menuet des follets are sometimes extracted and performed as "Three Orchestral Pieces from La Damnation de Faust.

WIKIPEDIA