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MS 6012
BEETHOVEN
SYMPHONY NO. 6 IN F MAJOR, Op. 68 (‘Pastorale’)
BRUNO WALTER
conducting the COLUMBIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BRUNO WALTER began his musical
career when, in March, 1894, as a young
man of seventeen, he ascended the pod-
ium for the first time at the Cologne
Opera House. Now, in his seventh decade
| of active service to the world of music,
he stands indusputably as one of the
great creative conductors of the century.
In recent years, at the summit of his
| powers, he has taken time out to look
| back at the earlier moments of a life
“filled to the brink with music.” His
autobiography, Theme and Variations,
begins with the statement that had he
been a composer he would “never have
written this book; an autobiography
of sound would have satisfied my urge
| to express myself. However, I have made
i only the music of others sound forth, I
have been. but a ‘re-creator’.”
“And so,” he concludes this Preface,
“a modest apostle of music and its great
| works, I venture to record my life be-
cause it has served music’s timeless pow-
er and beauty, and because its transitor-
| imess has been blessed by an alliance with
| the immortal. For the works of the cre-
ative spirit last, they are essentially im-
| perishable, while the world-stirring his-
| torical activities of even the most emi-
nent men are circumscribed by time.
| Napoleon is dead—but Beethoven lives.”
May we make the perhaps obvious
comment that the orchestral Beethoven
i lives only by virtue of the services of
| such musical “re-creators” as Dr. Walter.
i And that, whether he acknowledges it
or not, he has indeed written his auto-
biography in sound—in the sound of his
| immortal recorded performances of these
i great works.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op.
68 (‘Pastorale’)
First movement: (Cheerful impressions
awakened by arrival in the country. Allegro
ma non troppo, F major, 2/4). This astonish-
ing landscape seems as if it were the joint
work of Poussin and Michelangelo. The com-
poser of Fidelio and the “Eroica” wishes in
this symphony to depict the tranquility of the
country and the peaceful life of shepherds.
The herdsmen begin to appear in the fields,
THIS COLUMBIA STEREO
Ludwig van Beethoven born in Bonn,
Germany, December 16, 1770; died in
Vienna, March 26, 1827.
Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68
(Pastorale” composed in 1808, pub-
lished in 1809. First performed in Vienna
at the Theater an der Wien, December
22, 1808. Its movements are:
I. Allegro ma non troppo (Cheerful
impression awakened by arrival in the
country.)
II. Andante molto moto (Scene by
brook.)
III. Allegro (Merry gathering of coun-
try folk.)
IV. Allegro (Thunderstorm; tempest.)
V. Allegretto (Shepherd’s song; glad
and grateful feelings after the storm.)
Bruno Walter born in Berlin, Septem-
ber 15, 1876.
moving about with their usual nonchalant .
gait; their pipes are heard afar and near.
Ravishing phrases caress one’s ears deli-
ciously, like perfumed morning breezes.
Flocks of chattering birds fly overhead; and
now and then the atmosphere seems laden
with vapors; heavy clouds flit across the face
of the sun, then suddenly disappear, and its
rays flood the fields and woods with torrents
of dazzling splendor. These are images
evoked in my mind by hearing this move-
ment; and I fancy that, in spite of the
vagueness of instrumental expression, many
hearers will receive the same impression.
Second movement: (Scene by the brook.
Andante molto moto, B-flat major, 12/8).
Next is a movement devoted to contemplation.
Beethoven, without doubt, created this ad-
| mirable adagio while reclining on the grass,
his eyes uplifted, ears intent, fascinated by
the thousand varying hues of light and
sound, looking at and listening at the same
time to the scintillating ripple of the brook
that breaks its waves over the pebbles of its
shores. How delicious this music is!
Third movement: (Merry gathering of
country folk. Allegro, F major, 3/4). In this
movement the poet leads us into the midst
of a joyous reunion of peasants. We are
aware that they dance and laugh, at first
with moderation; the oboe plays a gay air,
accompanied by a bassoon, which apparently
can sound but two notes. Beethoven doubtless
intended thus to evoke the picture of some
good old German peasant, mounted on a cask,
and playing a dilapidated old instrument,
from which he can draw only two notes in the
key of F, the dominant and the tonic. Every
time the oboe strikes up its musettelike tune,
fresh and gay as a young girl dressed in her
Sunday clothes, the old bassoon comes in.
puffing his two notes; when the melodic
phrase modulates, the bassoon is silent per-
force, counting patiently his rests until the
return of the original key permits him to
come in with his imperturbable F, C, F.
This effect, so charmingly grotesque, gener-
ally fails to be noticed by the public.
The dance becomes animated, noisy, furi-
ous. The rhythm changes; a melody of grosser
character, in duple time, announces the ar-
rival of the mountaineers with their heavy
sabots. The section in triple time returns,
still more lively. The dance becomes a med-
ley, a rush; the women’s hair begins to fall
over their shoulders, for the mountaineers
have brought with them a bibulous gaiety.
There is clapping of hands, shouting; the
peasants run, then rush madly . . . when a
muttering of thunder in the distance causes
a sudden fright in the midst of the dance.
Surprise and consternation seize the dancers,
and they seek safety in flight.
Fourth movment: (Thunderstorm; tem-
pest. Allegro, F minor, 4/4). I despair of be-
ing able to give an idea of this prodigious
movement. It must be heard in order to ap-
preciate the degree of truth and sublimity ~
which descriptive music can attain in the.
hands of a man like Beethoven. Listen to
those gusts of wind, laden with rain; those
sepulchral groanings of the basses; those
shrill whistles of the piccolo, which announce
that a fearful tempest is about to burst. The
hurricane approaches, swells; an immense
chromatic streak, starting from the highest
notes of the orchestra, goes burrowing down
into its lowest depths, seizes the basses,
carries them along, and ascends again, writh-
ing like a whirlwind, which levels everything
in its passage. Then the trombones burst
forth; the thunder of the timpani redoubles
its fury. It is no longer merely a wind and
rain storm: it is a frightful cataclysm, the
universal deluge, the end of the world. Truly
MS 6012:
COLUMBIA
GUARANTEED HIGH-FIDELITY
MASTERWORKS
this produces vertigo, and many persons lis-
tening to this storm do not know whether
the emotion they experience is pleasure or
pain.
Fifth movement: (Shepherd’s song; glad
and grateful feelings after the storm. Alle-
gretto, F major, 6/8). The symphony ends
with a hymn of gratitude. Everything smiles.
The shepherds reappear; they answer each
other on the mountain, recalling their scat-
tered flocks. The sky is serene, the torrents
soon cease to flow. Calmness returns, and
with it the rustic songs, whose gentle mel-
odies bring repose to the soul after the con-
sternation produced by the magnificent hor-
ror of the previous picture.
HECTOR BFRLIOZ
* *
Other Stereo Fidelity recordings released
by Columbia Records are:
Respighi: The Pines of Rome; The Foun-
tains of Rome. The Philadelphia Orchestra,
Eugene Ormandy, Conductor. MS 6001
Bartok: Concerto for Violin. Isaac Stern,
Violinist; New York Philharmonic, Leonard
Bernstein, Conductor. MS 6002.
Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite. The Philadel-
phia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, Conduc-
tor. — 3 MS 6003 _
Prokofiev: Symphony No..5 in B flat Major,
Op. 100. The .Philadelphig Orchestra, Eu-
gene Ormandy, Conductor. - MS 6004
Bach at Zwolle. Three Preludes’ ‘and Fugues
played on the Arp Schnitger Dee of 1720. . |
E. Power Biggs, Organist. KS 6005 a
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 i in B Minor,
Op. 74 (“Pathetique??).. New . York Philhar-
monic, Besta: Ronda, Conductor.
2 MS 6006
RA sii Night; "Vailehan
Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas
Tallis. Strings of the New York Philharmonic
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor, MS 6007 a
Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printemps. i!
York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, Con-
ductor. MS 6010
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in 0 Minor (“Re-.
surrection”). Bruno Walter conducting the
New York Philharmonic with Emilia. Cun-
dari, Soprano; Maureen Forrester, Contral-
to and the Westminster Choir, John Finley
Williamson, Director. M2S 601 .
* * *
ws Library of Congress catalog card number o
R58-1156 applies to this record. è
| FIDELITY RECORDING IS DESIGNED FOR USE ON 33-1/3 RPM STEREOPHONIC REPRODUCERS.
2022年5月31日火曜日
Beethoven Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op. 68 ("Pastorale") by Ludwig van Beethoven; Bruno Walter; Columbia Symphony Orchestra Columbia (MS 6012) Publication date 1958
2022年5月27日金曜日
The Art Of The Fugue, Volume 1 (First Half) Fugues 1-9 by Johann Sebastian Bach; Glenn Gould Columbia Masterworks (MS 6338) Publication date 1962
THIS COLUMBIA STEREO FIDELITY RECORDING IS DESIGNED FOR USE ON 33Vs RPM STEREOPHONIC REPRODUCERS.
Library of Congress catalog card number R62-1070 applies to this album.
STEREO
MS 6338
BACH: THE ART OF THE FUGUE, Vol. I / Fugues Nos. 1-9
Glenn Gould, Organist
Recorded on the Casavant organ at All Saints' Church, Kingsway, Toronto, Canada
Produced by Joseph Scianni
Bach began composing his Art of the Fugue in 1748 or 1749
and continued to work on it in 1750, the last year of his life.
He had finished three-fourths of Fugue No. 15 when a severe
eye disease obliged him to leave off work on his artistic last
will and testament and undergo an operation. A combination
of primitive medical techniques and a blundering doctor
proved fatal; within six months of this operation Bach was
dead. He spent his last days in a darkened room, alone with
the God he had served and glorified all his life. When he felt
death close upon him he sent for his son-in-law, the musician
Altnikol, and dictated to him not the conclusion of the great
B-A-C-H fugue but a chorale fantasia on the melody "When
We Are in Deepest Need," telling Altnikol to entitle it "I Draw
Near Unto Thy Throne." "In the manuscript we can see
all the pauses that the sick man had to permit himself," Albert
Schweitzer narrates; "the drying ink becomes more watery
from day to day; the notes written in the twilight, with the
windows closely curtained, can hardly be deciphered."
This last composition from Bach's pen was included in the
first edition of the Art of the Fugue, not because it belongs
with that work but as an apologetic compensation to the
purchaser for the incompleteness of the work itself. How
incomplete the Art of the Fugue is we do not know. The
mammoth Fugue No. 15 may have been the final one of the
series, or Bach may have planned to follow it with a still more
grandiose quadruple fugue. The latter contention was Sir
Donald Tovey's, and Tovey actually completed the fifteenth
fugue and composed, as the sixteenth, a totally invertible fugue
with four subjects, to prove that such a feat was possible and
that Bach had something of the sort in mind. Most perform¬
ances of the Art of the Fugue, however, are content to break off
where Bach himself broke off, for there is something awesome
about this sudden silence just at the point when Bach intro¬
duced the letters of his own name for the first time into one
of his works.
Bach saw the first eleven fugues through the engraving
process, but the remainder of the editorial work was done by
his two eldest sons and the theorist Marpurg. The edition
came out in 1751; by 1756 thirty copies had been sold and
so C.P.E. Bach sold the plates of his father's last work for the
value of the metal. The editors of this first edition made at
least one palpable mistake by printing a variant of Fugue No.
10 as a separate fugue; Bach undoubtedly intended to discard
this variant. Other questions arise to plague the editor and the
performer. What part were the four long but not very inter¬
esting two-part canons to play in the entire scheme? Did Bach
intend them for this work or for a projected Art of the Canon?
Do the double-keyboard transcriptions of the two parts of
Fugue No. 13 belong to the series, or did Bach intend them as
practical realizations, virtuoso pieces to be performed rather
than studied?
The most vexing problem, of course, is whether or not
Bach intended the Art of the Fugue to be played at all. He
does not once in the entire work indicate a tempo or a dynamic
marking. He does not indicate what instrument or instruments
should play the work. He writes each of the voices on a separate
staff (in so-called "open score"), which is very helpful for the
student but anything but helpful for the keyboard player.
This leaves the field open to the arranger, and arrangers have
eagerly rushed in. There are multiple versions for orchestra,
for string quartet, for two pianos, for organ, for piano solo.
Only the musical pedant can find these various realizations a
source of annoyance; the genuine music lover will make his
own choice or choices and take pleasure in the process. What¬
ever choice he makes, the Art of the Fugue remains massively
and imperturbably itself. For though it is devoid neither of
humanity nor emotion, the human and the emotional are not
its real concern. Like the figures on Keats's urn, it has passed
out of time and accident, and wears the changeless beauty of
pure thought.
Since the Art of the Fugue is the greatest treatise on the
subject of the fugue in existence (a treatise that teaches
through example rather than through precept), a few of the
basic definitions of fugal composition ought to be set down
here in rudimentary fashion, to help the uninitiated listener in
his journey through this splendid edifice. SUBJECT: this is the
theme upon which a fugue is constructed (in the case of the
Art of the Fugue, the first eleven notes); a fugue may be con¬
structed on more than one subject, and therefore be a double,
triple, or quadruple fugue. ANSWER: when the first voice (or
part) has finished stating the subject, a second voice takes it up
("imitates" it) either at a higher or a lower pitch—the "an¬
swer." COUNTERSUBJECT: meanwhile the first voice con¬
tinues with new material which is played against ("counter")
the answer; if this material takes on definite shape and form
(rather than being merely an accompaniment or counterpoint
to the answer) and if it plays some part in the future develop¬
ment of the fugue, it is labeled "countersubject"; a fugue may
have several countersubjects or none at all. EXPOSITION:
when the subject or its answer has appeared at least once in
each voice (three times in a three-voiced fugue, five times in a
five-voiced fugue, etc.) we have arrived at the end of the first
section, or the first exposition. EPISODE: the next section,
or episode, does not present a complete statement of the sub¬
ject, but makes free use of portions of the subject or its
continuation (countersubject); frequently the episodes of a
fugue provide relief from the stricter expositions.
These are the major phenomena of the fugue. It only remains
to mention a few of the common devices with which composers
manipulate their subjects and countersubjects as a fugue pro¬
gresses. DIMINUTION: presenting the subject at twice its
original speed. AUGMENTATION: presenting the subject
at half its original speed, or twice as slowly. INVERSION:
turning the notes of the original subject in the opposite direc¬
tion, thereby giving it an intriguing quality of unfamiliar
familiarity; for instance, the original subject upon which the
entire Art of the Fugue is built looks like this:
but when Bach inverts it, it looks like this:
COLUMBIA
M ASTE RWORKS
MONAURAL—ML 5738
One final important device is STRETTO, or starting the an¬
swer before the subject has had a chance to finish; the closer
the answer dogs the steps of the subject, the greater is the
listener's sense of urgency and excitement (the Italian word
stretto means "tight" or "squeezed together," and often has
the overtone of "just by a hair's breadth").
Now, if you will, enter the rarefied atmosphere of the Art
of the Fugue, this "still and serious world," as Schweitzer
called it, "deserted and rigid, without color, without light,
without motion; it does not gladden, does not distract; yet
we cannot break away from it." Follow it with an open score,
if you can, so that you can see all the miraculous crossings
and interweavings, "Instinct through all proportions low and
high," the living brain of the structure, fantastically compli¬
cated and beautiful as a drop of busy microscopic life seen
through a powerful lens. Finally you will put your score away,
however, and the infinitude of detail will be subsumed by the
massive unity of the thing, the microscopic will give way to
the cosmic, its inevitable obverse. And you may ask your¬
self if the fragmentary state of the fifteenth fugue is merely
the outcome of blind fate—or if it represents the limits placed
upon the artist's fulfillment in the face of an otherwise limitless
craving. Perhaps the rest indeed is silence.
— DAVID JOHNSON
The organ used in this recording was built for All Saints'
Church, Kingsway, in Toronto, by Casavant Freres Limited
of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. One of the most interesting features
of the organ is the Positiv section, which hangs exposed on
the south wall of the chancel. The instrument, while a three
manual, consists of four manual divisions and pedal, the
Great, Swell, Choir and Positiv—65 stops, 69 ranks, a total of
over 3900 pipes. It has excellent neo-baroque characteristics,
ideal for the performance of Bach's organ works.
"The foremost pianist this continent has produced
in recent decades," wrote critic Alfred Frankenstein in
High Fidelity Magazine. "A pianist of divine guid¬
ance," added Jay Harrison in the New York Herald
Tribune. A distinguished European critic, Heinrich
Neuhaus, noted that he plays Bach "as if he were
one of the pupils of the Thomasschule cantor... The
music seems to speak through his playing." Such is
the praise that has greeted each appearance of Glenn
Gould, the distinguished Canadian pianist, who now
adds new laurels to his crown as an organist. Mr.
Gould began studying the organ as a young boy.
When he was only fourteen he appeared in the
Casavant Series at Eaton Auditorium in Toronto,
which each year brought to that city five of the world's
finest organists. Although the piano is now Glenn
Gould's major medium as a performer, it is brilliantly
evident from this recording of the Art of the Fugue
that he is also a master of Bach's royal instrument.
THE SELECTIONS (PUBLIC DOMAIN) ARE FOLLOWED BY THEIR TIMINGS
SIDE I FUGUES NOS. 1, 2, 3 r 4 & 5.14:17 | SIDE II FUGUES NOS. 6, 7, 8 & 9.17:07
COVER PHOTO: DAVE BARNES, CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION
©COLUMBIA RECORDS 1962/ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©"COLUMBIA","MASTERWORKS".[^MARCAS REG. PRINTED IN U.S.A 4
2022年5月25日水曜日
Holst: The Planets by Gustav Holst; Leopold Stokowski; Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; The Roger Wagner Chorale Seraphim (S-60175) Publication date 1958
This monumental recording blends
the skills. of two superb orchestralcolorists, the composer Gustav Holst
(1874-1934) and conductor Leopold
Stokowski (b. 1882), in a classic per-
formance that is an acknowledged
sonic showpiece.
Wrote Lawrence Gilman of Holst:
‘‘He was a gifted artist, a gifted
teacher; a man of flexible and capa-
cious imagination, a wit, a poet, a
mystic. He was on familiar terms with
the cosmos.” And Louis Biancolli ex-
plained the stimulus for The Planets
(in “The Concert Companion”; Whitt-
lesey House;- New York, 1947): “A
man of multiple interests and fabu-
lous learning, Gustav Holst found in-
Spiration for his music in the vast
realm of nature and history ...One
day he looked into the skies and felt
music surge in him as he sought the
meaning of the stars.”
An Englishman of Swedish and En-
glish descent, Holst was born into a
musical family and trained to music
from boyhood. At 12 he was already
studying Berlioz’s treatise on orches-
MANUFACTURED BY CAPITOL RECORDS, INC., A SUBSIDIARY OF CAPITOL INDUSTRIES, INC., HOLLYWOOD AND VINE STREETS, HOLLYWOOD. CALIFORNIA, FACTORIES: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, JAC
KSONVILLE, ILLINOIS, WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA 3
SERAPHIM
“Angels of the highest order”
tration. When he went to London to
study at the Royal College, he came
under Wagner’s spell. Later influences
upon him were Bach and Purcell
Grieg and Richard Strauss. It had
been his intention to become a pian-
ist, but neuritis of the hand obliged
him to give up the keyboard and he
became a trombonist instead. The ex-
perience of orchestral discipline and
orchestral playing account in part for
the extraordinary virtuosity and prac-
ticality of his scoring. With his close
friend Ralph Vaughan Williams, he
shared a passionate interest in folk
poetry and folk music. After 1903,
he gave up orchestral playing to de-
vote himself fully to composing and
to teaching.
Throughout his lifetime, Leopold
Stokowski has been a perennially,
phenomenally vital creative force in
music. Not even nine decades have
chipped away at his genius. English-
born of Polish and irish stock, and an
American citizen since 1915, Stokow-
ski studied in London and at the Paris
Conservatory. From 1905 to 1908, he
was organist and choirmaster of St.
Bartholomew’s Church in New York
City. He made his debut in 1909 as
conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra. His tenure as conductor of
the Philadelphia Symphony (1912-
36) is legendary: “Among the great-
est and most revealing it has ever
been our privilege to hear,” critic
David Hall has called some of the
Stokowski-Philadelphia performances
of those days.
Always restlessly seeking new per-
Spectives from which to view great
works of music, Stokowski’s demand
for perfection has driven him to ex-
periment with the seating of the or-
chestra, to orchestrate works by
Bach, and to labor for better results
in the methods of reproducing music
on both film and records. His collab-
oration with the Disney Studios on
“Fantasia” (1940) is one of the un-
diminishing delights of the cinema,
with proven power to enchant each
new generation afresh. Though his
most controversial readings have
Caused purists to gnash their teeth
with rage, even purists concede that
no other conductor has done more to
imbue classical music with excite-
ment in our century.
When Stokowski’s. performance. of
Holst’s Planets was initially released,
David Johnson wrote in High Fidelity:
“As an essay in orchestral sound, the
Planets is still capable of casting its
spell. The huge orchestra is deployed
with a clarity and simplicity that is in
itself a kind of genius .. .. This disc
iS aS near perfect a job of conducting
as Can well be imagined: listen to the
immaculate unison passages for the
entire string body, the perfectly
matched dialogue of solo violin and
solo oboe (‘Mercury’), the wonderful
precision of harp and celesta arpeg-
gios, the weight and balance of the
open fifths in the brasses (‘Saturn’),
the weird harp harmonics. There is
not a careless nor an ill-considered
measure in the entire performance.
The engineers have caught the spirit
and given the record a perfect setting, —
capable of mirroring the slightest nu-
ances and of doing justice to the big-
~ gest climaxes. By far the best Planets
available.”
The Planets, composed between 1914 and
1916, is a suite of seven movements.
Holst’s starting point for the music was the
astrological character of each planet,
though his daughter has written that once
the underlying idea had been formulated
“he let the music have its way with him.’
There is therefore no program for the suite,
and the composer himself pointed out that
it has no connection with the deities of
classical mythology. The only clues to the
meaning of the music are the subtitles of
the individual movements.
SIDE ONE
(26:09)
MARS, THE BRINGER OF WAR
(Band 1; 6:33)
Three musical ideas are used to create this
martial piece: (1) a brutally rhythmic fig-
ure of five beats relentlessly hammered
out; (2) a principal theme in triads moving
by chromatic steps with no true harmonic
purpose; (3) a second theme consisting of
a tattoo in the tenor tuba answered by a
flourish of trumpets. There is no glory, no
heroism, no tragedy in this music. War as
a senseless, mechanized horror is Holst’s
real subject here.
VENUS,
THE BRINGER OF PEACE
(Band 2; 8:01)
She is announced by four ascending notes
in the solo horn and a sequence of con-
verging chords in the flutes and oboes.
Most of her music lies, symbolically, in the
middle and upper registers of the instru-
ments, and harps, celeste, and glocken-
spiel further characterize her heavenly na-
ture. There are also beautiful melodies in
the solo violin and oboe. Though this is
music of Surpassing serenity, it is not sim-
ple in harmony, texture or orchestral son-
ority. One cannot help observe how fitting
it is that the state of peace be described in
complex terms, in contrast to the simplic-
ity of the depiction of war.
MERCURY,
THE WINGED MESSENGER
(Band 3; 4:00)
This is the shortest movement of the suite.
Apart from its speed, however, its particu-
lar quality comes from the opposition of
two simultaneous keys and two simultane-
ous rhythms. The keys, sounded in the very
first bar, are B-flat and E (which, being
separated from one another by the interval
of the tritone, have no note in common).
The two rhythms arise out of different
groupings of six beats, the first being ONE-
two-three-FOUR-five-six, the second being
ONE-two-THREE-four-FIVE-six. This opposi-
tion of contrasting patterns is one of Holst’s
principal characteristics, and other exam-
ples of it can be found not only in the Plan-
ets but abundantly throughout his other
+ works.
JUPLEER,
_THE BRINGER OF JOLLITY
(Band 4; 7:35)
The exuberance here is manifested not
only in tempo and rhythm but also in the
multiplicity of subjects. One can count
four, five, or six of them, depending on
whether one divides the first two into their
component parts—they do behave like in-
dependent themes. ‘‘Jupiter’’ might well be
designated as ‘‘the English movement,’’ be-
cause it shows how profoundly Holst was
influenced by his country’s folk music.
This is rustic English music, music for a
fair. There are crowds of people in it and
infinite good spirits. The grand tune: that
- ends the parade of themes has become the
setting for a patriotic hymn with the words,
“| vow to thee, my country.”
S-60175
STEREO
Sean eee
SIDE TWO
(20:05)
SATURN,
THE BRINGER OF OLD AGE
(Band 1; 7:50)
Unlike the previous movements, which are
static in the sense that each depicts vari-
ous aspects of a single trait, this one moves
through a series of ‘“‘events’’ that bring the
music to conclusions not envisioned at the
beginning. There is a profound hollowness
and sense of defeat in the harmony of the
opening chords, and an even deeper des-
pair in the motif sounded beneath them by
the double basses. But the elderly voice of
wisdom is soon heard in the B-minor theme
for the trombones, and at the end the
mood is one of acceptance, reconciliation,
and consequent serenity.
URANUS, THE MAGICIAN
(Band:2° 5:45)
You can take as the figure of Uranus al-
most any magician who has ever appeared
in the opera, drama, or vaudeville — pref-
erably one with the tall pointed hat studded
with stars, the flowing blue robe with volu-
minous sleeves, and the silver wand. He is
invoked by Holst with a triple invocation,
and he begins to show his tricks immedi-
ately. His repertoire is vast and astonish-
ing and at the climax of his demonstration
he struts around pompously to a pompous
tune. By way of encore, he makes some
mysterious incantations, suddenly (one
guesses from the music) envelops himself
in flames—and disappears!
NEPTUNE, THE MYSHIC
(Band 3; 6:30)
This movement is, if any music can be, the
disembodied spirit of sound. Themes are
practically nonexistent; in their place are
fragments of melody and harmony, all
manipulated at the very lowest dynamic
level and in the most attenuated orches-
tral sonorities. Almost imperceptibly a
double chorus of women’s voices enters on
a high G, sustained through a dozen bars.
The singing continues, without words, em-
bedded in a diaphanous veil of orchestral
sound. Even this dies away, and the voices
are left alone to intone a cadence over and
over again with ever diminishing tone, un-
til it is consumed in silence.
Holst requires an unusually large orches-
tra for this work: 4 flutes (2 of them dou-
bling piccolo, 1 doubling bass flute in G), 3
oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clari-
net, 3 bassoons, double bassoon, 6 horns,
4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tenor tuba, bass
tuba, 6 kettle drums, 2 harps, celeste, or-
gan, strings, and 4 percussion players for
triangle, side drum, tambourine, cymbals,
bass drum, gong, bells, glockenspiel, and
xylophone.
OTHER GREAT ALBUMS
ON SERAPHIM:
TCHAIKOVSKY: Suites from ‘‘The Nut-
cracker” & “Sleeping Beauty.” Sir Ad-
rian Boult conducting the Royal Philhar-
monic Orchestra. Seraphim S-60176
GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue; An Ameri-
can in Paris. Leonard Pennario (piano);
Felix Slatkin conducting the Hollywood
Bowl Symphony Orchestra.
Seraphim S-60174
ELGAR: Enigma Variations. BRITTEN: Vari-
ations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell
(‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orches-
tra’). Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting
the Philharmonia & B.B.C. Symphony
Orchestras. Seraphim S-60173
DUKAS: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. RAVEL:
Bolero. CHABRIER: Espana. DEBUSSY:
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.
SAINT-SAENS:.-Danse Macabre. Pierre
Dervaux conducting the Colonne Con-
certs Orchestra. Seraphim S-60177
<} THIS RECORD 1S ENGINEERED & MANUFACTURED IN ACCORDANCE WITH STANDARDS DEVELOPED BY THE RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC., A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION DEDICA
TED TO THE BETTERMENT OF RECORDED MUSIC & LITERATURE.
PRINTED IN U.S.A
21
2022年5月24日火曜日
Stokowski Finest Moments Vol. 1 by Leopold Stokowski; The London Symphony Orchestra; New Philharmonia Orchestra; The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Radio Filharmonisch Orkest London Records (SPC 21074 / SPC.21074) Publication date 1971
STOKOWSKI’S FINEST MOMENTS: VOLUME ONE.
Wagner : Die Walkure, ‘The Ride Of The Valkyrie’. London Symphony Orchestra. 4.52.
Tchaikovsky : Sleeping Beauty Waltz. New Philharmonia Orchestra. 3.22.
Mussorsky/Stokowski : Night On Bald Mountain. London Symphony Orchestra. 9.19.
7 a - Ravel: L’Eventail de Jeanne, ‘’Fanfarg’’. Hilversum Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. 2.09.
Debussy/Stokowski: The Engulfed Cathedral. New Philharmonia Orchestra. 7.00.
, Stravinsky : Pastorale. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. 3.40.
&
* ; Handel: The Messiah, ‘’Hallelujah’’. London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. 4.15.
STOKOWSKI'S FINEST MOMENTS
Leopold Stokowski has long been one of the music world’s
most controversial and stimulating personalities—a man who
brings drama, excitement and novelty into the concert hall. His
music making is always alive and experimental, his performances
vibrant and sonorous—characterised by his own belief ‘‘that
music can be an inspirational force in all our lives—that its
eloquence and the depth of its meaning are all-important—that
music comes from the heart and returns to the heart—that music
is a spontaneous, impulsive expression—that its range is without
limit and is forever growing.”
Stokowski was born in London on 18 April, 1882, the son of
Kopernik Stokowski, a Polish cabinet-maker, and his wife
Annie-Marion. Leopold Stokowski is his real name (contrary to
some rumours which have gained currency over the years) and at
no time has he ever changed it from—or to—anything else. He did,
however, amend the spelling to Stokovski when he conducted his
first concerts—presumably to induce people to pronounce it
correctly.
Like all great musicians, the young Leopold took to music at
a very early age and he was playing the violin by the time he was
six years old. Later he took up the piano and organ and at the age
of thirteen became the youngest student to enter the Royal
College of Music. His teachers included Sir Walford Davies, Sir
Charles Stanford and Sir Hubert Parry,.and in 1903 Stokowski
took his B.Mus. at Queen’s College, Oxford. By this time he had
become organist at St. James's, Piccadilly, and when a similar
appointment became vacant at St. Bartholomew’s in New York,
Stokowski eagerly crossed the Atlantic to take it up. America
was to become Stokowski’s home, and some years later he became
a naturalised citizen of the United States.
PRODUCER: TONY D’AMATO.
ENGINEER: ARTHUR LILLEY.
LINER: SPC 21074
In his summer vacations Stokowski returned to Europe to
study conducting, and he heard Mahler, Miuick, Wood, Nikisch,
and the conductor he admired above all others, Hans Richter.
His first opportunity to conduct came in Paris in 1908, and the
following year he made his London debut. He returned to
America to become conductor of the Cincinatti Orchestra and
his three years there could be regarded as his ‘apprenticeship’. In
the spring of 1912 he came to England again to conduct the
London Symphony Orchestra for the first time, and when he
returned to America it was to take over the Philadelphia
Orchestra.
Now began one of the great musical partnerships of the
century. Stokowski’s achievements became legendary—he built
the orchestra into a flexible ensemble, distinguished by glowing
timbre and brilliant precision, and gave it a distinctive ‘sound’
which became synonymous with his own name. He championed
the modern composer and brought music to young people with
special youth concerts. Millions of listeners at home heard
Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra through recordings and
broadcasting. To cinema-goers he brought a new concept of
classical music with his appearances in films. One of these—Walt
Disney's ‘‘Fantasia’’—is still being shown after more than thirty
years. It remains a unique and highly effective achievement, and
its best moments provide a vivid realisation of the combination
of sound and vision. One of the items in the film—which included
music by Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky—was Mussorsky’s
“Night on Bald Mountain’’—an eerie tone-poem depicting the
witches’ sabbath. This is a special favourite of Stokowski’s, and
its inclusion in the present album is highly appropriate. Like the
Debussy and Stravinsky items also presented here, it is in
Stokowski’s own orchestration.
After nearly a quarter of a century in Philadelphia, Stokowski
had reached the pinnacle of success and now felt the urge to
move on. He wanted to form an orchestra consisting entirely of
young musicians, and in 1940 the All-American Youth Orchestra
was born. Stokowski severed his links with Philadelphia and took
his new orchestra on a good-will tour of the South Americas.
But the youthful ensemble was ill-fated and soon its members
were called up to serve in the war. Stokowski found time to
write a book entitled ‘‘Music for All of Us’’ and he was for a
while guest conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. During
the war he formed the New York City Symphony and Hollywood
Bowl Symphony Orchestras, and later became co-conductor of
the New York Philharmonic.
In 1951 Stokowski returned to London again and began a
pattern of guest conducting in England and Europe. He was for a
few years chief conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra
(1955-60) and in 1961 directed some memorable performances
of Puccini's ‘‘Turandot”’ at the Metropolitan Opera House in New
York. He then founded and was the Music Director of another
youthful orchestra—the American Symphony in New York.
Leopold Stokowski was already an octogenarian when he
began recording regularly in Phase Four Stereo. Always an inno-
vator in recording techniques, he took to the multi-channel
System with intense interest, constantly striving for even better
results. Some of these results are preserved in the present
recording. In their beauty of tone, intensity and ‘conviction,
sensuousness and colour, they are a tribute to the ever-youthful
vitality of one of the most illustrious conductors of our time.
Edward Johnson
stereo
MADE IN ENGLAND THE DECCA RECORD CO.LTD.
SPEED 33-4 Side (ZAL. 10884)
SPC.21074
@® 1968, 1967,* 1966**
*1, THE RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES (Wagner) (5.02) +
**2. SLEEPING BEAUTY WALTZ (Tchaikovsky) (3.26) +
3. NIGHT ON THE BARE MOUNTAIN
(Mussorgsky, arr. Stokowski) (9.19) t
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
Conducting
+ LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
+ NEW PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA
MADE IN ENGLAND THE DECCA RECORD CO_LTD.
SPEED. 33-3 Side (ZAL.10885)
SPC.21074
©) 1971, 1969,* 1966**
1. FANFARE FROM “‘L’EVENTAIL DE JEANNE”’ (Ravel) (2.04)
*2. “THE ENGULFED CATHEDRAL (Debussy, arr. Stokowski) (6.33) +
3. ‘‘PASTORALE”’ (Stravinsky) (3.40) §
**4. “AMEN” FROM MESSIAH (Handel) (4.25) +
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
Conducting
+ LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
+ NEW PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA
§ ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
+ HILVERSUM RADIO PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA
2022年5月23日月曜日
The Sound Of Flamenco by Los Morenos; Elena Marbella Prestige International (INT 13052)
PRESTIGE/INTERNATIONAL 13052
THE SOUND OF FLAMENCO
LOS MORENOS with ELENA MARBELLA and FERNANDO “EL PINTOR”
LUISA VERETTE, dancing and castagnettes
ANTONIO DeJESUS, dancing and singing
DAVID MORENO, guitar
with
ELENA MARBELLA, dancing and singing
FERNANDO “EL PINTOR”, guitar
Recorded July 22, 1961
Side A
. FERIA DE ABRIL (sevillanas)
. RECUERDC GADITANO (alegrias)
. TANGO EXTREMENO
. GRANAINA
. FIESTA JEREZANA (bulerias)
. EL CABRERILLO
Side B
. PETENERA CON BAILE
. FANDANGOS VARIADOS
. DOBLARON LAS COMPANAS (siguiriyas)
. LA FARRUCA
. SOLEA APOLA
Flamenco should not just be listened to. It should
be experienced, As you hear the music, and feel the
pulsating rhythms, your whole body will want to
respond. Let ii. For Flamenco traditionally has trans-
cended the barrier between audience and perform-
ers. Back in the caves of Sacromonte the joys and the
sorrows of the gypsy soul found their expression in
the disciplined yet passionate forms of Flamenco.
Hundreds of years of tradition have distilled its es-
sence. Flamenco is group experience. It is emotional
communication to the deepest sub-conscious self. As
you listen to these highly sensitized players and sing-
ers reacting and interacting to each other’s beat and
melody, the Flamenco spirit will communicate itselft
to you. You will become part of the group. As -you
hear it again and again, you will find yourself becom-
ing more and more sensitive to the haunting melodies
and throbbing rhythms, Flamenco will say more to
you on a deeper, richer, more emotional level.
Now, imagine in the mind’s eye, the physical set-
ting. It is late at night and in the cafe the heady smell
of wine blends into the sensual background. The night
is hot and outside the insects’ faint chatter underlines
the emotional forces building up inside. Gypsy and
non-gypsy alike await the “duende”, the mystic spirit
of Flamenco. Suddenly a chord sounds and an in-
voluntary sigh rises from the crowd. Someone says
“Olé guitarista” in a low gravelly voice and the guitar-
ist starts to weave a melodic variation on the chord.
A dark-haired girl leaps to her feet and catching the
rhythm of the guitar starts a pattern of taconeo (heel-
beats) while moving her body with tremendous control-
led passion. The crowd spurs her on as the music grows
faster and faster. The guitar and dancer are as one,
acting out a story of life and love and death. A voice
from the table near-the bar starts the traditional wail
of the cante, and as the singer develops the tapestry
of melody a man comes forward and joins the frenzied
rhythms. The crowd and the performers are swept up
in an ever increasing torrent of sound. Their eyes shine
with inner fire. Sweat runs down a dozen faces. The
dance moves faster and faster as it builds up each
climax. The duende carries the crowd ever higher, far
into the night.
This is Flamenco, the living spirit, the incarnation
of life itself. Blood, tears, and agony, joy and the trans-
‘cendence of thé every day world.
The escape world of Flamenco has been an integral
part of the Spanish gypsy culture for hundreds of
years. In his need-for artistic expression beyond the
poverty of his everyday life, the gitano has borrowed
from each culture to which he has been exposed .. .
from the Moors, the Jews, the Spaniards. Taking a
little from each, but blending it into something new
and distinctive. Something his own. Approach this
Printed in U. S. A.
music with more than just an open ear, open your
mind and your heart and be swept up by the duende
of Flamenco.
Los Morenos is a young trio -of Riieioricos: Luisa
Verette, who dances like a flame, Antonio De Jesus,
strong, ‘elegant, a faint scar accentuating the regular-
ity of his dark gypsy face, David Moreno, the guitarist,
dedicated to the music he loves. With them, Elena
Marbella who came here in February 1961, the win-
ner of many honors in Spain including honorable
mention at the National Cante Jondo contest in Cor-
doba and Fernando “El Pintor”’ an artist’ with both
brush and guitar. The group made its New York debut
in May 1961 to an extremely enthusiastic audience.
The critics were equally enthusiastic. The New York
Herald Tribune said, “The authentic flavor of gypsy
Spain was evoked last night — All the songs and
dances were of gypsy derivation and emphasized the
stormy and tempestuous nature of that melancholy
race.
Here, then, is the music that excited New York.
Feria de abril (sevillanas)
Of classical origin, this dance has become so influ-
enced by the gypsies that it is a standard in any Fla-
menco program. Sevillian children learn the gay, lilting
“coplas”, or verses, and intricate steps at an early age,
and their impromptu singing and dancing in the streets
is one of the delights that adds charm to this. enchant-
ing city.
Here the entire group works together to recreate the
vibrant atmosphere of the April Fair, where the hand-
clapping and castanets do not cease during five unfor-
gettable days.
Recuerdo gaditano (alegrias)
This musical form bears the same rhythm as the me-
lancholy “Soleares”, but is lively and optimistic in
character (The very name means happiness). Here, the
gypsy, inspired by the saline breezes and bustling
activity of the ancient Phoenician seaport of Cadiz,
frees himself from his tradition of sorrow. Antonio de
Jesus executes this dance with exuberance in the
“salida” (entrance), and elegance in the slow melodic
section, before abandoning himself to the contagious
rhythm of the final “Bulerias”. The songs express, with
lighthearted clarity, the pains and passions of love
and the affectionate praises of “The Little Silver Cup”
as Cadiz is foundly called.
Tango extremeno
Improvisation and mischievous humor are the key-
notes of this gypsy dance in 2/4 time. It is derived
from the more sober “Tientos’” and very popular
throughout Spain, where it is performed with ritual-
istic fervor at every “fiesta”, or gathering of the “afi-
cionados”, The first song style is from Extremadura, a
province to the west of Andalucia, and the others are
traditional.
Granainas
Delicate and haunting, this guitar solo suggests all
of the mysterious beauty of Granada with its Alhamb:
ra, its caves of the Sacromonte, and the breathtaking
surrounding landscape dominated by the snow-capped
Sierra Nevada. The notes evoke the ever-present poetic
inspiration of the Moorish city which sleeps and
dreams of glorious past.
Fiesta jerezana (bulerias)
Quintessence of the fiesta! Translated from the Ro
many tongue, the word means ‘lies’, for the gypsy
enters the realm of gaiety, but his joy is bitter-tasting
and razor-edged. He loses himself in a frenzied and
“ uninhibited parody of life and love in this fiery rhythm.
One of the most popular of Flamenco styles, it is cha-
racterized by a naivete which is disarming to even
the-most sophisticated. The dancers alternate to exhibit
their virtuosity and unrestrained sense of humor in
rapid “desplantes”. The greatest interpreters have
been from Jerez de la Frontera, known also for its
excellent wines and cognacs, (and, who -knows what
i |
PRESTIGE
INTERNATIONAL
subtle influence the latter may have exerted upon the
explosive quality of the “Bulerias’’?).
El Cabrerillo
This is a pastoral romance, also in the gypsy Tango
rhythm, which tells the story of a goatherd’s love for
his flock, and causes his jealous sweetheart to turn to
another man’s affections in her search for attention.
Elena Marbella sings and dances this Andalusian folk
song accompanied by Fernando “El Pintor”
Petenera con baile
Named after a famous courtesan, “La Paternera”,
which means, innocently enough, “The Woman from
Paterna”, the verses usually tell the tale of the legend-
ary antics of “La Perdicion de los Hombres”, (The Per-
dition of Men) as she was commonly called. Here Luisa
and Antonio act out the pagent of this wicked wo-
man and one of her spurned lovers, while the guitar
of David Moreno interprets the traditional melodies,
retaining all of the sentiment and emotional depth of
the primitive songs.
Fandangos variados
Fandangos are popular throughout Andalusia, though
the best-known and loved are those of the province of
Huelva. These four “coplas” represent different styles
from thai region, and are danced with enthusiasm and
vivacity by Luisa and Antonio.
Doblaron las campanas (siguiriyas)
Relatively new as a dance form, the “Siguiriyas”,
deepest of the “deep songs”, stems from an ancient
mourning chant. In this number, dancer Luisa Verret-
te interprets with sinuous grace the infinite jlament
expressed in the immortal verses of the famous gypsy
“cantaores”, “El Marruro’” and Tomas “El Nitri”. The
first verse: “If in life | am not avenged, you will pay
me in death — I'll search for you amongst the sepul-
chers until | find you!” the second: “The bells of San
Juan tolled! How they tolled, Oh! How they tolled
for the mother of my heart and soul!’ While her feet
mark continuously the relentless beat and her castanets
answer with intricate counter-rhythms, the lithe body
of the lovely young “bailaora” weaves a tapestry which
reflects the inner conflicts of the human soul.
Farruca
Once a song of Galician origin, the 2/4 rhythm of
the “Farruca” has evolved into a virile dance solo
characterized by powerful stacatto heelwork, finger-
snapping, and slow, marking sections where the
“Bailaor’ awaits, with feline grace, the moment of
“attack”. Antonio de Jesus, dark, handsome, and
supple as a panther performs with male aggressive-
ness this “tour de force” which establishes the gypsy’s
skill and technique and offers the same feeling of
challenge present in primitive war eee
Solea apolé
“Solea” means “loneliness”, but the emotional con-
tent of this sad modality, often referred to as the
“Mother of the Cante” extends far beyond mere lone-
liness, Manuel Benitez Carrasco, the Flamenco poet,
best describes its elusive character in the phrase “La
Muerte Pequefia” — “the little death of a chant’. “’Sole-
ares” describe with brevity, painful as a knife wound,
the agonizing moments of life’s fleeting tragedies and
accept these experiences with philosophical resigna-
tion. In this sequence, the unfaithful lover, Antonio de
Jesus succmbs to the charms of Luisa Verrette, while
singer, Elena Marbella challenges his fidelity in the
first verse, “May.God permit that, if you deceive me,
the ground open up and swallow you”; and later
declares that, “When the great earthquake took place, .
(an actual occurrence in Seville) the waters rose high,
‘but not as high as my agony.” The last verse, the
“Solea apola” is a rare form usually sung as a post-
lude to the “Polo”.
Notes by: D. CHARNEY and E. MARTINEZ
Recorded by: RUDY VAN GELDER
Album conceived and arranged
for by: DON SCHLITTEN
‘Produced by: CHRIS ALBERTSON
For free catalog send to PRESTIGE RECORDS INC., 203 SO. WASHINGTON AVE., BERGENFIELD; N. J.
2022年5月18日水曜日
Trumpet Concerto / Trumpet Concerto / Sonata A 6 by Timofej Dokschizer; Rudolf Barshai; Moscow Chamber Orchestra; Joseph Haydn; Johann Nepomuk Hummel; Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber Melodiya/Angel (SR-40123) Publication date 1970
SR-40123
Uussia
S great trumpet virtuoso...
Newly Recorded
Solera
MIMIIVINIV I I vini e rvivianiovinivaeni
Iiumpet Concerto
Irumpet Concerto
Biber: Sonata a 6
the Soviet Union’s most honered trumpet virtuoso
Timoiey
Dokschitser
HAYDN: TRUMPET CONCERTO
(HUMMEL: TRUMPET CONCERTO
IBIBER: SONATA FOR SIX VOICES
Moscow Chamber Orchestra
Rudolf Barshai, conducting
In works for trumpet by Haydn, Hummel and Biber, Melodiya/Angel presents for
the first time on its label the artistry of Timofey Dokschitser. The Soviet Union’s
pre-eminent trumpet virtuoso, he has been called “the Oistrakh of the trumpet”
for his monumental technical command and the sheer poetry of his playing.
Born in the Ukraine in 1921, Timofey Dokschitser began to study trumpet at the
age of ten. At 14, he entered the Moscow Central School of Music. Later, at the
Gnessin Music Institute, he studied with the celebrated teacher and performer oî
trumpet Professor M. P. Tabacov. In 1950, Dokschitser himself became professor
of trumpet at the Institute.
At an all-Soviet competition for wind instrument players in 1941, Timofey
Dokschitser won the laureate. In 1947, he took foremost honors in Prague. In 1945
he became trumpet soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra, Moscow, a post he
occupies today. Despite his full schedule as performer and teacher, he also under-
took in 1952-1957 the study of conducting at the Moscow Conservatory.
Dokschitser's repertoire is rich in the works of his countrymen as well as the
finest works for trumpet in the classical repertoire of other lands—represented
here by the trumpet concertos of Haydn and Hummel, and a sonata for six
voices by Biber.
ANNOTATION BY HARRY NEVILLE:
Franz Josef Haydn's Concerto in E flat
for trumpet and orchestra is unques-
tionably the most popular of all works
for this musical combination. Dating
from 1796, the composer’s 64th year,
and written only a few months before
Haydn began work on his great oratorio
“The Creation,” it is the last and per-
haps the finest of his instrumental
concertos.
Haydn.wrote this work for Vienna
Court trumpeter Anton Weidinger, who
for some time had been experimenting
with a keyed instrument of his own
devising. His invention enabled the per-
former to obtain notes other than the
linstrument’s “natural” ones, thus mak-
ing it possible to play chromatic pas-
sages in the middle and lower registers
with relative ease.
Haydn instantly grasped the techni-
cal and musical possibilities of the
instrument, creating a work that is rich
both in opportunities for bravura dis-
play and in passages of great warmth
and tenderness. The outer movements
make unusual virtuosic demands of the
soloist while the Andante exploits the
instrument’s newfound capacity for
lyric expression. Triadic figures which
had hitherto characterized melodic
writing for the trumpet here give way to
diatonic and chromatic passages, some-
times even in the instrument’s lower
register.
The opening Allegro is a fairly tra-
ditional first-movement sonata-allegro
construction with themes that are
clearly contrasted in profile and formal
subdivisions that are neatly defined.
An orchestral exposition presenting the
movement’s main ideas precedes the
entry of the solo trumpet, which then
proceeds to restate these ideas along
with a fuller statement of the subsidi-
ary theme. A modulation to C minor
takes place at the outset of the develop-
ment section, and a telling use of the
minor mode also prepares the way for
the joyous reaffirmation of the main
tonality at the beginning of the recapit-
ulation.
The siciliano-like A flat major
Andante, in ternary form, exerts a
strong appeal through its combination
of reposeful, melodic stasis and flowing
accompanimental movement. The
STEREO
MELODIYA
Recorded by
Melodiya in the U.S.S.R.
rondo Finale brims with ebullient good
spirits, making much use of contrasting
textures, modes, harmonies and instru- .
mental registers. Haydn's orchestral
scoring is for two flutes, two oboes,
two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets,
timpani and strings. The original manu-
script is preserved in the library of the
Vienna Gesellschaft fiir Musikfreunde.
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, virtuoso
violinist and perhaps the most remark-
able Central European composer of his
time, was born August 12, 1644, in
Wartenburg, Bohemia. Not much is
known of his musical training, but it is
generally assumed that he studied
violin and composition with Johann
Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680), an-
other important figure of the period. At
age 22, Biber became a member of the —
court orchestra of Count Karl of Liech-
tenstein-Kastelkorn, a devoted patron
of the arts who was also Archbishop of
Olmiitz and Kremsier, and it was prob-
ably at Kremsier, where the Count
maintained a splendid castle, that Biber
wrote his first professional works.
Biber spent four yearsin the Count'’s
service and then left to join the court of
the Archbishop of Salzburg, where he
eventually became Kapellmeister.
Through numerous concert tours, his
reputation spread throughout Europe
and, by 1690, he had become so highly
esteemed that Emperor Leopold I
elevated him to the nobility. At the time
of his death, May 3, 1704, he was the
most celebrated violinist and composer
of the German-speaking lands.
Although Biber undoubtedly had op-
portunities to be published, he seems to
have exercised unusual discretion in
this respect, for only five collections ot
instrumental works appeared during his
lifetime. The present Sonata à sei in B
flat major, which was finally published
in 1958, comes from the archives of
Kremsier and is presumed to have been
written during Biber's residence there.
Formally, the work is modelled on the
older Italian example of the one-move-
ment sonata with a series of short con-
trasting sections. Scored for trumpet,
strings, and continuo, it exists also in a
C major version, which may have been
written to accommodate pitch differ-
ences in continuo instruments or to
allow use of a natural trumpet.
After the Haydn Concerto in E flat,
the next great trumpet concerto of the
Viennese classical period is that of
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837).
Hummel’s concerto was written when
the composer was 25, one year before
he succeeded Haydn as Kapellmeister
to Prince Esterh4zy in Fisenstadt. As
with his predecessor, Hummel wrote
the concerto for Anton Weidinger, who
gave the work its first performance on
Library of Congress Catalog Card Numbers 78-751613 (for the Haydn), 75-751615 (the Biber), and 71-751614 (the
Hummel) apply to this recording.
Produced and engineered by: Lidia Bobova (the Haydn), Mikhail Pakhter (Biber) and Aleksander Grosman (Hummel).
Manufactured by Capitol Records, Inc., a subsidiary of Capitol Industries; inc., Hollywood and Vine ANA This r
ecord has been engineered and ma
Streets, Hollywood, Calif. Factories: Scranton, Pa., Los Angeles, Calif., Jacksonville, ili., Winchester, Va.
%s/ Association of America, inc., a non-prof
nufactured in accordance with standards developed by the Recording Industry z\
it organization dedicated to the betterment of recorded music and literature. XE
New Year's Day, 1804, as a Tafelmusik
offering at a royal dinner of the Ester-
hàzy court. Weidinger had continued to
experiment with a keyed trumpet, and
the instrument he had developed by
1803 was a vastimprovement over what
was available to Haydn in 1796, with
the result that Hummel had at his dis-
posal an instrument that was almost
fully chromatic. Hummel’s concerto,
like Haydn's, demonstrates that Wei-
dinger must have been an exceptional
player who excelled both in cantabile
passages and in ornate display figura-
tions.
The opening Allegro con spirito
pretty much follows the example of the
. |Haydn concerto in the sharply alternat-
ing character of its solo episodes. There
in the movement'’s rather tightly or-
ganized symphonic construction.
The quite romantic A flat minor
. | Andante is a lyric outpouring with
string accompaniment, which changes.
to the major mode as the woodwinds
enter. A half-close leads into the finale,
a Rondo requiring of the soloist all the
technical brilliance—trills, figurations,
chromatic passagework—of which he is
capable. Hummel's instrumentation
calls for flute, oboe, two clarinets, two
horns, timpani and strings.
e E
SIDE ONE
HAYDN: TRUMPET CONCERTO
IN E FLAT I
I. Allegro Band1 - 5:47
II. Andante Band2 - 4:03
III. Finale (Allegro) Band 3 - 5:40
BIBER: SONATA A 6INBFLAT
(ed. Yanetsky)
Allegro—Adagio—Allegro Band 4 - 6:15
SIDE TWO
HUMMEL: TRUMPET CONCERTO
IN E FLAT
I. Allegro con spirito Band 1 - 9:12
II. Andante III. Rondo Band 2 - 9:02
I EEE e TTTTTIG:R
Rudolf Barshai is an S. Hurok Artist.
ALSO BY RUDOLF BARSHAI
AND THE MOSCOW CHAMBER
\ORCHESTRA ON .
MELODIYA/ANGEL:
SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONY NO. 14. World
Premiere recording of Shostakovich’s great
‘ Isymphonic song-cycle, a meditation on death,
on texts by Garcia Lorca, Apollinaire,
Kiichelbecker & Rilke. With Margarita i
Miroshnikova, soprano, Yevgeny Vladimirov,
bass. SR-40147
PERGOLESI: STABAT MATER. In Latin, with
Irina Arkhipova, mezzo-soprano and the
RSFSR Russian Chorus. SR-40044
J. S. BACH: Six Concertos for Piano and
Orchestra: No. 1 in D minor; No. 2 in E major;
No. 3 in D major; No. 4 in A major; No. 5 in
F minor; No. 7 in G minor. With Vasso
Devetzi, pianist. (Two records, boxed).
SRB-4108
seems too some indebtedness to Mozart.
SR-40123
2022年5月16日月曜日
The Romantic Guitar
OUTSTANDING HIGH FIDELITY THROUGH RADIAL SOUNO ■ A PROOUCT OF CBS
LC 3564
THE ROMANTIC GUITAR
Granados: Danza espanola No. 5
(Andaluza) (trans. Llobet)
Granados: La Maja de Goya
(trans. Llobet)
Albeniz: Torre bermeja (Serenata)
(trans. Llobet)
Albeniz: Leyenda
(trans. Segovia)
Tarrega: Marietta (Mazurka)
Tarrega: Mazurka
Tarrega: Minuetto
Rodrigo: Zarabanda lejana
Falla: Homenaje a Debussy
Grau: Corranda
(Antigua danza catalana)
LC 3564
OUTSTANDING
HIGH FIOSLITY
THROUGH
i RADIAL SOUND
A PRODUCT OF CBS
REY DE LA TORRE, Classical Guitar
In contrast to Rey de la Torre’s previous Epic recitals
(LC 3418 and LC 3479), which embraced different periods and
a wide variety of styles, the program selected under the
heading of “The Romantic Guitar” follows a much more
centralized pattern. Only Spanish composers are represented
and these are further linked by a romantic-nationalist orien¬
tation which gained a powerful impetus from the work of
Felipe Pedrell, the prophet of Spanish nationalism during
the late 19th and early 20th century. One may even classify
the entire program as “romantic music” without going too
far afield, though the label of romanticism will not attach as
easily to the compositions of Falla or Rodrigo as it does
to the works of Albeniz and Granados. The nationalistic
spirit, on the other hand, will he readily established as a
unifying element that links together not only the individual
pieces but also their totality to the centuries-old tradition
of Spanish music.
In his authoritative volume on “The Music of Spain,”
(Norton, 1941) Gilbert Chase refers to a vignette in Luis
Milan’s “El Maestro,” written in 1535, which “represents
Orpheus, in medieval setting and surrounded by a rapt aud¬
ience of birds and beasts, playing not the antique lyre but a
six-stringed guitar.” This amusing example illustrates the
high esteem in which the Spanish people held the guitar in
the early days, and from which they have never wavered.
Luis Milan, incidentally, was one of the early masters of the
vihuela (fore-runner of the modem guitar), and the book
“El Maestro” offered detailed instructions for gentlemen
wishing to master the art of playing that fashionable instru¬
ment. A talented composer—besides being a poet, wit, and
man about the courts—Don Luis Milan is gratefully remem¬
bered today by Spanish composers and instrumentalists. It
was to him that Joaquin Rodrigo reverently dedicated his
Zarabanda lejana, an outstanding modern contribution to
guitar literature and a particular favorite with Rey de la
Torre.
Rodrigo, like Luis Milan, is a native of Valencia. He
was born in 1902 and has been blind almost from birth.
Famed as a symphonist and composer of a colorful concerto
for guitar and orchestra, Rodrigo, in common with other
famous Spanish composers of past and present, does not him¬
self play the national instrument. But his natural affinity to it is
clearly shown in Zarabanda lejana, a fascinating piece in
which the modernity of harmonic idiom blends with a per¬
vading 16th-century spirit.
Manuel de Falla’s Homenaje a Debussy also invokes the
image of a departed musician, but there the emotional in¬
volvement is much more immediate. Falla, too, had studied
with Pedrell and had received his first vital orientation as a
result of this experience. But the most important period of
his life were the seven years spent in Paris (1907-1914),
where he found the orchestral techniques ideally suited to
express the music of his national heritage. While in Paris he
was drawn to the circle of Debussy, Ravel and Dukas with
an attraction that soon deepened into friendship. When De¬
bussy died several prominent composers were requested by a
French publisher to write musical tributes in his memory.
On the advice of the Catalan guitar virtuoso Miguel Llobet,
Falla responded with the Homenaje in 1920. Rey de la Torre
describes this elegy as a “model of controlled intensity and
precise notation for the instrument, consistent with the com¬
poser’s well-known meticulousness. In an original, almost
strange conception Falla has used the habanera rhythm to
communicate his personal grief in an elegy for the loss of his
friend, quoting with grave irony toward the end of the piece
a fragment from Debussy’s Soiree dans Granade.” Many
years later Falla completed an orchestral verson of this piece
for a four-part suite called Homenajes which also includes
compositions written in the memory of Pedrell, Dukas and
Arbos.
Untouched by the Gallicism and impressionist colors which
characterize much of Falla’s music, Spanish nationalism
found its truest musical expression in the writings of Isaac
Albeniz (1860-1909) and Enrique Granados (1867-1916).
Both were Pedrell’s pupils, both virtuoso pianists and, by a
further and lamentable coincidence, both came to tragically
premature ends in their forty-ninth year. Albeniz was for¬
ever fascinated with the colorful exoticism of Andalucia and,
particularly, with its Moorish heritage. His piano pieces—
there were hundreds of them—are charming and captivating
vignettes characteristic of his basically uncomplicated art.
Although plainly a composer for the keyboard, Albeniz often
modeled his technique on the guitar, a fact which lent his
piano music a highly individual quality. It follows that these
pieces sound entirely natural and idiomatic when performed
on the guitar since the transcriptions are in effect realizations
of the composer’s original concept. For this program Rey
de la Torre has selected Andres Segovia’s transcription of the
Leyenda, while Torre bermeja is heard in Llobet’s setting.
The musical nationalism of Enrique Granados was not
concentrated upon the soil of Andalucia, although some of his
compositions—particularly the popular Spanish Dances—
reveal an Andalusian character. It was the spiritual influence
of the great Spanish painter Goya which gave a unique color
to Granados’ art. La Maja de Goya, one of the selections
chosen for this recital, comes from a collection of tonadillas
—short compositions for voice and piano inspired by scenes
and characters of Goya’s paintings. (The composer’s most
famous opera, Goyescas, was also a dramatization of Goya
paintings. Granados attended its world premiere at the Met¬
ropolitan Opera in 1916. On the return trip his ship was
torpedoed by a German submarine and he and his wife per¬
ished.) As in the case of Albeniz’s piano music, La Maja de
Goya lends itself most effectively to guitar treatment, an ob¬
servation that holds even truer for the very popular, flamenco-
spirited Spanish Dance No. 5. Both Granados compositions
are heard here in the transcription of Miguel Llobet.
While Albeniz and Granados enriched the piano literature
of their land, Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909) can be credited
with the rejuvenation of the classical guitar repertory from
a period of relative inertia lasting almost a century. Tarrega
was a brilliant virtuoso and founder of a school to which all
modern guitar teachings are related. As a composer he
specialized in concert pieces of limited substance but con¬
siderable variety and melodic appeal, as exemplified by the
three short selections Rey de la Torre has chosen for this
recital. Although Tarrega enjoyed world-wide renown, his
activities were limited to Spain.
Unlike Tarrega, Miguel Llobet (1875-1938), whose name
has frequently recurred throughout these notes, traveled ex¬
tensively in Europe and South America and gave solo re¬
citals which paved the way for the many excellent guitar
virtuosos of the present generation. Llobet was Tarrega’s
pupil and, in turn, the teacher of Rey de la Torre. During the
quarter of a century that has passed since Mr. de la Torre’s
career was launched in Barcelona (1934) thousands of lis¬
teners on many continents have discovered the remarkable,
expressive powers of the classical guitar as a concert instru¬
ment. Today’s guitar repertoire embraces a wide area rang¬
ing from Bach transcriptions to original compositions for
the instrument by musicians of our times. But Spain, the
country which replaced the ancient lyre with the guitar in
Orpheus’ hands, continues unrivalled in its cultivation of the
instrument, adding new chapters to the fascinating history of
“The Romantic Guitar.”
Notes by George Jellinek
Other Epic Records by Rey de la Torre include:
Rey de la Torre Plays Classical Guitar: music by Sanz, Sor,
Llobet, Ponce, Torroba and Tarrega. LC 3418
Virtuoso Guitar: music by Giuliani, Turina, Llobet, Villa-
Lobos, Falla and Tarrega. LC 3479
■ Library of Congress catalog card number R59-1100 applies
to this record. z
2022年5月15日日曜日
Clavichord Music by Johann Jakob Froberger; Thurston Dart L'Oiseau-Lyre (SOL 60038)
LONDON,
STERE() SOL 60038 J. J. FROBERGER - CLAVICHORD MUSIC THURSTON DART
EDITIONS DE
L°OISEAU-LYRE
THURSTON DART
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J. J. FROBERGER
CLAVICHORD MUSIC
played by
THURSTON DART
SIDE ONE
CLAVICHORD BY THOMAS GOFF
Tombeau de M. Blancheroche — Suite X (A minor) — Lamentation for Ferdinand IV
Capriccio — Suite XIV (G minor)— Allemande from Suite XX
SIDE TWO
Ricercar— Lamentation for Ferdinand III — Suite XIX (C minor)
Fantasia — Suite III (G major)— Allemande from Suite XXX — Suite VII (E minor)
Born at Stuttgart on 19 May 1616, Froberger was
appointed court organist at Vienna in his twenty-
first year. Shortly afterwards his patron, the music-
loving emperor Ferdinand III, sent him to study
with Frescobaldi in Rome, where he stayed for
about three years. Upon his return to Vienna in
1641 he resumed his court appointment, but late
in 1645 he seems to have been granted leave of
absence, and he spent the next eight years travel-
ling extensively. During this period he visited
France, the Low Countries, and Germany, making
a great impression by the skill of his playing and
the beauty of his compositions. From 1 April
1653 until 30 June 1657 he was court organist in
Vienna once again; the last ten years of his life
were spent in Austria, England and France, where
he died (in a house at Héricourt belonging to the
dowager duchess of Wiirttemburg) on 7 May 1667.
Famous throughout all Europe not only during
his lifetime but for many decades after his death,
Froberger was the Dowland of the keyboard. Like
Dowland he seems to have had an introspective
melancholy turn of mind, but he far surpassed the
lutenist in contrapuntal skill and in the powerful
originality of his musical idiom. He learned much
from Frescobaldi, perhaps also from the contem-
porary French school of harpsichordists led by
Chambonniéres and Louis Couperin. In his turn
he exercised great influence on more than a
generation of composers, from d’Anglebert to
Mattheson and Bach. His musicis poetic, personal,
expressive and rewarding to play, yet it is little
known; I hope this disc may encourage many
music-lovers to explore it for themselves.
The autograph copies of his own works preserved
inthe National Library, Vienna, give no indication
whatsoever of the instruments he had in mind for
the performance of his music. The Amsterdam edi-
tions (1697-98) of his keyboard suites describe
them simply as ‘Suittes de clavessin’; as a result
they have usually been discussed as though they
form part of the development of harpsichord music.
But the Mainz editions of 1693-96, from which the
Amsterdam editions appear to have been derived,
define his music as ‘for lovers of harpsichords,
organs, clavichords and spinets’. Any experienced
player of 17th-century music and 17th-century
keyboard instruments will soon satisfy himself
that Froberger’s Suites — perhaps also some of his
more contrapuntal pieces — were in the first
instance composed forthe clavichord, an instrument
whose special features gave rise during the 17th
century to a distinctive style of composition.
For the present disc I have selected a little
anthology of his clavichord pieces, chosen
primarily for their beauty, but also to show various
aspects of Froberger’s characteristic style. He
was apparently the creator of what soon became
known as the ‘French Suite’, consisting of an
Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue
(sometimes expanded by ‘Doubles’). The next
generations of German composers expanded the
form still further by the addition of other dance
movements between the Sarabande and the Gigue;
ona companion disc (OL 50208/SOL 60039) I have
recorded Bach’s six French suites of this kind on
the clavichord, since Iam convinced that this isthe
instrument for which they were composed. Many
stylistic elements suggest to me that Bach must
have known of Froberger’s suites when he sat
down to compose his own set. The present disc
also includes some of Froberger’s fugal pieces;
these seem to have much in common with Bach’s
own clavichord fugues, especially those included
in Book I of the ‘48’. The texts heard on the disc
are based on the DTO versions, which I have
collated with Cambridge copies of the Amsterdam
and Mainz editions, and corrected when the
readings seemed incomplete or faulty.
SIDE ONE — Tombeau de M. Blancheroche
(1652:DTO, X, 2, p.114) One of four elegies on
the accidental death of the French lutenist
Blancrocher, who was a close friend of Froberger
and died in his arms; the others were composed by
Louis Couperin, Denis Gaultier and Du Fault.
According to the MS, the piece is to be played
‘very slowly and freely, without keeping strict
time’.
Suite X, in A minor (DTO, VI, 2, p.27) A
typical and very eloquent example of the four
movement French suite.
Lamentation for Ferdinand IV (1654: DT6O, VI,
2, p.32) In memory of the infant son of Froberger’s
patron, the emperor Ferdinand III; the child was
elected ‘King of the Romans’ in 1653, but died the
following year.
Capriccio no. VI (DTO, IV, 1, p.88) An essay in
fugue, on a chromatic subject, owing much to the
style of Frescobaldi.
Suite XIV, in G minor (DTO, VI, 2, p.38) In one
source the Allemande has the subtitle ‘Lamentation
on what was stolen from me: to be treated freely,
and better than I was treated by the soldiers’. A
footnote tells how Froberger, journeying from
Brussels to Louvain, fell into the hands of a roving
band of soldiers who robbed him, beat him up and
left him for dead; ‘this piece was composed to
comfort his bruised spirits’. The Gigue is a
typical example of the jerky rhythms so often used
in17th-century gigues, and retained by Bach in the
Gigue to the first of his French suites.
Allemande from Suite XX (ibid., p.57) In the
Yale MS 21.H.59, the basis of the present text,
this is headed ‘Meditation on my future death: to
be played slowly and freely.’ Contemporary
references speak of it as Froberger’s ‘Memento
LOISEAU-LYRE
Mori’. No other 17th-century composer known to me
ever attempted so intimate an expression of
personal feeling.
SIDE TWO — Ricercar no. VI, in C sharp minor
(DTO, IV, 1, p.112) The three sections are based
on differing aspects of the same theme; the choice
of key cannot, I think, be paralleled at this early
date.
Lamentation for Ferdinand III (1657: DTO, X, 2,
p.116) Another of Froberger’s rhapsodic Alle-
mandes, unusual in that it consists of three
strains instead of the customary two. Perhaps this
is a conscious reminiscence of another style of
musical epitaph, the named pavan.
Suite XIX, in C minor (DTO, VI, 2, p.54) Very
similar in style to some of Buxtehude’s clavichord
suites, this contains a particularly beautiful
Sarabande.
Fantasia no. II (DTO; IV, 1, p.38) Based on
two contrasting versions of a single theme, in
the severe Phrygian mode (considered martial and
warlike by 17th-century theorists).
Suite III, in G major (DTO, VI, 2, p.6) The
Gigue is in the newer italianate style preferred by
most later composers, Bach among them. 2
Allemande from Suite XXX (1662: DTO. X, 2,
p.110) Subtitled ‘Plaint composed in London to
banish melancholy: to beplayed slowly and freely’.
A footnote tells how Froberger was robbed while
travelling from Paris to London, arriving w:thout a
penny in his pocket. According to Mattheson, this
took place in 1662; Christopher Gibbons, then
organist of Westminster Abbey and notorious
drunkard, offered Froberger the job of blowing the
organ-bellows during a recital he was giving before
the English court, upon the occasion of Charles
IIl’s marriage. Falling into one of his fits of
abstraction, Froberger forgot what he was doing,
so that the organ groaned into silence; under-
standably upset, Gibbons kicked him out of doors,
‘whereupon Froberger composed this piece’.
Suite VII, in E minor (DTO, VI, 2, p.18) Another
fine example of Froberger’s nervous, tense, but
expressive, style. A second version of the Gigue
exists, in which the rhythms are transformed into
the more normal triple time throughout.
One last point: the clavichord is an extremely
soft instrument, softer even than the guitar or lute,
and its sound is not at all easy to re-create
faithfully on a record — not least because the
microphones have to be very close to the player’s
hands, and can therefore pick up the percussion of
finger on key. The music will sound most like a
clavichord if the volume control is set fairly low,
with no cutting of top frequences.
THURSTON DART
Printed in England by Robert Stace.
DITIONS DE
J. J. FROBERGER: CLAVICHORD MU
Band 1—Tombeau de M. Blanct
Band 2- ite X bealtel
ISIN A
SOL 60038
J. J. FROBERGER: CLAVICHORD MUSIC
Band 1—Ricercar
Band 2—Lamentation for Fetdinand III
Band 3—Suite XIX (C minor)
Band 4—Fantasia
Band 5—Su Ill (G major)
Band 6—Allemande from Suite XXX
Band 7—Suite VII (E minor)
THURSTON DART