May 2, 2016. Scarlatti, Brahms, Tchaikovsky. Three famous composers were born this week. May 2nd is the birthday of Alessandro Scarlatti, a very important early opera composer and the father of Domenico. Scarlatti was born in 1660. Then, on May 7th comes the unfortunate coupling of Johannes Brahms, born in 1833, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, born in 1840, so very different but both representing the best in their national schools. Over the years we’ve written extensively about all three of them: here and here about Scarlatti, and of course numerous times about both Brahms and Tchaikovsky. So on this occasion we’ll celebrate their anniversaries with performances of just one piece each. We have to admit that we’re absolutely in love with the aria Mentre io godo in dolce oblio (here) from Oratorio La Santissima Vergine del Rosario and consider it on par with the best by Handel. It helps, of course, that it’s performed by the phenomenal Cecilia Bartoli (with Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski). To carry the comparison between Scarlatti and Handel a bit further (hopefully not too far!), here’s a historical tidbit. Scarlatti’s La Santissima Vergine del Rosario was premiered in Rome in 1707. One of Scarlatti’s patrons during that time was Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli, and Santissima was premiered on Easter Sunday at the Ruspoli palazzo. Around that time, the 22-year-old Handel arrived in Rome and almost immediately was hired by Prince Ruspoli as his Kapellmeister. One year later Handel composed his own oratorio, La Resurrezione. This one too was staged, lavishly, in the main hall on the ground floor of Ruspoli’s palazzo, and also on Easter Sunday. It’s safe to assume that Handel was familiar with Scarlatti’s work, although there are no discernable borrowings, except for the general format of the work.
It is impossible to pick one representative piece by either Brahms or Tchaikovsky, so, with guided randomness, here are two compositions. A 1886 piano piece Dumka by Tchaikovsky, not to be confused with several “Dumka” compositions by Antonin Dvořák, isn’t played often on the concert scene, but it is very familiar to the Moscow audience: over the years, it has been performed repeatedly in the second round of the Tchaikovsky piano competitions. Here it is performed by a young Ukrainian pianist Stanislav Khristenko. The Piano sonata no. 3 written by the 20-year-old Brahms in 1853 isn’t too popular either: it’s long (35 minutes), in unusual five movements, and in parts uneven. The third piano sonata is also the last one for Brahms, who wrote all three in a span of less than two years. For all the problems, it’s very much worth listening to, especially when performed well, as it is here, by the young Japanese pianist Misato Yokoyama.
Scarlatti, Brahms, Tchaikovsky 2016
May 2, 2016. Scarlatti, Brahms, Tchaikovsky. Three famous composers were born this week. May 2nd is the birthday of Alessandro Scarlatti, a very important early opera composer and the father of Domenico. Scarlatti was born in 1660. Then, on May 7th comes the unfortunate coupling of
Johannes Brahms, born in 1833, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, born in 1840, so very different but both representing the best in their national schools. Over the years we’ve written extensively about all three of them: here and here about Scarlatti, and of course numerous times about both Brahms and Tchaikovsky. So on this occasion we’ll celebrate their anniversaries with performances of just one piece each. We have to admit that we’re absolutely in love with the aria Mentre io godo in dolce oblio (here) from Oratorio La Santissima Vergine del Rosario and consider it on par with the best by Handel. It helps, of course, that it’s performed by the phenomenal Cecilia Bartoli (with Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski). To carry the comparison between Scarlatti and Handel a bit further (hopefully not too far!), here’s a historical tidbit. Scarlatti’s La Santissima Vergine del Rosario was premiered in Rome in 1707. One of Scarlatti’s patrons during that time was Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli, and Santissima was premiered on Easter Sunday at the Ruspoli palazzo. Around that time, the 22-year-old Handel arrived in Rome and almost immediately was hired by Prince Ruspoli as his Kapellmeister. One year later Handel composed his own oratorio, La Resurrezione. This one too was staged, lavishly, in the main hall on the ground floor of Ruspoli’s palazzo, and also on Easter Sunday. It’s safe to assume that Handel was familiar with Scarlatti’s work, although there are no discernable borrowings, except for the general format of the work.
It is impossible to pick one representative piece by either Brahms or Tchaikovsky, so, with guided randomness, here are two compositions. A 1886 piano piece Dumka by Tchaikovsky, not to be confused with several “Dumka” compositions by Antonin Dvořák, isn’t played often on the concert scene, but it is very familiar to the Moscow audience: over the years, it has been performed repeatedly in the second round of the Tchaikovsky piano competitions. Here it is performed by a young Ukrainian pianist Stanislav Khristenko. The Piano sonata no. 3 written by the 20-year-old Brahms in 1853 isn’t too popular either: it’s long (35 minutes), in unusual five movements, and in parts uneven. The third piano sonata is also the last one for Brahms, who wrote all three in a span of less than two years. For all the problems, it’s very much worth listening to, especially when performed well, as it is here, by the young Japanese pianist Misato Yokoyama.