June 21, 2010

Performance Details pages. As our listeners know, many of the Performance Details pages contain liner notes. Very often these notes are written by those who recorded the piece, or, in case of contemporary compositions, by the composers themselves. We also add new descriptions on a regular basis, especially for the larger, historically important compositions. Here, for example, are some thoughts about Diabelli Variations, which Alfred Brendel called "the greatest of all piano works." This is a double treat: first, the pianist, Beth Levin, wrote a very detailed series of notes on each variation, and then we added the notes from Joseph DuBose.

The Variations’ place in the world of piano music may be compared to that of Bach's Goldberg Variations and Johannes Brahms' Handel Variations (some ideas about Brahms’s masterpiece could be found here). And as far as Beethoven is concerned, you may also enjoy the notes on Beethoven’s late sonatas: Hammerklavier, Op. 106, Sonata no. 30, Op. 109 and the last one, Sonata no. 32, Op. 111.

June 14, 2010

Igor Stravinsky and Edvard Grieg were born this week – the Russian in 1882 and the Norwegian in 1843. Although it’s hard to imagine two composers with more different musical sensibilities, there is a link between the two – Tchaikovsky. Stravinsky, whose father, a bass, sang in many premiers of Tchaikovsky’s operas, admired Tchaikovsky from childhood. Eventually he wrote a ballet, The Fairy's Kiss, based on the music of Tchaikovsky. Grieg, a contemporary of the great Russian, met him in 1888. Tchaikovsky heaped praise on Grieg’s music for its beauty, warmth and originality.

We’ll hear four piece: first, the husband-and-wife piano duo, Lucille Chung and Alessio Bax, will play Danse Russe and The Shrovetide Fair, from Stravinsky’s Petrushka ballet. Then, the Texas Festival String Ensemble will play a piece from Grieg’s Holberg Suite. We’ll switch back to Stravinsky and his Suite Italienne for Violin and Piano. It’s performed by Janet Sung (violin) and Robert Koenig (piano). Finally, the soprano Tina Beverly will sing the lovely Solveigs Sang. To listen, click here.

June 7, 2010

Robert Schumann is 200! One of the most influential composers of the 19th century, Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 2010 in Zwickau, Saxony. He started writing about music when he was 14, before he began composing, and he continued fusing musical and literary ideas for the rest of his creative life. Until the age of 30 he wrote exclusively for the piano (he remains one of the most important composers in the history of piano music), but later composed several wonderful song cycles, symphonies, concertos and chamber works.

We’ll first hear one of Schumann’s earliest works, Papillons, Op. 2, performed by the pianist Tanya Gabrielian. Then Dinara Nadzhafova (piano) plays Toccata in C Major. Soprano Hyunah Yu sings Widmung (she’s accompanied by Alon Goldstein). We follow with a sample of Schumann’s late work for the violin, his Fantasie in C Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 131. It is performed by Jennifer Koh (Violin) and Reiko Uchida (Piano). We finish with the great Abbey Simon playing Arabesque. To listen, click here.

May 31, 2010

Carlos Kalmar was born to Austrian parents in Uruguay in 1958. He began studying violin at the age of six. By 15 his musical development led him to the Vienna Musikhochschule, where he studied conducting with Karl Österreicher. In June 1984 he won first prize at the Hans Swarowsky Conducting Competition in Vienna.

Kalmar has been music director of the Hamburger Symphoniker (1987 to 1991), the Stuttgart Philharmonic (1991 to 1995) and the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Germany (1996-2000). Since 2000, Kalmar has been the principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago and, since 2003, the Oregon Symphony. His symphony and opera guest conducting engagements throughout Europe and North America include return appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the National Orchestra of Spain, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Hamburg State Opera, the Detroit Symphony, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and the Zurich Opera House, among others.

Carlos Kalmar’s recordings include the 2003 release of the Joachim (listen here) and the Brahms (here) Violin Concertos featuring Rachel Barton and the Chicago Symphony, both on the Cedille Records label.

We published the interview Bruce Duffie took with Carlos Kalmar some years ago; you can listen to Maestro Kalmar conducting here.

May 24, 2010

Once again we fell behind in our attempts to commemorate great composers: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his younger contemporary and friend Anatoly Lyadov were born on May 7 and May 10, respectively. Two French composers, Jules Massnet and Gabriel Fauré’s were born on the same day, May 12. Another Frenchman, Éric Satie, like Lyadov a master of miniatures, was born on May 17. And Richard Wagner, who wrote famously long operas, was born on May 22. These composers are so different in every respect that it would be all-but impossible to create a coherent playlist, so we’ll do just a few representative pieces. The cellist Patrick Jee plays Melodie, Op. 42, No. 3 by Tchaikovsky, followed by the pianist Nadejda Vlaeva who performs Lyadov’s Prelude in D-flat Major, Op. 57, No. 1. Then the flutist Martha Councell plays Morceau de Concours by Fauré. The soprano Patrice Michaels sings Éric Satie’s song Les fleurs. And finally, the young violinist Elizabeth Woo plays an arrangement of Wagner’s Albumblatt. To listen, click here.

May 17, 2010

An exciting young Bulgarian pianist named Anna Petrova recently played in Chicago, and we have a live recording of the event. Anna was born in Plovdiv but moved to New York in 2005 to study at the Manhattan School of Music, first with Horacio Gutiérrez and then André-Michel Schub. Anna performed as both a recitalist and orchestra soloist in her native Bulgaria, as well as Serbia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Spain, and the United States. Right now she’s in Brussels, competing in the semi-final round of the prestigious 2010 Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition. We wish her luck. No matter what happens at the competition, Anna has already proven to be a very interesting musician. You can judge by yourself by listening how she plays Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau, from Book 1 and Poissons d’or, from Nook 2 of Images, and Rachmaninov’s Variations on a Theme of Corelli. To listen click here.