September 4, 2017.Bruckner, Milhaud and more.Today is Labor Day, so we’ll be very brief.Anton Bruckner was born on this day in 1824.Nine years older than Brahms, another great symphonist, today his music sounds more daring.Bruckner had many supporters and several powerful detractors, the most influential being Eduard Hanslick, the Viennese music critic who wrote devastating reviews.Here’s one quote from his article about Bruckner’s Third Symphony: "Neither were his [Bruckner's] poetic intentions clear to us – perhaps a vision of how Beethoven's Ninth made friends with Wagner's Valkyries and ended up under horse’s hooves – nor could we grasp the purely musical coherence."These reviews were especially painful to Bruickner as he was an unusually insecure composer.All of Bruckner’s symphonies are large in scale, and so are the three masses (Bruckner was a deeply religious person and church music played a very important part in his compositional output).His motets, though, are much smaller and are a better fit for this post.Here’s one, Os Justi Meditabitur (The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom).The Monteverdi Choir is conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
Darius Milhaud, a member of Les Six, was also born on this day, in 1892 in Aix-en-Provence into a Jewish family.He traveled extensively, absorbing influences from other cultures.In 1917, he went to Brazil and found inspiration in the local folk music and traditions of the Carnaval.In 1922, he traveled to the United States where for the first time he encountered authentic jazz, which made a huge impression on him.In 1940, after the Germans occupied part of France, Milhaud fled to the US.There he found a position at Mills College in Oakland, CA.One of his favorite students was Dave Brubeck. Here is Milhaud’s whimsical Ballade for Piano and Orchestra, op.61.Vlastimil Lejsek is on the Piano.Brno Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Jiří Waldhans.
Bruckner, Milhaud 2017
September 4, 2017. Bruckner, Milhaud and more. Today is Labor Day, so we’ll be very brief. Anton Bruckner was born on this day in 1824. Nine years older than Brahms,
another great symphonist, today his music sounds more daring. Bruckner had many supporters and several powerful detractors, the most influential being Eduard Hanslick, the Viennese music critic who wrote devastating reviews. Here’s one quote from his article about Bruckner’s Third Symphony: "Neither were his [Bruckner's] poetic intentions clear to us – perhaps a vision of how Beethoven's Ninth made friends with Wagner's Valkyries and ended up under horse’s hooves – nor could we grasp the purely musical coherence." These reviews were especially painful to Bruickner as he was an unusually insecure composer. All of Bruckner’s symphonies are large in scale, and so are the three masses (Bruckner was a deeply religious person and church music played a very important part in his compositional output). His motets, though, are much smaller and are a better fit for this post. Here’s one, Os Justi Meditabitur (The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom). The Monteverdi Choir is conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
Darius Milhaud, a member of Les Six, was also born on this day, in 1892 in Aix-en-Provence into a Jewish family. He traveled extensively, absorbing influences from other cultures. In 1917, he went to Brazil and found inspiration in the local folk music and traditions of the Carnaval. In 1922, he traveled to the United States where for the first time he encountered authentic jazz, which made a huge impression on him. In 1940, after the Germans occupied part of France, Milhaud fled to the US. There he found a position at Mills College in Oakland, CA. One of his favorite students was Dave Brubeck. Here is Milhaud’s whimsical Ballade for Piano and Orchestra, op.61. Vlastimil Lejsek is on the Piano. Brno Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Jiří Waldhans.
Johann Christian Bach, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Amy Beach and John Cage were all born this week. We’ll be less perfunctory the next time.