October 22, 2018.Liszt, Berio, Bizet, Paganini, Scarlatti.What a wonderful group!All born this week – that’s why they appear together in this entry – but how different, as if to demonstrate to us, yet again, the enormous breadth of the European musical tradition.Here we have Domenico Scarlatti, a great representative of the Baroque clavichord tradition; Niccolò Paganini, a famous violinist and gifted composer, Franz Liszt, a Romantic composer and legendary pianist: he wrote some of the most exquisite music for the piano (a successor to the harpsichord, Scarlatti’s instrument); Georges Bizet, the French opera composer (Scarlatti’s father, Alessandro, who also wrote operas, wouldn’t have recognized the genre); and finally, Luciano Berio, another Italian, and one of the most interesting composers of the second half of the 20th century.We’ve written about all of them before, so we’ll present each of them with a piece of music.
Domenico Scarlatti was born on October 26th of 1685, a prodigious year that also gave us Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel.Scarlatti wrote 555 keyboard sonatas.Here’s one of them Sonata in B minor, K. 27, L. 449, performed by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
While Scarlatti composed mostly for the harpsichord, Niccolò Paganini (born on October 27th of 1782) wrote much of his music for his favorite instrument, the violin.Here’s the devilishly difficult Caprice No. 3 in octave double stops.It’s performed by Augustin Hadelich, a young Italian violinist of German descent, who won a Grammy in 2016.
Franz Liszt, born on October 22nd of 1811, was for the piano what Paganini was for the violin, and more (he really was a much better composer).In 1838, Liszt wrote Grandes études de Paganini, S.140, a set of six etudes after Paganini’s works; five of the etudes are based on Paganini’s Caprises and one, on the themes from his violin concertos.In 1851 Liszt published a revised version, S. 141, which was, while still formidable, not as demanding technically as the almost unplayable original version.The second one is the version that’s usually played in concerts, but Nikolai Petrov, a wonderful Soviet pianist, made a live recording of the first version.Here’s La Chasse,Étude No. 5 in E major.
Georges Bizet was born on October 25th of 1838.He lived just 37 years and didn’t even witness the success of his major opera, Carmen: Bizet died after the first 33 Paris performances, where the public was more scandalized than amused, while the real triumph was achieved when, within the next several years, Carmen went international.Here’s one of the best Carmens of the 20th century, Elena Obraztsova, in the famous Habanera.The Philharmonia Orchestra is conducted by Giuseppe Patané.
Luciano Berio, the youngest of the group by almost a century, was born on October 24th of 1925.Here’s his 1975 composition called Chemins IV, scored for the oboe and 13 string instruments.It’s based on Berio’s earlier 1969 composition, Sequenza VII.Chemins is performed by Heinz Holliger, oboe, and The London Sinfonietta directed by the composer himself.
Liszt, Berio, Bizet, Paganini, Scarlatti, 2018
October 22, 2018. Liszt, Berio, Bizet, Paganini, Scarlatti. What a wonderful group! All born this week – that’s why they appear together in this entry – but how different, as if to demonstrate
to us, yet again, the enormous breadth of the European musical tradition. Here we have Domenico Scarlatti, a great representative of the Baroque clavichord tradition; Niccolò Paganini, a famous violinist and gifted composer, Franz Liszt, a Romantic composer and legendary pianist: he wrote some of the most exquisite music for the piano (a successor to the harpsichord, Scarlatti’s instrument); Georges Bizet, the French opera composer (Scarlatti’s father, Alessandro, who also wrote operas, wouldn’t have recognized the genre); and finally, Luciano Berio, another Italian, and one of the most interesting composers of the second half of the 20th century. We’ve written about all of them before, so we’ll present each of them with a piece of music.
Domenico Scarlatti was born on October 26th of 1685, a prodigious year that also gave us Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Scarlatti wrote 555 keyboard sonatas. Here’s one of them Sonata in B minor, K. 27, L. 449, performed by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
While Scarlatti composed mostly for the harpsichord, Niccolò Paganini (born on October 27th of 1782) wrote much of his music for his favorite instrument, the violin. Here’s the devilishly difficult Caprice No. 3 in octave double stops. It’s performed by Augustin Hadelich, a young Italian violinist of German descent, who won a Grammy in 2016.
Franz Liszt, born on October 22nd of 1811, was for the piano what Paganini was for the violin, and more (he really was a much better composer). In 1838, Liszt wrote Grandes études de Paganini, S.140, a set of six etudes after Paganini’s works; five of the etudes are based on Paganini’s Caprises and one, on the themes from his violin concertos. In 1851 Liszt published a revised version, S. 141, which was, while still formidable, not as demanding technically as the almost unplayable original version. The second one is the version that’s usually played in concerts, but Nikolai Petrov, a wonderful Soviet pianist, made a live recording of the first version. Here’s La Chasse,Étude No. 5 in E major.
Georges Bizet was born on October 25th of 1838. He lived just 37 years and didn’t even witness the success of his major opera, Carmen: Bizet died after the first 33 Paris performances, where the public was more scandalized than amused, while the real triumph was achieved when, within the next several years, Carmen went international. Here’s one of the best Carmens of the 20th century, Elena Obraztsova, in the famous Habanera. The Philharmonia Orchestra is conducted by Giuseppe Patané.
Luciano Berio, the youngest of the group by almost a century, was born on October 24th of 1925. Here’s his 1975 composition called Chemins IV, scored for the oboe and 13 string instruments. It’s based on Berio’s earlier 1969 composition, Sequenza VII. Chemins is performed by Heinz Holliger, oboe, and The London Sinfonietta directed by the composer himself.