June 24, 2019.Two Italians, Marcello and Abbado.Benedetto Marcello was born in Venice, on June 24th (but maybe onJuly 24th, or, according to other sources, on July 31st or August 1stof 1686) in Venice.Born into a noble family, he was the younger brother of Alessandro Marcello, also a composer (read more here about the brothers).Benedetto occupied major administrative positions within the Venetian bureaucracy and wasn’t considered a professional composer; he was casual in numbering and dating his compositions, so often the dates may be derived only circumstantially.Marcello wrote a considerable number of sacred works, including nine masses (one of them a Funeral mass, or Requiem).He also wrote what he called “parafrasi” (paraphrases) on 25 psalms, published around 1724-1726 under the heading of L’Estro poetico-armonico, or Poetic and harmonic inspirations.Here is Psalm X, in the performance by the ensemble Cantus Cölln, Konrad Junghänel conducting.It’s a delightful example of late Italian baroque.
Claudio Abbado would’ve been 86 this Wednesday: he was born in Milan on June 26th of 1933.We celebrated him last year with the first movement of Mahler’s Symphony no. 4.Abbado was indeed a superb Mahlerian (he recorded his symphonies several times),but his repertory was vast (in 2013 Deutsche Grammophon released their Claudio Abbado: The Symphony Edition, which consisted of 41 CDs) and there were very few things that he hadn’t done at the highest level.Here, for example, Mozart’s Symphony no. 35 (“Haffner”), recorded in 2008.Abbado said about Mozart that he had only approached him “cautiously, once in a while,” but his interpretation of the symphony is brilliant.In this recording Abbado conducts Orchestra Mozart, Bologna, which he helped to found in 2004; that was after he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and had to leave the Berlin Philharmonic.Abbado served as the artistic director of the orchestra for many years.This is a live recording made in 2008.
Marcello and Abbado, 2019
June 24, 2019. Two Italians, Marcello and Abbado. Benedetto Marcello was born in Venice, on June 24th (but maybe onJuly 24th, or, according to other sources, on July 31st or August 1st of
1686) in Venice. Born into a noble family, he was the younger brother of Alessandro Marcello, also a composer (read more here about the brothers). Benedetto occupied major administrative positions within the Venetian bureaucracy and wasn’t considered a professional composer; he was casual in numbering and dating his compositions, so often the dates may be derived only circumstantially. Marcello wrote a considerable number of sacred works, including nine masses (one of them a Funeral mass, or Requiem). He also wrote what he called “parafrasi” (paraphrases) on 25 psalms, published around 1724-1726 under the heading of L’Estro poetico-armonico, or Poetic and harmonic inspirations. Here is Psalm X, in the performance by the ensemble Cantus Cölln, Konrad Junghänel conducting. It’s a delightful example of late Italian baroque.
Claudio Abbado would’ve been 86 this Wednesday: he was born in Milan on June 26th of 1933.
We celebrated him last year with the first movement of Mahler’s Symphony no. 4. Abbado was indeed a superb Mahlerian (he recorded his symphonies several times), but his repertory was vast (in 2013 Deutsche Grammophon released their Claudio Abbado: The Symphony Edition, which consisted of 41 CDs) and there were very few things that he hadn’t done at the highest level. Here, for example, Mozart’s Symphony no. 35 (“Haffner”), recorded in 2008. Abbado said about Mozart that he had only approached him “cautiously, once in a while,” but his interpretation of the symphony is brilliant. In this recording Abbado conducts Orchestra Mozart, Bologna, which he helped to found in 2004; that was after he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and had to leave the Berlin Philharmonic. Abbado served as the artistic director of the orchestra for many years. This is a live recording made in 2008.