This Week in Classical Music: April 20, 2020.Maderna and more. Tomorrow, on April 21st we’ll celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Italian composer Bruno Maderna.Maderna, one of the most important avant-garde composers of the 20th century, was born in Venice.A child prodigy, he played the violin and, at the age of 12 conducted the orchestra of La Scala.He was noticed and celebrated by Mussolini’s cultural authorities.In 1941-42 Maderna studied with the eminent composer Gian Francesco Malipiero.Later he studied conducting with Hermann Scherchen, an influential interpreter of the music of Mahler (later in his life Maderna also became a very successful interpreter of Mahler’s music.At the end of the 1940s Maderna got involved with a group of musicians at Darmstadt, among whom were the young Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen, John Cage, Luigi Nono and Karlheinz Stockhausen.Another young Italian composer associated with Maderna was Luciano Berio, with whom he established Studio di fonologia musicale di Radio Milano, which facilitated their research into electonic music.In the 1960s and ‘70s Maderna spent a lot of time in the US, performing with contemporary ensembles but also conducting at established venues like Tanglewood, where he was appointed director of new music and working with major orchestras in New York, Boston and Chicago.Maderna died in Darmstadt on November 13th of 1973 of cancer.Maderna’s music was highly influential, though, like the music of his Darmstadt colleagues, not easy on the first hearing.His output was broad: he composed many symphonic pieces, chamber music and several concertos for different instruments, from the piano to the oboe.Here’s his rather short (less than 12 minutes) concerto for two pianos from the early period: it was written in 1948.It’s performed by the Italian pianists Aldo Orvieto and Fausto Bongelli, with the ensemble “Orchestra Della Fondazione Arena Di Verona,” Carlo Miotto conducting.
One of the greatest composers of the first half of the 20th century, Sergei Prokofiev was born on April 23 of 1891, though not all sources agree on the date: the English-language Wikipedia says it’s April 27th.Prokofiev himself celebrated his birthday on the 23rd and that’s the date we use.Next year is his 130th anniversary, and we will dedicate a full entry to him.
Yehudi Menuhin, one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, was born in New York on April 22nd of 1916.Here’s what we wrote about him last year.
And finally, the British conductor John Eliot Gardiner, a brilliant interpreter of the music of Bach, was born on this day in 1943.We have several samples of his work in our library, mostly Bach’s oratorios.In 2000 Gardiner, together with his ensembles, English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir, set out on what Gardiner called his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage.For a full year they traveled around Europe and the US performing all Bach’s oratorios: a triumphm, both musically and logistically.
Bruno Maderna 100
This Week in Classical Music: April 20, 2020. Maderna and more. Tomorrow, on April 21st we’ll celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Italian composer Bruno Maderna.
Maderna, one of the most important avant-garde composers of the 20th century, was born in Venice. A child prodigy, he played the violin and, at the age of 12 conducted the orchestra of La Scala. He was noticed and celebrated by Mussolini’s cultural authorities. In 1941-42 Maderna studied with the eminent composer Gian Francesco Malipiero. Later he studied conducting with Hermann Scherchen, an influential interpreter of the music of Mahler (later in his life Maderna also became a very successful interpreter of Mahler’s music. At the end of the 1940s Maderna got involved with a group of musicians at Darmstadt, among whom were the young Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen, John Cage, Luigi Nono and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Another young Italian composer associated with Maderna was Luciano Berio, with whom he established Studio di fonologia musicale di Radio Milano, which facilitated their research into electonic music. In the 1960s and ‘70s Maderna spent a lot of time in the US, performing with contemporary ensembles but also conducting at established venues like Tanglewood, where he was appointed director of new music and working with major orchestras in New York, Boston and Chicago. Maderna died in Darmstadt on November 13th of 1973 of cancer. Maderna’s music was highly influential, though, like the music of his Darmstadt colleagues, not easy on the first hearing. His output was broad: he composed many symphonic pieces, chamber music and several concertos for different instruments, from the piano to the oboe. Here’s his rather short (less than 12 minutes) concerto for two pianos from the early period: it was written in 1948. It’s performed by the Italian pianists Aldo Orvieto and Fausto Bongelli, with the ensemble “Orchestra Della Fondazione Arena Di Verona,” Carlo Miotto conducting.
One of the greatest composers of the first half of the 20th century, Sergei Prokofiev was born on April 23 of 1891, though not all sources agree on the date: the English-language Wikipedia says it’s April 27th. Prokofiev himself celebrated his birthday on the 23rd and that’s the date we use. Next year is his 130th anniversary, and we will dedicate a full entry to him.
Yehudi Menuhin, one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, was born in New York on April 22nd of 1916. Here’s what we wrote about him last year.
And finally, the British conductor John Eliot Gardiner, a brilliant interpreter of the music of Bach, was born on this day in 1943. We have several samples of his work in our library, mostly Bach’s oratorios. In 2000 Gardiner, together with his ensembles, English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir, set out on what Gardiner called his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. For a full year they traveled around Europe and the US performing all Bach’s oratorios: a triumphm, both musically and logistically.