Schreker - Nachtstück from Der ferne Klang

I've been working through a large collection of classical music CDs I was given a couple of summers ago, but only started deeply exploring lately.

Last week, I first listened to selected works of Franz Schreker, an Austrian composer best known for his operatic works. Der ferne Klang (Ger: 'The Distant Sound) is an opera he began drafting in 1901 and completed the libretto for in 1903. He reportedly abandoned the project for several years before finishing the orchestral score six years later in 1910 due to criticism from his composition instructor [1].

In general, I don't really like listening to opera — though I know this closes off a truckload of writing from the pre-Classical era and so many Baroque, Classical, and Romantic works(!) — but this orchestral-only setting of the Nachtstück (Ger: 'Night Song') from Der ferne Klang is breathtaking.

Since the score for this piece is so much longer than the other pieces I have analyzed, and leaves out the vocal parts from the original opera, I'll leave the scorereading from the score to you. The score for the Nachtstück starts at Ein wenig langsamer on page 33 of the Act III full score (1912 Universal Edition [Plate U.E. 3097], Vienna) and page 243 of the complete (condensed) vocal score (2004 Universal Edition [Plate U.E. 32926], Vienna) from IMSLP.org.

In both versions of the score, the music stops following the recorded piece a few times. The parts of the recording that are captured in the score are as follows (with score rehearsal numbers in boldface):

Beginning (five bars before 26) up to 44 (0:00-10:00)
Rejoins at 44 and leaves just before 48 (12:57-15:15)

Hope you enjoy listening to this piece and leave your thoughts below!

[1] Wikipedia - Der ferne Klang

Bozza - Suite Breve en Trio

Today, I'm just going to share the Suite Breve en Trio, a piece for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. French composer Eugène Bozza remains one of the most prolific composers of wind chamber music, and I hope to explore his Aria (for clarinet [or alto saxophone] and piano).

Here's a brief description of each of the movements of the Suite Breve en Trio:

I. Allegro moderato - A beautiful lyrical opening centering around a pentatonic theme, though rapidly changing tonality and chromaticism transforms the simple opening motif into a seed for many ideas. The expressive playing, right from the start, got me interested in the suite.
II. Allegro vivo - A whimsical scherzo with a lilting rhythm that gives the movement a lopsided feeling. Chromaticism, grace notes, and sharp articulations characterize this movement. I really like the performers' cohesive phrasing in this movement.
III. Adagio espressivo - A lovely slow movement that feels somewhat like a modern 'sarabande.' The contrast between wide intervals in some melodic figures and the scalar features of some others, and the frequent rhythmic interlacing of musical lines, make this movement's melodies particularly (and its suspended ending) appealing.
IV. Final - Allegro vivo - With its syncopated figures and bright mood, the finale is a buoyant dance (perhaps a 'rigaudon'). Frequent parallel chord motion and crisply articulated melodies, along with unexpected harmonic and rhythmic turns, make a vibrant conclusion to the suite.

Hope you enjoy this piece! Leave your thoughts below!

Carter, Elliot - Variations for Orchestra

Listening to some more newly acquired CDs, I heard American composer Elliott Carter's Variations for Orchestra for the first time yesterday. What an amazing piece! Although it's really hard for me to pick out all of the themes in each variation (especially since I don't have access to the sheet music), I'm really excited to continue listening to this piece and provide a more in-depth look at the music.

For now, I've reproduced Elliott Carter's program notes about the piece here from his website:

My Variations for Orchestra was written for the Louisville Orchestra during 1955 from sketches made in 1953 and 1954. The project of writing such a work had interested me for some time as I was eager to put into concrete musical terms a number of ideas I had about this old form. Traditionally, of course, this type of composition is based on one pattern of materia, a theme or a succession of harmonies out of which are built many short contrasting pieces or sections of music. The theme and each little section form musical vignettes usually presenting one single, unchanging mood or character and often only one musical idea or technique. Viewed as a series of separate pieces of sharply defined character, a set of musical variations resembles certain old literary works such as the collection of brief, trenchant delineations of Ethical Characters by Theophrastus, held together by one common idea or purpose. Such a set implicitly gives expression to the classical attitude toward the problem of “unity in diversity.”

In this work I was interested in adopting a more dynamic and changeable approach. The general characteristics of the form are maintained– one pattern of material out of which a diversity of characters come– but the principle of variation is often applied even within the scope of each short piece. In some, great changes of character and theme occur; in others, contrasting themes and characters answer each other back and forth or are heard simultaneously. By these and other devices, I have tried to give musical expression to experiences anyone living today must have when confronted by so many remarkable examples of unexpected types of changes and relationships of character uncovered in the human sphere by psychologists and novelists, in the life cycle of insects and certain marine animals by biologists, indeed in every domain of science and art. Thus the old notion of unity in diversity presents itself to us in an entirely different guise than it did to people living even a short while ago.

Musically, the work is based on three ideas. The first two, rilornelli, are repeated literally here and there throughout the work in various transpositions of pitch and speed, while the third is a theme that undergoes many transformations. Of the ritornelli, the first, rising rapidly shortly after the opening, becomes progressively slower at each restatement (Variations I, III, VIII, and the Finale). The material of the main theme is used in many different ways and its characteristic motive is frequently referred to. The large plan consists in a presentation of degrees of contrast of character and their gradual neutralization during the first four variations. In the Fifth Variation, contrast is reduced to a minimum, and from there on there is increasing definition and conflict of character until in the Finale, the restatement of the notes of the theme by the trombones re-establishes unity.

Each variation has its own shape, since shape, too, as a mode of musical behavior, helps to define character. For instance, the First Variation and the Finale are both rapid dialogues of many contrasting motives in contrasting rhythms. The Second Variation presents contrast of character by quoting the theme almost literally and confronting it with its own variants derived alternately by intervalic expansion and intervalic diminution. The Third contrasts textures of dense harmony and expressive lines with transparent fragmentary motives. The Fourth Variation is a continual ritard, and the Sixth an accelerating series of imitations. The Fifth obliterates contrast in a succession of chords using the notes of the theme. The Seventh is an antiphonal variation presenting three different ideas played in succession by the strings, brass and woodwinds, and representing cession three different rhythmic planes. The line the woodwinds play in Variation VII is continued and developed in Variation VIII while ideas of a much lighter musical nature are presented against it. The same idea is carried over into Variation IX, where it is rejoined by the other two ideas from Variation VII, now played simultaneously. The Finale is a rapid interplay of different characters, finally called to order by the trombones, who restate the notes of the first half of the theme while the strings softly play those of the second half.

The orchestration in detail and the orchestral style of the whole was conceived taking into account the exact size of the Louisville Orchestra with its limited string group, though of course the work can be played by a symphony orchestra of the customary size. The following are called for: 2 each of flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), oboes, clarinets, bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion (2 players), harp (2 harps ad lib.), 9 first violins, 6 second violins, 6 violas, 4 cellos and 4 basses.

Hope you enjoy this piece! Share this post if you did and leave your thoughts in the comments!

Ešenvalds - Stars

Writing to share this short gem of choral music by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds entitled Stars. I believe I first listened to this piece sophomore or junior year of high school.

One of the defining features of this piece is the choice instrumentation, which I quite enjoy listening to. The piece opens with the sound of water-tuned glasses and ends with Tibetan singing bowls joining the choir. The high-pitched ring and unique timbre of these instruments really complements the texture of the choir.

The performance above features the choral group Voces8 with SSAATTBB (two per part for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass); the crystalline transparency of their performance is awesome. I hope you enjoy listening!

Stars (lyrics)

Alone in the night
On a dark hill
With pines around me
Spicy and still

And a heaven full of stars
Over my head
White and topaz
And misty red;

Myriads with beating
Hearts of fire
The aeons
Cannot vex or tire;

Up the dome of heaven
Like a great hill
I watch them marching
Stately and still

And I know that I
Am honored to be
Witness
Of so much majesty

Share your thoughts below and share this post as well if you enjoyed it!

Jenkins - Concerto grosso for strings 'Palladio' - I. Allegretto

The first movement, I. Allegretto, of Karl Jenkins's Concerto grosso for strings 'Palladio' is perhaps one of the most well-known pieces of modern classical music (imitating the Classical Period). Jenkins himself wrote a program note (1996), which I will quote from Boosey and Hawkes's website:

Palladio was inspired by the sixteenth-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, whose work embodies the Renaissance celebration of harmony and order. Two of Palladio's hallmarks are mathematical harmony and architectural elements borrowed from classical antiquity, a philosophy which I feel reflects my own approach to composition. The first movement I adapted and used for the 'Shadows' A Diamond is Forever television commercial for a worldwide campaign. The middle movement I have since rearranged for two female voices and string orchestra, as heard in Cantus Insolitus from my work Songs of Sanctuary.

Hope you enjoy this piece! Share this post and comment below!

Brahms - Serenade No.1, Op.11 - V. Scherzo II

Once again discussing my favorite composer, Johannes Brahms, I'm sharing this quick post about Brahms's Serenade No.1, Op.11, V. Scherzo II.

Brahms actually hesitated to write a symphony after becoming an overnight sensation due to a glowing testimonial by fellow composer and mentor Robert Schumann. Brahms felt that any symphony he wrote would be overshadowed by the legacy of Beethoven. However, in writing such works as his two Serenades (Opp.11 and 16), a piano concerto (Op.15), and others, he was able to get practice writing for larger ensembles without having to live up to his extraordinarily high standard for a symphony.

Brahms worked on his first symphony for a whopping fourteen years from 1862 to 1876. When it was finally performed in November 1876, it was a spectacular success and Brahms's first symphony was dubbed "Beethoven's Tenth" and he then reached the public eye as a true master of conservative Romantic composition.

The Serenades provide an interesting look into Brahms's developing voice as an orchestral composer. His harmonic language is far less diverse in the Op.11 than even in the chamber music and grandiose piano concerto that followed it. However, his compositional skill is exemplified in his gift for melody and his ability to handle any motif freely; these skills are apparent even in these early works.

I hope you enjoy the second Scherzo, as well as the rest of the Serenade! Share this post if you enjoyed it and leave your thoughts below!

Adams - Shaker Loops

I first listened to American composer John Adams's Shaker Loops while cleaning up my room in July. I was immediately struck by the beauty of the minimalism that Adams writes with, while also being so compelled by the energy of the first movement to listen to the rest. I don't seek out strings-only music (as I am more interested in Romantic era music for full orchestra), but this is truly captivating music.

The work was originally written for string septet and had an unspecified number of repeats for each of the "modules," giving this music somewhat of a chance (as in "chance music") or aleatoric component to it. It was later recast for string orchestra and the number of repeats specified, though Adams himself has expressed that he prefers the original version for string septet.

Rather than plagiarizing an entire history of the work, I'll link to Earbox where the composer has written his own program notes and provided context for the inception and development of the work. Since the composer has said he prefers the modular version, I've linked to a recording of that version below. The movements are performed without pauses, so there is a little bit of spillover.

Shaker Loops
I. Shaking and Trembling
II. Hymning Slews
III. Loops and Verses
IV. A Final Shaking

One thing that always strikes me about minimalism is how so much music can come from very limited musical ideas (melody, harmony, texture, etc., or any combination of the above can be stripped from the music). You could realistically argue that not a single movement of Shaker Loops has a recognizable or distinguishable melody, and yet overarching musical gestures create a sense of musical direction that is really difficult to achieve if the music is dragging on a single melody.

I'm also amazed at the variety of textures that Adams conjures up from just a string septet. From listening to Finzi's Clarinet Concerto, Op.31, I realized the power and the range of expression that a string orchestra can have. However, Adams' use of artificial harmonics, tremolo (both repeating and alternating), and other textures adds a whole new dimension to the textural capacity of both a chamber group of strings and to a string orchestra.

My personal favorite is the first movement, but the fourth movement is a very close second, especially with the modular version I linked above. The long rhythmic compression by accelerando that takes place from 23:22 to 24:07 in the third movement is hair-raising (especially when the rhythmic subdivision in the low strings drops out suddenly). One particular note I have in the fourth movement is the ridiculous harmonic shift from B major to C major at 30:36 (start at 30:30), which gives me chills, too.

Let me know what you think of these pieces in the comments below and share this post if you enjoyed it!