What We’re Listening To. Vol.11 – November 2020

Music in the time of COVID part 6

These sunny works will brighten your day as we face the dark winter with COVID. Both works are among the finest examples of Dvorak’s Czech folk song inspired Slavonic style.

The Serenade for String was written when he was 33. It is one of the first works Dvorak wrote that has entered the repertoire. Symphony #5, which is an excellent, but seldom played work followed. He needed only two weeks to write the work. The serenade form is less structured than a symphony. The string serenade is in five movements. The first four are in the ABA song form. The lyrical first movement is followed by a minuet. The third movement is a lively Scherzo influenced by styles found in Bohemian folk music. The Larghetto 4th movement presents a slow lyrical theme that could only be Dvorak with a faster central section. The 5th movement is more complex than the others using the Sonata form typically found in the first movement of a symphony but you do not need to follow the structure to enjoy this lively last movement.

The wind serenade of 1878 was inspired by a performance of the wind Mozart’s Serenade in B flat major “Gran Partita” for 12 wind instruments and double bass. The Gran Partita also inspired Brahms and Richard Strauss to write wind serenades. The Gran Partita uses two Basset horns which are large clarinets that went extinct and later composers had to modify the scoring. Dvorak used 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon, 3 horns, 1 cello, and 1 double bass. Like the Mozart, it has no flutes.

Other than the overall sound world, the Dvorak shares little structural relationship with the Mozart. It is easy to hear that the work was closely followed by the first set of Slavonic Dances. It is in four movements. The works step off in a march. The second movement is a minuet based on a Czech folk dance “sousedska” and a “furiant” as the central “Trio”.

The slow third movement does take some inspiration from the slow Mozart Gran Partita which was made famous in the film Amadeus. The lively final movement is in rondo form with four sections.

Josef Suk was one of the most important composition students of Dvorak. He got to know Dvorak’s daughter at the time and married her. Suk is a major yet virtually unknown composer of which I will have more to say in future months. Meditation on an Old Czech Hymn “St. Wenceslas” for string orchestra is a work of haunting beauty. It was written in 1914 at the outbreak of World War 1. It captures the world we live in with the virus. At the end of the war, he added two additional movements (not on this CD) with the third titled “Towards a New Life” five years later. I hope we get to a post-COVID world in less time than that.

Suk also wrote an early Serenade for Strings which is obviously influenced by his father-in-law’s work but is also a strong work on its own. Suk is a composer you must get to know and the single movement on this CD will make you want to know more.

Finding a good recording of the pair of Dvorak Serenades on one CD, made in this century, with good digital sound, is not easy. So many great performances were recorded in the analog era. The Prague Philharmonia is the highlight of this CD. The musicians convey a love for the music and they play with world-class authority. The Czech conductor Hursa, now 39, is a significant interpreter of Czech music. He was very young in 2008 when he did this recording. He brings some interesting interpretive ideas but can overstep the line in this recording. For example, a strange slowing of the pace in the last movement of the String Serenade as it moves to recall the theme of the opening theme that I am not in love with.

This recording was made when Hursa first became music director of the Prague Philharmonia which he stayed with until 2015. I expect he will do it again with even more insights. His Prague Philharmonia recording of Smetana’s Ma Vlast was good but the one just released with his current orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony shows significant interpretive growth.

The 1982 Neville Marriner recording with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields of the Dvorak serenades has been considered an ideal interpretation of the works. One would expect this recording would have been in the catalogs forever but it has been discontinued. They made enough of them that it is still available on Amazon new, from 3rd party sellers, but prices are not cheap. Used prices are OK but not as low as I would expect for such a widely circulated CD. Presto Music again saves the day with a lossless download at $13.00 but you get no PDF booklet with this download. If you are OK with just downloads I would go with the Mariner over the Hrusa. Also at Presto is a download of a great performance of the Wind Serenade with Istvan Kertesz and the London Symphony.

Written in 1935, it was Berg’s last published work, created on commission from Ukrainian violinist Louis Krasner. Krasner was a champion of atonal and 12-tone music and also premiered Arnold Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto. So why have I focused on this work? For one, I had the privilege of performing the first bassoon part during my time at the New England Conservatory in the 80s. I also had the privilege of playing in a woodwind quintet that was coached by Louis Krasner. He was a 1922 graduate of NEC and a member of the faculty until his passing in 1995. Rather than expound on his teaching and virtues, I’ll just say he was a force of nature and to work under him was to be in the presence of a monumental artist.

My reference recording for the Berg Violin Concerto is Anne-Sophie Mutter’s exquisite performance with the Chicago Symphony conducted by James Levine. This is the 12-tone form at its most beautiful. Though considered atonal, there is melody and harmony throughout, not the least of which is a Bach chorale that occurs near the end of the second movement.

The solo violin part is extremely difficult, but Mutter makes it sound easy, which is the mark of a truly gifted and skilled musician. The orchestra provides a perfectly balanced accompaniment with all the fragility and nuance Berg intended. I can say from experience that everyone on that stage is working at full capacity. The piece is quite hard to put together.

Recorded in 1992, Deutsche Grammophon’s CD release first came out in 2006. The original master is digitally captured with all the detail and depth of a modern production. It’s amazing to compare this Chicago Symphony with the one playing my favorite Beethoven and Brahms symphony cycles from around 20 years earlier. Most of the orchestra’s personnel are the same but the recording quality is light years better. Played through a decent system, you’ll delight in its subtleties and its expansive crescendi. Brass announcements have a stunning weight that is never harsh but fills the room with sound.

If you’re looking for a crash course in 12-tone modernism, which is now almost 100 years old, Berg is the most approachable of the bunch. This CD is still available for purchase, Deutsche Grammophon – D101442. Highly Recommended for any classical music lover.

It’s like hearing what the conductor hears. It seems like a gimmick, but it’s not, and if you have a nicely resolving system the effect is startling and compelling.

Much of their mixing equipment is tube-based, and I can attest to the mellow and realistic sound.

A case in point is a lovely disc of the music of Guillaume Bouzignac (1587-1643). It’s church music, and on this disc, the music is recorded in a church with a superb choir. There are different parts of the choir assigned to each surround channel, and their position varies on the different tracks depending on the music presented.

It’s an amazing experience. People who listen on my system are stunned, even those who aren’t big fans of classical or renaissance music.

The recording is just superb, and right away you feel you are in a real space with real voices. It’s totally uncanny.

I highly recommend this recording, and more aptly say it is an experience. Many of the other Tacet recordings are equally compelling.

If your surround system has been lacking for a great SACD, let me strongly recommend the Motets and really anything from the Tacet catalog.

The world of Yello…

Somehow along the way, I missed the Europop dance music group, Yello. They’re generally considered a “one-hit-wonder” in the USA after their dance-hit “Oh-Yeah.” But I ran into a friend who introduced me to their work, and, never having been one to do things halfway, I promptly acquired the following Yello CDs:

So what’s to like and dislike about Yello? I had originally hoped that I’d stumbled over “the next Kraftwerk,” but alas, it was not to be. The majority of Yello music is simple and dance-themed and lacks the thematic content and musical artistry that so strongly characterizes the Kraftwerk catalog.

But falling into the category of “unintended consequences of ill-advised actions,” I find that my wife is becoming a Yello fan. So the additional library purchases were not altogether in vain. So if you want some euro-dance-themed electronica, then Yello may be for YOU!