Next Steps in getting into Classical CDs

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Last week, I sent you off to get yourself a CD or two, to listen to it, and see whether you liked what you heard. Most lovers of classical music --even if they're generally happy to hear classical music of any flavor-- do have their particular favorite kinds. Here are my thoughts about each piece (or work) that I suggested in the previous post, just to give you a (possible) idea why you did or did not like the work, and to supply connections to others. I'm going on the initial assumption that you would probably like pieces with similar attributes, but of course you might like something completely different a lot better! Anyway, for what it's worth:

Chamber Music

I sent you off looking for Mozart's Clarinet Quintet. This is a piece I really like, and I know I'm not alone. The second movement, particularly, is just gorgeous: tender, contemplative, melodious, delicate. In contrast, the Rondo movement, with its main Minuet-like theme, is witty and jolly, though it stays within the more or less dignified mood that Minuets are generally associated with. (One episode is very much like a Laendler, the dance featured in the Sound of Music, in which Julie Andrews begins dancing with one of the boys, and ends up dancing with the Baron himself.) Mozart also wrote several wonderful string quartets, including this String Quartet in G major.

My favorite composer is Bach, and I encourage you to try listening to some Bach chamber music.
Here is a sonata for violin and harpsichord (being played by a recorder and harpsichord instead);
Here is a trio sonata from The Musical Offering, one of the most beautiful movements in that collection; another movement, played by the Kuijken family (notice the viola da gamba, which looks rather like a cello with way too many strings). This is Baroque music. The word Baroque is used to describe a highly ornate style developed around the sixteen hundreds, extending to around 1750. This period is sufficiently removed from the present for the music to sound "dated", which is something to recommend it to some tastes, and a setback to other tastes.

Haydn developed the String Quartet, a sort of very austere sonata for the four very closely-related instruments of two violins, a viola and a cello. Here is one of them (nicknamed "The Lark"). The plinking sound in some places is gotten by using a technique called pizzicato, where the strings are plucked instead of bowed.

Brahms wrote several amazing sextets (6 instruments). Mendelssohn wrote some gorgeous music for strings. His Octet for Strings is one of the miracles of the modern world. Another genre is the Piano Trio (Piano+violin+cello). A famous work in that genre is the Archduke Trio of Beethoven.

Concertos

The J. S. Bach Concertos: 1041, 1042, 1043. It's hardly possible to dislike these. Here is Anne Sofie Mutter playing the last movement of the 1041. The rhythm is a gigue (or jig), and boy, does she play it fast. Who said Bach can't be exciting?

The Triple Concerto, 1044 has a wonderfully philosophical middle movement, played by the soloists alone (sometimes with a cello backing the bass line). Triple concertos have a wonderfully different feeling to them, because the soloists form a team, and the success of the concerto depends as much on the feeling among the soloists as it does on their virtuosity.

[Added later:
Georg Friderik Händel, a German from Halle who settled in England, has written not only some of the most listenable and famous music played today. His more serious music is in the genre of Opera, which he loved. His lighter works, however, have immediate as well as lasting appeal. This piece is one of my greatest favorites: the Alla Hornpipe from one of the Watermusic Suites. (This music always reminds me of a royal wedding; it is so grand and festive!) Handel's work is utterly musical, even if a little on the solid, foursquare side, far less complex, and a little more forward-looking that that of Bach, tending towards the so-called galant style that was coming into fashion in the middle years of the 18th century. Even if I neglected to mention Handel in the first post in this series, he is by no means a mere footnote in the panoply of the music of the last four centuries. For example, look at his concerto for organ.]

Mozart: The 5 violin concertos. These are lighthearted, melodious confections that are immediately attractive to the beginning listener, but lack the depth that will keep one coming back to them. The A major (no. 5) is one of the most memorable. If you're destined to be a Mozart lover, though, these will signal that fact. The grace of Mozart's string writing is indescribable. This is Monica Huggett, one of the most respected violinist of the last few decades. Here is the first movement from Concerto No. 1 in B Flat major, being played by an all-women orchestra, except for the director and soloist! (Why not a female soloist, too?)

[Added later: One of the most beloved pieces by Mozart is the famous Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola. This is an utterly romantic piece which is a nice combination of brilliance and musicality.]

The Piano concertos are entirely another matter. They are serious works, with more to say than the violin concertos, and were intended as vehicles for Mozart himself. Here's Keith Jarrett playing the first movement of the K488 (no. 23 in A major). Another clip features Zoltan Koscis, playing the concerto while also playing along in continuo style, something that is coming back in fashion for Mozart concertos. The last movement is fast and exciting, and one of my favorites.

Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, K 622 is a universal favorite. Here we hear a performance of the slow movement, evoking great tranquility and almost otherworldly stillness. (The slow movement of the Quintet also has a similar feeling in many spots, though the more intimate writing makes the effect more romantic.)

Beethoven: Here's Concerto no. 4. As you can see, the piano itself plays the opening notes, an enormous innovation. (In Concerto no. 3, you see how the piano stays silent until almost the middle of the movement, after which it makes its entrance and dominates the remainder of the movement.) These are works with great expressiveness, even if there is a great deal of display of bravura on the part of the soloist.

The violin concerto is a favorite among violinists, for the most part. Here is Itzhak Perlman playing (most of) the first movement.

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto: this is a highly approachable concerto, and will probably make friends for violin concertos in general, and the violin as an instrument, than for Mendelssohn himself. Mendelssohn's music is gaining in importance, but is still on the fringes of the classical repertoire. (This clip is annotated, giving several items of trivia about the work, which keeps up the interest!)

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is interesting because of its uncompromising nature, the almost Beethovenesque willingness to make "ugly sounds", which one forgets in the sheer energy of the work. It is one of the most virtuosic pieces for violin and orchestra, and very, very Russian in flavor. Here is a very youthful Sarah Chang playing the first movement.

Brahms: Violin concerto, 2 piano concertos, and a double concerto for violin and 'cello. The violin concerto is on the monumental side; the first movement goes on for around 20 minutes, most of one side of an LP record. This recording is by Henryk Szeryng. Brahms, though he had his lighter moments, was a serious fellow; to this day, it is a puzzle why I, of all people find his music so satisfying. It's as if Brahms is serious enough for all us, so that we can take a break from it. The piano concerti are simply wonderful, too. (In this excerpt you see how long a shadow Beethoven cast. I would say Brahms is chaneling Beethoven here, if it weren't so impertinent.) And the double concerto is also a gem; probably more beloved by Brahms lovers than by the general classical music world.

Dvorak: here's a tantalizing clip of the Violin concerto. Dvorak inherited the marvelous repertoire of Mendelssohn and Beethoven, as well an inexhaustible fund of melody from his native land. (If we can judge from the music of Dvorak, the Czechs must be musical indeed.)

[Added later:
Schumann piano concerto: Here is the last movement being played by Hélène Grimaud. The whole concerto is filled with simple joy, in great contrast to the life of this most literary of musicians, which was plagued with acute psychological problems (which appear, from their description, as caused by a very severe bipolar disorder). A concerto with a very similar mood, often paired with this one, is that of Edvard Grieg, one of the first Norwegian composers to receive international recognition.]

To proceed:

One thing you have done, we hope, is to get a feel for a composer in the era 1700 - 1900 whose music you can relate to! (If you can't there is still a huge variety of composers you could connect with, so hold on!)

Johann Sebastian Bach: If you liked the Bach excerpts, there is good news and bad news. Bach wrote lots of concertos, about a dozen, in addition to the famous Brandenburg Concertos, a set of 6 that hearkens back to an earlier style of concerto called a Concerto Grosso written for performance in noble houses, which contrasted a small group of expert musicians with a larger group of (probably part-time) musicians who played essentially easier portions which were repetitive and less intricate. By the time Bach got his hands on this form, there were really no easy portions in the works. One of the most famous Brandenburgs is No. 5 in D major, featuring a virtuoso harpsichord part.

In spite of all this, the major portion of Bach's output was for the Church, in the form of the great Cantatas he wrote for performance at Sunday services. If you like choral music, you should begin to look at Bach's choral music, which set a standard for choral music throughout the modern era (even though Beethoven, Handel, Haydn and Mozart made very important contributions, too). Finally, Bach wrote four fabulous Suites for Orchestra which are grand and brilliant, intended to bring the grandeur of Versailles to the smaller German courts of the 18th century. It is hardly possibly to dislike these Suites, which consist of a grand opening movement, followed by a set of a half-dozen old-time dances. Here is an example.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The music of Mozart is puzzling in its mixture of simplicity and complexity. It is possible to love this music, then become bored with it, and then hear it again and fall in love with it a second time, and be completely baffled that you missed things in it all this while.

The Mozart Piano Concertos: these were written just at the time when composers were beginning to see composition as an expressive vehicle, sort of similar to writing a novel: a way of both becoming famous, leaving a legacy, and showing off one's talent. In the case of Piano concertos, the performer was usually Mozart himself (occasionally a special pupil). In his younger days, Mozart was very possibly quite satisfied to write a piece more brilliant than anything written before. As he matured, though, we see thoughts and ideas in those piano concertos approaching those that came out of Beethoven. These are difficult to put into words; they are a distillation of emotions and experiences that transcend words. Some piano concertos have a certain gravity, e.g. Concerto no. 24 in C minor, played here by Andre Previn, but not sad. In contrast, the A major, no. 23, which is so sunny for most of its length, has spots that simply seem bewilderingly grief-filled. But the grief seems to pass, as if it were simply fleetingly remembered grief.

If you like Mozart, eventually (and I mean possibly months or years in the future) you must look at his operas, most notably the Marriage of Figaro. I'm not giving you a link, simply because you must wait until you really want to move into Mozart opera. Be aware that opera fans aren't often attracted to Mozart opera, but prefer Puccini or Verdi or even Wagner. (And certainly Bizet!)

If you prefer something a little more serious, but without pianos all over the place, try the Mozart Symphonies. The last two or three are the most celebrated, including the amazing "Jupiter" (no. 41) and the well-loved g minor (no. 40). (Warning; the "Jupiter" could be seriously underwhelming at first.)

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote in most instrumental forms, but when one hears the name Beethoven, one usually thinks of his symphonies. Symphonies were invented several times over; first by J.C. Bach, then by Haydn, then by Mozart, and then by Beethoven, in such a way that all subsequent developments of the genre had to prove themselves against Beethoven's nine amazing symphonies. A good one to begin with is the famous Eroica. My personal beginnings in classical music were with the famous c minor symphony, No. 5.

Felix Mendelssohn, as I said, is highly underrated as a composer, a situation which is aggravated by his very early death, at the age of about thirty, of pneumonia, I believe. Mendelssohn wrote a vast volume of chamber works, the violin concerto, string quartets, quintets (at least one, anyway,) the octet, oratorios, incidental music for plays (especially a Midsummer Night's Dream), overtures, and symphonies. He wrote symphonies for string orchestras as a kid (around 15), and later, full orchestra symphonies, more of which are being discovered in recent times. Try his overtures (Fingal's Cave) and his Italian Symphony. All his music has a certain effervescent quality which is very addictive!

Peter IlyichTchaikovsky, of course, is famed for his ballet music. He wrote several symphonies, which are not played as frequently as are his ballets (Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker), and several piano concerti. It's easy to find clips of these on YouTube, to check whether any of them appeal to you. This clip from the sixth symphony presents a very unusual waltz-like movement in quintuple time. It's hard to believe that it could sound so utterly natural.

Johannes Brahms wrote a large volume of piano music, several symphonies, several concerti, an "inter-denominational" requiem mass (for his mother), chamber music, choral music for a girl's choir, and several other miscellaneous pieces, including works for the organ, which are considered excellent. I'd like to suggest a short work called Variations on the St Anthony Chorale, which is a suite of variations on a hymn-tune once attributed to Haydn. (This is thought to be Brahm's very first orchestral work.) Here is the famous Hungarian Dance no 5. The majority of Brahms's works, though, are quite different from this, except for a few pieces such as the finale of the violin concerto which has a Hungarian flavor.

Antonin Dvorak wrote, in addition to his concertos, several symphonies (including From the New World, inspired by the United States of America). He, too, wrote several Slavonic Dances, which are really fabulous, and some really unique chamber works, including the Bagatelles. This one features a harmonium!

[Added later:
If you liked Robert Schumann, you should definitely listen to his piano miniatures, such as Kinderschenen. He also wrote a large number of gorgeous, atmospheric Lieder (art songs). Here is Die Lotosblume sung by Dorotea Roschmann. (I wish she had given us a less dramatic reading of it; it seems to require a more lyrical interpretation...)
[Added still later:  Here is Karita Mattila of Finland singing Die Lotoblume]

Edvard Grieg, unfortunately, is not a composer I know much about. There is a celebrated orchestral suite titled Peer Gynt, who is a popular Norwegian legendary character. You should have no trouble looking up other piano music by Grieg, as well as a number of songs. I know that Solveigg's Song is a favorite of sopranos.]

Archimedes

BBC Composers of the Year for 2009

Apparently the BBC has decided to select four composers for the year 2009: Purcell, Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Handel.  

Purcell -- Henry Purcell (1659-1695) was the earliest of these composers, and the one who can be considered most British of them all. (There appears to be nothing anniversarial about his selection for the year 2009.) He is clearly one of the most brilliant composers of the time, and the British are fond of declaring that it was just bad timing that prevented Purcell from having as large an impact on western music as Bach himself. This is probably true; just as Bach did, Purcell delighted in writing beautiful dances for orchestra, (some of them featured in Jane Austen films, e.g. Pride and Prejudice), and in the pleasure of complex harmonies. Ayres for the Theatre is a collection of dance music and concert dances intended to be played between the acts of plays in London. [Here is an excerpt from the music for Abdelazer, immortalized as the theme in Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.] Just like Mozart some years later, Purcell loved the theatre, and spent so much time there that he was locked out of his house one night by his wife, and subsequently died of pneumonia (or something similar they had at that time. Pneumonia had not been yet invented. Ancient diseases, as you know, dear reader, were not as good as modern ones.)

Note: a popular march called the Prince of Denmark's March has long been attributed to Henry Purcell, though it has since been established that it was composed by Jeremiah Clarke. This error puts hardly a dent in Purcell's amazing output. One of Purcell's greatest works is a masque called Dido and Aeneas, which contains some lovely music. He also wrote incidental music to Shakespeare's Tempest, as did Thomas Arne and others.  

Handel -- Georg Friderick Händel was a contemporary of J.S. Bach, and lived in Halle, in Saxony, not far from where Bach was born and lived most of his life. In contrast to Bach, Handel traveled south, through Italy, finally arriving in Britain. While he traveled, he absorbed all the music he heard, and in fact his musical writing was a wonderful synthesis of German and Italian styles, with the Italian sensibility predominating. (Bach admired this style, and adopted it as far as he could in his arias, with moderate success. Apparently his German tendency to work a theme extensively got in the way of the leaner profiles required by the Italian style. Don't quote me on this; I'm not an expert.) We know Handel best for his oratorio, Messiah. He wrote brilliant operas, though, whose quality exceed that of Messiah by many estimates, as well as other oratorii, such as Israel in Egypt, which I have heard nominated to be his greatest work. The Watermusic Suites and the Music for the Royal Fireworks are delightful, grand works for royal celebrations, the kind of thing the British aristocracy love so much. Handel's music deserves to be heard more than it commonly is.  

Haydn -- Franz Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer of great significance. The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death. The vast majority of his music was composed at the court of the Esterhazys, a wealthy aristocratic family. Haydn, in retrospect, was very much influenced by a couple of visits to Britain, at which time he heard the wonderful works of Handel, as well as the British national anthem, which he admired greatly. Subsequently, with the encouragement of one Baron Gottfried van Sweiten (whom you can see in the movie Amadeus, having been a popular visitor at the Viennese court), Haydn composed his last masterwork, The Creation (Die Schöpfung), which is claimed to be one of the last of his works he heard performed. (When I see that German title, I keep thinking: when the going gets tough, the tough go Schöpfung.) [Here is a clip of Nun beut dir Flur das frische Grün, a lyrical aria that expresses the delight in the verdant woods.  Note 2018/4/9: Blogger has eaten all the video links that had been inserted in these posts, and any you are seeing in these early posts were repaired by me just today, and only a bare minimum have had the treatment.] Haydn also wrote the national anthem of Austria, whose tune is still used in the present German national anthem, and is a model of restrained patriotic musical rhetoric. (The clip features modified harmony.) One must not forget to mention a couple beloved concertos for the 'cello, as well as a trumpet concerto, also played as a concerto for recorder, oboe or flute. And finally, it was Haydn who perfected the classical string quartet, much admired by Mozart. Mozart was born after Haydn was born, and died before the latter, and the two men were musically much influenced by each other to the good. And Haydn was one of Beethoven's teachers. In Haydn's vast output are also numbered a hundred symphonies, a genre that he helped develop, along with the sons of J.S. Bach, in particular Johann Christian Bach. In recognition of his contributions to music, Haydn was granted an honorary doctorate by Oxford University on one of his journeys to Britain.  

Mendelssohn -- Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was born to a Jewish family that converted to Lutheranism in the 18th century. 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of his birth. A renaissance man, Felix, together with his sister Fanny, were adept in numerous areas, including painting, literature and music, and had wide interests in all areas of Art. Felix began composing at an early age, and one of his most celebrated compositions originated at around the age of 15, or possibly earlier. The Octet for Strings is a lively work for eight stringed instruments -- four violins, two violas, and two cellos. (Some modern performances add a double bass, as far as I know not in the original scoring.) Its Scherzo, the third movement, is justly famous. Two of Mendelssohn's string quartets are gorgeous, and delightful to play. As did other German composers before him, Mendelssohn traveled through Italy, and eventually to Britain, and Scotland. He was much impressed by the natural beauty of Scotland, which he celebrated with the Hebrides, or Fingal's Cave overture. He wrote several overtures, all still in the orchestral repertoire, and numerous chamber works, and vocal pieces, such as On the Wings of Song. [Clip: Victoria de Los Angeles.] His overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of his most famous compositions, in addition to the magical Violin Concerto in E minor, and his last few symphonies. Long before these last symphonies for full orchestra, he had written symphonies for strings only, to be performed at private musical evenings in the Mendelssohn home with their family orchestra. The British have a particular fondness for the composer, even if his music is not considered as British as that of Handel and Purcell. Still, his oratorio Elijah was a regular offering in Britain through the last century.