Friday, March 22, 2024

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 3, 2024

 The #ClassicsaDay team has made Women's History Month the March theme since 2017. The challenge remains: post classical music videos from female composers on your social media channels. There are plenty of options when it comes to 21st- and 20th-century composers.

What continually surprises me is how much music is yet to be discovered from earlier centuries. And also how much of it was known at the time, but somehow fell into obscurity. Here are my discoveries for the third week of #WomensHistoryMonth. 

3/18/24 Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602–1678) Bone Jesu

Cozzola was a Benedictine nun who also composed for her convent. Four collections of her music were published during her lifetime, although almost half are now lost.

 

3/19/24 Claudia Francesca Rusca (1583​-​1676): Canzon Prima à4 'La Borromea,' Canzoni Francesi à4

Rusca was a nun at a convent in Milan. Her only collection of music was written for use inside convents. The Sacri concerti à 1–5 con salmi e canzoni francesi (Milan, 1630) existed only in manuscript.

 

3/20/24 Leonora Duarte (1610–1678): Sinfonia VII

Duarte was a talented composer and keyboardist from Antwerp. Her only surviving works are a collection of seven symphonies written around 1650.

 

3/21/24 Sulpitia Cesis (fl. 1619): Angelus ad Pastores

Cesis was a nun who spent most of her life in a convent. She was also a noted composer and lutenist. Her fame rests on a single collection of Motetti Spirituali, published in 1619.

 

3/22/24 Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677): O Maria (Sacri Musicali Affetti, Op. 5)

Strozzi's salons were well-known in Venice. The intelligentsia would gather to hear her perform (and sing) her compositions. Eight volumes of her vocal works were published during her lifetime.

 

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Pál Hermann Complete Surviving Music Series Concludes with Delightful Oddities

Pál Hermann should have toured the world, receiving his due as one of the 20th Century's greatest cellists. Pál Hermann should have developed his compositional skills. And in time graduated to large-form works. 

Pál Hermann should have left a rich legacy of recordings. Pál Hermann should have lived past age 42. 

But Hermann was Jew in 1930s Europe. His career was curtailed in Nazi-controlled countries. He moved to France, and then to the Free Zone in southern France after Germany invaded. 

He moved to France, and then to the Free Zone in southern France after Germany invaded. He was captured in 1944 and died en route to a Lithuanian extermination camp. 

Hermann's surviving music shows a composer of great imagination and promise. The first volume in the Toccata Classics series presented his Cello Concerto and other orchestral works. Volume Two focused on his chamber and instrumental music, mostly for stringed instruments. 

This final volume rounds up the odds and ends of Hermann's catalog. And in the process, round out the portrait of these talented musicians. 

Hermann was a cello virtuoso, but his musical interests were far-ranging. He loved early music. Hermann played with an early music ensemble while in school. His Suite for Three Recorders and his Saraband for Lute are charming homages to Renaissance music. 

The Divertissement for harpsichord is less so.  Hermann writes some decidedly modern music for the instrument. 

Also included is a variety of short piano pieces. There's even a work for piano four hands. And his small collection of songs is also present. 

Hermann did not survive the war, but his music did. It's take a while, but that music lives again in these Toccata Classics recordings. And to my ears, they sound as fresh and inventive as the day they were penned. 

Recommended -- and not just this volume, but the entire series.

Pál Hermann: Complete Surviving Music, Volume Three
Chamber, Instrumental, and Vocal Music
Various Artists, including Mikko Pablo, cello; Matthieu Walendzik, baritone; Lena Zhukova, harpsichord; Nicolas Horvath and Dimitri Malignan, piano
Toccata Classics 

Friday, March 15, 2024

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 2, 2024

 The #ClassicsaDay team has made Women's History Month the March theme since 2017. The challenge remains: post classical music videos from female composers on your social media channels. There are plenty of options when it comes to 21st- and 20th-century composers.

What continually surprises me is how much music is yet to be discovered from earlier centuries. And also how much of it was known at the time, but somehow fell into obscurity. Here are my discoveries for the first week of #WomensHistoryMonth. 

3/11/24 Caterina Assandra (1590-after 1618): O Dulcis Amor Jesu

Assandra was a Benedictine nun, as well as a composer and organist. She published at least two books of motets (only Op. 2 survives), as well as several other sacred works.

 

3/12/24 Francesca Caccini (1587–1640?): Chi desia

Francesca's father Giulio was one of the founders of opera. Francesca's sister Settimia was a successful singer and composer. Francesca's "La liberazione di Ruggerio" (1625) is the earliest known opera composed by a woman.

 

3/13/24 Settimia Caccini (1591–1638?): Due luci ridenti

Settima's father Giulio was one of the founders of opera. And her sister Francesca was a respected composer of opera as well. Although a prolific composer herself, only eight of Settima's works survive.

 

3/14/24 Claudia Sessa (c. 1570 – c. 1617/19): Occhi io vissi di voi

Sessa was a nun. She was also an instrumentalist, singer, and composer. Two of her sacred choral works were published in 1613. 

 

3/15/24 Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana (1590–1662): O magnum misterium

Vizzana was a nun in the convent of S. Christina, Bologna. And she was also a singer, organist, and composer. A collection of her choral music, Componimenti musicali de motetti concertati a l e più voci was published in 1623.

 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Bruckner From the Archives, Volume 1 - A Remarkable Series

This is a remarkable project constructed from some remarkable sources. it's a complete survey of Bruckner's eleven symphonies (along with other key works). Each of the six volumes will comprise of two CDs -- over 2 hours of music each.

And the sources are equally remarkable. There are some world recording premieres and some CD premieres. The source material comes from the archive of John Berky, president of the Bruckner Society of America. 

Culled from over 11,000 recordings, the performances here are rare. Yet each delivers a strong performance of Bruckner's music. 

The works in volume one come from 1862-63. Bruckner was in his forties. He was already an established choral composer and organist. He wanted to write symphonies, and so began an intense period of study. Technically the works on this release are student pieces. But they work very well as legitimate compositions. 

The String Quartet, WAB 111 shows Bruckner's grasp of form and his lyrical gifts. The recording comes from a 1951 NDR aircheck with the Koeckert Quartet. The practice Symphony in F minor WAB 99 is another revelation. 

Though competently written, it doesn't hint at the symphonies to come. Rather, it's a Mendelssohn/Brahms-like work that provides a pleasant listen. Kurt Woss and the Bruckner Orchestra, Linz give a sympathetic reading in this 1974 aircheck. 

Bruckner's first symphony is also represented. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eugen Jochum performs. This is the original version of this work, the "Linz" version. 

Kudos go to Lani Spahr, responsible for the audio restoration and remastering. The recordings range from 1944 to 1974. Spahr does a great job bringing these tracks close to the same sound. You can still hear the differences between the decades, but they're not jarring. 

Rarely heard Bruckner in rarely-heard performances. This is my kind of series!

Anton Bruckner: From the Archives, Volume 1 
Bruckner Orchestra, Linz; Kurt Woss, conductor 
Vienna Symphony Orchestra; Hans Weisbach, conductor 
Vienna Akademie Kammerchor, Vienna Symphony Orchestra; Henry Swoboda, conductor 
WDR Symphony Orchestra Koln; Dean Dixon, conductor 
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Eugen Jochum, conductor 
Koeckert Quartet 
Somm Recordings, Ariadne 5025-2

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Schumann Trilogy Surveys Concertos and Piano Trios

This is a perfect program that works on so many levels. This is more than a Schumann Trilogy. It's actually several Schumann trilogies folded together. 

This three-disc set features the three concertos Schumann composed for violin, cello, and piano. It also features his three piano trios. The soloists comprise the piano trio. And they're each a featured soloist in a Schumann concerto. 

What makes this project even more interesting is the choice of instruments. Isobelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras, and Alexander Minikov wanted to get to the heart of Schumann's music. So they elected to perform with instruments of the period. 

That meant gut-stringed violin and cello. Pianist Melnkiov used an 1847 Streicher fortepiano for the trios, and a 1837 Érard pianoforte for the concerto. And of course, the Freiburger Barokorchester also used instruments of the period. 

It makes for a subtle but important difference in sound. The Piano Concerto in A minor is a repertoire staple. There are plenty of thundering interpretations, with large orchestras and steel-string concert grands. Here the sound is softer and more refined. It's still a showpiece, but somehow a more refined one. 

Joseph Joachim didn't think much of the violin concerto Schumann wrote for him. He never performed it and forbade its publication for 100 years. Times have changed. Schumann's use of traditional forms was fluid, but not flawed. The music works on its own terms. Isobelle Faust delivers a thrilling performance.

It's when these three artists get together that things really take off, though. The three piano trios of Schumann are intimate works. The piano parts were all written with his wife Clara in mind. But the violin and cello are well-balanced with the piano. 

The trios have a sense of exuberance about them, especially in these performances. As I said -- a perfect program. And in this case, played to perfection.   

The Schumann Trilogy
Violin Concerto WoO 1; Piano Concerto Op. 54; Cello Concerto Op. 129
Piano Trios Nos. 1-3
Isobelle Faust, violin; Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello; Alexander Mlnikov, piano
Freiburger Barokorchester; Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor
Harmonia Mundi HMX 2904095.98