Classical music for pleasure: 01/12/2011

Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker - Complete Ballet

Verdi - Requiem - Karajan ( Complete Concert )

Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Coss0to, Luciano Pavarotti, Nikolai ghiaurov, Herbert von karajan, 1967

0:00:32 Requiem - 0:08:43 Dies Irae - 0:10:55 Tuba Mirum - 0:12:58 Mors Stupebit (same track as Tuba Mirum on disc) - 0:14:19 Liber Scriptus - 0:19:23 Quid Sum Miser - 0:23:13 Rex Tremendae - 0:26:44 Recordare - 0:31:05 Ingemisco - 0:34:45 Confutatis - 0:40:24 Lacrymosa - 0:46:05 Offertorio - 0:56:53 Sanctus - 0:59:51 Agnus Dei - 1:04:32 Lux Aeterna - 1:10:45 Libera Me

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Verdi - Requiem - Dies Irae

Requiem (Verdi)

The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass (Requiem) for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May 1874 marked the first anniversary of Manzoni's death. The work was at one time called the Manzoni Requiem. It is typically not performed in the liturgy, but in a concert of around 85–90 minutes.

Sections

1. Introit and Kyrie (chorus, soloists)

2. Dies irae / Dies irae (chorus) / Tuba mirum (chorus, bass) / Liber scriptus (mezzo-soprano, chorus) / Quid sum miser (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor) / Rex tremendae (soloists, chorus) / Recordare (soprano, mezzo-soprano) / Ingemisco (tenor) / Confutatis (bass, chorus) / Lacrimosa (soloists, chorus)

3. Offertory

Domine Jesu Christe (soloists)

4. Sanctus (double chorus)

5. Agnus Dei (soprano, mezzo-soprano, chorus)

6. Lux aeterna (mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass)

7. Libera me (soprano, chorus)

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Sibelius - Violin Concerto - Isaac Stern

Beethoven - Triple Concerto - Daniel Barenboim / Itzhak Perlman / Yo-Yo Ma

Piano - Daniel Barenboim / Violin - Itzhak Perlman / Cello - Yo-Yo Ma
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Triple Concerto (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C Major, Op. 56, more commonly known as the Triple Concerto, was composed in 1803 and later published in 1804 under Breitkopf & Hartel. The choice of the three solo instruments effectively makes this a concerto for piano trio and the only concerto Beethoven ever wrote for more than one solo instrument. A typical performance takes approximately thirty-seven minutes.

Beethoven's early biographer Anton Schindler claimed that the Triple Concerto was written for Beethoven's royal pupil, the Archduke Rudolf (Rudolf von Habsburg-Lothringen).[citation needed] The Archduke, who became an accomplished pianist and composer under Beethoven's tutelage, was only in his mid-teens at this time, and it seems plausible that Beethoven's strategy was to create a showy but relatively easy piano part that would be backed up by two more mature and skilled soloists. However, there is no record of Rudolf ever performing the work—it was not publicly premiered until 1808, at the summer "Augarten" concerts in Vienna—and when it came to be published, the concerto bore a dedication to a different patron: Prince Lobkowitz (Franz Joseph Maximilian Fürst von Lobkowitz).

Movements

The concerto is divided into three movements:

1. Allegro

2. Largo (attacca)

3. Rondo alla polacca

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Tchaikovsky - Sleeping Beauty - Complete Ballet

Barber - Adagio for Strings

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Adagio for Strings

Adagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year as he wrote the quartet. It was performed for the first time in 1938, in a radio broadcast from a New York studio attended by an invited audience, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, who also took the piece on tour to Europe and South America. It is disputed whether the first performance in Europe was conducted by Toscanini or Henry Wood. Its reception was generally positive, with Alexander J. Morin writing that Adagio for Strings is "full of pathos and cathartic passion" and that it "rarely leaves a dry eye."

The piece begins with a B flat played by violins, leading to the lower strings' entrance. The rhythm is mainly compressed with sustained notes, and Barber uses some unusual time signatures including 4/2, 5/2, 6/4, and 3/2 . The piece can be heard in many TV shows and movies.

While Barber rejected many arrangements published by G. Schirmer, such as the organ arrangement by William Strickland, he did transcribe the piece in 1967 for eight-part choir, as a setting of the Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God").

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Sibelius - Finlandia

Conductor - Philip Gibson / London Symphony Orchestra / recorded in 1991
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Sibelius - Karelia suite

Finlandia

Finlandia, Op. 26 is a symphonic poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The first version was written in 1899, and it was revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire, as the last of seven pieces, each performed as an accompaniment to a tableau depicting episodes from Finnish history. (See Grand Duchy of Finland and Russification of Finland for further historical context).

The premiere was on 2 July 1900 in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus. A typical performance takes anywhere from 7½ to 9 minutes.

A recurrent joke within Finland at this time was the renaming of Finlandia at various musical concerts so as to avoid Russian censorship. Titles under which the piece masqueraded were numerous, a famously flippant example being Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring.

Most of the piece is taken up with rousing and turbulent music, evoking the national struggle of the Finnish people. But towards the end, a calm comes over the orchestra, and the serenely melodic Finlandia Hymn is heard. Often incorrectly cited as a traditional folk melody, the Hymn section is of Sibelius's own creation.

Although initially composed for orchestra, in 1900 Sibelius arranged the entire work for solo piano.

Sibelius later reworked the Finlandia Hymn into a stand-alone piece. This hymn, with words written in 1941 by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi, is one of the most important national songs of Finland (though Maamme is the national anthem). With different words, it is also sung as a Christian hymn (Be Still, My Soul), and was the national anthem of the short-lived African state of Biafra (Land of the Rising Sun).

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Shostakovich - The Bolt (Complete Ballet)

Shostakovich - Ballet Suite No. 1

The Bolt (Shostakovich)

The Bolt (Russian: Болт), Op. 27, is a ballet music score written by Dmitri Shostakovich between 1930 and 1931. The score is for a full-length ballet with three acts and seven scenes, with a libretto by Vladimir Smirnov. It was premiered on April 8, 1931, by the Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad, and choreographed by Fyodor Lopukhov.

Plot

The ballet is an ironic tale of slovenly work in a Soviet factory. The lazy Lyonka hates work, and together with a local priest and anti-Soviet plotter, he plans to sabotage the machinery by putting a bolt in it. Their plan is foiled by a group of Young Communists.

To quote:

"The waspish and delightfully colourful score bowls along like a children’s cartoon-film, every number full of drama and parody and fine take-offs of serious and popular music of every kind. Among the highlights are the opening scene when the workers gather in the morning for their physical fitness class before hitting the conveyor belts, the appearance of pompous and opinionated officials and bureaucrats, a ridiculous church-going episode, and the exciting scene when the sabotage-conspiracy nearly succeeds and is only foiled at the last moment. There are also plenty of numbers which mimic the whirling and hammering sounds of modern factory machinery."

Reception

The premiere was the only performance for 74 years, as the audience jeered it and the critics upbraided it for its un-Soviet intentions. Shostakovich subsequently put parts of it in his other music.

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Schubert - Six moments musicaux

I,IV,V - Pianist - Jenő Jandó / II - Claudio Arrau / III - pianist - David Fray / VI - Pianist - Yves Nat
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Six moments musicaux (Schubert)

Six moments musicaux, D 780 (Op. 94) is a collection of six short pieces for solo piano composed by Franz Schubert. The movements are as follows:

1. Moderato in C major / 2. Andantino in A-flat major / 3. Allegro moderato in F Minor /4. Moderato in C-sharp minor / 5. Allegro vivace in F minor / 6. Allegretto in A-flat major

Along with the Impromptus, they are among the most frequently played of all Schubert's piano music, and have been recorded many times. No. 3 in F minor has been arranged by Leopold Godowsky and others.

It has been said that Schubert was deeply influenced in writing these pieces by the Impromptus, Op. 7, of Jan Václav Voříšek (1822).

They were published by Leidersorf in Vienna in 1828, under the title "Six Momens [sic] musicals [sic]". The correct French forms are now usually used – moments (instead of momens), and musicaux (instead of musicals). The sixth number was published in 1824 in a Christmas album under the title Les plaintes d'un troubadour.

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Debussy - Children's Corner Suite - Ivan Moravec

I - Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum / II - Jimbo's Lullaby / III - Serenade for the Doll / IV - The Snow is Dancing / V - The Little Shepherd / VI - Golliwogg's Cakewalk
Pianist - Ivan Moravec
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Debussy - Arabesques

Children's Corner

Children's Corner (L. 113) is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was given its world première in Paris by Harold Bauer on December 18 of that year. In 1911, an orchestration of the work by Debussy's friend André Caplet received its première and was subsequently published and there is a forthcoming version for organ by Michael Hey. A typical performance of the suite lasts roughly 15 minutes.

Dedication

It is dedicated to Debussy's daughter, Claude-Emma (known as "Chou-Chou"), who was three years old at the time. The pieces are not intended to be played by children; rather they are meant to be evocative of childhood and some of the toys in Claude-Emma's toy collection.

Claude-Emma was born on October 30, 1905 in Paris, and is described as a lively and friendly child who was adored by her father. She died of diphtheria on July 14, 1919, scarcely a year after her father's death.

Structure

There are six pieces in the suite, each with an English-language title. This choice of language is most likely Debussy's nod towards Chou-Chou's English governess. The pieces are:

1. Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum

2. Jimbo's Lullaby

3. Serenade for the Doll

4. The Snow is Dancing

5. The Little Shepherd

6. Golliwogg's Cakewalk

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Children's Corner.

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