Bruch - Violin Concerto No. 1 in g minor op. 26 ( Isaac Stern )


Violin - Isaac Stern / Conductor - Eugene Ormandy / Philadelphia Orchestra /1966
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Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bruch)

Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26, is one of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire. It continues to be performed and recorded by many violinists and is arguably Bruch's most famous composition.

History

The concerto was first completed in 1866 and the first performance was given on 24 April 1866 by Otto von Königslow with Bruch himself conducting. The concerto was then considerably revised with help from celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim and completed in its present form in 1867. The premiere of the revised concerto was given by Joachim in Bremen on 5 January 1868 with Karl Martin Rheinthaler conducting.

The fate of the score

Bruch sold the score to the publisher N. Simrock outright for a small lump sum - but he kept a copy of his own. At the end of World War I, he was destitute, having been unable to enforce the payment of royalties for his other works due to chaotic world-wide economic conditions. He sent his autograph to the duo-pianists Rose and Ottilie Sutro (for whom he had written his Concerto in A flat minor for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Op. 88a, in 1912), so that they could sell it in the United States and send him the money. Bruch died in October 1920, without ever receiving any money. The Sutro sisters decided to keep the score themselves, but they claimed to have sold it, and sent Bruch's family some worthless German paper money as the alleged proceeds of the alleged sale. They always refused to divulge any details of the supposed purchaser. In 1949, they sold the autograph to Mary Flagler Cary, whose collection, including the Bruch concerto, now resides at the Pierpont Morgan Public Library in New York.

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bruch)

Schubert - Piano Sonata D.960 (Claudio Arrau)


00:00 - Molto moderato / 20:14 - Andante sostenuto / 31:06 – Scherzo / 35:56 - Allegro ma non troppo
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Schubert's last sonatas

Franz Schubert's last three piano sonatas, numbered 958, 959 and 960 in Deutsch's catalogue of Schubert's complete works, are the composer's last major compositions for the piano. They were written during the last months of Schubert's life, between the spring and autumn of 1828, but were not published until about ten years after his death, in 1838–39. Like the rest of Schubert’s piano sonatas, they were mostly neglected in the 19th century. By the late 20th century, however, public and critical opinion had changed, and Schubert's last sonatas are now considered amongst the most important of the composer's mature masterpieces. They are part of the core piano repertoire, appearing regularly on concert programs and recordings.

One of the reasons for the long period of neglect of Schubert's piano sonatas seems to be their dismissal as structurally and dramatically inferior to the sonatas of Beethoven. In fact, the last sonatas contain distinct allusions and similarities to works by Beethoven, a composer Schubert venerated. However, musicological analysis has shown that they maintain a mature, individual style. Schubert's last sonatas are now praised for their mature style, manifested in unique features such as a cyclical formal and tonal design, chamber music textures, and a rare depth of emotional expression.

The three sonatas are cyclically interconnected by diverse structural, harmonic and melodic elements tying together all movements in each sonata, as well as all three sonatas together; consequently, they are often regarded as a trilogy. They also contain specific allusions and similarities to other Schubert compositions, such as his Winterreise song cycle; these connections point to turbulent emotional content in the sonatas, often understood as highly personal and autobiographical. Indeed, some researchers have suggested specific psychological narratives for the sonatas, based on historical evidence concerning the composer's life.

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

 

Liszt - Feux Follets from Etudes Transcendentale No. 5

Pianist - Daniel Wnukowski
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Transcendental Étude No. 5 (Liszt)

Transcendental Étude No. 5 in B-flat "Feux follets" (Will o' the Wisp) is the fifth étude of the set of twelve Transcendental Études by Franz Liszt.

Difficulties

As with the other works in the Études but one, Feux follets went through three versions, the first being Étude en douze exercises from 1826, the second being Douze études d'execution transcendentale from 1838, and third, an 1851 revision of the 1838 set. It is this last version, from 1851, that is most often performed, most of the demands of the 1838 version being trimmed down and refined. Its rapid double-note passages in the right hand accompanied by wide broken intervals in the left are notoriously difficult to play. In addition, the passages are often asymmetrical and unpredictable. It reaches several climaxes that are technically demanding and ends in pianissimo arpeggios. Despite the mechanical difficulties of the work, its greatest challenge lies in doing justice to its whimsical and mysterious character. Pianissimo and leggierissimo markings abound in the double note sections making it more difficult to play. It is one of the most technically difficult pieces of the whole set.

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Transcendental Étude No. 5 (Liszt)

Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending

Violinist - David Nolan / Conductor - Vernon Handley / London Philharmonic Orchestra

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The Lark Ascending

The Lark Ascending is a work by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, inspired by George Meredith's 122-line poem of the same name about the skylark. He included this portion of Meredith's poem on the flyleaf of the published work:

He rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound, Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake. For singing till his heaven fills, Tis love of earth that he instils, And ever winging up and up, Our valley is his golden cup And he the wine which overflows to lift us with him as he goes. Till lost on his aerial rings In light, and then the fancy sings.

The work was written in two versions: violin and piano, written in 1914; and violin and orchestra, written in 1920. The orchestral version is the one that is almost always heard now. It is one of the most popular pieces in the Classical repertoire among British listeners.

In 2011 it was chosen as Britain's all-time favourite 'Desert Island Disc' in a poll of listeners to chose the nation's Desert Island Discs.

From 2007 to 2010, the piece was voted number one in the Classic FM annual Hall of Fame poll, over Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and another work of Vaughan Williams', the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. In 2011 it was usurped by Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. In 2011, in a poll to find what music New Yorkers would like to hear on the radio for the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, The Lark Ascending came second.

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article The Lark Ascending
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