danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

Check out Wikipedia; Gustav Mahler is today’s featured article!

I’m not quite as Mahler-obsessed as I was a couple years ago.  I was on a coordinated campaign then, purchasing as many recordings of Mahler’s symphonies and song cycles as I could get my hands on.  And though I now know most of his works pretty well, some, like the Seventh Symphony, remain a mystery.

Des Knaben Wunderhorn, on the other hand, are approachable, hummable Lieder.  My favorites of the set are “Lob des hohen Verstandes” and this song, “Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?”.

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Filed under: Music on July 7th, 2010 | No Comments »

 As a general rule, I am not particularly fond of transcriptions.  First, transcriptions suggest that the composer didn’t get it right himself, and, second, transcriptions are seldom as good as the original.  Exceptions to the rule certainly exist – most famously Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which is far superior in Maurice Ravel’s orchestration.  Listen to this excerpt from the last movement, “The Great Gate at Kiev”, first in Mussorgsky’s original piano version, then in Ravel’s arrangement, and notice how much more colorful and interesting Ravel makes it:

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Maurice Ravel, Leopold Stokowski, Franz Liszt, and a handful of others were accomplished musicians who knew what they were doing.  Too often, however, transcriptions are made by instrumentalists or ensembles looking to perform music that wasn’t written for their respective instruments or combinations thereof.  Thus, you often find clarinet sonatas by Brahms performed by flutists, or any piece by anybody performed by brass quartets.  Guitarists are frequent offenders.

For years now, a compact disc has popped up on the play-lists of one of my colleagues that I have resisted adding to my own.  The disc is of the Amsterdam Guitar Trio playing their own transcriptions of Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque and Petite Suite, and Gabriel Fauré’s Dolly.  This is music I love, but couldn’t help but feel the transcriptions gimmicky.  I’ve changed my mind.  After all this time, I have finally come around to liking it.  Those pieces aren’t so serious as to preclude a three-guitar treatment, and hearing it that way is a refreshing diversion.  Listen to this bit from the Petite Suite:

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After years of avoiding this recording, I finally bought my own copy this week.

Debussy: Petite Suite; Suite Bergamasque. Fauré: Dolly, Op. 56. Chopin: Rondo in C Major, Op. 73.  Amsterdam Guitar Trio.  RCA 7800

Filed under: Music, WAYLTL, Work on June 25th, 2010 | No Comments »

 Decca 417 783-2

I am going to try to bring back the “What Are You Listening to Lately?” feature I used to post regularly.

While I haven’t exactly been successful in making it an Earth Day tradition, today I did listen to Gustav Mahler’s great orchestral song cycle, Das Lied von der Erde.  The Decca compact disc with Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic–and soloists James King and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau–is my only recording of this music, but I don’t feel the need to own another, such is the quality.

I will try to upload previous editions of “WAYLTL?” as time permits.

Filed under: Music, WAYLTL on April 22nd, 2010 | No Comments »

Today is Johann Sebastian Bach’s 325th birthday.  I listened to the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 (my favorite of the set), and the cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden and selections from the Well-Tempered Clavier.  Last week I listened to the St. Matthew Passion.  This week I intend to hear the St. John Passion, as well.

I know this older photo doesn’t show the composer’s correct age, but I love it anyway.

Filed under: Music, Special Occasions, WAYLTL on March 21st, 2010 | No Comments »

 Samuel Barber was born a hundred years ago today.  If he had only written Knoxville: Summer of 1915 he would still be important in my book.  It is the perfect marriage of music and text, namely, James Agee’s recollections of his childhood.

But Barber, of course, wrote much more.  Yesterday, for example, I listened to Gil Shaham’s wonderful recording of Barber’s Violin Concerto, which deserves a place in the regular concert repertoire.

Happy Birthday, Samuel Barber.

UPDATE:  When I arrived at work this morning, I noticed that Exploring Music this week is devoted to Samuel Barber.  Tomorrow, in fact, the show will feature Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and the fabulous Summer Music for Woodwind Quintet.  Friday’s show will have the Piano Concerto played by John Browning – a recording I have on CD.

Filed under: Music, Nostalgia, Special Occasions, WAYLTL, Work on March 9th, 2010 | No Comments »