Four Centuries of Great Music April 30, 2023 Recently Released Classical Music

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music we are continuing our series of recent classical music releases.  We open with a recording of Felix Mendelssohn’s  Cello Sonata No.1 in B flat Major, Op.45 released just a couple of weeks ago

Written at the beginning of 1838, a letter from January 20th mentions that he had finished it, was written for his younger brother Paul who was a cellist.   It is in three movements, and eschews the drama of  the later Beethoven cello sonatas. The unassuming introduction, leads to a first movement, marked allegro vivace, where the forceful elegance of the cello writing is matched by the colors from the piano. The elegant Andante makes a finely contrasting movement, an Allegro assai finale which brings an element of drama to the elegance.



Richard Strauss: Last Four Songs       

Strauss presents considerable challenges. For example, in “Frühling” the singer needs a range of nearly two octaves; expert control of the hypnotic melisma on, appropriately, the word “Vogelsang” (“thrushes’ song”); and a gentle pianissimo attack on a high A. The sumptuousness of Strauss’s orchestra is already thrilling, as in the brief interlude between the song’s first and second sections. The stately andante of “September” is classically Straussian in its requirement of iron-clad breath control for one of the longest phrases in any Strauss song (“Kühl sinkt in die Blumen der Regen”). Adorning the vocal line are sixteenth-note quadruplets that enhance the sheer grace of the whole, and – perhaps as a tribute to his horn-player father – Strauss adds a soothing horn postlude. “Beim Schlafengehen” builds slowly, as the exquisite orchestral passage dominated by sweetness of the solo violin leads into the most magnificently arching single phrase for the soprano in any of the songs (“Und die Seele unbewacht”). Its effectiveness is equalled only by the mesmerizing ascending triplets – and what could be a more suitable word to be sung here than “schweben” (“swaying”)? The conclusion of the Vier letzte Lieder, “Im Abendrot,” must surely be the most completely serene of all Strauss’s songs. As such, it demands unfettered simplicity of expression, as well as rock-solid tone to achieve the crucial fl ow of legato phrasing. The voice is supported throughout by a ravishing cushion of strings, embellished by the delicately trilling flutes – first at the mention of “zwei Lerchen” (“two skylarks”) and then in the song’s comforting, memorably reposeful postlude.


Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26

Randell Goosby says “I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity to record three stunning concertos with Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
 
I fell in love with Bruch Concerto No. 1 when I was a kid, and it’s one of those pieces that just doesn’t get old. It is loaded with drama, excitement, heartbreak, and everything in between. What a joy it was to record this all-time favorite with the lush and expressive sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra behind me!

This concerto completed in 1866 is in three movements:
I. Vorspiel: Allegro moderato  The first movement is unusual in that it is a Vorspiel, a prelude, to the second movement and is directly linked to it.  The piece starts off slowly, with the melody first taken by the flutes, and then the solo violin becomes audible with a short cadenza. This repeats again, serving as an introduction to the main portion of the movement, which contains a strong first theme and a very melodic, and generally slower, second theme. The movement ends as it began, with the two short cadenzas more virtuosic than before, and the orchestra's final tutti flows into the second movement, connected by a single low note from the first violins.

II. Adagio (in E-flat major)
The slow second movement, marked Adagio, is often admired for its melody, and is generally considered to be the heart of the concerto. The themes, presented by the violin, are underscored by a constantly moving orchestra part, keeping the movement alive and helping it flow from one part to the next.

III. Finale: Allegro energico (in G major)
The third movement, the finale, marked llegro energico, opens with an intense, yet quiet, orchestral introduction that yields to the soloist's statement of the energetic theme in brilliant double stops.[9] It is very much like a dance that moves at a comfortably fast and energetic tempo. The second subject is a fine example of Romantic lyricism, a slower melody which cuts into the movement several times, before the dance theme returns with its fireworks. The piece ends with a huge accelerando, leading to a fiery finish that gets higher as it gets faster and louder and eventually concludes with two short, yet grand, chords.


Johann Sebastian Bach’s  French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s French Suites, BWV 812–817, are six suites which Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for the clavier (harpsichord or clavichord) between the years of 1722 and 1725. The suites were later given the name 'French' (first recorded usage by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg in 1762). The name was popularised by Bach's biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, who wrote in his 1802 biography of Bach, "One usually calls them French Suites because they are written in the French manner.” This claim, however, is inaccurate: like Bach's other suites, they follow a largely Italian convention.[2] There is no surviving definitive manuscript of these suites, and ornamentation varies both in type and in degree across manuscripts that are available.  The courantes of the first (in D minor) and third (in B minor) suites are in the French style; the courantes of the other four suites are all in the Italian style. In any case, Bach also employed dance movements (such as the polonaise of the sixth suite) that are foreign to the French manner. Usually, the swift second movement after the allemande is named either courante (French style) or corrente (Italian style), but in all these suites the second movements are named courante, according to the Bach catalog listing, which supports the suggestion that these suites are "French". Some of the manuscripts that have come down to us are titled "Suites Pour Le Clavecin", which is what probably led to the tradition of calling them "French" Suites.



Jean Philippe Rameau: Two Pièces de clavecin  NO. 6 & 8 by from his Suite in D Major \


Thank you for listening to Four Centuries of Great Music and tune in next week for more new classical music releases.