Four Centuries of Great Music September 2, 2023 Music Heard at Tanglewood Music Center this July Episode 3

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music is the third episode in a series of episodes - highlighting music I heard at Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox MA this July.  At Tanglewood this year, I heard performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, New Fromm Players, Pamela Z, Nicolas Pham, tenor, Jacob Greenberg piano, Pacifica Quartet, Karen Slack soprano, Tanglewood  Music Center Fellows and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Wind Ensemble.  This series of episodes of Four Centuries of Great Music of course is not a complete assemblage of the music heard but a sampling from those concerts.  And since you cannot record music at Tanglewood, what you will be hearing in this series is the music I heard except from recordings.

Lets open today episode with Claude Debussy: La Mer which I heard on Monday July 10th with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra performing at the Koussevitzky shed.

Claude Debussy: La Mer : I. From dawn til noon at the sea
Claude Debussy: La Mer : II. Play of the waves
Claude Debussy: La Mer : III. Dialogue of the wind and the sea


Lets close this first hour of today’s Four Centuries of Great Music episode highlighting music I heard at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox MA this July with Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44.  At Tanglewood this work was performed by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players in the Seiji Ozawa Hall on the evening of Wednesday, July 26th

Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44  I. Allegro brillante
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44  II. In modo d'una marcia. Un poco largamente - Agitato
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44  III. Scherzo. Molto vivace - Trio I - Trio II - Coda
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44  IV. Allegro ma non troppo


Lets open this second hour of today’s Four Centuries of Great Music episode highlighting music I heard at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox MA this July with Eduard Franck: Sextet in D Major, Op. 50 for Two Violins, Two Violas and Two Violoncelli.  Sunday July 23rd - Tanglewood Music Center Fellows chamber music series

For those who are not familiar with Eduard Franck.  He was a German composer and pianist born in 1817 and died in 1893.  He studied with Felix Mendelssohn as a private student.  He was a talented pianist and teacher but is not as well known as his contemporaries such as Mendelssohn, Schumann , Wagner or Liszt. Despite being compared favourably during his lifetime to them, the fact that he failed to publish very many of his compositions until toward the end of his life, in part, explains why he was not better known.   He is no relation to the Flemish-French romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher Cesar Franck.

Eduard Franck: Sextet in D Major, Op. 50 for Two Violins, Two Violas and Two Violoncelli  I. Allegro
Eduard Franck: Sextet in D Major, Op. 50 for Two Violins, Two Violas and Two Violoncelli_ II. Andante
Eduard Franck: Sextet in D Major, Op. 50 for Two Violins, Two Violas and Two Violoncelli_ III. Allegro
Eduard Franck: Sextet in D Major, Op. 50 for Two Violins, Two Violas and Two Violoncelli_ IV. Presto


Lets close today’s Four Centuries of Great Music episode highlighting music I heard at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox MA this July with Albert Roussel Serenade for Flute, String Trio and Harp, Op. 30

You might not be familiar with Albert Roussel.  Albert Roussel is a French composer of the late 19th and early 20th century.  He began his composition studies in his mid to late 20s after serving several years in the French Navy to see the world.  One of his composition teachers was Vincent d’Indy. Vansawn Dan Dee While studying, Roussel also taught and his early students included Erik Satie and Edgard Varèse.  Later he also taught Bohuslav Martinů. While his early work was strongly influenced by impressionism in music, by temperament Roussel was predominantly a classicist.  He eventually arrived at a personal style which was more formal in design, with a strong rhythmic drive, and with a more distinct affinity for functional tonality than is found in the work of his more famous contemporaries Debussy, Ravel, Satie, and Stravinsky.

Albert Roussel:  Serenade for Flute, String Trio and Harp, Op. 30: I. Allegro
Albert Roussel:  Serenade for Flute, String Trio and Harp, Op. 30: II. Andante
Albert Roussel:  Serenade for Flute, String Trio and Harp, Op. 30: III. Presto

Thank you for joining us today on Four Centuries of Great Music.  Join us again next week for the 4th and final episode of this series highlighting music I heard at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox MA this July.

Remember that the premiere episodes of Four Centuries of Great Music are on Sundays from 3-5pm with the encore of each episode on the following Saturday from 3-5pm.