Composers and their working methods
Mon, Aug 6 2012, 9:55AM
#2
RE: Composers and their working methods
.....we have the values of The Enlightenment to thank. And what a painful struggle it's been - and not yet won by any means.
I'm amassing the forces of darkness as you speak Vic. Victory will be mine.
Mon, Aug 6 2012, 11:39AM
#3
RE: Composers and their working methods
Thanks a lot, Vic, for somehow trying to understand my views on religion.
I have to confirm to you that, in all my life, the people of any religion never tried to, at least, impose any values or a type of lifestyle. Their first and foremost goal was to make sure my faith was consolidated and secured. Along the way, there were the "lessons" about never loosing any Hope by virtue of our Faith and, in the end, it was the teaching about Love. I have to admit, while I felt plenty by poetry and great music about love, it was the Faith that gave me the actual power and urge to love, in any possible way, my fellow men, my wife, my children, my people and any human I have to deal with.
Faith never dictated me any moral code. It guided me, to a great extent, but it was me who decided what I have to do based on a way of life that I had to lead. Of course, for the various Churches, I might be a total sinner...Fortunately, in Buddhism, there is no sin...So, who is to blame or to praise?
Finally, I'm more than glad to agree on your statement of your last paragraph. There is, indeed, plenty of glorious music, even outside the Classical realm (see the wonder of this Amazing Grace), resulted by the contribution of Faith. Try, by the way, Durufle's Requiem, if you don't have it already, or this subtle and mighty at the same time Schubert's Mass in A flat. Marvelous!
Cheers, dear friend (not only in contention).
Parla
Tue, Aug 7 2012, 10:19AM
#4
RE: Composers and their working methods
Try, by the way, Durufle's Requiem, if you don't have it already, or this subtle and mighty at the same time Schubert's Mass in A flat. Marvelous!
Parla, the unquoted part of your last post provides some fruitful areas for discussion, but, I fear, might be taking digression a little too far so I'll (uncharacteristically) let them pass. In another life perhaps? - as the metaphor goes?
On the above, I do have the Durufle Reguiem (on Hyperion, with ECO under Matthew Best). Neglected since purchase, I played it last night and found it delightful. I don't have the Schubert A flat major, however, so do you (or anyone else) have a recommended recording? The E flat major D950 seems a common coupling, so I might try that too.
Whatever is it with me (a confirmed rationalist) and religious music? The superstitious would say Someone is trying to tell me something. I put it down to the nostalgia of those sung Latin high masses of my childhood whose music still haunts. I have never been able to find a recording of them though. Any help with that one out there?
Vic.
Tue, Aug 7 2012, 6:58PM
#5
RE: Composers and their working methods
Thanks, Vic for finding some areas of a fruitful discussion (even in another internet life) on the volatile issue of Religion (or better, Faith).
As for Schubert's glorious A flat Mass, there are quite a few good and competitive recordings. (The superb and magnificent E flat Mass is too serious and massive. I prefer the A falt for its subtlety and multifold beauty):
- The most obvious choice should be the Harnoncourt recording with Orgonasova and Holzmair among the soloists. Unfortunately, it exists now only as a budget double CD (it contains also the great E flat Mass as well) from Apex. Solid and emotional performance. Not the brightest recording.
- A glorious reading with Staatskapelle Dresden (great Orchestra) under the very experienced and devoted Sawallisch, with Donath, Schreier and Adam among the soloists, on Newton. The recording comes from 1971 and it cannot sound like the best or most recent.
- Another very idiomatic and heartfelt recording is the one from 1998, on Ondine, with P. Schreier conducting the Tapiola Sinfonietta, with Isokosi and Groop among the soloists. Pretty good recording.
- And the best possible recording (in SACD), on Capriccio, with the Vienna Academy under Martin Haselbock. Soloists are Austrian, good and experienced oratorio singers, not household names. Very analytical, impressive and emotional recording. I revisit this one normally.
I hope it may help you to decide, Vic.
Best wishes,
Parla
Tue, Aug 7 2012, 7:54PM
#6
RE: Composers and their working methods
That is so true with regards to Glazunov. Legend has it that he could compose a movement (or two perhaps) in one night. So it's amazing how much of a quality of his music comes out of his pen written in short spans of time. There is a downside to this, however. There are times where he music begs for greater depth (and the fact that rarely did the great Russian revised his works makes it even more regrettable). Glazunov, a great talent, could be too facile, lazy, and technically-oriented for his own good. But, as I've seen (or heard rather) in his Theme et Variations for Strings, The Seasons, The Fourth, Sixth, & Eighth Symphonies, Raymonda, the Piano Sonatas, the Third Quartet, and The Sea, for instances, this guy could rise up immensely to Tchaikovsky's level and even surpass him, which he sometimes did.
Wed, Aug 8 2012, 12:14AM
#7
RE: Composers and their working methods
Mark, revisiting these days a lot of Schubert, I discovered some interesting elements about his Adagio for Piano Trio in E flat, known as "Notturno" (D.897, op. post. 148).
It was composed around 1827, the same period as his two monumental Piano Trios. The "Notturno" was considered by quite a few scholars as the abandoned slow movement for the First Piano Trio in B flat (D.898). Consequently, it was dismissed as a "reject" by the composer.
However, some others found the piece as one of substantive beauty, while others have even suggested that the work constitutes the seed for the slow movement of the superb String Quintet in C major, since there are some striking similarities, except for the tonality (the Adagio of the Quintet is in E major): a quiet slow-moving melody in the outer parts, framing a very turbulent central section, the particular significance of the pizzicato and a coda that constitutes a recapitulation of the calm and stormy parts.
The whole case is formidable and attributes to this piece, a discarded movement for one work and the basis for another (different in form, but not in scale), an exclusive record of the inspiring working process itself (regarding a composer of the calibre of Schubert).
Religion is not about morality; it's about faith.
Religion is not about right and wrong? Not about following moral precepts? This is an amazing statement Parla!
The way of life, the lifestyle of a fidele is
up to each individual to decide. It is not imposed by religion.
To the extent that this is true (and it's true for a decided minority of the faithful) we have the values of The Enlightenment to thank. And what a painful struggle it's been - and not yet won by any means.
Your post reveals a good man struggling to reconcile the irreconcilable Parla. "Enlightened", modern religious sentiment, has had to make so many compromises with humanist values that it now speaks the language of tolerance, compromise, justice and humanity (as you do here). It takes a very modern and selective sensibility to believe these values come from religion, rather than having been dragged, kicking and screaming, from it. But we will never agree on that one!
I'm sure what we can agree on is the unique contribution faith has made to the creation of wonderful music down the ages.
Vic.