in search of beauty | Richibi's Weblog

July 6, 2018

Piano Sonata no 17, opus 31, no 2 “The Tempest” – Beethoven

__________

for Judy, who “glimpses“, she says,
“a kinder world, that [my] missives
provide” – thank you, Judy

just as I was being called on the
carpet for my constant returns to
Beethoven, none other than Glenn
Gould should show up, in my
cavern of wonders, to absolve me,
or at least to stand stolidly by my
side

let him talk

had I written, however, his
observations, I’m sure you’d’ve
balked, he’s a product, after all,
of the priggish pretensions that
prevailed in my neck of the woods
at the time, Southern Ontario, a
product of British Imperialism,
of which I am myself, I avow,
incontrovertibly subject, but due
to the strength of his celebrity,
one is likely to listen to Gould
more attentively, I’m not
sufficiently yet, I suspect,
significant, nor influential

he is, one way or the other, I concur,
absolutely right

about his “Tempest“, though, I’ll say,
even object, as Stravinsky and John
Cage did, according to Gould, about
the commanding Beethoven, that
Gould is dripping in Romantic
sentiment here, his rubato in the
first movement tests the limits of
our forbearance, and his second
movement is so slow as to have
one fall off the page

but his last movement, the allegretto,
is brilliant

Gould’s idiosyncratic, dare I say,
eccentric, performance will
throughout, nevertheless,
astonish, indeed electrify, even,
I’m sure, inspire, watch, listen

and thanks ever, especially, for
dropping by

R ! chard

psst: here’s another version of the 17th,
  to my mind, less self-indulgent, but
you be the judge, don’t think about
it, just ask yourself which one
  would you want to hear a next time,
  that’ll be your, gloriously personal,
  reply

enjoy

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July 5, 2018

Piano Concerto no. 9 – Mozart

“Clown with Flowers“ (1963)

Marc Chagall

_______

with the greatest respect for all
who read me, and especially
for those who are least
convinced, the way also,
I note, to a conscious,
and entirely personal,
aesthetic

let me once again insist that my
commentaries here are not at all
the last word on any of what I’ve
discussed, they’ve been merely
my opinion, according to my own
particular aesthetic, my comments
have been rather to excite curiosity
about, for some, an esoteric topic,
to awaken interest in a field, to my
mind, strewn with marvels, and
never to dictate, art, as I often
remind, is in the eye of the
beholder

I think of myself as company in
an art gallery, viewing a
succession of works, musical
here, expressing notions, either
specifically to do with the exhibit,
or, personal, but somehow related,
then moving on, just enough to
whet the appetite, or, of course,
not

here’s an instance

I’d been waiting for the sales clerk
to box some fresh pasta for me I
was buying at an eatery down the
street when a line of piped in music
from their overhead system swept
me off my disconcerted feet, which
I recognized to be Mozart, but as
I’d never heard him, ever

can you tell me who’s playing that,
I asked the cashier, many stores
played their own tapes back then,
some still indeed even do,
19-eighty, at that time, something

he replied, Mitsuko Uchida
what she’d done was to not stress
the bar line, the natural beat, to,
in fact, eliminate it, so that a flight
of notes went on like an unfettered
and iridescent miracle, prompted
by its own irrepressible momentum,
I was flabbergasted

Beethoven later on would do that
nearly consistently

where Glenn Gould would remove
his foot from the sustain pedal to
channel Bach while he played
Beethoven, an atavism, Mitsuko
Uchida was reversing the process
and using Beethoven‘s own
unleashing of rhythms to shed
light on her Classically otherwise
bound Mozart, a telling
anachronism, I nearly screamed

here, in the event, is the next work
of musical art in my idiosyncratic
gallery, the richibi galleri, I call it,
Mitsuko Uchida herself illuminating
gloriously, as ever, Mozart, his
splendid, as she reminds us, Piano
Concerto no 9

thanks so much for stopping by

ever

R ! chard

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July 3, 2018

Piano Concerto no. 5, opus 73, “Emperor” – Beethoven

“All About Eve“ (1950)

_______

while I’m on the subject of concertos,
there’s one concerto that cannot be
overlooked, the very epitome of
concerti, their summit, apex, their
very pinnacle, Olympus, compared
to other less mighty compositions,
Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto,
the piece I would take with me to a
desert island, I used to even walk
along the seashore in the privacy of
my headphones nights, after dinner,
taking in its cadences, its wisdom,
under the moon, the stars, along
the, however temperamental,
ocean waters, transported

indeed this very version of it, Glenn
Gould’s, Beethoven’s, in my mind,
oracular equal

Beethoven made literature out of
music, progressed to the point of
delivering a very philosophy,
Gould took the prevailing
Romantic aesthetic of the time,
Arthur Rubinstein being a prime
example, for instance, and gave
us the music of the Information
Age, the mathematical precision
of computers, people could hear
it, perhaps not even knowing how,
why

briefly, Gould eschews – Gesundheit –
the hold pedal, the sustain pedal, on
the piano, he’d grown up on Bach,
made him his specialty, but Bach
had no sustain pedal on his
harpsichord, Gould transferred this
process to later, more rhythmically
malleable, works, making obvious
thereby their inner workings,
something like reading blueprints,
his interpretations give us the bare,
and revelatory, bones of these later
masterpieces, without the sometimes
facile effects of Romanticism, think
of rubato, for instance, the ability to
stretch a note, not possible on the
harpsichord, but often overused in
Romantic renderings, a cheap trick,
like paintings on velvet

Gould would have none of that, he
shows you the composer’s
compositional brilliance, without
fanfare, just the facts, no pedal,
which at the time was completely
revolutionary, much like computer
science was then, and algorithms

here’s something else about Gould,
more savoury, maybe, he was called
in at the last minute to perform this
piece when the planned pianist, of
considerable renown, wasn’t able to
make it, Gould hadn’t played it in a
number of years, but showed up the
next morning to deliver, the rest is,
as they say, history

that’s “All About Eve“ up there, but
for pianists, Glenn Gould is Eve
Harrington, though without her
predatory instincts, nobody now
remembers the other pianist,
unless you were there, interested,
listening, piano’s Margo Channing,
even if I named him, however
consummately accomplished he
might’ve been, a man I profoundly
admire, remains, cruelly, essentially
unremembered

imagine

R ! chard

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July 1, 2018

Violin Concerto no. 1 – Paganini

“Portrait of Paganini“ (1832)

Eugene Delacroix

___________

before you start thinking that, because
of my recent comparisons, Paganini is
a nobody, look what I found, had
stupidly forgotten about, among the
multiplicity of wondrous examples
concertos have to offer

this will attest, as well, to my fallibility,
which I unreservedly confess, in many,
even familiar, matters, I used to not
much remember the last time I was
wrong, but writing makes one more
aware of one’s even egregious
insufficiencies, I love, I must say,
that it makes one humble

meanwhile, Paganini’s First Violin
Concerto has absolutely no faults,
it’ll run through your cultural veins
like water, you’ll probably be able
to sing all the notes, apart, of course,
from the cadenza, which, in this
instance, is the soloist’s, not
Paganini’s, a not unusual occurence,
indeed a common one, though it’s
nice when they tell you who wrote it,
the composer or the player, as they
do in this case, cause unless you’re
a total nerd you mostly wouldn’t be
able to tell the difference

the cadenza is the part, incidentally,
where near the end of a movement,
any movement, though usually not
the slow one – think about it – the
soloist struts hir improvisational
stuff, independently from the
orchestra, till s/he signals it back in

I’ve said before that Paganini’s
“Caprices“ are a series, essentially,
of cadenzas, not at all such shabby
stuff

meanwhile, I think Paganini is back
in the running, what do you think

R ! chard

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June 30, 2018

so you think you can be a soloist – Beethoven / Paganini / Chopin

“Chopin Performing in the Guest-Hall of Anton Radziville in Berlin in 1829”
(1887)

Henryk Siemiradzki

________

Chopin’s Piano Concerto no 1, written
in 1830, is in the same mold as both
the Beethoven Violin Concerto, 1806,
and Paganini’s 5th, a synchronous
1830, three movements, fast, slow,
fast, a long symphonic introduction,
followed by miracles of articulation
by the virtuosic soloist, with, however,
differing degrees of emotional impact

Beethoven is evidently the source,
and model, for both later compositions
having clearly preceded them by a
number of years, but neither Chopin
nor Paganini have the chops to match
his magisterial orchestration

Chopin, like Paganini, was confined to
essentially one instrument, of which,
however, both were utter masters, and
manifestly and profoundly there inspired,
but in either, once the solo part takes
flight, the symphony is merely
packaging, no longer an equal partner

Beethoven has parts for all his players,
his is a conversation, not a declamation

but Chopin, 1830, had learned by then,
and integrated from Beethoven the
lesson of how to incorporate drama
into his high wire act, the constant
repetition of a melting air, a musical
motive, which Paganini hadn’t, Chopin
not only could fly, but also knew how
to dress for it, to become a virtual
angel of mercy and compassion up
there under the biggest of tops, his
immortality

don’t take my word for it, though,
you’ve probably heard already Chopin‘s
work, a very emblem of 19th Century
Romanticism, somewhere in your
subconscious you know this melody,
heard it before, it’s part of our Western
culture

not so the Paganini

what’s kicked

see above

you’ll hear your senses talking, the
language of music and art, more
accurate eventually than any of my,
however erudite, however informed,
but merely ruminative, words, art
being, once again, in the eye, the
ear, in this case, of the beholder,
or here, the be-hearer

listen

R ! chard

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June 23, 2018

twice upon a violin concerto – Beethoven / Paganini

“The Violin Lesson“ (1889)

Tom Roberts

_______

to juxtapose two things for consideration,
to my mind, is the best way to sharpen
both one’s aesthetic and, therefore,
spiritual personality, here, thus, are
two contemporaneous, essentially,
violin concertos, concerti, if you like,
Paganini’s 5th, 1830, Beethoven’s
Only, 1806

let me point out that the Classical Era
is over at this point, this isn’t music
for the courts any longer, but music
as spectacle, you can hear it, it’s like
moving from Frank Sinatra‘s
nightclubs to David Bowie’s stadiums

noteworthy about these two pieces is
that the structure in each is identical,
the same lengthy introduction in the
first movement, followed by an
articulate, and eventually mesmerizing,
elaboration on the initial melody by
the soloist, with divergent, however,
intentions, Paganini starts with a
fanfare, promises histrionics, delivers
fireworks, Beethoven begins with
portent, goes instead for drama,
which is to say, your heart, as well

both their second and third movements
are essentially, then, indistinguishable
conceptually, their last movement in
either is even a rondo

the challenge in the Paganini is physical,
the glory is in the player’s technical
prowess

with Beethoven the requirements are
both physical and emotional, he
punches for the heart, which the
player must, therefore, with equally
astounding panache, incidentally,
also conquer

style, in other words, over substance,
substance over style, which is to say
“The Phantom of the Opera“, for
instance, or Cirque du Soleil,
Rachmaninov, maybe, versus
Liberace, you are the judge

history has sided, however, with
substance, Beethoven’s Violin
Concerto is everywhere, it isn’t at
all easy, conversely, to come up
with any of Paganini’s, despite
their incontestable magnificence

maybe it’s time for a Paganini
revival, they did that several years
ago for the inimitable Rossini, an
effervescent light in an otherwise
mostly dour 19th Century, listen,
with counts and countesses here
in attendance, at very, can you
believe it, Versailles, wow

R ! chard

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June 14, 2018

off my top – from Bach to Beethoven

“Alice in Wonderland”

Mary Blair

_______

when I listen to Bach, I feel like I’m
on a train – from Leipzig to Dresden,
say, his territory – the constancy of
his rhythms, modified only by
accidentals along the way, the
particular condition of the rails, that
indeed decorate an otherwise
monotonous clockwork progression,
beat upon beat, there is neither an
increase in volume, which hadn’t been
formally invented yet as a principal
musical implement – and I’m only
partially joking here – the music is
horizontal, not focused on reiteration,
but on getting there, accomplishing a
mission, upon which the outcome is
even spiritual – it’s Dresden, I get off
at the Neustadt Station, am not only
refreshed but utterly inspired,
reminded of my position in the world,
and my place in this novel, but
ordered, and pious, environment

listen to Bach, his Sonata for Violin
and Piano, B minor, BWV 1014, 1717
to 1723 approximately, for instance

with Mozart, I get on a merry-go-round,
at a carnival, the clockwork has become
circular, you can sing the tune, and sing
it again without a problem, the wooden
horses fly by, one after the other, entirely
recognizable, though ever magical and
entertaining, but you get off at exactly
the same untransformed station,
however delightedly

Mozart’s Sonata for Violin and Piano,
no 18 in G major, K301, 1778, say

with Beethoven, though, it’s like going
through the looking glass, if you’ve ever
been through one, the direction is
horizontal again, you might try singing
along, but get only so far, until you’re
utterly confounded, what happened,
where am I, you wonder, when
suddenly a Mad Hatter comes along,
or a Queen of Hearts, and speechless,
you hold onto your seat, it’s
Disneyland, but without the usual
safeguards

later, after however many movements,
you’re returned to, if you’ll permit in
its American transliteration, Kansas,
from Oz, and Dorothy’s tornado, her
equally transformational journey,
safe and wondrously sound, but with
extraordinary benefits, mystical,
even transcendental

but, o my goodness, you think, it’s
late, I’ve got to get the supper on,
and, did that really just happen, a
blip in the order of consciousness,
a very illumination, a transcendence,
however secular, however
non-denominational a take on the
question of our shared fate, our
shared humanity, our manifest
and sublime glories, our profound
and wrenching tragedies, as
probing, and indeed as oracular
as the words of any of the other
propounding pastors, indeed
philosophers, then, in a world
coming to grips with the debate
around God, and by extension,
I might extrapolate, my own
God/dess

for by this time, that had become
a concern, Science, which is to say,
the Enlightenment, the Age of
Reason, had provided a convincing
counterpoint to the various takes on
an, even just Christian, Supreme
Deity, Who’s very viability was up,
in the 18th Century, for grabs

Beethoven provides the first
personal option, his version of the
Ten Commandments, for the later
non-denominational ages, our
souls, our individual agonies, he
demonstrates, are enough of an
argument for our unconditional
salvation, our personal, and
resplendent souls are not not to
be discounted, their poetry, their
truth and beauty, are the heaven
towards which we can existentially
all aspire, for better, of course, or
for worse

Beethoven, his Sonata for Violin
and Piano in G major, no 10,
Opus 96, 1812, listen

R ! chard

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June 9, 2018

twice upon a “Pastorale” – Beethoven

“Summer Pastoral“ (1749)

Francois Boucher

__________

on my way to my metaphorical
Eiffel Tower, Beethoven’s Piano
Sonata no 15, the “Pastorale”,
his first to impress me, his
Opus 28 , despite the notoriety
of the earlier “Pathétique”,
Opus 13, and of the “Moonlight”,
his Opus 27, no 2, splashy
showpieces, those last two, to
my mind, rather than revelatory,
I knew I was going to stop at the
Arche de Triomphe, if you’ll
allow me the developing allegory,
to visit the other “Pastorale”, the
6th, and my favourite, Symphony,
one of the few works which he
named, but where he also gives,
apart from tempo, in the usual
Italian, descriptive headings in
German, the culture that had
taken over the arts, essentially,
from the Italians, during the
18th Century

Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen
bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande,
he, for instance, instructs, or
Awakening of cheerful feelings on
arrival in the countryside, then
Scene by the brook, Merry
gathering of country folk, Thunder.
Storm, and finally Shepherd’s song.
Cheerful and thankful feelings after
the storm – five, unconventionally
already, movements, instead of the
usual three, or four, with headings
that look a lot like stage settings,
cues for a play, chapters in a story

it’s evident that music has explicitly
become, here, literature, movements
have been given a specific thrust,
a particular direction to follow, not
dance, but emotive, appealing to the
vocabulary of the senses, the
grammar of the heart, music as
graphic description, later we’ll even
get tone poems

sure, Vivaldi had written his “Four
Seasons“, 1723, but never, ever,
as precisely rendered as here,
Beethoven brings to life an actual
storm, bing, bang, pow, you hear,
as thunder cracks, rumbles,
crashes, not to mention the virtual
call, chirp, twitter of the various
birds he elicits bristling in the
rustling leaves, you’ll even hear
in the recovering countryside a
rainbow if you listen

music has become a language, a
medium of direct intelligent
communication, enough, indeed,
to verily inspire a century, indeed,
as well, beyond

you’ll also fall in love with Leonard
Bernstein here, who shows why
Leonard Bernstein remains ever,
indisputably, Leonard Bernstein,
beautiful, angelic, inspired

R ! chard

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June 5, 2018

twice upon a dirge – Beethoven / Chopin

“Owl on a Grave” / “Eule am Grab“ (c.1836 – c.1837)

Caspar David Friedrich

_______

following my nose rather than
my intellect in my exploration
of musical treasures, like a very
Aladdin uncovering at the click
of my password a cave full of
priceless wonders, I might find
stuff out of sequence, but gems
nevertheless, and I can’t just
whisk by without acknowledging
them, however peripheral to my
main task

it’s like heading towards the Eiffel
Tower in Paris, and not stopping
at the Arche de Triomphe

though I’d debated so soon
presenting these two pieces,
not because of their chronology
especially, though also that, but
mostly because of their dour
content, I’ll point out that the
move from Classicism to
Romanticism is the transition
from dance music, delightful
music, to drama, passion,
powerful emotions, dirges,
therefore, are not out of place,
however mournful

thus the two most famous
funeral marches, Beethoven’s,
Chopin’s, the third movement
in either of their home sonatas

the clincher for me was the
immaculate performance of
the Chopin here, a revelatory
moment, though the Beethoven,
significantly earlier, the tune,
1801, 1837, is nevertheless
unimpeachable, however still
underdeveloped – four variations
only in the first movement, for
instance, and all of them
elementary – the caterpillar had
not yet become the butterfly, the
apple blossom the apple

note that each movement in the
Chopin, apart from the last, has
two distinct tempi, executed
effortlessly and nearly
imperceptibly, a total of six, you
can’t see, you can’t hear, the
seams as you listen, which, with
its virtual therefore episodes,
conflicting and tortuous
emotions, constitute collectively
a drama, a narrative, music has
become literature

the last movement of the Chopin
moves beyond even tempo –
Beethoven’s also, incidentally,
nearly – creating therefore a
very challenge to it, both trying
to transcend tempi, an area to
closely watch

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no 12

Chopin’s Piano Sonata no 2

take your pick

both are supremely, mark,
instructive

R ! chard

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June 2, 2018

Minuets in G – Bach / Mozart / Beethoven

“The Minuet“ (1866)

John Everett Millais

_________

having pointed out that the minuet
and the waltz were historically
related, let me somewhat
extrapolate

they are both in 3/4 time, which is
to say, three quarter-notes to the
bar, which means that when
you’re dancing, your beat is one,
two, three, one two three, with
the accent, usually, on the first
note

so what happened, how could two
identical frameworks turn out so
differently

here’s Bach, 1725, his Minuet in G
the first thing you’ll think is, o, so
that’s what that is, it is an iconic
number written on our collective
consciousness

the second thing you’ll notice is
that it is choppy, however delightful,
that it is written for a harpsichord,
and that it’s probably not ready,
despite it’s 3/4 time, to be a waltz,
too many curtsies

here’s Mozart, 1762, his Minuet in G
though you might not want to admit
it, I suspect this number is much
more present in your subconscious
than you’d think, see if you don’t
find yourself later on humming it

but it’s still way too polite to be a
waltz, you can easily imagine the
partners, hands held high together
around their imaginary maypole,
courting, but there’s a touch more
fluidity in the progression of the
notes, it is written for a fortepiano,
an instrument that has added the
hold, or the sustain, pedal to the
harpsichord to increase a note’s
resonance, a loosening of the
earlier constraints of that
quintessentially Baroque
instrument, a cannily apt
metaphor, take into account, for
the unfolding cultural r/evolution

here’s Beethoven, 1796, his Minuet
in G, you’ve heard this one too

the Revolution has taken place,
but entrenched in the music of an
earlier era, the beat remains the
same, this is not a waltz, despite
it’s 3/4 progression

you’ll note, however, more spin
to the cadences, more give, more
elasticity, much of this has to do
with the development of the
central instrument, which was
about to become a pianoforte,
instead of a fortepiano, but
‘nough said about that, I’ll let
you feel it

here’s Chopin, 1833, his Grande
valse brillante, Opus 18, written
for itself, the piano, it is indeed
a waltz, the difference is in the
piano’s ever evolving flexibility,
again a metaphorical expression
of, or an avatar for, the unleashing
of personal freedom, an idea spun
ineradicably from the lessons of
the French, and the, incidentally,
nearly simultaneous, 1776, 1789,
American Revolutions

for better or for worse

R ! chard

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Richibi’s Weblog

Category: in search of beauty

July 6, 2018

Piano Sonata no 17, opus 31, no 2 “The Tempest” – Beethoven

July 5, 2018

Piano Concerto no. 9 – Mozart

July 3, 2018

Piano Concerto no. 5, opus 73, “Emperor” – Beethoven

July 1, 2018

Violin Concerto no. 1 – Paganini

June 30, 2018

so you think you can be a soloist – Beethoven / Paganini / Chopin

June 23, 2018

twice upon a violin concerto – Beethoven / Paganini

June 14, 2018

off my top – from Bach to Beethoven

June 9, 2018

twice upon a “Pastorale” – Beethoven

June 5, 2018

twice upon a dirge – Beethoven / Chopin

June 2, 2018

Minuets in G – Bach / Mozart / Beethoven