“Années de pèlerinage”, 3rd Year – Liszt
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Category: Liszt
February 18, 2019
on a personal note
“Roses“ (c.1886)
John Singer Sargent
____________
on a personal note, since I prefer longer
pieces, something I can sink my teeth
into – I like them when they’re long, I
always say – which led me into spending
33 years with Proust, for instance, page
by page, so that I could breathe it in, him,
I tend to veer towards music with several
movements, be they serial, as in sonatas,
symphonies, concertos, Classically
speaking, of course, or haphazard, as
in the more loosely associated suites
rather than smelling merely the rose,
as in a simple waltz, nocturne, étude,
I want to revel in the aroma of an
entire garden
therefore the three hours of Liszt‘s
“Années de pèlerinage“, for example,
even Wagner‘s daunting five hour
operas, individual portions of his
towering, indeed epic, four-part
“Ring” cycle, enthral me
these are high masses, and if you
subscribe to the faith, the experience
they allow can be transformational,
however such may still be,
nevertheless, a mere rose, a mere,
but epiphanic, rose, as is, for
instance, the exquisite Opus 10, no 3
of Chopin, “Tristesse”, or “Sadness“,
inveterately, for me
a rose, a creation as unique as we
are, in our shared, however unevenly
apportioned, mortality, proud, sturdy,
protected by thorns, even, meanwhile,
as we are, in our own manner, against
our own existential vicissitudes
but vibrant, also, ever, drenched in
any of its several arresting colours,
fragrant, poised, full of perfect grace,
as we should be ourselves, I’ve told
myself, not only with regard to their
beauty, but to their inspiration,
whether a deity exists that we
might be beholden to, incidentally,
or not
Shostakovich has something poignant
to say about that, also Beethoven, but
that’s another story, for later, maybe,
however, either, powerfully
consequential
until then, l’important, as we sing in
French, c’est la rose
or heed, it says, in other, but
nevertheless ever instructive words,
the wisdom of very nature
I live by it
R ! chard
February 15, 2019
“Années de pèlerinage”, 2nd Year – Liszt
“Petrarch“ (c.1450)
Andrea del Castagno
___________
for John, who would’ve
been 60 today
though the suite might’ve started with
Bach’s string of dance pieces in the
early 18th Century, it becomes evident
during the 19th Century, after a lapse
of nearly 100 years, while it fell into
disfavour, that its resurrection as a
valid musical form might’ve kept the
original structure, which is to say its
several separate parts to make up a
whole, its movements, but that it
now was serving a different purpose
where music had, through to the early
Romantic Period, followed dance
rhythms, or variations of tempo,
adagio, andante, allegro, and the like,
it now presented itself as a background
for settings, be it ballets, as in
Tchaikovsky’s, plays, as in Edvard
Grieg’s celebrated , “Peer Gynt Suite“,
after Ibsen‘s eponymous play,
specific locations, as in Debussy’s
“Children’s Corner“, or more
expansively, both geographically
and in its compositional length,
these very “Années de pèlerinage”
of Liszt
this is in keeping with the exploration
of consciousness of that era, which
would lead to not only Impressionism,
but to Freud, and the others, and the
development of psychoanalysis
you’ll note that music seems much
more improvisational in Liszt than in
Chopin, or Beethoven, prefiguring
already even jazz, more evocative,
less emotional, more personal, not
generalized, idiosyncratic, a direct
development of the newly acquired
concept of democracy, one man, at
the time, one vote, one, indeed,
voice, however individual, however
even controversial
listen, for instance, to Liszt’s “Années
de pèlerinage”, 2nd Year, Italy
1. Sposalizio
2. Il penseroso
3. Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa
4. Sonetto 47 del Petrarca
5. Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
6. Sonetto 123 del Petrarca
7. Après une lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata
today you can listen to suites
from famous films, for instance
“Blade Runner“, the beat, in
other words, goes on
but note the renovations, find them,
I dare you, you’ll be surprised at
your unsuspected perspicacity
listen
R ! chard
September 22, 2018
Piano Concerto no 3 in E-flat major, opus 75 – Tchaikovsky
______________
if I’m including Tchaikovsky’s Third,
and last, Piano Concerto in my survey,
it’s not because of its excellence, it is,
indeed, severely flawed, but because
I am a completist – if I’m visiting the
Cologne Cathedral, ergo, for instance,
I’ll make my way to the very top,
however treacherous might be the
stairs, the gargoyles being worth it,
not to mention the view
first of all, it’s incomplete, Tchaikovsky
died before finishing it, you can’t blame
him for that, though he was, curiously,
complicit in his own demise, but I don’t
believe this composition and his death
are that intimately interrelated
it has only one movement, but has
nevertheless been termed a concerto
on the, debatably unsound, strength
of its intention
briefly, and this is my opinion, the
movement has no lyrical moment,
no melting melody to float you out
of the recital hall as you exit,
nothing to hum, nor to whistle as
you wistfully wend your way back
home, nothing to remember but
flash, braggadocio, bombast,
expert fingers strutting their
dazzling, even, stuff, style over
substance, I venture, won’t be
enough to whisk you into the
following centuries
Chopin, the other towering Romantic
figure standing between the spiritual
bookends of Beethoven and Brahms,
wrote two piano concertos, of which
his Second suffers from, essentially,
not being his First, however mighty
his Second here, for instance,
proves to be in this utterly convincing
performance, watch, wow
Beethoven, in other words, wrote the
book, two works, Tchaikovsky’s First
and Chopin’s First, tower above his
in the public imagination during the
ensuing High Romantic Period, after
which Brahms closes the door on the
era with his two powerful masterpieces
for piano and orchestra
of which more later
there are other piano concertos
along the way, but Beethoven’s
five, Tchaikovsky’s and Chopin’s
one each, and Brahms two are
the basics – but let me add, upon
further consideration, and for a
a perfect ten options, Liszt, his
own, of two, First Piano Concerto –
what you need to consider yourself
comfortably aware of the essentials
of music in the 19th Century, the
culture’s predominant voice then,
until art, painting, took over as the
Zeitgeist‘s most expressive medium
with Impressionism
of which more later
R ! chard
July 27, 2018
“Lament From Epirus” – Christopher King
“Blind Man’s Portion“ (1903)
________
though you’ll have to actively listen
to Christopher King rather than
merely hear him here, as you might
have been doing with many of my
suggested musical pieces, should
you be at all interested in the history
of music, he is fascinating, dates his
investigations back millennia to very
Epirus, Ancient, nearly primordial,
Greece, to mirologia there, ancient
funerary chants
some have survived, and have been
recorded for posterity, one, in 1926,
by a Greek exile fled to New York City,
Alexis Zoumbas, a year later, however
improbably, by an American, a blind
man, his own story inspirational, akin
to that of Epictetus, one of the two
iconic Stoic philosophers, the other,
incidentally, an emperor, though the
blind man here, Willie Johnson, was
never himself a slave, but only, by a
historical whisker, the emancipations
of the American Civil War
Christopher King‘s comparison
of an Epirotic miralogi with an
American one brings up, for me,
the difference between Mozart
and Beethoven, notice how the
Willie Johnson version is more
rhythmic, the cadence is much
more pronounced than in the
Greek one, Johnson would’ve
got that from the musical
traditions Europeans had
brought over from their native
continent, probably also from
Africa, Africans
Beethoven would’ve been
surrounded, meanwhile, by Roma,
perhaps called gypsies then, their
music ever resonant in his culture,
not to mention later Liszt‘s, and
the Johann Strausses’ even, for
that matter, Paganini also seems
to have been imbued with it, it
having come up from Epirus
through, notably, Hungary – not
to mention, later still, that music’s
influence, and I’ll stop there, on
late 19th-Century Brahms
Christopher King, incidentally,
sounds a lot like someone you
already know, I think, from his
eschewing – Gesundheit – cell
phones, for instance, to his
enduring preoccupation with
death, not to mention his
endearing modesty, indeed
his humility, his easy
self-deprecation, despite his,
dare I say, incontestable, and
delightful, erudition
makes one wonder why that
other hasn’t become also
famous yet
what do you think
R ! chard
May 25, 2018
32 Variations in C Minor, WoO.80 – Beethoven
“Variations in Violet and Grey – Market Place“ (1885)
___________
strolling through my virtual musical park
today, in, indeed, the very merry month
of May, I was taken by surprise by, nearly
tripped over, in fact, a Beethoven work,
written in the very year, 1806, of the
“Razumovsky”s
I’d overlooked it cause it is without an
opus number, is listed, therefore, as
WoO.80, and is, consequently, easily
lost in the wealth of Beethoven’s
more prominently identified pieces,
but it is utterly miraculous, I think,
and entirely indispensable
I’d said something about it in an earlier
text, back when I was somewhat more
of a nerd, it would appear, perhaps even
a little inscrutable, though it’s
nevertheless, I think, not uninformative,
you might want to check it out, despite
its platform difficulties
the 32 Variations in C Minor are shorter,
at an average of 11 minutes, than Chopin’s
“Minute Waltz”, relatively, a variation every
half minute, where Chopin’s nevertheless
magical invention takes twice that to
complete its proposition
but in this brief span of time, this more
or less 11 minutes, Beethoven takes
you to the moon and back
a few things I could add to my earlier
evaluation, could even be reiterating,
Beethoven in his variations explores a
musical idea, turns it in every which
direction, not much different from what
he does in the individual movements of
his string quartets, his trios, his
symphonies, concertos and sonatas,
with their essential themes, motives,
they’re all – if you’ll permit an idea I got
from Paganini’s “Caprices” – cadenzas,
individual musings inspirationally
extrapolated, which, be they for
technical brilliance, or for a yearning
for a more spiritual legacy, set the
stage for a promise of forthcoming
excellence
this dichotomy will define the
essential bifurcated paths of the
musical industry, during, incidentally,
the very Industrial Revolution, their
mutual history, confrontation, for the
centuries to follow, which is to say,
their balance between form and
function, style versus substance,
Glenn Gould versus Liberace, say,
or Chopin, Liszt
before this, it’d been the more
sedate, less assertive evenings at
the Esterházys, to give you some
perspective, mass markets were
about to come up, not least in the
matter of entertainment
Beethoven was, as it were, already
putting on a show
R ! chard
psst: these alternate “Variations” put you in
the driver’s seat, a pilot explains the
procedures, it’s completely absorbing,
insightful, listen
February 20, 2018
Cyprien Katsaris in Budapest
Cyprien Katsaris
________
if there’s only one concert you see
this week – I would’ve said this year
but I have way too many irresistible
concerts to promote – make it this
one, like none I’ve ever seen before,
Cyprien Katsaris, who wowed us in
my last encomium, delivers, not one,
but two concertos, when emotionally
I can usually deal with only one
but you can pause between the pieces,
like I did, to wipe a tear or two away
after the adagios, which remind me,
always, of my beloved, John
but that’s another story
Katsaris starts with an improvisation,
which he elucidates as an art form
much more expertly than I would,
then delivers a stunning rendition of
his mastery of that gift
though I couldn’t identify the first part
of it, the melting melody in the last
section of his homage to, essentially,
the Romantic Period, rushed back
memories for me of a piece I could
never forget, the music from Fellini’s
heartbreaking masterpiece “La Strada“
– listen, listen – right out of Romantic
Period idioms, its very story even, like
Dickens’ “Oliver Twist“, his Little Nell
from the “The Old Curiosity Shop“,
staples of my adolescence, married
to a nearly mythic lyrical invention
let me add that improvisations have
been an integral part of concertos for
a very long time, the cadenzas, an
interpolation by the performing artist,
hir riff, a strutting of hir stuff, late
in the, usually final, movement, a
consequence, incidentally, of the
more forward, individualistic,
18th-Century progression towards
individual rights, some left to the
performing artist, but many
prescribed by the composer himself,
where, here, I must, gender sensitive
myself, unceremoniously interject to
explain my deference to the
designation above, “himself“, to male
merely composers, who were then the
only ones, however culturally ignobly,
to nevertheless shape our quite, I
think, extraordinary musical trajectory,
for better, of course, or for worse
in this instance, I suspect Katsaris
wrote his own cadenzas for the
Mozart, notice his arm at the end of
the first movement fly up in an
especial transport, and in the last
movement, watch his very
exuberance mark the spot, but I
couldn’t put it past Mozart to have
written something so historically
visionary
Bach, incidentally, wasn’t doing
cadenzas, so don’t look for them
the two concertos that follow the
improvisation, Bach’s, my favourite
of his – you’ll understand why when
you hear it – then Mozart’s 21st –
everyone’s favourite – are both
played transcendentally
consider the difference in period,
the earlier Baroque, with Bach’s
notes skipping along inexorably,
the pace required by the
harpsichord, which didn’t have
hold pedals to allow notes to
resonate, the music moves along
therefore nearly minimalistic tracks,
a pace, and musical motif, that don’t
stop, they keep on chugging, until
they reach their destination, their,
as it were, station, or even their
stasis
Mozart’s music is as effervescent,
but conforms to a different cadence,
where a theme is presented, then a
musical, and contrasting, second,
with recapitulation, sometimes
merely partial, which is to say that
the call and response dynamic of
the dance, or for that matter, by
extension, modern ballads, is
being established, codified, and
elucidated
an era has intervened
then as an encore, Katsaris delivers,
not a cream puff, but Liszt, of all
people, we’re used to performers
giving us trifles at this point, but not
Katsaris
then to top it all off, he plays the Chopin
you thought you’d never ever hear again,
but here immaculate and utterly
inspirational
the orchestra alone performs after the
intermission, works by Ravel and Bizet,
surprisingly similar, I thought, the two
composers, in their musical idiom, the
use of the winds as metaphors, for
instance, for originality, eccentricity,
unmitigated poetry within the context
of what is not unnatural
neither is either composer adverse to
atonality, they work in textures, instead
of melodies, all of which is very
Impressionistic, see of course Monet
and others for historical reference
did I say I want to be Cyprien Katsaris
when I grow up, well there, it’s said,
he’s lovely
R ! chard
February 13, 2018
String Quartet in B flat, Opus 55, no 3 – Haydn
“Queen Marie Antoinette of France“ (1783)
Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
___________________
first of all, let me grievously repent an
egregious confusion I probably left
in my last diatribe, I said that the second
movement of the Opus 54, no 2 sounded
to me like a minuet, I had, through
embarrassing inattention, confused its,
however unmemorable, adagio with that
of this Opus 55, no 3, which I’d listened
to in too quick succession, driven as I
am by my thirst for epiphanies
the Opus 54, no 2 will do, but I’m not
going back for seconds, nor to the
Opus 55, no 3, though here’s where
I flaunt nevertheless Haydn, not to
mention Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,
all the way to eventually Bruckner,
Brahms, the extraordinary Richard
Wagner, passing through Schubert,
Mendelssohn, the Strausses, father
and son, and the unrelated Strauss,
Richard, another incontrovertible
giant, and I nearly left out the
unforgettable Liszt, all of them
forefathers of our present music
you might have noticed that these
are all Germanic names, obedient
to the Hapsburg empire, with
Vienna as its supreme cultural
capital, and it was that
Austro-Hungarian dynasty that
indeed nearly single-handedly
secured our Western musical
traditions
a few Italians are remembered,
from the 18th Century, Scarlatti
maybe, Boccherini, Albinoni,
but not many more
no one from France, but they were
about to have a revolution, not a
good time for creative types,
though, incidentally, Haydn was
getting Tost, to whom he was
dedicating his string quartets for
services rendered, to sell his stuff
in very Paris
then again, Marie Antoinette, I thought,
was Austrian, an even archduchess,
and would’ve loved some down-home
music at nearby Versailles
so there you are, there would’ve been
a market
the English had Handel, of course,
who was, albeit, German, getting
work where he could when you
consider his competition, he was
too solemn and plodding by half,
to my mind, for the more
effervescent, admittedly Italianate,
continentals, Italy having led the
way earlier with especially its
filigreed and unfettered operas
but here’s Haydn’s Opus 55, no 3
nevertheless, the best Europe had
to offer, socking it to them
Haydn’s having a hard time, I think,
moving from music for at court to
recital hall music, music for a much
less genteel clientele, however
socially aspiring, we still hear
minuets, and obeisances all over
the place, despite a desire to
nevertheless dazzle, impress
then again, I’m not the final word, as
my mea culpa above might express,
you’ll find what eventually turns
your own crank, floats your own
boat, as you listen
which, finally, is my greatest wish
R ! chard
December 19, 2017
Symphony no 14, opus 135 – Dmitri Shostakovich
“Portrait of Shostakovich“ (1976)
_______
though I’d feared undertaking Shostakovich’s
14th Symphony – it would be a set of eleven
movements, each setting its own poem to
music, poems by Federico García Lorca,
Guillaume Apollinaire, Rainer Maria Rilke,
and one Wilhelm Küchelbecher, translated
from their respective languages into Russian,
compounded by once again the fact that this
wasn’t either a symphony, but strictly speaking
a song cycle – I found the 14th Symphony to be,
counterintuitively, a triumph, all the issues I’d
earlier listed as compositional misadventures
– the play of voice and instruments, the dangers
of using a single singer, one pitch, to anchor an
orchestral work – had been dealt with expertly,
all the obbligatos, even, were back, I couldn’t
wait to hear it again
Schubert had done several song cycles,
“Die Schöne Müllerin“, “Schwanengesang“,
“Winterreise“, for instance, sad stories,
steeped in Romantic torment, not unlike,
still in 1969, Shostakovich the 14th
Schubert, though, accompanies with just a
piano
but a music cycle, without voice this one,
no poems, just musical ones, of Liszt, his
“Années de pèlerinage“, his “Years as a
Pilgrim“, three years, one, two, three,
1835 through to 1838, travelling through
Switzerland and Italy, is consummate,
ethereal, exquisite, and goes on for a
few utterly enchanting hours
one New Year’s Eve, I sat before a cozy fire,
comfortable on my fluffy sofa, cuddled up
in the several picturesque melodies along
the musical way, like station stops on a
train
I did the entire trip with him, nearly three
hours, the music like a sonic looking glass,
a hearing glass, a hearing film, not only
transparent, but transcendental, into a
very wonderland, beyond even its mere
incidental geography
that’s what art does, and music, when
you look, listen
enjoy
R ! chard
July 11, 2015
at the XVth International Tchaikovsky Competition – Daniel Kharitonov, ll
_________
there ‘ve been extraordinary
performances since Maria Mazo‘s
defining reinvention of Mozart’s
21st Piano Concerto, the “Elvira
Madigan”, at the XVth International
Tchaikovsky Competition, worthy
of, believe me, fruitful commentary,
but for the sake of brevity and, of
course, indiscretion, I’ve refrained
from going on and on, and on,
about however many of them, all,
nevertheless, quite outstanding
but before even the end of Daniel
Kharitonov‘s final and deciding
performance, of Tchaikovsky’s
indomitable 1st Piano Concerto,
followed by whatever by Liszt,
he has, like Maria Mazo, here
given us a new standard for
hearing these indelible musical
epics, she takes over from
Mitsuko Uchida, goddess of
Mozart, he takes over from very
Van Cliburn, you’ve got to go
back to 1958 to have heard
this commanding thunder
Kharitonov is sixteen, a bud
becoming a flower
wow, no matter who wins
Richard
psst: his Liszt, incidentally, will
restore your faith in Liszt
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