Economics Business Music Politics Altruism : April 2010

Schumann 200th Anniversary-Kinderszenen Op 15 No 7 in F major "Träumerei/Dreaming"

The week has been very interesting for me as I started my gear shift on my new job and started to explore new possibilities. It was also because of my job that necessitated me to re-connect with someone I know long time ago whom I know to be very passionate about classical music. After the business talk with him was done, I asked him where was he on the classical music front and told him that I have just written a review of Chopin Etudes earlier this week because this year is Chopin 200th year anniversary as he was born in 1810. He then asked me how about Robert Schumann and I said I love his music as well sad that he had a rough ride in life living part of his life being institutionalized in a mental asylum but he has Clara as his wife who stood by his side come what may and also a good friend Johannes Brahms. This was where we sort of disagreed, his took the view that Brahms was there more because of his love for Clara rather than for Schumann himself. Since the scholars cannot agree on this, we agreed to disagree. He then reminded me that this year is also Schumann 200th year anniversary but most probably forgotten because Chopin might have been a larger personality than Schumann. Since I love Schumann music as well, I shall help elevate it by writing about it and hopefully more people would notice it thereafter.

Schumann like Chopin love the piano. Whilst Chopin composed exclusively for the piano or pieces that involves the piano, Schumann likewise did the same until 1840 when he started to compose other genre. I previously wrote a review of his Symphony No. 4 and also noted then that Schumann was an avid composer of piano music.

I have always touted the maxim that one should listen to the complete work to appreciate the beauty of the entire composition and not listen to snippets of popular movements but I would have to break my own rule and start writing on a snippet here. The piece Träumerei or Dreaming is taken from the seventh piece of his Kinderszenen or Scenes from childhood Op 15 composed when he was about 28 so it must have been his re-collection of his childhood. This piece was made popular when it was adopted the theme song for the 1944 movie on Robert Schumann. It was titled by the film director as Song of Love to signify Clara's love for Schumann. Perhaps the director did it deliberately due to the movingly romantic hues of the piece or out of ignorance of the background of the piece.

Since then, the piece has appeared in various arrangements in addition to the original piano arrangements. Some of the arrangements that I have come across are cello/piano, violin/piano, orchestra/cello. The piano arrangement has also been graded as a grade 3 piece by ABRSM and therefore within the capabilities of most pianists.

1.Cello Adagios,Decca,Bruno Canino/Lynn Harrell,2:54 CD1 Track 9

2.Travels with my Cello,Philips,Julian Lloyd Webber, English Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas Cleobury,3:32 Track 4

3.Ultimate Violin,Decca,Arthur Gruimax,Istvan Hajdu, CD5 Track 4,2:33

4.Schumann: Piano Works,DG,Wilhelm Kempff, CD2 Track 20

Of the 4, I still like the 4th recording though it is dated and sonically not that great because of the state of technology then. It is clean, crisp and transparent. Wilhelm Kempff though a noted pianist during his era has been touted by some of his critic as being just average in terms of his Schumann pieces but I think most probably to this piece as it is a grade 3 piece and how wrong can a maestro go on such pieces. The version by Julian Lloyd Weber with the English Chamber Orchestra did not go down too well with me as the arrangement seems to be too cluttered as I feel that the beauty of this piece is in the clean and simplistic arrangement but played with lots of emotions and melancholy and it suits either a piano only arrangement or a violin/piano or cello/piano. In particular, I thought the cello/piano version by Bruno Canino and Lynn Harrell particularly melancholic.

Cheers,,,,,Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Chopin Etudes Op. 10 No 3 in E major "Tristesse"

As we celebrate Chopin's 200th birthday as he was born in 1810, I began collecting and more importantly listening to Chopin pieces because being a al cheapo, retailers were offering Chopin pieces at a discount. I have written previously on Chopin Piano Concerto and his Nocturnes, I shall now embark on another genre of his composition; Etudes. Etudes translated into English means study or more correctly studies in Piano. Chopin is about the only composer that centered all his works around the Piano. Even his piano concertos, Cello concertos etc all had a strong piano part in it. The Piano is used by other composers because of its polyphonic nature to minimick an orchestra and other genres like quartet etc but Chopin saw the Piano as a performing platform by itself rather than a means to try out new multi-player genres.

Chopin composed a total of two sets of Etudes published as Op. 10 and Op. 25. Our attention is focused on the third piece of the first set of Etudes which has been named "Tristesse" by Chopin himself which means sadness. Some scholars are of the opinion that this piece was composed when Chopin heard that his motherland Poland has been occupied forcibly by the Russians but this does not seems to tie in chronologically as there were more facts pointing to the entire Op. 10 being published when he was 23 years old which is before the Russian occupation. Anyway, sadness is the theme of this piece no matter what the root of his sadness. The fact that Chopin put a name to this piece is of significance as he did not name all this Etudes save for a handful of them.

This piece is also known for its romatic fluidity as Chopin himself commented later on in his life as follows. "In all my life I have never again been able to find such a beautiful melody." I actually thought his Piano Concerto No. 1 as his greatest piece of work always but anyhow, the maestoro opinion counts more than mine. Herbert Weinstock in his biography on Chopin that "if it is realtively easy to play, it is maddeningly diffcult to play well." Actually this comment most probably refers to the Theme portion of the piece as the other two portions; Variations and Iterations are no child's play with some of the more difficult chromatic chord manipulations. Chopin has actually meant a steady 2/4 beat of Lento ma non-troppo but many interpreters has taken liberty in following their heart instead of pursuing technical excellence over the years. I tend to agree as the later recordings has a more varied tempo then the older ones and I find the more modern recording more befitting style wise for playing this beautiful romantic piece. The same biographer also went on to comment that "No lesser pianist should play it except to himself." This makes it like the Bible that can be plainly understood by laymen but has enough depth to drown many a biblical scholar.

Enough about the generalistes of the piece and I have done a comparison of the piece with the following. I have decided to excludes transciptions for other instrueents and cross over versions. Please forgive my purists pursuit o this note as cross over artists occupy a different part of my heart when it comes to music and this is a very peronal opinion.

1.Chopin:The Complete Etudes, Earl Wild, Chesky Records 4:30

2.Chopin the Complete Works, Garrick Ohlssohn, Hyperion 4:20

3.Chopin Etudes, Murray Perahia,Sony Classical, 3:51

Chopin Etudes, Murray Perahia,Sony Classical

4.Favourite Chopin, Vladimir Ashkenazy,Decca, 4:21

Of these 4 pieces that I have listened over and over again, my vote goes to Ashkenazy as he seems to playing though Chopin;s hand literally. Technically, Perahia is most probably the most consistent. I find the Earl Wild a bit over the top in terms of personalizing the piece by injecting his entire being into it. Ohlsson who is a well regarded Chopin figure seems to have something missing overall in the piece although I cannot fault any portion of the piece but the sum of the parts somehow did not add up.

I shall try to continue to write on Chopin after having bought quite a number of Chopin CDs of late and tune in soon.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter.blogspot.com

"The Pianist"-Chopin Nocturne No. 20 in C# Minor-Sequel

Some weeks ago, I wrote on the connection between Chopin Piano Concerto #1 and the high acclaimed show "The Pianist" which was played towards the end of the show. Chopin Nocturne No. 20 in C# minor Opus Posth is the other piece which the famous Polish director Roman Polanski has chosen for the film. Not a surprising move that both pieces are by Chopin who is Polish like he is. In fact the show centered around Polish/Jewish life in Nazi occupied Warsaw during the Second World War. There were some debate about how many Nocturnes Chopin actually wrote and it would be 18, 20 or 21 depending on which persuasion you belong to.

The first 18 Nocturnes were common ground held by all and sundry as being Chopin. However, some question marks were placed over Nocturnes 19, 20 and 21 for a few reasons. Firstly, there was no solid evidence beyond any shadow of doubt that Chopin has endorsed them. Secondly, there is some circumstantial evidence based on the style and third party accounts on these pieces that point to him being the composer. Because of this debate, these 3 Nocturnes were assigned larger numbers although they point to an earlier conception but the gestation was most probably long and the delivery of dubious nature.

This piece was conceived as a Piano Nocturnes but has been delivered in a few arrangements like and arrangement for Piano and Violin by the famous violinist Nathan Milstein that many are very critical of and it is also the shortest clocking about 3 and a half minutes compared a shade above 4 minutes for the original. This could have been due to the limitation of 78 rpm LPs that could not accommodate pieces beyond 4 minutes. Craig Leon also did a concerto for violin ( and perhaps the harp should also be acknowledged as it is fairly visible throughout although mainly as apogees )arrangement with an orchestra. In this concerto like arrangement, the orchestra party is very subdued so I would not dare call it a concerto but only concerto like.

The piece is definitely very melancholic in nature throughout that suddenly transforms into a major keyed chorus pointing to lushness and hope before falling back to melancholic minor again. Chopin like some composers like Haydn like to have a false ending and in this piece, it happens roughly just after the 2 minute mark. It is not uncommon to have some audience starting to clap at this juncture. If you do not want to be embarrassed or be a faux culture vulture, beware of this bear trap but one can always give an excuse that Chopin is not on my radar.

For this review, I listened to five different versions; 3 were based on original piano only arrangements played by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Garrick Ohlssohn and Yundi Li all of which are very renowned pianist with Ohlssohn and Li having some claim to being Chopin sub-specialist especially Ohlsson who has recorded the entire Chopin collection; Nathan Milstein arrangement played by violinist Ruggiero Ricci and pianist Ernest Lush which is also not small standing in classical music fame during their era; last but not the least, we have an violin Joshua Bell that some critics has labelled as having gone to the dark side in Star Wars speak as being a classical crossover artist with Craig Leon himself conducting the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

I have always loved Ashkenazy both as a pianist as well as a conductor and his handling of this piece is very emotive and involved and yet way ward technically given how equally he has executed the odd numbered notes like the triplets and thrills. For Ohlsson's version, you should pay pay very close attention to volumetric control for a piece that has many single noted accents. His control of the sustain pedal is also extraordinary well done so that there is enough of it to create legato like without sounding muddied. What surprise me most was Yundi Li which I have commented as normally being overly zealous but he showed control and maturity in this piece. The album is very recent as it was only recorded in November 2009 and January 2010 in Zurich. Perhaps he could have matured with age or the cold wintry months has evoked his melancholicism into the piece.

Joshua Bell's playing concerto like arrangement was hard to fault and yet difficult to put a handle on what was exceptional. The most obvious grace so how well Craig Leon controlled an almost oblivion to let the violin and harp shine in the piece and rightly so. Although the recording quality of the playing by Ruggiero Ricci of Nathan Milstein arrangement together with Ernest Lush was my favorite although the background hiss is visible in these older recording. Ricci's bowing was as if the bow was an extension of his hands tugging at his own heart strings. I am now a little confused if Chopin intended this piece for the piano only or transfer-ably between the piano and violin as a piano does not have the legato of a violin. The violin on the other hand does not have the overlapping sustain and reverb effect possible in a piano

Enough comments about the pieces and now for those who might like to have the exact recordings that I used:

1. Ultimate Chopin 5 CD set - CD3 Track 6 - Vladimir Ashkenazy - Decca 475 8046

2. Chopin the Complete Works by Garrick Ohlsson 16CD set - CD 9 Track 9 - Hyperion CDS44351/66

3. Frederic Chopin - Complete Nocturnes - Yundi Li - 2 CD set - CD2 Track 8 - EMI Classics 5 099960 839121

4. The Essential Joshua Bell - 2 CD set - CD1 Track 3 - Sony/BMG 0 886970 741620

5. Virtuoso Violin - Ruggeiro Ricci - 2 CD set - CD1 Track 13 - Decca 458 191-2

Happy listening. Cheers Pete aka lkypeter

Symphonic April Fool

The day 1st April has been a day of jokes or joke of THE day in the year. Whatever its origin, I never bothered to find out but when I started my interest in composer Jospeh Haydn, I found out that he was born on 1st April 1732 but some musicians have actually opined that he was born the day before instead and the 1st April date was a joke. However, the more widely accepted date of his birth is 1st April 1732.

Haydn broke the record of having composed the most numbers of symphonies; to be exact 104 in all. I have been trying to collect his full collection of symphonies but it was effort in vain as it was 104 too many. I came across a complete compilation of all his 104 symphonies in one of the online stores in UK and it was recorded by a single conductor and orchestra; Adam Fischer conducting the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra on Brilliant Classics (99925) on 33 red book CDs. Did some poking around on the internet and found this be to pretty well recommended and decided to take a click of faith and swiped out my credit card to order it together with some other CDs and part of the order arrived yesterday which contains the 33 CDs Haydn set. How timely for this article.

I have listened only to the first CD which contains his first 5 symphonies and it was my first time hearing these 5 symphonies as I my collection tendered to sway towards his later symphonies especially those composed in London. It is always very refreshing to hear the embryonic works and contrast it with the later works to see the progression overtime. In classical music speak, symphonies is largely considered the epitome amongst genres like concertos, sonatas, suites, songs etc as it is normally the most complex genre of classical music.

Although Haydn cannot be credited with the title of inventor of symphonies but he was the earliest to championed the genre to a level of popularity and sophistication that no one can hold a candle to. In my opinion, Haydn is most probably a systematic and tradition bound musician as he has sticked to the 4 movement rule for symphonies for most of his symphonic works. Even in cases where he uses the 3 movements template, there is a almost consistent fast/slow/fast transition between the movements typical of this genre.

The link between Haydn and Mozart has been widely debated but I would lean closer to the understanding that Mozartis not likely to be a disciple of Haydn as the two rarely meets physically as they were in different places and both have a healthy dose of respect for each others music. Haydn has remakred that "Mozart is the greatest composer of the world" shortly after the premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Mozart likewise dedicated a set of 6 string quartets to Haydn. During his relatively shorter life on planet earth, Mozart composed a total to 41 symphonies and this by no means a feat considering his contribution to other genres like Operas, Concertos etc.

The next person on my list is Beethoven who was a pupil of Haydn. Although he only composed 9 symphonies during his life time besides other classical genres, but his name supersedes that of Haydn and Mozart if we were to do a random street straw poll of whom you think are the most popular composer of classical music. Perhaps someone might want to take this up as an experiment? Part of the reason could be the all time popularity of his 5th and 9th symphonies that has been the subjected to many treacherous interpretations by many crossover artists.

My last worthy mention which is most probably as important as the former 3 is Brahms. He was the youngest of the 4 composers and it is in my opinion the torch bearer for symphonic genre as symphonic music has had its renaissance and was beginning to waiver in popularity with the accent of modernistic music by the likes of Liszt. Although he composed a total of 4 symphonies, he has stayed faithful to the symphonic genre by sticking to the tradition bound symphonic structure under the onslaught of modernist and neo-classical appeal of the public. He could have been a good politician as he has done this not so much by throwing insinuations with modernism and neo-classicalism camp but by promoting how good symphonic work is. This is no easy task for a man that has a complex love life. Brahms was good friends to the Schumanns in good and bad times. Robert Schumann has not been a very emotionally stable person and has attempted suicide and was institutionalized in a sanatorium till his death. But Clara Schumann was a model wife in seeing and supporting Robert Schumann in good and bad times. Brahms is believed to have an interest in Clara Schumann but I guess his friendship and his personal moral high ground has prevented him from pursuing Clara romantically even after Robert Schumann's death. The friendship between Brahms and Clara never went further than being platonic although they were good friends and this created a very deep internal struggle in Brahms and this is evident in some of his music as you listen to it closely and with your heart instead of your mind. Brahms did very little by way of commenting on his works and hardly any pre-manuscripts can be found as it seems that Brahms has intended it to be such and destroyed all his work in progress leaving mostly only the final rendition behind.

If I have a life maxim, I would love a Haydn/Mozart like character to grow it. A Beethoven like character to take it to the next plateau and for a Brahms like character to keep the flame going. As for a spouse, it would surely be a Clara like character of in sickness and health, through rich or poor.

Good Friday. Cheers,,,, Peter Lye aka lkypeter.blogspot.com