Monday, December 31

O Magnum Mysterium - Francis Poulenc

Last year's final post was dedicated to Morten Lauridsen's moving "O Magnum Mysterium". I still believe this is one of the most moving and beautiful things I've ever heard. It's humbling that there are still composers who are able to write such glorious music

So, I thought it might be a good idea to say goodbye to 2012 with this same motet, but this time set to music by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), one of the leading French composers of the 20th century. 

This motet is part of Poulenc's Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël, composed in 1952.  It is a magnificent setting. The beginning is quite dark, with unusual harmonies sung by the basses and tenors. But then, in the middle of this darkness the soprano voices emerge like a ray of heavenly light, with a hauntingly beautiful descending melodic line. And then in "Beata Virgo" (1:42), see how the melody and harmony shift in such an unpredictable and ingenious way, bringing freshness to the piece. The music is predominantly minor, both in scale and in mood, except for the final chord which is a reassuring and uplifting major...
 
The words, here below: 

O Magnum Mysterium
et admirabile sacramentum
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum
Beata Virgo cujus viscera
jacentem in praesepio!
meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum
Alleluia!


 My very best wishes for 2013, to all friends of this blog. 

 

 


Sunday, December 30

A New Year Carol by Benjamin Britten

New Year is approaching! Of all the (Western) carols composed for the day (and there are many), I would like to share with you this wonderful melody written by the British composer Benjamin Britten. 

Britten composed this piece in 1934, having discovered the words in Walter de la Mare's anthology entitled "Tom Tiddler's Ground". Apparently, the carol stems from an ancient tradition of blessing the houses in villages by young people, in exchange for a coin

I am not very familiar with the meaning of the lyrics but the words "levy dew" can be interpreted in two ways: it could be a corruption of "levedy" ("Lady"), or (rather) a corruption of the French "Levez a Dieu" ("Raise to God").  

Here is the poem: 

Here we bring new water from the well so clear,
For to worship God with, this happy new year;
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, the water and the wine,
With seven bright gold wires, and bugles that do shine;

Sing reign of fair maid, with gold upon her toe;
Open you the west door and turn the old year go;
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, the water and the wine,
With seven bright gold wires, and bugles that do shine;

Sing reign of fair maid, with gold upon her chin.
Open you the east door and let the new year in!
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, the water and the wine,
With seven bright gold wires, and bugles that do shine.
 


... And here is the music, interpreted by the Dale Warland Singers, a music of unadorned simplicity and beauty...

I hope you will love this carol as much as I do... 





 

  

Wednesday, December 19

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel!"

Talking about Christmas music - its majesty, beauty and wisdom of lyrics- here is one very representative example:
This Carol, O come, O come Emmanuel is one of my favorites. And I find the words of this hymn to be rich in theological depth as well as beautiful in poetic expression. 
The hymn is actually a latin ecclesiastical text dated 8th Century, based on the well-known prophecy of Isaiah. The first verse of the original latin hymn is the following: 

"Veni, veni Emmanuel;
Captivum solve Israel,
Qui gemit in exilio,
Privatus Dei Filio
"


But the English translation is a very succesful one. 

1. O come, O come, Emmanuel!
Redeem thy captive Israel
That into exile drear is gone,
Far from the face of God's dear Son.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

2. O come, thou Branch of Jesse! draw1
The quarry from the lion's claw;
From the dread caverns of the grave,
From nether hell, thy people save.

3. O come, O come, thou Dayspring bright!
Pour on our souls thy healing light;
Dispel the long night's lingering gloom,
And pierce the shadows of the tomb.

4. O Come, thou Lord of David's Key!
The royal door fling wide and free;
Safeguard for us the heavenward road,
And bar the way to death's abode.

5. O come, O come, Adonai,
Who in thy glorious majesty
From that high mountain clothed in awe,
Gavest thy folk the elder Law. 


The best interpretation of this hymn (on youtube), in English, is the performance by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Timothy Brown is the conductor. Here it is!



And here is the (original) Latin version of this hymn, splendidly performed here by L'Accorche-Choeur, Ensemble vocal Fribourg.


 

 

Thursday, December 13

A Word on Christmas Music

Why does Christmas music make my heart be filled with such overwhelming feelings?  Why do I feel like crying every time I hear particular hymns?  I haven't given much thought to the question, but I suspect that this is due to the fact that the sheer beauty of these hymns meets the humble and, at the same time, majestic nature of this particular feast.
In these hymns, human creativity and musicality seems to be in awe before the extraordinary event of the birth of Jesus, before the miracle of God becoming man; and we, humans, strive to achieve our very best in expressing, in word and music, our gratitude and love towards God; this is why Christmas music is often a miracle of ethereal beauty, sweetness and heavenly serenity. There is no other music that can have this power. There is no other music which can have such a transformative effect on one's heart.
Christmas music is mostly vocal music - and the reason is simple: people need to express the happiness, need to share their feelings before the Event - and there is no greater way to express musically your feelings than through singing!  The words of these hymns are not to be ignored - one often comes across poems of deep theological meanings. 
So, Christmas musis seems (to me) to encompass all that is meaningful in this life: love, humility, beauty



Tuesday, December 11

Silent Night... Improvisation for piano and cello

Around 10 minutes before the concert I was talking about in my previous post, I said to D. Gouzios, "why don't we play 'Silent Night' as an encore?" Dimitris said "Is F major ok for you?" I said "fine" and we just played a few bars. When the concert came to an end, I whispered, "how about 'Silent Night' now?"... And so we played, there and then, an improvisation on this sweet Christmas melody....  The person who filmed the concert uploaded the piece, so here it is. Christmas is approaching! 



There are dozens of versions of this beautiful melody that are really inspiring, but the one that speaks more to my heart is the arrangement made by David Hill (not on youtube unfortunately!)... One can find it on the CD "Noel! Choral Music for Christmas".  


 
 

Saturday, December 8

Accompanying Gouzios (Dieleusis Concert Hall)

This took place about a week ago, and I felt really privileged to play with such an outstanding musician: Dimitris Gouzios is the lead cellist of the Athens State Orchestra, and an excellent and very inspiring musician, indeed! 

I've never played with the cello before, and one of the main reasons why I wanted to do so was to be able to perform one of my favorite works of all time - Brahms Cello Sonata in E Minor.  I've already dedicated a post to this work but, having practiced it (a lot) and having played it, I can assure you that this is a very difficult piece of music: it requires intense and unfailling concentration, otherwise the work can easily collapse - this applies mostly to the 3rd movement
The score is typically "Brahmsian" as far as technique and style is concerned, and lots of rehearsal is definitely required, the question of "togetherness" being crucial and not at all easy.  All in all, this is a great and very demanding piece of music, the most difficult chamber music piece I've ever played.  And I thoroughly enjoyed performing it in public. Dimitris had played this work many times in the past, which was reassuring, and was able to give me directions and performing "tips" - much appreciated.

The rest of the program consisted of short, charming pieces chosen by Dimitris, and accompanied by his daughter Myrto (Cello Continuo) -  plus a solo transcription for piano (Volodos/Tchaikovky, "Lullaby in a storm"). Here is the program:  




The really exciting moment was at the end!  The last piece was The Battle of Marathon, composed by Gouzios himself. It begins with a meditativo kind of introduction which prepares the ground for the coming fireworks.  Someone was kind enough to film and record this particular performance, so you can click on the youtube link here below and enjoy it!


 

 

 

Saturday, November 10

Khachaturian - Suite Masquerade - Memory

Have I ever said that I used to present a live radio program on classical music for about four years? It was during my student years, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing this. I must say that this is one of the thing I miss mostly nowadays...
 Anyway, the reason I mention this is that one of the most popular requests from people calling in was the "Masquerade Suite", the exciting work composed by the great Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian
I haven't heard this Suite for quite some time, and I bumped into it today - and the memories (sweet and bitter in equal measure) from my "radio-producing" years came flooding back.
This suite is filled  with strong emotions: passion, tenderness, sweetness, enthusiasm, exhilaration... This is "feel-good" music par excellence!!
The Waltz is the most played/known piece of the set, and rightly so, for it is so powerful, so energetic!
Yet, the Nocturne is, also, lovely, and, as for the Mazurka, I believe it's possibly (in my view) the best of the Suite. It is, again, a waltz but a bit more "unstable" than the first one. There is lightness and a freshness that makes the Mazurka stand out.
Here it is: