Two of the Greatest Romantic Composers, Part 1

Today is the birthday of two very important composers of the mid-romantic era of music. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 in Russia. Johannes Brahms was born in 1833 in Hamburg, Germany.

Although not part of "The Five" Russian Composers (see blog on Jan 2), Tchaikovsky had interactions with them, and he wrote music that was quite nationalistic. He is the prototype of a composer who "wears his emotions on his sleeve", so to speak. His music is passionate, intense, and very accessible, bursting with beautiful melodies. His philosophy of music was that it should be immediately comprehensible to the listener. He felt that his fellow composer, Brahms, placed too many demands on the listener, and that Brahms' music lacked beauty.

I remember reading somewhere that Brahms didn't care much for Tchaikovsky's music, either. He attended a concert of his fellow composer's music and promptly fell asleep through it. Brahms' music is worlds apart from Tchaikovsky's. He is much more reserved in his displays of emotion, and can be very austere. A complaint from a critic of his day was that Brahms' music wanders around and never goes anywhere.

I suppose it depends on one's personality which composer's music one would like better. When I was younger, I listened more to Tchaikovsky's music and remember saying that his 5th Symphony was my favorite piece of music. Those days are long gone - aside from a few of his best works, his music holds my interest much less, and a lot of it seems frantic, repetitive, and noisy.

Brahms, on the other hand, composes some of the deepest music that I know. It may be hard to get into at first, but upon repeated listens, it is more rewarding than the music of most other composers.

I'll start first with a sampling of Tchaikovsky's best works:

Piano Concerto No. 1 - one of the most well-known of pieces of all classical music. It is chock-full of wonderful themes and has both beautiful orchestral writing and beautiful and impressive piano passage-work. Here is the first movement (parts 1, 2, and 3).

Violin Concerto - one of the absolutely best violin concertos in the romantic repertoire. It is a priceless gem of a piece, again full of beautiful melodies. The 2nd movement to me is one of the best works of all time - hauntingly sad and beautiful. Here is the first movement (parts 1 and 2), the sublime second movement, and the third movement.

Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra - this very beautiful piece of music was the closest thing to a cello concerto that the composer wrote. It has characteristic beautiful melodies and lots of interesting variations. Here is a performance of this great piece, parts 1, 2, and 3.

Six Symphonies - His 4th, 5th and 6th symphonies are the most well known. The 3rd is quite good, too. The 6th symphony, called "Pathetique" is the most famous, and rightly so. It has a lot of pathos, especially in the 4th and final movement. The 3rd movement is a fast scherzo that ends so triumphantly, most audiences feel impelled to applaud such that the orchestra has to start the last movement before they finish clapping just to get on with the show. The last movement is such a heart-wrenching contrast to the previous movement, it is probably why the symphony is named so. My uncle commented to me years ago "when you listen to that movement, you just want to lay down and die" - not far from the truth, but it sure is a beautiful piece.

Nutcracker Suite - again another very famous suite of pieces (originally part of a ballet), parts of which are probably recognizable by most people. It has immediate appeal, and for good reason. So many catchy melodies, orchestral textures, and rhythms to feast on. Here's the Waltz of the Flowers, the last piece in the suite.

Since this blog entry is already quite long and we haven't touched Brahms' music yet, I'll put that in part 2.

Russian Musical Wit and Dissonance

Sergei Prokofiev was born today in the Ukraine in 1891. He gained a reputation as a young man of being a musical rebel. You can hear it in his music - beautiful melodies and interesting harmonies interrupted frequently by brutally dissonant, brash interludes. Some of his music is immediately recognizable and accessible to anyone. A lot of his music, though, takes some getting used to, but is still very rewarding after adjusting to the unusual sounds.

Here are clips of some of his best music:

Peter and the Wolf - probably the most beloved work by Prokofiev. It is a children's tale, involving an orchestra and narrator. Each instrument symbolizes a character in the tale - Strings (Peter), Flute (Bird), Oboe (Duck), Clarinet (Cat), and so forth. If you've never heard this before, you're missing out! A great story with terrific music! Here's a trailer for one particularly entertaining-looking production.

Symphony No. 1 "Classical" - one of his most accessible works. A delightful piece of music with very interesting harmonies/melodies, meant to emulate the music of Josef Haydn; it is one of the first "Neo-classical" works written by Prokofiev. Here are movements 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major - probably my favorite piece by this composer, and certainly his most popular concerto. The dialogue between piano and orchestra is vibrant, interesting, full of "witty dissonance" contrasting with beautiful melodies and harmonies. Here are movements 1, 2, and 3.

7th Piano Sonata - one of the composer's "War Sonatas" (including Nos. 6, 7, and 8). The third movement is very rhythmic, especially interesting, and technically extremely challenging (listen to the last 2 minutes - crazy!).

March from The Love for Three Oranges - this is a short transcription for piano played by the composer, taken from one of his operas. Short, joking, full of wit and sarcasm.

Sonata for Cello and Piano - one of my favorite cello sonatas. It is was one of Prokofiev's last compositions, but is much more mellow and lyrical than many of his earlier works, but still full of fun. The second movement sounds "Peter and Wolf"-ish to me and lots of fun. Here are movements 1, 2, and 3.

Serious Side of Hollywood

Miklos Rozsa was born on this day in 1907 in Hungary. I recently became aquainted with this composer through a radio program. He is best known for his film scores, especially for the 1959 movie, Ben Hur, but he also wrote a lot of serious classical music throughout his life. His classical background and training helped his writing for Hollywood to be of the highest quality.

The piece I heard on this program which intrigued me (and caused me to sit in the car and listen for an extra 20 minutes even though I'd already arrived at my destination), was his Violin Concerto, Op. 24, written in 1953-54 for the great violinist Jascha Heifetz. It's a bit modern sounding in some places, but there are some really hauntingly beautiful and nostalgic moments, especially during the entire 2nd movement (Anastasia Khitruk playing Violin in this excerpt).

Piled Higher and Deeper... Finally

Yeah, I know. I missed Rachmaninoff's Birthday on April 1. So sue me. I started a post for him on that day, so I'll finish it up later and it will post as April 1 when I'm done.

The reason I haven't been as diligent with my composer birthdays is that I've been busy... writing my dissertation.

I defended my PhD dissertation today and passed - so I'm a Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry now! Hooray!

Here's my one of my favorite comic strips, written expressly for us crazy perpetual students in mind.

Difficult Piano Music

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was born today in 1873 in Russia. He was born one year before Schoenberg and two years before Ravel, and unlike his colleagues, stayed very much in the Romantic period, though some of his later stuff sounds pretty modern. He was a truly amazing pianist (we have recordings of him!), one of the best and most technically sound of the 20th century. Like Chopin, he is another composer for pianists, although unlike Chopin, he wrote 3 symphonies, and a few other works that did not feature the piano. He had very big hands, supposedly spanning an interval of a 13th (C to A)!

The other day, our little family was eating dinner at the dinner-table, and my precious little 21-month-old daughter was learning to say some new words, so I decided to give her a couple of tough ones:

Daddy: Rachel, can you say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
Rachel: (quizzical look)
Daddy: Rachel, can you antidisestablishmentarianism?
Rachel: (quizzical look with an impish smile)
Daddy: Rachel, can you Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff?
Rachel: (Rachel looks away toward her box of composer statuettes) 'off! 'off! 'off!
(Translation: hey, where's my Rachmaninoff figurine?! I want it right now!)

My wife and I both got a hearty laugh out of this one! Anyway...

I'd like to start with what I think is Rachmaninoff's best music - his piano concertos. Two of them have become standard repertoire, due to not only their beautiful melodies and lush chords, but also their impressive technical challenges to the pianist.

Piano Concerto No. 1, 1st Movement, played by the composer himself. This was his first published composition, written when the composer was only 19 years old. Even at such a young age, this composition is full of fire, strength, and maturity, with some really great melodies and amazing virtuosity.

Piano Concerto No. 2, 1st Movement, 2nd Movement, 3rd Movement. Perhaps overall his most well-loved concerto. It begins with large chords in the piano, getting louder and louder until the orchestra bursts in with the first theme. It is chock full of beautiful melodies and counter-melodies, as well as some amazing virtuosity. The 2nd movement is especially beautiful and tender. It sounds to me like he was influenced by Chopin's 1st Concerto, 2nd movement, one of the most magical pieces ever written. Rachmaninov's movement comes very close to rivaling it.

Piano Concerto No. 3, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. This is probably the most technically difficult piano concerto ever written. It is not perhaps as immediately accessible as the 2nd concerto, but it has many very beautiful melodies, and has strength, force, and fire that exceeds its predecessor.

For some of the most powerful, commanding piano-playing you'll ever hear, listen to the extremely difficult cadenza in the first movement (he plays the difficult version here), part 2 from about 2:30 to 4:30. All three movements have great beauty and amazing virtuosity, but probably the most breathtaking energy is found in the 3rd movement (Parts 4 and 5).

Piano Concerto No. 4, 1st Movement. Probably his least popular concerto, it is still full of that beautiful nostalgia and virtuosic chromaticism that characterizes his music.

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 - I include this with his piano concertos, because it is for piano and orchestra and of similar length and difficulty. It's beauty and creativity rivals at least concertos 1 and 4, if not 2 and 3. The magical 18th variation is quite well-known and one of his most well-loved themes (Part 2, 5:25 to 8:00).

Rachmaninoff wrote a few chamber works as well, including his sonata for Cello and piano. Here is the Cello Sonata, 2nd movement, a very powerful piece with high energy and a lovely relaxing, lyrical middle section. I want to play this piece with a cellist someday!

He also wrote a numerous amount of solo piano pieces, most of them dazzling and difficult to play. Here are some of his best:

Preludes:

Op. 3, No. 2 in C# minor, probably his most popular composition of all, although Rachmaninoff himself grew to dislike it because he was asked to play it so often. This version with the composer himself at the piano is quite stunning.

Op. 23, No. 4 in D Major, one of my favorites. It is quite simple in form and melody, one of his least virtuosic pieces, but still quite difficult to play well.

Op. 23, No. 5 in G minor, another one of his most popular pieces. The middle section has some beautiful inner melodies that are brought out nicely in this recording.

Op. 32, No. 12 in G# minor, another popular piece. Full of fire, passion, and nostalgia.

Op. 32, No. 10 in B minor, another one of my favorites. It is very sad, wistful, and nostalgic, but full of fire and passion. An anecdote tells of how this was supposed to have been a picture of Rachmaninoff's longing to come home to Russia after having been exiled to other countries during the communist take-over.

Etudes-Tableaux:

Op. 39, No. 3 in F# minor, a very difficult piece - watch the flying fingers!

Op. 33, No. 5, an insanely difficult piece! This time watch the notes.

I'll end on a couple of his more light-hearted pieces, all performed by the composer:

Lilacs, a beautiful little piece with lots of flowery passages

Humoresque

Polka de V.R. (a polka written by Vasili Rachmaninoff, Sergei's father, arranged and played here by the son) - a delightful little piece, and a great way to end this post.

Father of the Symphony

Franz Josef Haydn was born today in 1732 in Austria.

The above article quotes musicologist James Webster summarizing Haydn's role in the history of classical music: "He excelled in every musical genre… He is familiarly known as the 'father of the symphony' and could with greater justice be thus regarded for the string quartet; no other composer approaches his combination of productivity, quality and historical importance in these genres."

Haydn wrote a whole lot of music. Check out the list! Among them: more than 100 symphonies, 52 piano sonatas, 80-some string quartets, and the list goes on.

I have to confess, I haven't listened to a lot of Haydn's music. Some of it sounds a little bit simplistic to me, and just not as good as Mozart. But other works I've heard sound very rich and quite advanced, like Beethoven. He had a great richness especially in some of his later works. While Haydn (the elder) and Mozart got along very well, playing music together at times and having mutual admiration for each other's works, Haydn and Beethoven's relationship was at times tense. Beethoven had taken lessons from Haydn for a short while, but found his teaching unsatisfactory.

Haydn had a really good sense of humor. This is evident in his "Surprise" symphony (heard here), "Farewell" symphony, and many other works.

Here's a couple other links:

- Trumpet Concerto in Eb, 3rd movement - a delightful piece of music, I grew up hearing my brother play this

- Part of a piano Sonata, showing more of his sense of humor...

- Another piano sonata, light-hearted and full of spirit

- Symphony No. 104, a mature work, and his last symphony.

Music of the Grand Canyon

Ferde Grofe was born in New York City on this day in 1892. He was well known for arranging other composers works, particularly for a full-orchestra arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

The work he is most famous for today is his Grand Canyon Suite, a five-movement work for orchestra, each movement representing an aspect of the Grand Canyon. The most famous movement is called "On the Trail" - this piece is hilarious! You've probably heard parts of it on Looney Tunes cartoons or something like that. It depicts a bumpy ride on a donkey on the trail of the Grand Canyon - listen for the hee-haws, cloppity-clops, etc.