Review: Glazunov Complete Concerti -- Completely Enjoyable

Jose Serbrier's taken some time off from his recording cycle of the Glazunov symphonies to do this two-disc set of the Russian composer's concerti. Being well-familiar with Glazunov's works, he leads the Russian National Orchestra (who have an affinity for music by their native sons) in a series of well-defined, sympathetic performances of these works.

Glazunov composed concerti for a variety of instruments, so there's a host of soloists featured as well. Chronologically, Glazunov straddles the beginning of the 20th Century. He studied under Rimsky-Korsakov, and mentored Dmitri Shostakovich.

His first piano concerto (1911) is full of rich, romantic-era orchestration, and sounds somewhat like Rachmaninov's first concerto, composed around the same time. By the second, though, (1917) Glazunov had a more distinctive compositional voice. Pianist Alexander Romanovsky plays with fire and conviction without pushing the solos into theatrical pyrotechnics.

For me, the Violin Concerto (1904) is the crowning jewel. Rachel Barton Pine brings out the warmth of the melody, lightly skipping around the technical passages without breaking a sweat. If you like the Brahms concerto and haven't heard this work, you're in for a treat.

Also included are Glazunov's cello and saxophone concerto. Like the violin concerto, his work for cello exudes late-romantic lushness with just a hint of Glazunov's Russian origins. Of more interest, though is the Concerto in E-flat major for alto saxophone and string orchestra.

Written just two years before his death in 1936, the concerto shows Glazunov at his most adventurous. It may have been his maturity as a composer, but I also think it was the still-new saxophone's lack of repertoire and performing traditions. It gave Glazunov a blank slate in which he wrote as free of the influence of his mentors and peers as he ever got. It's a very appealing, although somewhat different work, then the other pieces on this recording.

Serebrier rounds out the recording with some short works for solo instruments and orchestra. For those of us who are familiar with Glazunov, it's instructive to hear these works one right after the other. For not familiar with this Russian master, this disc is a great place to start.

Understanding Minimalism

It's difficult to talk about music. As a friend of mine once remarked, "you're trying to put into words something that couldn't be expressed with words in the first place."

There are two videos, though, that may help folks understand one of the important underlying concepts of minimalism. When music is stripped down to its basics, what provides the conflict, the forward motion that we're used to with tonal music?

For some composers, such as Steve Reich, it's the changing relationship between musical elements as they gradually move "out of phase" with one another, and then back in. In the video below, this change is demonstrated physically. Note how complex and beautiful patterns emerge as the pendulums swing, each in their own regular, but unique arc.



Reich uses this concept frequently. "Clapping Music" is one of his simpler (and shorter) works -- on paper. It's scored for two musicians clapping hands. The patterns are simple quarter-note and eighth-note combinations that repeat. The video below shows the score in action.



After you watch it, try just listening to it. The sound is much more complex -- and engaging, then the simple patterns would suggest. And that's the point. Very simple elements combined in every possible way.

But don't think of this as just wind-up music. There are many compositional decisions to be made (instrumental combinations, timbres, durations, tempo, etc.) and one has to be able to  imagine what all these possible combinations will sound like. And it all has to elicit an emotional response. It's more art than math.

Minimalism has different aesthetic, perhaps, than older tonal music, but it's one that works. Both visually and audibly!

Rapturous Classical Music

The big news this past weekend was the prediction that the Rapture would take place on Saturday, at 6:00pm local time. For those not fully up on Christian theology, the Rapture is when God gathers the elect up from earth to spare them the tribulations that are to come. For some, this is the sign that the Apocalypse is about to start.

One of the more interesting threads on Twitter bore the hashtag #apocalypsemusic. It was a series of suggestions for music appropriate to the event. For a while, the thread was hijacked by classical music folks, and several suggestions -- both obvious and subtle -- made their way into the conversation. (Some blogs also took up the task and made some good suggestions - see Miss Music Nerd's column for example).

So what would be appropriate classical music for the Rapture and the coming Apocalypse? Here are some of the best suggestions from the postings. What would you add?

Richard Wagner - Götterdämmerung(of course)

Hector Berlioz - "Dies Irae" from the "Symphonie Fantastique" ("Dies Irae" means "Day of Wrath, and is part of the Latin funeral mass that references the Judgement Day. Most any Dies Irae from any Requiem would probably work, too.)

Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time

Franz Schmidt: Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (The Book of the Seven Seals) (an oratorio based on a key part of Revelation)

Ludwig van Beethoven - "Les Adieux"

And I had a few suggestions myself:

Franz Schubert: Abschied from Schwanengesang (The Swan Song)

Leos Janacek: The Diary of One Who Disappeared

Edward Elgar: Dream of Gerontius (tracks the journey of the soul after death)

Franz Joseph Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony (Symphony No. 45) (If you prefer to leave quietly rather than with a bang)

Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Toward the Unknown Region" (Everyone was ready to leave Saturday, but to go where?)

Charles Hubert Parry: Symphony No. 1 "From Death to Life" (Which is how Christians view death)

I understand the event's been rescheduled for October 21. So there's plenty of time to send in your suggestions. Maybe we'll have a special show that day...