All Saints Day: A Vivace celebration

This Friday is All Saints Day and Vivace will celebrate the occasion with some special music.

We start at around 6:45 am with Four Little Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi by Francis Poulenc.

 

At 7 o'clock, we have the very familiar St. Anthony Chorale by Haydn, and the St. Anne Prelude and Fugue by Bach.  After 7:30, we have another real treat for you: music composed by St. Francis of Assisi himself.

In the 8 o'clock hour, we have a lovely - and surprising - variety of music connected with saints, including compositions by Arvo Part, Vaughan Williams and Mozart. 

As ever, I look forward to the pleasure of your company as we celebrate All Saints Day - Vivace style, Friday, 6 -9 am on WTJU.

Stuyvesnat Quartet: Brahms & Mozart -- Audio Treasures

Stuyvesant Quartet with Alfred Gallodoro, clarinet
Brahms/Mozart
Bridge

The Stuyvesant Quartet was a group of talented musicians who left a remarkable legacy. Founded by by the Shulman brothers, Sylvan (violin) and Alan (cello) in 1938, the quartet consisted of preeminent musicians from broadcast network symphony orchestras. In 1950 they formed their own label -- Philharmonia -- with audio legend Norman Pickering as their recording engineer.

Although Philharmonia was short-lived, the recordings and performances were top-notch, as this current reissue attests. The sound is warm, but detailed. The ensemble is nicely balanced, with a natural-sounding blend. And the performances are very much of their time.

The Brahms Clarinet Quintet with clarinetist Alfred Gallodoro is given a heavily romantic and sometimes sweet, reading. It's a performance that's full of drama, yet there are passages where the ensemble seems to be simply savoring every note.

The Stuyvensant's performances of Mozart's String Quartet in D major, K. 499 and String Quartet in D major, K. 575 are more straight-forward. While there is more vibrato than you'd hear in a modern recording, the ensemble keeps things simple and uncluttered.

This reissue is a window into the past, and a valuable one. No modern quartet would perform these works in the manner of the Stuyvesant. Yet the high degree of musicianship and the emotional charge they give these works makes for compelling listening even today. And the Stuyvesant's interpretations yield insights that can still sound fresh to modern ears.

Bortniansky: Hymns and Choral Concertos - Orthodox beauty

Hymns and Choral Concertos
Ensemble Cherubim
Marika Kuzma, director
Naxos

Dmitry Bortniansky (1751-1825) was almost an exact contemporary of Beethoven, and just as ground-breaking. He was the conductor of the Imperial Russian court and as composer, specialized in sacred choral music. The Russian Orthodox Church does not allow instruments to used in worship services, giving rise to a rich body of a cappella liturgical music.

Bortniansky took that tradition and updated it, creating a new type of sacred work, the choral concerto. This release presents nine of these works. While the texts are Russian, the harmonies are mostly Western, sounding somewhat akin to choral works by Schubert or even Mendelssohn.

Also included are two additional sacred works: The Cherubic Hymn No. 7, and the Kol slaven. The former is one of Bortniansky's most popular sacred works, often performed and recorded. The Kol slaven is even more popular: the tune became a Russian Christmas carol, and is more widely known in that version today.

The Ensemble Cherubim under Marika Kuyzma have a clean, intimate sound. One can easily hear inner workings of Bortniansky's harmonies and the interplay between voices. If you're not familiar with Bortniansky, or Russian Orthodox sacred music, this release is an excellent place to start.