Another vivacious double-dose!

Once again this week, I'll have the joy of presenting Classical Cafe, serving up some delicious music to start your Thursday on just the right note.

The first hour features a well-known work, which is not, perhaps, aired quite so often, the Piano Concerto No. 3 by Beethoven: we have a sparkling version from the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg.

 

Haydn and Kozeluch

At 7 am, we'll have an oboe concerto that wasn't written by Joseph Haydn, though many people think it was. It was, in fact, the work of Johann Antonin Kozeluch.

We'll also enjoy a Piano Trio by Josef Rheinberger.

After 8 o'clock, we'll hear a musical parody by Dmitri Shostakovich all about the challenging housing conditions in the Soviet Union of the 1950s in the Cheryomushki Suite, and we'll end with the Concertone, which means big concert or concerto by Mozart.

There are plenty of delicious treats in store in the Classical Cafe, this Thursday morning.  I hope you'll join me.

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On Vivace this Friday, the first hour features some peaceful music:  the String Octet by Mendelssohn and a  symphony by Vanhal.

At 7 am, I'd like to introduce you to the music of Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi, a largely-forgotten Italian violinist and composer who was born on August 1, 1755.  We'll hear his delightful Concerto for double bass and orchestra in D-Major.

The Capuzzi concerto and Mr. Albrechtsberger

After that, we have another equally delightful work: the Partita in C-Major for harp, flute and cello by Johann-Georg Albrechtsberger, who was a classmate of Michael Haydn, and taught music theory to Johann Hummel, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Xaver Mozart. 

Austrian composer and organist Hans Rott also has a birthday this Friday and of course, we'll celebrate it, with his Pastoral Prelude in F Major.  We'll round out the hour with music of Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel.

The great horn player, Hermann Baumann (right), celebrates his 80th birthday this Friday.  Before the champagne is opened, he will join us to play the Mozart Horn Concerto No. 2.

And we'll end with one of those enchanting guitar and piano duos by Ferdinando Carulli.

I hope you'll join me Thursday and Friday mornings, 6-9 am, to start your days with that touch of je ne sais quoi, here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Your usual Friday fun ... on Thursday as well!

If you will honor us with your company on WTJU-91.1 FM, this week and next week, you'll have to put up with me for two morning shows.

Thursday Morning

On Thursday, I'll be hosting Classical Cafe, and to celebrate the birthday of French composer, Adolphe Adam, the first hour will be filled with ballet music: two suites from Giselle.

A short sample of the music you'll be hearing!

After 7 am, we'll hear a Boccherini Symphony and a Bassoon Concerto by Johann Christian Bach, and we'll mark the birthday of the inventive 20th Century Canadian/British composer, Robert Farnon.

Our third birthday of the morning is that of Swiss composer, Ernest Bloch:  we'll listen to his Jewish Poem No. 1, Dancing just after 8 am.  A Quartet by Devienne and a Quintet by Mozart will bring Classical Cafe to a delicious and satisfying conclusion.

 Friday Morning

If you'd like to come back for more vivacious music on Friday, Vivace will feature a flute and clarinet work by Franz Danzi and a harp concerto by the rarely-heard English composer, Elias Parish Alvars, whom Hector Berlioz called "the Franz Liszt of the harp".

At 7 am, we have some delightful music for lute by Haydn, a waltz by Carl Ziehrer and an oboe concerto by Franz Krommer.

After 8 am, we'll hear a concerto by Albinoni and music from two of the Mozart family, a Serenade by Wolfgang and a piano concerto by his son, Franz Xaver Mozart.

Wolfgang ....and Franz Xaver Mozart

I hope you'll join us as you start your day.   I look forward to the pleasure of your company, on Thursday and Friday mornings, here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

Weinberg: Symphony No. 12 -- a fitting trubute

Mieczyslaw Weinberg
Symphony No. 12; the Golden Key
St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Lande, conductor
Naxos

Mieczyslaw Weinberg's 12th Symphony is subtitled "In Memoriam D. Shostakovich." It was composed shortly after the death of his close friend and colleague and is a fitting tribute indeed. Weinberg incorporates many musical gestures of his late friend in this work, yet remains true to his own musical voice.

The symphony starts with a powerful angular unison figure that recalls similar passages in Shostakovich's music. To my ears, many sections reminded me of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, alternating with his Op. 110 Chamber Symphony. But none of this is pastiche. The orchestration may echo Shostakovich, but the melodic and harmonic content is Weinberg's. An effective tribute to a fellow composer.

By contrast, the second work on the disc, the Golden Key is a lighthearted, upbeat ballet suite. Sometimes the melodies go a little off the rails (like early Prokofiev), but that just adds a little spice. The music is very Russian in character, and Weinberg's vibrant orchestration at times sounds dazzling.

Vladimir Lande and the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra turn in solid performances of these works. Lande doing a particularly effective job of bringing out the authentic emotion of the symphony.

This is the third Naxos release of Weinberg symphonies with this ensemble. I hope there are more to follow.

Letter From Salzburg

The 2011 Salzburg Festival, July 27-Aug. 30, was the usual combination of outstanding musical performances and high society. This writer attended performances from Aug. 20-28. The project to reroof the Felsenreitschule has been concluded, and the hall is an acoustic and visual wonder. Few performance halls in the world have such an impressive entrance area. Verdi's Macbeth was the featured event in an attractive, if conventional production conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Among the highlights from performances of about a week were Janacek's The Makropoulos Case, starring Angela Denoke, who just about owns the role of Emilia Marty. Anna Netrebko has become a Salzburg favorite, and she did not disappoint in a concert performance of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, which was paired with Stravinsky's Le Rossignol. Netrebko and Polish star tenor Pyotr Beczala had the Grosses Festspielhaus audience in a frenzy after their passionate performance of the love duet that is the highlight of Iolanta.

One of the guest orchestras this year was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by its recently designated music director, Riccardo Muti. In two concerts the highlights were Parts I and II of Prokofiev's suite from Romeo et Juliette and Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. It is always interesting to compare and contrast the guest orchestras to the plush, warm string sound of the Vienna Philharmonic, which summers at the Salzburg Festival as the pit orchestra for most operas.

Muti's performances with Chicago were razor-sharp, every detail in place, and no nuance left unexplored. The legendary Chicago brass has lost none of the brilliance for which it has been justly renowned since Fritz Reiner's time. Muti's Shostakovich was in the triumphant mode, as contrasted with Valery Gergiev's angry, bitter, bleak rendition of the work heard three years ago in Salzburg with his Mariinsky Orchestra.

No praise is too high for the stupendous playing of the Vienna Philharmonic and inspired conducting of Christian Thielemann in Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten, which overcame even the odd staging by Christof Loy. Anne Schwanewilms was not a particularly inspired Empress, but the stage was dominated by the heroic voice of Evelyn Herlitzius as the Dyer's Wife. Michaela Schuster as the Nurse, Wolfgang Koch as a sympathetic Barak, and Stephen Gould as the Emperor all sang capably. Surely the score could not be better played or conducted.

Another Salzburg favorite is Maurizio Pollini, who is programming and recording the Beethoven sonatas. In the Grosses Festspielhaus he played the sonatas Op. 54, 53, 78, and 57. His playing still has the pristine clarity, dignified phrasing, and immaculate musicianship that make his performances legendary. The passage work was flawless, the pedaling was subtle, and his conception of the works was logical and inspired. The performance of the Appassionata in particular bore comparison to any other heard by this writer.

Overall, it was a great Festival. I can hardly wait until 2012.