This Sunday, 31 January, on "Classical Sunrise," I'll be featuring two JS Bach cantatas: Cantata for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, BWV 111, Was Mein Gott will, das gscheh allzeit, and Cantata for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, BWV 81, Jesus schlaft, was soll ich hoffen.
BWV 111 was composed for 21 January 1725. The four-verse hymn on which it is based incorporates verses by Duke Albrecht of Prussia (1547, 1554). The anonymous librettist for BWV 81 takes the text from the Gospel of Matthew, 8:23-27 (Jesus, sleeping in the boat, is awakened and calms the storm). This cantata dates from Bach's first Leipzig cycle of cantatas, and was composed for 30 January 1724.
I'll be airing a recording featuring the Holland Boys Choir and the Netherlands Bach Collegium, conducted by Pieter Jan Leusink. The soloists for BWV 111 are Ruth Holton, soprano, Sytse Buwalda, alto, Nico van der Meel, tenor, and Bas Ramselaar, bass.
For BVW 81, the featured soloists are Sytse Buwalda, Knut Schoch, tenor, and Bas Ramselaar. This is a complete set of Bach sacred cantatas, on the Brilliant Classics label. This is the second year in which I am featuring Bach cantatas for the entire liturgical calendar on "Classical Sunrise."
- Deborah Murray
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Power of Music
So what good is classical music, anyway?
It's a question many ask, and the answer, "classical music sustains the spirit," never seems to satisfy the naysayers. But consider the remarkable story of violinst Romel Joseph.
Joseph is no stranger to extraordinary challenges. This blind Haitian musician, born in poverty, won a Fulbright, and graduated from Julliard with a degree in violin performance. After training with the Boston Symphony, Joseph turned his back on a promising concert career to return to Haiti and open up a music school.
The recent earthquake collapsed his school, pinning the violinist under the rubble. So how did he survive, buried by debris, waiting for rescue that may never come?
Romel Joseph prayed, and pictured himself performing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. And after that, another concerto.
It's a question many ask, and the answer, "classical music sustains the spirit," never seems to satisfy the naysayers. But consider the remarkable story of violinst Romel Joseph.
Joseph is no stranger to extraordinary challenges. This blind Haitian musician, born in poverty, won a Fulbright, and graduated from Julliard with a degree in violin performance. After training with the Boston Symphony, Joseph turned his back on a promising concert career to return to Haiti and open up a music school.
The recent earthquake collapsed his school, pinning the violinist under the rubble. So how did he survive, buried by debris, waiting for rescue that may never come?
Romel Joseph prayed, and pictured himself performing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. And after that, another concerto.
"I know I picked the Brahms, the Franz, the Sibelius. I picked several," Joseph said later. "I know a lot of concertos for violins. And I picked the longer ones. I pictured walking on stage and playing to a full hall. And you start playing up to the end"
Eighteen hours later, rescue workers pulled him from the debris.
Romel Joseph has dedicated his life to music. In addition to his New Victorian School in Haiti, he also established the Miami-based Walenstein Music Organization to nurture young classical music performers. He's already working on rebuilding his school.
What good is classical music? Ask Romel Joseph. In the darkest hours of his life -- as it always has -- classical music sustained his spirit.
Monday, January 25, 2010
In Memoriam: Earl Wild
The American pianist Earl Wild died Jan. 23 at the age of 94 at his home in Palm Springs, California. His career began in his native Pittsburgh, where he began giving radio recitals at the age of 12, and he had his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony two years later. He was long associated with NBC, at a time when networks actually broadcast classical music. He gave the first televised recital in 1939, and he was associated as a soloist with Arturo Toscanini's NBC Orchestra. He also served as a rehearsal pianist with the Metropolitan Opera, where his ability to reduce operatic scores at sight was legendary. He served as staff pianist, composer, and conductor for ABC until 1968. His preferred career probably would have been as a conductor, but when advised that the leading American orchestras rarely hired American conductors, he concentrated on the piano.
Wild was a stupendous technician, for whom the term "super virtuoso" was not misplaced. His repertoire was vast, and fortunately he leaves us an extensive recorded legacy. His style was in the Romantic tradition of Liszt, Busoni, and Petri, and he excelled in the music of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin. He was also known for his performance of his own and other composers' transcriptions. His performances were criticized by some because his virtuosity was said to be too much in the forefront, but more sensitive listeners appreciated the poetry of his playing. Wild the artist was served by his astonishing fingers, not the other way around. Until near the end of his life, Wild's artistry was undiminished. This writer attended his 85th birthday recital at Carnegie Hall, and he was, if anything, a more poetic artist than when Wild was first heard many years previously as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. His singing tone and immaculate phrasing were matched by few other pianists and exceeded by none.
Where to begin appreciating his recorded legacy? Much of it has been issued or reissued on his own Ivory Classics label in superior audio fidelity. His recording of the Paderewski and Scharwenka concertos with Arthur Fiedler is a model of Romantic sensibility. His recording of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, op. 106, is unique in its magisterial phrasing and astonishing passage work. His own transcriptions of Rachmaninoff's songs make us appreciate these lesser-known works even more. The technical facility, not to mention pure fun of Wild's Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions must be heard to be believed. His long association with the music of Gershwin finds its ultimate expression in Wild's own transcriptions of Gershwin's popular songs. His recording of the complete Chopin Nocturnes is indispensable for any lover of the artistry of a great pianist. Although any of Wild's Liszt is the equal if not superior to anyone else's, a particular favorite is The Demonic Liszt. To hear Earl Wild–Living History at 90 is to be amazed at his enduring technical facility, not to mention his undiminished artistry.
The newer generation of pianists are all well schooled, and the technical flaws that are evident in the playing of some earlier artists have pretty much disappeared. Recording technology has advanced to the point where we have become accustomed to performances that are note-perfect, albeit bland. There are few pianists before the public today who bring anything new to the standard piano repertoire, and the big, outgoing, Romantic style that Wild typified has become obsolete. We are ever so fortunate that Earl Wild's recorded legacy is so vast and so accomplished. When the role of great pianists of the 20th Century is assembled, Earl Wild will be in the forefront of the finest among them.
Wild was a stupendous technician, for whom the term "super virtuoso" was not misplaced. His repertoire was vast, and fortunately he leaves us an extensive recorded legacy. His style was in the Romantic tradition of Liszt, Busoni, and Petri, and he excelled in the music of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin. He was also known for his performance of his own and other composers' transcriptions. His performances were criticized by some because his virtuosity was said to be too much in the forefront, but more sensitive listeners appreciated the poetry of his playing. Wild the artist was served by his astonishing fingers, not the other way around. Until near the end of his life, Wild's artistry was undiminished. This writer attended his 85th birthday recital at Carnegie Hall, and he was, if anything, a more poetic artist than when Wild was first heard many years previously as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. His singing tone and immaculate phrasing were matched by few other pianists and exceeded by none.
Where to begin appreciating his recorded legacy? Much of it has been issued or reissued on his own Ivory Classics label in superior audio fidelity. His recording of the Paderewski and Scharwenka concertos with Arthur Fiedler is a model of Romantic sensibility. His recording of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, op. 106, is unique in its magisterial phrasing and astonishing passage work. His own transcriptions of Rachmaninoff's songs make us appreciate these lesser-known works even more. The technical facility, not to mention pure fun of Wild's Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions must be heard to be believed. His long association with the music of Gershwin finds its ultimate expression in Wild's own transcriptions of Gershwin's popular songs. His recording of the complete Chopin Nocturnes is indispensable for any lover of the artistry of a great pianist. Although any of Wild's Liszt is the equal if not superior to anyone else's, a particular favorite is The Demonic Liszt. To hear Earl Wild–Living History at 90 is to be amazed at his enduring technical facility, not to mention his undiminished artistry.
The newer generation of pianists are all well schooled, and the technical flaws that are evident in the playing of some earlier artists have pretty much disappeared. Recording technology has advanced to the point where we have become accustomed to performances that are note-perfect, albeit bland. There are few pianists before the public today who bring anything new to the standard piano repertoire, and the big, outgoing, Romantic style that Wild typified has become obsolete. We are ever so fortunate that Earl Wild's recorded legacy is so vast and so accomplished. When the role of great pianists of the 20th Century is assembled, Earl Wild will be in the forefront of the finest among them.
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