273. Hector Berlioz - Harold en Italie (1834)

Recording

Title: Harold en Italie
Performers: Tabea Zimmermann, London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Colin Davis
Year: 2003
Length: 41 minutes


Review

Berlioz is one of the true original composers, a case that comes around once in a blue moon, his originality is not only in conceptual terms but also in musical terms, and the two are intimately related.

As before in his Symphonie Fantastique, Berlioz inspires himself in literature to compose music, in this case Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. This allows Berlioz to be considerably more expressive in his music, sacrificing all nice things to serving the emotional requirements of the literary creation.

At moments this work is beautiful while in other it is brutal, at times epic and at other tender, and all of it might happen inside the same movement. When depicting emotion Berlioz finds the fast-slow-fast-fast idea quite against nature. This is a truly new approach in music and Berlioz is a master of it. Great recording.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Lord Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage inspired the mood of Harold. The poem is a fragment of an epic with a quintessentially Romantic hero. Berlioz wrote, "My intention was to write a series of orchestral scenes, in which the solo viola would be involved as a more or less active participant while retaining its own character. By placing it among the poetic memories formed from my wanderings in the Abruzzi, I wanted to make the viola a kind of melancholy dreamer in the manner of Byron’s Childe-Harold." That he had recycled some of the material from his discarded concert overture, Rob-Roy went unmentioned.

First Movement:

272. Felix Mendelssohn - Symphony no. 4, "Italian" (1833)

Recording

Title: Mendelssohn: Symphony No.4 "Italian"; Brahms Symphony No. 3
Performers: Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor: Guido Cantelli
Year: 1951
Length: 26 minutes

Review

Many of Mendelssohn's works might not be immediately recognisable by title, but as soon as you hear them you know you've heard them countless times before, such is the case with this Symphony. Mendelssohn made such immediately appealing music and such perfect incidental music that almost all movements here have been used time and again.

This Symphony is another product of Mendelssohn's trips around Europe, like the Hebrides overture before it. Here he uses themes taken from traditional Italian music, particularly in the first and last movement, and the whole thing has a very joyous power.

The slightly mournful second movement also has little gleams of light through it. One of the reasons for Mendelssohn's popularity among a wider audience is the same that has led critics to be disparaging: this very present happiness. At least by this time Mendelssohn was anything but tormented, and it shows. This is not to say however that he was not a great composer, he just proved that you don't need to be unhappy to produce great music.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

he Italian Symphony was finished in Berlin, 13 March, 1833, in response to an invitation for a symphony from the London (now Royal) Philharmonic Society; he conducted the first performance himself in London on 13 May 1833, at a London Philharmonic Society concert. The symphony's success, and Mendelssohn's popularity, influenced the course of British music for the rest of the century.

First Movement:

271. Giochinno Rossini - Stabat Mater (1832, rev. 1841)

Recording

Title: Stabat Mater
Performers: Luba Orgonasova, Cecilia Bartoli, Wiener Philharmonic
Conductor: Myung-Whun Chung
Year: 1995
Length: 58 minutes

Review

Rossini's Stabat Mater is a truly impressive piece of religious music, there is an innate sense of theatre to Rossini's music which is here perfectly applied to the theatre of Catholic ritual.

This being said there is nothing particularly original about it, Rossini is not the most original of composers and this Stabat Mater is looking back at religious music with some operatic moments which are very much Rossini's own as in the second movement for example.

It is in the great set pieces that begin and finish the Stabat Mater that Rossini's theatricality most impresses, this is music that knows perfectly well what it is doing and does it well. The lack of originality is not much of a set back for music which serves its purpose so powerfully and beautifully.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Stabat Mater is a thirteenth century Roman Catholic sequence variously attributed to Innocent III and Jacopone da Todi. Its title is an abbreviation of the first line, Stabat mater dolorosa ("The sorrowful mother stood"). The hymn, one of the most powerful and immediate of extant medieval poems, meditates on the suffering of Mary, Jesus Christ's mother, during his crucifixion. It is sung at the liturgy on the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.

First movement, Stabat Mater Dolorosa:

270. Gaetano Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore (1832)

Recording

Title: L'Elisir d'Amore
Performers: Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Year: 1970
Length: 2 hours 20 minutes

Review

Donizetti gives us a really fun opera. This is the kind of thing which could easily be adapted in terms of plot into a modern rom-com. There is not much depth to the story but it is thoroughly entertaining, and that is great.

Musically it is pretty good, it flows nicely with some stand-out moments in the doctor's aria or in the famous Una Furtiva Lagrima. It is not as great an opera as Anna Bolena, but it is still pretty good.

The fludity of the story coupled with some very attractive music makes the opera a joy to watch as well as listen to. Pavarotti is slightly suspect as a leading love interest seeing as he looks like an Ox even at this early stage, but his singing was then pretty great and so the recording with the great Joan Sutherland is more than recommended.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia
From Wikipedia:
L'elisir d'amore is one of the most frequently performed of all Donizetti's operas and there are a number of recordings. It appears as number twenty on Opera America's list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.

Una Furtiva Lagrima:

269. Vincenzo Bellini - Norma (1831)

Recording

Title: Norma
Performers: Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Year: 1964
Length: 3 hours

Review

After the slightly lacklustre Sonnambula Bellini gives us a truly great opera, Norma. Even if I might have some problems with the plot, where for such a strong female character Norma is a bit silly with men and her lover's conversion at the end is a bit too sudden, it is hard to fault it musically.

Musically it is a great opera indeed, from the truly impressive choirs to such beautiful arias as Casta Diva, Bellini does not put a foot wrong. It is also quite a good opera to watch, despite the plot faults it is never boring and there are enough points of musical interest to keep you paying attention throughout.

As Bel Canto goes, the title character of the opera is surely one of the most demanding in the repertoire and here Joan Sutherland does a great job of it... but she would. Recommended.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The title role is generally considered one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire. It calls for tremendous vocal control of range, flexibility, and dynamics. It contains a wide range of emotions: conflict of personal and public life, romantic life, maternal love, friendship, jealousy, murderous intent, and resignation. German soprano Lilli Lehmann once famously remarked on how the singing of all three Brünnhildes in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in one evening was less stressful than the singing of one Norma.[2] However, her less famous reasoning was that "When you sing Wagner, you are so carried away by the dramatic emotion, the action, and the scene that you do not have to think how to sing the words. That comes of itself. But in Bellini, you must always have a care for beauty of tone and correct emission."

Casta Diva with Monserrat Caballe:

268. Felix Mendelssohn - Piano Concerto no. 1 (1831)

Recording

Title: The Romantic Piano Concerto 17
Performers: Stephen Hough, City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Lawrence Foster
Year: 1997
Length: 18 minutes

Review

Another great piece by Felix Mendelssohn. It is weird to think how badly considered Mendelssohn was for such a long time, seen as a minor popular composer he is now finally coming into his own as a great early-romantic composer.

Maybe the fact that Mendelssohn's life was overall happier than that of many famous composer has put people against him. No one like a genius who is not extremely tormented. But hey, it's not his fault.

This quite short piano concerto is another example of great Mendelssohn music, the movements flow into each other perfectly with no separation between them, the music is very attractive and fluid and even if it isn't the best piano concerto around it shows Mendelssohn's composing talents beautifully.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

[The movements] use several relatively new formal techniques in their brief span — for example, the piano enters very soon after the opening of the first movement, with little of an orchestral tutti to contrast with. The concerto quickly obtained popularity, and contains many sections of improvisation, one of Mendelssohn's specialities.

1st movement:

267. Vincenzo Bellini - La Sonnambula (1831)

Recording

Title: La Sonnambula
Performers: Maria Callas, Cesare Valletti
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Year: 1955
Length: 2 hours 20 minutes

Review

Another opera and another recording with Callas. I hate Callas. That being said this is just not as good as Anna Bolena, the plot is bucolic to the point of boredom. It all hinges on what might have been an innovative plot engine at the time: A girl sleepwalks into the room of a man who is not her husband to be.

As you can imagine there are no surprises in the plot. Eventually it is discovered that she is a sleepwalker and all is solved. There are a couple of very good arias towards the end of the opera with some very good mixing of soloists, choir and orchestra.

From this we can see that Bellini has the potential to do great things when given a more interesting libretto. Norma is up the bend on this list so we'll see it then. The recording is another awful 1950s live recording. The lack of sound channels makes the choirs a horrible mess and the scenes that depend on the listener being able to distinguish the soloists from the choir even messier. That and Callas might have been pretty but has a voice which I can only consider annoying.

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Bellini's most pastoral work, it was an immediate success and is still regularly performed. The title role of Amina is renowned for its difficulty. Many great sopranos have tackled this role over the years. They include Adelina Patti, Maria Malibran, Lina Pagliughi, Lily Pons, Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Anna Moffo, Renata Scotto, Edita Gruberova, June Anderson, Luba Orgonasova, Natalie Dessay, Anna Netrebko, and Cecilia Bartoli.

Here's Callas singing Amina's sleepwalking scene:

266. Frederic Chopin - Etudes (1830-37)

Recording

Title: Etudes for Piano Op. 10 & 25
Performers: Juana Zayas
Year: 1982
Length: 1 hour

Review

Chopin's Etudes are a phenomenal set of pieces designed to both teach and delight. They are imagined as exercises for the pianist in order to train different parts of the skills necessary to be a great pianist. Each movement focuses on a specific technical skill.

You would logically think that this would not make for the most attractive music, and such was the case in Etudes done before Chopin, but with him it all changes. Chopin manages to strike a great balance between utilitarianism and beauty.

Some of Chopin's most recognisable pieces are in fact part of these etudes, like number 3 and 12 of op. 10 and number 11 of op. 25. Quite admirable and beautiful stuff. It should be noted, however, that this Juana Zayas record is extremely hard to find, I couldn't find it and that I am basing my ideas on Murray Perahia's recording of the Etudes. Still Zayas' is the one recommended by the 1001 book.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Unlike most previous technical studies, which sought to cultivate an independence of finger action driven from the wrist, Chopin's require the engagement of the entire playing mechanism from the shoulder downwards. For example, Op. 10, No. 1 consists of a series of wide broken chords whose span is unreachable for all but the largest hands — it is therefore necessary to use the arm to guide the fingers from note to note. Similarly, Op. 25, No. 10 is a study in octaves in both hands that requires powerful and flexible movements from the shoulders.

Sviatoslav Richter plays Op.25 n 11:

265. Felix Mendelssohn - The Hebrides, "Fingal's Cave" (1830)

Recording

Title: Overturen
Performers: London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Year: 1985
Length: 10 minutes

Review

Mendelssohn's Hebrides overture, which is really not an overture to anything but a piece of mood music designed to open all kinds of concerts , is a really great piece of music, not only in concept but in execution.

The concept is what is particularly interesting about it, in a way it is similar to programmatic works such as Beethoven's sixth symphony or Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, it does not, however, have any kind of plot.

Mendelssohn substitutes narrative for a simple evocation of place, you hear the sea alternatively furious and placid beating against the rocks of Fingal's Cave. The whole point of the music is an evocation of place and the feeling that that place inspires. And it works perfectly.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Mendelssohn first travelled to England at the invitation of a German lord after the composer's twentieth birthday. Following his tour of England, Mendelssohn proceeded to Scotland, where he composed his symphony number 3, the Scottish Symphony. He was engaged on a tour of Scotland with his travelling companion Karl Klingemann when he sent a postcard to his family with the opening phrase of the overture written on it. In a note to his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn he said: "In order to make you understand how extraordinarily The Hebrides affected me, I send you the following, which came into my head there."

Here's the recommended recording: