279. Frederic Chopin - Ballades (1835-43)

Recording

Title: 4 Ballades
Performers: Krystian Zimerman
Year: 1988
Length: 38 minutes

Review

Chopin is that always reliable composer. He might by now be a complete cliché, but the truth is he got there by just being so good at what he did. These four Ballades, extensive single movement piano pieces, show off his skill at changing emotions in music.

So yeah I really liked this, the great highlights here are the first and fourth Ballades, maybe because they are longer and so Chopin has more space to develop his music.

Chopin is the distillation of Romantic piano music, at times he can be almost maudlin, but he never quite gets there, staying just on the right side of good taste. These pieces are perfect examples of the skill of Chopin at portraying constantly shifting emotions, the Ballade seems like a very free format and this just makes Chopin's exploration all that better.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 is the first of Frédéric Chopin's four ballades for solo piano. It was composed in 1835-36 during the composer's early days in Paris and is dedicated to "Monsieur le Baron de Stockhausen," Hanoverian ambassador to France.

The ballade was played twice by Janusz Olejniczak in the Roman Polanski film The Pianist. The first time, a few bars are heard when the pianist Władysław Szpilman "plays the piano" in the air in the abandoned German hospital. The second time, an approximately 4 minute-cut is heard in the film, while a full version is included in the film soundtrack.

In the 1944 Ingrid Bergman film Gaslight, the ballade was played by a pianist at the musical gathering she attends.

In the 80s series Beauty and the Beast it can be heard in the third season episode entitled Walk Slowly on Catherine Chandler's sound system.

In the film Thank You For Smoking, the 2nd variation on the andante section can be heard in the background during Heather Holloway and Nick Naylor's conversation in the restaurant.

Zimerman plays Ballade no. 1:

278. Robert Schumann - Piano Sonata no. 1 (1835)

Recording

Title: Carnaval, Piano Sonata no.1
Performers: Evgeny Kissin
Year: 2001
Length: 31 minutes


Review

I must be a bit square when I come to classical music, but in general I much prefer more fixed structures such as the sonata than more freestyle stuff such as the previous Carnaval by Schumann. I think the longer formats help the music develop and really sink in.

So I enjoyed this sonata much more than the previous works by Schumann on this list. The first movement here is particularly great with a very interesting shift from a moody and beautiful introduction to a livelier and more passionate continuation.

The essential thing to understand about Schumann's music is the twin personalities that he described as Eusebius and Florestan, one more reserved, romantic and poetic and another one extremely passionate and extroverted. These two are very present in this sonata making for a very interesting listening experience.


Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Schumann has not often been confused with Austrian composer Franz Schubert, but one well-known example occurred in 1956, when East Germany issued a pair of postage stamps featuring Schumann's picture against an open score that featured Schubert's music. The stamps were soon replaced by a pair featuring music written by Schumann.

Sonata no 1, first movement:

277. Rober Schumann - Carnaval (1835)

Recording

Title: Carnaval, Fantasiestucke, Papillons
Performers: Marc-Andre Hamelin
Year: 1999
Length: 30 minutes

Review

Schumann's Carnaval is slightly more interesting than his Etudes, this is good progress here Mr. Schumann. Still it is less than overwhelming music. It consists of a set of short portraits in a way almost reminiscent of programmatic Harpsichord music of yestercentury.

Some of the pieces are very successful, others not so much, but his music is generally quite expressionistic and shows the romantic movement in full swing, down to his twin personalities of Eusebius and Florestan.

So the fact that this is a mixed bag, with moments of brilliance permeating the music is its ultimate downfall. Still waiting for Schumann to really astound me, and I am sure that there will be works in the future where it will happen.... fingers crossed.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Among those who have orchestrated Carnaval are Maurice Ravel.
It was choreographed for a ballet for a Diaghilev production, with orchestrations by Alexander Glazunov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Anatoly Lyadov and Alexander Tcherepnin.

Arrau plays Carnaval:

276. Robert Schumann - Etudes Symphoniques (1835, rev. 1852)

Recording

Title: Symphonic Etudes, Op.13; Piano Concerto, Op.54; Cello Concerto, Op. 129.
Performers: Murray Perahia
Year: 1976
Length: 20 minutes

Review

The first entry by Schumann on the list is not a very impressive one, however, it is a very competent one. This is a collection of Piano etudes, and much as in the work of Chopin, these are meant to be exercises in piano technique.

Like Chopin, Schumann also manages to make these etudes pleasant to listen to, beyond the simple utilitarianism that would be obvious for such exercises in piano technique.

Unlike Chopin, however, Schumann does not manage to be as expressive in his etudes, and even if the pieces are enjoyable to listen to, they never achieve the emotional charge present in Chopin's etudes. It is, of course, unfair to compare anyone to Chopin, but that's what you get when you come after him.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The first edition in 1837 carried an annotation that the tune was "the composition of an amateur": this referred to the origin of the theme, which had been sent to Schumann by Baron von Fricken, guardian of Ernestine von Fricken, the Estrella of his Carnaval Op. 9. The baron, an amateur musician, had used the melody in a Theme with Variations for flute. Schumann had been engaged to Ernestine in 1834, only to break abruptly with her the year after. An autobiographical element is thus interwoven in the genesis of the Études symphoniques (as in that of many other masterpieces of Schumann's).

Rubinstein plays the theme and etudes 1, 2 and 3:

275. Vincenzo Bellini - I Puritani (1835)

Recording

Title: I Puritani
Performers: Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti,
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Year: 1973
Length: 3 hours

Review

Some of these Italian Romantic operas have the "gift" of often blending into each other. This one feels like an inferior Lucia di Lamermoor at times, from the very long mad scene and histrionics of the Romantic heroine to parts of the plot.

Bellini is just not as good as Donizetti, his great masterwork, Norma, does deserve all the praise it gets, however, his further career is much more checkered and this is a case of an opera where it doesn't come off that brilliantly.

The plot is unoriginal, even if it does end well, an uncommon event for this time. The singing is not as spectacular as that in Norma or in Donizetti's operas and really, while being nowhere near bad, there were much better things at the time, making this opera feel like a bit of a pointless addition to the list.

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Libretto by Count Carlo Pepoli based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine. First produced at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, January 24, 1835. At the same time, Bellini composed an alternative version intended for the famous Maria Malibran, who was to sing it in Naples; in fact, this version was not performed on stage until April 10, 1986 at the Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari.

Credeasi, Misera!:

274. Gaetano Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor (1835)

Recording

Title: Lucia Di Lammermoor
Performers: Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti,
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Year: 1971
Length: 3 hours

Review

Another opera with a romantic heroin that goes a bit crazy and ends very badly. So yes, it is kind of a clichéd one, but it is also one of the best of its kind, so you have to give it props.

There is no mad scene like Lucia's mad scene, and only for that, as a great example of a huge genre at this time, the opera is worth its place in any collection. Donizetti, much like his contemporary Bellini, is a consummate composer and storyteller and the opera is a compelling one.

Of the two Opera composer's we've been listening to lately Donizetti is the best of the two, his operas are more consistently entertaining and musically engaging. Lucia is a great addition to any collection with some excellent moments of drama which are sure to test any singer. Sutherland rises to the occasion in this great recording.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

For decades Lucia was considered to be a mere showpiece for coloratura sopranos and was a little-known part of the operatic repertory. However, after World War II, a small number of technically-able sopranos, the most notable of whom were Maria Callas and Dame Joan Sutherland, revived the opera in all of its original tragic glory. Sutherland's performances in the role at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1959 and repeated in 1960 established Lucia as her calling card.

Il Dolce Suono: