Monthly Archives: August 2020

Listening to Beethoven #47 – Ein Selbstgespräch

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Peanuts comic strip, drawn by Charles M. Schulz (c)PNTS

Ein Selbstgespräch WoO 114 for voice and piano (1793, Beethoven aged 22)

Dedication not known
Text Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim
Duration 3’45”

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Background and Critical Reception

Writing in the booklet notes to a fine disc of Beethoven Lieder issued by Signum Classics, Susan Youens documents how the composer revisited some of his early songs in 1822 with a view to finally getting them published. One of them was Ein Selbstgespräch (A Soliloquy), his only setting of the poetry of Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim.

The song was not published before his death, but Youens refers to it as ‘an idyll in the groves of Eros, its Anacreontic persona someone who formerly scorned love – but now, to his great surprise, finds himself in love with Doris. In fact, he is so stunned by this novel experience that he repeats his musical bemusement over and over again to deliciously comic effect.’

Thoughts

This is a restless song, thanks to the ever-moving piano part that moves around like a quickstep on high heels, portraying the ‘wayward mind’ of the singer. It seems intent on moving the text on to the next word as soon as possible, creating a good deal of nervous energy as it does so.

The singer’s mind and senses race, but ultimately he is happy – and the comic pause before he declares, ‘Ich glaubte gar, daß ich sie liebe’ (‘I do believe I love her’) offers a knowing look to the audience.

Recordings used

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Hartmut Höll (piano) (Warner Classics)
John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Iain Burnside (piano) (Signum Classics)
Peter Schreier (tenor), Walter Obertz (piano) (Brilliant Classics)

Fischer-Dieskau is once again larger than life in this song, but John Mark Ainsley and Iain Burnside are superb, Ainsley’s tenor range better-suited to the character. Theirs is a partnership of equals, with Burnside leaning tastefully on the leading notes in the piano part to stress where the ever-changing harmony is going.

Spotify links

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hartmut Höll

John Mark Ainsley, Iain Burnside

Peter Schreier, Walter Obertz

Also written in 1793 Wranitzky Flute Concerto in D major Op.24

Next up Que le temps me dure (2nd version)

Listening to Beethoven #46 – Que le temps me dure (1st version)

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Beethoven stamp, issued by Guernsey Post – part of a series of four
Design: The Potting Shed

Que le temps me dure WoO116a for voice and piano (1793, Beethoven aged 22)

Dedication not known
Text Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Duration 3’30”

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Background and Critical Reception

“How slowly time passes, when I spend it far from you!”

So runs the English translation of the first line of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s short poem, which Beethoven appears to have set soon after arrival in Vienna. An interesting choice of words, which might suggest a concentrated bout of homesickness. Unfortunately nothing could be found in writing about this setting, which suggests it was kept hidden and maybe only performed in private.

The text evidently meant something to Beethoven, for he made two settings. The first of these, for high voice and piano, is in the key of C minor – a key in which he was spending a good deal of time, with the third piano trio of his forthcoming Op.1 sharing this ‘home’.

Thoughts

This setting is a short one, but it is quite poignant. A sombre if elegant introduction from the piano brings in the singer, with a simple and largely stepwise melody (one note per syllable). There are two verses which are more or less identical, before the music moves into the major key (in Hermann Prey’s version but not Peter Schreier’s).

Schreier’s finishes with a piano postlude that keeps the downcast mood of the song.

Recordings used

Peter Schreier (tenor), Walter Olbertz (piano) (Brilliant Classics)
Hermann Prey (baritone), Leonard Hokanson (piano) (Capriccio)

Hermann Prey’s version is almost twice as long as Peter Schreier – and rather more sorrowful, given its much slower pace. This offers greater meaning when the music moves into the major key. By comparison the tenor Schreier feels more matter of fact in his reflections, especially without the coda that Prey uses.

Spotify links

Peter Schreier (tenor), Walter Olbertz (piano)

Hermann Prey (baritone), Leonard Hokanson (piano) (Capriccio)

Also written in 1793 Beauvarlet-Charpentier Variations on La Marseillaise

Next up Ein Selbstgespräch WoO114

Listening to Beethoven #45 – Oboe Concerto in F major, second movement

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The Beethoven-Haus, Bonn Picture by Dr. Avishai Teicher

Oboe Concerto in F major (slow movement) Hess 12 (1792-3, Beethoven aged 22)

Dedication not known
Duration 7′

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Background and Critical Reception

The Oboe Concerto is one of the works sent by Haydn to the Elector of Cologne, showing the progress of his pupil Beethoven since he started with him in Vienna. What he did not realise at the time was that most of the works, including the Octet previously heard, had already been written in Bonn and were all but complete.

Sadly only the slow movement of the concerto, in B flat major, has survived in full, and even then only in sketch form. There is an outline of melody from the beginning to the end, but the piece needed extensive revision for any performance to be possible. This came from a couple of sources, but the one finished by Charles Joseph Lehrer, and orchestrated by Willem, is the only one to be recorded so far.

Daniel Heartz, in his superb book Mozart, Haydn and Early Beethoven 1781-1802, writes that ‘incipits of the three movements survive on a sheet in the Beethoven Archive at Bonn. The two oboists in electoral service were Georg Libsich and Joseph Welsch. From them the young composer could have learned the instrument’s strengths and limitations. His experiences in Bonn, including playing in the court orchestra, endowed him with a fine feeling for the technical and timbral possibilities of all the instruments.’

Thoughts

This fragment is an intriguing listen, even with the knowledge that a good deal of this work is not by Beethoven himself. Initially the tone is serious but relaxes as the strings expand with a soft-voiced introduction, teeing up the oboe nicely.

The main melody is attractive, and soon the oboe is reaching into the upper end of its register, well above the strings. The soloist has plenty of opportunity to show off, especially in a cadenza towards the end, which is nicely cued up by some spicier harmony from the strings. After the cadenza a short statement of the tender theme is all that is required.

Recordings used

Bart Schneemann, Radio Chamber Orchestra / Jan Willem de Vriend (Channel Classics)

Bart Schneemann gives an excellent account, with Jan Willem de Vriend balancing the small Radio Chamber Orchestra nicely. The slow movement of the concerto is tagged on to a second volume of oboe concertos by the German 18th century composer oboist and composer Ludwig August Lebrun, who died three years before Beethoven’s concerto was sent back to Bonn.

Spotify links

Bart Schneemann, Radio Chamber Orchestra / Jan Willem de Vriend

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1793 Haydn 3 String Quartets, Op.71

Next up Que le temps me dure (version 1)

Listening to Beethoven #44 – Octet in E flat major Op.103

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View of Vienna during the Baroque era by Bernardo Bellotto (18th century)

Octet in E flat major Op.103 for wind octet (2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons) (1792-93, Beethoven aged 22)

Dedication Maximilian Franz, Elector of Cologne
Duration 21′

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Background and Critical Reception

The Octet dates mostly from 1792, when Beethoven was still in Bonn – where author Daniel Heartz confirms it was written as Tafelmusick for the Harmonie band of the elector. The Harmonie band had a specific instrumentation mirroring the one written for by Mozart in Vienna – two each of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons.

When Beethoven had arrived in Vienna and was studying under Haydn, the elder composer unwittingly submitted the completed work back to the Elector in Bonn. It was covered in the enclosure of ‘a few pieces of music, a quintet, an eight-voiced parthie, an oboe concerto, variations for the piano, and a fugue composed by my dear pupil Beethoven, who was so graciously entrusted to me’. The Octet was finally published as Op.103, three years after Beethoven’s death.

In his appraisal of the piece, Anthony Burton writes that ‘some of the accomplishment of this work may be due to its revision in 1793, after Beethoven had moved to Vienna and begun studying with Haydn. He complements the first movement as ‘particularly well constructed, with intensive treatment of its opening idea’, saying that ‘Beethoven yields nothing to Mozart in his handling of the instruments. If anything, he makes more effective use of the contrast between the full band and groups of two or three players’. He gives the bassoon in the second movement as an example of this, and in the fourth movement applauds the way in which Beethoven ‘spreads the arpeggio figuration of the first theme around the group, including – spectacularly – the horns.’

Thoughts

The Octet is an attractive and entertaining piece, with all the first principles of communal chamber music. Beethoven’s part writing is inclusive, passing his melodies and their development between the groups of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons.

The lively first movement explores the lovely sonorities of the wind ensemble, with lively exchanges and imaginative working of the melodies. The second movement is effectively pared down to bring out the solo qualities of oboe and bassoon, who pass Beethoven’s graceful writing between each other, the rest of the ensemble content to accompany from afar.

The Minuet (really a scherzo in all but name) has a nervous energy running through it, generated from the four-note motif the instruments share, with a few unexpected minor-key harmonies and occasional pauses. The trio section of this movement has fragments of melody from the clarinet and bassoon, punctuated by horns.

The last movement is the standout, ending on a high with some virtuosic writing for the horns amongst the bright and characterful writing, while the clarinets bubble to the surface too. Beethoven’s wit comes out smiling here.

Given this is one of his early works for wind ensemble the assurance of Beethoven’s writing is striking, taking the piece close to the world of Mozart’s serenades for wind of around 11 years earlier. The Viennese audiences would surely have been impressed, and it’s no wonder Haydn made a case in favour of the Octet.

Recordings used

Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon)
L’Archibudelli (Sony Vivarte)
Sabine Meyer Bläserensemble (Warner Classics)
The Albion Ensemble (Helios)

Like the Rondino previously heard, there are some fine versions of the Octet. The Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, a starry cast, give a strong account from 1969 for Deutsche Grammophon. There is a greater lightness of touch from the Sabine Meyer Bläserensemble, who are especially fluent in the first movement. The rougher contours of the L’Archibudelli horns are appealing, as is their expansive approach to the second movement, taken at a slower tempo. The finale is an eventful quickstep.

Spotify links

L’Archibudelli

Sabine Meyer Bläserensemble

You can chart the Arcana Beethoven playlist as it grows, with one recommended version of each piece we listen to. Catch up here!

Also written in 1793 Cimarosa Concerto for 2 flutes in G major

Next upOboe Concerto in F major (fragment)

Let’s Dance – Various Artists: The Ladies of Too Slow To Disco Vol.2 (How Do You Are?)

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Various Artists – The Ladies of Too Slow To Disco Vol.2 (How Do You Are?)

reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

First, an explanation. If you are understandably wondering how something called Too Slow To Disco is put under the ‘Let’s Dance’ banner, then let me try to justify! For six years now, DJ Supermarkt has been making annual compilations of West Coast pop music, mostly from the 1970s, under the Too Slow To Disco label. In doing so he has anticipated the revival of so-called ‘yacht rock’, assembling a mixture of well-known and little-known names under the banner.

The compilations are well-planned and are on the slow side…but they could definitely be experienced in a club environment, or by the pool – hence their inclusion under Let’s Dance. And let’s face it, this is very high quality, song-based chill out music.

What’s the music like?

The first Ladies of Too Slow To Disco gained a lot of interest, with a Guardian piece exploring where some of its singers are now, and the second hits the same sweet spot. The songs are drawn from 1974-1982, and on this volume DJ Supermarkt looks to strike out further in the directions of soul, gospel and jazz.

The journey is a successful one, on the way enjoying the very smooth grooves of Marti Caine‘s Love The Way You Love Me, which if anything is ‘out-slinked’ by Diane Tell‘s Mon Ami-E. Linda Tillery sings beautifully of how she would ‘like to get to know you in a special kind of womanly way’, while Martee Lebous raises positive thoughts on the rather lovely For David. Lulu makes an appearance too, with the slow but very smooth funk of I Love To Boogie.

Each of these songs tells a story, and most of them have accomplished arrangements, such as the subtle brass colouring applied to Nicolette Larson‘s Baby, Don’t You Do It, while there is a good deal of funk around too – the best saved for the star of the show, Elkie Brooks‘ The Rising Cost Of Love.

Does it all work?

Yes. Anyone following this series will know the amount of work that goes in to digging out the tracks, but arranging them in the most coherent order is also a skill that DJ Supermarkt has in abundance. Not a hair is out of place here!

Is it recommended?

Yes. For breeezy sounds in the heat of the summer Too Slow To Disco has prove to be a series that is hard to equal, and for poolside holiday listening it has no equal. The ladies on this instalment fit seamlessly into an increasingly long list of excellent (and educational) compilations!

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