Rattle conducts Sibelius – Symphony no.1

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Rattle conducts Sibelius – Symphony no.1, the start of a three-concert residency from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, performing all the composer’s symphonies

sibelius-1-rattle

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle – Barbican Hall, live on BBC Radio 3, 11 February 2015.

Listening link (opens in a new window):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b051czq9

on the iPlayer until 11 March

For non-UK listeners, here is a Spotify link. Although Sir Simon has recorded the first symphony, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, I could not find this for listening. I have therefore inserted a ‘replacement’ version with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis:

What’s the music?

sibelius-symphony-1
© Brian Hogwood

Sibelius – Symphony no.1 in E minor, Op.39 (1899) (39 minutes)

What about the music? With his first symphony Sibelius begins one of the most important canons of music in the 20th century. Quite appropriately the work sits just at the turn of the century, absorbing influences from the likes of Berlioz and Tchaikovsky but showing signs of speaking with a new and very clear voice.

It is also clear that the 33-year old composer already has a very strong instinct for structure and what commentators call ‘symphonic thought’. Sibelius structures the four movements in a way that acknowledges the past masters in the form, but there is some really vital and emotional material here too.

Although the symphony does not have a subtitle it was interpreted as Nationalistic by the Finnish people, especially as the Russian presence in and dominance over the country was increasing all the time. but showing signs of speaking with a new and very clear voice.

Performance verdict

Sir Simon Rattle finds the drama in this music from the off, but is keen to also show off the inner workings of Sibelius’s distinctive orchestration – an invitation the Berlin Philharmonic is hardly going to pass up!

There is a lean sound to the strings, and particularly the violins, with very little in the way of padding to the sound. The sense of music pushing forward is always there, Rattle focused on the symphony’s overall sweep rather than picking out particular solos.

The woodwind playing is superb, and because the orchestra are so well drilled Rattle’s tempi make sense – a quick first movement and Scherzo work really well here. Occasionally the conductor is a bit perfunctory where others make more of the Romantic gestures, but that is a question of taste rather than accuracy.

What should I listen out for?

First movement (marked Andante, ma non troppo – Allegro energico) (at a walking pace but not too fast…then fast and energetic)

4:00 – the clarinet solo that begins the work, wonderfully played by the Berlin Philharmonic clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer with quietly rolling timpani in the background

6:28 – the culmination of the first part of the first movement, with surging strings and simmering lower voices of the orchestra

12:04 – the main idea of the first movement sings out on the violins, with timpani thundering in response

14:00 – a tremendous build up from the orchestra, which subsides to two pizzicato chords from the strings (14:41)

Second movement (marked Andante (ma non troppo lento)) (at a walking pace, but not becoming too slow)

15:22 – the murky beginning to the second movement, beginning almost as an apparition of Tchaikovsky in the melody for strings

18:24 – the pulsing woodwind lead to a more luxuriant passage supported by harp

20:47 – Rattle moves up a gear here, the distinctive motif passed from strings to woodwind

23:05 – a return to the main theme, a little detached on violins now, subsiding to the end (24:50)

Third movement (Scherzo*: marked Allegro) (fast)

25:07 – quick, urgent delivery of the distinctive seven-note theme from Rattle and his charges here. The timpani once again are at the root of much of Sibelius’ thinking when writing for orchestra.

27:02 – the trio, a brass chorale that sounds slightly awkward in its means of expression (not a criticism!)

29:04 – the scherzo theme returns and the music wheels ever faster to its end (30:17)

Fourth movement (marked Finale: Andante – Allegro molto – Andante assai – Allegro molto come prima – Andante (ma non troppo)( alternating slow and fast passages)

30:26 – the passionate outpouring from the violins with which the fourth movement begins. The music gathers itself until…

32:57 – a quick statement of a faster tune. Rattle is quite matter-of-fact here; some conductors allow the music to take a big breath at this point, but Rattle surges forwards

35:10 – a thick string section and harps with another deeply felt tune

38:02 – a reflective and almost sorrowful return to the clarinet theme from the first movement, joined by the woodwind

39:20 – a sublime expansion of this melody on the strings, waking the ghost of Tchaikovsky once again. All this takes place over huge, long bass ‘pedal’ notes, a great illustration of the massive expanse Sibelius can achieve with the orchestra. Then there is a build towards the end (41:57) at which point Rattle slows, labouring the big chords, until the big fnish, timpani right at the limit (42:50)

Want to hear more?

The best thing to suggest after Sibelius’s First Symphony…is his Second, coming up soon on Arcana!

Glossary

*Scherzo – a term used for a faster section of music, usually placed second or third in a piece that has four movements. It originated with Beethoven and his contemporaries, who often added a touch of humour to the music.

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Songs for Europe – Olena Tokar and Igor Gryshyn

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Songs for Europe – Ukrainian duo Olena Tokar and Igor Gryshyn perform a selection of songs by Brahms, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dvořák and Richard Strauss

Olena-Tokar-und-Igor-Gryshyn-©-Jörg-Singer-682x1024Olena Tokar and Igor Gryshyn – Wigmore Hall, live on BBC Radio 3, 9 February 2015. Photo © Jörg Singer

Listening link (opens in a new window):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b051chkl

on the iPlayer until 10 March

For non-UK listeners, this Spotify playlist is available:

For those unable to hear the broadcast I have put together a Spotify playlist. Olena and Igor have not recorded this repertoire, so I have chosen suitable available versions:

 

What’s the music?

Brahms – a selection of four songs (1868-1877) (10 minutes)

Rimsky-Korsakov – a selection of four songs (1897) (7 minutes)

Dvořák – Gipsy Songs (1880) (14 minutes)

Richard Strauss – a selection of four songs (1885-1918) (11 minutes)

What about the music?

This recital was a reminder of the power of music as a universal language – a Ukranian duo performing works from across Europe in the languages in which they were written. The intriguing hour-long recital alighted in some diverse parts of the continent, exploring song writing from the 19th century.

Brahms and Richard Strauss are no strangers to a recital such as this, but Dvořák and especially Rimsky-Korsakov are less commonly heard. It was interesting to hear Rimsky’s brief songs and Dvořák’s equally concise cycle, placed alongside some well-chosen Brahms and some of Richard Strauss’s most popular output, four of some 200 songs he wrote through his career – culminating in Cäcilie, the song that became a wedding present to his wife.

Performance verdict

Olena Tokar has a bright tone, sometimes a little on the shrill side – for Richard Strauss in particular – but singing the notes with commendable security and expression. Her communication with the audience was good, helped by the fact she had memorised the program – no mean feat given its use of three languages.

The Dvořák was especially good, harnessing the dance rhythms with pianist Igor Gryshyn’s springy accompaniment while finding a little melancholy in some of the slower songs. The Brahms was unexpectedly light. He is often cast as a composer who writes music of dense texture but that was not the case here, and Gryshyn gave some nice, light touches to Über die Herde (Over the Heath) as well as a turbulent, frothy seascape for Verzagen.

The Strauss selection had a curious order – and I couldn’t help but feel that Mörgen would have worked better in last position. It was nice to hear a young singer tackle the big songs, though at the same time a more experienced voice can lend the depth this music often thrives on.

The encore – and its massive piano part – was a bit breathless, but this was a spirited and often invigorating recital.

What should I listen out for?

Brahms

4:10 – Über die Herde (Over the Heath) – this song has palpable uncertainty, particularly in the third stanza when ‘Bravende Nebel geisten umher’ (‘Swirling mists ghost about’)

6:25 – Es träumte (I dreamed) – a song full of longing. Tokar’s floated vocal is lovely, while Grysyhn gives the piano part plenty of sustain (maybe a bit much for some tastes!)

Rimsky-Korsakov

13:29 – Of what I dream in the quiet night – a good illustration of the simplicity of Rimsky’s songwriting, with a basic yet effective piano part to support Tokar’s clear singing.

15:32 – Cool and fragrant is thy garland – heady words, but an airy song, from the gentle piano arpeggios to the top ‘G’ from the soprano at the end.

Dvořák

22:12 – My Song of Love Rings Through the Dusk – there is an immediate indication from the piano part that we have changed countries. Tokar’s clear voice and the piano exchange a melancholy motif.

29:25 – Songs my mother taught me – one of Dvořák’s best-loved songs, laced with nostalgia and with a rather beautiful melody.

31:29 – Come and join the dance – an energetic dance song with a distinctive call.

Richard Strauss

37:26 – Mörgen (Morning) – the most serene intro to one of Strauss’s most performed songs. It’s easy to hear how this song works so well in orchestral guise too – though Tokar and Gryshyn are a bit fast here.

41:20 – Schlechtes Wetter (Dreadful weather) – a later song. The tumbling piano part paints a picture of the elements, and it’s easy to imagine an umbrella blown inside-out to this song!

43:25 – Allerseelen (All Souls’ Day) – another of Strauss’s famous songs, the last from his set of eight. Again it has an expansive piano intro.

46:37 – Cäcilie (Cecily) – the rapturous birthday love letter from Strauss to his wife, Pauline de Ahna.

Encore

50:18 – Tchaikovsky’s Whether day dawns – another bold song, with something of a piano concerto as a postlude! Very expansive and romantic.

Want to hear more?

It’s difficult to know what to suggest next after such a varied program – but one disc that comes to mind early on is Bernarda Fink and Roger Vignoles’ relatively recent disc of Dvořák songs, including the Gipsy Songs alongside several other song groups. It can be heard on Spotify here:

 

Meanwhile one of Brahms’ very best vocal works is also recommended, the Alto Rhapsody available on Spotify here:

For more concerts click here

Emika

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emikaEmika picture © Katja Ruge

Up until now, singer-songwriter Emika has been best known for her one-woman electronica, best witnessed on her Emika and DVA albums for Ninja Tune. Yet she has always carried a torch for classical music, and recently released Klavirni, an album of piano miniatures, on her own Emika Records label. She is therefore the ideal artist to kick off Arcana’s interview section! She does so by talking about her watershed encounters with classical music, and the ambitious plans she has as a composer and label owner.

Can you remember your first encounter with classical music?
It was actually the first moment I cried from listening to music. I was 12 and even though I was on my own I felt very embarrassed. I was forced to stay with my parent’s friends during our family holiday and I was being mega grumpy and did not want to join in doing any ‘nice’ things such as going on a long walk, so I decided to stay at the house on my own. I went through all their CDs and found Chopin piano nocturnes. The piece was Chopin’s Nocturne in E-Flat Major, Op.9 No. 2:

Your ‘Klavirni’ album is inspired by Janácek and Bartók – were there any piano pieces in particular that inspired you when writing the album?
I’m very impressed by Erik Satie‘s work, it is so touching and so precise. I think playing lots of notes is quite achievable on the piano as it’s always based on scales and anyone can learn to move their fingers in a spider-like pattern. But having the confidence to leave space in between phrases, to not play every possible note, to not feel the need to show-off. That is also skill in my opinion and I think Satie and Janáček were not only great piano players but they were also fantastic composers and therefore didn’t need to be ‘virtuosic’. I love piano pieces with a sense of space inside them.

Is some of your work improvisatory? The recordings have a very natural flow to them, as if you recorded them in one take.
They are all one-take improvs. Sometimes if my cat jumped on my chair or my mum got a phone call, I cut out these kinds of unwanted sounds. But there are lots of moments when it started to rain outside (in England of course it rains a lot) and you can feel this pressure change in some of the recordings. That stuff is pretty cool and ‘real’. I like to explore ‘real’ space within recordings and not only work with synthesis.

Was it important to keep some electronic elements from the work you’ve done before, such as the sampling, re-sampling and other processes you have used on the album?
Yes for sure. I have an itch to scratch! It’s fun to pull sounds apart and also get to know the music on a sonic level.

Although you have used these processes, you have made sure the music keeps its simplicity. Do you think sometimes classical music overcomplicates itself?
Yes. Too much diddle-di-di. I don’t like most classical music to be honest, just a few composers / conductors / performers and specific pieces from each.

Do you think moving between electronic club music and classical music means it becomes more accessible to the listener…and do you plan to keep writing in both styles?
I don’t like the stiff wall between these worlds. There’s no need to be just one way or the other and I plan do what I do until there is no difference between them in relation to my work. It’s all music.

What further classical music do you have planned…and might it involve you singing?
I’m going to record my first really big orchestral piece this year in Prague which features the beautiful Czech soprano Michaela Srumova and around 70 players. The music is rooted in grief, and features a miracle which pushes you over the edge and then you fall into a great unknown. It’s so full of life, things which I cannot express through words or any other way. Some things really are best expressed purely as musical forms.

What does classical music mean to you?
Life itself.

If you could recommend one piece of classical music to Arcana readers, what would it be and why?
Barber‘s Adagio for Strings. It doesn’t get more sincere then this.

Emika‘s new album Klavirni is available to buy now, either digitally, on CD or on vinyl. The vinyl has intonation included, while the CD has an option to email Emika Records direct to have the notation sent.

Emika has completed a DJBroadcast podcast in the form of an ambient mix, which can be heard here – while Dilo, one of the recordings from the album, can be downloaded for free here

The Borrowers – Village People: Go West

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What tune does it use?

The much-loved Canon by the 17th century composer Johann Pachelbel.

Pachelbel (1653-1706) was a composer and organist who seems destined to be celebrated for just one work. He seemed to specialise working in very strict forms such as the chaconne* and the canon, whose rules dictate that once the harmonic progression is heard it must be repeated with almost exact precision for the rest of the piece. What happens above this progression is up to the composer.

This way of working fits in perfectly with pop music, because a lot of pop songs use the same chord progressions throughout – so to make a song over a predetermined chord sequence is a great challenge. The Village People did it in their use of Pachelbel’s Canon:

So did Pet Shop Boys, in their cover of the same song:

Even Kylie Minogue and her production / writing team of Stock Aitken & Waterman used a very similar sequence for the chorus of I Should Be So Lucky. Indeed Pete Waterman went as far as to describe it as ‘almost the godfather of pop music’. Having listened closely the references are not quite as obvious…but Pete’s comment illustrates how it was inevitable Arcana would be mentioning this piece early on!

Yet another pop song to use the chords is an altogether different dance track, The Farm’s 1990 hit All Together Now. It even adopts the same key as the Village People:

How does it work?

It really is as simple as a direct lift of the chord progression from the whole Canon. Village People take the chord structure as outlined in the clip below:

They even keep it in the same key as the original:

What else is new?

The Canon has been arranged for literally hundreds of musical combinations – but it is worth remembering it is not the only piece of note by Pachelbel. Here is his Chaconne in F minor, for instance. Who can spot any pop tune that uses this? I can’t yet…but it wouldn’t sound out of place in a record by any band from the so-called ‘Canterbury scene’!

Glossary

*chaconne – a form of music commonly used in Pachelbel’s time, where a repeated, pre-determined cell of chords and / or bass-line would become the foundation for a whole piece

Under the surface – Ustvolskaya Chamber Works on ECM

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ustvolskaya-ecm

Composer: Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006)

Nationality: Russian

What did she write? Ustvolskaya wrote little published music, but her output still extends to five symphonies and a number of highly regarded chamber works.

Why isn’t she more popular? In general women classical composers have had an extremely raw deal over the centuries, but there are at least now a few contemporaries who are coming through to more prominent positions – among them Dame Judith Weir, now Master (Mistress!) of the Queen’s Music, Thea Musgrave and Sofia Gubaidulina. Ustvolskaya’s music is not perhaps as immediately as theirs, but she is arguably the most inventive and original.

What are the works on this new recording? Two works for violin and piano – the Sonata (1952) and Duet (1964) given characteristically sparse titles. They sandwich an earlier Trio for clarinet, violin and piano (1949), recorded for the second time by ECM.

What is the music like? Challenging. Not in a bad way, you understand!

The Duet is a fascinating piece, because there are some moments where it feels like the violin and piano are in open combat. The piercing high notes from the violin are haunting initially, but at about two and a half minutes in this cuts to some music that I can only describe as bloodthirsty, with violin and piano locked in battle.

There is a greater sense of togetherness between the instruments in the Sonata, where once again Kopatchinskaja and pianist Markus Hinterhäuser play with fearsome intensity. This work is where the influence of teacher Shostakovich is at its keenest, with a five-note motif on the violin that becomes obsessive and disconcerting. There are however some lovely slower moments of deep thought, where the violin makes bird-like calls over the soft piano.

The Trio is another dramatic work, its sonorities reminiscent of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, written for the same combination with cello. The music is especially effective when Ustvolskaya works the violin and clarinet together, effectively taking the bottom out of the music, while there is often a stronger sense of forward movement. Reto Bieri’s beautiful tone is notable in this performance.

What’s the verdict? If you’re willing to put the work in with Ustvolskaya’s music there are rewards to be had. She is a composer who seems never to waste a note, and although sometimes her writing is austere, it is packed with a deep-seated emotion.

Give this a try if you like… Shostakovich, Messiaen or Bartók

Spotify Playlist

An Ustvolskaya playlist is available on Spotify below, including the Trio and Violin Sonata detailed above, the highly regarded Octet and the Symphony no.5.