Classical Encounters

Presented by Richard Barrows

3rd November 2002

Your Community Station

City Park Radio, 103.7 FM

Launceston, Tasmania

 

 

Play Order

Tracks

Time

1.

In The Mist

Leos Janacek (1854-1928)

Eve Bernathova, piano

Andante - Molto adagio –

Andantino - Presto

 

Leos Janacek was born in1854 in a small village in the mountains of northeastern Moravia. The son of a poor village schoolteacher he had a life filled with difficulties, unhappiness and lack of understanding. As a creative artist he did not achieve fame until his fifties with his first masterpiece, the opera Jenufa; the last twelve years of his life saw the full flowering of the composer's genius. He died in 1928 after contracting pneumonia.

 

Janacek was a forerunner in many areas. Some twenty years before Bartok or Kodaly he explored systematically and scientifically the popular songs of his native Moravia, his efforts meeting with contempt and condescension amongst the academic circles of his day, who were strongly influenced by German thought. But his studies contributed strongly to the creation of a highly personal musical language.

Janacek was deeply concerned with the sounds of nature (the opera "The Cunning Little Vixen", 1924), the bird songs (before Messiaen!) and even with the deep study of musical inflexions of speech, laughter and tears.

 

Janacek's last great piano cycle is a very intimate piece. These four pieces, grouped under the title of "In The Mist" were written in 1912 and published the following year and first performed on 24th January 1914.

The Mist refers to the distant past, but it also points to the future: the pieces are the fore-runner of the great dramatic and lyric works "Tarus Bulba, Diary of a young man who disappeared and Karya Kabanova"

There is little doubt that "In The Mist" represents the composer's pianistic masterpiece.

.

14:11

2.

Symphony 21

in E flat, 1963

Havergal Brian 86 years old

Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra, conductor Eric Pinkett

 

Brian's output consists of a large body of orchestral music including overtures, suites, tone-poems, concertos, and 32 symphonies; five operas; a few large-scale choral and orchestral works; a great many part-songs, both accompanied and a capella; a similar number of solo songs; a small quantity of solo piano music; and a few works in other genres - though several pieces, major ones included, are missing.

 

Havergal Brian was born in Dresden, Staffordshire, in 1876 and dies in Shoreham, Sussex in 1972, shortly after this recording, the first to be made of any of his music. Many composers have survived neglect and continued to work in spite of it—but it would be hard, not to say impossible, to find one who had gone on so long, with such unremitting persistence, who not only had the spirit and the physical constitution to enable him to sustain the effort, but was astonishing capable in his latter years of an actual acceleration. Who else wrote 22 symphonies after he was 80?

The music’s originality and apparent eccentricity are bound to make it enemies, and occasionally there is an awkwardness that seems to get in the way of clear communication. These characteristics, however, turn out in the end to be positive, not negative, in their effect on anyone who takes the trouble to become familiar with the music.  One gets to accept and finally love what is revealed as single mindedness rather than a clumsy inability to ingratiate the ear.

 

At the age of 87 Brian was finding in his music a new buoyancy, a sense, almost, of youthful enjoyment, and the 21st symphony in E flat shows clearly this aspect of his mind.

There are four separate movements

 

Sketches completed 19 September 1962,

full score completed November 1962.

3 flutes (1 also piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons (1 also contra), 4 horns , 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, 3 side drums, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, harp, strings

I    Adagio - Allegro e con anima   6:40

II   Adagio cantabile e sostenuto    7:55

III  Vivace    3:49

IV  Allegro con fuoco   10:33

(29´)

Performances

14 January 1969 [first performance] (recording)/10 May 1970 (BBC Radio 3 broadcast) London Symphony Orchestra, conductor Edward Downes

Also broadcast in Brisbane and Sydney area (performance unknown) 5 Jun 76, 6 Sep 77. Commercial recording

18-19 July 1972 . De Montfort Hall, Leicester / Unicorn

Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra, conductor Eric Pinkett

Unicorn UNS265

 

29:35

3.

The Hunting Mass of St. Hubert for hunting-horns and organ

with Interludes for the organ (Suite in D) by Jean-Francois d'Andrieu (Organ Book 1739)

 

11 horn players - Rallye Louvarts de Paris

and

Marie-Claire Alain at the Grand Organ of the Cathedral of Meaux

 

01. Introit (Tyadare about 1900) 1:45

02. Kyrie (Tyadare about 1900) 2:01

03. 2nd Introit (Hubert Obry, c.1890) 2:10

04. Trio with pedal (d'Andrieu's Suite in D, No. 3) 1:38

05. 2nd Kyrie (Gustave Rochard) 2:43

06. Offertory (d'Andrieu, No. 1) 5:35

07. Offertory (Hubert Obry) 4:39

08. Magnificat, 1st Verset (d'Andrieu, No. 5) 1:50

09. 2nd Offertory Tyndare) 1:43

10. Duet on the Trumpet (d'Andrieu, No. 4) 2:03

11. Elevation (with two celebrated St. Hubert Fanfares) (Victor Viney) 4:05

12. Duet (d'Andrieu, No. 6, 2nd verset of the Magnificat) 1:03

13. O Salutaris Hostia (trad) 1:31

14. Flutes (d'Andrieu, No. 9, 5th verset of the magnificat) 2:23

15. Canticle of the Bell-ringer (trad) 2:14

16. Brass and treble of the trumpet (d'Andrieu, No. 8, 4th verset of the Magnificat) 1:31

17. Carillion (trad) 5:09

18. Trio (d'Andrieu, No. 7, 3rd verset of the Magnificat) 1:18

19. Domine Salvam Fac (Hubert Obry) 1:48

20. Duet for Hunting horns played on the Trumpet-stop (d'Andrieu, No. 2) 1:25

21. Grand Fanfare (trad) 3:03

22. Dialogue (d'Andrieu, No. 10, Last verset of the magnificat) 1:33

Total playing time 53:15

An ERATO recording, released in Australia by World Record Club - R 04659

This recording reminds us of the antiquity of two instruments - the hunting-horn and the organ -and leads us to examine the likelihood of their presence in and the association with the sphere of religious worship.

 

There is no problem as far as the organ is concerned. As for the hunting-horn, it must be acknowledged that in its basic form this instrument is the original of that large family of brass that includes horns and trumpets, although they were much later diversified and technically modified. We must not become confused here by the generic term. "Hunting-horn" refers not only to the huntsman's instrument, with its picturesque associations of woodland hunts, but in a much wider fashion it embraces all horns and trumpets, being their true forerunner. It gave birth, therefore, to all brass instruments which are fitted with mouth-pieces and assorted bells, with tuning crooks and with pistons -all devices intended to augment

 

their range and facilitate their playing. The hunting-horn is the "natural" ancestor for these later instruments because the scales produced by it are a series of higher natural harmonics: this obviously involves a restricted register and a non-tempered scale. But its "natural" sound is one of thrilling, even unearthly, beauty.

 

A number of recordings have already illustrated the "hunting" repertoire of the hunting-horn: ancient horn calls have become modern fanfares for ceremonial occasions. But the problem of orchestral horn and trumpet parts prior to 1750 is still not completely solved; in spite of the difficulties raised by the momentous change in pitch, it is still not impossible that one day the actual hunting-form will be accorded an important place in the performance of French and German music from Lully to the death of Handel. In orchestral repertoire alone, and without going into details which would require a specialist's knowledge, it is worth recalling, at least in France, the following usages: the 1660 horn (in The Princess of Elida by Moliere and Lully staged in 1664), the 1680 horn in use in 1700 (in The Stag Hunt, by I. B. Morin, written in 1708), those of the years 1700-1720 from which, under the name of hunting-horn in F, has evolved a vast repertoire, the horn of 1720 in E minor (in the ballet Elements by Destouches, written in 1721), etc. The actual instrument in D has been stabilised since 1855. lean Francois Pouillard, who was interested in this beautiful instrument, presented an example of the classical collaboration of hunting- horns with orchestra at the 1965 Festival of Marais.

 

Now, it is in the religious vein that we present the alliance between organ and hunting-horn, with the traditional work The Hunting Mass of St. Hubert, augmented by interludes which Marie-Claire Alain has borrowed from the Suite in D of I. F. d' Andrieu (Organ

 

Book of 1739). It is now time to have a look at the participation by brass in the medieval polyphony of the church. Before listening to this highly original sonic experience, which offers an expression of antiquity as strange as it is credible, let us reflect that it is practically impossible to obtain complete pitch agreement between the equal temperament of the organ and the natural scale of the hunting-horn. Even the length of time of a recording session plays apart here, complicating the problem, for wind instruments are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature.

 

The Mass of St. Hubert can be likened to a work of "oral trans- mission" in the sense that the version actually recorded consists 01 pieces from different eras, written and, moreover, interpreted in a completely traditional manner, and (which is more important) in the tradition of liturgical music for brass dating back to the 8th century.

 

A painting by Breughel the Elder shows us the hunter Hubert falling to his knees before a luminous cross apparently implanted between: the horns of a stag. The conversion and miracles of St. Hubert are well-known. Bishop of Maestricht, and then of Liege, he is reputed to have cured rabies and driven out demons. Six teen years after hi! death his body was returned to Tervueren by his son Floribert, who had become bishop in his place. It was this episode of transfers which merited the entry of St. Hubert and his liturgy in the order of the Proper of Saints.

 

Jean Pietri, of the Federation of Horn-players of France, opportunely reminds us that "brass instruments prevailed as much in the church as in the army, at Court or at hunt. At the end of the 17th century, brass instrument~ were very similar, varying only in details of coiling of their tubes, the manner in which they were pierced, and in the dimension of their bells. ..The practice of confining the use of the horn to hunting is comparatively recent, the main reason apparently being the evolution of orchestral instruments, with changes in pitch and sonority".

 

One point seems important to us: even if some parts of the Mass of St. Hubert -in its actual state -have been set to music in a comparatively recent era, the style of execution of the hunting-horn players still carries, in the 2Oth century, traces of rhythmical procedures, of quasi-vocal vibrato effects, which take us right back to the classical era, to the "French" and "Lombard" styles, to a specific vibrato which defies all attempts to capture it in normal musical notation. This is why I would evoke the auditory equivalent of "oral-transmission". In the domain of the hunting-horn, this tradition at least is not lost. ..we all know the difficulties which beset harpsichordists and organists of today in rediscovering historical secrets of execution!

 

Perhaps the listener will be struck immediately by the contrast between the two types of instruments: firstly, the organ, which responds to rapidity of execution and to polyphonic combinations; secondly, the hunting-horn, demanding virtuosity on a scale less apparent but all the m()re real to achieve a good "emission" and sound-quality -since here both are dependent upon the player and not just on the skills of the instrument-maker.

 

From the posthumous Organ Book of Jean-Francois Andrieu (1682- 1738) the organist has chosen the Suite in D major for its key (the same as that of the modem horn), for its rhythmic character, and for the frequency of themes evoking the brass instruments. One notes, for instance, the passage "Duet for hunting-horn on the trumpet (sic)", where the intention is explicit.

 

A recording of this kind fulfils a double mission: On the one hand, it gives us an approximate idea of religious ceremonies of the past where brass was used, of the vigorous acoustic atmosphere, at the risk of shocking the purists or the fanatics of equal temperament; on the other hand, who knows? -it may awaken in the heart of some composer the desire to write for this instrumental combination: the choir of hunting-brass with its rich and vibrant sound, a truly regal sonority.

 

Translated from the French of Olivier Alain

 

With a high regard for authenticity and tradition, we have done our best to match the organ with the hunting-horns, without however, ignoring the risks of such a confrontation caused by the fluctuating pitches of these brass instruments, so widely renowned for their sumptuous sound -and their intractability! -

53:15

4.

Dinu Lipatti

His last recital

Besancon Festival

September 16th 1950

 

Chopin – Waltzes

22 No. 13 in D flat major, Op. 70, No. 3

23 No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 64, No. 3

24 No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1:52

2:42

4:14

 

 

 

 

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