CLASSICAL OPUS no.92

Albert Huybrechts: “String Quartet no.1”

アルバート・フイブレヒツ -「弦楽四重奏曲第1番」

 

TIME COMMITMENT: 18 minutes

Elegant, triste and listless first, then increasingly polarized and chugging, this irregular chamber score challenges the listener to seek, in vain, a closure.  The radial pattern of this expressionist quartet does not settle until the poignant theme returns at halftime, offering a sense of relief.

 

MUSIC

 

INFO

https://www.goldenrivermusic.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19:albert-huybrechts&catid=2:composers&Itemid=3&lang=en

 

A REFLECTION

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice–

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”

each voice cried

 

Mary Oliver: “The Journey”

Published in: on September 29, 2018 at 2:01 pm  Leave a Comment  

CLASSICAL OPUS no.95

Charles Ives – “Symphony no.2”

チャールズ・アイヴス –  「交響曲第2番」

 

TIME COMMITMENT: 42 minutes

An agonizing and exhilarating debut by this ardent Primitivist.  How could this insurance agent pool street brass bands and folksy citations into such complex layers of hymns, polyrhythms and nascent atonality?  Although it was his 4th symphony that pushed the boundaries, Leonard Bernstein’s delectable introduction here is, again, a must.

 

MUSIC

 

INFO

 

A REFLECTION

I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.

I have outwalked the furthest city light.

 

I have looked down the saddest city lane.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat

And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

 

Robert Frost: “Acquainted with the Night”

Published in: on September 26, 2018 at 2:32 pm  Leave a Comment  

CLASSICAL OPUS no. 98

Alan Hovhaness: “Prayer of St Gregory”, op.62b

アラン・ホバネス：「聖グレゴリーの祈り」

 

TIME COMMITMENT: 4 minutes

Performed in warm, cushioned tones, this celestial, sinuous invocation in B-flat minor strides confidently with a pace of ancestral maestoso.  The modal version for chorale-like organ (or harmonium) features Wynton Marsalis’s distinctly melismatic playing.  But it’s also worth exploring the less fluid variant for strings.

 

MUSIC

 

 

 

INFO

Hovhaness – Prayer of St. Gregory

https://everestgtmusic.weebly.com/alan-hovhanesss-prayer-of-st-gregory.html

 

A REFLECTION

The Armenian Grief is a shoreless sea,

An enormous abyss of water

My Soul swims mournfully

On this huge and black expanse

 

Hovannes Tumanyan: “The Armenian Grief”

Published in: on September 23, 2018 at 6:02 pm  Leave a Comment  

CLASSICAL OPUS no. 99

Darius Milhaud – Elegie pour piano et violoncelle, op.251

ダライアス ミルホード – – ピアノとチェロのためのエレジー、op.251

 

TIME COMMITMENT: 4 minutes

This elegant, dusky threnody showcases fibrous cello verses, warmly endorsed by heartfelt keyboard touches.  It successfully conceals trans-Atlantic eclecticism that this ultra-prolific composer often betrayed and eventually bequeathed – also to his American students: Steve Reich and Dave Brubeck.

 

MUSIC

 

INFO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_Milhaud

(I know, it’s not much, but if you are truly hungry, here’s the beef):

Click to access these_cortot_pierre_2003.pdf

 

A REFLECTION

Out of this world, we’re on our way:

Our greetings to those who will stay.

We send all our greetings to those

Who give us their blessings and pray.

 

Yunus Emre “Poems”

Published in: on September 22, 2018 at 3:02 pm  Leave a Comment  
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