{"id":6344,"date":"2016-03-06T01:39:02","date_gmt":"2016-03-06T06:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6344"},"modified":"2018-08-24T14:15:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T18:15:26","slug":"some-concert-chestnuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6344","title":{"rendered":"Some Concert Chestnuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>

Ivan Bil\u00adbin\u2019s illus\u00adtra\u00adtion to Pushk\u00adin\u2019s Tale of the Gold\u00aden Coquerel<\/p><\/div>\n

Some\u00adtimes one\u2019s own uncon\u00adscious snob\u00adbery can deprive one of delight\u00adful expe\u00adri\u00adences. When I first start\u00aded to lis\u00adten to clas\u00adsi\u00adcal music, as a teenag\u00ader, I scrimped and saved to pur\u00adchase record\u00adings from the \u201cbar\u00adgain bins\u201d in record stores. These were most\u00adly cheap re-issue labels that had per\u00adfor\u00admances from a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion before \u2014 often bril\u00adliant ones, but with audio qual\u00adi\u00adty that was no longer accept\u00adable to audio\u00adphiles. The pieces were the stan\u00addard con\u00adcert reper\u00adtoire, includ\u00ading many pieces that were extreme\u00adly pop\u00adu\u00adlar with con\u00adcert-goers, but not con\u00adsid\u00adered par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly \u201cdeep.\u201d When you lis\u00adten to a lot of music, you even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly tire of these con\u00adcert work-hors\u00ades, heard so many time, and stop play\u00ading them. As oth\u00ader, more arcane musi\u00adcal inter\u00adests engage you, you for\u00adget about them. You \u201cknow\u201d them, of course, but they sit in your record col\u00adlec\u00adtion unplayed for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good idea to play them again, because they can bring back that spring-time feel\u00ading of dis\u00adcov\u00ader\u00ading the plea\u00adsure of music. And often, you find that they are not near\u00adly as weak as you have come to think of them. I recent\u00adly played Niko\u00adlai Rim\u00adsky-Kor\u00adsakov\u2019s suite from his opera Le coq d\u2019or <\/em>[The Gold\u00aden Coquer\u00adel]. After Scheherazade<\/em> and Capric\u00adcio Espag\u00adnol<\/em>, this is prob\u00ada\u00adbly his most pop\u00adu\u00adlar work, and there were many record\u00adings avail\u00adable in the 1950\u2019s and 1960\u2019s. Since then, I sus\u00adpect it has dropped off of con\u00adcert pro\u00adgrammes. Rim\u00adsky-Kor\u00adsakov\u2019s lush, play\u00adful orches\u00adtra\u00adtion, with its infu\u00adsion of Cen\u00adtral Asian musi\u00adcal flour\u00adish\u00ades on a firm Russ\u00adian base, is not what peo\u00adple think of when they talk about \u201cseri\u00adous\u201d music. But there was tremen\u00addous artistry in it. Stravin\u00adsky start\u00aded out by imi\u00adtat\u00ading him, and he was a sub\u00adstan\u00adtial influ\u00adence on Rav\u00adel and Debussy. In per\u00adson\u00adal char\u00adac\u00adter, he was not much like most com\u00adposers: he main\u00adtained a career as a naval offi\u00adcer while simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly com\u00adpos\u00ading and teach\u00ading music. Though a mil\u00adi\u00adtary man, he was a life-long lib\u00ader\u00adal, and high\u00adly polit\u00adi\u00adcal. Le coq d\u2019or<\/em> has a polit\u00adi\u00adcal sub\u00adtext. It is based on a charm\u00ading re-telling of a folk\u00adtale by Pushkin. But the author\u00adi\u00adties in Tsarist Rus\u00adsia took it\u2019s plot about a fool\u00adish Tsar who starts a point\u00adless war as a thin\u00adly veiled crit\u00adi\u00adcism of the dis\u00adas\u00adtrous Sino-Russ\u00adian war of 1905, and Rim\u00adsky-Kor\u00adsakov had already been fired from his teach\u00ading post for sup\u00adport\u00ading the stu\u00addent protests against the regime. The opera was banned, and its com\u00adpos\u00ader nev\u00ader heard it per\u00adformed. The suite was put togeth\u00ader from the opera score only weeks before his death, so he did not hear that either.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A stage pro\u00adduc\u00adtion of the opera.<\/p><\/div>\n

I first heard the suite in a fine William Stein\u00adberg per\u00adfor\u00admance. At least, I think it was fine, but I lost it long ago, and it is not read\u00adi\u00adly avail\u00adable. What I have now is a rea\u00adson\u00adably good CD<\/span> per\u00adfor\u00admance by David Zin\u00adman and the Rot\u00adter\u00addam Phil\u00adhar\u00admon\u00adic, and an old vinyl record\u00ading con\u00adduct\u00aded by Issay Dobrowen, which is tol\u00ader\u00ada\u00adble but a bit lethargic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"(L-R)<\/a>

(L\u2011R) Ferde Grof\u00e9, George Gersh\u00adwin, the impres\u00adsario Roxy Rothafel, Paul Whiteman<\/p><\/div>\n

George Gersh\u00adwin\u2019s Rhap\u00adsody in Blue<\/em> is, of course, in no dan\u00adger of ever going out of fash\u00adion. But I had\u00adn\u2019t lis\u00adtened to it in years, except as snatch\u00ades insert\u00aded into movies. Sit\u00adting down and lis\u00adten\u00ading to it with real atten\u00adtion remind\u00aded me how utter\u00adly delight\u00adful the piece is. No oth\u00ader piece of music can so per\u00adfect\u00adly evoke the Amer\u00adi\u00adca of opti\u00admism, high spir\u00adits, and free\u00addom, where hope\u00adful immi\u00adgrant and African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan streams of music can fuse and weld. Gersh\u00adwin him\u00adself called it a hymn to his coun\u00adtry. What bet\u00adter way to for\u00adget, for a few min\u00adutes at least, the awful spec\u00adta\u00adcle of a coun\u00adtry now so degrad\u00aded that ver\u00admin like Don\u00adald Trump and Ted Cruz can run for Pres\u00adi\u00addent? There are a gazil\u00adlion record\u00adings of it, and I have too many of them to list, but I would say that among old record\u00adings, Earl Wild (con\u00adduct\u00aded by Arthur Fiedler) and Oscar Lev\u00adan\u00adt\u2019s are the most inspired, and though Leonard Bern\u00adstein is best known as a con\u00adduc\u00adtor and com\u00adpos\u00ader, he was also a pianist, and his per\u00adfor\u00admance of the rhap\u00adsody is one of the best. These are all, of course the \u201cstan\u00addard ver\u00adsion\u201d with the 1945 orches\u00adtra\u00adtion by Ferde Grof\u00e9. George Gersh\u00adwin was a self-taught com\u00adpos\u00ader who began as a jazz musi\u00adcian. When he com\u00adposed the rhap\u00adsody in 1924, he was not yet capa\u00adble of pro\u00adduc\u00ading a full orches\u00adtra\u00adtion, so Grof\u00e9, a musi\u00adcian in Paul Whiteman\u2019s jazz orches\u00adtra, but with some clas\u00adsi\u00adcal train\u00ading, took up the task. He pro\u00adduced a series of con\u00adsec\u00adu\u00adtive orches\u00adtra\u00adtions, first for jazz band, then for suc\u00adces\u00adsive\u00adly larg\u00ader orches\u00adtras. The 1945 orches\u00adtra\u00adtion is superb. Grof\u00e9s con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtion to the piece should not be down\u00adplayed. Much of the piece\u2019s verve and emo\u00adtion\u00adal force comes from his con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtion. You can see this when you lis\u00adten to ear\u00adli\u00ader orches\u00adtra\u00adtions, such as the trun\u00adcat\u00aded one for Whiteman\u2019s jazz band, or to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal solo piano and two piano ver\u00adsions. Par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly inter\u00adest\u00ading is the exist\u00ading record\u00ading of Gersh\u00adwin him\u00adself play\u00ading the solo ver\u00adsion. He plays it incred\u00adi\u00adbly fast, prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly at a gal\u00adlop, and it feels very dif\u00adfer\u00adent from stan\u00addard per\u00adfor\u00admances. After you have tried one of the stan\u00addard record\u00adings, take a look at Michael Tilson Thomas\u2019s recon\u00adstruc\u00adtions of the ear\u00adli\u00ader orchestrations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grof\u00e9 went on to write sev\u00ader\u00adal orches\u00adtral suites, many evok\u00ading Amer\u00adi\u00adcan regions (Hawaii, San Fran\u00adcis\u00adco, the Hud\u00adson Riv\u00ader, the Mis\u00adsis\u00adsip\u00adpi, Ken\u00adtucky, even Hol\u00adly\u00adwood). In his youth, Grof\u00e9 had worked as a news\u00adboy, book\u00adbinder, truck dri\u00adver, type\u00adset\u00adter, and steel\u00adwork\u00ader, and had wan\u00addered around the coun\u00adtry. The most suc\u00adcess\u00adful of these pieces with the pub\u00adlic was The Grand Canyon Suite<\/em>, and this is a prime exam\u00adple of the sub\u00adcon\u00adscious snob\u00adbism I men\u00adtioned: I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve lis\u00adtened to it for decades. Nobody would call it \u201chigh\u00adbrow\u201d music. It even uses sheet-met\u00adal light\u00adning and a whistling wind machine, for God\u2019s sake! Not the men\u00adtion per\u00adcus\u00adsive coconut shells used to sim\u00adu\u00adlate the march of a bur\u00adro. The work was immense\u00adly pop\u00adu\u00adlar in its day, but I doubt that it often gets a per\u00adfor\u00admance out\u00adside of Ari\u00adzona in this age. But I have three record\u00adings. One is a bat\u00adtered vinyl direct\u00aded by Leonard Slad\u00adkin. On the B\u2011side, it has the very ear\u00adly Mis\u00adsis\u00adsip\u00adpi Suite<\/em>, which is meant to con\u00advey the plot of Huck\u00adle\u00adber\u00adry Finn<\/em>. Anoth\u00ader is a thump\u00ading good per\u00adfor\u00admance by Toscani\u00adni that was broad\u00adcast on nation\u00adal radio, and the house audi\u00adence was suf\u00adfi\u00adcient\u00adly unso\u00adphis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded as to break into applause between move\u00adments. Toscani\u00adni was a great con\u00adduc\u00adtor, but also a shame\u00adless\u00adly ham\u00admy show\u00adman. The sound qual\u00adi\u00adty of this one is dread\u00adful, but the per\u00adfor\u00admance is mag\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcent. Almost as good is a live\u00adly per\u00adfor\u00admance by Eugene Ormandy, who was sort of Toscanini\u2019s heir in the art of pleas\u00ading the con\u00adcert audi\u00adence and sell\u00ading clas\u00adsi\u00adcal music to a broad public.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A Grand Canyon burro.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some\u00adtimes one\u2019s own uncon\u00adscious snob\u00adbery can deprive one of delight\u00adful expe\u00adri\u00adences. When I first start\u00aded to lis\u00adten to clas\u00adsi\u00adcal music, as a teenag\u00ader, I scrimped and saved to pur\u00adchase record\u00adings from the \u201cbar\u00adgain bins\u201d in record stores. These were mostly \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[947,952],"tags":[1147,1149,1153,1151,1155,1148,1154,1156,1152,1150],"class_list":["post-6344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c-listening","category-ck-listening-2016","tag-concert-chestnuts","tag-coq-dor","tag-ferde-grofe","tag-golden-coquerel","tag-grand-canyon-suite","tag-ivan-bilbin","tag-michael-tilson-thomas","tag-mississippi-suite","tag-rhapsody-in-blue","tag-rimsky-korsakov"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6344"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7403,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344\/revisions\/7403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}