Dolidze Keto da Kote

 Day 19

Dolidze Keto da Kote

Shalva Azmaiparashvili

Moniuszko Straszny Dwór

Day 197

Moniuszko Straszny Dwór

Soloists

Chorus and Orchestra of Polish National Opéra

Jacek Kaspszyk

Heise Drot og Marsk

 Day 196

Peter Heise Drot og Marsk

Soloists

Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir

Michael Schønwandt

This is perhaps the first important Danish opera. It dates from 1878 at a time when Denmark has recently been defeated in a war with Germany. It is thus less overtly nationalistic that some other operas of the time from countries not closely associated with a musical tradition. Ironically it was the German influence that struck me most in the music. It is not overtly Wagnerian but it certainly has some Wagnerian tinges. My initial impression was that the opera it was closest to in sound was Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel, though there were also some characteristics shares with Cornelius' Barber of Bagdad.

My sense was that Heise was more at home in the lighter moments in the opera - there were some lovely folk-like passages, particularly near the beginning. Some of the more dramatic music did seem a little cliched at time though these parts were balanced with some passages which showed genuine operatic flair. Altogether a mixed experience. There is unlikely to be a call for an international revival of the music of Heise, but this was certainly not a negligible piece by any means and I am glad to have listened to it.

Riegger Study in Sonority

 Day 195

Wallingford Riegger Study in Sonority for 10 violins op 7

Louisville Symphony Orchestra

Jorge Mester

I knew nothing about Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961) before starting this project. I knew the name - who  could forget such a distinctive appellation - but otherwise I was vaguely aware he was an American modernist but I couldn't have placed him historically. So I was quite surprised to see that he was born as early as 1885. He was well trained and spend much of his life teaching music in New York State. 

This work dates from 1927. It was quite hard to place stylistically - there were some elements of Schoenberg type atonalism but also some interesting experiments in sonority. With 10 instrumental lines to play with there were a lot of opportunities for quite complex textures and antiphonal effects. The problem with writing for 10 violins of course is that there is no bass register to balance the high notes - the 8th violin is asked to tune the G string down to E but that doesn't really make up for a lack of bass notes. Indeed at times the ever higher texture got really hard to listen to and indeed quite painful though the actually harmonic language was not that difficult to follow. 

The composer called this a study and I suppose on those terms it was an interesting experiment in what could be done. But as a purely music experience I found it unrewarding and indeed hard going. I've no idea of how typical this music is within Riegger's overall output but I can't say I am very keen to explore further.

This marks the end of this week or so of experimental American composers. I'm very glad that I spend the time listening to this music but my overall sense is that a lot of it was was leading to rather a dead end rather than the creation of a really new and vibrant musical tradition. I don't think that it is an accident that these composers, with the possible exception of Ives, have not entered the musical mainstream.

Tomorrow I will start a new series looking at some nationalist operas. 

Crawford Seeger String Quartet

 Day 194

Ruth Crawford Seeger String Quartet

Amati String Quartet

Ruth Crawford, who married Charles Seeger and was the mother of Peggy Seeger the folk music specialist, was one of the most important modernist female composers in the USA in the early part of the 20th century (1901-1953). She underwent a rigorous training and was in contact with many of the leading musical figures of her time. I've never heard any of her music before so this quartet, which dates from 1931 and is acknowledged as one of her most important pieces, seemed a good place to start.

My initial impression was not that positive. I thought that the first movement was fairly anonymous in a broadly Schoenberg/Berg idiom which seemed rather to meander along. It to me had no rhythmic impetus - a feature which I certainly feel was a problem of a lot of the 2nd Viennese School's music. But the second movement had much more of interest. It sprung to life rhythmically and had an energy about it - indeed at times it almost seemed to be looking forward to the sort of rhythmic vitality that Tippett was to explore a few years later. The slow third movement was fascinating. Essentially it was a study in resonance, almost entirely consisting of long notes but with lots of small crescendos and diminuendos but at time times in different instruments - it created a really haunting effect. Seeger suggested that it could be performed by a string orchestra as an alternative to a quartet and I can imagine it making a real impression done that way.  The last movement was also distinctive. This involved quite harsh recitative-like passages in the first violin contacted with arpeggio figures in unison quavers played by the three other players with mutes on. The very end was a little abrupt.

So this was a work which grew in interest as it went on - only tailing off a little towards the end. There was nothing particularly American in the piece as far as I could hear but Crawford clearly had a distinctive voice. From the mid 1930s she seems to have devoted most of her energies to folk song collecting, editing and dissemination. One wonders what she might have written had she written further string quartets into the 1940s and 1950s.

Nancarrow Three Studies for Player Piano

 Day 193

Nancarrow - Three studies for player piano - no 8, 11 and 12

I'd heard some of the player piano studies of Conlon Nancarrow before but I had never listed to any of them properly. I chose these three purely at random. They are written for player piano because Nacarrow wanted to create music that was impossible for any human pianist to play because of the sheet speed, the rhythmic complexity or just the number of notes to be played at the same time.

I listened to these three performances (which I think were computer generated rather than performed on a player piano) with a score and that certainly helped understanding what was happening. To my surprise the basic material was not that unconventional -the music is broadly tonal and some of the basic musical shapes were fairly straightforward. Indeed study no 12 had some Spanish touches which would not have been out of place in Grenados or Ravel! What is far from straightforward, of course, it the way that this is all put together.. Nancarrow was very interested in contrapuntal textures and with the freedom that the player piano brought he was able to use all sort of techniques, including rhythmic displacement , multiple voices and simultaneous voices in different registers. The effect is quite mesmerising in short doses - these pieces each last 4-5 minutes - though I can imagine than playing several of them one after the other could leave your head buzzing. But I'd take this music every day over than of Sorabji (day 96)

Partch Castor and Pollux

 Day 192

Harry Partch Castor and Pollux

Harry Partch was one of the most innovative of the American modernists. He rejected almost all of the standard apparatus of western music - he was interested in microtone and designed and built his own instruments on which to performed his music. He made primitive recordings of some of his pieces uses multi-track tape recordings, but others have gone on to recreate his sound world. This piece is for an ensemble including marimba like instruments, glass bowls of various sizes and large plucked string instruments broadly related to the dulcimer.

I enjoyed the sonorities in this 15 minute piece. Some of it was very reminiscent of the Gamelan music from Bali and reminded me at times of the effects that Britten contoured up with conventional instruments in The Prince of the Pagodas. At other times use of short repeated melodic patterns reminded me of the minimalist music of Steve Reich and others from much later in the 20th century.  Structural the piece is set of duets which are played separately and then combined in large ensembles. There was a real musical imagination underpinning the piece and it certainly has whetted my appetite to hear more of Partch’s music.