Brahms, "Tragic Overture", Op 81

In the Austrian countryside, "melodies spring up everywhere and one must be careful not to step on them when walking", Johannes Brahms once remarked. It must be true, because most of his best works were composed during his summer vacations, in the Austrian Alps or in the forests around Vienna. He spent the summer of 1880 in Bad Ischl, a fashionable bathing resort of the time, where the Viennese musical and intellectual elite went to escape from the hustle and bustle of the time – if there was one –, while at the same time rubbing shoulders with the nobility.

But that summer the weather was not kind to Johannes, who by then was approaching fifty. It was a freezing and rainy summer. An ear infection made matters worse. Fearful of going deaf, like Beethoven, the composer left for Vienna for a few days to visit an ear specialist and made a full recovery. A few days later, he was back in Bad Ischl.

Despite all the unforeseen events and distractions, he succeeded in finishing there the composition of his only two orchestral overtures: the jovial Academic Festival, and the less festive but not fatal Tragic Overture, despite its title.

Johannes Brahms, c. 1880
(1833 - 1897)

A joke?
Even today, scholars still disagree about the tragedy – personal or drawn from literature – that would have led the composer to title the work that way. In a letter to his publisher, Brahms suggests the words "dramatic", "tragic," or "tragedy," but adds that none of these adjectives satisfies him. It seems a matter of marketing. Moreover, the composer himself is known to have pointed out more than once that the work had no connection to tragedy. That would be the end of the story, but with Brahms, you never know whether he is serious or joking. Let's put our faith in him this time.

As for Bad Ischl, the spa town that witnessed his creation, let us add that Brahms returned to it on two more occasions, in the summers of 1882 and 1889. In the latter year, the daughter of Johann Strauss II approached him asking him to sign her fan. Brahms scrawled on it the opening bars of The Blue Danube waltz, adding the words "Unfortunately, not by yours truly, Johannes Brahms."

Tragic Overture, in D minor, opus 81

Just over 13 minutes long, it premiered at the Vienna Musikverein on December 26, 1880, with Hans Richter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.

The performance is by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by the Italian maestro Daniele Gatti.

Mozart, piano concertos producer... // Piano Concerto No 22, in E flat major

When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart settled in Vienna in 1781, he had already written six piano concertos, plus a bunch of arrangements for piano and orchestra derived from movements by other composers. So, his goal of making a name for himself there as a pianist and composer offered no major difficulties. But the following year, he will marry Constance, and start a family.
This new twenty-five-year-old Mozart provider would have to support a wife and children. So at the same time as he saw his recognition as a performer grow, the production of concerts, sold by subscription, had to increase substantially.

During the 1782-83 season he composed three concertos for piano and orchestra. The following year, 1784, public demand led him to write no less than six, the highest point in his output for the format. In 1785 and 1786 he was still able to write three each year. But thereafter, Mozart ceased to be the artist of the year. In 1787 he wrote none, and only one in 1788. And there he stopped, until a final achievement in early 1791, the year of his death. This simple statistic may seem trivial but we think it somewhat sums up Mozart's career in Vienna as a pianist.

Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, KV 482
Mozart's personal catalog (his unique "Catalogue of all my works") lists December 16, 1785 as the completion date of the work, written simultaneously with The Marriage of Figaro (which will have its premiere in May of the following year). It is the last of the three concertos written that year. It is preceded by Concerto No. 20 in D minor and Concerto No. 21 in C major, two of his most brilliant works in the genre, requested and performed with such frequency that No. 22 has been, in fact, unjustly overshadowed. Perhaps without realizing it, Mozart himself set the bar very high for himself, although in the opinion of one scholar "of all his concertos, this is the greatest".

Movements:
00:00  Allegro
13:03  Andante
21:49  Allegro

While it is difficult to express a preference for one movement or another, the Andante seems to have struck a chord with the audience on its first hearing, as it is said to have been encored. This first performance is reported on December 23, 1785. Curiously for our days, it was played during the intermissions of an oratorio by Carl von Dittersdorf, the Austrian composer.

The rendition is by the Austrian maestro Rudolf Buchbinder, performing as pianist and conductor, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto grosso op 6 - 4

In Arcangelo Corelli's time, the life of an independent musician in Rome was no doubt precarious. Musical activity, largely private, was reduced to that which wealthy patrons could finance. But Corelli turned out to be a man of good fortune. From the time he emerged in Bologna at the age of seventeen, the composer always remained under the protection of wealthy and influential patrons. Two cardinals and a queen (Christina of Sweden) watched over him for a lifetime, requesting his music, which they rewarded generously.

The blessed Italian composer is one of those authors whose work, not very extensive, could nevertheless reach great significance and influence in the history of music. During his successful career, he published four collections of trio sonatas and a collection of sonatas for violin and bass. In 1714, a year after his death, an Amsterdam publisher, famous for publishing Handel "under the table", managed to rescue a collection of twelve concertos, some of which he reconstituted on the basis of movements written by Corelli in the recent or distant past. They are his famous Concerti Grossi from Opus 6.

A. Corelli (1653 - 1713)

The baroque concerto grosso
They are supposed to have been composed from 1708 onwards, after the composer, at the age of 55, decided to abandon public performances. They are works written for a small number of "soloist" instruments "accompanied" by a much larger ensemble. It is the baroque concerto grosso. The small group is called concertino and the larger group, ripieno, or tutti. The concertino of the first eleven concertos of the series consists of two violins and a cello. The last of the series features a solo violin as concertmaster, foreshadowing the future "classical" concerto.

Concerto No. 4 in D major, Op 6
Of the twelve concertos of Opus 6, the first eight are recognized as concerti da chiesa (or church concertos). The remaining ones are concerti da camera. The distinction, in the tradition of the sonata da chiesa or da camera, lies in the number of movements they exhibit, generally greater in the concerti da chiesa (four or six). In this case, there are four, in alternating slow-fast sequence.

Movements:
00:00  Adagio - allegro
03:31  Adagio
05:08  Vivace
06:12  Allegro - giga: presto

The performance is by the early music ensemble Voices of Music, featuring period instruments.

Moszkowski, Piano Concerto No 2 / Mov 1

Moritz Moszkowski, the German composer born in Poland in just the middle of the 19th century, wrote a wide range of works: operas, ballets, chamber music, orchestral suites, and concertos for piano and violin, as well as extensive work for solo piano. Much of his work, though, is today forgotten, missing from the "traditional" repertoire, except for his piano miniatures, of which the popular piece Etincelles takes the cake, if only to close a performance, as an encore.

Moritz Moszkowski, c. 1880
(1853 - 1925)

Becoming a successful pianist at 30, and sought after by audiences all over Europe, Moszkowski would venture into the composition of meaningful works. Three concertos for piano and orchestra were born from his inventiveness. The most renowned of them was Concerto No. 2, composed almost at the turn of the century, in 1898. By this time, the composer had amassed a considerable fortune from his performances and the publication of his salon piano pieces (the miniatures among them). He is living in Paris or Berlin and is a professor at both Conservatories, gaining academic recognition. Even in his personal life, everything is also going wonderfully. For a year, he has been happily married to Henriette, sister of the composer Cécile Chaminade.

However, at the end of his life, everything will change, and for the worse. Moszkowski will need to learn how to adapt to the times and his music will lose its charm, and his performances will become scarce. In 1910. Henriette will leave him for his best friend. Unfortunate investments of his fortune will lead him to ruin. Moszkowski would die in poverty, in 1925, in Paris.

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2, in E major, op 59
Of his three piano concertos, this is virtually the only one that still supports recordings today. It is clearly his most ambitious work for piano and orchestra, and not a minor achievement in writing for the genre, perhaps the ultimate Romantic concerto. No wonder that in the early years of the 20th century, it enjoyed a certain popularity in European concert halls, although after the First War all that began to fade. There was no room for romanticism anymore.

Dedicated to one of his brilliant pupils, the Polish virtuoso Josef Hofmann, the work is structured in four movements (Moderato / Andante / Scherzo - vivace / Allegro deciso), lasting about 40 minutes.

The First Movement is presented here, in a rendition by the Italian maestro Pasquale Iannone, accompanied by the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie conducted by the Belgian conductor Ivan Meylemans.

(Complete work: https://youtu.be/eh3l8I-JT4Q)

Mozart / Breiner: Allegro and cadenza Piano Concerto No. 20

Until well into the nineteenth century, the cadenzas for a solo instrument in a concerto, that is, those virtuosic passages in which the orchestra is silent to allow the performer to show off his skills and inventiveness, were left to the soloist. The author of the piece did not write the cadenza but only indicated the moment when it should begin, usually at the end of the first movement.

Famous composers created famous cadenzas for equally famous concerts. Epic is the cadenza that Beethoven wrote for Mozart's Concerto No. 20, widely used by today's performers, because nowadays performers no longer improvise, they rely on cadenzas written by others.

But there are exceptions, notable ones...

In a span of thirteen years, from the time he was eleven until a few months before his death, Mozart composed 27 concertos for piano and orchestra. Fifteen of them include cadenzas written by the composer. A high number, if we remember that for their premiere the concertos generally featured his participation as a soloist. There was no need to write it, we might say, given the composer's ability for improvisation.

Concerto No. 20, for example, premiered in Vienna on February 22, 1785, with the composer at the piano, has no cadenza written by Mozart. Either he never had it, or it has been lost. The first to be published was Beethoven's already mentioned. The Bonn master thus inaugurated a long list of pianist-composers who added their own cadenza to the brilliant work. Hummel, Brahms, and Ferrucio Brusoni, are among the most conspicuous. Among the most curious, is that of Chik Korea (which includes a vocalist).

Peter Breiner

Breiner's invention
Not less novel is the cadenza incorporated by Peter Breiner in a 1990 recording. Renowned for his arrangements of music by The Beatles and Elvis Presley in baroque style, Peter Breiner is a Slovak pianist and a driving force in the popularization of classical music.

He is accompanied by the Philharmonia Cassovia ensemble, which he also conducts. The cadenza, "in "arrabalero", or "jazzy" mode, at minute 9:57. After an irreverent two minutes, we are back in the classical era.

Giuliani, Guitar Sonata in C major / Tatyana Ryzhkova

The last years of the eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of the six-string guitar. In the following century, it became a fashionable instrument, and its popularity spread throughout Europe. It was the ideal instrument to accompany the human voice although it was equally capable of bringing more elaborate music to life. But to do so, it was necessary to expand a repertoire that at the turn of the century was rather scarce.
The task, a formidable one, was initiated and carried out by a group of guitarists and composers at the beginning of the century, among whom the Italian master Mauro Giuliani deservedly stands out.

Giuliani arrived in Vienna in 1806 and two years later was recognized as one of the most prominent guitarists in the Viennese musical sphere. An article published in a music magazine in May 1808, giving an overview of music in Vienna, listed Giuliani as one of the active professional musicians in the city, along with Beethoven, Hummel, and Czerny.

Mauro Giuliani
(1781 - 1829)

Giuliani's oeuvre
Aware of the need to put the guitar on an equal footing with classical music in general, the Italian master chose to work on classical "forms", the models cultivated by Haydn, Mozart,  and Beethoven.
Thus, along with the theme and variations, serenades and rondos, and a celebrated Concerto, he undertook in 1808 the major task of composing a Sonata for guitar, structured in three movements in the usual manner, his opus 15.

Sonata for guitar in C major, op 15
This is his only sonata in several movements (Gran Sonata Eroica, of 1821, is composed of a single movement of barely eight minutes). It was a risky bet, due to the well-known sonorous weakness of the instrument. But it was victorious. Unlike the great Italian theaters, the Viennese salons seemed to be specially made for the intimate enjoyment of an instrument of low sonority but beautiful timbre that was beginning its career in pursuit of its transformation into a symphonic instrument.
The work, skillful and ingenious, is today considered one of the finest examples in the genre, for guitar.  

Movements:
00:00  Allegro spiritoso
05:36  Adagio, con grand espressione
09:59  Allegro vivace

The rendition is by the charming Belarusian artist Tatyana Ryzhkova, born in Minsk, in 1986.

Mozart, Concerto for oboe, in C major

At the age of 21 and accompanied by his mother, on September 22, 1777, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart embarked on a journey that would take him to Augsburg, Mannheim, and Paris, in search of the longed-for position at court that had eluded him throughout his life. As was customary in the family, letters exchanged by Wolfgang and Maria Anna with their father and husband, Leopold, abounded. Thanks to them, scholars have concluded that the Concerto for Oboe and Strings in C major, lost for a century and a half, was then traveling with the Mozart family in its autographed version.

Giuseppe Ferlendis was a young oboe virtuoso from Bergamo, Italy. His induction into the court of Salzburg is dated April 1, 1777, according to the decree signed by Archbishop Colloredo. About the same age as Mozart, they became close friends. It is unknown whether Ferlendis asked Mozart for the composition, but from the noted letters it is clear that Mozart is making the trip taking with him the originals of an oboe concerto written for him. Moreover, in Mannheim, he took the opportunity to give the same concerto to Friedrich Ramm, oboist of the famous court.

Mozart wearing the badge of the
Order of the Golden Spur, 1770.

Ramm was delighted with the concerto, making it his "workhorse", his "cheval de bataille", in Wolfgang's words. In a few weeks, he was able to perform it five times, thus reaching the ears of the amateur flutist Ferdinand de Jean, a young Dutch flute player, who, after meeting the composer, commissioned no less than two quartets and three flute concertos from Mozart for the sum of two hundred guldens, which suited wonderfully Wolfgang and his mother to pay for food and lodging.

Mozart underpaid
Wolfgang Amadeus set himself to the task, but, as "one is not always in a good mood to compose", he only managed to compose two of the three concertos agreed upon. He made up for the third with the transposition of the oboe concerto. Although it was customary at the time to arrange his own and others' concertos for another instrument, the amateur flutist was not satisfied. He paid only 96 gulden of the promised two hundred. Upon receiving them, Mozart assumed that it was an advance, commenting to his father that the Dutchman must believe that 96 gulden are half of two hundred.

Oboe Concerto in C major, KV 314
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries only the flute version (Concerto No. 2 in D major, K 314) was known, although it was always understood to be a transposition, a recreation in an "alternative" format of a lost original.
This lost original, for the oboe, was only discovered in 1920, in Salzburg, thus closing the life cycle of the only oboe concerto Mozart wrote, today the best-known and most sought-after in the repertoire for the instrument, for its exquisite grace and elegance.

Movements
00:00  Allegro aperto (somewhat more majestic than an "ordinary" allegro).
08:03  Adagio non troppo
15:36  Rondo: Allegretto

The performance is by the French oboist and conductor François Leleux, accompanied by the hr-Sinfonieorchester conducted by the Spanish maestro Andrés Orozco-Estrada.