Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony

"I was supposed to write an apotheosis of Stalin. I simply could not..."

Only a few months had passed since the end of World War II when Dmitri Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony was premiered in Leningrad on November 3, 1945. It came as a significant surprise to critics and authorities, who had expected the conclusion of a trilogy of "war symphonies" beginning with the grandiose Seventh (entitled "Leningrad") and continuing with the powerful and somber Eighth. The Ninth's scant twenty-five minutes and its simple, even playful character stunned everyone. According to a prominent Russian musicologist, Shostakovich would have confessed to him:

"...they wanted from me a fanfare, an ode, a majestic Ninth... I doubt if Stalin ever questioned his own genius or greatness. And when the war against Hitler was won, he came out of his depths, like a frog swelling to the size of an ox ... and now I was supposed to write an apotheosis of Stalin. I simply could not ... My stubbornness cost me dearly."

However, the public gave him a good reception. This was not the case for the Nomenklatura, who expected this time a great hymn to victory with soloists and choirs singing verses taken from texts by Lenin or Stalin. And Shostakovich thought this way, at some point. But, who knows if out of annoyance, he ended up writing "a cheerful little work," adding that "the musicians will love to play it, and the critics will delight in tearing it to pieces."

Shostakovich, in 1950
(1906 - 1975)

It was not the first time the teacher had faced disapproval from the authorities. Less than ten years ago he had been accused of "bourgeois formalism" and "anti-Sovietism". The new reproach, "writing music contrary to the spirit of the Soviet people," would lead to the composer being blacklisted three years later, in 1948, and forced to write only music for the cinema. He was "rehabilitated" in 1953, after Stalin's death the previous year. 

Symphony No. 9, in E-flat major, opus 70
Structured in five short movements (the last three of which are played without interruption), the work is written for a small, modest, "classical" orchestra. During the six weeks it took him to create it, Shostakovich spent his spare time playing arrangements of classical symphonies on the piano four hands with a colleague, so the influence is plain... the Ninth Symphony exhibits a kind of affinity with Haydn's proverbial classicism, though the harmonies are decidedly different.
Stalin was not amused with it. But Shostakovich was right: musicians like to play it. The Ninth is one of the most performed works in the modern Russian repertoire.

Movements:
00:00  Allegro
06:21  Moderato - Adagio
14:23  Presto - Largo - Allegretto

The hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony, conducted by the young British conductor Nicholas Collon.∙

Felix Mendelssohn, "Spring Song"

The songs without words story

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy is one of the many composers of the 19th century whose life was cut short before his fortieth birthday. A blessed musician born into a wealthy Jewish family who was able to embark on three-year study tours before the age of twenty, he died in Leipzig at the age of thirty-eight. At that time, he was music director in Düsseldorf, had charge of the Berlin School of Arts music department, founded the Leipzig Conservatory, and wrote symphonies and concertos, oratorios and chamber music, and solo piano pieces. In this last field, it can be said that he even invented a genre, the Songs Without Words, a kind of lied with no lyrics, later continued by other authors, such as Alkan, Rubinstein, or Grieg.

Between 1829 and 1845, Mendelssohn wrote 36 short piano pieces, less than five minutes long in ABA structure (song-like). They are included in six volumes of six pieces each, to which were added two more published posthumously. They were part of the growing enthusiasm for the piano among the middle classes of Europe in the first half of the romantic 19th century, and they were readily incorporated into the repertoires of pianists of the most diverse abilities, thus proving incredibly popular, which led some critics of the time to downplay them.

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)

Songs Without Words
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)The term used to denote them is apparently Mendelssohn's own invention. His sister Fanny wrote in 1828: "My birthday was very pleasant... Felix has given me one of his 'songs without words' for my album, and has written some more."
The little works accompanied the author's entire life as if they were entries in a musical diary. There are some joyful, or dreamy, and there are also melancholic, or dramatic. Such expressive range stems from Mendelssohn's own definition, which, in his words, he pointed out to a friend:

"If you ask me what I had in mind when I wrote it, I would say: just the song as it is. And if I have certain words in mind for one or another of these songs, I would never want to say them to anyone, because the same words never mean the same thing to others. Only the song can say the same thing, can arouse the same feelings in one person as in another, feelings that are not expressed, however, with the same words."

"Spring Song" - Song Without Words No 30, opus 62 No 6, in A Major
Some pieces bear titles, usually added by the publishers, although five belong to the author. This is the case of the Song Without Words No. 30, from the fifth volume, called "Spring Song," which we present here in the rendition of the Greek pianist Marios Panteliadis.
Characteristic of the piece is a figure of five leaping eighth notes, which are repeated in the manner of a symphonic development.

Schumann, Third Symphony, "Rheinische"

The Maestro's Last Symphony, 1851

In 1850, Robert Schumann had been happily married to Clara for ten years. They had six children and Clara worked intensively touring Europe with piano recitals. However, the hallucinations that would lead him to throw himself into the Rhine River four years later had already begun. But in March of that year, he was offered the position of musical director in Düsseldorf. He did not decide immediately. The maestro had some apprehensions, for he had not forgotten his friend Mendelssohn's opinions about the level of musicians in that city. And he did not show great confidence in his own abilities, as well.

A fortunate trip to Cologne, just up the Rhine river from Düsseldorf, in the company of Clara, changed his mind. The magnificent Gothic cathedral thrilled him. Some time later, he would be an astonished witness to an enthusiastic procession accompanying the festivities to dignify the city's new cardinal. There, in Düsseldorf, a fantastic city, he would compose his Third Symphony, called "Rhenish", during November and December 1850.

Schumann, in 1850
(1810 - 1856)

Music director remotion
Actually, Schumann did not do much as a music director in Düsseldorf. The maestro, it seems, was not a good conductor, did not excel on the podium, and soon earned the musicians' resistance. He was removed from his post at the end of that year. But in the field of composition, in addition to the Third Symphony, he could finish the Concerto for cello and orchestra, and a couple of other important works.

Rhineland
The sounds, scenery, and aromas of the lands near the Rhine (the Rhineland) were a great influence on the character and color of the "Rhineland" Symphony. And the title chosen, whether by Schubert or the audiences, or the publishers, reflects the nationalistic sympathies of the time —the Rhine, a potent national symbol, in an imagined Germany made up of a loose confederation of German-speaking duchies.
Likewise, Schubert will write in German the tempo indications of the symphony's five movements.

Symphony in E-flat major, "Rheinische", opus 97
Four symphonies were written by the maestro in his lifetime. The third is the last, for the Fourth Symphony was begun and completed earlier but published much later. It was premiered, with the maestro on the podium, in February 1851. The reception, unfortunately, was not as warm as the two previous symphonies had been. Even so, its melodic, almost folkloric character earned it, subsequently, public appreciation, obeying the unanimous opinion that it is one of Robert Schumann's most brilliant and optimistic symphonic works.

Movements:
00:00  Lebhaft ∙ ( vividly) A powerful theme, syncopated, with fanfare character.
09:10  Scherzo. Sehr mäßig ∙ (very calm) A more rustic character with länder (land) style themes.
15:57  Nicht schnell ∙ (not too fast) Lyrical, sort of intermezzo between scherzo and 4th Mov.
21:14  Feierlich ∙ (solemn) "Accompanying a solemn ceremony" (the opening title).
26:16  Lebhaft - Schneller ∙ (lively - fast) As powerful and happy as the opening movement. Fanfares from the brass and crescendos from the strings lead to a grandiose finale.

The rendition is by the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony), conducted by Marek Janowski.

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No 31, Op. 110

The last piano works by a deaf composer

When Beethoven wrote his last three sonatas, his deafness was total and irremissible. The only means of communication was his now famous "conversation notebooks", in which those who accompanied him had to write down what they wanted to say to the maestro, to which Beethoven replied verbally or in writing, depending on his mood. His temperament, already suspicious and intolerant, became irritable and bellicose. It is also the time when he struggles for the affection of his nephew Karl, whose legal custody he has gained after the death of his brother Kaspar in 1815.

 
Nevertheless, in 1818 he was able to successfully tackle the enormous challenge of the Hammerklavier Sonata. And in 1820 – a period in which his poor health led him to a state of almost prostration, writing long letters to his friends telling them about the loss of his creative abilities – he will begin, however, the composition of his final triptych in the sonata genre. In 1820, 1821, and 1822 he tackled, consecutively, the composition of the sonatas opus 109, 110, and 111, the last ones.

Beethoven (1770 - 1827) in 1823

"Feeling a new life..."
Beethoven alternated all this work with the composition of the Missa Solemnis and the resolution of the finale of the Ninth Symphony. The work bore fruit. At the dawn of the year 1821, when he began the composition of the Sonata opus 110, the central work of the triptych, he announced to his friends he was "feeling a new life", although his nephew Karl, who lived next to him, continued to be miserly in his affection. His financial situation was no better; there is no letter from those years in which money problems are not mentioned, in one way or another.

Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, op. 110
Although somewhat overshadowed by the mighty Hammerklavier and the last, the sonata opus 111, it is as grand and imposing as those two, especially the finale fugue, second only to the Grosse Fuge of 1825-26. It is constructed in four movements (although some scholars consider the adagio and fugue a single movement). The finished autograph score bears the date December 25, 1821. For this sonata, the publishers paid Beethoven 30 ducats in January 1822.

Movements:
00:00  Moderato cantabile molto espressivo - An intimate and spiritual beginning.
07:31  Allegro molto - Brief and jovial section.
09:52  Adagio, ma non troppo - Very somber, almost funereal. Perhaps a reflection of the maestro's moods, for the moment.
13:55  Fugue: Allegro, ma non tropo / L'istesso tempo di arioso / Fugue - Begins without pause after the Adagio. It is a serene and expressive theme, perhaps the composer's acceptance of fate.

The performance is by Daniel Barenboim.

Mozart, "A musical joke", K. 522

A good-natured banter from Wolfgang Amadeus

We sincerely believe that Mozart would not have laughed much at the portrayal of him in the film Amadeus. However, we know that he had a robust sense of humor, documented in his letters; and from his compositions, as well, we know that he displayed an equally robust sense of humor in them. In the divertimento known as "A Musical Joke," from 1787, Mozart created a parody of what might have been the work of an unseasoned composer, an inept composer. The piece, therefore, is riddled with awkward moments, crude resolutions, or untraditional accompaniments. The purpose is clearly satirical, although there is no record of Mozart ever revealing that this was his intention.

We also know that Wolfgang was capable of quickly overcoming difficulties and that every time he did so, it was through musical creation, where there was no lack of joyful moments even if the previous events had not been exactly encouraging. And, precisely, the "musical joke" is the first piece incorporated into his personal catalog after the death of his father, although Mozart had already been thinking about it for two years. The other divertimento that accompanies the "joke" in the catalog, incorporated the same summer, also arouses curiosity: the celebrated Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. It is difficult to imagine another two pieces with such opposite purposes and destinies.

The "antics"
The divertimento is crude and mechanical, with passages designed to mimic what would happen with inaccurate or wrong notation or technically clumsy playing. Written for two horns and strings, the horn players are expected to do as they please; thus, in performances it is customary for them to be "ejected" from the stage during the third movement, only to see them return contrite in the fourth and final movement.
But most of the "chascarros" are only understood by musicologists or similar, also because in their time they were destined to the ears of those who had known and listened to poorly gifted contemporary authors of Mozart, as there were some. Researchers also point out a very early use of polytonality, which, who knows if it was, at the time, nothing more than just another "chascarro".

Divertimento for two horns and strings in F major, K. 522
As already tersely noted, the work is written for two horns, two violins, viola, and cello. As for the German title, Ein Musikalischer Spaß, it should be noted that the word Spaß does not necessarily connote a jocular intent. One musicologist has suggested that a more appropriate translation would be: A musical amusement, precisely what a divertimento is intended to be. It is structured in four movements lasting about twenty minutes.

Movements:
00:00  Allegro
03:00  Menuetto and Trio. Maestoso
10:50  Adagio cantabile
15:20  Presto

The performance is by a chamber ensemble from the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.