Superb and surprising selection of music from the Hapsburg empire
Last night’s presentation by Angus Menzies was of music composed for several of the emperors of the Habsburg court from the middle of 16th to the middle of the 17th centuries. This was pre-Haydn and Mozart of course and most of the music played was by composers who, for the most part have been forgotten – undeservedly so.
Johann Fux. Picture: Wikipedia
Each would have his own favourites of course but those who stood out were Antonio Bertali; Johann Schmelzer; Heinrich Biber and Johann Fux. We also heard a piece composed by Leopold I entitled Il lutto dell universe which was ‘not without talent’ as one might say. The pieces played were mostly composed for weddings and coronations and hence had a magisterial quality. Others were from operas. Schmelzer’s Die Fechstchule was played alongside mass horse displays as monarchs from that era often used equestrian events to impress and show off their country. Indeed, portraits from that era often feature monarchs astride a horse as a symbol of power. Little is known of him but he was a favourite of Leopold I and became a Kapellmeister in Vienna.
Another composer to impress was Jan Zelenka and we heard Melodrama de Sancto Wenceslao and also Johann Reutter whose aria Venga l’eta was played from La Magnamitada Alessandro. Zelenka was ranked along side Telemann and Handel in his day but is now mostly forgotten.
A worthwhile evening with many surprises and providing a window into the music of this era in history.
Mozart’s last year was the title of a presentation to the Society by group member Peter Curbishley. There probably isn’t another composer about whom there are so many myths particularly surrounding his death in December 1791, almost exactly 225 years ago. The film Amadeus by Peter Shaffer did not help. Although entertaining, it gave credence to wild rumours about poisoning which are now known to be untrue.
Pic: Anthem Arts
Peter played extracts from most of the works he wrote in the final months of his life. This included of course the Requiem, but also from the operas The Magic Flute and La clemenza di Tito. The Magic Flute was a huge success and is the fourth most performed opera ever written. La Clemenza di Tito by contrast was a failure and languished unperformed until the 1950s. This was in part due to a part written for a castrato, a practice which, mercifully, died out soon after the opera was written.
Members also heard extracts from the Clarinet Concerto written two months before his death, a string quintet and the last Horn Concerto. Despite the huge body of brilliant music Mozart had composed before he died, he was Peter explained, only just beginning. Part of the last piano concerto, finished in the early part of that year. Had he lived into the nineteenth century who knows what he might have produced. His death – from a streptococcal throat infection not poison – was a tragic loss to the world of music.
This was the last meeting of the first part of the programme and the next meeting is in February. Seasons greetings to all our readers.
The last presentation was by Robin Lim on the subject of early stereo recordings. We are so used to stereo sound now – either through loud speakers or headphones – that we forget that there was a time when sound was in mono only. We also think that it is a fairly modern invention: modern in the sense of 60’s when stereo records appeared. It was an example of technology being ahead of its market in that, although the recordings existed, few people could afford the means to play them.
In fact Robin revealed, stereo existed at the end of the nineteenth century in France. This was at the Paris Electrical Exhibition in 1881. Separate telephone lines were used to convey the two tracks and a company was set up to exploit the technology which survived until after the Great War.
But it was in the ’30s that stereo started to make its mark and this was linked to parallel developments in being able to store sound for playing later. An example from this era was Leopold Stokowski playing an excerpt of Die Walkerie by Wagner from 1932. The recording was surprisingly good but with a degree of background noise. Nevertheless, the vigour of the recording and the balance between the two speakers was excellent.
An Englishman, Anthony Blumlein, perfected the single track system and with developments in America, the modern stereo record was born. From 1934, a recording of Sir Thomas Beecham playing part of Mozart’s Jupiter symphony and the quality of the recording was outstanding. Some modern filtering had probably been applied by even so, it was eminently listenable to. Sir Thomas once said ‘The English do not like music but they absolutely love the noise it makes!’
Film music on the other hand was developing rapidly and soon had 8 tracks on which to record. We heard Stokowski again with the Russian dance from the film Fantasia which was made before the war.
During the war, the Allies listened to German radio and were surprised to hear recorded
music of high quality being transmitted. When the war ended there was a rush to find out how the Germans had done it and they had indeed made great technical advances. Unfortunately, a lot of the recordings were in the Russian sector and most disappeared after the war. One at least survived and this was Gieseking playing Beethoven’s the Emperor concerto with the Berlin Radio Orchestra, and the sound and playing was simply outstanding. Indeed, one had to remind oneself that this was a recording from the war and not a modern cd.
Robin also touched on ‘accidental stereo’. This is where in the early days two recordings were made as a kind of insurance in case one of the machines failed. Modern technology has enabled these two be blended together to give a stereophonic effect. Apparently discs were sent to Elgar after the recording was done and he kept them and they have survived. This has enabled the two recordings to be blended and as an example, we heard an extract from the ‘cello concerto. We also heard Elgar conducting a version of ‘Oh God our help in ages past’. This was made in February 1928. The sound was authentic but the stereo was not so evident. Even so, a remarkable achievement.
It was a fascinating evening, in which Robin married the development of a technology with the sound it produced.
Before the meeting we had a brief agm. All the officers were reelected en bloc. The Society made a small surplus in the year. The chair thanked all those who opened up, did the refreshments, prepared the programme and also the members who continue to support us. Over 2,000 people have visited this Web site. New members are always welcome. Copies of the programme are in the Oxfam music room, the Tourism Information Centre in Salt Lane and the Collector’s Room in Endless Street.
The new season got off to a good start with a presentation entitled The Power of Mysticism in Music by Ian Lace. Ian was one of the founder members of the Society (not called that then) so we were pleased to welcome him back. He chose pieces where a sense of something beyond the composer was present in the music. It was interesting that most of the pieces – with one exception in fact – were English composers. Whether this means composers from these shores are more susceptible to these influences is probably unlikely although it was noticeable that several had experience either the first or second world wars.
The pieces played were:
Adagio from Elgar’s Symphony No 1
Bax, Symphony No 3
Finzi Intimations of Mortality
Bach: Chaconne
The Romanza from Vaughan William’s Symphony No 5
Elgar again the time the Kingdom Pentecost and finishing with
Delius Songs of Farewell
Well not quite finishing there because he finished with Louis Armstrong singing What a Wonderful World.
An excellent evening and an all too rare opportunity to hear the music of Bax.
The next meeting is on 3 October and is on early stereo recordings. It will be preceded by a brief agm.
With last night’s meeting, the current season of the Society came to an end and will resume in September. Next year’s programme is well underway and has a lively combination of home grown and invited speakers as well as a ‘live’ performance. The committee met before the meeting and one item was a review of the year and all agreed that it had been an excellent one. With two live performances as well as the usual fare of CDs, the programme was diverse and interesting. The Society exists to enable people to broaden their knowledge and enjoyment of classical music in a non challenging way.
We had presentations which focused on the Great War, two on famous conductors – Mackerras and Bernstein – and we welcomed Lord Aberdare of the Berlioz Society for a memorable presentation. The role of lesser known composers especially from these shores and from the Baltic countries was also notable. Altogether a successful year.
Meetings take place in Salisbury every other Monday evening during the season which starts again on 19 September. Directions can be found on the ‘Find us’ tab. Parking is easy. New members are always welcome and feel free to come along to a meeting. Full details of the new programme will be published here once it is finalised and a leaflet will be available in the Collector’s Room in Endless Street; Oxfam’s music room and in the Tourism Office in Butcher Row.
The last meeting of the Society was a presentation by Anthony Powell of the conducting of Sir Charles Mackerras illustrated by extracts from some of his recordings. Mackerras was born in Schenectady in USA to Australian parents but they returned to their home country when he was two to live in Sydney.
He was a precocious talent and wrote a piano concerto when he was 12. His parents were not convinced a musical life would be a viable profession so sent him to The King’s School with its focus on sport and discipline hoping that he would pursue a different career. It was not to be and at the age of 16 went to the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music where he studied oboe, piano and composition.
At 19 he was the principal oboist with the ABC Sydney Orchestra. A few years later he sailed for England and began his career at the Saddlers Wells Theatre. He studied conducting with Vaclav Talich (pictured) in Prague and returned to resume his career at the English National Opera.
There then followed a distinguished career with a variety of famous orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra; Covent Garden; the Met and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He was the first non Briton to conduct the BBCSO at the Proms.
Tony selected a wide range of his conducting and started with a piece by Sir Arthur Sullivan followed by a piece by Delius: Paris: the song of a great city first performed in 1899 in Germany and this recording with the Liverpool Philharmonic.
Mackerras had a great attachment to Czech music – indeed he spoke the language fluently – and we heard the Symphonic poem: the Noonday Witch by Dvorak. This was followed by an extract of the familiar Sinfonietta by Janacek.
The classics were not neglected and two movements from Mozart’s Symphony No. 32 in G major performed with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Then it was Beethoven’s seventh followed by Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. All these extracts illustrated the close attention to rhythm and pace which Mackerras had. This was particularly illustrated by an extract from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, a piece of great energy and requiring great skill to keep the orchestra together. This was an electrifying performance.
To record Handel’s Messiah using no less than 26 oboes were needed – which is what the composer required – meant it had to be done at night finishing in the small hours. After the final scene of Janacek’s Jenufa we heard the final movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, again with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchesta.
The range of this conductor’s performances was well illustrated and the pieces carefully chosen to give good examples of his style and ability. Sir Charles died in 2005. He had received many honour including a CBE; Medal of Merit from Czech Republic and was made Honorary President of Edinburgh International Festival Society.
A century ago, the First World War was in full swing. The battle for Ypres was taking place in April 1916 and it was the first time phosgene gas was used. It is difficult to believe that out of this carnage and bloodletting, some lovely music, poetry and art was created.
At the last meeting, Richard Seal played a selection of pieces which were composed during the time of the war or inspired by it. Richard was much moved by visits to the war graves in Flanders including Vimy Ridge, Arras and Thiepval where he hopes to go to again.
He began with A Shropshire Lad by George Butterworth who died on the Somme in 1916 aged just 31. This is a familiar piece and his death was a great loss to music. This was followed by the last movement of Morning Heroes by Sir Arthur Bliss who lived until 1975 but who lost his brother in the conflict. He returned to the battlefield in 1928 and this piece was the result of that visit.
This was followed by Three songs by Ivor Gurney. Gurney had a troubled life and was both a poet and composer. He was gassed while serving with the Gloucester regiment but his biggest problem was his mental health. At the time he was thought to be the greatest of his generation but his full promise never materialised.
Britten was too young for the war but his War Requiem, which was composed for the consecration of Coventry Cathedral destroyed in WWII, was inspired by the poems of Wilfrid Owen who regrettably died a week before the Armistice.
This was followed by an Elegy for strings and harp by Frederick Kelly who died in 1916. An Australian he also had a gold medal for rowing in the 1908 Olympics and this elegy was in memory of Rupert Brooke who also lost his life.
Some pieces by Charles Ives followed including In Flanders’ Fields composed in 1917.
The evening finished with the last movement of the Pastoral Symphony by Vaughan Williams. The First World War, in which he served in the army in the medical corps, had a lasting emotional effect.
It was a fascinating evening and the presenter’s erudition about this moving period of our history shone through.
Last nights meeting was a presentation by Anthony Powell in which he played music which he has enjoyed over his life. As we move into the electronic age, and increasingly people download their music from the internet, it is hard to remember that there are people who’s first experience was with 78s. For younger readers these are discs that rotated at 78 rpm. They didn’t last long and any piece of any length involved several disks and several trips to the turntable to turn them over.
The first piece was Beethoven’s Egmont overture which was a transcription from a 78 and was recorded by Toscanini. Typical of this conductor it was a very forthright performance and sounded good despite the fact it was mono and of some vintage.
Tony’s first LP (can we all not forget our first LP and the trip back from the shop to play it for the first time?) was Beethoven (again) 5th Symphony conducted by Bernard Haitink. This was a live recording at Birmingham and the audience burst into applause at the end of this thrilling piece.
Next was Mahler and the end of his Symphony No. 3 followed by Rimsky Korsakov and this was a version recorded from a Decca 7″ record which were popular around 40 or so years ago. Many of us took advantage of these budget priced discs.
Next we heard the finale of the thrilling Shostakovich Violin concerto. Alongside the music Anthony had brought in a collection of signed autographs of composers and conductors. Some he had acquired by writing to Russia at a time when this was an unusual thing to do.
A lifelong liking for the Late Quartets of Beethoven was illustrated by an extract from No 16 in F major. There are pieces that stay with you throughout your life and you never tire of them.
This was followed by the Sanctus from Berlioz’s Grande Messe Des Morts performed in St Paul’s cathedral and conducted by the late Sir Colin Davies a Berlioz specialist. A feature of the evening was the large preponderance of live recordings which, although sometimes less than perfect, do have a certain electricity to them which a studio recording can lack.
The rest of the programme included;
Robert Simpson’s Symphony No. 4
Thomas Ades
Beethoven’s Misa Solemnis
3rd movement from Thomas Adès’s Violin Concerto (2005)
two songs by Richard Strauss
and the evening finished – appropriately enough – with final part of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony No. conducted by Klaus Tenndstedt recorded in 1989
A most enjoyable evening and truly a Dance to the Time of Music.
Wine merchants often say that particular wines needed ‘careful selection’ especially after a poor harvest and these words came to mind after last night’s presentation of new music by Peter Horwood. Some modern music is difficult to take to especially if melody, harmony and structure have all been abandoned in the name of some kind of ‘ism. Under the title of Bright, shiny and new, Peter had selected works composed this century and what a fine selection it was. With perhaps a few notable exceptions, many of the composers were unfamiliar and their pieces for the most part unheard.
He focused on works which were approachable starting with extracts from Flight by Oliver Davis, a violin concerto composed in 2012. Davis only graduated in 1994 yet has many pieces to his name. This is definitely a composer to look out for and the concerto was melodic and definitely ‘approachable’.
This was followed by three pieces by Philip Glass: first piano etude No. 17 which was more lyrical than we have come to expect from this composer; the third movement of his Symphony No. 10 which had rhythmic brass and a march like theme and thirdly, the second movement of Symphony No. 10 which had a magical feel to it. It is easy to be put off by some of Glass’s music but this selection was certainly a ‘way in’ to this composer.
We moved on to Kenneth Fuch’s string quartet No. 5 called the American. This was followed by James MacMillan’s Tu es Petrus (no, not the wine!) from his percussion concerto with plainchant (sounds odd described thus but it does work) premiered in 2010 which has been performed in Westminster Cathedral. We also heard his more modest O Radiant Dawn from his Strathclyde motet.
On to the Baltic next and a piece by he Finnish composer Rautavaala, born in 1928, called Incantations – a percussion concerto – and the extract we heard had a xylophone accompanied by a string ensemble. He has written eight symphonies and is described as a ‘neo-romantic’.
Valentyn Sylvestrov
The Ukrainian composer Valentyn Sylvestrov contributed some pieces next, first Bagatelles Nos. 1 -3 and then, Waltz of the Hours. Sylvestrov was one of those who struggled under the yolk of ‘Soviet Realism’ but has lived to tell the tale. Parts of his work were reminiscent of Mahler.
Finally, two pieces by Pêteris Vasks: the first movement from his Cello Concerto No. 2 composed in 2015 and started with a long solo section followed by the orchestra and this was followed by Viatore – a tribute to the Finnish composer Avo Pärt. Vasts had to leave Latvia during the Soviet era as he was a Baptist and had to finish his training in Lithuania.
… well not quite final because we had a brief extract from the music to Pirates of the Caribbean composed by Hans Zimmer.
This was a particularly enjoyable evening and one of discoveries. That the speaker was able to come up with nearly two hours of approachable music composed in this century was an achievement.
Salisbury Recorded Music Society 