Music Mondays - Prince of Clouds

Fact: I spend a great deal of time listening to music. 

This happens for a variety of reasons ~ 

I like music.

To prepare for upcoming concerts that I am performing

To hear new albums by artists I love.

To discover new artists.

To explore new repertoire.

To experience unfamiliar performers and creators.

To revisit some of my favorite music. 

There are some incredibly talented performers, composers, ensembles, collaborators, and creators out there and sometimes I just want to share the sounds that I cannot get enough of myself.

Every Monday I plan to share some of the music that I love. Some of it will be music that I am preparing for a concert, some of it will be things I have recently discovered, some will be things I hope to one day perform, and some will simply be old favorites that I just can't stop loving. 

I hope you enjoy!

This first one is Prince of Clouds by Anna Clyne, performed by Jennifer Koh and Jaime Laredo with the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble.

I discovered this weekend by accident and have been listening to it on repeat ever since.

Anna Clyne

(from her website) www.annaclyne.com

London-born Anna Clyne is a Grammy-nominated composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music. Described as a "composer of uncommon gifts and unusual methods" in a New York Times profile and as "dazzlingly inventive" by Time Out New York, Clyne’s work often includes collaborations with cutting-edge choreographers, visual artists, filmmakers, and musicians worldwide. 

Appointed by Music Director Riccardo Muti, Clyne served as a Mead Composer-in-Residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2015. She also recently served as Composer-in-Residence for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra during the 2015-2016 season and for L’Orchestre national d’Île-de-France from 2014-2016. This season, Clyne was selected by the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA to serve as the Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with the Berkeley Symphony through the 2018-2019 season. She has been commissioned by such renowned organizations as American Composers Orchestra, BBC Radio 3, BBC Scottish Symphony, Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Houston Ballet, London Sinfonietta, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and the Southbank Centre, and her work has been championed by such world-renowned conductors as Marin Alsop, Pablo Heras-Casado, Riccardo Muti, Leonard Slatkin, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Clyne was nominated for the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her double violin concerto, Prince of Clouds. She is also the recipient of several prestigious awards including the 2016 Hindemith Prize; a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; awards from Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Jerome Foundation; and prizes from ASCAP and SEAMUS. She was nominated for the 2014 Times Breakthrough Award (UK) and is the recipient of a grant from Opera America to develop a new opera, Eva. 

Recent highlights include the world premieres of Masquerade for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop at the Last Night of the Proms; This Lunar Beauty for the Britten Sinfonia and soprano Julia Doyle; RIFT, a symphonic ballet in collaboration with choreographer Kitty McNamee for Marin Alsop and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra; Pocket Book VIII for Roomful of Teeth; Threads & Traces for 100 cellos, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and performed at Disney Hall; and her violin concerto, The Seamstress, performed by Jennifer Koh with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Share your thoughts in a comment! Also - let me know what you are listening to and loving these days.

Enjoy!

Mini-Series Part IV: Rachel Barton Pine

This week Rachel Barton Pine performed Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the Wichita Symphony and Maestro Dan Hege (I seem to be playing quite a few violin concertos with Maestro Hege this season). 

I have been looking forward to this concert all season. The Four Seasons feel like the classic rock of classical music. They are so famous, so beloved, and so riveting I'm pretty sure they still hold the record as the most recorded piece(s) ever. In preparation for this week, I have been listening to them pretty much non-stop. They are the soundtrack to my driving, research, work in the music library, and social media scrolling. They make me want to rock out and dance around.

This program consisted of all Baroque music. Pretty much all of the super famous stuff that you might hear at a wedding, and play in Suzuki recitals. Handel's Water Music and Bach's Suite No.3 made up the first half of the program.

How I felt this week.

To put a cherry on top of an already exciting week, we string players were loaned baroque bows for the performance. That doesn't happen very often! True confessions: I've never performed with a Baroque bow. It feels pretty different, and I was not convinced about it until Rachel gave us a demonstration and explained some of the unique sound qualities that our modern bows just don't execute particularly well.

baroque violin, viola, and cello bows

My view for this concert. The very back row of the 1st violins.

Our concerts featured seasonal photography of Kansas by photographer Larry Schwarm.

This concert was also a quasi-lecture where Rachel would explain some of the effects in each season and perform a few demonstrations before playing the work. It was super cool! I really appreciated hearing her descriptions and then emulating that effect - bird calls, bagpipes, dogs, raindrops, the wind, bugs, storms - you name it! All of those sounds you hear outdoors throughout the year as performed by an orchestra.

Here is the explanation of Le Quattro Stagioni found on britannica.com

The Four Seasons is the best known of Vivaldi's works. Unusually for the time, Vivaldi published the concerti with accompanying poems (possibly written by Vivaldi himself) that elucidated what it was about those seasons that his music was intended to evoke. It provides one of the earliest and most detailed examples of what was later called program music - music with a narrative element.  

Vivaldi took great pains to relate his music to the texts of the poems, translating the poetic lines themselves directly into the music on the page.  

His arrangement is as follows:

Spring (Concerto No. 1 in E Major)
Allegro
Spring has arrived with joy
Welcomed by the birds with happy songs,
And the brooks, amidst gentle breezes,
Murmur sweetly as they flow.

The sky is caped in black, and
Thunder and lightning herald a storm
When they fall silent, the birds
Take up again their delightful songs.

Largo e pianissimo sempre
And in the pleasant, blossom-filled meadow,
To the gentle murmur of leaves and plants,
The goatherd sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.

Allegro
To the merry sounds of a rustic bagpipe, 
Nymphs and shepherds dance in their beloved spot
When Spring appears in plendour.

Summer (Concerto No. 2 in G Minor)
Allegro non molto
Under the merciless sun of the season
Languishes man and flock, the pine tree burns.
The cuckoo begins to sing and at once
Join in the turtledove and the goldfinch.

A gentle breeze blows, but Boreas
Is roused to combat suddenly with his neighbour,
And the shepherd weeps because overhead
Hangs the fearsome storm, and his destiny. 

Adagio
His tired limbs are robbed of rest
By his fear of the lightning and the frightful thunder
And by the flies and hornets in furious swarms.

Presto
Alas, his fears come true: 
There is thunder and lightning in the heavens
And the hail cuts down the tall ears of grain.

Autumn (Concerto No. 3 in F Major)
Allegro
The peasant celebrates with dancing and singing
The pleasure of the rich harvest,
And full of the liquor of Bacchus
They end their merrymaking with a sleep.

Adagio molto
All are made to leave off dancing and singing
By the air which, now mild, gives pleasure
And by the season, which invites many
To find their pleasure in a sweet sleep.

Allegro
The hunters set out at dawn, off to the hunt,
With horns and guns and dogs they venture out.
The beast flees and they are close on its trail.

Already terrified and wearied by the great noise
Of the guns and dogs, and wounded as well
It tries feebly to escape, but is bested and dies.

Winter (Concerto No. 4 in F Minor)
Allegro non molto
Frozen and shivering in the icy snow,
In the severe blasts of a terrible wind
To run stamping one’s feet each moment, 
One’s teeth chattering through the cold.

Largo
To spend quiet and happy times by the fire
While outside the rain soaks everyone. 

Allegro
To walk on the ice with tentative steps, 
Going carefully for fear of falling. 

To go in haste, slide, and fall down to the ground,
To go again on the ice and run,
In case the ice cracks and opens.

To hear leaving their iron-gated house Sirocco,
Boreas, and all the winds in battle—
This is winter, but it brings joy.

I don't know who the dude playing 'Winter' is, but that video is NEXT LEVEL

On a somewhat related note - does everyone remember Vanessa Mae's Album Storm? I was reminiscing about this album and her white electric violin with a violinista colleague - oh the 90s (and techno)! How special!

Rachel Barton Pine

I first came across Rachel Barton Pine when I was a student in Minnesota. At the time, I was playing in a band and feeling a little alone in the "classically trained violinist wanting to pursue more than a traditional music career" category. I was browsing Myspace (I know, right? Who even remembers that) for violinists who play in bands and found Rachel. I was so intrigued....and very confused. She plays metal like classical music and classical music like metal. It is insane!

I bet you didn't think a Guarneri Del Jesu could play metal like that! Pretty crazy right?

Her bio includes pretty much everything. I was going to include an excerpt but it is so long and insane that it would take up too much room. She is the recipient of numerous awards, winner of many competitions, and performs as a soloist and recitalist all over the world, as part of the metal band Earthen Grave, and as part of Trio Settecento.

Earthen Grave

Trio Settecento

 She records music in a variety of different genres and time periods. If you scroll through Spotify you can find recordings of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas, lesser known repertoire associated with American virtuoso Maude Powell, the Viola D'amore concertos of Vivaldi, violin concertos composed by African-American composers, the sonatas of Handel, etc. Not your typical fare.

Another recording of Rachel's that I love is this one of Deliver My Soul by David Baker. I studied with David Baker at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop several summers ago and learned so much! He is the original jazz cellist, and long time faculty member at Indiana University. Sadly, Baker passed away last year. Not many people seem to know this work, but I think it is fantastic and I hope it makes its way onto more recital programs in the future.

I really love Rachel's investment in the obscure and lesser known. I admire a famous virtuoso who has the interest, diligence, and enthusiasm for the less-than-pop classical music. When she speaks about performing Baroque music, and using a Baroque bow it is with experience and full understanding. She is academic but not stale. It is exciting AND informed. It is so refreshing!

Back to that Viola D'Amore reference I threw in there....

The viola d'amore is a 6 or 7 stringed instrument held under the chin and was popular in the Baroque era.

Rachel performed her encore on a Viola D'Amore and at rehearsal she invited us to come and try it.  It was AWESOME! I want one now! (also, fangirl moment - she was so approachable and nice, it was really cool). 

That smile is genuine JOY. 

So after all that, yeah - this concert put a skip in my step. I am going to buy the Urtext of the Bach solo sonatas and partitas, I'm now eyeing a Baroque bow online, and want to play in a band again...any takers?

Two Baroque Girls

When I grow up I want to be Rachel Barton Pine. Did I mention she's also a redhead? (It must be a sign!)

I hope you enjoyed this post! Leave your comments below.

Mini-Series Part III: Rossitza Goza

The third installment comes in quick succession of part II.  I am on a roll...and also falling behind! 

This post features Rossitza Goza as the soloist performing Tzigane with the Tulsa Symphony and Maestro Dan Hege.

Fortunately for me, I've already published a blog post on this piece (phew!) to read it, click here. That saves me a TON of work and agonizing over what to say, recordings to use, etc. I really hope you check out my last post on this one - I'm serious! At one point in my life (not too long ago) I put a great deal of energy into learning this piece AND about this piece. That's the thing about getting your doctorate and preparing doctoral recitals - they really grill you on the repertoire!

Anyways, this program might be one of my favorites of the season. 

The Hebrides Overture, Mendelssohn (#felixforever!) 

Le Tombeau de Couperin, Ravel

Tzigane, Ravel

Symphony #4, Beethoven

I didn't know The Hebrides Overture before working on this program but I really love it now. If you're anything like me (aka a super fan of Mendelssohn) you'll like it too. It evokes mists and the rugged shorelines of Scotland. There is an expansive poetry in the melodies and textures that really makes my skin tingle and takes my breath away.

Le Tombeau de Couperin begins with a massive oboe solo and our principal oboist, Lise Glaser really knocked it out of the park! She can regale you with stories about playing this for different auditions and conductors that are all charming and rather absurd.

Tzigane (if you don't already know this) is one of my favorite violin pieces. I know for a fact that I am not the only violinist who thinks this. In September, while writing the post on Joshua Bell (you can read that here) I realized that Tzigane is on my first violin CD and coincidentally I still love all the violin repertoire on that album. Ahh the power of exposure as a youth!

For those of you out there who might not know, Rossitza is the Concertmaster of the Tulsa Symphony so this concert featured one of our own. 

Here is an excerpt from Rossitza's bio.... 

Violinist Rossitza Jekova-Goza has made numerous appearances as concerto soloist and recitalist in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and her native Bulgaria. She has served as concertmaster of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, and has been featured as principal second violinist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London.

A winner of concerto competitions, she is also a co-winner of the 1999 MTNA national competition in chamber music. Prior to joining the Harrington String Quartet in 2010, she taught at the Universities of Arkansas, Oklahoma and North Texas, and for six years was on the faculty of the prestigious Encore School for Strings.

Her advanced degrees are from Louisiana State University (MM) and the Cleveland Institute of Music (DMA). Currently Dr. Goza is a Harrington Lecturer at West Texas A&M University, first violinist of the Harrington String Quartet and concertmaster of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra.

Her dress was a statement. Bold and Red, it really suited the piece. And not to sound like somebody obsessed with what a performance looks like BUT I do think that clothing and other non-musical elements can set a tone for a performance.

This photo does not do the dress justice. Photo credit to Angela Brenton-Carter, our bass clarinetist who snapped this picture from the balcony.

This piece is so fun to perform (as a member of the orchestra). You get to sit back, relax, and watch the soloist for a full five minutes without having to worry about counting rests. The silence that overtakes an audience at the very beginning is always astounding. A full concert hall sits rapt, listening to a solo violin. It is a very special mood that I really love, as if there is static electricity silently running through every seat in the hall. It happened when Joshua Bell played the cadenza of the Tchaikovsky last September (and there were even audible gasps from the audience).

Talking to our harpist Jill Weibe, I discovered that the harp solo in Tzigane is one of the HARDEST things ever written for the instrument. I was so impressed! She sat right next to me for this piece and I would never have guessed that she was nervous or that the part was difficult. 

After her daring performance and standing ovation, Rossitza led the orchestra through the second half of the program. That is quite a workout for one evening! It was a great program and wonderful performances from all of the soloists of the Tulsa Symphony. A performance where your colleagues have an opportunity to shine is definitely a special thing.

Unfortunately I don't have a recording from this performance so you'll just have to make do with this pretty wonderful one of Maxim Vengerov and the Moscow City Symphony.

*As a side note I think that his pacing of the opening cadenza is fantastic. Often, violinists speed through the rests and don't let the phrasing really breathe. That is not the case here.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Thank you for reading it!