Author Archives: Robert Jan Dukarm

Misha Elman “Raisins and Almonds” Goldfaden

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“Raisins and Almonds”

Raisins and Almonds is a Jewish lullaby by Abraham Goldfaden.  It is well known among European Jews (Ashkenazim).  Many singers and instrumentalists have recorded it.

Misha Elman (1891-1967)

A Russian Jewish violinist.  He is one of the great violinists of the 20th century.  Elman studied violin with the great Leopold Auer who taught many of the great violinists of the 20th century.  Misha Elman’s playing was celebrated for its rich, sensuous, expressive tone.

Joseph Seiger

Joseph Seiger was Misha Elman’s piano accompanist for the last 15 years of Elman’s life.  He also played with other great violinists, including Henryk Szeryng and Ruggiero Ricci.

Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni (1757-1821) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola

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Antonio Bartomoleo Bruni (1757-1821)

Italian violinist and composer.  He wrote over 200 chamber music works and 20 works for the stage.  Bruni’s music is full of melodic invention.

Unfortunately the video I posted on my blog has been removed from youtube because of copyright infringement.  This music is beautiful and well worth a listen if you can find a recording of it.

 

ANTONIO SOLER: Fandango in D minor – Scott Ross harpsichord

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Antonio Soler (1729-1783)

A Catalan composer and organist.  Studied with the famous Italian harpsichordist and composer Domenico Scarlatti.  Soler is best known for his 120 keyboard sonatas.  He also wrote six quintets for organ and strings, concertos for two organs, solo works for organ, over 300 vocal works, and a treatise on modulation.

A Fandango was a courtship dance of Castille and Andalusia.  Fandangos were written in triple time and were moderately fast.  The Fandango was a popular dance in the 18th century and was used in dramatic music.  Many composers wrote fandangos.  Domenico Scarlatti, Boccherini, Rimsky-Korsakov, Albeniz, Granados, and de Falla composed Fandangos.

Scott Ross (1951-1989)

Scott Ross was an American harpsichordist.  He won first prize at a competition in Bruges in 1971.  Scott Ross was also a music teacher and taught at the University of Laval, Quebec.  He recorded music by Francois Couperin, G.F. Handel, J.S. Bach, G, Frescobaldi, d/Anglebert, and D. Scarlatti.  Scott Ross was the first to record all 555 of Domenico Scarlatti’s harpsichord sonatas.  He died in 1989 from Aids.

Here is a recording of a Fandango by Antonio Soler.  It is played by Scott Ross.

 

Felix Mendelssohn – Violin Sonata in F minor, Op. 4

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Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Felix Mendelssohn is a German 19th century composer.  Mendelssohn was a prolific composer.  He composed dramatic music, choral music, Vocal music, orchestral music, chamber music, and piano music. Today he is known among music lovers for his Violin Concerto in e minor, oratorio Elijah, Octet, Symphony no 4. ‘Italian’, and Songs without Words for piano solo.

The Violin Sonata in f minor, op.4 is one of three sonatas that Mendelssohn wrote for violin and piano.  It was written in 1823 when the composer was in his early teens.

Shlomo Mintz – violinist (1957 -) Shlomo Mintz is one of the 20th century’s greatest violinists.   He has performed with many of the great orchestras and great conductors.  He also performs quite regularly in chamber music concerts and recitals.

Paul Ostrovsky – pianist

Paul Ostrovsky has performed in many of the world’s great concert halls and has appeared at important music festivals including Tanglewood and the Salzburg Festival.

Enjoy!

Dr. Barry Cooper and Beethoven’s 10th Symphony

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven is known today by music lovers and the general public as the composer of the 5th Symphony and the 9th Symphony with its ‘Ode to Joy.’

Beethoven was a fussy composer.  Often he would be working on several compositions at the same time.  Scholars know about his compositional methods because they have sketch books full of compositions in varying stages of completion.

In the 1970s Beethoven scholars found sketches of an ‘unfinished’ symphony by Beethoven.  Beethoven had mentioned to a friend that he was working on a ‘new’ symphony.  Dr. Barry Cooper, an authority on Beethoven’s music has taken the sketches of the ‘new’ symphony and put them together.  He talks about how scholars discovered the sketches and how he put them together.  Enjoy!

Here is the first part of the symphony performed by the City of Birmingham Orchestra conducted by Walter Weller.

Weber – Piano sonata n°2 – Gilels London 1968

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Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

Carl Maria von Weber was a German composer, music critic, virtuoso pianist, and Kapellmeister at the court in Dresden.  He is well known among musicians and music lovers as the composer of the opera Der Freischutz.

Weber only wrote 4 sonatas for solo piano.  They are not very well known.  The sonata no 2 in A Major is a long and very technically demanding piece.  Any virtuosic moments in the music are always written in a musically pleasing manner and not simply to show off the technical skill of the pianist.  The piece contains beautiful melodies and the accompanying harmonies are not always what the listener expects (this is what makes certain musical works a delight for both the musician and the listener).

Emil Gilels (1916-1985) is one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.  His playing is known for its incredible raw power.  Gilels had a large repertoire ranging from Bach to Bartok.  Many of his recordings were made live during recitals.  This recording of Gilels playing the Sonata no 2 in A Major by Weber was recorded during a live performance in London in 1968.  Enjoy!

 

Bolet – Liszt Deuxieme Annee V; Sonetto 104 del Petrarca

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Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian piano virtuoso and composer.  He was one of the greatest pianists of the 19th century.

Liszt composed three pieces based on sonnets by Petrarch.  The piece based on Petrarch’s 104th sonnet comes from a collection of pieces entitled “The Years of Pilgrimage.”  The 104th sonnet by Petrarch is one of three sonnets that describe Petrarch’s love for a woman named Laura.

The pianist in the recording I have selected for this post is the Cuban-born pianist Jorge Bolet.  Bolet is not as well known as other pianists, but I think he plays more expressively then a lot of other pianists.  Listen to the the different tone colours  Bolet gets out of the piano in this recording.  Some of the famous pianists don’t even get close to the level of this interpretation.  I hope that you enjoy the recording of this piece.

 

Charlie Parker with Strings

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Charlie Parker (1920-1955)

A jazz saxophonist, famous as one of the founders of “bebop.”  Parker usually performed bebop with a small quintet.  Charlie Parker also recorded jazz standards with a small section of stringed instruments and a jazz rhythm section instead of his standard quintet.  Parker said that his favourite recordings were the ones he made with strings.

Here is a recording of the jazz standard “April in Paris” played by Charlie Parker on saxophone. He is accompanied by a small group of stringed instruments and a jazz rhythm section.  Parker’s playing here is more subdued than usual and you can hear the melody.  A real bonus!

Rebel -〈Les Elemens〉1737 / 1. Le Cahos (Reinhard Goebel / Musica Antiqua Köln)

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Jean – Fèry Rebel (1666-1747)

Jean – Fèry Rebel was a French Baroque composer and violinist in the court of Louis XIV.  Les Élémens (a ten movement tone poem) was his final composition and his most striking.  The movement entitled Le Cahos  is a piece that is quite daring harmonically.  The piece has been compared to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring because it is so shocking for its time. It begins with an incredible cacophony of sound (in the beginning of the piece, all seven notes of the d minor scale are sounded at once as a harsh dissonant chord).  Les Élémens was first premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris on September 27, 1737.  Here is a recording of the first movement Le Cahos.  It is performed by Musica Antiqua Köln (a well known early music ensemble) conducted by Reinhard Goebel.

Teddy Wilson – School for Pianists (10 solo piano recordings)

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Teddy Wilson (1912-1986)

Teddy Wilson was an American jazz pianist.  His playing was known for its elegance and grace.  Teddy worked with many of the great jazz musicians including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lena Horne, Billy Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald.  He worked a lot for various jazz bands but also led his own groups from the 1920s until the 1980s.  Teddy Wilson was one of the first black musicians to appear prominently with white musicians.  Teddy Wilson was one of the great pianists of the swing jazz era.

Here is an audio recording of Teddy Wilson playing some jazz standards.  Enjoy!