La Scena Musicale

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Today's Birthdays in Music: January 17 (G. Weir, Morawetz)

1941 - Gillian Weir, Martinsborough, New Zealand; organist

Wikipedia
Gillian Weir's website


1917 - Oskar Morawetz, Světlà nad Sàzavou. Czechoslovakia; composer

Biography (Encyclopedia of Music in Canada)

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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Œuvres pour violon et orgue

Anne Robert, violon; Jacques Boucher, orgue
XXI 1626 (61 min 13 s)
*****
Music for the organ and violin has received little attention for the last 120 years, but this disc of 13 pieces from eight composers demonstrates how both Romantic and Modern composers value the two instruments. The gems are found at the beginning and end. The album opens with the gloomy organ chords of the late Romantic Swedish composer Gustav Hägg’s Adagio, Op. 34. After the first few solo bars, the violin enters singing a dejected melody that sets the tone for the entire album.
Canadian composer John Burge’s dramatic and musical Variations Éclectiques, written especially for Robert and Boucher, closes the album. Based on variations of minor and chromatic themes heard in the first few bars, the 15-minute piece is driven, yet haunting. The violin is played with precision and poise while the organ permeates with rhythmic, yet dark themes, occasionally pushing the tempo into a 3/4 waltz. While the music borders on the sinister, the duo brings to life Burge’s ghostly lyricism. Other highlights include Paul Gläser’s lamenting Troestung and Herman Schroder’s well crafted Funf Stücke für Violine und Orgel. The poignant melodies from Robert’s violin and Boucher’s lyrical, yet often melancholic, organ create a powerful and emotional hour of music.

- Andrew Buziak

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Today's Birthdays in Music: December 10 (Messiaen, Franck)

1908 - Olivier Messiaen, Avignon, France; composer, organist

Wikipedia

Turangalîla Symphony, Final (10th) mvt. (Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille, Paris, Myung-Whun Chung conducting, 1990)


Messiaen on Birds (Yvonne Loriod, piano)



1822 - César Franck, Liège, Belgium; composer, organist

Wikipedia

Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra (Georges Cziffra, piano; György Cziffra Jr. conducting)


Renée Fleming sings "Panis Angelicus" (Mainz Cathedral, 2005)

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Friday, November 21, 2008

Today's Birthdays in Music: November 21 (Lagacé, DePriest)

1930 - Bernard Lagacé, St-Hyacinthe, Canada; organist, harpsichordist


Biography (Encyclopedia of Music in Canada)


1936 - James DePriest, Philadelphia, U.S.A.; conductor

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Monday, November 10, 2008

Today's Birthdays in Music: November 10 (Couperin, Scholl)

1688 - François Couperin, Paris, France; composer, organist, harpsichordist

Wikipedia

Tierce en Taille from "Messe des Couvents" (Jean-Baptiste Robin, organ; Cathedral of Saint-Pierre, Poitiers, France)



1967 - Andreas Scholl, Eltville, Germany; opera and concert countertenor

Wikipedia

Andreas Scholl sings "Sicut erat in principio" and "Amen" from Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, conducted by Paul Dyer)

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Friday, October 17, 2008

Today's Birthdays in Music: October 17 (Panerai, Howells)

1924 - Rolando Panerai, Campi Bisenzio, Italy; opera baritone

Wikipedia

Rolando Panerai and Margherita Rinaldi sing "Sì, vendetta" from Verdi's Rigoletto (1969)



1892 - Herbert Howells, Lydney, England; composer, organist, teacher

Wikipedia
Short biography and picture

"Saviour of the World" and "Eternal Rest" from Howells's Requiem (Segovia, Spain, 2007)

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Today's Birthday in Music: October 15 (K. Richter)

1926 - Karl Richter, Plausen, Germany; conductor, organist, harpsichordist

Biography and pictures

Karl Richter plays:

J.S. Bach's Toccata in G minor, BWV 915


Excerpt from Handel's Organ Concerto, Op. 4, No. 1 (with the Munich Bach Orchestra, 1971)


Karl Richter directs the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra in "Kommt, ihr Töchter" from J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion

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Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Today's Birthday in Music: September 2 (G. Böhm)

1661 - George Böhm, Hohenkirchen, Germany; organist and composer

Wikipedia
Biography

Böhm's Prelude and Fugue in C major, performed on the Riel organ at the Church of St. John, Lüneburg, where Böhm was organist

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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 24 (Dubois, A. Marcello)

1837 - Théodore Dubois, Rosnay, Marne, France; composer and organist

Wikipedia

Prelude in C minor (Paul Wagener, organ)


Rehearsing The Seven Last Words of Christ (Franco Tenelli, tenor; Julie Dufresne, soprano; Catherine Todorovski, organ)



1669 - Alessandro Marcello, Venice, Italy; composer and violinist

Wikipedia

Concerto for oboe and orchestra in D minor (Paolo Grazzi, oboe; Il Giardino Armonico, dir. Giovanni Antonini)

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Monday, August 18, 2008

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 18 (MacMillan, Salieri)

1893 - Ernest MacMillan, Mimico, Canada; conductor, composer, organist, pianist

Wikipedia
Biography (Encyclopedia of Music in Canada)


1750 - Antonio Salieri, Legnano, Italy; composer and conductor

Wikipedia
Truth or Fiction?

Diana Damrau sings "Sento l'amica speme" from Salieri's Semiramide

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Friday, July 4, 2008

Today's Birthdays in Music: July 4 (Daquin, Foster)

1694 - Louis-Claude Daquin, Paris, France; composer, organist, harpsichordist

Wiki entry

Alejandro Reyes-Valdés plays "Le Coucou" (Festival Artistico Coahuila, Mexico, 2007)


Sergei Rachmaninoff plays "Le Coucou" (1920 recording)



1826 - Stephen Foster, Lawrenceville, U.S.A.; songwriter

Wiki entry

John McCormack sings "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" (Edwin Schneider, piano)

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Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Récit au Grand Orgue : Entretiens avec Antoine Reboulot

Par Jacques Boucher et Odile Thibault
Kirkland, Québec, Éditions de la Taille, 2006.
ISBN-13 : 978-2-9809455-0-2 - ISBN-10 : 2-9809455-0-1
374 p., ill., photos.

****** $$$$

Antoine Reboulot (1914-2002) est l’un des nombreux musiciens français non voyants, notamment des organistes, qui ont été formés à l’Institut national des jeunes aveugles de Paris. Après une belle carrière parisienne, il émigre au Canada en 1967, pour devenir une figure éminente sur la scène musicale montréalaise, comme pédagogue, interprète et musicologue. Le corps de l’ouvrage que lui consacrent aujourd’hui Jacques Boucher et Olive Thibault est constitué d’une série d’entretiens où la parole du musicien a été si bien saisie au vol qu’à travers elle, il semble revivre dans l’écrit. Tandis que les personnes qui ont personnellement connu Reboulot s’attacheront davantage aux chapitres où il fait état de ses origines et de sa vie personnelle et professionnelle en France, puis au Québec, l’attention des autres se portera plutôt sur la deuxième partie de ces entretiens, intitulée « Regards », où il parle de musiciens qui l’ont marqué, à commencer par ses maîtres, Marcel Dupré, André Marchal, Georges Caussade et Henri Büsser, suivis d’autres qu’il a fréquentés ou côtoyés de plus ou moins près : ses aînés, Charles Tournemire et Louis Vierne, ce dernier qu’il a vu, ou plutôt entendu, rendre l’âme en concert à Notre-Dame, le 2 juin 1937, et ses contemporains, Gaston Litaize, dont il fut très proche, Marcel Dupré, Jehan Alain, Jean Langlais, Maurice Duruflé et Olivier Messiaen.

La partie « entretiens » du livre comprend plus d’une centaines de pages de documents divers - photos, reproductions de programmes de concerts, mais aussi (entre autres) un catalogue complet des œuvres de Reboulot, une analyse détaillée de son œuvre d’orgue, par Sylvain Caron; plusieurs textes signés de lui, dont des hommages à des collègues, des essais sur l’organiste liturgique, l’improvisation, des notes d’accompagnement à divers enregistrements, etc.; et, enfin, une discographie.

L’ouvrage regorge d’aperçus éclairants qui devraient aider le lecteur, mélomane ou musicien, à mieux comprendre ou apprécier la musique d’orgue française de la première moitié du vingtième siècle.

-Pierre Marc Bellemare

On peut se procurer cet ouvrage chez l’éditeur: http://www.delataille.net

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Friday, January 11, 2008

Today's Musician Birthday: January 11

Born on January 11:

1902 - Maurice Durufle, French organist/composer

Wiki entry: Maurice Durufle

Watch: Prelude sur A.L.A.I.N. op.7 performed by Aare-Paul Lattik



WKC: His most famous composition is his Requiem, op. 9, for soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ (1947), which follows in the style of Fauré's Requiem. It deserves to be in any choir's repertoire. Here is the opening performed by the Kansas City Symphony Chorus conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero.


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