WMV Music Web Log

Hmm. I hadn't thought about that quality of Brahms' work, but you're right. How about the opening of the String Quintet #2? Though the tempo is a bit fast to be stately. Well there's the Piano Trio op. 8 and the opening of the Piano Concerto #2 also.

I've always thought the last movement of the Sextet op. 36 outdid Mendelssohn because it feels substantial and ecstatic at the same time as it is bounding-light and charming.

Some thoughts about the new season, as I'm working to set it up:

I'm listening to Copland's Piano Quartet, and plan to perform it at the Ratner on October 5. I've nailed down the program, and booked all the performers, so this one is pretty solid. Copland's quartet appears to be a meditation on being Jewish in 1950. The theme combines Rock of Ages and Three Blind Mice. It is serious and sweet and terrifying by turns.

I'm also practising the Brahms G minor piano quartet for the same program, and Kirchner's Piano Trio version of the G major sextet op. 36 of Brahms. Both of these works have anthemic qualities, throughout the quartet and especially in the finale of the sextet. The meaning of the anthem in Brahms' work has interested me for a long time; anthemic themes appear often in his work, for instance in the finales of the first symphony and the third piano sonata. What do they mean? Some ideas: an anthem is a profession or confession of faith. It expresses confidence, security, resoluteness, solidarity, community, history. The anthem has in it a kind of submersion and submission of individuality to the larger good of humanity. A feeling that the artist serves the people, even though he often feels alienated and separate. These themes in Brahms appear to derive more from the spirit of Grimm type folk tales than from the church, although there seem to be Lutheran anthems as well. Some of them use modal scales, emphasizing their impression of age. Interestingly, when he uses Lutheran chorales, as in "O Welt, ich muss' dich lassen," they have secular words as well ("Innsbruck, ich muss' dich lassen"), in keeping with Brahms' ambivalence and suspicion of religion in general. He was more of a humanist than a Christian, and my impression is that he was a friend to Jews. There are letters in which he railed against the stupidity of antisemitism, and called the election of an antisemitic politician a sign of the end of civilized culture in Vienna (and this was 60 years before the holocaust!).

It may be kind of early to write about Saturday night's event, since the dust is hardly settled, but here it is: Arthur Jarvinen's Gymnopedie for John Lennon was a gas - Marilyn (Marilyn Banner, artist) played crotales, Betty Hauck played viola, and I played piano. This is a simple, meditative, sad, remarkably effective piece. It has the anti-intense aesthetic of the "minimalist" composers, that is, a non-western approach to the purpose of music. You can't approach it with New York intensity - it would be silly. I play two alternating broken chords over and over ("how many times do we have to do this?" Marilyn), Betty plays a slow descending line trying not to run out of bow, and Marilyn alternates high A and high Ab bells at the end of every other chord. You either start in a meditative state, or you end up there. His Rosicrucian Preludes have a somewhat different intent - they have a kind of sense of addressing the unknown in a ceremonial way. That reminds me of another of his works, I think it's called "God B's Lullaby." I haven't listened to it carefully, but my impression is that it is conceived as a voice of the human species addressing some unknown other species somewhere in space. People at BannerArts on Saturday night liked the Jarvinen pieces - they wanted to talk about them, found them intriguing and effective. An Israeli couple found them the most exciting part of the program, and also talked about a number of Israeli composers, only some of whom were familiar to me. Judi Tenhunen (who is of Finnish descent) was particularly delighted, and thought Jarvinen's work reflects a Finnish aesthetic.

The Brahms Songs were immensely satisfying. I am not sure how many people shared my level of satisfaction and delight with these songs, but to me the experience of them was like nursing. Finally I have musicians who could perform these the way I want to hear them. Karyn Friedman has the right warmth and precision, and Betty is the most receptive of violists. If we had done nothing but these two songs, the audience would have had more than their money's worth.

Joel Herskowitz sang his most famous and brilliant song, the "Double Talking Helix Blues;" but it was "Tell it Again" that brought tears to my eyes. His daughter Laurel said that the students in her class knew all the words by heart. He had also painstakingly transcribed a couple of rags from recordings, one written by an 18 year old girl in Indiana in about 1914, who never wrote another piece, having devoted her life to raising her family. He sang a powerful anti-war song, which may have stimulated some political discussion later. I was talking with Rix White and David Rabin about Iraq, with all of us shaking our heads about the ineptness of our policies.

Our artist host at BannerArts, Marilyn Banner, talked about her "Song of Songs" work, six of which were hanging in the studio, having just returned from being shown at the Ratner Museum. These are some of her strongest pieces, along with the Costa Rican collages. Two have sold, and I fully expect the others to follow. You can see images of them on her website.

We closed the program with a lullaby, Schumann's Marchenbilder #4, a bookend to the Gymnopedie. Two of the artists are in grief, and this selection was appropriate. Betty suggested that people forgo applause, to keep this music in their ears as they went home. This was our final event of the season, and it did pretty much what it was supposed to do - experiments, surprises, and deeply satisfying music.

Here's Grace Jean's review in the Washington Post of the Czech Music Series concert May 24 at the Czech Embassy:

Musica Viva Rolls Out A Delectable Dessert Cart
Wednesday, May 26, 2004; Page C05
There was a little something for everyone at the Embassy of the Czech Republic on Monday evening. The Washington Musica Viva chamber ensemble offered up an assortment of works by Czech composers like a dessert sampler -- a medley that wisely included familiar favorites among the unusual innovations. Perhaps only Parisian food and French wine could have sparked the creation of Bohuslav Martinu's "La Revue de Cuisine," a 1927 ballet about romance and jealousy among various kitchen utensils.
Tokyo-born conductor Masatoshi Mitsumoto led a sextet through the jazz-influenced work. Trumpeter Chris Royal, saxophonist Rhonda Buckley, bassoonist Ben Greanya, violinist Hasse Borup, cellist Amy Leung and pianist Carl Banner gave the four-movement suite a comical and colorful performance.
According to Musica Viva founder Banner, a botched love affair prompted Gustav Mahler to compose "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" ("Songs of a Wayfarer"). With Banner at the keyboard, mezzo-soprano Karyn Friedman captured the drama and spite of a spurned lover over its four songs. She has a solid and unexpectedly resonant voice that emotes naturally. The tragic and operatic "Ich hab' ein gluhend Messer" ("I Have a Burning Knife") inspired her best performance.
The husband-and-wife team of Borup and Leung opened the concert with Erwin Schulhoff's "Duo for Violin and Cello" and closed it with Banner on Dvorak's Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 26. Both string players have intense, darkly hued tones and excel in fast and loud movements. Their Dvorak ended the concert as a chocolate souffle would end a fine meal -- contented smiles all around.
-- Grace Jean

Drums Unlimited? Omigod, I gotta go! A gong would be the perfect way to get people's attention during my music salons!

What to do about crotales, the high pitched tuned bells that Jarvinen requires for his Gymnopedie for John Lennon? I looked them up on the web - they resemble cymbals and cost over $1000 for a set. So after a few frantic phone calls, I found "Drums Unlimited" in College Park, which rents them, and apparently almost everything else. I went over there to pick up the high A and Ab crotales. As Mike fished them out of a couple of cardboard boxes, checking the tuning against an electronic tuner, I was looking around at celestes, marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, synthesizers, kettle drums, gongs of all sizes, and of course the whole spectrum of drums. Mike said, like a candy store, right? Right. Next time we'll need more than just a couple of crotales!