Your Classical Coffee Break

This coffee break continues the exploration of how Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition launches the piece into a different realm of sound. But does Ravel's version really give the sense of claustrophobic catacombs or is he going after a whole new meaning? We also take a listen to different versions of the Baba Yaga piece and review the differences in sounds. Lastly we stop at the great gate of Kiev (Kyiv) and examine the power in both renditions. Seriously, how great is that gate?)

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This coffee break revisits the idea of composers reworking and revitalizing works of composers long-dead. More than 50 years after Offenbach's death, his Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffmann was reworked by Manuel Rosenthal for Diaghelev Ballet Russes. We check out both versions. Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition was orchestrated by Maurice Ravel in 1922 and gave it a grandeur and depth beyond the original. Take a listen.

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This coffee break explores how composers update their own or other composers' work to expand on themes or sometimes change the piece completely. Mr. Somers discusses his piano work Christmas Pastorale and how 48 years later arranged it to include viola. Modest Mussorgsky rearranged his 1867's St. John's Eve of Bald Mountain to be included in his 1880 The Fair at Sorochynsti, Six years later Rimsky-Korsakov rearranged it into the more familiar Fantasy Night on Bald Mountain.

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This coffee break wraps up the discussion on the use of silence and pauses to dramatically frame music. We delve into Carl Orff's Carmina Burana masterpiece which warns about the power of luck and fate. Mahler's 10th Symphony shows how the bass drum harkens death and the importance of silence at the ending of his 9th Symphony. But we end with the Sibelius' glorious silence.

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This coffee break continues its wordy discussion about the power of silence in music. We listen to a Bach piece (CPE Bach, that is) that illustrates the importance of cadence points in creating drama and surprise. Is there a joke hidden in a Haydn composition when a breath is taken? We check it out. Can music be like a pointillist painting? There's a Haydn piano piece that says it's so. And we get the backstory on the Farewell Symphony.

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Music grows out of the silence that precedes it, so says Mr. Somers in this discussion how silence, or hesitation, can make a piece of music extraordinary. We listen to the Mahler's Third Symphony to hear how pauses can make the musical experience so powerful. Beethoven was a master of using pauses as emphatic gestures, particularly in his 7th Symphony and Egmont Overture.

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Read the New York Times story:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/arts/music/silence-classical-music.html

This coffee break complete the exploration of how composers supported themselves while chasing their passion of music. Debussy lived in a Russia as a piano teacher in the house of a patron. Dvorak had to move to England to get fair compensation for his compositions. Wagner was chased by his creditors while writing his complex pieces. And after writing Findlandia, Sibelius received a lifetime stipend. A nice gig if you can get it.

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YCCB continues its review of the economic life of composers and musicians. We look at Bizet who struggled financially most of his life and even was a music transcriber to support himself. Sadly for him, the popularity of his music came after his passing. Brahms made a good living from his piano performances, perhaps because he composed music that he could master. We delve into Brahms relationship with the Schumanns and find out that Robert Schumann edited a newspaper to pay the bills. And Borodin had to choose between being a chemist or composer. He chose to become a chemist!

Mr. Herron regrets his error in stating that the song "Tonight We Love" was based on Borodin's music. It was taken from Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1.

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This coffee break continues the discussion of how the greats of classical music made a living. We discuss how the the size and complexity of the new compositions made the creation of the conductor a necessity--a new job was formed. Louis Spohr, a composer and violinist, became so frustrated with musicians' confusion with the Beethoven Symphony #9 that he helped create the the modern concept of the conductor and became one of the first. Mendelssohn, Berlioz, and Mahler followed suit and conducted their own pieces. Berlioz also became a tremendous marketer of his own works. And, we take the time to give a tribute to the great Jessye Norman, an American opera singer and recitalist. Here's the book about first night that Mr. Somers referred, First Nights: Five Musical Premiers by Thomas Forrest Kelly. Contact the show at [email protected]

This coffee break continues the discussion on how classical composers and musicians made a living. We followed the trail of patronage by the Church and by royalty, but support of artists developed in other areas. Arcangelo Corelli's Christmas Concerto was commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni personally, not as an officer of the Church. Handel worked extensively on commission, his Coronation Anthem an example, and became an independent impresario, his opera Rinaldo, an example. Beethoven, too, accepted commissions and wrote pieces to generate income from sheet music sales, Six Bagatelles and the Lovely Lass of Inverness.

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