Summertime listening
CLASSICAL
BACH - Gould (1955) Goldberg Variations
This is the overwhelming favorite of WQXR listeners if they were stranded on a desert island and could only listen to one piece of music. The performance is even more intense and life changing if you can hang out on your porch or walk on the boardwalk and hopefully not have to go to work. I think this will never be duplicated.
BACH - Brandenberg Concerti
On a summer morning, rain or shine, the six Brandenberg Concerti will get your day off to a great start.
Memorial Day
Yesterday was Memorial Day, whose purpose is to remember those service members who gave their lives in defense of our country. We honor those who were unflinchingly brave when others were not, those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we live with each day. Whenever I say “Thank you for your service “ to a veteran or to a member of the military, I am deeply grateful and humbled. Whenever I drive through our small New Jersey town and stare at the hundreds of pictures of military men and women who died in wars defending the freedoms that I enjoy each day, I silently thank them. I stare at their young faces in amazement and awe because they had the guts to serve and I did not. I feel inferior, honestly. That is the purpose of Memorial Day; to pause, honor, reflect and mourn those who perished while serving our country. It is always observed on the last Monday in May.
Heart of Frederic Chopin
I’ll be the first to admit: I’m a hopeless romantic. My favorite composer of classical piano music has always been Chopin, and I specify piano music only because of Beethoven, who is, overall, my favorite composer. And it is not because his music moves me the way Chopin’s does but because of his life story. Any mere mortal would have been so depressed to be a professional musician and composer losing their hearing in their twenties and being stone cold deaf in their mid-forties that they’d probably quit and commit suicide. But not LVB. The more impaired he became, the more inspirational and great his music was. His dream, his exhortation in the Ninth Symphony was that hope and brotherhood would develop throughout all mankind, across all borders and conflicts. How wondrous it would be if that dream came true today?
Theme and Variations
Good Sunday to you, intrepid music lovers. I just finished the Arts and Leisure section of The New York Times and I thought it would be fun to talk about a specific structure, or form of music today rather than any one composer or era. I am referring to music known as “theme and variations”. That is, each of today’s pieces starts with a basic melody which is then changed in myriad ways: the tempo, key, style, harmony and instrumentation are all fair game to dazzle and amaze the listener, yet the same ingredients used to make that cake can still be recognized if you listen closely. You will not believe your ears when you hear the incredible ways in which these composers deconstruct the themes. And of course, there are all the jazz greats who improvised melodies on the spot, creating their own themes and variations as deftly as their classical predecessors.
heavenly bodies
It has been an extraordinary two weeks. On Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake centered in northwest New Jersey hit the eastern seaboard. It was felt as far north as Boston and as far south as Baltimore. In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 26th, the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a 1.6 mile span that carried 12.4 million vehicles in 2023 collapsed into the Port of Baltimore, killing six workers. The bridge is named after the author of the Star Spangled Banner, who witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British navy on September 2nd, 1814.
This past Monday, a week ago tomorrow, seven aid workers who had just delivered food to starving Gazan civilians were blown up by the IDF using nighttime drones as they returned from their mission of mercy. They were traveling in a vehicle clearly marked with the World Central Kitchen logo, a non-profit, non-governmental organization which provides food in war zones and areas of natural disasters. Seven heroes from six different countries perished.
music to celebrate easter
Yesterday was Good Friday, representing the sacrificial crucifixion of Jesus, who offered himself up as a way for humanity to absolve itself of its sins. It is the ultimate act of love and redemption, which the Lord gave to his people as a symbol of mercy and absolution for their sins.
SpringTime
Today is Saturday, March 23rd and heavy rain is predicted for the northeast through tomorrow. So far, the forecast has been spot on. The good news is that today is the second full day of spring And as a musician and gardener it is fascinating to me the number of composers over the centuries who have drawn inspiration from springtime. There’s Beethoven’s Spring Sonata for violin and piano, Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 (The Spring Symphony), Benjamin Britten’s Spring Symphony, and in Schubert’s tragically brief life of 31 years, many of his six hundred songs are about springtime. Im Frühling’s, D.882, based on the poem by Ernst Schulze, is about the blissful memory of lost springtime love:
The most wonderful time of the year
The 1963 Christmas classic popularized by Andy Williams is an uplifting song. It’s about spending time with family and friends, celebrating the birth of Jesus, volunteering our time and efforts for the less fortunate among us. Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite premiered at Christmas time in 1892 and has been an iconic classic ever since. Young Clara is rewarded with sweets and a prince and the wondrous harp glissandos are pure magic.