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Symphonic poem: "Les Preludes"
Franz Liszt (1811-86)
The 1840s saw Liszt's career as a concert
pianist reach its peak. He was greeted with adulation
everywhere. During a visit in 1847 to Kiev he met Princess
Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein. The Princess tried to get
her brother, the Tsar of Russia, to grant her a divorce,
but when this was refused, she set up home with Liszt.
She persuaded him to give up his life of touring and
concentrate more on composition. As a result, Liszt
took up the post of Kapellmeister at Weimar and over
the next 12 years composed many of the works for which
he is best known.
Many composers have written 'Symphonic Poems', but it
was Liszt who invented the term to describe works that
were of a symphonic scale, but were not truly symphonies
as they were based on literary rather than more abstract
ideas. Liszt composed a total of thirteen Symphonic
Poems. The first twelve date from his period at Weimar
and are all dedicated to Princess Carolyne. The best
known of these is "Les Préludes", composed
in 1848 and then revised between 1852 and 1854. Its
popularity has been assured by its use in a number of
film scores, perhaps most famously the 1940 serial "Flash
Gordon Conquers the Universe"! It started life
as an introduction to an unpublished choral work "Les
Quatres Eléments" based on a text by the
poet Joseph Autran. It was only while putting the finishing
touches to the work that Liszt decided to turn the introduction
into a separate piece. He decided to use "Les Préludes",
a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine, as a programme for
the new work and the score is prefaced by a quote from
Lamartine's poem : "What is our life but a series
of preludes to that unknown song whose first solemn
note is death?" The work opens quietly before the
two main themes are introduced - one dramatic, the other
more lyrical. It develops through a series of contrasting
moods before reaching its powerful conclusion.
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Violin concerto no.2
Béla Bartók (1881-1945) (Soloist - Thomas
Bowes)
1. Allegro non troppo
2. Andante tranquillo
3. Allegro molto
Béla Bartók was born in
Nagyszentmiklos in Hungary (now part of Romania). His
father was the director of the local agricultural college
and a keen amateur musician. His mother played the piano
and gave Bartók his first piano lessons. His
father died in 1888 and the family moved to Nagyszöllös
where his mother took up a teaching post. It was here
that Bartók produced his first compositions.
He entered the Budapest Academy of Music in 1899. In
February 1902, he heard the Budapest premiere of Richard
Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and was
so taken with the work that he began to study Strauss's
works, even memorising "Ein Heldenleben".
His enthusiasm for composition returned, resulting in
his nationalistic tone poem "Kossuth" in 1903.
He also started touring abroad as a solo pianist.
In 1905, Bartók began collecting Hungarian folk
music and the following year he and fellow composer
Zoltan Kodály published a collection of 20 folk
songs. Over the next decade, Bartók continued
his travels collecting folk music, while also undertaking
the role of Professor of Piano at the Budapest Academy
of Music. He continued to compose, but his music was
not well received. However, a successful production
of his ballet "The Wooden Horse" in 1917 in
Budapest was followed the next year by a production
of his opera "Duke Bluebeard's Castle". The
1920s saw Bartók resume his career as a concert
pianist. In 1934, he was given an appointment at the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences so that he could prepare
his collection of Hungarian folk music for publication.
However, the developing political situation in Hungary
forced him to emigrate to the USA in early 1940. Initially
it was not a happy time - he composed and performed
little and was in poor health. However, a commission
from Serge Kousseviztsky resulting in the great "Concerto
for Orchestra" saw a resurgence in compositional
activity. At the time of his death from leukaemia on
25th September 1945 he was still working on a viola
concerto and a third piano concerto.
The second violin concerto was written as the result
of a commission from Zoltan Székely, leader of
the Hungarian Quartet. Bartók started work on
the concerto in August 1937 but set it aside while he
worked on "Contrasts" for clarinet, violin
and piano. He eventually finished the concerto on New
Year's Eve 1938 and it was first performed on 23rd March
1939 in Amsterdam with Székely as soloist and
Willem Mengelberg conducting the Concertbebouw Orchestra.
Bartók was not present and did not hear the work
performed until five years later when he attended a
performance in New York with Yehudi Menuhin as soloist.
Székely had requested a 'grand' concerto which
would be a worthy successor to those of Beethoven and
Brahms and was less than impressed with Bartók's
initial idea that it should take the form of a simple
set of variations. In spite of Székely's lack
of enthusiasm for this idea, Bartók nevertheless
managed to use the 'variations' approach within the
concerto in both obvious and more obscure guises - the
slow movement consists of a set of variations based
on its opening theme, while the finale is a variation
on some of the material from the first movement.
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Symphony no.8 in B minor (D759) (Unfinished)
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
1. Allegro moderato
2. Andante con moto
Bruckner, Mahler and Tchaikovsky are
just three of a number of composers who left unfinished
symphonies. However, the name "Unfinished Symphony"
invariably refers to Schubert's 8th, one of two symphonies
left incomplete at his death (his 7th was left unscored).
The symphony was composed in 1822 and he began to write
out a final copy in October of that year, but only completed
the first two movements. 130 bars of a Scherzo also
exist along with sketches for much of the rest of the
movement, but no trace has been found of a Finale. Some
scholars have suggested that the first Entr'acte from
the "Rosamunde" ballet music may have formed
all or part of the fourth movement.
Schubert's reasons for apparently abandoning work on
the symphony are a mystery. Suggestions have included
that he simply forgot about it or that he was unable
to find suitable inspiration for two more movements.
Whatever the reasons, the manuscript consisted of just
the Allegro moderato and Andante con moto when he gave
it as a gift to a friend in 1823. It was not until 17th
December 1865 that the symphony received its first performance
in Vienna, where it was hailed as the "symphonic
discovery of the decade."
Like many works left apparently unfinished by their
composers, Schubert's 8th symphony has been 'completed'
by others. Some such completions (for example, Deryck
Cooke's 'performing version' of Mahler's 10th symphony)
have attained a degree of acceptability. However, like
Bruckner's 9th symphony, Schubert's 8th makes such complete
sense as it stands that attempts to 'complete' it seem
pointless.
The symphony begins with a mysterious, sombre introduction
before the first theme appears with a hazy accompanying
figure from the strings. The movement is broadly lyrical
in character, but Schubert makes much of contrasting
brief forceful interjections, which gives the music
a general feeling of tension. There is no gradual development
from one mood to the other - the transitions are very
abrupt. Similar sudden contrasts in mood are a feature
of the Andante, but there is an overall mood of tranquillity
and contentment. The movement almost drifts to a close,
but despite a somewhat unconventional ending, there
is a definite feeling that the symphony has reached
its natural conclusion.
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Hungarian Dances
Johannes Brahms (1833-97)
1. No. 1 in G minor
2. No. 2 in D minor
3. No. 3 in F major
4. No. 4 in F sharp minor
5. No. 6 in D major
6. No. 5 in G minor
In 1848, a Hungarian uprising was suppressed
by the Russians and Austrians. As a result, a stream
of Hungarian refugees came through Brahms' home city
of Hamburg on their way to America. All things Hungarian
became very fashionable, including music, and Brahms
soon encountered the 'csárdás' and 'alla
zingarese' styles. He also met the Hungarian violinist
Reményi with whom he made his first concert tour
in 1853. Brahms' interest in Hungarian music continued
and between 1852 and 1869 he made arrangements for piano
for four hands of 21 Hungarian dances. These were published
in four volumes - two in 1869 and two in 1880. These
were initially described as arranged by Brahms. However,
a later edition described them as by Brahms which incurred
the wrath of the Hungarian composer Béla Kéler
who accused Brahms of stealing his melodies. Brahms
subsequently arranged the first ten dances for piano
solo (1872) and also orchestrated Nos. 1, 3 and 10 (1874).
Numerous orchestrations were made of the other dances
by many composers, including Dvorák.
Tonight's selection features six of the Hungarian Dances.
The Hungarian musicologist Endre Major established their
sources as follows : No. 1 is from the "Divine
Csárdás", thought to have been written
by Miska Borsó, a Hungarian composer and conductor.
No. 2 is based on the "Ellen Csárdás"
by Mór Windt. The middle section incorporates
a Hungarian folk song featured in a folk song collection
by Ignác Bognár. Recordings still exist
of Nos. 1 and 2 played by Brahms' friend Joseph Joachim,
the great Hungarian violinist. No. 3 is based on the
"Tolna Wedding Dance". This dance was very
popular during the 1840s and was subsequently arranged
and published by Jósef Riszner. Liszt also used
it in his 8th Hungarian Rhapsody. No. 4 is based on
the "Souvenir of Kalocsa-Csárdás"
thought to have been composed by Mérty. The origin
of the Trio section is unknown. No. 6 features the "Rosebush-Csárdás"
or "Ellen-Csárdás". The composer
is thought to have been either Count István Fáy
or Adolf Nittinger. No. 5 features the "Souvenir
of Bárta-Csárdás" composed
by Béla Kéler in 1858. The middle section
is based on a Hungarian folk song "Uccu bizon,
megérett a káka". This has become
the most popular of the 21 dances.
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