From Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Fourth Movement.

In a world that sometimes seems to have gone mad, it’s reminder of what human beings can accomplish when they are free to live, create, work together … and sing.

Part One:

Part Two:

Here’s the English translation of Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to Joy (written in 1785), which Beethoven adapted and used in the symphony, the composer’s “musical representation of universal brotherhood.”

Oh friends, not these tones!
Rather, let us raise our voices in more pleasing
And more joyful sounds!
Joy! Joy!
 
Joy, beautiful spark of gods
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter drunk with fire,
Heavenly one, your sanctuary!
Your magic binds again
What custom strictly divided.
All men become brothers,
Where your gentle wing rests.
 
Whoever has had the great fortune
To be a friend’s friend,
Whoever has won a devoted wife,
Join in our jubilation!
Indeed, whoever can call even one soul,
His own on this earth!
And whoever was never able to, must creep
Tearfully away from this band!
 
Joy all creatures drink
At the breasts of nature;
All good, all bad
Follow her trail of roses.
Kisses she gave us, and wine,
A friend, proven in death;
Pleasure was to the worm given,
And the cherub stands before God.
 
Glad, as His suns fly
Through the Heaven’s glorious design,
Run, brothers, your race,
Joyful, as a hero to victory.
 
Be embraced, millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers, above the starry canopy
Must a loving Father dwell.
Do you bow down, millions?
Do you sense the Creator, world?
Seek Him beyond the starry canopy!
Beyond the stars must He dwell.

Posted via web from afewgoodpens posterous

Posted via web from afewgoodpens’s posterous

I’ve been surprised at how much classical music I can find on YouTube, including some excellent and unique performances. I have several mp3 albums on my iPod featuring an Italian baroque ensemble called Il Giardino Armonico, and earlier today discovered this performance of one of my favorite Vivaldi pieces, often called the Concerto for Four Violins, but more accurately called the Concerto for Four Violins and Violoncello, Strings, and Continuo (RV 580). The concerto is number ten from Vivaldi’s L’Estro Armonico (“Harmonic Inspiration”) – a set of amazing pieces that, if you’ve never listened to Vivaldi before, would get you hooked if you heard them all (I promise!).

There are quite a few other performance videos featuring the group on YouTube; try this search:

YouTube: Il Giardino Armonico

and you will find among the results some very stylized interpretations and video staging that is unusual for classical music videos. In several of the videos, the group combines their performing style with imagery and other video content that I can only describe as MTV meets Bach. I’ll highlight more of their videos here on this site in the future, but if you like Baroque music (or are learning to like it), treat yourself to at least a half hour of their fascinating work.

The video below is the same Vivaldi concerto, from a historic performance that includes violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, and Ida Haendel. Some might consider it a more standard performance of the piece, which I suppose it’s true at least in the sense that it’s closer to the typical interpretation. It’s very different from the previous performance, yet when I compare the two, they seem equally wonderful to listen to.

Enjoy!

I never tire of listening to music composed by Antonio Vivaldi. It was only recently that I learned that Vivaldi’s music was “rediscovered” in the early 1900s. As described on Wikipedia:

“Many of Vivaldi’s compositions reflect a flamboyant, almost playful, exuberance. Most of Vivaldi’s repertoire was rediscovered only in the first half of the 20th century in Turin and Genoa and was published in the second half. Vivaldi’s music is innovative, breaking a consolidated tradition in schemes; he gave brightness to the formal and the rhythmic structure of the concerto, repeatedly looking for harmonic contrasts and innovative melodies and themes. Moreover, Vivaldi was able to compose nonacademic music, particularly meant to be appreciated by the wide public and not only by an intellectual minority. The joyful appearance of his music reveals in this regard a transmissible joy of composing; these are among the causes of the vast popularity of his music….”

This fine performance is from:

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Julia Fischer, Violin, with The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields).

Enjoy!

I heard a recording of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture for the first time in the mid-1980s, when I had just started buying classical music albums and a company called Telarc Records was pioneering digital recordings. Of course these weren’t digital in the mp3-sense of today, but a pre-cursor to digital as we now know it – released released not even on CD but on those round vinyl platters (!!) you never see any more. I had a large collection once upon a time; but sold them years ago as CDs hit the market. I wish I still had them, if only for the sake of novelty and nostalgia.

I still remember that the original album cover had a red sticker across the front, warning purchasers that at high volumes, the canons used in the Overture finale might damage a stereo system. Of course I didn’t believe that but it turned out to be true; I remember replacing the stylus twice and blowing one speaker before I learned my lesson and kept the volume down.

These days, I have sort of a love-hate relationship with Tchaikovsky’s music, probably from the over-exposure certain melodies have gotten in American culture. Our tendency to extract sound-bites from orchestral music and grind the same ones repeatedly into movie soundtracks, commercials, and elevator music is an unfortunate one, because the sound-bites become what many people think of as “classical music.” A piece of music like the 1812 Overture – despite the fireworks cliché it has become – has a lot more subtle beauty and melody than you might have ever been exposed to.

With that in mind, here’s Part One of the full 1812 Overture from YouTube, performed – according to the poster’s notes – in Leningrad by The Leningrad Philharmonic and Leningrad Military Orchestras during a celebration of Tchaikovsky’s 150th birthday. For fun, try following the opening melodies and their variations (from the beginning to about the three-minute mark) through the entire piece. If you do that, you’ll have learned one of the best ways to develop an appreciation for classical music. Finding the recurring melodies and their variations is a technique you can use when listening to even the longest and most complex symphonies.

Here’s Part Two, the part most often associated with Fourth of July fireworks in America. The first use of canons outside the concert hall occurs at about 2:50. At the five-minute mark begins the canon finale … and – you guessed it! – some fireworks.

Happy Independence Day!