What's New for Winter 2025
Click on the links in all caps and boldface for more details and soundbites
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 WILLIAM
GILLIES WHITTAKER
(1876-1944) primarily worked as a teacher and choral conductor. He was
widely regarded as one of the leading Bach scholars and conductors
of his time. He edited and arranged several definitive arrangements
of Bach's cantatas for performance in English and wrote extensively
on the subject. He lived most of his life in the north of England
and became an expert on English folk music from this area and did
for English folk songs from the north what he had done for Bach
cantatas. His
AMONG THE NORTHUMBRIAN HILLS FOR PIANO AND STRING QUARTET
is meant as a musical picture much like Tchaikovsky' Seasons.
However, composed after the First World War and written in a
post-romantic style, it sounds nothing like Tchaikovsky, especially
since his music was influenced by that of his close friend the
composer Gustav Holst. In its way, this is a unique work. |
 You
can be forgiven if the name JAN BAPTYSTA KLECZYNSKI (1756-1828)
does not ring a bell, although during his lifetime he was certainly
well-known to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Krommer, Wranitzky, Gyrowetz
and other prominent composers then active in Vienna. It is fair to
say he was a man of parts. Of Polish ethnicity, he was born in the
Czech part of the Austrian Empire. He studied violin and composition
in Poland and spent the better part of his life in Vienna, working
as a violinist in various orchestras and as a theater director. He
was not a prolific composer, but what he did produce shows that he
was talented and a full-fledged member of the Vienna Classical
School of composition. His
STRING
TRIO NO.4 IN E FLAT MAJOR,
was well enough thought of to be published simultaneously both in
Vienna and Germany. It is well crafted with grateful parts for each
voice. A good choice for both concert performance as well as amateur |
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 IGNAZ
MOSCHELES
(1794-1870) was without doubt one of the most important and
influential musical personalities of the first half of the 19th
century. He was not only one of the leading piano soloist of the
times, but also a sought after teacher, who counted Felix and Fanny
Mendelssohn among his many students. If this were not enough, his
chamber music was admired by Beethoven and Robert Schumann, both of
whom were his friends. Contemporary music critics hailed his
PIANO TRIO IN C MINOR as a superb work. It enjoyed
considerable popularity along but like so many other fine works from
the Romantic era, it fell into oblivion after the First World War in
the reaction against works from that period. But the music critics
were right, this is a first rate work. It is the equal if not
superior to the piano trios of Schumann and Mendelssohn. But don't
take our word for it, listen to our soundbites and decide for
yourself. |
| The fact that the Catalian composer, CELESTINO VILA DE FORNS (1830-1915) was active far from the musical center of Spain, Madrid, in part contributed to his chamber music escaping notice. Also there was the fact that 19th century Spain was primarily interested in religious music rather than pure instrumental music. Nonetheless, the cogniscenti, those in Spain who knew about and were fond of chamber music, selected one of his works to be included in an album of chamber music dedicated to the Infanta of Spain, Maria Isabel de Borbon, who herself was very fond of chamber music His PIANO QUARTET NO.1 IN C MINOR is one of the earliest works of chamber music composed in Spain. Being far from any musical center, Vila de Forns was not au courant with the latest developments and looked to Mozart and Beethoven as his |
 GEORGE
ONSLOW (1784-1853)
though he was often called 'the French Beethoven' during his
lifetime, wrote music which sounded nothing like Beethoven. His
metier was chamber music and his string quartets, of which there
were 36, and especially his string quintets, of which there were 34,
were incredibly popular. One could hardly avoid hearing one his
chamber music works when attending a chamber music concert, be it in
France, Germany or England. This was the case throughout the 19th
century up until the First World War, when he and his music along
with many excellent composers from the Romantic era were cast into
oblivion. It is only recently that he and his music have been
rediscovered with delight. His
STRING QUINTET NO.7 IN E FLAT MAJOR
is a genial, cheerful work filled with pleasant melodies. It can be
played with either 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Cello or 2 Violins, Viola
and 2 Cellos. |
 VIRGIL
THOMSON (1896-1989)
is widely credited, along with Aaron Copland, with having
created the so-called American sound. Initially trained in the
United States, Thomson was attracted to developments in France,
where he not only went to study, but also chose to live for more
than fifteen years up until 1940. During this period, his music more
reflected the influence of several of the composers known as Les
Six, in particular Germaine Talleferre, Darius Milhaud and Francis
Poulenc. His
STRING QUARTET NO.1 IN G MAJOR,
composed in 1931, while he was living in France, came relatively
early in his career. As such, it shows the influence of theabove
composers but also mixed with more traditional ideas. It is an
engaging work which will interest an audience if heard in concert.
And it presents no undo technical problems and as such can be
recommended to amateurs with a taste for emerging modern music. |
 If
you looked in music dictionaries and encyclopedias for information
about
FELIX WEINGARTNER
(1863-1942), you would learn that he was one of the most important
conductors performing before the public between 1895 and 1935. He
served as music director and conductor of the Vienna and Berlin
Philharmonic orchestras as well as many others. He was the first to
take the VPO on tour. What you are unlikely to learn was that he
was a first rate composer whose works are late Romantic era
masterpieces. This is especially true of his chamber music. It is no
exaggeration to say that his outstanding
OCTET
FOR PIANO, STRINGS AND WINDS IN G MAJOR, is unique in
the literature,
one of a kind--a superb masterwork. It certainly deserves concert
performance and will no doubt be an audience pleaser. Not a work
for beginners, but amateurs of a high standard should not be
scared off. |
If
you were living in the Vienna of 1805 and were an aficionado of
playing string quartets and you were asked who then was the leading
composer of string quartets, you would almost certainly have
answered FRANZ KROMMER (1759-1831)
because in 1805 Haydn was no longer composing and Mozart had been
dead for a decade and a half. The popularity of Krommer's string
chamber music, with its catchy melodies and original touches was, at
this time, unparalleled. And not just in Vienna but throughout
Europe. Even the Austrian emperor Franz I, played the string
quartets of Krommer in his own quartet, of which Krommer played
first violin. The
PAUL
WRANITZKY
(1756-1808) after Haydn and Mozart, must be placed, along with Franz
Krommer, as the most important and archetypical composer from the
Viennese Classical era. His music was frequently found on the same
concert programs as theirs and treasured not only by amateurs but by
professionals as well. To give some idea of what his contemporaries
thought of him, Beethoven insisted that Wranitzky conduct the
premiere of his Symphony No.1, the most classical of his symphonies.
Wranitzky's
Fate
can be unfair. Today, Mikhail Glinka is called the Father of Russian
music as if he were the first Russian composer of classical music.
But, he wasn't. By the time ALEXANDER ALYABIEV (1787-1851)
got around to writing his first string quartet in 1815, he had
already composed perhaps as many as 100 works. Meanwhile, the
so-called father of Russian music was all of 8 years old. Alyabiev's