Posted on 10/05/2012 6:00:51 PM PDT by Kathy in Alaska
Welcome Troops, Veterans, Families, and Allies!
Music posted for your enjoyment. Thank you for serving our country.
Thanks, unique, for the Troops.
Parents, you are responsible for previewing.
Ronnie Milsap ~ Precious Lord, Take My Hand
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I got a kick out of what I heard Michelle Phillips say about “Monday, Monday”. She said when she first heard it she thought it was “the most pretentious song” ever, and she continued to feel that way right up until it hit #1!
And if we are in a Mamas & Poppas vein, may I please ask for “dedicated to the one I love”? To me that song summons up all the best of that rare time, leave all the bad stuff that came later to the side. It has it all: the California pop, the old time stuff, even vaudeville, it’s all there in that one song.
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Thanks, Mac....I am glad this week is over. Busy, busy, but very productive. Several parental jobs tomorrow, and it is supposed to rain all weekend. It just now stopped raining, but it probably won’t last.
That Marine did such a beautiful job.
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I suppose there are plenty of outlets to sell, I know of a few, but I can’t really produce enough to make that worthwhile or cost effective. I actually have a waiting list of orders to fill among friends, neighbors and church family. The neighborhood kids discovered my pear butter and cinnamon pear chips from last year in my neighbor’s pantry and I’m slammed with requests. It’s a joy to share!
Apple butter is real big here in West Virginia this time of year, but pear butter seems unheard of. The orange zest and nutmeg really sets it off and my sugar free Stevia based recipe is a hit with all the folks on special diets, although I don’t think it compares to the hi-test sugar infused blend.
Titan sometimes brings me granny smith apples from the mountain orchards and the dried chips are yummy, but there’s not enough to share with just anyone. Titan gets the lion’s share to share with the folks in NC and I channel a few bags to pastor (who loves them so). I made a special batch of Honey Crisp apple chips for him this year but @ $3.75 per lb (about 3 apples) they are too expensive to spread around.
I can’t seem to grow enough peppers to keep the guys at chuch supplied. One of my pastor’s sons puts my canned cayannes on everthing he eats and I’ve switched him to Habinaros and then to Aji Limons which seem to be curing him of his craving for hots. LOL The Aji black nagas are about 3 million on the Scoville scale which measures capsaicin heat (typical Jalapeños range from 4 to 8,000 so you can imagine - habinaros range 350,000 to 800,000 .... 1.5 to 2 million is used for military grade pepper spray). My black nagas require gloves to pick and opening a jar without a gas mask is ill-advised, lol).
The ladies at church discoverd my chilli powder this year and I’ve run out, so I’m running the dehydrator 24/7 and roasting Cumin for the next batch, but it takes a powerful lot of peppers to make just a few ounces. My peppers are all on the hot side this year, so I may have to mix in some store bought Anchos and Cubanelles to “mild” it some. Every batch is unique and I just can’t figure out how to make it consistant. Despite corn and potatoes being a bust this year I still had a marvelous bounty.
Here is the incomparable Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
Rachmaninov: “We Shall Rest”, Op. 26/3
And here is Hvorostovsky in his youth 22 years ago.
It’s sung in English! What a heartbreaker!
Hvorostovsky in his prime.
Vanderlinde tries her hand.
Young Hvorostovsky again.
That pear butter sounds scrumptious. I love apple butter, but I like pears better than apples!
Good evening, spel....thank you for the Friday Night Salsa for the troops. ((HUGS))
A special howdy to the Freepers who have gathered for the 7th Annual Texas Cowboy Shoot on the Texas coast ... what a hoot!
When Rachmaninov came to America, he was urged by his Russian emigre friends to trim the piece because they feared that American audiences, with a taste for lighter music and short attention spans, would not sit still for a one hour symphony. But history has a way of taking strange turns.
In 1971, Andre Previn took the London Symphony Orchestra on a Soviet tour, and his signature piece was the cut version of the Second Symphony. In Moscow, during the third movement, Previn noticed some strange sounds behind him, looked back and found that the audience was openly sobbing. After the concert, Previn was accosted by a young woman speaking broken French who gave him an orange in gratitude for the performance. She had probably stood in line for hours to get that orange.
In Leningrad – jeez, how I hate that name! – Previn dropped in on the two professors at the Conservatory who had pieced together Rachmaninov’s First Symphony back in 1945, and they said they had the original uncut score. Previn left the Soviet Union with it and spent the next two years in London preparing. His 1973 recording for EMI won every award in the book, is considered the definitive recording of the work and is now recognized as being one of the undisputably great recordings of the Seventies. Clarinet players have said that Jack Brymer’s rendition of the solo in the third movement was so perfect that he ruined that passage for every clarinettist alive.
I have a long, detailed analysis of this symphony. What makes it so easy to understand is that it’s as tightly structured as a symphony by Haydn or Beethoven. The difference is that Sergei works on a canvas twice the size of Haydn. But you don’t get the sense of sprawl.
The unifying motif of the entire symphony is the motto theme. Not having MIDI available, I’ll state the theme in groups of eighth notes: G-A, B-A-G-A, G-C-B-C, B-F#-E-F#, E-B. Remember this!
The layout for the first movement is sonata format minus the recap of the first subject, something he did in his Cello Sonata:
Introduction (E minor) => first subject (E minor) => second subject (G Major) => development => second subject (E Major) => coda (E minor)
The motto is stated contrapuntally in the long introduction. Sergei doubles the string basses and tubas, and in the concert hall you can feel the bass line in your teeth. Notice how the introduction is structured in waves of increasing and decreasing intensity. At 4:43 an oboe passage introduces the first subject. You can just feel the wind whistling across the steppes! At 6:20 a transitional passage leads to the tranquil second subject at 6:48 introduced by the clarinet.
At 8:58 he begins a development section of monumental length, organized in waves. The first four waves are based on the motto theme. He slows it down at the end of this wave and states the motto on strings over a brass choir (10:36). The waves resume, and now he develops the first subject. There is a brief false recap of the first subject (12:27) before he submerges it in the largest wave of all. With the thundering crash of cymbals (12:55) comes the climax – and a major formal problem.
Just as in the first movement of the Cello Sonata, Sergei bases his development on the first subject, and a recap of that subject would be repetitive. To get from that climax to the tranquil second subject, he uses a technique known as disintegration, where he uses fragments that are melodically neutral but rhythmically strong. A five-note group yields to a four-note group, then a three-note group, etc. The strings take up a recitative that slowly resolves into the second subject, now in a blissful E Major (14:10). It’s an amazing moment! The strings sing; the strings sob. Releasing the tension, he moves into a short, fast coda based on the development. It ends with one extra note on the basses and tympani.
Rachmaninov: Symphony #2 in E minor, Op. 27, first movement
The format for this scherzo is the usual 3-part ternary format, but with an extension.
Scherzo (A minor) => trio (C Major) => scherzo => fugue => scherzo => trio => scherzo => coda (A minor)
Rachmaninov was often accused of writing the same theme over and over. This came from his technique of hiding the Dies irae (“Day of Wrath”) from the Catholic requiem mass in his music. Lacking MIDI, imagine a string of quarter notes in this order: A-G-A-F-G-E-F-D-E. In this movement, he uses that motif for his first theme but hides its identity by syncopating it. At 1:16 the clarinet introduces his “trio” section. For those of you who remember Neil Diamond’s “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”, this will sound familiar. The quiet trio ends with a crash of cymbals at 3:23 as Sergei lays out a dissonant fugue. At 4:40 a brass band marches over the fugal subject. At the coda (8:19), Rachmaninov removes the syncopation and exposes the Dies irae motif for what it is, rubbing our noses in his cleverness. The end is quiet and a bit sneaky.
The slow movement is laid out in the traditional ternary format.
First theme (A Major) => middle section (G Major) => first theme => coda (A Major)
For those who remember Eric Carmen’s “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again”, this movement will sound familiar. This is an unabashed love song, first stated on strings. Then the clarinet takes up the passage that Brymer did so perfectly for Previn, and this is where the handkerchiefs come out. The clarinet is succeeded by the strings over a drone bass. At the cadence (3:57) the motto theme is heard. The middle section (4:45) starts with a questioning theme, stated as a duet by oboe and tenor oboe (English horn) as the strings work the motto theme. This section is developed in waves, leading to a wrong-key cadence (C Major) and luftpaus (8:09). The first theme is restated by superimposing it over the motto. Sergei reverses the role of strings and clarinet with the horn and then the flute soaring over it. The coda closes it down peacefully with the motto theme in a moment where two hearts beat as one.
The finale is in sonata-rondo format.
First subject (E Major) => second subject (D# minor) => first subject => third subject (D Major) => development => first subject w/counter-melody => second subject (F# minor) => first subject abbreviated => bridge => third subject (E Major) => coda (E Major)
The first subject is a bouncy theme over triplets, which you’ll be hearing a lot. The transition from the second subject back to the first subject (1:50) sounds sloppy because of the change to a remote key, but Sergei does this for contrast. You’ll see why in the recapitulation.
At 2:46 the crash of a cymbal starts an introductory passage leading to the third subject. This could have been written by Tchaikovsky, complete with a brass choir playing sextuplets over a pedal point in the basses. As Sergei winds this down, he states the first subject of the slow movement over the motto (6:11) and closes his exposition quietly.
The short development section begins with startling abruptness. It consists of three ideas: a theme from the previous movement, the motto, and a run down the F minor scale. At 8:01 the bassoon starts the stampede down the scale and is joined by other instruments one at a time and at different speeds. The stampede becomes total, and with the crash of cymbals, it spins out into space and lands smack in the first subject.
In a sonata-rondo format like this, how do you avoid boredom? You vary the first subject by adding a counter-melody on the first violins. In the transition to the second subject, a few stragglers run by in F minor, a wonderfully humorous moment. This time the transition from the second subject back to the first is as smooth as fine Scotch because the keys are adjacent. To avoid more boredom, he abbreviates the first subject to just the opening and closing bars.
This leads into a bridge as a diversionary link to build suspense. It’s hair raising! The cymbals lead into the third subject at 12:38 in the tonic key with the sextuplet brass choir replaced by a trumpet fanfare. As he wraps it up with an assist from the cymbals, he takes off into an coda that storms the heavens. What a release!
I saw Previn conduct this with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1988, and it’s a concert I will remember for the rest of my life. I was a puddle by the end. This symphony is an amazing musical and emotional trip.
Welcome Troops, Veterans, Families, and Allies!
Music posted for your enjoyment. Thank you for serving our country.
Thanks, unique, for the Troops.
Parents, you are responsible for previewing.
Artie Shaw & His Orchestra ~ Begin The Beguine
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((HUGS))
Took me a while to figure out that everybody's in Texas. Lonely here tonight.
Welcome Troops, Veterans, Families, and Allies!
Music posted for your enjoyment. Thank you for serving our country.
Thanks, unique, for the Troops.
Parents, you are responsible for previewing.
Homer & Jethro ~ Boll Weevil
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