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Pregnant girlfriends, and other 19th-Century curiosities
Classical Symphony's 19th-Century musicale
Tom Purdom
Karl Middleman likes happenings. For his latest Classical Symphony concert, he created a happening based on a happening.
The evening's climax was a musical curiosity called the Hexameron. In 1837, the Princess Belgiojoso organized an all-star benefit concert in Paris for refugees from the struggle to free Italy from the tyranny of its Austrian overlords. The top six piano virtuosos of the day, including Liszt and Chopin, were supposed to compose and perform variations on an appropriate march from Bellini's opera I Puritani.
The piano spectacular didn't take place, but Liszt eventually assembled the variations, added some interludes and a grand finale, and played it in various forms, including an arrangement for piano and orchestra. In keeping with the piece's checkered history, Middleman presented a piano and orchestra version that included two variations that Liszt discarded: a Czerny (dropped because it was terrible) and a Chopin (so good it made the other contributors look bad).
Middleman teamed the Hexameron with pieces that captured the mixed-genre spirit of a 19th Century musicale. So a program devoted to music for piano and orchestra opened with bass-baritone Michael Riley delivering a moving performance of Schubert's gentle love song, Du Bist die Ruh, with guest pianist Kenneth Hamilton producing an accompaniment whose very first notes established the mood of the piece.
Liszt's turbulent affair
Hamilton then joined the orchestra in Liszt's Malediction sextet for Piano and Strings, a piece that includes a set of variations on Du Bist die Ruh in the middle. Hamilton is a personable, entertaining speaker as well as a personable pianist with a sensitive, understanding touch. In his pre-concert lecture, he noted that Liszt was involved in a turbulent love affair at the time and we should view the mixed moods of the sextet as the work of a "23-year-old composer who's just gotten his girlfriend pregnant."
The program's most familiar piece was Mendelssohn's Octet for Strings, in a string orchestra arrangement by Karl Middleman. Mendelssohn's youthful masterwork can handle the extra body added by the additional strings, but the octet clashed, to some extent, with the program's overall mood of frolicsome novelty.
Mendelssohn the wanderer
Hamilton got the evening back on track with Mendelssohn's Fantasy on The Last Rose of Summer— a set of variations on a familiar tune that wanders wherever Mendelssohn felt like traveling.
The Hexameron was preceded by a classic Middleman touch. Michael Riley led the audience in two renditions of Bellini's march, Suoni la Tromba, a jaunty "Freedom or Death" rallying cry. We in the audience got to express our defiance, to the accompaniment of brass, cymbals and appropriate gestures and embellishments by our heroic leader.
Chopin's segment
The Hexameron begins with a portentous introduction by Liszt and runs through variations that range from the thumpy and bombastic (by Czerny) to a somber approach with plenty of cello music and a delicate piano part.
Chopin's variation is instantly recognizable: Chopin didn't vary the tune that much, but he somehow turned it into an expressive piano melody that seemed to pack it with extra significance. Liszt's finale gathers steam and reaches such a rousing climax that I immediately went home and wrote out a check to Italian Refugee Relief.
Anyone who didn't enjoy this concert deserves to be harried across Europe by the Austrian secret police.
The evening's climax was a musical curiosity called the Hexameron. In 1837, the Princess Belgiojoso organized an all-star benefit concert in Paris for refugees from the struggle to free Italy from the tyranny of its Austrian overlords. The top six piano virtuosos of the day, including Liszt and Chopin, were supposed to compose and perform variations on an appropriate march from Bellini's opera I Puritani.
The piano spectacular didn't take place, but Liszt eventually assembled the variations, added some interludes and a grand finale, and played it in various forms, including an arrangement for piano and orchestra. In keeping with the piece's checkered history, Middleman presented a piano and orchestra version that included two variations that Liszt discarded: a Czerny (dropped because it was terrible) and a Chopin (so good it made the other contributors look bad).
Middleman teamed the Hexameron with pieces that captured the mixed-genre spirit of a 19th Century musicale. So a program devoted to music for piano and orchestra opened with bass-baritone Michael Riley delivering a moving performance of Schubert's gentle love song, Du Bist die Ruh, with guest pianist Kenneth Hamilton producing an accompaniment whose very first notes established the mood of the piece.
Liszt's turbulent affair
Hamilton then joined the orchestra in Liszt's Malediction sextet for Piano and Strings, a piece that includes a set of variations on Du Bist die Ruh in the middle. Hamilton is a personable, entertaining speaker as well as a personable pianist with a sensitive, understanding touch. In his pre-concert lecture, he noted that Liszt was involved in a turbulent love affair at the time and we should view the mixed moods of the sextet as the work of a "23-year-old composer who's just gotten his girlfriend pregnant."
The program's most familiar piece was Mendelssohn's Octet for Strings, in a string orchestra arrangement by Karl Middleman. Mendelssohn's youthful masterwork can handle the extra body added by the additional strings, but the octet clashed, to some extent, with the program's overall mood of frolicsome novelty.
Mendelssohn the wanderer
Hamilton got the evening back on track with Mendelssohn's Fantasy on The Last Rose of Summer— a set of variations on a familiar tune that wanders wherever Mendelssohn felt like traveling.
The Hexameron was preceded by a classic Middleman touch. Michael Riley led the audience in two renditions of Bellini's march, Suoni la Tromba, a jaunty "Freedom or Death" rallying cry. We in the audience got to express our defiance, to the accompaniment of brass, cymbals and appropriate gestures and embellishments by our heroic leader.
Chopin's segment
The Hexameron begins with a portentous introduction by Liszt and runs through variations that range from the thumpy and bombastic (by Czerny) to a somber approach with plenty of cello music and a delicate piano part.
Chopin's variation is instantly recognizable: Chopin didn't vary the tune that much, but he somehow turned it into an expressive piano melody that seemed to pack it with extra significance. Liszt's finale gathers steam and reaches such a rousing climax that I immediately went home and wrote out a check to Italian Refugee Relief.
Anyone who didn't enjoy this concert deserves to be harried across Europe by the Austrian secret police.
What, When, Where
Philadelphia Classical Symphony: Hexameron and the Clash of Piano Titans. Schubert, Du Bist di Ruh; Liszt, Sextet for Piano and Strings, Malediction Concerto; Mendelssohn/Middleman, Octet for Strings (string orchestra arrangement); Mendelssohn, Fantasia on a Favorite Irish Melody for piano solo; Liszt, Thalberg, Herz, Czerny, Chopin, Pixis, Hexameron for Piano and Orchestra; Bellini, Suoni la Tromba from I Puritani. Michael Riley, bass-baritone; Kenneth Hamilton, piano; Karl Middleman, conductor. November 13, 2009 at Arch Street Presbyterian Church, 18th and Arch Sts. (215) 228-2224 or www.classicalsymphony.org.
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