Allegro molto — Lento — Vivo — Allegro non troppo e maestoso — Tempo come I
see previous post for the first half of the movement vid.
this movement is extremely virtuosic and impassioned. as is implied in the title, it's kind of a mishmash of the previous themes, set in a new light, as well as a little bit of new material (the festival, etc)
the first minute or so is alternation of a furious orchestral representation of the suite's opening motif, the sultan (who will kill scheherazade at any moment, it seems, but for his curiosity about the stories she tells), and a newly impassioned version of the scheherazade leitmotif, which is now even more ornate, faster, and flamboyant.
the carnival begins at the vivo, 7:47 in the video. the softly galloping theme is given first by the flute, then by the strings. then rimsky begins his typical process of repetition with augmentation. a second part of the theme comes in at 8:37, slightly broader (in rhythm only; the tempo remains the same).
9:09 brings the return of a third movement theme - a brief few moments of nostalgia. but without warning we are snapped back into the tempo and mood of the festival, with quick and piquant colors and rhythms.
one of the program notes i read notes that the flavor of the polovtsian dances that rimsky had just been working on with borodin's score comes out particularly in this section of baghdad revelry. see for yourself.
this section goes on for a while, but i won't bore you by describing what rimsky does with the motif; it's all the same music, but he reinvents it by inserting shorter or longer sections of hiatus, playing with the rhythms (duple time, triple time, quadruple time) alternating it with that third movement melody, using different instrumentations, and usually adding some additional little lick in some instrument to accent it, usually from an entirely different section of the piece. we finally come to a more satisfying cadence, where we find ourselves all of a sudden right in the middle of the raging sea from the first movement (4:37).
from here is a depiction of one of sinbad's (many) shipwrecks. the swaying waves are augmented by even more chromatic swells from the winds, a rolling bass drum/timpani, and sustained chords from the brass.
the shipwreck happens on a plummeting chromatic line starting in the violins, then, with a final fanfare from the brass, all is quiet.
6:27 is the beginning of the final section; the mood is stricken, the waves are still there, but calm now, and the reappearance of the chorale figure from the first movement reassures us that it was all just a story. scheherazade's voice comes in again to conclude the movement, which ends quietly - as most stories do.
Showing posts with label rimsky-korsakov. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rimsky-korsakov. Show all posts
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35 - III. The Young Prince and The Young Princess: Andantino quasi allegretto
Andantino quasi allegretto — Pochissimo più mosso — Come prima — Pochissimo più animato
curious to know what everyone thinks of the customary "naming" a movement by its tempo changes. what happens to the custom once we get into the late 19th century and every section of a movement has a different tempo? seems silly. i don't know that there are abbreviation standards in place for this sort of thing though. i expect sometimes we just take the tempo of the main body of the movement, because usually the changes are either very close to the beginning, as an introduction to the main part, or towards the end, as the movement speeds up or winds down.
please refer to previous post for the video with the first half of this movement, am trying to avoid having to post any of these twice.
this movement is supposed to be fairly simple both in melodic content and in form, which is basic ternary. we have a very sweet almost pastoral theme, which is given first by violins. (this is also the only movement which does not begin with the violin solo, but she has her say at the end of the movement...) some program notes call this a love scene; i think it's a bit more innocent than that, but who knows.
the theme is circled around lots of instruments, and also gets lots of ornamentation in the form of a sort of rising and falling skitter or scale, usually in the upper strings or winds. it is in E flat, so it acts as a sort of neapolitan to the dominant, d minor/major. (the movement itself is in G.)
celibidache takes the middle section, which starts at 9:14, quiiiite a bit more slowly than is customary. it is introduced by a snare drum, and a dancelike theme forms the central part of the movement, first given by the clarinet, but then accented by more percussion (we get the introduction of the triangle here) and pizz from the string section. the quietness of the percussion writing, and some of the wind solos (i like the brassy trumpet one, which is so honeyed that it reminds me of some early jazz).
we go back to the original opening matter at 1:45, with the violins. scheherazade's voice comes back in for a little bit, turning into an extended string crossing arpeggiatic cadenza. as that's going on, the romantic theme of the movement comes back, with the violin finally snapping out of it to cadence with that theme.
this last segment at last shows some development of that theme, kind of interestingly late for that sort of thing. the shifting of keys typical to developments comes in around 5:00. the movement closes with a sort of blend of the more sprightly elements from the middle section and the romanticism of the main theme.
curious to know what everyone thinks of the customary "naming" a movement by its tempo changes. what happens to the custom once we get into the late 19th century and every section of a movement has a different tempo? seems silly. i don't know that there are abbreviation standards in place for this sort of thing though. i expect sometimes we just take the tempo of the main body of the movement, because usually the changes are either very close to the beginning, as an introduction to the main part, or towards the end, as the movement speeds up or winds down.
please refer to previous post for the video with the first half of this movement, am trying to avoid having to post any of these twice.
this movement is supposed to be fairly simple both in melodic content and in form, which is basic ternary. we have a very sweet almost pastoral theme, which is given first by violins. (this is also the only movement which does not begin with the violin solo, but she has her say at the end of the movement...) some program notes call this a love scene; i think it's a bit more innocent than that, but who knows.
the theme is circled around lots of instruments, and also gets lots of ornamentation in the form of a sort of rising and falling skitter or scale, usually in the upper strings or winds. it is in E flat, so it acts as a sort of neapolitan to the dominant, d minor/major. (the movement itself is in G.)
celibidache takes the middle section, which starts at 9:14, quiiiite a bit more slowly than is customary. it is introduced by a snare drum, and a dancelike theme forms the central part of the movement, first given by the clarinet, but then accented by more percussion (we get the introduction of the triangle here) and pizz from the string section. the quietness of the percussion writing, and some of the wind solos (i like the brassy trumpet one, which is so honeyed that it reminds me of some early jazz).
we go back to the original opening matter at 1:45, with the violins. scheherazade's voice comes back in for a little bit, turning into an extended string crossing arpeggiatic cadenza. as that's going on, the romantic theme of the movement comes back, with the violin finally snapping out of it to cadence with that theme.
this last segment at last shows some development of that theme, kind of interestingly late for that sort of thing. the shifting of keys typical to developments comes in around 5:00. the movement closes with a sort of blend of the more sprightly elements from the middle section and the romanticism of the main theme.
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35 - II. The Kalendar Prince: Lento - Andantino - Allegro molto
the full tempo markings of this movement: Lento — Andantino — Allegro molto — Vivace scherzando — Moderato assai — Allegro molto ed animato
the opening of this movement is a little more nostalgic, with the violin solo in e minor (the first time it is in A minor, set a fourth higher), and quite a bit slower and less bold. here we get a sense of royal mystique, suspense and sparkle.
5:17 is the middle section, introduced by a rude awakening by the lower strings, alternated with a trumpet/trombone fanfare figure. this is rotated, and finally we get them stacked on top of each other above an insistent tritone chord. finally we hit a stride and the music goes into a brisk tempo giusto.
6:41 is a very unique moment - extended solos for the clarinet above perpetual pizzes. we snap out of it and back into the martial mood of the beginning of the middle section. (the new thing here is the addition of a scurrying upwards motif in the strings along with a piccolo twitter, supposedly representing sinbad's bird from the first movement.)
the middle section is flanked also by the same type of solo as the clarinet's at 6:41, this time assigned to the bassoon, along with distressed alarm bells from the high winds.
there is a brief transition to the original opening theme of the movement, with some interesting modal insertions, a bit of rubato, and some ornamentations from different instruments. overall the sound is much lusher the second time, a little more rhapsodic, but basically the same.
we pause at 2:40, and then begin a coda, which is a looooong ramp up to the end, starting with a suspended tremolo rendition of the theme in the violins, which makes room for some wind solos before accelerating the triplets to a whirling end.
the opening of this movement is a little more nostalgic, with the violin solo in e minor (the first time it is in A minor, set a fourth higher), and quite a bit slower and less bold. here we get a sense of royal mystique, suspense and sparkle.
from the kennedy center program notes:
The Kalenders were a particular category of fakir, roving monks who turned up at Eastern courts and bazaars dispensing stories, magic tricks and wit in exchange for a coin or a night's lodging. The "Kalender Prince" was one of those mendicants who turned out to be a nobleman in disguise.the theme that opens the movement after scheherazade's intro is wistful, lilting, with little grace notes, based on a repeated figure descending stepwise (and on its rhythm, which is actually a sort of hemiola). the theme is first shown by the bassoon, then the oboe, eventually becoming a dance with the strings as it is speeded up. with each repetition of the theme each instrument is given a sort of additional "ad lib" in the triplets just before the cadence to the next instrument. after the strings it is given, staccato, sprightly, and faster, to the wind section. but suddenly, at 4:25, a solo cello pauses the ramp up with a rhapsodic solo. a solo oboe rounds off the section.
5:17 is the middle section, introduced by a rude awakening by the lower strings, alternated with a trumpet/trombone fanfare figure. this is rotated, and finally we get them stacked on top of each other above an insistent tritone chord. finally we hit a stride and the music goes into a brisk tempo giusto.
6:41 is a very unique moment - extended solos for the clarinet above perpetual pizzes. we snap out of it and back into the martial mood of the beginning of the middle section. (the new thing here is the addition of a scurrying upwards motif in the strings along with a piccolo twitter, supposedly representing sinbad's bird from the first movement.)
the middle section is flanked also by the same type of solo as the clarinet's at 6:41, this time assigned to the bassoon, along with distressed alarm bells from the high winds.
there is a brief transition to the original opening theme of the movement, with some interesting modal insertions, a bit of rubato, and some ornamentations from different instruments. overall the sound is much lusher the second time, a little more rhapsodic, but basically the same.
we pause at 2:40, and then begin a coda, which is a looooong ramp up to the end, starting with a suspended tremolo rendition of the theme in the violins, which makes room for some wind solos before accelerating the triplets to a whirling end.
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35 - I. The Sea and Sinbad's Ship: Largo e maestoso - Lento - Allegro non troppo - Tranquillo
whoo i'm behind. just fyi, for anyone who reads regularly - when/if i ever get to the point where i am caught up in terms of entries for the month, i will be backdating the entries so that there are the correct number of entries per month (this is the easiest way to keep track).
here's something fairly easy - rimsky's symphonic poem is one of his two original orchestral masterpieces, the other being his capriccio espagnole. it displays characteristic verve, color, orchestration, and the obligatory huge violin solo; it's also pretty much textbook program music. for anyone who played this piece in youth orchestra, as i did, it pretty much becomes one of the biggest representative experiences of the young musician's early career. it is just one of the most universally adored pieces out there.
this orchestral fantasy was conceived as rimsky worked to finish borodin's prince igor score, part of which was blogged here. summer of 1888, rimsky finished this as well as his russian easter overture, op. 36.
rimsky actually disliked overly programmatic tendencies, so rather than trying to tell four stories from the books, he named his movements after themes to be found in the tales. (originally the names were even more vague - prelude, ballade, etc; but his colleagues prevailed upon him to give more detailed names.) he wanted the fantasy to be a russian take on oriental/arabic themes, so you get 1. large usage of the harp and an extended percussion and wind section which included: piccolo, snare/bass drum, tambourine, cymbals, and tam-tam 2. huge russian sounds and 3. lots of implication of "oriental" music (from the european sense) like the pentatonic scale.
i have waded through lots of youtube youth orchestra debris to bring you the below recording, which is celibidache/swr stuttgart (if it is not really cooperating with you, just pause and wait; it's worth it i think). but if you have the time make sure you check out this other fascinating recording featuring david oistrakh as the concertmaster. in many places the ensemble and sometimes the intonation is kind of atrocious, but it is quite worth it to hear those few violin solos.
we open with a grand dramatic unison line in a sort of modal E, allowing the curtain to rise. the violin solo, some form of which flanks every movement, is of course, none other than scheherazade herself, telling her stories. the harp interjections lend that misty quality of sending us back on a "long long ago" type of journey. it's basically a big recitative for the violin, who gets to take pretty much as much time as s/he wants. (in instrumental terms we call this a cadenza, but it is really quite a bit more operatic than that, especially when we consider the "character"-ness of the solo.)
we're off and immediately rimsky paints a huge picture of rolling waves with the lower strings arpeggiating back and forth as per the rocking of water and the presumed ship. sinbad the sailor receives 7 tales in the original arabian nights, and they are all about his sea voyages (with i think one exception). i think in the original writing they are all encased in one tale that a post-voyage sinbad tells to another poor guy who also just happens to be named sinbad (the tale of "how i became rich," basically). almost all of the tales involve him getting shipwrecked in some fashion, but his ingenuity always prevails and allows him not only to defeat whatever monsters are in his path but to return home with even more riches as well.
this movement is basically two parts, the second part of which is almost an exact reflection of the first part except in a different key. we have the sea motif - grand, windy, soaring, played by all the strings over a full wind and brass chorale, and rising all the time. this is in E major.
3:47 is a soft wind chorale introduction to the development of that grandiose motif, which we might be able to think of as scherazade's actual storytelling - the whole grand scene sort of recedes into a "storytelling" level, the solo violin comes back to soliloquize, in b minor, and its music gets expanded into the actual story. the motif here is full of triplets, a bit more flowing, much more quickly moving, and gets twined with the waves and the theme from the beginning. notice the big brass entrance around 5:33. we reach a head at 5:53, which is a big cadence in E major. the section rounds off with a similar trailing off into the chorale figure, but this time given by six violin solo and with a bit of wind ornamentation, at 6:58.
from here to the end of the movement is basically a repeat of 3:47 on, with a different instrumentation - solo cello instead of horn, use of different wind shadings, but the same violin solo (this time in e minor). it is compressed, but contains all the same motifs.
at 9:17 we hit a tranquillo, which begins the downward ramping of this movement, as if the story has reached its apex and is just wrapping up. all the motifs seem kind of tired.
for some dumb reason the recording cuts off only like two minutes before the end of the movement so for the rest of it take a look at the next blog entry.
here's something fairly easy - rimsky's symphonic poem is one of his two original orchestral masterpieces, the other being his capriccio espagnole. it displays characteristic verve, color, orchestration, and the obligatory huge violin solo; it's also pretty much textbook program music. for anyone who played this piece in youth orchestra, as i did, it pretty much becomes one of the biggest representative experiences of the young musician's early career. it is just one of the most universally adored pieces out there.
this orchestral fantasy was conceived as rimsky worked to finish borodin's prince igor score, part of which was blogged here. summer of 1888, rimsky finished this as well as his russian easter overture, op. 36.
rimsky actually disliked overly programmatic tendencies, so rather than trying to tell four stories from the books, he named his movements after themes to be found in the tales. (originally the names were even more vague - prelude, ballade, etc; but his colleagues prevailed upon him to give more detailed names.) he wanted the fantasy to be a russian take on oriental/arabic themes, so you get 1. large usage of the harp and an extended percussion and wind section which included: piccolo, snare/bass drum, tambourine, cymbals, and tam-tam 2. huge russian sounds and 3. lots of implication of "oriental" music (from the european sense) like the pentatonic scale.
i have waded through lots of youtube youth orchestra debris to bring you the below recording, which is celibidache/swr stuttgart (if it is not really cooperating with you, just pause and wait; it's worth it i think). but if you have the time make sure you check out this other fascinating recording featuring david oistrakh as the concertmaster. in many places the ensemble and sometimes the intonation is kind of atrocious, but it is quite worth it to hear those few violin solos.
we open with a grand dramatic unison line in a sort of modal E, allowing the curtain to rise. the violin solo, some form of which flanks every movement, is of course, none other than scheherazade herself, telling her stories. the harp interjections lend that misty quality of sending us back on a "long long ago" type of journey. it's basically a big recitative for the violin, who gets to take pretty much as much time as s/he wants. (in instrumental terms we call this a cadenza, but it is really quite a bit more operatic than that, especially when we consider the "character"-ness of the solo.)
we're off and immediately rimsky paints a huge picture of rolling waves with the lower strings arpeggiating back and forth as per the rocking of water and the presumed ship. sinbad the sailor receives 7 tales in the original arabian nights, and they are all about his sea voyages (with i think one exception). i think in the original writing they are all encased in one tale that a post-voyage sinbad tells to another poor guy who also just happens to be named sinbad (the tale of "how i became rich," basically). almost all of the tales involve him getting shipwrecked in some fashion, but his ingenuity always prevails and allows him not only to defeat whatever monsters are in his path but to return home with even more riches as well.
this movement is basically two parts, the second part of which is almost an exact reflection of the first part except in a different key. we have the sea motif - grand, windy, soaring, played by all the strings over a full wind and brass chorale, and rising all the time. this is in E major.
3:47 is a soft wind chorale introduction to the development of that grandiose motif, which we might be able to think of as scherazade's actual storytelling - the whole grand scene sort of recedes into a "storytelling" level, the solo violin comes back to soliloquize, in b minor, and its music gets expanded into the actual story. the motif here is full of triplets, a bit more flowing, much more quickly moving, and gets twined with the waves and the theme from the beginning. notice the big brass entrance around 5:33. we reach a head at 5:53, which is a big cadence in E major. the section rounds off with a similar trailing off into the chorale figure, but this time given by six violin solo and with a bit of wind ornamentation, at 6:58.
from here to the end of the movement is basically a repeat of 3:47 on, with a different instrumentation - solo cello instead of horn, use of different wind shadings, but the same violin solo (this time in e minor). it is compressed, but contains all the same motifs.
at 9:17 we hit a tranquillo, which begins the downward ramping of this movement, as if the story has reached its apex and is just wrapping up. all the motifs seem kind of tired.
for some dumb reason the recording cuts off only like two minutes before the end of the movement so for the rest of it take a look at the next blog entry.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36
i know i'm not really doing much off the beaten path. after all youtube is flooded with high school orchestra recordings of this piece complete with comments of how this is their favorite piece EVER. it clearly requires little introduction. but i will branch out into a more diverse set of pieces after i have gotten into the swing of things. and anyway, this very fun piece deserves a bit more than mindless adulation.
this was written from 1887 to 1888, directly after he wrote capriccio espagnole, 1887 (op. 34), and scheherazade, 1888 (op. 35). right afterwards he basically stop writing orchestral works and focused entirely on opera. i think these three have proven more enduring than his operas, though.
this overture is a concert overture - no big opera or play attached to it - and is subtitled overture on liturgical themes. it's immediately clear why.
this is a reasonable recording by stokowski. there is one other decent one by maazel/cleveland, but i thought the stokowski a bit more interesting. there seem to be few professional recordings on youtube - the only other complete one i could find was by hollreiser/vpo, but the pitch on this recording is so high it basically just sounds like it's in the wrong key. there's also half of one by markevitch.
rimsky very much enjoyed playing around with liturgical themes and church tunes. in this piece he explicitly states that he was trying to explore both the pagan and religious aspects of the easter holiday. to that effect he actually puts in several bible verses into the score itself, and the main themes here are ostensibly church hymns, most prominently the paschal vigil (i tried to find a vid of this but only got crappy home vids, so this is the theme that the trombones give in the very beginning) and the angel cried, which is what the solo cello gives at 0:50. but there are tons more scattered around. see if you can pick out the lines that are hymns as you listen to the piece, but rimsky himself wrote a pretty comprehensive program note in his own autobiography, the excerpt which you can find here.
the cool thing about incorporating church hymns into music is that there are amazing ways of harmonizing them. especially for russian liturgical chants (or any chants really), all you are given is basically one unison line, and there are any number of ways to accompany this. what comes out can be purely major or minor, or, as rimsky ended up with sometimes in this work, modal. this flexibility goes for the rhythm too. usually with few rhythm markings, you can kind of stretch them to fit basically any meter. for example, the first theme, marked "lento mystico," is actually written in 5/2, though it's rather hard to tell from listening. it's not really important, as with chants, to stress strong and weak beats - this is more or less just for the sake of the notation. it's only after the first violin solo that we get something easier to nod our heads to.
apparently the violin solo, which crops up first at 0:29 and then again at 1:22 or so with the flute instead, is supposed to represent light from the sepulchre.
rimsky basically repeats himself twice in the first section, but he redoes the orchestration completely so that it still sounds fresh. the second time the original trombone theme comes back, it's maestoso, and written with reinforcement by a full string complement, which makes me hear, basically, an organ playing with several more stops pulled out.
we don't reach the "meat" of the piece until the allegro agitato at 3:52. here we get fast paced colorful writing - what everyone loves best about rimsky - with some occasional interludes for the violin solo theme to come back, and a more stretchy hymn (5:27). more grand entrances and even bells at the end are added for a huge climax at the end.
pretty much it's pure fun from the agitato until the end. but as one listens to this piece it's worth noting that even with the regular foot tapping rhythm, rimsky doesn't force these meter-less liturgical melodies into even, symmetric phrases. it makes this piece exotic and fun. not to mention all the fun off beat accents and syncopations. a good example is the slow hymn interlude. the chord at 5:37 would be longer in a less inventive person's piece.
the other thing one has to note is the saturation of pentatonic scale. they basically comprise the entirety of all the string parts (which are the busiest thing ever, but fortunately also the funnest thing to play).
ok, have fun.
this was written from 1887 to 1888, directly after he wrote capriccio espagnole, 1887 (op. 34), and scheherazade, 1888 (op. 35). right afterwards he basically stop writing orchestral works and focused entirely on opera. i think these three have proven more enduring than his operas, though.
this overture is a concert overture - no big opera or play attached to it - and is subtitled overture on liturgical themes. it's immediately clear why.
this is a reasonable recording by stokowski. there is one other decent one by maazel/cleveland, but i thought the stokowski a bit more interesting. there seem to be few professional recordings on youtube - the only other complete one i could find was by hollreiser/vpo, but the pitch on this recording is so high it basically just sounds like it's in the wrong key. there's also half of one by markevitch.
rimsky very much enjoyed playing around with liturgical themes and church tunes. in this piece he explicitly states that he was trying to explore both the pagan and religious aspects of the easter holiday. to that effect he actually puts in several bible verses into the score itself, and the main themes here are ostensibly church hymns, most prominently the paschal vigil (i tried to find a vid of this but only got crappy home vids, so this is the theme that the trombones give in the very beginning) and the angel cried, which is what the solo cello gives at 0:50. but there are tons more scattered around. see if you can pick out the lines that are hymns as you listen to the piece, but rimsky himself wrote a pretty comprehensive program note in his own autobiography, the excerpt which you can find here.
the cool thing about incorporating church hymns into music is that there are amazing ways of harmonizing them. especially for russian liturgical chants (or any chants really), all you are given is basically one unison line, and there are any number of ways to accompany this. what comes out can be purely major or minor, or, as rimsky ended up with sometimes in this work, modal. this flexibility goes for the rhythm too. usually with few rhythm markings, you can kind of stretch them to fit basically any meter. for example, the first theme, marked "lento mystico," is actually written in 5/2, though it's rather hard to tell from listening. it's not really important, as with chants, to stress strong and weak beats - this is more or less just for the sake of the notation. it's only after the first violin solo that we get something easier to nod our heads to.
apparently the violin solo, which crops up first at 0:29 and then again at 1:22 or so with the flute instead, is supposed to represent light from the sepulchre.
rimsky basically repeats himself twice in the first section, but he redoes the orchestration completely so that it still sounds fresh. the second time the original trombone theme comes back, it's maestoso, and written with reinforcement by a full string complement, which makes me hear, basically, an organ playing with several more stops pulled out.
we don't reach the "meat" of the piece until the allegro agitato at 3:52. here we get fast paced colorful writing - what everyone loves best about rimsky - with some occasional interludes for the violin solo theme to come back, and a more stretchy hymn (5:27). more grand entrances and even bells at the end are added for a huge climax at the end.
pretty much it's pure fun from the agitato until the end. but as one listens to this piece it's worth noting that even with the regular foot tapping rhythm, rimsky doesn't force these meter-less liturgical melodies into even, symmetric phrases. it makes this piece exotic and fun. not to mention all the fun off beat accents and syncopations. a good example is the slow hymn interlude. the chord at 5:37 would be longer in a less inventive person's piece.
the other thing one has to note is the saturation of pentatonic scale. they basically comprise the entirety of all the string parts (which are the busiest thing ever, but fortunately also the funnest thing to play).
ok, have fun.
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