Prince of the Romantics

I have finally read the biography of Frederic Chopin written by Adam Zamoyski. This was initially published in 1979 but was not available in English transcriptions for all these years. In his short life of thirty nine years, Chopin elicited very strong emotions. Very few composers have been cherished like him. Plenty of mushy nonsense has also been written about him. This biography was intended to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Chopin. This compelling account manages to cut through the myths that have sprung around Chopin's life and the enigmatic Parisian personalities who were his contemporaries. This group included Berlioz, Victor Hugo, Franz Liszt and George Sand. Zamoyski has captured the social and historical background of Chopin's native Poland and of Paris where he spent most of his days. You will come across many archives of Krakow, Paris and Warsaw in Zamoyski's pursuit of knowledge. This has resulted in a biographical account of complete authority about a man of sensitive intelligence. He was a genius when it came to musical innovation. Heinrich Heine has labelled Chopin as `a man made for intimacy'. An interesting anecdote in this account is of George Sand. She wrote, "A great piece of news is that Little Chip-Chip is going to give a great concert; He does not want any posters and any programmes; he does not want anyone to talk about it. He is afraid of so many things that I have suggested he go ahead and play without candles and without an audience on a muted piano." This was written in 1841 by a cigar smoking Sand. Chopin was a child prodigy and was an inspired improviser. The extraordinary musicality of Chopin is something that the world needs a constant reminder of. Performance of his music has become a routine now but that cannot blind the world to the revolutionary and its unique qualities. Many of the new piano prodigies can rattle off his etudes with ease and it is in times like these that we need to understand the man behind the music, as brought out poetically by Adam Zamoyski.

The Python around the Holy Grail

Masterpiece! I saw this film in the College Town Cinema of Glassboro in 1975 and after thirty nine years, I can safely say that it is indeed a cult classic. It will bust your guts as it is a dynamite of unheard of humour. This group is made up of geniuses. Right from its opening collage of titles in various languages to the arrest of the entire Dark Ages crew by current day bobbies has made this unique in its expression of biting humour. This production comes down hard on English dynasties and reverence of both Protestant and Catholic rituals. The pythons have really put their fangs through the legends of King Arthur with their one-liners and slapstick. The Knights of the Round Table go out in pursuit of the Holy Grail on foot and you will fall off your seat when you hear the sounds of the horses' hooves with lackeys making sound with coconut shells like clippety clop. The plague ridden communities with phrases like `bring out your dead' is extremely hilarious with healthy citizens also being thrown on to the pile of dead bodies. Taunts like `I will fart in your general direction' and `I will wave my private parts at your aunties' are simply mind-blowing additions. The cinematic style is surreal while being outrageously stunning its visuals. The members of the Monty Python Group have to be lauded and acknowledged and they are - John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman and Terry Jones. Jack Trombey has written the fantastic and epic music to this zany masterpiece. http://youtu.be/PHDycUXzNs0

Aronofsky's Noah

Such an important event in the history of the world has been treated as a personalized and whimsical account by Aronofsky. It could have worked well if it was the case of Odette and Odile and shades of good and evil in the Black Swan. It does not work when you are narrating the story of Noah. The small version by John Huston in the sixties' film, `the Bible' was the best account of Noah I have seen so far. I expected too much out of this film and I wanted to see the conflict and persecution that Noah went through with the external mockers and from within his own family. It was skimmed through with indifference. The only thing that seemed important to Aronofsky was the twins his adopted daughter gives birth to and the rock angel protectors instead of the immense magnitude of the flood itself and the inner conflict of Noah. I have been disappointed with a waste of such talented cast, Included Hopkins as Methusaleh. Music by Clint Mansell is average.

Symphony in C Minor by Edvard Grieg

http://youtu.be/JFJV4Wrva8I Grieg himself did not promote this lovely symphony during his lifetime. The world renowned conductors also did not bother much about it. But any steadfast music proponent would at least give it a thought and include it in the regular repertoire. I consider it a decent symphony. It should be considered a great find. It has all the freshness as you can expect of a Norwegian fjord. Grieg wrote this symphony when he was twenty one. He had written later to his friends that they should not bother about this symphony and that it should never be performed. The symphony had a good sleep for one hundred and twenty years. Contrary to Grieg's beliefs, the symphony is not barely out of school or clumsy and not Norwegian enough. There is an influence of Beethoven in the style along with that of the musical styles of Mendelssohn and Schumann. It also has phases of the style of Niels Gade. There is youthful ebullience in it. Bjarte Engeset and Malmo Orchestra brought this symphony out of its slumber in 1984. The symphony opens with some charming melodies and few heroic marches. There are romantic themes in the Adagio with its tenderness followed by an intermezzo which is rustic sounding and the finale is joyful. Throughout the symphony, there are some harmonic shifts that are subtle with various colour nuances. It can safely be added to all the great symphonies in the archive.

Oresteia

http://youtu.be/I6gnEAtsUIs Sergei Taneyev's opera, Oresteia, is a unique opera. You will not find any love interest or hidden sexual passion. The motivation for Agamemnon's murder and the way Atreid curse is effected in this music drama portrays pure evil with vendetta and discord. This is a mammoth work based on Aeschylus' trilogy.The music is brilliant and original. The influence of Tchaikovsky is evident in the score. Melodic invention is given the momentum. Taneyev also used Wagner as a model when using the leitmotifs in the drama. He brought about the effect of abstraction by using counterpoint in a powerful and narrative way on the stage. Taneyev is also popularly known in conservatory circles as the Russian Bach. He uses short and repeated phrases which resemble the style of Anton Bruckner. Taneyev took seven years to complete this opera.

Bernstein rehearses Mahler

http://youtu.be/UvBbe8Nkgz8 It is a wonderful experience to hear and see Leonard Bernstein rehearse the music of Gustav Mahler with The Vienna Philharmonic. It is as if the spirit of Gustav Mahler himself has taken over Bernstein when he discourses the intricate nuances. No one will be able to point a finger at Bernstein of not giving his all when interpreting he intentions of this great composer. These rehearsal are a real testament to the technique of real conducting with the blood and sweat that goes in it. There are tears also involved in what Bernstein gives to bring the music of Mahler to life. Bernstein drives the Vienna Philharmonic to summon the Mahlerian landscapes and set them aflame in the lofty climaxes with an involvement and a commitment that can be a discovery for many listeners who are just entering into Mahler's music. If you have not experienced these rehearsals, do so without hesitation. Bernstein is a perfect Mahlerite. He lives through each performance. It is exciting to watch Bernstein's emotionalism during these rehearsals and see him letting himself go over these performances.

BBC Great Composer Series on Gustav Mahler

http://youtu.be/OnBNFRzdkIM It is now 154 years. Gustav Mahler was born on 7th July 1860. One of the greatest composers the world has seen , particularly in the symphonic genre. He was also the leading conductor in his days. He was born a Jew in Kalischt in Bohemia , Austria. He grew up in Iglau. His music was a bridge between the nineteenth-century Austro-German school and the modern composers of the early twentieth century. His music gained popularity after a considerable period of neglect in the first four decades after his death in 1911. Leonard Bernstein was the pioneer who made his music popular by coming out with the first recorded cycle of his symphonies with the New York Philharmonic. His music was repressed during the Nazi regime in Germany. Today, he is a frequently performed composer. http://youtu.be/HS97YMN5Y0Q Gustav Mahler gave his first piano recital at the age of ten. Mahler joined the Conservatory at Wien and soon became a devotee of Wagner’s music, a supporter of the music of Anton Bruckner and Nietzsche’s philosophy.In 1878, he began his first major work, Das Klagende Lied (‘The Song of Sorrow’).Mahler’s career as a conductor began by conducting operettas at the Austrian provincial theatre of Bad Hall. Mahler went to New York to make his Metropolitan Opera debut on 1 January 1908 and become conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1909. He returned to Vienna the next year on account of a heart ailment he had developed and that finally killed him in 1911. He gave to the world in his fifty years what I could not have given even with thousand years of technique and experience. Though Mahler was a post-Wagnerian Romantic, he became increasingly modern and had a deep impact on most composers such as Schoenberg, Berg, Shostakovich, Britten Henze and Boulez; they have all acknowledged their debt to this great symphonist.