ERIC HARRISON, HOST:
Good afternoon and thanks for tuning in to Little Rock Public Radio, KLRE-FM, 90.5. I'm Eric Harrison, I write about arts and culture at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and I’ll be your host for the next two hours.
You're listening to our new show, ‘Major and Minor Masterpieces,’ where we will focus each week on a broad range of classical music, from chamber music to choral works to full symphonies and maybe even a touch or two of opera.
Today’s show focuses entirely on pianist Lang Lang, and in particular his most recent album, “Lang Lang – Saint-Saëns,” a two-disc Deutsche Grammophon release featuring French music for piano, two pianos and piano and orchestra, including — classical favorites, musical discoveries and a pair of large-scale works by Camile Saint-Saëns.
Lang Lang’s collaborators on the album: his wife, pianist Gina Alice; the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig; and conductor Andris Nelsons.
Let’s start things off, as Lang Lang does, with “The
Carnival of the Animals,” Saint-Saëns’s “Grand Zoological Fantasy” for two pianos and orchestra.
Saint-Saëns wrote this 14-movement musical bestiary at speed in 1886; it features parodies of music by, among others, Rossini, Offenbach, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns himself, apparently intended for the amusement of his students. Saint-Saëns, worried that it would detract from his reputation as a “serious” artist, shelved the piece with instructions not to publish before his death — with the exception of one movement, “The Swan,” featuring a gorgeous cello solo that has enraptured performers on that instrument, as well as audiences, ever since.
Following an introduction, the piece depicts “The Lion’s Royal March,” “Hens and Roosters,” “Jackasses” (Wild Animals),” “Tortoises” (dancing Offenbach’s “Can-Can” at a really slow tempo), “The Elephant,” “Kangaroos,” “Aquarium,” “Personages with Long Ears,” “The Cuckoo in the Deep Woods,” “Aviary,” “Pianists” (the composer having a little fun, perhaps at his own expense) “Fossils” (a clattering version of Saint-Saens’ own “Danse Macabre”), “The Swan” and a grand “Finale.”
Here’s Lang Lang, Gina Alice, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and conductor Andris Nelsons. Christian Giger provides the cello solo in “The Swan.”
(SAINT-SAЁNS’ “THE CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS”)
You’ve heard pianists Lang Lang and Gina Alice with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and conductor Andris Nelsons and cellist Christian Giger performing Camile Saint-Saens’ “The Carnival of the Animals” in a new Deutsche Gramophone recording on “Major and Minor Masterpieces” on Little Rock Public Radio, KLRE-FM, 90.5.
Saint-Saëns wrote five piano concertos, of which his Piano Concerto No. 2 in g minor, op. 22, is undoubtedly the one played most often and the biggest crowd pleaser. He wrote it in 1868 on short notice — in just 17 days — for a concert in which renowned pianist Anton Rubinstein decided to make his conducting debut and with the composer as soloist. The first movement, which Lang Lang identifies as “a tribute to Bach,” begins — and ends — with a slow solo cadenza, followed by a sparkling second-movement Scherzo that employs the main theme of the first movement. The virtuosic third movement is a muscular tarantella that the composer takes at a breathtaking tempo.
Lang Lang joins the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig and conductor Andris Nelsons for this performance of Camile Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2.
(SAINT-SAЁNS’ “PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2”)
You’ve just heard pianist Lang Lang and the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, with conductor Andris Nelsons, in Camile Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in a recent Deutsche Gramophone recording on “Major and Minor Masterpieces” on Little Rock Public Radio, KLRE-FM, 90.5.
—PROGRAM BREAK—
[EDUCATIONAL SEGMENT]
SARAH BUFORD, PRODUCER:
Hey listeners, welcome back to Major and Minor Masterpieces. I’m your producer, Sarah Buford and it's time for our show’s little educational session in which we break down some of the terminology we use when describing classical music and its history.
This week we’ve got a term most people are probably familiar with but may have trouble distinguishing it between other lyrical music. Eric, let’s break down the term ‘opera’ for our listeners this week.
ERIC HARRISON, HOST:
Well, the word itself is the plural of the Latin word “opus,” meaning, “a work,” but that doesn’t really define the musical form. In the same way that Greek theatrical drama evolved out of epic poetry, “opera” came out of the need to tell dramatic stories unencumbered by the strict contrapuntal form in which music was performed in the Renaissance.
What distinguishes an opera from other musical art forms? Mostly that all the content is sung, not spoken. Now opera as we know it today, apparently originated in Florence around the 1590s; the composer Claudio Monteverdi brought the form into focus with his composition of “Orfeo” in 1608.
Opera spread through the 17th century from Italy to France and eventually to Germany; the subject matter tended to focus on safely distant subjects, primarily mythical gods and heroes; Mozart gets, or at least took, credit for bringing opera down to a more common level with works like “The Marriage of Figaro” and “The Abduction from the Seraglio.”
Grand opera flourished in the 19th century as more and more composers took on complex themes of love, liberty, courage, sacrifice and heroism. In mid-century the concept of “bel canto” (Italian for “beautiful singing”), exemplified in the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, began to give way to “verismo” (that’s Italian for 'realism'), represented in the operas of Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, and Ruggero Leoncavallo. Operas no longer traded on the relationships of the nobility but more on the common average contemporary man and woman and their problems. Puccini, in particular in operas such as “Tosca,” “La Boheme” and “Madama Butterfly,” was unafraid to touch on touchy subjects like sex, violence and even on-stage murder.
Opera continues to be a live and sometimes thriving art form well into the 21st century, as composers take on dramatic stories that go far beyond the petty problems of bohemian artists. American-created operas, for example, from the past few decades include “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X," “Doctor Atomic” (the story of Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb, nearly 20 years before the advent of the Oscar-winning film).
There are operas that incorporate spoken dialogue without music, but they are generally known as “operettas.” The works of Gilbert & Sullivan, often performed by opera companies, fit this category.
And although they are not called operas, there are many works of contemporary theater that qualify, including “Evita” and “Les Miserables.” The Who’s “Tommy” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” launched a whole new substrata known as “rock opera.”
SARAH: Ooh okay, that’s great to know. Thank you so much, Eric! Let's get back to more Major and Minor Masterpieces.
[END OF EDUCATIONAL SEGMENT]
(SOUNDBITE OF WOJCIECH “BOITEG” CIESLINKSKI’S “FIRST VIOLIN”)
ERIC: OK, back to the album. The second disc includes a dozen works for solo piano or piano four hands, starting with Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane for a Dead Princess”. Following that you will hear Lang Lang and Gina Alice playing Claude Debussy’s “Petite Suite”; and arrangements for piano by Emile Naoumoff of final movement, “In paradisum,” from Gabriel Faure’s “Requiem” and the “Flower Duet” from Leo Delibes’ opera “Lakmé.”
(MAURICE RAVEL’S “PAVANE FOR A DEAD PRINCESS”)
(CLAUDE DEBUSSY’S “PETITE SUITE”)
(GABRIEL FAURE’S “IN PARADISUM”)
(LEO DELIBES’ “FLOWER DUET”)
You’ve been listening to Lang Lang play French piano music by Maurice Ravel, the “Pavane for a Dead Princess,” the “Petit Suite” by Claude Debussy, piano arrangements of “In Paradisum” from Gabriel Faure’s “Requiem” and the “Flower Duet” from Leo Delibes’ opera “Lakmé” on Major and Minor Masterpieces here on Little Rock Public Radio and KLRE-FM. His wife, Gina Alice was the other pianist in the “Petit Suite.”
Now let’s hear Lang Lang perform some more-or-less familiar French piano pieces, all from his latest album on Deutsche Gramophone: more Saint-Saens, this time the “Toccata after the Fifth Concerto” (No. 6 from his Six Études pour piano, op. 111); and the Pavane, op. 50, by Gabriel Faure.
(SAINT-SAЁNS’ “TOCCATA AFTER THE FIFTH CONCERTO”)
(GABRIEL FAURE’S “PAVANE”)
From his latest album on Deutsche Gramophone, that was pianist Lang Lang performing Saint-Saens’ “Toccata after the Fifth Concerto” and Gabriel Faure’s Pavane.
Next up, Lang Lang takes on music by five female French composers: the “Étude No. 10” in f-sharp minor by Louise Farrenc; A “Song Without Words” by Charlotte Sohy; “Valse lente” by Germaine Tailleferre; “La toute petite s’endort” by Melanie Bonis; and “D’un jardin clair “ by Lili Boulanger.
(LOUISE FARRENC’S “ÉTUDE NO. 10”)
(CHARLOTTE SOHY’S “A SONG WITHOUT WORDS”)
(GERMAINE TAILLEFERRE’S “VALSE LENTE”)
(MELANIE BONIS’ “LA TOUTE PETITE S’ENDORT”)
(LILI BOULANGER’S “D’UN JARDIN CLAIR”)
Pianist Lang Lang performed the Étude No. 10 in f-sharp minor by Louise Farrenc; A Song Without Words by Charlotte Sohy; “Valse lente” by Germaine Tailleferre; “La toute petite s’endort” by Melanie Bonis; and “D’un jardin clair “ by Lili Boulanger.
And to wrap up the Deutsche Grammophone album, Lang Lang plays both parts in this arrangement for piano 4 Hands by Emile Naoumoff of Saint-Saens’ “The Swan.”
(SAINT-SAЁNS’ “THE SWAN”)
And now for a lagniappe, Chopin wrote two sets of Etudes, op.10 of 1831 and op.25 of 1836, and raised what had previously been a simple teaching tool — “etude” is the French word for “study” — designed to present technical difficulties for the budding pianist to overcome to a new art form.
The first of the 12 op.25 Etudes, in A-flat major, op.25, No. 1, got its nickname,“"Aeolian Harp,” from Robert Schumann; like an Aeolian harp, the melodic line above a fluttering cushion of arpeggios.
(FREDERIC CHOPIN’S “AEOLIAN HARP”)
That was pianist Lang Lang playing Frederic Chopin’s "Aeolian Harp” Etude in A-flat major, op.25, No. 1.
(SOUNDBITE OF WOJCIECH “BOITEG” CIESLINKSKI’S “FIRST VIOLIN”)
Thanks for listening this week! I’ve been your host, Eric Harrison of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. You’ve been listening to Major and Minor Masterpieces on Little Rock Public Radio and classical station KLRE FM 90.5. Many thanks to Operations Coordinator and Producer Sarah Buford for all her hard work making all this sound good as well as a big thank you to Wojciech Cieslinski for our transition and credit music. Tune in next week for more Major and Minor Masterpieces.