ERIC HARRISON, HOST:
Good afternoon and thanks for tuning in to Little Rock Public Radio and Classical 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 ‘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.
This week we’ll look at 18th and 19th century concertos for two or more solo instruments and orchestra.
The concerto grosso — popular during the Baroque era (approximately 1600-1750) — involves contrasting passages between a small group of soloists and the full orchestra, or what constituted a full orchestra at the time (frequently just strings). Arcangelo Corelli is credited with codifying the concerto grosso (his “Christmas Concerto” is frequently performed, naturally more often around Christmastime); Giuseppe Torelli, Antonio Vivaldi and most famously George Frideric Handel also composed several works in the form.
Around 1750, as the Baroque era was transitioning into the Classical period, solo concertos became more the vogue, but composers still produced concertos for two or more instruments and orchestra, many of which were labeled as "sinfonia concertante” or just plain concertos for the combination of instruments and orchestra.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote two pieces he called Sinfonia Concertante — for violin and viola, K.364, and for solo oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and orchestra, K.297b.
His Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat major, K.365, a sinfonia concertante in all but name, contains some of his most brilliant writing for piano and is one of his most engaging works.
Let’s hear the piece, performed by pianists Daniel Barenboim and Sir Georg Solti, with Solti conducting the English Chamber Orchestra.
(WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART’S “CONCERTO FOR TWO PIANOS”)
You’ve heard pianists Daniel Barenboim and Sir Georg Solti, with Solti conducting the English Chamber Orchestra, in the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on Major and Minor Masterpieces here on Little Rock Public Radio and classical KLRE-FM, 90.5.
Ludwig van Beethoven, born 1770 in Bonn, Germany, moved to Vienna in 1792, and first made his name as a brilliant pianist and improvisor, only later establishing himself as a composer. His reputation in that realm was firmly established by 1803, however, when he composed his “Triple” Concerto for piano trio and orchestra. It was one of his most productive periods; this concerto, op.56, is nestled neatly among a number of Beethoven masterpieces including the “Eroica” Symphony, his third (op.55); the “Appassionata” Sonata (op.57); the Fourth Piano Concerto (op.58); the three Razumovsky String Quartets (op. 59), the Fourth Symphony (op.60) and the Violin Concerto (op.61).
Beethoven wrote in all five sonatas for cello and piano that are beloved by cellists and audiences alike; five piano concertos; and a violin concerto, but he never wrote a cello concerto; this is as close as it comes.
This classic recording, made in 1964 in Philadelphia’s Town Hall, features the then-famous trio of Eugene Istomin, piano; Isaac Stern violin; and Leonard Rose, cello, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra.
(LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN’S “Triple”)
You’ve heard a classic recording of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto with Eugene Istomin, piano; Isaac Stern violin; and Leonard Rose, cello, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra on Major and Minor Masterpieces on Little Rock Public Radio and classical KLRE-FM, 90.5.
(SOUNDBITE OF WOJCIECH “BOITEG” CIESLINKSKI’S “FIRST VIOLIN”)
—PROGRAM BREAK—
(SOUNDBITE OF WOJCIECH “BOITEG” CIESLINKSKI’S “FIRST VIOLIN”)
[EDUCATIONAL SEGMENT]
SARAH BUFORD, PRODUCER:
Hey guys, 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.
Today, I have a question about the word “cadenza.” What exactly is “cadenza,” Eric? Am I pronouncing that correctly?
ERIC HARRISON, HOST:
Yes, you are. A cadenza is usually a passage in a concerto in which the orchestra musicians sit silently while the soloist gets a chance to show off his or her musical chops. It’s usually signaled by a climax in the orchestra punctuated by a final suggestive note or chord, at which point the soloist takes over, playing a passage traditionally based on the themes of the concerto movement. And customarily, the cadenza wraps up with a sequence that alerts the conductor and the orchestra when it’s time for them to come back in.
Up until the early part of the 19th century, composers usually left it up to the soloists to put cadenzas together on their own, with whatever degree of improvisation they saw fit. Starting with the later concertos of Beethoven and beyond, it became more customary for composers to write out cadenzas for their concertos.
Figuring that it would be difficult for two virtuoso pianists to come to terms on common cadenzas, Mozart wrote out the cadenzas for the two-piano concerto you heard here earlier. And Beethoven was such a fan of Mozart’s d-minor piano concerto, No. 20, that he wrote cadenzas for it that are still performed today.
SARAH: 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: And now we bring you one Johannes Brahms’ “Double” Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in a minor. Though he continued to produce chamber music, and works for voices and solo piano, this was Brahms’ final orchestral work.
Brahms wrote the concerto, at least in part, as a way of trying to reconcile with longtime friend and one of the great late 19th century violinists, Joseph Joachim, following a rift between them in 1880 over Joachim’s suspicions that his wife was having an affair with the composer's publisher, Fritz Simrock. Although they were not yet back on speaking terms when Brahms was composing the concerto, Joachim's name came up in letters he wrote at the time, and Brahms’ friend and frequent inspiration, Clara Schumann, noted in her journal, that it must have worked: “Joachim and Brahms have spoken to each other again for the first time in years."
The concerto premiered in October 1887 in Cologne with Joachim and cellist Robert Hausmann as soloists and Brahms on the podium.
Let’s hear the concerto. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and cellist Pablo Ferrández join the Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Manfred Honeck.
(JOHANNES BRAHMS’ “DOUBLE”)
You’ve just heard Brahms’ “Double Concerto,” with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and cellist Pablo Ferrández and the Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Manfred Honeck on Major and Minor Masterpieces.
And now for this week’s lagniappe.
Johann Sebastian Bach never specified the composition of a concerto grosso by that name, but he wrote a number of such concertos, including one for violin and oboe and several for multiple violins and multiple harpsichords.
In 1721, Bach bundled up six such concertos, for various combinations of instruments, composed over a period of perhaps 10 years, and sent them off to Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg, possibly as sort of a job application. Bach never got the job, but the six concertos have borne the collective title of “Brandenburg” ever since.
The third of these concertos, in G major, is for three violins, three violas and three cellos plus harpsichord continuo, which plays a distinctive part in transitioning between the first and third movements.
Let’s hear that concerto. Johannes Somary conducts the English Chamber Orchestra.
(JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH’S “BRANDENBURG”)
You’ve heard Johannes Somary conduct the English Chamber Orchestra in Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048.
And now, let’s take it home with Grete and Josef Dichler performing this two-piano arrangement of Antonin Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 7 op.46 No.7 in c minor.
(ANTONIN DVORAK’S “SLAVONIC DANCE”)
(SOUNDBITE OF WOJCIECH “BOITEG” CIESLINKSKI’S “FIRST VIOLIN”)
And that’s this week’s show and the finale for this first season. Thank you for tuning into this first season of Major and Minor Masterpieces. We look forward to you joining us in the fall for season two where we will have brand new shows focusing on Beethoven’s string quartets, Baroque violin concertos, the career of famed conductor Eugene Ormandy, lessons on concert etiquette, and some “organic” masterworks. Interested in leaving comments or questions for our show? Feel free to email us directly at majorandminormasterpieces@littlerockpublicradio.org where you can chat with me, Eric Harrison (your host) and Sarah Buford (your producer).
Be on the lookout in coming weeks for the uploading of all of season one scripts to the Little Rock Public Radio website where you can read along with us as you listen to the show. Until season two airs this fall, enjoy hearing these episodes again every Wednesday from 4-6pm and every Sunday from 7-9pm. Thank you again so much for listening to this very first season of Major and Minor Masterpieces on Little Rock Public Radio on Classical KLRE-FM 90.5. We can’t wait to share even more engaging and better produced content with you this fall.
Until next time.
You’re listening to Little Rock Public Radio.
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