The World of DECCA Post 8 Classical: Romantic Period continued

Foreword

Well, I hope that you are enjoying this relaxed and fun look at the normally staid genre

known as Classical Music and if you are relatively unused to dealing with this style, I'd like to think that you are seeking out some of the pieces that sound interesting and deciding if you prefer orchestral or opera or even operetta such as is sung by Hilde Gueden (right).

So, last time we made good headway in amongst the Classical composers of the Romantic period and in this post we'll continue our short journey. You'll find plenty of recognisable names here starting with one of the very biggest'

PYOTR (PETER) ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Now, here’s a thing! Tchaikovsky’s great grandad came from Kazakhstan and he could faithfully reproduce the sound of squalling seagulls. The Kazakh word for seagull is ‘tchaika’. Can you see where this is going? Yep, the naming of our composer. The ‘sky’ bit denotes the award of nobility, which was handed down after Great Gramps fought with Peter the Great, playing his part in victory over the Swedes. Now, I expect you’re wondering about the ‘ov’ in the middle of this illustrious name. Yeah, me too … … well, I’m sorry. I don’t know everyfink!

So, to business. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 6 was subtitled ‘The Passionate Symphony’ but the French were confused by the Russian words and renamed it the ‘Pathetique’ which,

far from evoking passion, implied that it should instead receive pity. Tchaikovsky may not have worried too much about this as nine days later, sadly, he passed away. He did have a chance to present the work one time, however, which was enough to decide on some amendments and write them up and it is this modified version which has been performed

ever since. Listen to it on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO. 6 ‘PATHETIQUE’ (SPA 221). The 1812 Overture, which can be found on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: 1812 OVERTURE etc. (SPA 108) is a stand-alone piece, despite the name suggesting that it was the opening of a longer work, which was written 68 years after the event that it commemorates; the successful

resistance against Napoleon and the withdrawal of the French army from Russia. The Music Lovers is a 1971 Ken Russell biographical film on Pyotr Ilyich which features excerpts of the music of our man including the Pathetique and ‘1812 Overture’ along with the Manfred Symphony and ‘Fantasy Overture’ from Romeo and Juliet. All these and more await your

listening pleasure on THE WORLD OF TCHAIKOVSKY: THEMES FROM THE MUSIC LOVERS (SPA 142). Tchaikovsky appears on around 40 WORLD OFs so how about we just list the remaining six on which he is the sole contributor:

· THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1

etc. (SPA 168)

· THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO. 4 (SPA 206)

· THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO. 5 (SPA 223)

· THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: SWAN LAKE HIGHLIGHTS (SPA 224)

· THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: THE NUTCRACKER HIGHLIGHTS (SPA 357)

· THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY HIGHLIGHTS (SPA 358)

JOHN STAINER

Although he wrote several songs, cantatas, anthems, hymns and services for the church amongst other works, it is The Crucifixion for which John Stainer is best known. This is not a live performance for attending to catch up on your sleep, though, because the congregation

is written in on the score. Sadly, most of his work is not well remembered but then, he is quoted as saying that it was rubbish, anyway1. So, if you’re looking for rubbish, you came to the right place … John Stainer’s main piece of garbage can be found on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: THE CRUCIFIXION (SPA 267) but if you cannot stand the thought of listening to a whole LP of complete tosh, you could try THE WORLD OF OWEN BRANNIGAN (SPA 321) or THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES: THE NEW CHART VOL. 1

(SPA 491) where you’ll have just one track from his mastertrash to endure; ‘Could Ye Not Watch Me One Brief Hour?’ and ‘God So Loved the World’ respectively. There is just one more pile of detritus to endure on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: HEAR MY PRAYER (SPA 543); ‘I Saw the Lord’. Good luck, my friend.

ANTONIN DVORÁK

Dvorák’s most well-known piece is probably the From the New World, the common name for his Symphony No. 9 which appears on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 2 :

DVORÁK: NEW WORLD SYMPHONY (SPA 87). Listen out for the phrase about a quarter of the way through the final movement which sounds a little like ‘Three Blind Mice’. From the New World was chosen, amongst many others, to entertain the little men who live on the Moon when Buzz Aldrin took Apollo 11 up, up and away. This music may have been chosen to accompany the American astronauts as it was written during the three years that Dvorák spent in the United States which, of course, is known as the New World. In his later years, Antonin allowed himself the privilege of indulging in his favourite past-time concerning a slower mode of transport, trainspotting. He apparently visited the railway stations of Prague every day.

Dvorák’s Slavonic dances crop up on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (SPA 202); Bohemia being the area of the Czech Republic where

young Antonin was born and bred. The dances of his Opus 46 are largely upbeat and lively and the three selections here feature a couple of swaggering furiants and a polka. Two slightly different dances, one apparently Czech and one of Slovakian style from Opus 72

also feature. There are 16 WORLD OF LPs sporting the music of DVORÁK but just one

more on which he is the lone composer; THE WORLD OF DVORÁK (SPA 578) which contains the ‘Largo’ from The New World Symphony, a couple of Slavonic dances along with a variety of other pieces. He shares two records, one with Tchaikovsky and one with Brahms, on which he has one complete LP side. THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY & DVORÁK: SERENADES FOR STRINGS (SPA 375) features all 5 movements of Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op. 22 whilst THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BRAHMS & DVORÁK: HUNGARIAN & SLAVONIC DANCES (SPA 377) has five dances, three from Opus 46 and two from Opus 72.

JOHANN STRAUSS II

The Strauss Family is a complicated one and is muddied by there being three Johanns. Johann Strauss II is the most popular of this musical team though his father, Johann I, did compose around 300 pieces including the ever popular 'Radetzky March'. Johann II’s brothers, Josef and Eduard also produced 300 or so works each but none are very well

known today though Josef assisted Johann in the writing of 'Pizzicato Polka'. Now this is a slightly interesting piece which is written for a string orchestra and glockenspiel and, as the title suggests, should be performed by plucking the strings rather than bowing them. This

can be heard on THE WORLD OF JOHANN STRAUSS (SPA 10). There is also a Neue (new) Pizzicato Polka and this features on THE WORLD OF JOHANN STRAUSS VOL. 2 (SPA 73). Before moving on, I should advise that there is a third volume; THE WORLD OF JOHANN STRAUSS VOL. 3 (SPA 312). Now, do you see how none of these record titles appertain to a particular Johann? Well, all of the tunes on SPA 10 and SPA 312 are composed by Johann II but on SPA 73, Dad’s Radetzky March has crept in amongst a record of his little boy’s songs.

Sneaky! Incidentally, Johann III was Eduard’s son. He produced about forty pieces but he is not so popular today and this is reflected in his omission from an LP called THE WORLD OF THE STRAUSS FAMILY (SPA 589). Of the 21 LPs here that feature Strauss music, this is the latest numerically in our record collection but it might be a good place to start if you’re a Strauss novice. There are dance pieces with contributions from all four main players of the family with, for example – deep breath – ‘March of rejoicing at the Deliverance of the Emperor Franz Josef I’ from Johann (father), ‘Where the Lemon Trees Blossom, Waltz’ from Johann (son), ‘‘Village Swallows from Austria, Waltz’ from Josef and all three brothers chip in to produce the ‘Shooting – Quadrille’. So, you can see that there are 17 LPs featuring Strauss music yet to be accounted for but I reckon that there is plenty to be getting on with above. Incidentally, Richard Strauss, discussed a little later, is no relation.

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Brahms was quite gregarious and liked to have friends around, especially lady friends. If not ladies, then rich men. If possible, useful rich men. In one, Richard Fellinger, he made a very useful friend. Fellinger was top dog at the Austrian branch of Siemens, then, as now, major suppliers of electrical goods. Richard F arranged for Brahms to have electricity installed in his apartment, one of the first in Austria. What a shame that the invention of the electric guitar was some one hundred years in the future! Now we’ll never know … Anyway, the back cover of THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES VOL. 9 (SPA 373) tells us of the similarity of the last movement of Brahms’ First Symphony to the last movement of Beethoven’s 9th and the way it lead to some detractors to refer to it as Beethoven’s 10th! There certainly is a sameness to the melody that seeps in to Brahms’ tune about a third of the way in and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Johannes’ way of dealing with such criticism would seem to have been a daily visit to his favourite pub, the Red Hedgehog in Vienna. And why not!

There are seven WORLD OF LPs that Brahms has all to himself along with 12 other records on which his work crops up. Let’s briefly run through the seven – THE

WORLD OF BRAHMS (SPA 315) has 11 pieces, amongst which, there are ten different styles revealed. Count ‘em: Hungarian dance, rhapsody, symphony, requiem, concerto, overture, waltz, clarinet quintet, intermezzo and a lullaby. Side 2 opens with the ‘Academic Festival Overture’ which, even though it becomes a bit brass heavy, must have made Johannes happy because, as the back cover notes claim, he described it as a ‘laughing’ overture. There come next, four consecutive numbers; THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO. 1 (SPA 378), THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BRAHMS

SYMPHONY NO. 2 etc. (SPA 379), THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO. 3 etc. (SPA 380), THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BRAHMS

SYMPHONY NO. 4 etc. (SPA 381) - my favourite covers. All four works were recorded in February and March 1963 under the baton of Ernest Ansermet which makes this a nice kind of box-set within the overall series. As usual with the music of Brahms, there is a fine

roundedness and warmth which is maintained throughout the four recordings and, because of a sense of oneness, it is tempting to play all four one after the other. From his four big orchestral symphonies, we move onto to two piano concertos on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 in D Minor, OPUS 15 (SPA 385) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 (SPA 458). Of the regular WORLD OF pianist maestros, it is Julius Katchen who presides over proceedings on both recordings here. At between 20 and 25 minutes long, depending largely upon the conductor, of course, the first movement of Concerto No. 1 is lengthy by conventional standards but it is divided into five segments so it might be fun to try to spot the introduction, exposition, development, summary and finally, the coda as you listen along.

AMILCARE PONCHIELLI

All three pieces that represent Ponchielli in our record collection are from his opera La Gioconda (The Happy Woman) though, as is often the case, two entries are the same piece; ‘The Dance of the Hours’ from Act 3. This ballet segment works as a beguiling diversion or ‘divertissement’ as it usually referred to in music – a means of distracting the audience with,

usually, a few moments of light-hearted amusement away from the main event. Usually, as in this case, it is a ballet which in La Gioconda takes place in the palace of a bigwig in Venice. ‘The Dance of the Hours’ is found on THE WORLD OF BALLET VOL. 2 (SPA 97) and THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES VOL. 7 (SPA 355) on the back cover of which, the piece seems to have been awarded 71st place out of listeners ‘best’ one hundred tunes. The latter case is conducted by WORLD OF’s Georg Solti. Now, I wonder if you remember Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Well, ‘The Dance of the Hours’ ballet is lampooned by animated ostriches, hippos, elephants and finally, alligators in this cartoon classic. The main melody can also be heard in Allan Sherman's 1963 song ‘Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah’. The other piece from the opera is ‘Maledizion! Ha Preso Il Vol’ (Curse! He took flight) a burst of drama sung between Gioconda and Enzo as they watch his lover escape with her husband across the sea and can be found on THE WORLD OF OPERA VOL. 4 (SPA 490).

LEO DELIBES

So, when would you guess that the email was invented? Some might say 1972. Not so! Delibes invented the term one hundred years or so beforehand. His ballet, ‘Coppelia & Sylvia’ (SPA 314) written around 1870, was also known as ‘La Fille aux yeux d’email’. So, there you have it – The Girl with Email Eyes! You heard it here first folks! In a nutshell, the story involves a

Dr Coppelius who liked to whittle mechanical life-size dolls, one of which he called, rather egotistically, Coppelia, that stole the heart of one of the local youths, much to the chagrin of his own sweetheart. The boy’s fiancée decides to dress up in the doll’s clothes and trick her beau to teach him a lesson; the lesson, ultimately revealed, being that the toymaker was aiming to take the life of the boy and transplant it into Coppelia. Don’t worry – the lovers escape, get married, live happily ever after etc. etc. You’d have thought though, would you not, that the story of a boy that couldn’t tell the difference between his girlfriend and a doll might have ended less blissfully. Oh, and by the way [SPOILER ALERT!] ‘émail’ in French means ‘enamel’!

GEORGES BIZET

Probably, Bizet’s most popular work is Carmen, the lead character of which, caused some outrage amongst the audiences of the earlier performances due to her immoral behaviour. She was responsible for luring the hero of the piece, Don José, away from his military duties and, worse still, his domestic responsibilities to his good lady. This composer depicted the exoticism of Spanish life which may have further inflamed spectators in Spain as … well … Bizet was kind of French! A good Frenchman, though. When the First World War broke out, Bizet joined up to do his bit for France. He was pretty game by all accounts but he found the loading of guns hard work. Well, as he said, a 14 pound gun is darned heavy for musicians! Those guns were probably pretty loud too and this may have contributed to the trouble he had with his hearing some time later. Now, if you’ve had times when you have been plagued by noises in your ears, you probably would have used some colourful language to describe the inconvenience. Bizet, on the other hand, being a true professional even in some discomfort, described irritating noise the he heard as a continuous double A flat-E flat. Nice one!

The music of Bizet crops up on 11 WORLD OF LPs including two on which Georges is sole host, THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BIZET: CARMEN & L’ARLESIENNE

(SPA 220) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BIZET: CARMEN: GREAT SCENES AND ARIAS (SPA 539). Hmmm, I’ve spotted a trend. Mind you, running at over three hours, you’ll not be squeezing all of Carmen onto just one record. No, not this week, anyway. SPA 220 contains various snippets from Carmen but if you want bigger lumps of it, try SPA 539 which, instead of just one track, has an LP-full for your delectation. You’ll not be surprised that compilations including Bizet’s music offer up more morsels from the Carmen dish but it is ‘In the Depths of the Temple’ from The Pearl Fishers that kicks off THE WORLD

OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES: THE NEW CHART VOL. 2 (SPA 488). The song is shared by Nadir, a pearl fisher, and Zurga, the head honcho of the island community, who are making up after breaking up over, naturally, a beautiful woman. There is also a song on THE WORLD OF IMMORTAL SERENADES: FRANK CHACKSFIELD (SPA 298) that comes from The Fair Maid of Perth simply known as the ‘Serenade from …’. ‘Serenade No. 77’ crops up on THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES: THE NEW CHART VOL. 1 (SPA 491) as well. Incidentally, we are in Scotland rather than Perth in Australia.

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS

Like Bizet, Saint-Saëns committed himself to the French National Guard, this time to defend his country during the Franco-Prussian war. Also like Bizet, he couldn’t forget his day job and amused himself by working out the key that overhead shells whizzed by in. When war ended, Saint-Saëns visited England and he, along with Bruckner and others, was one of the earliest names to play the Henry Willis organ in London’s Albert Hall.

Symphony No. 3 by Saint-Saëns has the usual 4 movements but, looking at THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: SAINT-SAËNS: SYMPHONY NO. 3 etc. (SPA 228)

even the less eagle-eyed amongst us would spot that there only two tracks associated with this work. Whilst it is not conventional, it is also not unknown for two movements to be played so that they run one into another and here, what we have is two pairs. His other work of note was Le Carnaval des Animaux, a small menagerie of which turns up on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: CARNIVAL (SPA 174). Featured here is the aquarium, aviary, the lion and the swan with a few fossils thrown in. The lion pads in on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: ANIMALS IN MUSIC (SPA 366) and a swan paddles into view on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BIRDS IN MUSIC (SPA 367) as well. Incidentally, there are several labelled images of birds on the back cover of SPA 367 but none of them appear to get the briefest mention in the music. I’m not even sure that they can be heard on the anonymous Dawn Chorus which preludes the first track proper which, in the case of the robin, is a bit odd as this little fellow is nearly always the first one out of bed in the morning and should normally be heard as the first violin in this cacophonous orchestra of dawn! The music of Saint-Saëns features on ten WORLD OFs in all including THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: DANSE MACABRE (SPA 175) which opens up with, yep! You guessed it, ‘Danse Macabre by the Saint.

FRANZ SCHUBERT

One of those enduring enigmas within the field of classical music concerns the Unfinished Symphony. Franz Schubert chose to send a manuscript to his Austrian friend, composer Anselm Hüttenbrenner after composing only two movements when it would be normal to write three or four per symphony. Why it was left in this condition is as yet unresolved but I allowed myself to wonder if the Schube was anticipating the introduction of the 78rpm shellac record along with its modest capacity. I guess we’ll just never know. The real mystery might concern the length of time that Hüttenbrenner kept it up his jumper … 42 years!

Anyway, Schubert liked to gather friends and musical colleagues around him for fun sessions of eating, drinking, discussion and, of course, music and dancing. These parties became

known as Schubertiads and though they may have started at the home of our composer they often moved outdoors for picnics and then usually ended up in the pub for a rowdy singsong. Forms of the Schubertiad are still held today but are more likely to take the form of teaching and practice sessions for music students. Schubert is a popular composer in our record collection appearing on 23 LPs, four of which contain his music only. THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: SCHUBERT: UNFINISHED SYMPHONY (SPA 225) would seem to be the place to start, that is, in the absence of it providing a finish! Even though this, the eighth symphony, is not finished, not in the conventional manner with three or four movements, anyway, it is performed regularly to this day as an established piece of work. THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: SCHUBERT: SYMPHONY NO. 9 (SPA 467) provides us with a symphony that Franz Schubert could be bothered to finish. It has four

movements and everything! On THE WORLD OF SCHUBERT (SPA 426), even

the Unfinished Symphony is unfinished as we have only the first movement! Still, there is plenty more to entertain us here. ‘An Sylvia (Who is Sylvia?)’ is a collaboration between Schubert and Shakespeare – not bad considering that there is something like 230 years between their birth dates. It began life as one of the great bard’s poems and was originally part of The Two Gentlemen of Verona but I remember hearing this tune quite frequently on popular radio when I was young. The song crops up again on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: FAVOURITE SCHUBERT SONGS (SPA

524). Another popular song, even today, the music of which was composed by Franz Schubert, is ‘Ellen’s Third Song’, better known as ‘Ave Maria’. The words, this time, came from the pen of Walter Scott and featured in his epic poem, The Lady of the Lake. They were sung as a prayer calling upon the Virgin Mary for help – I’m not sure what help was requested but if it was to have a new tune to sing the prayer to, it worked seven-fold as Schubes ended up writing melodies for this and six more selections from The Lady of the Lake.

HECTOR BERLIOZ

So often at the start of the biography of an established name in classical music, we will find that one or both parents were musicians of some sort and that the baby composer had access to a piano since the time that he could projectile vomit. This was not the case for Louis Hector Berlioz, however. His father was a doctor and it was in this direction that Hector moved … until opera turned his head. During his study he would visit the opera houses and become entranced; so much so that he jumped ship and began to study music instead of medicine much, I should imagine, against his parents’ wishes. Mind you, his quick temper and passionate notions of romance were probably more suited to a creative career rather than one where you frequently approach sleeping people with a sharp knife in your hand. His real life pursuit of the amorous and exotic could have been dreamed up for a plot in one of his operas – he was known to have trailed one young lady with pistols and poison whilst stalking another concealed beneath the apparel of a maid.

Anyway, Berlioz features on six WORLD OFs with pieces including a section of ‘Symphonie Fantastique, Opus 14’ on THE WORLD OF STEREO ACTION (SPA 125), written in response to the rejection of his advances from his eventual wife. Now just think; because he was a composer, he wrote music in response to this rejection, a peaceful response, thus making himself available when she changed her mind later. If he’d followed his parents’ wishes, he might well have been in jail by the time fickleness had its casual influence on the lady’s confused mind.

Moving on, the stirring ‘Hungarian March’ from his The Damnation of Faust is found on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: MARCH (SPA 173) whilst ‘Mephistopheles’ Serenade from The Damnation of Faust crops up on THE WORLD OF IMMORTAL SERENADES: FRANK CHACKSFIELD (SPA 298). ‘The Carnaval Romain Overture’ on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: CARNIVAL (SPA 174) is actually a stand-alone piece rather than an actual overture to something big and the range of Berlioz’ music is demonstrated with ‘Shepherd’s Farewell’, a poignant chorus of religious music on THE WORLD OF SACRED MUSIC VOL. 2 (SPA 297). Finally, the previously mentioned masterpiece that is Symphonie Fantastique gets an airing in its entirety on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: BERLIOZ (SPA 222).

FELIX MENDELSSOHN

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s popular Midsummer Night’s Dream was composed in two parts. The overture was written when young Felix was 17 years old but the

rest was penned some 17 years later. Incredibly, it is difficult to hear the join – give it a listen on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: FINGAL’S CAVE (SPA 552) or THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: MENDELSSOHN: ITALIAN SYMPHONY: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (SPA 153) where there are four movements for you. The overture also crops up on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 7: OVERTURES etc. (SPA 92) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: MENDELSSOHN etc. (SPA 178). Things, though, can get a bit

complicated when it comes to enumerating the various bits of this work as there are 14 movements or parts including the ‘Overture’, ‘Nocturne’, ‘Wedding March’, ‘Funeral March’ and who could forget ‘O Ye Spotted Snakes’ which is Part 4. For a short time, Mendelssohn was Prince Albert’s piano teacher and used to hob-nob with Queen Victoria. He also visited Scotland, appraising it succinctly by asserting that they ‘brew nothing but whisky, fog and foul weather’2. And he said that like it’s a bad thing! Anyway, it couldn’t have been that bad as Felix M came up with some fine music in relation to his visit. As well as SPA 552

above, on which we have the ‘Hebrides Overture’, on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: MENDELSSOHN: ‘FINGAL’S CAVE’ OVERTURE: SYMPHONY NO. 3 ‘THE SCOTTISH’

(SPA 503), the whole record is handed over to Scotland-related music. Mendelssohn is associated with a total of 25 LPs in our collection which also includes THE WORLD OF MENDELSSOHN (SPA 433) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: MENDELSSOHN (though on the back cover you’ll find his first name sneakily inserted): A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM – INCIDENTAL MUSIC (SPA 451). On the former, can be heard the ‘Overture’ to Midsummer etc. whilst on the latter are eight parts of the work.

ROBERT SCHUMANN

You know this thing about, ‘behind every good man is a good woman’. Well, Schumann was a bit unlucky there because his good woman was usually in front. Whereas Robert fancied the idea of becoming a concert pianist, his wife, Clara, was. In fact, she was probably the most well-known pianist at that time whilst Robert never would realise his fancy because of a damaged hand. The story goes that our intrepid budding pianist, in search of the thing that would put him on top of the pile concocted a device for strengthening his fingers for the rigorous key-bashing he had in mind. The gadget was so constructed in order that it would efficiently paralyse three of the fingers of his right hand … which was what was efficiently achieved, eventually, compromising further progress. Oh well, back to the composing, then.

We do have some nice examples that demonstrate his skill in this department, happily. Robert Alexander Schumann has one tune on each of six compilation WORLD OF LPs and

has a seventh all to himself. The latter, THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: SCHUMANN (SPA 493) comprises two monsters in Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 and Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Op.38 – Spring. The piano concerto was played by his wife, Clara during its inaugural tour. WORLD OF TV presenter, Joseph Cooper, has a go at two of Schumann’s pieces; a version of ‘Widmung’ (Dedication), which was transcribed for solo piano, on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: AN EVENING WITH JOSEPH COOPER (SPA

542) and ‘Romance in F sharp major, Op. 28, No. 2, the middle one of three Romances in OP 28, on THE WORLD OF JOSEPH COOPER (SPA 372). THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: AIR ON THE G STRING (SPA 568) hosts the first of six ‘Scenes from the East’ and another scene crops up on THE WORLD OF THE PIANO (SPA 390); ‘Träumerei’, the seventh of 13 from Scenes of Childhood, a series of recollections by an adult. ‘The Prophet Bird’ flies in on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: BIRDS IN MUSIC (SPA 367) and lastly, Schumann’s ‘Le Carnaval’ is found on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: CARNIVAL (SPA 174).

FRANZ LISZT

Hungarian Liszt was something of a showman and it’s not difficult to imagine him on stage throwing his shoulder-length hair around dramatically emphasising his keyboard phrasing and chord changes. Nobody had entertained like he did in the mid-1800s, distracting all of the ladies in the audience with his melodramatic machismo. In true rock ‘n’ roll fashion, women would fight amongst themselves for scraps of Franz Liszt’s clothing and locks of his iconic hair. To play an evening of music without the scores in front of one was considered arrogant so, naturally, Liszt played an evening of music without the scores in from of him. It was also convention for pianists to sit with their backs to the audience but his wasn’t the Liszt way – everyone had to be able to see every breath-taking expression on his face as well as his hands doing the business up and down the keyboard. To this end he rearranged his piano so that it stood in profile to the congregation of devotees, preferably near enough so that some of them would be able to receive sweated perspiration from his frenzied brow as he flung his face toward them. ROCK AND BLINKIN’ ROLL! As Lemmy of Motörhead might have said.

Oops! I almost forgot, in my fevered state, to tell you about the records. There are 11 WORLD OFs with a bit of Liszt on them; two on which he has exclusivity and nine compilations. THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: LISZT PIANO CONCERTOS: JULIUS KATCHEN (SPA 318) and THE WORLD OF LISZT: FRANCE CLIDAT (SPA 371) showcase Liszt concerto favourites No. 1 in E flat major and No. 2 in A major performed by American pianist Julius Katchen and France Clidat, a French pianist who specialises in the music of Liszt. As well as the concertos on SPA 318, we have ‘Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12’, and ‘Mephisto Waltz No. 1’ both of which crop up individually on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS No. 9: ENCORES: JULIUS KATCHEN (SPA 110) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: DANSE MACABRE (SPA 175) respectively. Hungarian Rhapsody appears in the forms of Nos. 2 (twice) and 11 on other LPs whilst Liebestraum No. 3 in A flat major crops up on three different records. Joseph Cooper has a go at ‘Valse Oubliée’ (Forgotten Waltz) on THE WORLD OF JOSEPH COOPER (SPA 372) whilst, finally we find ‘Paganini Etude Nr. 3’ on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: ALFRED BRENDELL PLAYS…. (SPA 249) alongside the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11. Phew! Some said that it could not be done but, at last, we have finished with Franz Liszt, the big show-off!

RICHARD WAGNER

Franz Liszt was apt to be very complimentary about some of Wagner’s work, comparing the majesty of The Ring of the Niebelung with Mont Blanc’s superiority over other mountains. Surprisingly high praise indeed from one that you might think would be worried about a little competitive rivalry. Even more surprising when you discover that Richard Wagner had made off with Liszt’s daughter, produced three children with her and then, finally, married her. Even with this odd order of events, Liszt was happy to champion the younger man’s work. Mind you, things were a little more complicated than even this as the daughter, Cosima, was married at the time to Wagner’s close friend and Liszt’s best pupil, Hans von Bulow! Mind you again, Cosima was Liszt’s illegitimate second daughter, there being later, a son!!

Incredibly, the composers found time to produce music, too, and Wagner’s output can be sampled on 17 WORLD OF LPs including STOKOWSKI CONDUCTS WAGNER (SPA 537) which features five excerpts of the afore-mentioned 17-hour, four-opera Ring cycle. In the

event of an orchestra accepting the challenge of performing the Ring, it would be conventional to play all four operas, one at a time, on four consecutive evenings. The four works are Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. THE WORLD OF WAGNER (SPA 317) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: WAGNER etc. (SPA 468) both contain bits of the Ring with both records providing the ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ and SPA 317 giving us ‘Magic Fire Music’ from Act 3 of Die Walküre as well. The former tune is played as a prelude to the Act as the Valkyries ride their

fearsome steeds back home after battle and the ‘Magic Fire Music’ plays whilst Wotan gives his Brünnhilde some sort of magic kiss which sends her off into a deep sleep … hmmm, neat trick! The two tracks that close SPA 317 are taken from Götterdämmerung. ‘Siegfried’s Rhine Journey’ begins at the end of the prologue as a prelude to Act 1 as Brünnhilde sends him on his way on the adventures soon to be related and ‘Siegfried’s Funeral March’ concludes said adventures, occurring after some confusion which compromised an oath sworn some time before and which resulted in a character called Hagen stabbing Siegfried in the back … or something. Who cares? This comes at the end of the gig – who’s going to be listening?

EDVARD GRIEG

Norwegian Edvard Hagerup Grieg is one of two composers considered to belong to the Scandinavian class; Finn Jean Sibelius being the other. So, young Grieg was born in Norway but only because his great-grandfather left home to live there. Otherwise, the Scandinavian class would have been deficient to the tune of one, to quote WORLD OF behemoth, Peter Cook, and Edvard would have a slightly more Scottish-sounding name. Little Ed was only five feet tall and had trouble reaching the keys of his piano. He would, though, enlist the help of Beethoven. Mr B wrote 32 piano sonatas and when committed to paper, these proved to

be just the right number to assist Grieg. He sat on ‘em to boost his height! Grieg’s wife Nina was also rather short and when she accompanied him, some wag suggested that they looked like two little goblins.3 Edvard also had a troll figurine which he liked to rub for good luck prior to concerts.

The music of Edvard Grieg appears on

11 WORLD OF LPs; eight are compilations featuring many composers whilst on two he is almost on his own; THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: GRIEG: PIANO

CONCERTO etc. (SPA 170) on which there is one tune from the pen of London born Henry Charles Litolff, and GRIEG FAVOURITES (SPA 421) along with one he shares with Sibelius entitled THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 6 FINLANDIA: THE MUSIC OF SIBELIUS

AND GRIEG (SPA 91). The latter record emphasising the two composers’ wish to compose music that would be recognised as particularly Scandinavian. In fact, Grieg actually said words to the effect that the traditional way of life of the Norwegian people, Norway’s legends, history and natural scenery stamped itself on his imagination early on4. The two works most associated with Grieg are his piano concerto, Concerto in A Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op 16 and Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1, Op.46. Both feature on SPA 170 whilst SPA 421 doubles up on Peer Gynt but also showcases some pieces that may be less familiar to listeners such as the Holberg Suite.

RICHARD STRAUSS

Right, I will say this only once – Richard Georg Strauss is of no relation to the Strauss family comprising the three Johanns, a Josef and two Eduards. Anyway, he was German whereas

the others were Austrian. Richard is probably best known for his ‘Thus Sprach Zarathustra’ which shares equal billing with ‘Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks’ on THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: RICHARD STRAUSS (SPA 397). The introductory alarum of the former piece known by the composer as ‘Sunrise’ begins, we learn from the back cover notes, with a low C representing the origin of the whole caboodle, shebang and, indeed, enchilada. (Actually, I slightly embellished this description which, as author, I consider my privilege). Talking of authors, a proper such one is Friedrich Nietzsche whose book, Thus (or Also) Sprach

Zarathustra is the basis upon which Strauss’ music representing the origin of man, whole caboodle etc. etc. stems. Experience man’s evolution, whilst listening to the work, through his emotional struggle by dint of the arguments for and against science (fugal passage) and religion (credo segment). The conundrum remains unsolved right to the end which brings us right up to date – whatever the date is right now. The other piece here charts the life of Till, an erratic rogue who ends up on the wrong side of the law and is finally sent to the gallows.

Merry pranks, indeed. There are two other records on which Richard Strauss’ music resides: THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY: ROMEO AND JULIET: RICHARD STRAUSS: DON JUAN (SPA 119) and THE WORLD OF THE FRENCH HORN (SPA 393). Much like the music discussed above, the back covers of both these LPs summarise the action that is depicted through the music and it is always fun to follow the story in this way, that is, the tone poem for ‘Don Juan’ and then track the clues to the construction of the ‘Horn Concerto’ on SPA 393.

ENRIQUE GRANADOS

The young Pantaleón Enrique Joaquin Granados y Campiña heard a harp being played by the next-door neighbours and tried to emulate the sound on the family piano and thus began a fine career. He began piano lessons some years later and then at age 16 years, he started studying composition as well. Though he has written in several genres it is his piano music,

of which has been arranged for Spanish guitar, for which he was best known, particularly the Goyescas. This is a piano suite of six pieces although a seventh unpublished movement is usually added during performances. Granados makes three WORLD OF appearances, ‘The Maiden and the Nightingale’, one of the Goyescas, on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BIRDS IN MUSIC (SPA 367) and THE WORLD OF JOSEPH COOPER (SPA 372) along with ‘Andaluza (Danza Española No. 5) on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BOLERO (SPA 551). The demise of Enrique Granados occurred during the journey home from America. He and his wife had hopped to England and then boarded a ferry for Dieppe. This was in 1916, half way through the First World War, and the ferry was torpedoed by a German submarine and the ferry went down. Granados managed to find a lifeboat but saw his wife struggling in the water. He left the boat to help her but they both, sadly, drowned. He was 48 years of age.

GIUSEPPE VERDI

Verdi wrote 26 operas, the genre for which he is most known. One of his most famous is Aida and at its inaugural performance the orchestra were obliged to make 32 curtain calls;

the end of show ovation was that enthusiastic. It’s a little odd to think that, instead of this acclaim, we may have been deprived of Verdi’s music altogether. Whilst he was working on his first opera he lost both of his infant children and then his young wife died whilst he was writing his second work. It may seem unsurprising that, due to these distractions, the opera fell flat. It was enough to have Guiseppi considering a future without music. Happily he was persuaded to change his mind and he came up with Nabucco. Anyway, if he had given up composing, I’m not sure how Decca would have completed the WORLD OF series

because Verdi takes his place on 22 compilation albums on which he contributes a total of 45 tracks! On top of this he has two LPs of his own: THE WORLD OF VERDI (SPA 447) and THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: VERDI: IL TROVATORE (SPA 513). The cover of THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: GREAT OPERA CHORUSES (SPA 296) depicts the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco and how fantastic is this? The mourners at Guiseppi Verdi’s funeral spontaneously broke out into a rendition of it!

NICCOLÒ PAGANINI, CÉSAR FRANCK, MAX BRUCH, PABLO DE SARASATE, GABRIEL FAURÉ, ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD, SAM FRANKO, ISAAC ALBENIZ

THE WORLD OF VIOLIN (SPA 350) and THE WORLD OF VIOLIN VOL. 2 (SPA 405) throw

up several names which may not too well-known along with a couple that may. Niccolò Paganini is widely considered to be the virtuoso violinist with his compositions suspected of being inspired by the devil himself as they were just too difficult to play. ‘Caprice No. 13’ (SPA 350) would seem to be a case in point especially with the diabolical laugh invoked by Ruggiero Ricci from the instrument. The opening track on SPA 405, ‘Valse’ was dedicated to Paganini’s one and only student, Camillo Sivori.

Of the 200 or so works that Max Karl August Bruch wrote, it is likely that the one that is easiest to call to mind is his ‘Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. Op 26’, the 2nd movement of which features on SPA 350. Bruch might even be as close to a one-hit-wonder as anyone else in the classical field. Still, when you consider that Gabriel Fauré took more than 20 years to compose his Requiem, and that he had to work as choirmaster, organist and tutor in order to pay his bills as well, you might think that he’d have no time to be more than a one-hit-wonder himself. Well, he actually wrote around 250 works, five of which get a WORLD OF airing on compilation LPs plus he gets a record all to himself; THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: FAURÉ REQUIEM (SPA 504). On SPA 350, we have ‘Nocturne Op 57’; two and a half minutes of gently lush strings for the late night hours. Righto – that’s me done for the day. I’m off ‘Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire’ (as sung by WORLD OF’s First Lady [1st Lady because she has a massive five volumes in our collection]) Vera Lynn.

Pablo Martin Melitón de Sarasate y Navacués was a Spanish composer with a moustache as splendid as his name. He has entries on three WORLD OFs and each one is his most popular work, ‘Gypsy Airs’ (‘Zigeunerweisen’). The story goes that he took up a violin at a very young age and managed to play a piece that his father had long been having difficulty playing. Another Spaniard who features on one of the violin LPs (SPA 405) is pianist, Isaac

Manuel Francisco Albeniz y Pascual. Yes, pianist! The 2nd movement from his Suite Espanola, ‘Sevilla’ was originally written for piano but Jascha Heifetz, the greatest violinist of the century, if the LP back cover notes are to be believed, arranged the selection that we find on SPA 405, for violin. A second tune by Albeniz, ‘Tango’ from España, has been similarly arranged by Mischa Elman who, I assume, is some way short of being the greatest violinist of the century. Anyway, this would seem to be another fine time to amuse oneself and

find the piano versions and compare them with the ones on the LP.

Sam Franko was an American violinist whose WORLD OF fame extends to the arrangement of two pieces on SPA 405; Schubert’s ‘Valse Sentimentale’ and Bach’s ‘Arioso’. Erich Wolfgang Korngold gets two mentions (though just one tune) but at least it is for his own composition; ‘Garden Scene’ on SPA 405 and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: MEDITATION FROM THAIS (SPA 571) whilst César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck has a tune on each of four compilations including SPA 350.

OSCAR STRAUS, LEO FALL, FRANZ LEHÁR, LEO ASCHER & KARL MICHAEL ZIEHRER, EMMERICH KÁLMÁN

THE WORLD OF OPERETTA: HILDE GUEDEN (SPA 52) brings together a collection of lesser known composers who arrive here towards the end of the Romantic period

along with Hilde Geuden, the Austrian soprano who interprets the arias. Apart from her early years, Hilde has, unusually, been a recording artist exclusively, except for performances of Rosalinda in the operetta by Johann Strauss II, Die Fledermaus from which, a section is taken and included as part of the opening track. These occasional forays onto the opera house stage have kept her fondly in the minds of audiences in America and Britain as well as in home-town Vienna. Franz Lehár provides four songs for the LP. Lehár was an Austro-Hungarian who is most commonly associated with operetta, a lighter, more comedic type of its weightier sister, opera. His most famous work being The Merry Widow from which the second section is lifted. Three pieces on this LP come from the pen of Oscar Straus. No relation to the celebrated Strauss family, he was, however, born into a family with the same family name, i.e. Strauss spelt with two Ss at the end. Clearly there would have been the potential for some confusion so Oscar decided that one of his Ss had to go. Having resisted any temptation to write waltzes (though there is more than a hint of this dance style in his piece ‘A Waltz Dream’), we can thank Franz Lehár for attracting him towards operetta as it was whilst listening to The Merry Widow that Oscar apparently stated that, ‘I can also do that!’5 And so it proved to be.

Emmerich Kálmán was Hungarian and his integration of nationalistic elements into his music set him apart from his peers. He called his first stage work ‘The Gay Hussars’ so audiences understood Kálmán’s approach from the off. It is a little sad, then, to learn that he felt that he had no alternative but to renounce his nationality when Hungary allied itself with Germany in the Second World War. Leo Fall’s arguably (of course) most popular operettas are Madame Pompadour and The Dollar Princess, arias from both of which can be found on SPA 52. Some might argue, author Stephen Frey would at least, that of the composers writing during the ‘Silver Age of Viennese Operetta’, Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán and Leo Fall were ‘giants’.6 It is, though, surprising that Fall got to finish any of his works at all as he was often non-communicado for days or weeks at a time. He apparently just disappeared.

Along with Leo Fall, Leo Ascher and Karl Michael Ziehrer make just this one appearance in the WORLD OFs. Hoheit tanzt Walzer, from which Ascher’s contribution to this record is taken, was the composer’s most successful work and Ziehrer’s song comes from his operetta, Der Schätzmeister which, in English means The Treasurer! And that, my friends, is the most interesting thing I can find on the final composer in this little round-up.

References:

1. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-stainer-mn0000599808/biography

2. 1. Steen, Michael. The Lives and Times of the Great Composers. 2003. Icon Books, London.

3. Henley,, D. and Jackson, S. 2012. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Classical music but were Afraid to Ask. Elliot and Thompson Ltd., London

4. http://www.wikisummaries.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Straus_(composer)

6. http://operetta-research-center.org/leo-fall-drug-abuse/

Other references available on request

Regarding the LP cover images, they are photographs of the records in my own collection and are taken by my own hand (which explains the slight wonkiness of some of them). All images are, however, copyright of Decca.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of any image in any form should be considered prohibited.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the text in any form is prohibited, restricted by permission of the author.

So what can we look forward to next time? Well, we'll be investigating Music for Royal Occasions but first we must look in on a bunch of modernist composers. One who wrote what has turned out to be Finland's unofficial national anthem, another who opposed the inauguration of the record, so beloved by us all today, and, finally, is there a case of manslaughter to be answered? You can decide ...