This past Saturday I had the great fortune of seeing the Houston Ballet perform The Nutcracker. It was amazing! I wish they posted videos on youtube of their rendition of the ballet, I really liked the set, props, and most of all the choreography. My favorite was the Arabic dance, which I will post about later.
We last left off at the house party where Clara and her family and friends were celebrating Christmas Eve. After the party ends and Clara goes to bed, she is suddenly awoken by a swarm of rats attacking the toy soldiers inside her house. Her nutcracker comes to the rescue, and at the end of the battle he turns into a price and whisks her away to another land.
As they travel to this new land, they meet the snow queen and her snowflakes, and together they perform a charming dance, set to beautiful music written by Tchaikovsky. In some versions, Clara and the nutcracker prince are the soloists, such as the video below. In the Houston Ballet version I saw on Saturday, the Snow queen performs as the soloist with the prince. Both are equally stunning!
The Nutcracker Ballet - Act I - Waltz of the Snowflakes Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Today we will continue with the wonderful ballet The Nutcracker.
In my previous post, we heard the overture, which can be thought of as the opening credits for a movie. Now, we will delve in to the Christmas party scene.
In the dance below, Clara's brother and a group of boys perform the soldier's march. Notice the steady beat, delightful rhythm, and the use of trumpets to create a scene as if real soldiers in red coats were marching through town.
The Nutcracker Suite - II. Danses Caractéristiques- Marche
Now the December is here, I can't wait to share some of my favorite ballet music, the Nutcracker!
The Nutcracker is a Christmas classic, telling the story of a young girl Clara who receives a toy nutcracker for a Christmas present. That night, she finds herself attacked by a swarm of rat soldiers, led by the rat king. Her nutcracker toy turns into a Prince and comes to her rescue. The pair then travel to a far away land ruled by the Sugar Plum fairy, who rejoices at the arrival of the Prince. The sweets from around the world then dance in celebration. Clara and the Prince ride off and she wakes up in the parlor of her house underneath the Christmas tree, holding her nutcracker toy.
The genius behind the Nutcracker suite is one of my favorite composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He was a great Russian composer, who in addition to the Nutcracker, also composed for ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Romeo and Juliet.
The ballet opens with the following miniature overture while the stage is slowly being set for the night of Christmas eve...
Enjoy!
The Nutcracker Suite - I. Miniature Overture - Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
So far I haven't featured any composition from operas, which are integral to classical music. But unfortunately, my own knowledge of operas is rather limited, and I don't have a great ear for it yet. The piece showcased today however, has been transposed for various instruments, my favorite being Liszt's version for the piano.
Contrary to common misconception that the piece was composed to accompany the traditional Roman Catholic prayer Ave Maria, Franz Schubert originally composed the song as one of seven set to the epic poem The Lady of the Lake. In the poem, a woman named Ellen Douglas is singing a prayer to Virgin Mary before Roderick Dhu goes into battle in rebellion against King James. The opening words of the song Ave Maria, combined with the subsequent popularity of the melody set to the traditional prayer caused this generalization.
This piece has also been featured in many movies and tv shows including: The Hangover III, The Intouchables, Glee, Psyche, 28 Days Later... the list goes on and on to a total of 210 titles on IMBD.
Ave Maria (Op. 52, No. 6 - Ellen's Gesang III) - Composed by Franz Schubert
Performed by Mirusia Louwerse
And as mentioned earlier, my favorite instrumental version would be Franz Liszt's arrangement, performed below by Andre Hamelin
As music has evolved over the past decades, movies feature more digitally created sounds, but surprisingly in every movie there is still the traditional symphony embedded somewhere in the music score. I found a great video of the music score from The Lion King. The added chorus makes the theme incredibly powerful, and I can immediately picture Simba running through the field chasing after the fading Mufasa in the clouds.
This is one you don't want to miss!
The Lion King - All that The Light Touches
Composed by Hans Zimmer
For those of you who have not seen the movie "The Pianist", a 3 Oscar award winning movie including Best Actor and Best Director, you are missing out on the hauntingly beautiful scene below. Although the movie only features the shortened version of the piece, the set up of the scene makes the performance dramatically powerful. Based on a true story, Szpilman is a Jewish concert pianist on the run in Poland from the Nazi regime during WWII. When he scours an abandoned home in Warsaw for food, he is confronted by the German officer Hosenfeld. Miraculously, Hosenfeld suggests Szpilman play the piano after learning of his past profession, and is so moved by the performance he does not reveal Szpilman and allows him to hide in the attic.
The piece played by Szpilman in an desperate attempt to save his life is the Ballade No. 1 in G Minor Opus 23, composed by Chopin. (What does underlined gibberish mean? See previous post here and here). A Ballade is like a waltz, but more complex and rich in variations. Chopin was a master of romantic music, and while this piece is not as popular as some of his other mainstream compositions (Fantasy Impromptu, Nocturne opus 9 No. 2) I think it provides the right mood for a once outstanding pianist, now with decrepit fingers, to pour out his emotions of sorrow, misery, his passion for life, and the will to survive.
Enjoy!
Soundtrack from the movie "The Pianist"
Ballade No. 1 in G Minor Opus 23, composed by Frédéric Chopin
Today's Friday and to head off an exciting weekend, I want to share a piano solo piece by one of my favorite composers, Franz Liszt.
Liszt was a rock star of his time, immensely popular, and endured relatively little hardship compared to some of the other great composers. It has been said that when during his concerts, he would slowly take off his long white gloves, and ladies in the audience would swoon over how handsome the act was.
Of all of Liszt's compositions, the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 is undoubtedly the most famous. He wrote total of 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies, and No. 2 was such a fun piece that it's been popularized by pop culture.
See it featured in this award winning cartoon short of Tom and Jerry, winner of the 1946 Academy Awards for best Cartoon short.
Similar to the Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin in the previous post, a Rhapsody is a single movement piece that is free flowing and encompasses various different tempos and moods. Think of it as interpretive dance, where one minute it's calm and peaceful, and the next moment it's wild and crazy. You will definitely hear that in Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, written in 1851. What's more unique about this particular piece is that there is a Cadenza ad libitum, where each performing artist chooses to add something special and unique into the piece. Kind of like in the middle of performing a song, the singer chooses to sing a melody from a different song or one they made up as a tribute to their performance. In the recording below, I've chosen pianist Marc Andre Hamelin's cadenza in the performance below.
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-Sharp Minor, composed by Franz Liszt
Ever rode on an United Airlines flight and watched the opening safety video? Remember the hit movie from earlier this year The Great Gatsby? What the two have in common is a clip of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which can be heard in the grandiose scene where the audience meets Gatsby for the first time, starting at 0:32.
Leonardo DiCaprio's introduction in The Great Gatsby
The Rhapsody in Blue is a contemporary classical piece written in 1924 for piano and jazz band, later orchestrated for a full symphony. It was immensely popular right after it premiered in New York City, and solidified George Gershwin's reputation as a serious composer. It is a piano concerto (piano solo accompanied by full orchestra) with one major difference in that a Rhapsody is one continuous movement, whereas piano concertos typically have three separate movements. This piece has been interpreted as the 'musical portrait of NYC', and featured in several other movies such as Disney's Fantasia 2000 as well as performed at the 1984 Olympics opening ceremony in Los Angeles and the 50th Grammy awards.
Here it is now in it's full glory. Enjoy!
Rhapsody in Blue - composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Lang Lang
This may be a bit of a stretch, but this next piece is so wonderfully melodic and written for a full symphony that I thought I'd include it as my piece showcasing contemporary classical music. It is the theme from the movie Howl's Moving Castle, an animated picture following the adventures of a young girl cursed by a witch into an old lady, and the love story between her and Howl, the owner of the floating castle. The symphony suite is composed by Joe Hisaishi, and in the live recording below he is both the piano soloist and the conductor.
Howl's Moving Castle (Main Theme) - Composed by Joe Hisaishi
As a bonus, here is an amazing rearrangement for guitar performed by Sungha Jung. He mainly does rearrangements of pop music in US and Korea, but occasionally there will be a soundtrack gem. Enjoy!
Howl's Moving Castle (Main Theme) - Composed by Joe Hisaishi, arrangement by Sungha Jung
Today I want to share a gorgeous violin solo piece from the Opera Thais written by French composer Jules Massenet. Jules Massenet is the first composer featured on this blog that does not have the same level of fame as the other great classical composers such as Bach and Beethoven. In fact, after his death, the majority of his music went out of fashion, and many of his operas were no longer performed.
This piece however, will stand the test of time as it's become very popular in mainstream media. I'm sure you have heard this in the waiting room of your doctor's office, or perhaps at the spa. Appropriately, the common name of this piece is "Meditation".
On a deeper level, this piece is a symphonic intermezzo in between two scenes from the Opera Thais. In the story, the monk Athanael asks the beautiful courtesan Thais to leave her lavish life of luxury and sin and join him to find salvation through Christianity. While she is thinking about his words, this violin solo plays accompanied by a full symphony. Ultimately, Athanael falls in love with Thais and proclaims on her deathbed that nothing in life is as important as sharing love with another human being.
Meditation from Thais - Composed by Jules Massenet
Continuing with the theme using of orchestral music to highlight the different periods of classical music, today I want to share two very famous symphonies by two of the greatest classical composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
First, what is a symphony? Again, think of it as a mini album written in a common key, typically containing 4 tracks alternating in mood and speed (ex. medium fast song, slow song, really fast song, medium song). Also, a symphony is for a full orchestra and band, so there will be both string and brass instruments. If you were ever in orchestra or band, that one concert a year where the two collaborated probably involved playing a symphony, and very likely one of the two below.
We will start with Mozart, since he came earlier of the two. Mozart was a true child prodigy, and extremely talented. Unfortunately, he ran into money troubles later on in life and was buried penniless in a common grave. The symphony No. 40 is referred to as "The Great G-Minor symphony" and was composed in that latter half of his life. Critics say the piece exhibits emotions of sadness, passion, and grief.
To recap last post's lesson here is the naming convention for the piece in layman's terms: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K550 - Movement 1Allegro
Name decipher: Name of album, catalog ID, track number, description of the track in terms of speed
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, 1st Movement - Allegro, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Beethoven was another child prodigy who was exploited by his father at a young age to make money off of his talents. He was arguably abused emotionally and physically to practice the piano as a child, suffered many breakups, and started losing his hearing at 26, all of which led to a certain element of rage in some of his pieces. Below is a classic example with a theme commonly heard in all genre's of music, movies, and tv shows.
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op.67 1st Movement - Allegro con Brio
The "Air" is one of the most famous orchestral pieces in Baroque music. It is the 2nd movement of Suite No.3 in D Major, BWV 1068, and composed by the famous J.S. Bach.
What does all of the underlined gibberish mean? It's helpful to understand some background. Composers back in the day wrote massive amounts of music, sometimes for the royal court. These pieces were long, short, and for instrumentation of all types, and became very messy and confusing when trying to keep track which piece was which. Fast forward couple hundred years, musicologists (people who study music) began to create catalogs for famous classical composers with overwhelming number of compositions to make it easier to keep track. BWV simply refers to the specific catalog for J.S. Bach's works and was created in 1950.
Orchestral suites can be though of as an album, and the movements are like individual tracks. Often times, there will be a theme among each suite, most notably the key it is in. In this example, this Suite is predominantly in the keys of D Major and the relative minor. Sometimes a particular movement or suite will become so popular, it will be given a special name (i.e. Moonlight Sonata is famously known by the 2nd movement of a Beethoven piano sonata). But more often, it is just a numerical name, in this came Suite No. 3.
"Air" is actually no special name. It refers to aria, a song-like lyrical piece. When listening to this piece, try to imagine all the melody as being sung and resonating in a opera theater.
What is considered classical music? There's a wide array of definitions referencing style, genre, and historical period, but for a basic understanding, you can just think of it as music composed between the following 4 periods:
As you can see, some of the periods overlap, and contemporary is it's own animal. Obviously, hip hop is not considered classical music, even if it is composed in present day. What categorizes the first 3 periods are similarities in structure and style, which start to become more diversified during the contemporary era, so there are smaller movements within contemporary that have been grouped together.
Here is a taste of each era with a short and famous piano piece:
Baroque: Prelude No. 1 in C Major BWV 846 from The Well Tempered Clavier, composed by J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
This is from a famous book of Prelude and Fugues composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, who is a top contender for the title of "Father of Classical Music". Out of the entire collection, this piece is arguably the most famous because it is more simplistic and easier to enjoy. Some of the fugues become very complex in terms of multiple voices and will give you a headache!
Classical: Fur Elise, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Although the style is approaching romantic, I just couldn't resist because this is probably one of the most famous piano solo pieces of all time. You can commonly find this piece in movies, tv shows, and as background music for websites, elevators, waiting rooms, you name it! The title translates to "For Elise", and historians have argued who Elise actually is, the most famous being a former student who eventually turned down Beethoven's proposal of marriage.
Chopin (pronounced Sho-Pan, not like you're Choppin' vegetables) wrote a series of very famous compositions called Nocturnes, which are basically short piano pieces 'inspired by the night'. They demonstrate heavily the concept of Rubato, which is a swaying of the music by increasing and decreasing tempo in the performance to convey a sense of romance.
Contemporary: The Cat and the Mouse, composed by Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
This is one of my favorite contemporary piano pieces! I am a very girly girl, who is heavily biased towards romantic pieces, but this one was just so fun to play. If you close your eyes and picture Tom and Jerry, you can almost see the chase and the cat limping away at the end.
That's all for now, next week, we will explore some famous orchestral works used in movies. Stay tuned!
