Last week I listened to David Popper’s “Polonaise de Concert” for cello (HERE). I had never heard of David Popper, and I discovered him and his work on the website for “From the Top, (HERE), a podcast described as “America’s largest national platform celebrating young classically-trained musicians.”
The discovery of David Popper prompted me to run a Google-search on “unknown classical music composers,” and I came across this blog on “Unknown and Forgotten Composers,” HERE. The first name on the blog as of the date of my search and the name emboldened in the first article’s title was Mikalojus Čiurlionis. Mikalojus who? Yep, I had never heard of him. To be honest, I listen to the works of many “unknown and forgotten composers” almost daily. I’ve deliberately decreased how much news I watch these days. It’s just too depressing – especially since the “former guy’s” attempted coup to overthrow our government and the GOP’s sanction of his seditious actions – so now I start each day by tuning into the classical “Music Choice” channel on my television. I begin almost every morning with a warm muffin from the oven, a cold brew coffee, and a healthy dose of classical music. “Music Choice” certainly plays a fair share of famous works from the generally accepted concert hall repertoire, but they also broadcast many pieces that are new to me. Just this morning I heard a scherzo from “Concerto Symphonique” by Henri Litolff, the rondo from a piano concerto by Giovanni Paisiello, a habanera by Ernesto Halffter, and other works by “unknown and forgotten composers.” Have you ever heard of Litolff, Paisiello or Halffter? I hadn’t (until this morning). So back to the blog I happened to land on and dear, old Mikalojus Čiurlionis. I looked up some of his works on YouTube and decided to listen to his tone poem “Miske,” or “In the Forest.” While the work doesn’t necessarily evoke a forest for me – not in the way that Bedřich Smetana’s “The Maldau” conjures up the journey of a river – it is a lush and beautiful work. At times hushed and tranquil, at other times sumptuous and soaring. Throughout, the work is elegant, rich and majestic. If you’ve never heard this work before, definitely take the time to devote about sixteen minutes to hear it. It is sublime.
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
September 2023
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