How did I happen to land on this concerto by Graupner?
First, I ran some sort of Google-search on “great composers you’ve never heard of,” and somewhere along the way, I found this article, “10 Underrated Baroque Composers,” HERE. The first name on the list was Christoph Graupner – and I confess, I had never heard of him…until now – so I decided to look for and listen to some piece by him. I typed Graupner’s name into the search bar in YouTube, and various compositions popped up. I selected his Concerto for Viola d'Amore, Flute, and Orchestra for two reasons:
Now I knew that Graupner’s Viola d’Amore would have nothing to do with Herrmann’s “Scene d’Amour,” but the “Amore” caught my eye, so I chose this concerto to listen to this week. I also looked into the Viola d’Amore to find out how it did differ from a viola, and I found this: "The main difference between a viola d’amore and either a viola or a violin is the number of strings. While violas and violins typically have four strings, the d’amore has between six and seven, each of which is paired with what is known as a sympathetic string. Sympathetic strings are not actually played. They reverberate each time the strings above them are struck, however, which lends a deep, often melancholic sound to the resulting music." For more information, click HERE and HERE. So what did I think of Graupner’s concerto? I enjoyed it. I’ll admit that Baroque music is not necessarily my “go to” when I listen to classical music, but I do appreciate it, and there are various Baroque pieces that I love and listen to often. For example, there’s Pachelbel’s Canon. I mean, who doesn’t love that work? I remember going to see an IMAX movie called “To Fly” at the newly opened Smithsonian Air and Space Museum way back in 1976, and Pachelbel’s work was part of that movie's soundtrack. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking, “What is that piece? I would love to have a recording of that.” Now, when I listened to Graupner’s Concerto for Viola d'Amore, Flute, and Orchestra for the first time, I did enjoy it (I found the first of the four movements particularly haunting and loved that); however, it didn’t necessarily strike me like Pachelbel’s Canon did. I didn’t walk away thinking, “Wow, what is this piece? I need to get a recording of this.” While it might not be at the same level of universal appeal as Pachelbel’s magnum opus, Graupner’s work is, indeed, very beautiful and delightful. Very likeable indeed.
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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
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