Pictures at an Exhibition and Heinz Hall's 40th

This year the PSO is celebrating Heinz Hall's 40th anniversary - it was renovated in 1971. Some of the photos of the construction, the building plans and the program and tickets of the inaugural concert are on display in the lobby, along with a painting of Modest Mussorgsky, who in the year 1874 wrote 'Pictures at an Exhibition', a suite in ten movements composed for piano. However, what we hear performed by the orchestra is a beautifully orchestrated version composed by Maurice Ravel in the 1920's.

Listening to the music, I hear for the first time the sounds and music which must have been conjured in the imagination of Mussorgsky by the paintings. I had not seen the paintings until after the concert, but based on the titles of each movement, I was finally familiar with the programmatic content intended. I've heard this piece countless times without thinking about the programmatic content - and perhaps that's good because I could hear and interpret for myself what the music means to me. This evening what occurred to me is that every other movement seems to alternate between something hauntingly beautiful, as with one movement that effectively uses the Saxophone, Bassoon and Oboe to blend an eerie effect, with other rather upbeat and snappy movements like the 'Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells' and 'Baba-Yaga - The Hut on Fowl's Legs'. The conclusions came in the form of The Great Gate of Kiev, by far the longest and most impressive conglomeration of brass and bravado led by conductor Manfred Honeck and the PSO to bring the audience to an eventual standing ovation.

The surviving works by Hartmann that can be shown with any certainty to have been used by Mussorgsky in assembling his suite, along with their titles,^[2] are as follows:

No. 5 Sketch of theatre costumes for the ballet Trilby No. 6a Jew in a fur cap. Sandomierz No. 6b Sandomierz Jew

No. 8 Paris catacombs (with the figures of V. A. Hartmann, V. A. Kenel, and a guide, holding a lantern) No. 9 The hut of Baba-Yaga on hen's legs–clock in the Russian Style No. 10 Project for a city gate in Kiev–main façade

Dreamwaltzes and understanding music

Over the summer I read through a very interesting book in an attempt to improve my understanding of music. I will try to use these techniques for the upcoming season of the Pittsburgh Symphony. For instance, with Pictures at an Exhibition, the ideas below helped with understanding of the work, and increased my appreciation of it as well - which is an understatement because I've always appreciated this work.

Likewise, Dreamwaltzes, American composer Steven Stucky’s fantasia on Viennese composers Schubert, Brahms and Mahler, is much better understood when concentrating on some of these aspects. When listening 'Dreamwaltzes' I was able to perceive some of the following: Form - there was form, but a much more complex form than the classical type I'm used to - it seemed somewhat abstract, and ranging over various forms. Rhythm - certainly there existed an overall rhythm which was one of the more interesting parts of the piece. Melody - The melody existed in different forms throughout, some were more abstract, as with the sliding scales of the strings and other instruments, the musicians would bring the pitch down through several octaves by sliding their fingers along the string. This generated an eerie effect somewhat reminiscent of perhaps the music heard in Hitchcock or other films, but I don't want to generalize the effect - it must be heard to be understood. Other times the melody would be more classical as with Schubert, a slight interlude in that form then back again to the thinly veiled high frequency strings which would accompany much of the dramatic woodwinds and brass.

Perhaps others would be interested in these techniques when attending a concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra...

"The Understanding of Music", 5th ed., 1985 Wadsworth, Inc.
Charles R. Hoffer

Attitude in Listening
Ask "What is the composer trying to achieve in this portion of the music?" and similar questions. In this way, listeners gain a much better understanding of the work and will probably increase their appreciation of it as well.

Improving Listening Skill

1. Give undivided attention to the musical sounds.
2. Concentrate attention first on the main themes of the work.
3. Remember the main themes of the work.
4. Notice what happens to the themes and musical ideas as the music goes along.
(extract motives - change rhythm, bob in and out, unifying ideas, two themes vie with each other)
5. Apply knowledge to what is heard. (what form, theme presented, developed, presented again)
6. After the main themes are grasped, become more aware of the subtler and smaller features of the music.
(slightly changing pattern of chords, brief interruption of a rhythmic pattern, new combo. of instruments, insertion of a fragment of a melody)
7. Notice personal reactions to what happens in the music (note the response to what is heard, as they change, does a second appearance of a melody seem more emphatic?, a third time, is there a duration or pitch change to a note or notes, accented? - Can the reaction be accurately be put into words? , is there a sense of energy? calm? ?)
8. Don't conjure up visions or fantasize when listening to music, unless it is work specifically composed for that purpose (program music).
(distracts from the qualities of the music itself).
9. Practice learning to listen to music more effectively.
(themes, solos, form - listening for main features - then subtle musical qualities; repeated hearings of a work )

Musique du monde

Music of the world.

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't! - Miranda - The Tempest - Shakespeare

'Tis new to thee, and to me was full of delight -- it wasn't just the creatures, but the music!

Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony (No. 4) first movement commenced this evening of delightful music - light and airy and laced with festive Cadenza, his music always brims with optimism and joy. The fourth movement, which we did not hear, has much more drama and tension, but the opening movement, which the PSO played to perfection, opened with a flourish, producing drama only to the extent that the strings and woodwind and brass and timpani all vie for attention in transitional positioning, exhibiting a hybrid harmony where the entire orchestra combined into one sublime exposition. As pleased as I was to listen and appreciate the approximately 10 minutes of glorious music, I only wished it could have been the entire symphony - but I shouldn't complain because up next was Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.

Before the concert I watched a youtube video posted on the PSO facebook page with Anne-Sophie Mutter discussing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. In the interview she said:

"What I like about the violin concerto the most is the fact that it has this Midnight Summer's Dream spirit in it, it has the young man's appasionata/character which is so much a part of every piece of Mendelssohn - a kind of very youthful -- stormy, but yet very gentle and very pure in essence - which comes through in the music"

She paused before using the word 'stormy' -- I wondered if she was searching for the perfect adjective to describe Mendelssohn's music, or perhaps she could have been trying to translate 'tempestuous'...? I looked it up, and I can't find a perfect word to translate 'tempest' in the German language.

I often think of Mendelssohn's work in this way - tempestuous and sometimes impetuous. As I would say that I have a tempestuous love affair with this form music, the music itself, as in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" it is seemingly always new, as if I've lived my entire life without it on an island, and have opened my eyes and ears to discover the Beauty of Classical Music for the first time, each and every time, and now perhaps I fully see what the composer must see - to perceive that pure essence and sometimes impetuous youthful character which underlies the music.

Anne-Sophie Mutter played the violin much like the way she described it in the interview. Her phrasing of the music seemed to stretch the bounds of what the soloist would be expected to embrace. The soft passages were very soft, almost so soft as not to be able to hear except in a hall like Heinz Hall with the impressive acoustics. The louder, lively and fast passages (Allegro) she exhibited with the passion and fury that embellished the fervor I came to expect, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra provided the perfect dramatic backdrop to it all.

Later in the evening Mutter returned to play Pablo DeSarasate's Fantasy on Bizet's Carmen for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 25. Now this was even more of a flight of fantasy, full of accent and delight - a performance that figuratively brought the house down with a standing ovation.

The other performances this evening included Georges Bizet's Suite from Carmen with the fantastic Les Toréadors which is instantly recognizable to just about anyone. The evening's last performance was Ravel's Bolero. To hear Bolero in person is probably 10 times more enjoyable than to listen to the music in any other pre-recorded venue. It starts out so low, yet you can certainly still hear it, then gradually works its way up to a grand and loud finish, is amazing. The dynamics of the performance came out really well.

Anne-Sophie Mutter discusses Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto

PSO 2011 Euro Tour - Mahler Sym 5 in Berlin

I just finished listening to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra perform live in Berlin - an enjoyable performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 5.

Symphonie Nr. 5 von Gustav Mahler - Live aus der Berliner Philharmonie

Under the leadership of music director Manfred Honeck, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs on 11 September 2011 at Musikfest Berlin. Live stream of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 by the orchestra is dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

Manfred Honeck says in a statement:
"The 10th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 is of great global importance. For the people of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, they have a very special place: one of the four planes crashed in a field near Pittsburgh after passengers on board intervened. These brave men gave their lives for the lives of others. To you and all the victims of September 11, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra dedicates this global stream of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 from the Berlin Philharmonic. "

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PSO 2011 Euro Tour - Mahler Sym 5 in Berlin

Symphonie Nr. 5 von Gustav Mahler - Live aus der Berliner Philharmonie

Under the leadership of music director Manfred Honeck, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs on 11 September 2011 at Musikfest Berlin. Live stream of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 by the orchestra is dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

Manfred Honeck says in a statement:
"The 10th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 is of great global importance. For the people of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, they have a very special place: one of the four planes crashed in a field near Pittsburgh after passengers on board intervened. These brave men gave their lives for the lives of others. To you and all the victims of September 11, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra dedicates this global stream of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 from the Berlin Philharmonic. "
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