Musical Understanding
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ठोस रागों, जो 6 ठाठ हैं, जो कुदरत कि हमें देन हैं - बिलावल, काफ़ी, भैरवी, यमन, xxxx, जौनपुरी,
निख़ार –
Interview with Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
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The score revealed Shostakovich’s brilliant solution to his artistic,
ideological crises. Instead of writing a piece in a party-approved-
super-simple-ultra-nationlist-style, he wrote a symphony based on the
model pioneered by one of the few unforbidden composers –
Beethoven. Like Beethoven, Shostakovich began his symphony with a
movement began in a bold form called ‘Sonata’. After this song like
Adagio, Beethoven goes one better and actually employs singing
voice. The text is taken from Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to joy. Schiller’s
conception of the theatre as a moral institution is very much in line
with Bethoven’s views on the purpose of Art. Music he felt should
convey a message. Beethoven reinterpret’s Schiller’s ode to the
values of the French Revolution, to intellectual and social liberty.
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Something should be done to reclaim young women who had a moral
lapse. The theme is in B minor but then he moves into the parallel key
of D major which is by no means unsusual when a theme is
developing. But then he sidetracked again into what is known as D
minor. So, no sooner has he reached D major the darkens ut D minor.
Later, he develops this Chiarsascuo effect but here we have it at very
close range indeed. With Schubert, it is these tiny details that make
such tremendous impact.
In contrast to his contemporaries, Beethoven felt it important as an
artist to have a say in political and social events. From his childhood
on, he was enthusiastic about the ideals of the french revolution,
freedom, equality and brotherhood. In 1793, he noted to a friend, ‘do
good wherever you can; love freedom above all, never renounce truth
not even at the throne. The conception of his compostitions is at the
heart of these ideals. A music which serves only as an entertainment
was foreign to him. Beethoven had high demands on his audiences.
Concerto (from Concertare)
“to struggle side by side”
- It thus refers to one essential characteristics of the genre – the
contest between rival instruments. In Italy, two different types
of Concerto developed. Their best known exponents being
Antonio Vivaldi and Arcangelo Corelli.
- Corelli has a way of writing Concertoes in which you have a
body of instruments that is the ‘Tutti’ [Tutti is an Italian word
literally meaning all or together and is used as a musical term,
for the whole orchestra as opposed to the soloist. It is applied
similarly to choral music, where the whole section or choir is
called to sing]; several violins playing on each part, several
violas, several cellos
- And then you’ve ‘Concertino’, you’ve small group of Soloists.
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- Vivaldi on the other hand writes for the most part a Concerto
for one instrument or two instruments within orchestra and that
is the model that Bach mostly used.
- Bach was particularly struck by Vivaldi’s violin concertoes. His
Brandenberg concertoes take their bearings from the Italian
model.
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The theme is in B minor but then he moves into the parallel key into
the D major which is by no means unusual when the theme is
developing. Then he sidetracks again into what is basically D minor.
So no sooner has he reached D major then he darkens it to D minor.
Later, he develops this ‘Chiaroscuro effect’ but here we have it at a
very close range indeed. With Schubert, it is these tiny details which
makes such a tremendous impact.
- Schubert - Symphony No. 7 "Unfinished" | Discovering Masterpieces of
Classical Music (7:50)
So the movement is dark in tone but it’s essential feature is contrast.
Although, the meter is consistent throughout.
For many Mozart is more ‘perfector’ than ‘innovator’, a
composer who drew on an already extant vocabulary to
create some of the greatest works in European culture.
In this recording, however, we are introduced to Mozart
the ‘trailblazer’: the first composer in history to take
wind instruments seriously. Whereas his colleagues
were inclined to employ the so-called Harmonie merely
to reinforce the general sonority, Mozart took it upon
himself to exploit the character of each of these
instruments, endowing them with a much more
individualistic, distinctive role – as soloists, in the
orchestra or in chamber music, the subject of this
engaging release.
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is
composed for a small group of instruments—
traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber
or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music
that is performed by a small number of performers, with
one performer to a part (in contrast to orchestral music,
in which each string part is played by a number of
performers). However, by convention, it usually does
not include solo instrument performances.
Because of its intimate nature, chamber music has been
described as "the music of friends". For more than 100
years, chamber music was played primarily by amateur
musicians in their homes, and even today, when
chamber music performance has migrated from the
home to the concert hall, many musicians, amateur and
professional, still play chamber music for their own
pleasure. Playing chamber music requires special skills,
both musical and social, that differ from the skills
required for playing solo or symphonic works.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described chamber music
(specifically, string quartet music) as "four rational
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people conversing". This conversational paradigm –
which refers to the way one instrument introduces a
melody or motif and then other instruments
subsequently "respond" with a similar motif – has been a
thread woven through the history of chamber music
composition from the end of the 18th century to the
present. The analogy to conversation recurs in
descriptions and analyses of chamber music
compositions.
“How is one to put into words those indeterminate feelings that
engulf one during the composition of an instrumental work. It is a
purely lyrical process. The outpourings of a soul marked by the
vicissitudes of life but destined by it’s very nature to express itself in
music”. Tchaikovsky wrote that in 1878 after completion of his 4 th
Symphony in a letter to his benefactoress Nadeshda von Meck, the
widow of an industrialist. Her generosity enabled him to devote
himself entirely to composition. In the letter, Tchaikovsky has more to
say about the ‘vicissitudes of life’. “This is fate; an inexorable force, it
is inescapable and invincible. There is no other cause but to submit
and to lament in vain ”
Finally in 1862, he enrolled at the New St. Petersberg Conservatory
of Music established by Anton Rubinstein. Rubinstein persuaded
himself entirely to music. In a letter ot his sister, Tchaikovsky says,
“This is my vocation and I must follow it. Whether I become a
composer or a poor music teacher is immaterial. At all events, my
conscience will be clear and I shall no longer have any cause to
complain about my lot”.
When you follow bliss, the universe will open doors when there were
only walls.
Maybe I should note that some musicologists have critised this
movement quite violently. They say that it strikes a false note; that is
just not rings true after the three preceesing movements. But in my
view, this criticism is unfounded. Tchaikovsky’s idea was that the
fate, providence and human spirit are indomitable and they are all
stronger than we are. This is the poetic idea behind the Symphony
and it’s program and it stands to this movement as well.
Igor Strawinsky, a great admirer of Tchaikovsky said this about his
counrtymen. Tchaikovsky had a powerful sense of melody. It is the
centre of gravity in all his symphoneism, operas and ballets. There is
no doubt that he was an inspired creator of melody. And that is a
precisous gift.
- Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5 | Discovering Masterpieces
of Classical Music
Most contemporary critics had their doubts whether the song of the
earth was really a Symphony. They saw rather as a set of orchestral
songs. But Symphonic structures are are clearly discrenable, not only
in the individual movements but also in the overall design.
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We have the traditional four movements. The first is like a portal,
indicating the scale of the work. The second is clearly a slow
movement, contrasting sharply in character with the first. Then
comes a group of movement, always something of a scatso about
them. And the huge finale, draws the main musical threads of the
symphony together.
And the voice sings, my heart is weary, a traditional sighing motif.
In the late 19th century, interest in Oriental Arts quickens
significantly in Europe.
Dualism is one of the basic principles of Symphonic structure. In the
song of the Earth, Mahler draws on that principle at various levels;
Male and female are represented by the solo voices and in the poems
which also contrasts Spring and Autumn, light and dark, youth and
old age, inward and outward and above all life and death.
- Mahler - Symphony No. 5 | Discovering Masterpieces of
Classical Music
