Music with extra-musical subtexts has existed for a long time, but it was the Romantics who first combined story and music in a close synthesis. Their pioneer was Hector Berlioz, who dove into the art of musical storytelling with a daring never before seen, yet with an artistic integrity rarely achieved since. Berlioz first saw [...]
César Franck’s beautiful short piece, “Panis Angelicus,” seems to epitomize all that is good about December, while serving as good therapy against those manic bouts of mandated (and teeth-gritting) good cheer. You hear the opening notes and your shoulders unclench; your thoughts slow. Your ears prick up in order to catch every beautiful note. I [...]
I have five unique choices as gift recommendations for Christmas, comprising two cellos, two violins, and one piano. 1. I became aware of my first choice in late spring thanks to reader Frida Peeple. After reading my essay on Vivaldi’s cello concertos, she mentioned Croatian-Slovenian Luka Šulić’s Vivaldi project. I have since waited impatiently for [...]
American composer Paul Creston's Symphony No. 3 is composed of three movements, each depicting one of the mysteries of the life of Christ: "The Nativity," "The Crucifixion," and "The Resurrection." Here is more from the Naxos recording of this work: In his Symphony No.3 Creston expressed his deep religious feelings in an orchestral Life of Christ. Premiered [...]
Is it possible and does it make sense to deal with the last four years of Wolfgang Amadè Mozart’s creative life without being fixated on the catastrophe of the composer's premature end? His death forever changed the course of musical classicism at the turn of the eighteenth century because, to give just one example, it [...]
Hector Berlioz's version of the "Te Deum" surpasses them all in its colossal scale. The French composer has often been accused of bombast, but here the gigantic forces required are completely fitting for this cosmic hymn of praise. “[I]t was enthusiasm itself that inspired the Te Deum...[A]mid clouds of smoke and yet reeking blood, a [...]
Today’s pop music is designed to sell, not inspire. Today’s pop artist is often more concerned with producing something familiar to mass audience, increasing the likelihood of commercial success. With less timbral variety, and the same combination of keyboard, drum machine, and computer software, and with only two songwriters writing much of what we hear, [...]
Bruce Springsteen's unrivaled stage presence comes across remarkably well in the film "Western Stars," as he performs his recent album in its entirety. But it is the brief, meditative, and confessional vignettes he uses to introduce each song that reveal just how much the entire album serves as his own version of St. Augustine's "Confessions." [...]
It’s October, Halloween is approaching and I am obsessed with Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. Blame it on the title and mood of the symphony’s fifth movement: “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath.” Could any title be more deliciously spooky? It’s this movement, and this symphony, that make classical music people nod in recognition at the sound of Hector Berlioz’s [...]
Playing violin unaccompanied is the most exposed sort of music-making, with a vulnerability that is both technical and emotional. Its music seems to bring out a personal quality in composers that one doesn’t always get from music for large forces. The purity of the medium and its limitations call forth a challenge to the composer [...]
Hector Berlioz wrote the Chant Sacré (Sacred Song) in 1829, using re-using a melody he had employed in his cantata of the previous year, Herminie. Berlioz went on to create three arrangements for this gorgeous and brief piece: for choir and piano; for chorus and orchestra; and, in 1844, a version for six wind instruments. [...]
As Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen turns 70 years old, one finds it a daunting task to make an exhaustive list of his artistic accomplishments and the accolades he has received for them: Mr. Springsteen, who has been performing live for more than a half-century now, is the 15th highest-selling artist of all-time; his first album, [...]
Arthur Honegger’s war symphonies, a synthesis of tradition and modernity, are powerful mementos of a heroic period. There was a sense that, with a moral menace to be defeated in World War II, digging into the depths of tradition was essential. As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of various milestones of World War II, it strikes [...]
Rich Mullins seemed different from most other contemporary Christian artists, and somehow more real than the standard imitation-rock bands that were and are popular. But I was only a casual fan. So I was blown away when I was told after his fatal car accident in 1997 that he was on his way to be [...]