Edward Johnson writes…
It’s October the First and Autumn is well and truly on us, so here are some musical examples to mark the event, starting as ever with Tchaikovsky and ‘October’ from “The Seasons”.
Bruce Liu plays “Autumn Song” quite beautifully, in my opinion …
In his 1951 US Columbia recording, Morton Gould retained much of the solo part and added an orchestral accompaniment which he directed from the keyboard …
David Matthews’s orchestral version still awaits a commercial recording but thanks to YouTube we have its broadcast premiere from 1991 conducted by Carl Davis …
Here’s another piano piece entitled “October” which comes from Fanny Mendelssohn’s “The Year” and is played by Anna Shelest …
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 2 “To October” was first performed in 1927 and marked the 10th Anniversary of the October Revolution. However, Wikipedia reveals that the work was “geometric music without emotional structure” and that the composer himself later admitted that his 2nd and 3rd Symphonies were “completely unsatisfactory,” so we’ll hastily pass over that one. His Symphonic Poem “October” from much later, first performed in 1967, has suffered a similar fate, being dismissed as “a vulgar, blaring, simple-minded exercise in social realism, a hack work with banal melodies and blatant orchestration.” We’ll have to pass over that one as well!
Back to “Autumn” and a recording of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” from 1966. This was made by the New Philharmonia with Hugh Bean playing the solo violin part and Charles Spinks on harpsichord. Leopold Stokowski had signed a contract with Decca to make LPs in “Phase 4 Stereo” and the Vivaldi work was one which they wanted in their catalogue. He had never played the work in his life before but at the age of 84 he duly obliged. Happily, the reviews were not too critical, with Timothy Ball in ‘Classical Source’ being struck “by just how heartfelt and affectionate this performance is, a welcome reminder of Stokowski’s musicianship, put to restrained rather than excessive use.”
PS re “October” … A friend has just suggested a wind-band piece by Eric Whitacre with that very title, if you’d like to add it in to your own selection, unless you’ve already done so! …
Now over to Colin for more suitable selections to mark October the First and Autumn!
Thanks Edward, I don’t know about “more suitable”, tho I have harvested a few pieces (if rarely by Eric Whitacre!). But first, I feel Shostakovich’s Second Symphony should be included, here conducted by Kirill Kondrashin, his Moscow Philharmonic recording for Melodiya…
And now, me…
Jennifer Higdon: Autumn Music.
Massenet: Pensée D’Automne
Ligeti: Études, Book 1/No.6 ‘Automne à Varsovie’
Percy Grainger: Harvest Hymn. ASMF/Neville Marriner.
Charles Ives: Song for the Harvest Season.
Jan DeGaetani, soprano, w/American Brass Quintet: Gerard Schwarz – trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn; John Eckert – trumpet; Edward Birdwell – french horn; Arnold Fromme – tenor trombone; Robert Biddlecome – bass trombone.
LSO/Øivin Fjeldstad.
Glazunov The Seasons – IV ‘Autumn’ (Philharmonia/Svetlanov)
A feline bonus track…
Ivana Tomaskova (violin) & Renata Ardasevova (piano).
Bonus LP (to herald Halloween, Oct.31), Alexander Gibson’s superb Witches’ Brew recording, 1958.
From remastered 180-g vinyl…
UK release, RCA SB.2020.
- Producer: Erik Smith
- Engineers: Kenneth Wilkinson and Alan Reeve (recorded by Decca for RCA Victor’s Living Stereo series)
- Recording Location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK
I wondered if the violin solos got a credit…
“The featured solo violinist (concertmaster/leader) for Camille Saint-Saëns‘s Danse Macabre, Op. 40 [and other pieces here] on the famous Witches’ Brew album—conducted by Alexander Gibson with the New Symphony Orchestra of London—was not individually credited in the original 1958 RCA Victor Living Stereo liner notes or standard discographical database releases.”
Hugh Bean? Erich Gruenberg? Hugh Maguire? Manoug Parikian? The list of London Orchestra leaders would be quite long!