Nonesuch Mozart

So we (my husband and I) went to Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Thursday last week for noon Mass; then we ate lunch at La Galette (he had soup and salad; I had the special: cabbage rolls and salad and I brought leftovers home). Then we checked out Spektrum Muzik and bought two more Nonesuch albums, My husband also found a used copy of the Chicago Transit Authority double album (sans posters) and we selected a Stan Kenton album too.

On the Mozart symphony album, Edward Tatnall Canby wrote the notes and he commented on how precarious the Mozart family life was. Wolfgang Amadeus seemed to thrive on a nomadic lifestyle, constantly moving, staying ahead of the creditors and landlords, borrowing money and promising to repay without any reasonable expectation of meeting the obligation. Edward Tatnall Canby asks, "Why didn't anyone help Mozart?" Josef Haydn tried to help Mozart, but Mozart, per Canby, did not avail himself of the opportunities Haydn or others offered. As Canby concludes, "Mozart was just plain maladjusted--and therefore misunderstood. If we seem blunt in our judgment, it is only because we are sympathetic. If he could not, would not help himself, we understand. The miracle is his music."

In all that disarray, how did Mozart create those three great symphonies in one summer (1788); Numbers 39, 40, and 41? Canby notes that Mozart's technique and style were so secure that all the confusion around him could not distract him. I think there's a moment in the Milos Forman adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus that depicts Mozart composing while his wife and father argue in the other room. Canby suggests that Mozart's creativity "was his release from painful reality. Here was the modern escape mechanism in a classic form!" Canby goes on to note the contrast between Mozart's "life of tragedy and the serene perfection of his music" which is "the supreme confidence of a master of style and technique." Finally, Canby concludes: "In Mozart's case--and this was his genius--the escape world of composition was so solid, so disciplined, as to far outshadow reality itself. So it is with most great minds. Maladjustment today, immortality tomorrow."

Monteverdi, Mozart, and Handel

My husband and I concluded our auditions of the other three LPs we purchased last week. My husband offers these particulars re: our stereo equipment: all of these records were "played on recycled "green" classic stereo equipment from the 70's and 80's: NAD 7100 receiver, Boston Acoustics A70 speakers, and Yamaha YP-B2 turntable." He has another turntable that he considers better for rock and roll. He is the audiophile, obviously.

The Handel and Mozart discs he considered excellent as far as their condition and sound fidelity. The Monteverdi Madrigals were recorded at a very low sound level: he had the volume on the NAD turned up pretty high.

Peter Frankl, the soloist on the Mozart piano concertos record, is on the faculty of the Yale School of Music and just turned 80 last October! He was 30 years old when he recorded that Turnabout album with the Wurttemberg Chamber Orchestra:

Pianist Peter Frankl made his London debut in 1962 and his New York debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell in 1967. Since that time he has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Concertgebouw, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, all the London orchestras, and the major American orchestras. He has collaborated with such eminent conductors as Abbado, Boulez, Davis, Haitink, Maazel, Masur, Muti, Salonen, and Solti, and his world tours have taken him to Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. He has appeared over twenty times at London’s BBC Promenade Concerts and has been a regular participant at the Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Verbier, Kumho, and Casals Festivals.

In the United States, Peter Frankl has been a regular guest artist at festivals including Aspen, Chautauqua, Marlboro, Norfolk, Ravinia, Santa Fe, and Yellow Barn. For many years the Frankl-Pauk-Kirshbaum Trio traveled the world. His many chamber music partners have included Kyung Wha Chung, Peter Csaba, Ralph Kirshbaum, and the Tokyo, Takács, Guarneri, Bartók, Fine Arts, and Lindsay quartets. He has given master classes all over the world, including the Royal Academy and Royal College in London, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Van Cliburn Institute in Texas, and in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Seoul.

Among his recordings are the complete works for piano by Schumann and Debussy, Bartók and Chopin solo albums, a Hungarian anthology, concertos and four-hand works by Mozart, the two Brahms piano concertos, the Brahms violin and clarinet sonatas, the Brahms trios, Bartók pieces for violin and piano, and the piano quintets by Brahms, Schumann, Dvorák, Martinu, and both Dohnányis.

In recognition of his artistic achievements, Mr. Frankl was awarded the Officer’s Cross by the Hungarian Republic, and on his seventieth birthday he was given one of the highest civilian awards in Hungary for his lifetime artistic achievement in the world of music. He is an honorary professor of the Liszt Academy and has been on the Yale School of Music faculty since 1987.

The two piano concertos date from Mozart's Vienna period, one composed in 1782 (n. 11) and the other in 1784 (n. 15). You may hear a sample of the 11th concerto here and the 15th here.

The Handel was performed by the Cento Soli (One Hundred Soloists) Orchestra of Paris, about whom I can find no further information. The Monteverdi Madrigals were performed by the Nuovo Madrigaletto Italiano and I hoped to find a list of the singers because their voices were so wonderful. Edward Tatnall Canby provides the notes again and explains away the lack of translation by stating the lyrics can't be adequately translated anyway!

Music for Royalty at a Commoner's House

My husband and I visited several royal courts Thursday night: in France, including Provence and Burgundy, Italy, Spain, Germany, Prussia. I suppose we spent the most time at Versailles, listening to works by Mouret, Couperin, Lully, de Lalande, Philidor, Naudot, Chedeville, and de Boismortier! 

We had visited Spektrum Muzik in Wichita's Delano shopping district and bought several Nonesuch, Turnabout, and Everest classical music recordings from the mid-1960s to late 1970s. The first two LPs pictured above were in great shape; perhaps the previous owners had made reel-to-reel recordings the first time and never played the LPs again; the fidelity was great throughout. The fidelity and sound quality on the Rampal flute sonatas record was not as good: my husband gave it a C. Rampal played all the flute parts on the album, using sound-on-sound recording techniques when the composition was for two or more flutes.

The liner notes for the Symphonies And Fanfares For The King's Supper were quite eloquently written by Edward Tatnall Canby, as he explained some aspects of courtly life during the reign of King Louis XIV, the role of music at the Court, and the expanding appreciation of this French music. Music does not have to ponderous and heavy with meaning as the nineteenth century thought, he concluded. We can even enjoy marches played on drums without fear of war and conflict! The David Munrow/Christopher Hogwood Early Music Consort album was varied, with many vocal selections sung by countertenor James Bowman but the second side was pretty short, even by LP standards (21:17). All three LPs had brilliant and comprehensive liner notes, providing composer biographies, historical context, and musical exposition.

We have three more to listen to: Mozart's piano concertos (15 and 11); Handel's oboe and string orchestra concertos, and some Monteverdi Madrigals, one Turnabout and two Nonesuch records. My favorite record cover? The Handel, with the composer at the keyboard:

It reminds me of the history essay Richard Lederer gathered from teachers: "Bach was the most famous composer in the world, and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian and half English. He was very large." 

More to come.