Classical Convert

Three (or more…) Kreutzer Sonata’s

Well, you see, it got to to thinking, it did. It being the subtitle, the alternative name, to Janacek’s string quartet number one. It’s called “The Kreutzer Sonata”, which initially seems more than just a little weird, as it’s not a sonata at all. Now, the other piece of information I gleaned from somewhere in my limited musical past and experience is that Beethoven’s violin sonata number 9 is also named this. Far more appropriately.

The really interesting thing is that the Janacek isn’t named after the Beethoven piece. Not directly anyway. It snakes through Tolstoy first. You see, apparently the T-dog (yeah, I’m calling Tolstoy the T-dog, you got a problem with that, fool?) wrote a book - also called The Kreutzer Sonata - referring to the emotional intensity of the Beethoven piece. Janacek’s version is based on that book. Confusing huh?

Even more confusing, but somewhat unifying, is that Sasha Chorny wrote a poem called The Kreutzer Sonata, referring to T-dog’s version, which Shostakovich set to music in op. 109, Satires (Pictures of the Past). In that song he uses a musical reference to Beethoven’s version. The Kreutzer Sonata really gets around.

Anyway, I now feel like I should go listen to the Beethoven and read the Tolstoy book.

The Grosse Fuge Grows On Me

I take back what so casually a declamation I made in the last post. It was something about my initial listenings to the huge pile of birthday music sitting on the frontlefthand side of my desk right now at the current mo. Specifically I said that the Beethoven quartets sounded good, but lacked the biting dissonances that grab my throat like the twentieth century boys’ stuff. Well, today I listened to the Grosse Fugue, op 133 and that has changed up my mind.

It’s plenty dissonant, in both tonal and rhythmic manners. It’s quite a shocker actually. Usually it is only, say, Prokofiev at his most mechanical (Symphony No. 2, say) or some extra avant gardey young fella like Schnittke who can really bemuse me on the first listen with a piece. This is absolutely definitely the first time Beethoven (or… pretty much anyone before 1900) has made me scrunch up my ears trying to pick out what the hell is going on.

The real killer so far is the first section of the piece, about 5 minutes in, where it sounds as though there are multiple metres going on. It’s spiky. It’s all spiky and angular. Later there are what sound like semitonal trills, (perhaps this is a big influence on Shostakovich’s late period trills) this isn’t straightforward stuff in the slightest. I like it a lot. Apparently Schoenberg was caught by this opus as well… but now I can’t bloody find the quote from him.

This really has a lot of promise to me right now.

A haul-load of music

Today (actually right bang on now, 11:15am) is my birthday. I’m an ancient and decaying 26 years old now, pretty much ready for the chopping block and glue factory. At least there’s a bit of moderation involved in the aging process with the whole old gift giving and receiving routine. These days or years all my presents are pretty specifically specified, which maybe makes it a little less exciting, but ultimately a bucketload more satisfying. This year, from me dad and stepmum I got:

• Beethoven, the late string quartets - I finally feel ready to taken on Beethoven’s quartets after exposing myself to Shostakovich and Bartok’s, and sliding my way into old Ludwig’s symphonies and piano sonatas. Initial listenings sound complex and subtler (I hate that word, bad, bad me. I’ll let me off though, since it is my birthday) than the dissonances and experimentation I find so attractive in the 20th century dudes.
• Prokofiev, string quartets and Cello sonata - I don’t think I have any of Prokofiev chamber music (except for three of the piano sonatas) which is a sad lacking coz he’s such a well up there favourite of mine. Initally they sound surprisingly… classical. Less avant-garde than I am used to from Sergei P.
• Shostakovich, piano quintet - The last missing piece of Shostakovich’s chamber music in my collection! It also has yet another recording of Schnittke’s piano quintet on it. Since it’s Naxos’ copy it’s probably even the same performance as I already have. Ah well.

I have tonnes of listening ahead of me, how glorious. They are all ripped and ready already. Prokofiev is playing as I type.

Beethoven up

Ooo… I’ve been slacking with updates recently. It’s been lacking coz of slacking. You’ve been alas!ing and alack!ing. Oh dear.

ANYWAY, I managed to finally get my shit together enough - despite the far too much time constraints given to me by labbing around with lasers and biotechnology - to throw together (in a very careful and considerate way) a Beethoven page. This scared me because, well, he isn’t - truth be told please don’t murder me - my top composer. Yet. I have a suspicion that being almost ready to listen to his late string quartets I shall become more attached to old Ludwig. Earwig.

My pianoing has taken even more of a hit from labtime then my website, unfortunately. Maybe tomorrow when I get stuff actually out of the way a bit… ahhhh… who am I kidding. Nothing’ll ever get out of the way, more things just fall into their place like some sort of avalanche conveyor belt system.