Give yourself and your family 15 minutes of classical music from the Romantic Period and Classical MPR.
TRACKLIST:
00:00:00 Johann Sebastian Bach Cello Suite No. 1: I. Prelude Alexander Rudin, cello
00:02:31 Gabriel Faure Sicilienne Ina-Esther Joost Ben-Sasson, cello Allan Sternfield, piano
00:06:03 Robert Schumann Cello Concerto in A Minor: I. Nicht zu schnell National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland Andrew Constantine, conductor Maria Kliegel, cello
00:18:40 Sergei Rachmaninoff 14 Songs: No. 14: Vocalise Michael Grebanier, cello Janet Guggenheim, piano
00:24:24 Antonin Dvorak Cello Concerto in B Minor Moscow Symphony Orchestra Konstantin Krimetz, conductor Alexander Rudin, cello
00:39:44 Camille Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals: XIII. The Swan Bournemouth Sinfonietta Jean-Francois Monnard, conductor Maria Kliegel, cello
00:43:09 Franz Schubert Arpeggione Sonata: I. Allegro moderato Maria Kliegel, cello Kirstin Merscher, piano
00:56:19 Sergei Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata in G Minor: III. Andante Torleif Thedeen, cello Roland Pontinen, piano
01:02:25 Edward Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor: I. Adagio - Moderato Moscow Symphony Orchestra Konstantin Krimetz, conductor Alexander Rudin, cello
01:09:59 Peter Tchaikovsky 6 Morceaux, Op. 19: No. 4: Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor Ireland National Symphony Orchestra Gerhard Markson, conductor Maria Kliegel, cello
01:14:45 Antonin Dvorak From the Bohemian Forest: No. 5: Silent Woods Rhine Philharmonic State Orchestra Gustavo Gimeno, conductor Maira Kliegel, cello
01:20:45 Franz Joseph Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1: II. Adagio Capella Istropolitana Peter Breiner, conductor Ludovit Kanta, cello
01:29:17 David Popper Elfentanz Hai-Ye Ni, cello Helene Jeanney, piano
01:32:13 Cello Sonata No. 3: III. Adagio cantabile - IV. Allegro vivace Csaba Onczay, cello Jeno Jando, piano
01:40:27 Antonio Vivaldi Concerto for Two Cellos: I. Allegro - II. Largo - III. Allegro Capella Istropolitana Jaroslav Krcek, conducgtor Peter Baran, cello Ludovit Kanta, cello
01:50:57 Claude Debussy Cello Sonata in D Minor: III. Finale Tatjana Vassiljeva, cello Yumiko Urabe, piano
01:54:19 Camille Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1: I Allegro non troppo Bournemouth Sinfonietta Jean-Francois Monard, conductor Maria Kliegel, cello
02:00:05 Felix Mendelssohn Song Without Words in D Major, Op. 109 Maria Kliegel, cello Kristin Merscher, piano
02:04:39 Ludwig van Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 4: II. Allegro vivace Csaba Onczay, cello Jeno Jando, piano
02:09:28 Luigi Boccherini Cello Concerto in B-Flat major: III. Rondo Capella Istropolitana Peter Breiner, conductor Ludovit Kanta, cello
]]>A growing number of people choose not to celebrate Valentine's Day because it has become too commercial. While I can't fault this holiday all that much because I adore flowers and am addicted to candy, I do appreciate less commercial ways to celebrate love and romance — so I talked to some friends and colleagues about the most romantic classical music for their instruments.
Cellist Mark Solie of Duluth focused on chamber music, first mentioning the Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor. "Romance has so many different meanings," he said. "The piece isn't about love, but it sure is about emotions." Mark also singled out the Ravel string quartet and the Brahms second piano concerto, "with those beautiful horn and cello lines. I guess I'm stuck on Brahms!"
While many would call the cello the most romantic instrument, Michael Larson of St. Paul argued that the trombone deserves this designation "because trombone players are the most romantic musicians."
He continued, "One of my all-time favorites is the 'Romance' in D by Carl Maria von Weber. It's so perfect for the trombone it seems impossible to consider any other instrument playing it. Many a romance has been sparked with these melodies.
"I always give a student who's looking for romantic literature — and they always are! — a French staple with the trombone world: Joseph Guy Ropartz's 'Piece in B-flat Minor.'
"But I have to say my current favorite is 'Colors for Trombone' by Bert Appermont. Yes, I picked a living composer — deal with it! This piece is not only romantic, but it's exciting, playful, and takes you on a journey."
Scotty Horey, a Minneapolis-based percussionist, said, "David Maslanka's 'My Lady White,' about the timeless emotion of love, is my favorite 'truly romantic' work for marimba solo. I frequently program this piece on my solo concerts to provide a space of tenderness and intimacy."
Pianist Jay Hershberger of Hitterdal, Minn., eagerly replied, "Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 without a doubt!" before I clarified that I meant a work for his major instrument. "Well, Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 would do just fine," he replied.
"My personal anecdote about this is that my wife Cindy heard me practicing Rachmaninoff's second concerto at a dinner party off in another room when I was in college. We had never met before, and she came into the room and listened. When I finished she said, 'You play beautifully!' I said thank you. The funny thing is, I do not remember the exchange.
"We met again in sophomore theory a year later when she transferred to the University of Tulsa, where I was working on my undergrad. I introduced myself to her and she said, 'I know who you are. We met last year. You were playing the piano...' She left me speechless. Anyway, that work has always been close to our hearts as husband and wife, along with the Rachmaninoff second symphony."
People seem to agree that my own instrument, the horn, is quite a romantic one because of its beautiful tone. It's hard to pick the most romantic work for horn, but "Reverie" for horn and piano, Op.24, by Alexander Glazunov is definitely near the top of the list. Its gently tumbling phrases are so lovely, and even the pedal A-flat sounds romantic somehow, which is unusual that low in the horn's register.
Give it a listen on February 14th as you enjoy a heart-shaped box of chocolates — or, instead of one.
Gwendolyn Hoberg is a classical musician and the owner of the editing and writing business Content & Contour. A Moorhead resident, Gwen is on the faculty of the NDSU Challey School of Music and plays with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. She is also a co-author of The Walk Across North Dakota.
]]>You may have seen in headlines recently that Valentine's Day this year will have no Necco's colorful SweetHeart Candies, after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and closed its doors. Not to worry though, Classical MPR has you covered! We've selected our top 10 cheesiest pickup lines for classical music lovers and put them on our own candy hearts for you. Choose your favorites and rate them up or down in our list.
Poll: Which classical work most gets you in the mood for love?
Image templates courtesy of Image Chef.
]]>Classical music's had more than its share of broken hearts — but not every composer was lovelorn! Here are six who found lasting happiness in committed relationships.
Robert and Clara Schumann
When Schumann's mother heard virtuoso pianist Clara Wieck perform a series of difficult variations, she went up to the soloist and said, "You must marry my Robert some day." Unfortunately, Clara's father wasn't so thrilled with the idea — despite the fact that Robert was one of Friedrich Wieck's piano students. Under the law of the time, Robert and Clara had to go to court to win the right to marry against Friedrich's objections. After all that, though, the marriage was a happy one: the two remained personal and musical bedfellows until Robert's premature death at age 46, with both composing pieces that have entered the standard repertoire.
Benjamin Britten
Another composer who found personal and musical companionship with a single beloved was Benjamin Britten. Tenor Peter Pears was inspiring Britten's music before the two became a romantic item, but from their 20s until Britten's death, they were close personal and professional partners. Britten composed many song cycles for Pears, and the two co-founded a festival and a school.
Johann Sebastian Bach
While the number of children birthed is hardly a reliable indicator of marital happiness, it must be observed that Bach and his wife Maria Barbara Bach had seven. (It also must be observed that the great composer and Ringo Starr had this in common: they married women named Barbara Bach.) Unfortunately only four of the Bachs' children survived, but what children! They all had musical talent, especially C.P.E., who became a leading composer of the classical era.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart ultimately achieved passionate love with his wife Constanze, but it was initially rocky: Mozart initially fell for Constanze's older sister Aloysia, only turning to Constanze after Aloysia rejected him. Once Mozart and Constanze started courting, they temporarily broke up when Constanze scandalously, as part of a parlor game, allowed another man to measure her calves. In the end, they were happily united, with the composer sending his wife infatuated letters whenever they had to part.
John Cage
Avant-garde composer John Cage was another artist who found a kindred spirit to share his life: Merce Cunningham, the most influential choreographer of the 20th century. Although Cunningham was known for dances that allowed music to be composed separately, he and Cage were in lockstep when it came to shared ideals and artistic adventure. The two were close collaborators and lovers for decades, although they weren't open about their personal relationship until 1989 — when, asked about it unexpectedly, Cage responded, "I do the cooking, and Merce does the dishes."
]]>With Valentine's Day coming up on Feb. 14, we're wondering: Which classical work most gets you in the mood for love?
We've selected five of the most romantic works, including a sample of each as a refresher. Choose the one that suits you best, and then view the real-time results.
Note: If you don't see the poll, click on "reload this page."
]]>What's in store musically for the royal wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry? Everything is hush-hush until "the biggest classical musical event of the year" happens on Saturday — along with the much-hyped ceremony, of course. But we can look to previous royal weddings and British tradition for a likely playlist, compiled by our classical music director, Ryan Lohr.
Click the player above to listen.
Track listing
0:00
ELGAR: Serenade for Strings
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
DG 419191
12:16
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Prelude on Rhosymedre
Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner
EMI 62529
16:19
MAXWELL DAVIES: Farewell to Stromness
Peter Maxwell Davies, piano
Unicorn 9070
21:05
WALTON: Henry V Suite: Touch Her Soft Lips and Part
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Andrew Litton
London/Decca 448134
23:17
FINZI: Romance
Royal Ballet Sinfonia, David Lloyd-Jones
Naxos 555069
30:12
WALTON: Set Me as a Seal
Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury
EMI 54418
33:50
WAGNER: Lohengrin: Treulich gefuhrt (Bridal Chorus)
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Robert Shaw
Telarc 80333
38:38
God Save the Queen
Choir of the Chapel Royal
Chandos 6560
41:01
MENDELSSOHN: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Wedding March
Vienna Philharmonic, Andre Previn
Philips 420161
46:13
WIDOR: Organ Symphony No. 5: Toccata
Mary Preston, organ
Reference 113
51:10
PARRY: The Birds of Aristophanes: Bridal March of the Birds
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Neeme Jarvi
Chandos 10740
55:54
ELGAR: Land of Hope and Glory
BBC Concert Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth
DG 457196
01:01:48
WALTON: Crown Imperial
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton
London/Decca 448134
Each month on the YourClassical Favorites stream, we host a vote and a countdown of your musical favorites.
Earlier in February, we asked you to tell us your favorite pieces that evoke feelings of love and romance. We've tallied the results, and on Monday, Feb. 20, starting at 10 a.m. Central Time on our Favorites stream, we'll count down the top 20 favorite "love and romance" pieces — as voted by you.
Follow the results on Twitter — look for the #lovefavesTop20 hashtag.
]]>Maurice Ravel's Boléro is one of the most famously erotic pieces of classical music. To some 21st century ears, though, it's become the musical equivalent of shag carpeting.
The quarter-hour composition wasn't originally conceived as a soundtrack to sex. At its 1928 premiere, Ravel advocated for choreography that would have been set against an industrial background befitting the music's mechanically repetitive quality.
He had a point: the principal distinguishing feature of the piece is its relentless repetition of an insistent theme that becomes vaguely militaristic with the introduction of horns. Hardly an incitement to ardor, but there's also that slowly swelling orchestration that gives the piece the feeling of a single-minded building to climax. Since the average American couple only take seven minutes to consummate a coupling, 15 minutes is a reasonable goal to aspire to.
"There's nothing subtle about the strutting, deliciously arrogant horniness of the tune nor about its inexorable saunter to salacious satisfaction," writes Richard Todd. "Even the change of key corresponds exactly to passing that point of no return of which we're all so fond. And the big bang at the end, well, I leave it to you to interpret that one..."
The piece began appearing in sensual contexts in the 1970s, when it soundtracked a documentary about gay erotica. Its fate as a lights-down-low selection was sealed with its prominent inclusion in one of the decade's iconic cinematic sex scenes. "Did you ever do it to Ravel's Boléro?" asks Bo Derek, after which she and Dudley Moore proceed to toke up and give it a whirl — pre-empting Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.
The film — Blake Edwards's 10 (1979) — was so successful that it made Boléro one of the most expensive musical numbers to license for use in future movies, earning a million dollars a year for the composer's estate.
People magazine covered the Boléro phenomenon in 1980, as recordings of the piece flew off the shelves. "'It doesn't matter which orchestra is playing,' says one record store manager in Denver. 'They just want it.' Of course, as a sex aid, the Boléro is a plain-brown-wrapper item. "No one ever wants it for himself," explains a salesman in Houston. 'It's always "for a friend."'"
Five years later, Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean cemented the tune's status as a choice for couples — but also, perhaps, started the process of turning it into a colossal joke — when they chose Boléro as the soundtrack for their gold-winning performance at the Winter Olympics.
That same year, Derek appeared in a film named — wait for it — Bolero. The movie, about a woman who falls in love with a bullfighter, won that year's Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture. Today, it may be best-remembered for an infamously explicit sex scene (rumored to depict actual intercourse) between Derek and her costar, directed by Derek's then-husband John. It's probably just as well for Ravel that the titular composition wasn't even heard in the movie.
Does Boléro still inspire ardor today, or does it inspire...well, whatever you feel when you look at Dudley Moore in a wide-lapeled white suit?
Plenty of people, it seems, still like to get their freak on with Ravel: in a 2012 poll of Spotify users, Boléro was outsexed by only Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
A young celesta player, writing in 2011, called Boléro "remarkably sexual." Even though it has only 30 seconds of celesta, she wrote, "This piece is BALLIN."
]]>How many weddings have you been to? Almost certainly not as many as Bob Mitchell, who in his capacity as organist, piano player, DJ, and guitarist has chalked up over a thousand.
Mitchell started playing ceremonies and receptions as a teenager, to pay his way through music college. While most of his fellow musicians, he says, "hated" wedding gigs, and did them mainly for the paycheck, Mitchell found that he actually enjoyed himself more than a little.
"I really liked weddings," he says. "I loved every wedding I ever worked at. You have four or five hours to get two groups of people that don't know each other to interact, and put smiles on their faces. They don't have to be sitting and listening to each note, but the music's there, creating mood, creating the atmosphere."
And while the weddings Mitchell played at varied enormously in size, style and setting, one thing was common to all of them. "Every bride I've ever met wanted her wedding to be unique. Every one."
Why then, Mitchell wondered, was he always being asked to play the same music? Pachelbel's Canon, Mendelssohn's Wedding March, "Here Comes The Bride" — the same titles were requested over and over. Might there not be scope for trying something more original, more truly distinctive?
That is where the composer in Mitchell clicked in, and the idea of writing his own wedding music started. Using a Logic Pro workstation at his home in Burnsville, Minn., he produced an initial run of 30 pieces for string quartet and took them to a music convention in Los Angeles.
The positive feedback that he received there encouraged Mitchell to develop the project further. Back in Minnesota he hired a professional string quartet, which taped his wedding music in a recording studio, with parts for harp and flute added.
The result is A Wedding by the Lake, a CD containing 17 pieces of music, mostly two to three minutes in duration. Each is tailored to a specific section of the wedding celebration, and the sequence can be used either selectively or in total.
"As We Gather," "With this Ring," "Rose Petals," "Hopes and Dreams" — these are among the titles Mitchell gave to individual movements, aiming to distill his vast experience of wedding ceremonies into elegant, listener-friendly music that would complement the special moments of a uniquely special occasion.
Having recordings of his music ready for grooms and brides-to-be to listen to was one thing, getting it out into an overcrowded marketplace quite another.
To that end, Mitchell converted himself into a one-man business, handling the artwork and CD pressing arrangements and setting up a website, where both the sheet music of A Wedding by the Lake and the recording itself can be downloaded.
"I sell a lot of MP3s, I sell a lot of sheet music around the world, I have 40 YouTube videos up where I have pictures of brides and landscapes using my music underneath," he says.
For maximum flexibility, Mitchell has also written versions of his wedding music for different combinations of instruments. "I have arrangements for flute solo and piano, flute duet and piano, trumpet duet, violin and cello solo. People use them and like them."
Initial reactions to A Wedding by the Lake have been enthusiastic, spurring Mitchell to explore the concept further. He's already recorded a version of the piece for solo piano, and has ideas for follow-up CDs of songs he's written to be sung at weddings, and self-penned instrumental pieces for processional and recessional purposes.
Though boundlessly enthusiastic about his own compositions, Mitchell emphasizes that the choice of music for a wedding is ultimately highly personal. One thing, though, would undoubtedly make him happy.
"What I want ten years down the road," he says, "is somebody saying 'Do I want Pachelbel's Canon, that's been played a billion times, or do I want Bob Mitchell's "Rose Petals," which is just as beautiful?' That's what I want."
Terry Blain was educated in Northern Ireland and Cambridge, England, and writes for a wide range of publications, including BBC Music Magazine and Opera Magazine. In his spare time he is an avid record collector, and walks his dog Buddy.
]]>As we launched our new Romance Stream, YourClassical listeners were invited to vote for the pieces of music they consider to be the most likely to evoke thoughts of love or romance.
Nearly 200 votes were cast by listeners from 22 U.S. states. Listen to the Romance Stream on Valentine's Day — Sunday, Feb. 14 — starting at 10 a.m. Central / 11 a.m. Eastern as host Julie Amacher counts them down. (We'll stream it again at 6 p.m. Central / 7 p.m. Eastern.)
Here are the top 10 pieces of "love music," as voted by you:
10. Johann Pachelbel - Canon
9. Giacomo Puccini - O Mio Babbino Caro
8. Franz Liszt - Liebestraum No. 3
7. Ludvig van Beethoven - Adagio Cantibile from Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathétique"
6. Gustav Holst - Venus from the Planets
5. Jules Massenet - Meditation from Thaïs
4. Peter Tchaikovsky - Waltz from Sleeping Beauty
3. Giacomo Puccini - Vogliatemi beni (Love Duet) from Madame Butterfly
2. Peter Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet
1. Edvard Grieg - Wedding Day at Troldhaugen
And congratulations to Sue from Connecticut — the randomly selected winner of our five-CD prize pack of albums with the words "love" or "romance" in the title.
Thanks to all who voted!
Classical music has had half a millennium to sort out its terminology — but there's still plenty of room for confusion, especially when describing musical eras. For example, not all classical music is Classical — in the sense that what's regarded as the Classical era ran from about 1750 to 1825.
That era was followed by the Romantic era, which ran from about 1825 to 1900. Much of that era's music is what you might call "romantic" in an amorous sense (Chopin's Étude No. 2, Brahms's Piano Sonata No. 3), but then there's also Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries and Verdi's Requiem. So where did the term "Romantic" come from?
Before the word "romantic" was routinely used to describe lovey-dovey stuff, it connoted a sweeping emotionalism — such as that associated with sunsets and poetry. By the beginning of the period we now call "the Romantic era" in the arts, the word was commonly used to describe a free-spirited expression, particularly among artists.
In reaction to the rationalizing process of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, the Romantic movement in the arts valorized subjective expression that was unfettered by rules and systems. Whereas Mozart's genius lay in his inventive use of his day's standardized musical tropes, Beethoven raised the stakes with his stormy — and, eventually, radical — departures from those tropes.
The defining composers of the Romantic era include Chopin, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky. These composers took Beethoven's intense subjectivity as a baseline and pushed even farther into the realms of drama and poignance — with a decreasing regard for the niceties of conventional composition. Wagner pushed the limits of tonality, and Mahler brought the era to a crashing climax with his sprawling symphonies. Beyond him lay the bizarre new worlds of Stravinsky and Schoenberg.
It's not a coincidence that the word "romantic" came to connote an atmosphere of loving connection — if you want to set the mood for an erotic evening, you're much more likely to go for Schumann's soaring strings than for Bach's Goldberg Variations. (Of course, to each his or her own.) To this day, when a composer wants to suggest themes of love or sensuality, he or she is likely to reach into the 19th-century toolbox.
You'll hear a lot of Romantic music on YourClassical's Romance stream — but you'll hear baroque arias, pop-tune transcriptions, and more. Love, after all, knows no bounds — temporal, stylistic, or otherwise.
To help happy couples choose the music for their celebrations — and to reminisce afterwards — our classical music experts curated a stream of some of the most beautiful and moving compositions to have ever been heard during wedding-day festivities.
We've curated a nine-hour playlist of classical compositions that make great choices for wedding music. Enjoy!
