The Strathmore, Vivaldi and Musings

[thebes]

 

As some of you may recall for over a decade now various Forum members have gotten together once or twice a year  to attend symphonic concerts at the Strathmore Performing Arts Center.

 

This hall, located just outside Washington, DC is one of the premier musical venues throughout the land.  In architectural style it is a cross between mid-century modern and Scandinavian ethos.  The acoustics are perhaps the best I’ve heard in both the New and Old Worlds. At least two national orchestras make regular use of the hall, and there are always a variety of notable solo artists on hand when the pieces being played warrant it. 

 

Take this evening’s main piece, Antonio Vivaldi’s well known, “Four Seasons”, with four seasons, each with their own separate violin soloist.  Each season has three parts, which to my mind vaguely remind me of a roundelay with their own themes repeated within the part and each part slightly different, but of a piece.  This concert is a rarity in classical composition because it is based around, and meant to go alongside, a series of poems, which I think may have also been written by Vivaldi.  Classical gurus will know more about this then the vague remembrances of an old rock and roller.  I was particularly enchanted by the solo work, and it’s counterpart in “Fall”.

 

Now this piece is written primarily for strings, thus I was somewhat surprised to see how small the actual size of the orchestra was, in comparison to the full orchestra’s I’m used to at classical performances. Indeed in a bigger hall the clarity of the music would have been swallowed in its vastness. Which leads me to think that maybe Vivaldi composed mainly for a rich patron with performances given in a hall at his estate or city townhouse. Thus he composed his pieces with consideration for the space they’d be performed in. Just like we do with out rigs assembled with consideration of the space we place them in.

Now this lead to think a bit about the composition of a classical orchestra, which is very much dominated by stringed instruments.  Why, I thought.  Well maybe it’s something as simple as economics.  After all, back before the age of steam everything was built mostly by hand. Wood, not metal or plastics, was the most common because it was cheap, widely available and there were tons of people who had the skills to make things with it.  Contrast this with metal working. Think what it would have required to build a French Horn and think of how many violins you could build for the price of one horn.

 

Now sure I could use the internet to satisfy my curiosity about my musings, but sometimes just letting thoughts roll around your head is more fun then actually knowing if your suppositions are correct.

 

Oh and speaking of French Horns. The last “piece” of the night, were four French horns playing the theme to “Star Wars”.  Cute!

 

 

 

 

[Chris A]

For those that don't live in the DC area and didn't get the chance to attend the above concert, here's a very good substitute especially for those that have tuned-up 5.1 setups.   This is one that you can play any time:  https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001URA624/

 

 

Julia Fischer was fairly young when this was recorded (19 yo in 2002) in the National Botanic Garden of Wales with the strings from the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, with chirping birds filling the background soundstage.  This is a very nice setting for this grouping of four Vivaldi concerti. [The concerti were composed separately then later grouped together into this suite.]  There are not many Baroque music videos out there, but this one is a keeper.  We play this a couple of times/week.

 

You can also find a lossy stereo (AAC) version on YouTube, IIRC.  However, I find that the Dolby Digital 5.1 "performance" version is much more involving. The close-up shots of Fischer playing the solos are really captivating. 

 

Chris

[muel]

I'm a little off topic but I recall hearing a french horn solo one evening (I'll eventually recall the ensemble) and the french horn was center stage as was I about 10 rows back... the sound was coming from stage right... FAR stage right.  The sound waves reaching me were mostly reflected from the direction the horn was pointing.  No point... just thought it was a cool experience.

[LarryC]

Thanks, Marty!  The attendees were only Marty, myself, Garymd, and Fitz Mullan, a long-standing friend of mine.  The program, performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by a specialist in Baroque music not known to me was a little odd -- it lacked a heavyweight symphonic counterweight and hence a little unsatisfying.  Note to programmers:  be sure to include a full-out symphony by Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert or Schumann, for everyone to leave fully satisfied.

 

The Four Seasons comes from an era dominated by small string orchestras, especially if from Italy where beautiful and dazzling violin playing was the norm,  Only lighter woodwinds might be included among the players,  Vivaldi ran a school of violinists, notably made up of "orphan" girls.  Must have been nice!  But that accounts for the fact that the four Seasons is actually 4 violin concertos, one for each season.  A violin concerto traditionally has 3 movements, so each "season" is a 3-movement violin concerto (fast-slow-fast tempos), or 12 movements in all.

 

Instead of the usual single soloist for the whole work, the BSO decided to feature a different young, very proficient up-and-coming violin soloist for each concerto -- a very nice star turn for the 4 pretty young ladies still early in their careers.  The audience was very appreciative!  The conductor also chose to have 3 or 4 violin soloists play the inner parts of the first movement ("Spring"),which produced lots of bird-like twittering in that first movement.  Enchanting!  Each gal was distinctly talented, with 4 different characters of performance.

 

The second piece was the three-movement "Rosamunde" ballet by Schubert.  Beautiful, with Schubert's wonderful orchestration balancing string, woodwind, and brass parts.  An oddly truncated work, however, part of the incompleteness to the concert.

 

The Finale was the unique Concert-Piece for 4 Horns and Orchestra.  Schumann came along when brass was transitioning from being able to only play "natural" notes by changing only lip pressure, to the introduction of valves, which allowed rapid playing of all notes in the scale.  Schumann had access to one of the best such expert horn player, and went all-out to creat a wild, inventive piece only 15 min long, but definitely a workout.  It was a flashy, rather brief finale to the program, not at all a major symphonic climactic work like one of his great symphonies

 

Still, it was a very nice, fairly well-rounded experience.  We attendees really enjoyed it.

[Marvel]

I think someone has kidnapped Thebes... this doesn't sound anything like him...😉

 

Seriously, very well stated.

 

I once heard Handel's Messiah with a small, very small orchestra (if it was even that) and a small chorus. It was breathtaking in its starkness and power.

 

Bruce

[LarryC]

Yes, so  many Messiahs in the past, were done with huge choruses and orchestras, and exaggerated, overblown use of many instruments, instead of a small string orchestra and a few winds and percussion. I believe Hermann Scherchen was prominent in the 1950's and 60's in insisting on very small courses and orchestras, and extremely rapid tempos instead of the ponderous draggy stuff we still hear today.  I like 'em small, too.  You can hear a lot more detail and meaning if you have a small chorus of only a few singers.

EDIT:  The original manuscript for Messiah is now held in the British Library's music collection.^[26] It is scored for 2 trumpets, timpani, 2 oboes, 2 violins, viola, and basso continuo (cello, double bass, and harpsichord).  Indeed, Wiki mentions that Scherchen was the first conductor to record with a very small orchestra and chorus.

[LarryC]

Bruce, if you're not familiar with the Scherchen, listen to this, particularly at 12:46 and 22:05 for fleet versions of two famous choruses.  IMO, it's worth listening to the first 10 min or so  for the serious interpretation of the opening sections.

-- Larry

 

 

[thebes]

Interesting. So small chorus I can get behind, but not the one thing I cannot abide in classical music, chamber music.  A four piece combo should be 3 guitars and a drummer, not four stringed instruments and variations thereof.

 

You could certainly discern the instruments better and they could be more subtle, like the harpsichord playingn (I think) in the Winter portion of the piece. I still would caution that given the size of the space this work was in danger of getting lost , but in a smaller venue it would have been perfect. 

 

No let me correct that the venue wasn't too large, the stage was borderline too large for this work.