In Reference to Murder

Sunday Music Treat - Halloween Edition

Composer Franz Liszt was a bit obsessed with death and the afterlife, allegedly going so far as to visit prison dungeons to see first-hand people sentenced to death. His interest in the macabre is often found in his work, with one of the most famous being the Totentanz (Dance of Death) for piano and orchestra. It's based on the "Dies Irae" Gregorian chant, but Liszt spins the centuries-old melody into a virtuosic and percussive piece that was modern for its time. Scott Drayco, the protagonist of my Scott Drayco crime series, and a pianist, himself, would undoubtedly have picked this as a perfect Halloween treat. Here's Alfred Brendel as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Bernard Haitink:

 

Sunday Music Treat

Today is the birthday of Australian-born composer, arranger, and pianist, Percy Grainger (1882-1961), who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. One of his more popular compositions was "Molly on the Shore," which is actually an arrangement of two contrasting Irish reels, "Temple Hill" and "Molly on the Shore." It was written in 1907 by Grainger as a birthday gift for his mother, Rose Annie Aldridge. Below is a recording of Grainger himself playing the work in a recording from 1927 (Scott Drayco has also played this a few times):

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Your Sunday Music Treat

Tomorrow (January 31) is the birthday of Franz Schubert, who lived far too short a life, dying at the age of 31 in 1828. Still, Schubert was remarkably prolific in his short career, writing over 1,500 works. The majority of those are for voice and piano, but he also left behind a large body of music for solo piano, including this Impromptu No 4 in A-flat major, D 899 performed by Arthur Rubenstein (which is a little harder for Scott Drayco to play these days after his injury, although he does his best).

Sunday Music Treat

It's rare that we have recordings of any composers prior to the advent of the modern record player, but there are some old piano rolls which have been adapted for modern playback. Case in point, here's Claude Debussy playing his own iconic piece, "Claire de lune" from the Suite Bergamasque, written in 1890-1905:

 

Sunday Music Treat

You are quite likely to hear J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio this time of year, although it requires some planning and scheduling, seeing as how it's in six parts, each part being intended for performance on one of the major feast days of the Christmas period. The total running time for the entire work is nearly three hours. Here's something a little more manageable, an arrangement of the Sinfonia section for piano, as played by Lang Lang:

 

Sunday Music Treat

When I was in college as part of a choral ensemble, Handel's Messiah was the usual December offering, as you might expect. However, one year, we performed John Rutter's Gloria, and it's really a lovely, underrated work. That was many years ago, which is why it's hard to believe I once had the voice to sing the "Miserere" soprano solo line in the Domine Deus section, which you can listen to below:

 

Sunday Music Treat

Arnold Schoenberg is best known for his dissonant modernist music, but his "Weihnachtsmusik (Christmas Music)," is actually a nice little arrangement for chamber ensemble of the classic carol, "Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen," by Praetorius, with even a touch of Silent Night for good measure. Here's Andrew Parrott conducting the Taverner Consort and Players:

 

Sunday Music Treat

In honor of Thanksgiving coming up in the U.S. this week, here's a work by Percy Grainger (1882-1961), who was actually an Australian-born composer and pianist, although he lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. This is a short piece titled "Harvest Hymn" and is played here by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Mariner:

 

Sunday Music Treat

I meant to get this one up prior to Halloween, but it's the appropriately titled "Totentanz" ("Dance of Death") by Franz Liszt, based on the Gregorian chant, "Dies Irae" (something I used as part of the inspiration for my Scott Drayco crime novel, Dies Irae). Drayco has played this many times himself, but here's Dominic Chamot on the piano and the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jukka-Pekka Saraste:

 

Your Sunday Music Treat

January is the birth month of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915). His early piano works were heavily influenced by Chopin whereas his later output took a turn toward the abstract and atonal, influenced by his interest in mysticism.

Part of that "mystical" philosphy was an obsession with what was possibly a faux-synesthesia in music, not necessarily like the real synesthesia of the protagonist in my Scott Drayco series, but more of a conceptual idea of keys and the circle of fifths assigned to various colors (and possibly based on Sir Isaac Newton's Opticks). However, there is some debate on the issue of whether or not Scriabin was a true synesthete.

At any rate, here's a performance of Scriabin's Etude Op.8 No.12 by Vladimir Horowitz: