Maestro 020: IODA Favorite Holiday Special

In this episode we wanted to celebrate the upcoming holidays with a few of our favorite pieces. We have also included a special sneak peak to Agustin Hadelich's new album, "Echoes of Paris"! We hope you enjoy the music. Everyone have a wonderful holiday and a fantastic New Year! Harry Christophers, The Sixteen "In Dulci Jubilo" from "A Traditional Christmas Carol Collection, Vol. II" (The Sixteen Productions Ltd.)    There is such an abundance of festive music available to us that sometimes one wishes Christmas did not come but once a year! The Sixteen’s first volume of traditional Christmas carols contains some of our most favorite pieces but there is so much more wonderful festive music that deserves to be better known. So we decided to make a second volume. On this disc you will discover familiar seasonal favorites such as ‘Unto us a boy is born’ and ‘It came upon the midnight clear’ but we have also included some less well-known gems like ‘Cherry Tree Carol’ and ‘Gloucestershire Wassail’.Woody Phillips "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" (mp3) from "A Toolbox Christmas" (Gourd Music) Buy at Amazon MP3 Buy at eMusic More On This AlbumA Toolbox Christmas - Liner Notes: A Toolbox Christmas marks Woody Phillips' breathtaking debut into a world of repertoire and instrumentation only dreamed of by composers who have gone before him. True, Beethoven gave us the 'Hammer (klavier) Sonata' -- but Phillips has dared to explore the full range of the workbench's symphonic palette. Never before have your ears experienced the the exquisite marimba-like 2x4's in Jingle Bells ; the majestic table saw duet in Joy to the World ; the sensitive counterpoint provided by the power planer in I Saw Three Ships ; the filigreed ornamentation of the clanking pipes in We Wish You a Merry Christmas ; the uniquely persuasive percussion of the pneumatic nailer in Patapan ; the panoply of hand and power tools in The Twelve Days of Christmas -- listen and you'll know you're in a new and extraordinary realm of holiday music. Tchaikowsky's beloved Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy may never sound the same to you again once you've experienced Phillips' ensemble of antique hand drill, mandolin, anvil, t-square, level and pipes. Will an eye remain dry as Auld Lang Syne, ethereal and poignant on the musical saw, shimmers over the drone of the shop vac? Phillips' ear is impeccable, perfectly attuned to nuances of tone and subtle differences of timbre among the various power tools, always employing the right tool for each job. Never, however, does Phillips disdain the traditional instruments of the concert hall. Though purists may balk at the sound of actual musical instruments on A Toolbox Christmas , when Phillips senses the need for a cello, mandolin, oboe or flute, in it goes, without regard for mere commercial considerations. His generous, all-encompassing love of beautiful sounds permits no petty divisions in his artistic kingdom. Above all, Phillips' true genius in A Toolbox Christmas has been to include the entire ambiance of the workshop on this recording. He has drawn not only on the incomparable sonorities of the tools themselves, but adds sounds every home-improver will recognize with delight: a tape measure retracting; duct tape tearing; the little ball bearing rolling as the spray paint can is shaken. He has created choirs of bottles and chiming sacks of 10d nails. Perhaps most inspired of all is his brilliant use of the perfectly-timed pop-top. The resulting magic awaits you in A Toolbox Christmas .Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra "Messiah" from "Handel: Messiah" (LSO Live) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Amazon MP3 Buy at eMusic More On This Album Handel's masterpiece uses short texts from the Bible to tell the story of Christ's birth, death and resurrection. Imbued with a deep humanity and written with the imagination of a composer at the peak of powers, Messiah is intimate yet dramatic and includes some of Handel's best-loved music.Hallé, Carl Davis"The Nutcracker" from "Hallé Christmas Classics" (Halle Concerts Society) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Amazon MP3 More On This AlbumA wealth of Christmas favourites, under the direction of BAFTA award-winning conductor and composer, Carl Davis.'Claire Rutter... thrilling confidence and elan... a true prima donna... [with] spine tingling top notes...' Sunday Times Augustin Hadelich, Robert Kulek"Poulenc: Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 119" from "Echoes of Paris" (AVIE Records) More On This Album Augustin Hadelich, Robert Kulek"Stravinsky: Suite After Themes, Fragments and Pieces by Giambattista Pergolesi" from "Echoes of Paris" (AVIE Records) More On This AlbumI chose the four works on this recording because I think they fit together really well. After having played many combinations of them in recitals, I started wondering about the connection between these pieces - why are they so compatible? Almost immediately, Paris came to mind. All of these composers lived in Paris during the early part of the 20th century, when that city was a magnet for creative artists: painters like Matisse, Dali, Chagall, and Picasso, the writers Proust, Joyce, and Hemingway, and composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Poulenc, Copland, and many others. Stravinsky and Prokofiev were also among the many expatriate musicians who flocked to Paris at that time. They drew inspiration from the city’s electric atmosphere and cultural ferment, and then went off in their own amazing, revolutionary directions. I think that these French and Russian pieces form such a good program because there are echoes of Paris in these four works that help tie them together: puppet-like dances in both Debussy and Stravinsky; percussive, as well as militaristic and march-like sections in Stravinsky's Suite and the sonatas of Poulenc and Prokofiev; jazz references in Debussy and Prokofiev; and hints of Spanish flavor in both Debussy and Poulenc, so popular among French composers at that time. The key signatures also help to unify the program - g minor, G Major, D Major, and d minor. Claude Debussy sought to develop a style that was free of German compositional influences. Drawing inspiration from Spanish, jazz, and gypsy music, the violin sonata of 1917 (his last work) certainly bears the imprint of that philosophy. Avoiding the conventional sonata form, the structure of the piece is quite fractured and rhapsodic - the result is unique and fascinating. I love the sonata for all of its sudden twists and delicate turns. The second movement makes me think of puppets engaged in a dance. In 1920, two years after Debussy's death, Igor Stravinsky wrote his ballet Pulcinella, a humorous neo-classical work, that premiered in Paris the same year with sets and costumes designed by Pablo Picasso. In this work, he used music from an obscure 18th-century commedia dell'arte opera, assumed to have been written by Pergolesi, but probably written by other, lesser-known composers. By altering this material in various ways, Stravinsky created something completely new. He called the composition of Pulcinella an "epiphany through which my late work became possible" - for the first time, borrowed style became a compositional element. Most often, violinists play Samuel Dushkin’s 1932 transcription of Pulcinella, modeled after the transcription for cello and piano. Because many of the quirky dissonances are removed, it turns out to be a rather toned-down version of the work. On this recording, I am playing the earlier 1925 transcription that was made in collaboration with the violinist Paul Kochanski; it is much closer to Stravinsky’s original orchestral work. It is more difficult for both the violinist and the pianist, but well worth the effort! Sometimes I think the awkwardness of the writing is intentional, to make the piece seem slightly askew, making both the player and the listener a little bit uncomfortable. I am again reminded of puppets, but larger and clumsier than Debussy's. I also love how Stravinsky composes apparent mistakes into the piece. Having fled Russia after the revolution in 1917, Sergei Prokofiev spent many years living in Paris before returning to his homeland in 1935. Very much admired by Stravinsky and other composers who lived in Paris at the time, his first symphony (1917) is considered to be one of the first neo-classical works, even pre-dating Stravinsky's Pulcinella. His second violin sonata is, however, a late work. Originally written in 1942 for flute and piano, it was transcribed for violin at the request of David Oistrakh. It is a large, powerful work that is, in turn, sweet, happy, sad, passionate, even violent and militaristic. The march in the last movement, however, makes me think more of tin soldiers than real ones! In the sonata by Francis Poulenc, the soldiers are very real. Composed in 1942-1943, it is Poulenc’s homage to the great Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, who was executed in 1936 by the fascist government in Spain. The percussive opening of the sonata owes something to Stravinsky and Prokofiev, who were among his formative influences. Throughout the first movement, militaristic passages are juxtaposed with more lyrical, salon-like themes; perhaps these represent the socialist and fascist forces at war in Spain when Lorca was killed. Showing the impressionist influence of Debussy, the beautiful second movement was inspired by one of Lorca's poems: It has been speculated that the two triple-forte notes in the piano towards the end of the last movement ("Presto tragico") are the gunshots of the firing squad. Following exclamations of pain, a few sweet memories briefly return in the sorrowful coda. Poulenc himself was actually quite unhappy with the sonata, which was written for the French violinist Ginette Neveu, and after many revisions concluded that it was an "utter failure". I think he was being a little too hard on himself, and history has not agreed with him. It is one of my favorite sonatas, and I perform it often. Likewise, audiences are extremely enthusiastic and deeply moved by it. Coincidentally, I played a recital in Paris in April 2010 at the Louvre, also with Robert Kulek. We couldn't resist taking some photos while we were there. I hope you enjoy this recording! Augustin Hadelich