Saturday, November 18, 2006

The Daily Record - November 18, 2006

Although this won't be daily, it sounds good, doesn't it? It makes it sound like I do some quality listening to good quality music everyday...I wish. This forum will just be some thoughts on the music I am listening to on any particular day. It may at times be analytical, or sometimes be purely subjective thoughts on whether or not I thought the piece sucked.

So...without further ado...

Today I am listening to "Mathis Der Maler", by Hindemith.

This formidable German wrote a ton of great music. The version of the piece is the symphony Hindemith extracted from an opera he wrote of the same name. The opera was premiered in 1938, and is about a struggle between peasants and nobility, most notably the Peasant's War. He began its composition in the early 1930's when the Nazi's came to power in Germany.

I have never heard of any opera company putting the operatic version together. The symphonic version is widely performed, but it has not become part of the popular symphonic lexicon.

To my ears, it is highly accessible to the average listener. It is tonal, and the dissonances are not far outside the acceptable limits of conservative classical music. I find the music highly expressive, and the ideas very clear. The orchestration is interesting in its use of percussion (something that caught my ear immediately). The orchestra I am listening to is the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy. I must say, that they sound like their usual perfect selves.

One of Hindemith's best...

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