Thursday, April 10, 2014

Finding the creation of this stuff more painful than pleasant, so from now on, I'm only marking the stuff I like, and I will be doing so not on this blog.  It's a personal journey anyway friends...

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

47 - first portion gave me the clashing themes feeling again; the alleluyah portion was delightful, reminded me of Handel, enjoyed the contrast between the female and male soloists.
47a - Kyrie - strong contrast between solemn opening pulse and soft lines crawling upward, enjoyed the earnestness of the male and female solo parts in the Christe eleison, and the barely discernable (for me) organ texture underlieing the whole; Gloria - liked the Gratias with the solo singers, syncopation of the qui tollis interesting, cheerfulness of the quoniam refreshing, and the movement from that to the key or first note of the next movement (I don't know what to attribute it to), cum sancto spiritu, is surprising; credo - et incarnatus - , crucifixus has some sort of weird trumpet (clarini?) and a strange rising line theme, et resurrexit quite joyous, et in spiritum sanctum is more sprightly, while affirming filioque, quite Catholically; Sanctus has strange rhythymic ending in 2\4; also a fast ending for the Benedictus
K.46c In meditating yesterday on the different ways I listen to music, I hereby and from hereon out pledge to involve myself emotionally to the piece that I listen to, though not forcedly.  I shall listen to the pieces like I normally do and will, hopefully, be aware and yet unaware of things like form, pitch, emotional tenor of line, and so forth.  When I cannot stomach a piece, when I cannot at all get on board with it, I will skip it.  Life is too short to listen to operas without understanding the lyrics.  I'll listen to a symphony instead - and actually enjoy it.  The operas that I can attain a translation for, I will listen to.  Right now, this reasoning excludes 46a and b.
In short, I will try, as much as possible, to imitate Hazlitt's interpretations of Shakespeare.  Why shouldn't I attempt the thing with only my ears and my emotions to guide me?  This of course does not preclude the analysis of said emotions.  But the emotional reaction must be mentioned.  Otherwise we are unfairly blinding the reader with pre-packaged rationalizations.
So, no 46a and b, sadly.  I am not capable of them.
Enough said.  46c.  Song with odd falling line as its opening theme.  46d, the opening theme of this movement stops abruptly, stacatto like, and then continues, and the harpsichord counterpoint beneath is pleasant.  The texture of the minor development portion of the second movement is interesting.  Also, in the second movement, there is once again a sense of a juxtaposition of themes that seem to clash and that one would never think of putting together, unless one were daft, pressed for time, or striving for something unusually complex.
46e - enjoyed the opening movement well enough, most of all struck by how much I enjoyed the simple fact of the counterpoint between the harpsichord and the violin.  Also enjoyed the bouncy and maybe a bit dancelike feeling of the second movement (and again the counterpoint).

Monday, April 7, 2014

Sunday, April 6, 2014

K.43 nother symphonie.  Should be lovelie.  Allegro - something like AABB.  Part where it sounds like there's an organ playing one note.  Andante - AABB, development theme all over the place.  Menuetto and Trio - ABA middle bit has some weird stuff, and APPARENTLY, I've already listened to this crap too?  WTF.  Allegro - AABB - noticed this time the number of mini themes in a given section, seemed like about 7 or 8.
K.43a no repitition , aria, song, wish I could understand the Deutsch
K.45 symphonie 7 allegro molto - can't understand the structure of this at all; andante - again, no sense of structure to my ear, an ungainly, halting thing is this movement; Minuetto and Trio - ABA - odd theme, but alright I guess; Allegro - AABB - sort of like the B themes, I guess
K.45a symphonie - Allegro maestoso - sounded like AABA, not sure though; Andante AABA, maybe; Presto - only 2 minutes, sounded like ABAB
K.45b allegro - seems more like a theme and variations than anything else; Andante - ABA or AAA? No idea; Menuetto and Trio AAABACDA?; Allegro - ABAB?

Saturday, April 5, 2014

It's 41i for today, lads.  Let's get down to business!

AABACA was the structure of the thing.  Same impression of the watery undergrowth of the piece, organ-donored, for our apparent delight.  Otherwise, fraid I got nothing to say.  Looks like it's on to the next one...

41j is an AABABA, but even this makes it seem more entertaining than it is.  The B parts are, I'm afraid, not more than weird "startup" intros to the main section, not more than four measures long.  Which makes this runner a catcher with this form: AAAA.  Not exactly the caliber of variation I was expecting.

42a is a sym-phonie.  First partie is a Fast, Majestic.  Good times then, eh?  Who wouldn't want to take a crack from the ladie?  Well, me encanta la tema at the 48 second mark, warm, excited feeling.  It sounds like it could be the beginning of a movement, but it's actually the second to the last mini-theme in theme A.  The large plan for the movement is as follows: AABB.  And here's the interesting thing, friends.  The B begins and end with A. The minor variation of the idea is in the center.  And the bit I liked from the movement?  That part of section A remains in section B and brings the section home after the minor key grazing ground in the smack dab of the B part.  Yah, that's pretty great.  I recommend.  Second part is Andante.  Also AABB.  Pizzacattish, strange.  Neal Zaslaw, of Academy of Ancient Music Fame, calls this portion of the cake an "irritant." Now, on to the Minuetto and Trio.  Arrangement of all this rather hard to pick out (AABA?). Or maybe, more probably, being more sensitive to smaller themes, ABABA'BCC'C???C'ABA'B, the weird chromaticish second or third measure theme that leaps all over the place, jarring so uncomfortably, at least, initially, with the first theme, and so, for that reason, deserving perhaps mini theme treatment.  Many think this portion is too mature for the young Mozart and came later.  In any case, so far, by far the most memorable.  Allegro part here at the end quite pretty, structured like the first two AABB.  This one sticks out the most if the third doesn't belong.  When I first heard this, I thought I had heard it before...All of this typing better not be for something I've already reviewed.

And it turns out...yes, I already reviewed 42a.  Well, nevermind., got considerably more out of it this time.

Friday, April 4, 2014

K.41h  - once again, convinced by recent listening experiences that the mental noting of form in classical music is more than key to a genuine enjoyment of the process, I begin a new sally, with supreme energy and original force, into this most auspicious Koschel, that is, the forty-first-letter-h, now, with 9 minutes remaining in Freja's day.  Father Time shall greet me as I channel the piece, with the instrumentation and superb technology of Google's latest release, the Nexus 7.  Let the sport begin.
41h is apparently a church sonata, which means that 41h was predestined compositionally to mass juxtaposition, more specifically, with the inner grub of the epistle and the gospel.  This author shall by no means strain his mental powers to be aware, that is in the listening moment itself, that what he listens to is that decorous writing totem, the in-between-bit.  The author knows from past experience the indecorous circumstances which regularly present themselves, ark like, two by two, on their introduction to his consciousness.  He is aware of it, and he shirks the habit of familiarizing himself with it, like he does bad china.
I think it is appropriate at this juncture to comment on the fine state of china, generally, in the world today.
Now that that business is settled, let's have some fun!

How did we do?  The organ gave the whole a thick, gloopy texture.  If the piece wasn't so poodin rich the whole time, I might have been able to pick out what the organmaster was keying.  The melodic front was surprisingly pretty.  I looked down to take a bite of my pumpkin pie only to find my sweet delight swimmin in tears.  Ah shucks, what Mozart will DO to a lad like me.  But never you mind what I saw in the piece.  You listen to 41h.  Trust me, it's a hole.