Name That Tune
This week’s Name That Tune was submitted by Listener Jeremy. Here’s your hint: this composer passed away in the past five years. You can Google if you like 🙂
As always, your goal is to provide as much accurate analysis as possible. First try to get the nationality, year, and genre, then make educated guesses about the composer and — if possible— the piece. If you know the piece immediately, send us an email at classicalgabfest@gmail.com instead of commenting so the rest of us can have fun guessing.
Last Week’s Results
CGF Newsletter 36
Franz Schmidt, Notre Dame: Intermezzo
This is Will here, writing to eat my words. I didn’t think anyone would suss this one out, but lo and behold, Listener Laurie wrote in with the exact answer, hitting the nail squarely on the head.
As impressive as that was, the really pleasing thing was to read all the great analysis that came in! Before she figured it out, Listener Laurie noted that it had to be late Romantic, and she leaned toward Strauss. “Lush, lyrical, melodic, tonal, rich harmonies, full orchestral forces. With a hint of Slavic folk elements,” was her takeaway, and I couldn’t agree more. Along the way, she name-checked Dvorak, Janacek, Puccini, and Mascagni. As I used to say on the podcast, if you combined those all into one composer, you’d have this piece.
Joey got in on the action with an apt musical description and a basket that featured Grieg, Puccini, and Humperdinck. Again, great picks. Eric mentioned Tchaikovsky (totally appropriate given the soaring string melodies) and then feigned French with Thomas and Massenet, also great guesses.
One thing I’ve never been able to fully comprehend is the difference between Franz Schmidt and Florent Schmitt, so I’m going to take this as a learning opportunity for myself and a PSA for the rest of you:
Franz Schmidt (1874–1939) was an Austro-Hungarian composer who wrote opulent late-Romantic symphonies and operas. His most famous piece is the oratorio The Book with Seven Seals.
Florent Schmit (1870–1958) was a French composer whose music pushed more into the nascent realms of modernism. His most famous work is the ballet La tragédie de Salomé, which Stravinsky cited as inspiration for The Rite of Spring.
Next week I’ll disambiguate Schütz, Scheidt, and Schein.
Think you can stump your fellow Listeners? Go ahead and try!
Head to our Google Form to upload a 30-second clip of an unidentified piece of classical music for us to try to identify.
Welcome!
I notice that we’ve gotten a little burst of new subscribers lately, and we’re so happy to have you! I’m Will, the CGF Newsletter’s editor-in-chief and primary content creator. As newbies, I’ll just mention two things you should know:
1) This publication is a collaborative project by me, my friend Joey, and several other musical friends and readers who contribute content on a semi-regular basis.
2) I frequently use this space as a log-rolling promotional tool, and this week, that’s my sole contribution, which is to say, everyone should head over to Harmonia’s auction page, buy a streaming ticket to our latest concert, and then just give all the rest of your money as well.
Opera Report: Champion
Metropolitan Opera, Saturday, May 13
I (Joey), along with Listener Rebecca, attended Terence Blanchard’s opera Champion on the closing night of the run, a performance which happened to have been conducted by former CGF podcast co-host Kensho Watanabe!
The house was as packed as I’ve seen it all the way up through the four balconies, as one might imagine it would be on closing night of another historical performance of an opera by a Black composer. (Not a different Black composer, however, than the one whose opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones was the first such performed at the Met — in 2021.) Blanchard was actually milling about in the Lincoln Center Plaza before the performance, chatting with some patrons. A huge number of people of color were in the audience, by far the largest proportion I’ve ever seen at a classical performance, seeming proof that diversity on stage leads to diversity in the audience, a professed goal of any number of classical music institutions today.
I quite enjoyed the opera. The orchestra sounded excellent (go Kensho!), the direction was clear and entertaining, and the cast was excellent. Particularly stand-outs for me were Ryan Speedo Greene (who starred as the young Emile Griffith, the titular boxing champion), Latonia Moore (who played his mother, whose historical absenteeism was an emotional B plot), and former Classical Gabfest subject Stephanie Blythe (who features as a gay bar owner and all-around Mother). Also deserving of a massive shout-out is Ethan Joseph, a young boy who sang his heart out as Little Emile.
The music was an eclectic affair, with various sounds and influences from gospel to Caribbean dance to jazz. Nonetheless, Blanchard’s own description of the music as “jazz-in-opera,” instead of “jazz opera,” is apt, as much of the music is harmonically comparable to “standard” contemporary opera fare (by Jake Heggie, Kevin Puts, Thomas Adès, etc.), with the non-classical idiom often even used quasi-diegetically. It is emotional music for an emotional story of a complex life. Champion will likely go down as an important opera of the early 21st century, and it should, for its narrative and dramatic power.
Listener Jeremy v. MusicNOW
On May 10, Listener Jeremy received a communication from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra regarding its MusicNOW series, from which I (Will) have excerpted:
Dear Mr. [Listener Jeremy]
Thank you for renewing your 2023/24 CSO MusicNOW package...
Because of your commitment to the MusicNOW series, I wanted to highlight that two of the dates we originally announced have changed.
The long and short of it is, the CSO reduced a four-concert new music series to a two-concert new music series, replacing the canceled concerts with tickets to mainstage orchestra concerts that happen to feature new works as concert openers.
And while most of the MusicNOW subscribers probably breathed a secret sigh of relief, Listener Jeremy did not take this lying down. Here is his response to the CSO management, a CGF Newsletter exclusive:
When the Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced their 2023/24 season in February, it included, as it usually does, MusicNOW concerts. MusicNow is a 4-concert contemporary music series accompanying, but separate to, the regular subscription concerts, curated & presented by the Composer-In-Residence as one of their primary duties (the other being, of course, composing). I always look forward to these concerts, whether I end up liking the works on the program or not, because it’s an opportunity to hear new music and get something of a glimpse behind the curtain of the contemporary classical world, as composers are often present to discuss their pieces. So, I subscribed to MusicNOW as I always do.
This is why when the CSO re-announced the upcoming MusicNOW series last week, cutting 2 of the 4 concerts, I was upset. I’d like to say I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed…but really, I’m mad AND disappointed. Let’s start with the anger. Most of that is coming from the fact that they didn’t actually say they were cutting two concerts. Instead, in a letter sent to those like me who had subscribed, they say “two of the dates we originally announced have changed”. The two new dates are, in fact, already-scheduled regular CSO subscription series concerts (one of which features Bruckner’s 7th, the other Weber and Shostakovich…all noted contemporary composers of course).
The letter also “would like to invite you to explore the newly announced season of CSO MusicNOW — one of the most ambitious yet.” Everything about this re-announcement is obscuring the reality of the cut and presenting this change as a boon. It’s not that I’ll hate going to these concerts (I was actually already planning to go to one or both of them separately), but I don’t like being lied to. I get the need to try to spin this for marketing reasons, but this represents a disdain the organization must have for their patrons if they think we are unable to realize what’s happened. It’s insulting.
Now that my more emotional response is out of the way, it’s on to the actual problem with this change, and the source of my disappointment (which, as we all know, is worse). Canceling these programs is a real loss for new music and for composers. These concerts regularly feature younger composers in a more casual chamber setting, for either newly commissioned works, or vital secondary play for recently premiered works. This is not something replaced by full orchestral subscription series concerts. Yes, the replacement concerts have premieres on the programs, but those commissions go to a very different set of established composers creating works for an entirely different context alongside orchestral warhorses (and again: these commissions were already separately planned).
It’s also a troubling sign that this change was announced just a few months after having sold the original series to patrons. It doesn’t speak well to the planning and organization of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (or more precisely, of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association) or its commitment to contemporary music, which their marketing copy otherwise tries to tout. The season’s brochure talks of the Orchestra as “exemplifying the creative possibilities of a modern ensemble eager to explore contemporary music”, brags about “the Orchestra’s ongoing commitment to contemporary music”, and highlights that three of Orchestra’s principals will “perform the world premieres of contemporary concertos.” Cutting two contemporary music concerts is not very committed.
I can only speculate as to why they’ve cut these two concerts. I’m just an audience member with no particular insight. If the reasoning is financial, I find it hard to believe that with its $400m+ endowment, the CSOA couldn’t have found a way to make it work. If the reasoning is organizational (or, rather, disorganizational), it’s not a good look. All I know is I’m mad, disappointed, and a little bit sad.
Classical Mixtape
Woldemar Bargiel, Symphony in C
This is Will, but to round out this edition as one entirely made up of team contributions, I’m sharing a suggestion from CGF longtime friend Listener Jeff, who said he would rather play this than any of the symphonies of Robert Schumann. Sacrilege, but a good piece all the same.
Wow this NTT is a real stumper. Who composed quirky little tonal clarinet pieces who died in the past five years? Is György Kurtag still alive? Those seconds at the end of the clip make me think it could be a slightly Bartok-influenced composer.
I was thinking that perhaps it could be a film composer type person who was stepping out into the world of chamber music, but now I've got my actual guess: Rodion Shchedrin. No idea when he died, but I feel like it was recently.
NTT: Will, you couldn't have been more surprised than I was at figuring out last week's NTT. If I hadn't been fortunate to see the new 1975 revival in Vienna of Notre Dame, an opera rarely performed outside Austria or Germany, I doubt I would have figured out the answer.
For this week, the NTT immediately brought to mind the wit and jazzy idioms of Milhaud (something akin to his Le Bœuf sur le toit) and Stravinsky (like his Circus Polka). Of course, they have been gone much longer than 5 years. But their influence is still with us.
And I suspect the composer is someone more well known from the musical, pop, or film genre who has classical training.
So, because of the clue that the composer died within the past 5 years, my basket will include names I wouldn't normally have chosen for this.
One is Stephen Sondheim who was steeped in classical music. He has said he was influenced by Ravel, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky (amd he studied with Milton Babbit). And he wrote some classical pieces early on. Plus, his lovely Send in the Clowns features solo clarinet (although that might have been a decision made by his orchestrator).
Another is Burt Bacharach, who actually studied with Darius Milhaud, and who wrote some classical pieces during his studies.
I'll also add Vangelis, probably best known for his Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire, because he wrote a piece for solo clarinet and string orchestra.
I would have added Frank Zappa perhaps, but he died in 1993. And I would have added Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead and film scores and especially John Williams, famous for practically every movie, except they're both still with us.