Music 365

You may have heard about Project 365, which in its original incarnation had a photographer taking one picture a day for one year.  Since then, many photographers have undertaken the project and posted to Flickr, personal blogs, etc. and artists in other mediums have even come up with their own alternative versions, such as Tim Sevenhuysen’s 50 Word Stories or Dan’s LEGO a Day.  I’ve wanted to do something like this for a while now, but wanted to do something that came more naturally to me.  Finding motivation to take a photograph and upload it every day would be difficult.  I am a terrible creative writer.  However, I do like listening to classical music.

While I really only have an understanding of the subject I would grade “slightly higher than amateur”, I know basics about form, instrumentation, orchestration, and historical context.  I played percussion for 12 years and have played in orchestras like the Civic Symphony of Boston.  In short, I think I know enough to put together an interesting commentary on a piece.  What you’ll get is more or less a layman’s view, which you can either discount entirely or use as a starting place to expand your musical horizons or perhaps revisit pieces you’ve heard before.

Who?
Me.

What?
365 reviews of classical works.  I will try to focus more on the “big picture”- why a piece was revolutionary, why it’s so popular, why we still listen to it today.  What you will not see is an in-depth analysis of counterpoint or chord progression.

When?
Every day for the next calendar year.

Where?
Right here on Black Holes and Snowy Mountains.

Why?
My hope is that by peeling away some of the levels of abstraction that usually shroud the genre in mystery, some readers will become more interested. While it’s not true that classical music is “dying” or even in big trouble, I do feel that it is seriously under appreciated in our society. Great music is not something you can hold in your hand, but this abstraction within the confines of very definite rules- major and minor keys, cohesiveness of rhythmic patterns, musical form, instrumental timbre and capabilities, etc- makes it fascinating if you tell your ear what to listen for.

On a personal level being a timpanist, I tend to focus on pieces with interesting timpani or percussion parts.  This is a fairly limiting qualifier, so I hope to force myself to listen to things I would normally not listen to- chamber music, vocal music, etc.  It’s an added bonus if others find this interesting, and I certainly will do my best to make it worth reading.

Also, this will be a good thing to do during my “I’m bored.” moments.

Here are some things I’ll state from the beginning:

  1. This will be limited to the music I currently have in my library.  It’s a fairly extensive collection, although I did just deal with a hard drive failure which eliminated many gigabytes.
  2. If this is to serve in any capacity as a means of recommending works to you, the reader, I will most definitely be commenting on pieces I have heard (and probably you have heard them too) or played before.  In fact, I’m more likely to do just that- as I’m a firm believer that the best way to get to know a piece is to play it.  Beethoven’s Fifth?  Most definitely. Don’t worry, you’ll still learn something new (I always do).
  3. I’m afraid that for me to speak with what little authority I have on the subject that the selection of works will be drawn exclusively from the Western music tradition, starting with Bach and ending at the present (although off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything I would conceivably review after Elliott Carter).  Apologies to Renaissance music, Far Eastern music, and everything else.  The main genres I will be sticking to are: Symphony, Concerto, instrumental solo (mostly piano), Chamber music.
  4. There are only so many hours in the week that I can and will devote to writing other articles.  While I will do my best to post other content, it stands to reason that after a while (if i stick to this, and I plan to!) articles on other topics will be limited.  I will do my best, though, and you can always sign up for my RSS Feed to let you know when there’s something new.  The Monday/Thursday schedule for normal posts will remain the same.
  5. In almost all cases I will not have the benefit of the score right in front of me.  Thus, I will not be able to refer to measure numbers.  It’s quite possible that I’ll identify some parts of a work wrong (especially in the more complex symphonies), but in general I will get the major themes and sections correct.  If I’m wrong, leave me a note in the comments and be assured I will fix it.
  6. The time markings are from the recommended recordings at the bottom of the page.  If you do not have the recording I am referring to, you should be able to identify the sections I describe from the text alone.
  7. To make posts easier to read (and admittedly, to make it a bit easier on myself), I will occasionally divide an analysis into multiple parts.

Music 365 will start on April 10, 2009.

April 10, 2009: Brahms- Ein Deutsches Requiem, op. 45
April 11, 2009: Hindemith- Symphonic Metamorphoses
April 12, 2009: Gershwin- Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra
April 13, 2009: Barber- Knoxville: Summer of 1915
April 14, 2009: Dvorak- Cello Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, op. 104
April 15, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 1 in C Major, op. 21 Part I
April 16, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 1 in C Major, op. 21 Part II
April 17, 2009: Brahms- Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 77 Part I
April 18, 2009: Brahms- Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 77 Part II
April 19, 2009: Shostakovich- Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, op. 102
April 20, 2009: An Overview of Musical Forms
April 21, 2009: Mahler- Symphony No. 4 in G Major, Part I
April 22, 2009: Mahler- Symphony No. 4 in G Major, Part II
April 23, 2009: Mahler- Symphony No. 4 in G Major, Part III
April 24, 2009: Schubert- Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A Minor, D821
April 25, 2009: Brahms- Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, op. 68 Part I
April 26, 2009: Brahms- Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, op. 68 Part II
April 27, 2009: Brahms- Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, op. 68 Part III
April 28, 2009: Beethoven- Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, op. 73 Part I
April 29, 2009: Beethoven- Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, op. 73 Part II
April 30, 2009: Franck- Symphony in D Minor Part I
May 1, 2009: Franck- Symphony in D Minor Part II
May 2, 2009: Beethoven String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, op. 59 No. 1 Part I
May 3, 2009: Beethoven String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, op. 59 No. 1 Part II
May 4, 2009: Beethoven String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, op. 59 No. 1 Part III
May 5, 2009: Beethoven String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, op. 59 No. 1 Part IV
May 6, 2009: Schumann- Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, op. 97 Part I
May 7, 2009: Schumann- Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, op. 97 Part II
May 8, 2009: Schumann- Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, op. 97 Part III
May 9, 2009: Schumann- Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, op. 97 Part IV
May 10, 2009: Brahms- Tragic Overture, op. 81
May 11, 2009: Tchaikovsky- Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 77 Part I
May 12, 2009: Tchaikovsky- Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 77 Part II
May 13, 2009: Tchaikovsky- Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 77 Part III
May 14, 2009: Shostakovich- Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, op. 47 Part I
May 15, 2009: Shostakovich- Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, op. 47 Part II
May 16, 2009: Shostakovich- Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, op. 47 Part III
May 17, 2009: Shostakovich- Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, op. 47 Part IV
May 18, 2009: Ravel- String Quartet in F Major, Part I
May 19, 2009: Ravel- String Quartet in F Major, Part I
May 20, 2009: Ravel- String Quartet in F Major, Part I
May 21, 2009: Ravel- String Quartet in F Major, Part I
May 22, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 36 Part I
May 23, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 36 Part II
May 24, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 36 Part III
May 25, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 36 Part IV
May 26, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, op. 60, Part I
May 27, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, op. 60, Part II
May 28, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, op. 60, Part III
May 29, 2009: Beethoven- Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, op. 60, Part IV
May 30, 2009: Dvorak- Symphony No. 6 in D Major, op. 60 Part I
May 31, 2009: Dvorak- Symphony No. 6 in D Major, op. 60 Part II
June 1, 2009: Dvorak- Symphony No. 6 in D Major, op. 60 Part III
June 2, 2009: Dvorak- Symphony No. 6 in D Major, op. 60 Part IV
June 3, 2009: Shostakovich- Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, op. 70 Part I
June 4, 2009: Shostakovich- Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, op. 70 Part II
June 5, 2009: Shostakovich- Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, op. 70 Part III
June 6, 2009: Shostakovich- Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, op. 70 Part IV
June 7, 2009: Brahms- Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet in B minor, op. 115 Part I
June 8, 2009: Brahms- Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet in B minor, op. 115 Part II
June 9, 2009: Brahms- Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet in B minor, op. 115 Part III
June 10, 2009: Brahms- Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet in B minor, op. 115 Part IV
June 11, 2009: Schumann- Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major, op. 38 Part I