Introducing Joey Roukens...

Joey Roukens

Recently I discovered 'Un cuadro de Yucatán', a solo piece for violin by the young Dutch composer Joey Roukens. (Picture by Joyce Vanderfeesten)

What is to be expected and how did Roukens get inspiration for this work?

According to the CD booklet, the composer was on a holiday in Mexico and got inspired by the streets, the atmosphere of the lively towns and villages and Mayan temples. The violinist plays different parts: sometimes 'sounding like a Mexican street performer, then shrieking like a tropical bird from the Yaxchilán jungle.'

How would the composer manage to translate all this elements in one piece?

I wasn't acquainted with Roukens' compositions and therefore I expected a typical contemporary style, which is not to my taste. However, I ended up pleasantly surprised.

Un cuadro de Yucatán

Un cuadro de Yucatán is playful, virtuoso and very lively. 'Paganinian' components are there. It has a lot of interesting harmonies. It's a sort of piece a violinist could easily impress people with on a final exam or a recital.

Do we hear Mexico? Yes. If you know a little of Mexican folk music, you can recognize some melodical and rhythmical parts twining through the piece.

This dance converts into a glorious panorama on the jungle and Mayan ruins, represented by the calm, long bowing. A little light-heartedness, dance, and bird shrieking now and then... Un cuadro de Yucatán never bores. It's tempestuous but accessible. Perhaps one should listen a few times before really appreciating. But it is definitely worth it.

Performed by: Janine Jansen, need I say more?

You can listen to a fragment of Un cuadro de Yucatán (CD: Vlaardingen klassiek) on this link: http://www.muziekweb.nl/Link/CJX8112

Read more about Joey Roukens on his website: http://www.joeyroukens.com/

Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade

Scheherazade is one of the jewels of classical music. I have a particular relationship with the piece, which I will briefly explain before lighting out the composer and the piece itself:

In former days, the trips of two hours and a half by car to visit our family , were filled with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and Borodín's Polovtsian Dances. The sound volume was quite high and I remember feeling overwhelmed by the great music... Scheherazade keeps impressing me everytime I hear it.

Russian Romanticism

As you will notice in future reviews, I'm very fond of Russian music. I love the severeness and the atmosphere composed of interesting harmonies.

I wrote a thesis on high school about the connection between Romanticism and the piano. In one chapter I mentioned the Russian composers Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, which in my opinion, are principal figures in Romantic classical music. Their works are full of emotions with tendency toward fairytales and misery, characteristics of Romanticism.

Now about Rimsky himself...

Rimsky-Korsakov

Nikolaj Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tichvin, a city near St. Petersburg, on March 18th 1844. He was raised in a wealthy family. As a 18 years old marine officer. he travelled around the world. Undoubtedly, this experiences had influence on his compositions. (For example the first movement of Scheherazade: 'The sea and Sinbad's ship'.) Back home, a famous director convinced him to study music. He composed symphonies, fifteen opera's, but he is mainly known for 'Scheherazade' and the impressive 'Flight of the Bumblebee'.

Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the following lines as an introduction for his symphonic suite 'Scheherazade':

"The Sultan Schariar, convinced that all women are false and faithless, vowed to put to death each of his wives after the first nuptial night. But the Sultana Sheherazade saved her life by entertaining her lord with fascinating tales, told seriatim, for a thousand and one nights. The Sultan, consumed with curiosity, postponed from day to day the execution of his wife, and finally repudiated his bloody vow entirely." (©Wiki)

Since there are a lot of articles about the technical elements and components, I will focus more on the exhibition of Kirill Kondrashin and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Sadly I do not know where the cassette-tape is with the version I always cherished. By the way, cassette-tapes and L.P.'s are in my opinion better than CD's because they have a much warmer sound.

In general I prefer live performances since they are more dynamic and lively. I tried to review a live performance of Yvan Fischer and the RCO I found of Youtube, but the interpretation was way too slow in my opinion and I switched back to my CD.

1. The sea and Sinbad's ship

(Live version:) The first notes are warm and heartfelt, not violent at all. We get introduced to the first violin solo, one of the motives that will keep returning in the course of the story. On the live version the solo is brilliant and moving and I'm dying to know who plays it. Sadly, the description gives no information about the violin soloist.

After the solo, Rimsky-Korsakov throws us on a ship in rough sea. The tempo is way too slow though. I hoped the director Ivan Fischer would accelerate a bit but since he didn't, I got back to my CD.

(Continuing with the studio version:) These are pretty good waves. I love the tempo and the dynamics, swooping up and off. A short intermezzo: the violin is tense, not peaceful as it was in the beginning. There is a big climax that quickly decreases.

2. The story of the Calendar Prince

The melody is played in a sweet and modest manner, yet beautiful. However, the violinist could have made more of this. I am curious to hear the interpretation on the live version (around 11:00"). After hearing it I can say that I prefer that one, which sounds more brilliant and intense.

Back to the CD. In my opinion Scheherazade lends itself very well for different approaches of the musical elements. I realize again how I love the tempo and interpretation of the Kondrashin version. I don't know the story of the Calendar Prince but Kondrashin makes us believe that he knows it by heart.

3. The young prince and the young princess

The warm sound of the stringed instruments welcomes us in the palace of the young prince and princess. Rimsky-Korsakov inserted Oriental elements: the dreamy musical scales in between for clarinet, then repeated by the strings, and finally played at the same time. It's enchanting and we step right into a fata morgana. The violin motif was peaceful in the first movement, feeling in the second movement, but playful in the third one. A short and intense tutti, then we hear a potpourri of all the previous motives, fading to the end.

4. Festival at Baghdad - The sea - The ship goes to pieces against a rock surmounted by a bronze warrior

There are a lot of dynamical contrasts. We are on the ship again, but the tempo is a lot faster this time. The winding drum represents the festival at Baghdad. We switch between these locations. It is confusing and everything is mixed. When taking a look into the sheet music, we see that Rimsky-Korsakov intended this last movement to sound entangled. The waves are majestic and violent, the wind is strong, leading to the climax: the shipwreck. Then, we hear the violin for the last time. Not peaceful as in the first movement, tender as in the second, or sparkling as in the third movement, but sad and nostalgic, fading to the end...

My opinion of the performance: 8/10 (studio version)

Kondrashin's interpretation was very dynamic and fluent. The only remark I have is the violin solo which could have been better, but the orchestral part was good.

I don't like comparing but I cannot be silent on this: Place the violinist of the 2006 live version in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of 1963 with Kondrashin, put it on a cassette-tape and I will be perfectly satisfied.

Picture source: wikimedia commons

Tchaikovsky - Symphony 4, 4th movement

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Russian composer P.I. Tchaikovsky has always been a Romantic composer who truly fascinates me. He was born on May 7th 1840. In his homeland, his oeuvre was considered too 'European'. However, he succeeded to combine both West-European and Russian musical elements in his work.

Trademark: Sentimental melodical phrases, big contrasts, grandeur and majesty, complexity, (at least a touch of) seriousness, references to Russian folk songs.

In my opinion he is the best composer for wind instruments in his orchestral works. It's obvious that a well played delicate violin can move people very easily, but Tchaikovsky manages to give me the chills by the way he uses the wind instruments in his symphonies. One good example is the 4th movement of his 4th symphony.

I have searched on Youtube for the best versions of this movement and chose two of them to write about. Not to decide which one is better, but to sum up the differences.

Michael Tilson Thomas/San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra

(Watch the performance here)

The first measures are an explosion of vigour and strength.

The balance between the different instruments is very good. The bass notes stand out and form a good outline for the whole orchestra. As the musicians rush fluently through the movement, we experience great contrasts. The strings also do a good job on articulation and uniformity. The wind instrument section and the percussionists are incredible.

A point of criticism can hardly be found, it's an impeccable, intense performance!

Herbert von Karajan/Berliner Philarmoniker

(Watch the performance here)

The first thing that stands out is the incredibly high tempo and energy, which makes it sound as if Karajan and the Berliner 'attack' Tchaikovsky. It sounds as if they almost lost their self-control in a good way. The contrasts are enormous and are just on the border line: piano is almost a pianissimo, a fortissimo almost a fortisissimo. Karajan clearly wanted his orchestra to push their limits. And he succeeded extraordinarily!

Compared to the previous version, Karajan and the Berliner play the movement more fierce and tumultuous, with more feeling. In my opinion, he definitely beats Michael Tilson Thomas in terms of interpretation, but not in terms of flawlessness, depth and uniformity.

Choosing which one was best is not the point of this article though. Everybody has their own preferences and priorities when it comes to music.

A performance is good if a musician does credit to the composer instead of attracing attention to himself in first place. MTT and Karajan obviously understood Tchaikovsky's intentions when he wrote this movement. The performances are majestic, turbulent and thrilling, both in their own way.

Source of the picture: wikimedia commons

Maurice Ravel - Jeux d'eau

Performed by Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden.

Before I start to write about the piece itself, here is some information about Maurice Ravel. The French composer was born in May 1875 and was one of the first impressionists in classical music.

Trademark: Most of his compositions sound very 'clean'. Ravel's music is never too heavy. In my opinion you need to change pedal a lot in this piece. It should sound articulated, yet not too dry.

Style: Impressionistic

Jeux d'eau, Introduction

As I am drinking my glass of water and study it's texture and flexibility, I realize that Ravel admired this traits of the fluid that is required for life and it's miracles.

In the first measures of Jeux d'eau, we can hear a streamlet, flowing from a source, down the rocky hills. It's marked pianissimo and nothing warns us of the waterfalls downhill. The performance is played very clean but with feeling. We hear little "bells" played by the left hand, as pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet calls them.

Middle part

The water flows faster and there's a large crescendo towards a fortissimo which disappears as fast as it came to it's existence. Mr. Vanden Eynden allows practically no extended rubato except where it's indicated, but inserts a 'comma' now and then to let the lively piece respire from it's quick moving forward.

One comma is inserted before the forte, which announces the first waterfall: The left hand is obviously leading the melody, dominating but never sharp. If freedom is allowed by the pianist, the freedom is given to the left hand. The right hand motifs are played in a continuous smooth manner, following the melodical notes.

Climax, summary

We return to a pianissimo, more peaceful than the first measures, but the subito piano anticipates on the forthcoming pointed notes and grave basses. The pedal is important. A musical rule is that two frases played in exactly the same way, are boring and therefore one must try to avoid it. Mr. Vanden Eynden does avoid it by using the pedal in ways that never bore, playing sometimes a little drier than usual, sometimes making it sound like a mishmash, but never too long, for every single note has to be heard.

There's an accellerando towards the climax, the fortisissimo, the high waterfalls. The wind keeps teasing the water, producing a real "jeux d'eau" (watergame) which is not playful anymore but really grave and intense.

However, we return to the peaceful theme moving towards the end. The left hand plays the melodical bass notes, more intense than before. We hear a summary of what happened. The streamlet has grown big and has lost it's youthfullness or playfullness when it came out of it's source.

Has it? The last measures reveal the answer.

My opinion of the performance: 9/10

By far the best performance of this masterpiece. It's often played way too neutral or too fast. Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden though inserted brilliancy, constancy, feeling without getting too heavy. The tempi allows the listeners to follow it's fluent musical sentences and make them able to understand the originate of the stream, the climax and the end of the 'jeux d'eau'.

Picture source: http://www.jeanclaudevandeneynden.com/nl/Jean-Claude_Vanden_Eynden_NL/Discografie.html

Appoggiatura: A short introduction.

Music is a passion of mine. So are other forms of art, writing and languages. In this blog I can combine all of them. Music will be the main theme here.

I was born in the Netherlands, as a member of a family consisting of professional musicians. A lot of my earliest memories are about music. Playing music, listening to music, composing music, going to concerts... I grew up with it and learned to play the piano.

My parents are both piano teachers. They taught me a lot, especially my father. Music is not simply a bunch of notes for which you need technique to play. Instead, it's a way of communicating. One thing that helps me a lot is imagining that one has no vocal chords, only an instrument and hands to express himself. Every thought and feeling has to be translated on the instrument. If people can capture that feeling you are playing well. Technique only helps you to achieve your goal, it's not a goal itself.

When I listen to musical pieces, I try to take a lot things into account, to throw light on different elements of the music. If one element is not performed perfectly it doesn't mean that the whole piece isn't beautiful. I will try to write down my analyses and be as extensive and clarifying as possible. Perhaps it will help me appreciate more some componists and I would be glad to take you with me on this musical journey full of discoveries.

Why 'appoggiatura'?

Well, an appoggiatura is a musical ornament or embellishment that is not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony), but serves instead to decorate or "ornament" that line. (©Wiki)

I hope my articles can serve as an embellishment of the beautiful oeuvres composed in the course of history.

The first masterpiece I will write about is Maurice Ravel's "Jeux d'eau".

If you detect any grammatical errors, don't hesitate to write it down in the comments. Requests for articles are welcome too. I appreciate your feedback.

Greetings,

Alexandra