(Program)
Columbia Masterworks Recording. Printed in the U.S.A // Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) // Scheherazade, Op. 35 (1888)
The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy.
Scheherazade
1. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship: Largo e maestoso – Allegro non troppo
2. The Tale of Prince Kalendar: Lento – Allegro molto
3. The Young Prince and the Princess: Andantino quasi allegretto
4. The Festival at Baghdad – The Sea – The Ship Goes to Pieces on a Rock: Allegro molto
I’d like to be myself again
even if it means pulling up stakes
I’d like to be myself again
even if it means having no brakes
‘No Brakes’, Merival
It is in vain for anyone to seek in my suite leading motives which may be linked with the same unbroken poetic ideas and conceptions. On the contrary, all these apparent motives are, in the majority of cases, nothing but purely musical material, the ideas for symphonic development. These motives are woven through the movements of the suite, alternating and intertwining with each other. Appearing as they do on each occasion under different pictorial circumstances., delineating each time different traits and expressing different moods, the motives correspond each time to different pictures and events. Thus I kept in view the creation of a four movement orchestra suite, closely knit by community of theme and motive, yet presenting a kaleidoscope of fairy-story pictures and oriental designs. “” nikolai rimsky-karsakov on Scheherazade
in other words: stop trying to connect dots that don’t exist, just sit back and enjoy the music. and enjoy it i did at last week’s performance by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by elim chan (who’s also at the podium for the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra production in the video above). and since that TSO performance i’ve become quite a proponent of this symphonic suite, especially as a stylistic contrast to anton bruckner’s Symphony No.7 from week28 (which the TSO also produced this week).
at face value, the fate of Scheherazade’s title-character sounds too remote and obtuse to be relatable: the sultana turn amateur playwright’s nightly tales convince the sultan to spare her life from the fate he’s condemned her predecessors to, keeping up the regimen for 1001 nights till his uxoricidal mood passes. rimsky-korsakov chose four of those nights as the inspiration of his symphonic suite.
on second thought, and with a bit of a stretch: isn’t that at least one universal appeal of artistic experience, and of music in this particular case—something to resort to while a less than desirable mood passes. 1001 nights, days, weeks, years…a lifetime is something you cobble together.
(song of the week: ‘No Brakes’ — Merival)
first i heard ‘No Brakes’ was at The Burdock sometime in late 2017, part of a set of similarly introspective songs by toronto-based singer/songwriter anna horvath (‘Merival’ on stage). the connection was instant—though my music-metabolism means it’s taken me this long to get back to it for a closer look at what it is that connection was. the song came up occasionally in other sets since, and then the occasional hum of the opening melody at random tangents for the next year and a half until may 2019 when she released a corresponding music video and i finally learned the title and words to the lyrics i’d been singing wrong. the lyrics are simple, direct, i think the hook for me is in the use of her voice. for as long as i’ve been known this song i’ve imagined a rendition of it on cello, especially the closing verse’s ‘I’d like to be myself again, even if it means pulling up stakes’—it’s the way she drops her voice at ‘even if it means..’ that i found so infectious.
it was while reviewing Tapestry Opera’s Jacqueline this week—a work for soprano and cello based on the short life of the late jacqueline du pré—that i realized more of why i feel the cello’s timbre is blue thing: how the instrument ‘drops its voice’ from higher strings to the C string, that drop feels like a native language i’ve forgotten or am yet to learn, the frequency that my inner voice vibrates at. its the same case on the cello as in voice. it’s a frequent effect in the songs of laura marling (‘The Valley’ for example), hits the spot every time. i guess i’m saying there are many ways to sing the blues.