Brahms' String Sextet Op. 36

This morning I got an “ear worm” for this piece and began searching for a version of it, only to discover that in most cases, either the intonation or the intention of the players was lacking. Well finally, I arrived at an acceptable version, one that did not unduly set my teeth on edge.

What is so difficult about it? Just play the notes. Easy for me to say, I suppose. For strings, my favourite after piano music, the magic balance seems to be intonation (if the players are even sensible of the fact that they are playing out of tune and off key and can correct it) and vibrato, which enough is really required the longer the note, in order not to sound thin. Of course the calibre of the instrument and the bow can have a lot more to do with it than most suppose. I recall a few years back hearing a good cellist play a fabulous cello. The composition she played was ca-ca. Nevertheless once in a while one got the sense of how a really good cello is supposed to sound.

On this blog, I like to showcase live performances whenever I can. If you get on here, your intonation is acceptable. If it isn't, I'm not going to bother pointing it out to you, I just wont post you here. The idea is to project classical music as a living and greatly loved art form that continues to attract lively performers and one always hopes, livelier audiences.

Many people have the erroneous idea that classical music is dead or a museum craft. Let me therefore ask everyone if they suppose that truth is dead? All truth lies in the past. Truth cannot be easily established in the present and who knows about the future? If one is always in “be here now” mode, rather than at least commonly aware of the past, where all is dead and gone, while living through the continuing experience of the present, then one is invariably simple prey to whatever whimsical whatnot is going on at the moment. Of course some want you there; to be but a willing consumer of whatever the next fad is that they have in store. Here today, gone tomorrow, just as long as they turn a buck. Now, with that said, let's get on with it.

Johannes Brahms was a serious fellow who set out to write music that would continue the traditions established by the classical masters (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert), which is bluntly stated, music that would last a long time, perhaps for eternity. He certainly knew his Bach and had as well the 300 odd harpsichord sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Indeed, we might not even have these were it not for Brahms, who always scanned various estate sales, etc. for rare musical manuscripts.

This string sextet is his second. It was written for 2 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos. It was written during 1864 and 1865 and first performed in Boston, Massachusetts on October 11, 1866. Brahms was in Germany, not in Massachusetts, but this demonstrates that even back then this music was international as it certainly is today. It has four movements, just like a symphony.

Being a man in his early thirties at the time, it has been suggested Brahms may have written it perhaps to escape a dangerous infatuation. It is said to contain “extremely expressive sensuousness and igneous passion,” or “its exotic sounding opening of the first movement [achieved entirely by the curious use of wavering], by innovative chord structures and its many contrasts, both technical and melodical.” all of which is to say there's plenty here to amaze and astound. It's really a precursor to his later symphonies. The point of all that is that it's difficult enough to play well, reasonably hard on the audience (it gives them plenty of things to ponder deeply) and remains high on the lists of those things one longs to hear of a good live performance.

Brahms Sextet in G major, Op. 36

1. Allegro non troppo – I

2. Scherzo - Allegro non troppo - Presto giocoso – II

3. Adagio [Theme and variations] – III

4. [Finale] Poco allegro – IV 

The players are Noah Bendix-Balgley and Amy Schwartz Moretti, violins, Dimitri Murrath and Yehonatan Berick, violas and Julie Albers and Robert deMaine, cellos. This performance took place at Mixon Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music as part of Chamberfest Cleveland [Ohio] June 26, 2013.

The third Chamberfest Cleveland is about to get under way. If you're in the area, please patronize them! 

Pianos, Sharks and Nazis: James Rhodes at TEDxOxford

Pianos, Sharks and Nazis: James Rhodes at TEDxOxford

Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto - Leine / Latvian A of M / Vercumnieks

Another performance of the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat major, Op. 10.  This time by Linda Leine.

...and this is a must listening.  Beethoven's #28 and Schumann's Fantasie.  This is the performance of a young person and I am quite sure she would play the Beethoven somewhat differently now.  But I truly hope she plays the Schumann much the same as she did here.  The end of the Fantasie is quite possibly her best playing over all.

Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto - Toradze / Budapest Festival / Fischer

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat major, Op. 10

He began writing it in 1911 and finished it in 1912, so it is just over 100 years old now. As some of the best things continue to impress and inspire long after their creators and first interpreters have passed their ways, we have this remarkable live performance from Alexander Toradze with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the direction of its founder, Ivan Fischer. This truly was a special performance.

The Congee Diet

A week ago, I spoke with an old friend who told me she had lost weight and solved a few more chronic health problems through about nine weeks of adopting a congee based diet. I had heard of congee from a long since vanished practitioner of Chinese medicine I knew many years ago.

Congee is basically a gruel traditionally made of rice; a rice soup . The heart of understanding congee is in the proportions. The basic rule is 1/4 cup of rice to 4 cups of water: 60 grams of rice to 950 millilitres of water. [I actually have been using 1/3^rd cup rice or other dry food to 4, sometimes 5 cups of water.] That produces less than 4 cups of gruel when finished [about 5 cups]. It takes at least four hours to produce congee.

Now, let's make it a little more interesting. Let's try 1/4 cup of lentils with that 1/4 cup of rice. Let's make it brown rice too. According to the rules that would make 8 cups of water and the time it takes to boil it all down into congee, about four hours. Some people will not abide any beans or legumes in their congee or indeed in their diet. Quinoa is sometimes mentioned as a substitute. I intend on trying this too. The combinations for this stuff are endless.

What I have done already since beginning this diet is make five batches of congee. The first started as just described. I use organic products and filtered or spring water because the cooking process is going to concentrate anything I put into my congee pot.

In addition to the basic ingredients, I add spices, salt and pepper and add no more liquid and I also add up to a cup of fresh frozen organic veggies again without any additional liquid.

Instead of rice, I have used farro, an organic alternative grain to barley, which cooks up a little faster. The second and third batches used farro instead of rice. If you cook it long enough, each grain turns into a small puff ball and then bursts. The lentils will cook down and disintegrate first.

The only fat in congee is whatever tiny amounts you choose to add for taste. Frankly, it doesn't need any, but I might add a tiny amount of some fat or oil and mix it in right before I serve it. I mean a tiny amount too, a teaspoon is the absolute limit.

The last batches have been based on organic white rice (very nice as rice by itself) and organic lentils of various kinds. This last batch used cilantro and celery run through a small food processor I have that is quite handy for such things.

It's been a week now and already I'm noticing changes. I've had a chronic infection in my head for years affecting hearing in my left ear. The doctor said it was an infection or an allergy. Congee diets are known to remove toxins, remove allergies and restore health and vigour. The idea is to replace as many meals as one possibly can each and every day with congee.

The amazing facts are that congee takes so little food, is so cheap to make and so beneficial long term that it's amazing more people haven't discovered it. I'll update this page to let you all know how I proceed.  Oh, my daughter found out what I've been doing and has decided to join me on this little diet adventure.

Elgar's Third Symphony

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

For those who might have missed more of this composer, there is now a third symphony reconstructed from fragments by Anthony Payne. Our reaction to this work is probably a lot like that of the tremendous public acceptance of this work. It came 60 years later, but this work will no doubt be performed more often, perhaps as often as his first two. Is it genuine Elgar? Well, it's frankly as close as it's likely to get to the composer's unmistakable style. Something like a synthesis or an outgrowth of his first two symphonies, you hear more and more of those exquisite Elgar moments. What I've always found remarkable about Elgar's music is how often I recall a phrase or a moment in one of his great symphonies, the Enigma or the concertos and then recall from whence it came. Gratefully we have this remarkable testament to a prior musical epoch. Enjoy! 

The Anthony Payne Transcription of Elgar's 3rd Symphony