ALJ music taste : a stark contrast
|
Ever since teen years, I listen to diverse music. Below, are contrasted two extremes I like: classical and rock, separated by 150 years.
|
|
1) Liszt's Faust symphony (first perfomed in 1857). My CD: New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein; The Choral Arts Society; Charles Bressler tenor soloist.
|
| Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) is famous for piano music—just like Michael Jordan is famous for basketball. Liszt's musical genius also expressed itself in an orchestral/choral work based on Goethe's Faust. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) has been called the greatest German. He was a Renaissance man, with broad and varied contributions to art and science, of global influence. His Faust poem/drama explored the dealings of Dr. Faustus with the Devil. Knowing the Faust story, a person will better appreciate Liszt's Faust symphony. As a teenager, I read both Goethe's Faust (in English translation) and listened to Liszt's Faust symphony. Both affected me. Here is my take on the music's three acts and its choral ending. |
| Act 1. Faust (about 27 minutes) |
| The longest, most complex, multifaceted act. Echoing the Faust character, its volume, pace and tone changes throughout from loud and stirring with brass to brooding, quiet and haunting. It portrays moods of anger, lust, humor, and so on. Dr. Faust was a middle-aged scholar, jaded, yearning, shrewd, lustful, selfish, and overall discontent. He behaved badly and exploited Gretchen. This act starts quiet and moody. It finishes ultimately with a subtle, almost invisible ending. |
| Act 2. Gretchen (Margaret) (about 20 minutes) |
| As needed to aptly reflect its character, act 2 is the quiet, intimate, introspective portion. Much charm, little excitement and no violence, in A-flat major. Smooth flowing, gentle and soothing. So quiet in parts that one strains to hear it. Solo viola and oboe plus murmuring strings; minimal brass; some harp whose deep tones serve as background to the higher pitched instruments. Its quiet expressions and themes are pure, in that they are virtually untainted with the strident act 1 and 3 themes --though both of those acts possess crucial moments of its feminine essence. |
| Act 3. Mephistopheles (Devil) (about 16 minutes) |
| Starts impishly like a bunny hopping. Quickly grows sinister, assertive, faster, louder, weighty, and even militaristic. Mostly restless, as if it was musical ADHD. At about halfway, it descends into a brief respite of slow, beautiful act 2 music, like gentle rain after a scorching hot day, then resumes bombastic in frenzied, discordant struggle again. The Devil inverts good, so in this act, the act 1 music is twisted and ruined. Right before the very end, returns the beautiful act 2 music, that seems to banish the Devil, as if its purity makes him slink away defeated like a vampire fleeing dawn. This uplifting ending, incidentally, recalls the very end of Richard Wagner’s (1813 - 1883) Ring. And echoes Goethe's Faust drama ending in that good prevails over evil in the end. |
| Choral finale (about 7 minutes) |
An optional part that some people hate (for example, George Shangrow, my deceased college musical teacher). But I love this choral ending. To me, it is like a crown resting upon and elevating to royalty an otherwise ordinary head. It offers pleasing back and forth between chorus and soloist tenor. Accordingly, the volume varies from quiet to verily like that of a grand opera. The organ triumphant at the end is a stirring surprise and satisfying conclusion. Even without understanding the German vocabulary, I like it. Its key lines sung are
|
| Das Ewig Weibliche |
Zieht uns hinan
|
| Three English translations: |
| Women in all of us |
Shows us the way
|
| The Eternal-Feminine |
Lures to perfection
|
| The Eternal-Feminine |
Draws us aloft
|
| In the Faust symphony, Liszt tried to portray musically "portraits" of three different characters. If you had to compose music suggestive of three individuals, could you? And not with just one instrument such as a piano. But to use an entire orchestra, harps and trombones included, plus singers, and an organ. I find Liszt’s masterpiece admirable, and it pleases me deeply. I think Liszt nailed Goethe's key point of pious, innocent femininity transcending baser behavior. He did it without the precise, masterful deftness of the Wagner leitmotif ("theme"), a wonderful device also employed literally in the famous Magic Mountain novel by Thomas Mann (1875 - 1955 ). |
I get much out of this music, partly due to also being familiar with the other artists and works I mention. Someone with zero such backround may shrug with indifference. A lengthy piece of classical orchestral music usually requires its listener to "take his time" and be patient as the audible, nonverbal "story" is told. The quiet portions tempt one to turn up the volume. But that would counter the composer's goal to contrast quietness with the louder portions. Just like when eating, the diner naturally savors diverse food dishes during a 7-course meal --compared to a simple one-pot meal. In the Faust symphony, act 1 is the "norm" or basic level. Act 2 is the quiet, beautiful act. Act 3 is is the restless, chaotic, discordant and devilish finale. Then comes the chorus and solo singer, like a concert encore, redeeming the whole work's unevenness with a simple, repeated, beautiful message. Like icing on a cake, like a bow on a wrapped present.
|
|
2) Lynyrd Skynyrd Live from Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky, June 15, 2007.
|
| An exceptional 2007 performance by this band is sold as a package of a musical CD plus a bonus DVD. This was produced and sold in 2010. It is remarkable in various ways. The band performing this concert, was not the original Lynyrd Skynyrd band that had been the most successful and popular southern USA rock group. It issued five studio albums, had platinum hits and was famous from 1973 (first album) to 1977 (last album, and disbanding). |
| The original group's best known hits were Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird. But the death in a plane crash of some of its members, including its lead singer, ended things. The band recorded a live album in Atlanta in July 1976. At that time it came out on two records; a double LP. Its musical CD version is incomplete: 71 minutes, only 12 songs. It was titled One more from the road. In comparison, the 2010 musical CD titled Live from Freedom Hall, is longer (79 minutes) has more songs (15 ), and is I think superior. Let me share why. |
| The original Lynyrd Skynyrd band itself had players come and go. Key members were its lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, lead guitarist Gary Rossington, and keyboardist Billy Powell. Your usual basic rock band has a guitar and bass guitar, plus drummer. Skynyrd had always at least three guitarists, usually four, and keyboardist, harmonica player, and two or three women backup singers. |
| After 10 years of silence, in 1987, the band regrouped, with lead singer Johnny Van Zant --younger brother of the deceased Ronnie Van Zant. The intent of the 2007 Louisville live recording was to be a tribute to the 30 years since the original band ended with the tragic plane crash. The tribute concert band members of long standing were Ricky Midlocke, and keyboardist Billy Powell. By 2007, these were no longer young men. But they teamed up with various younger musicians, making a multigenerational band. All told, over the decades, at least 28 men played in the band at one time or another. The sum of their 2007 performance is stellar and polished. |
| Uneven sound from track to track is a weakness of many music recordings, including the 1976 live Skynyrd release. Many live recordings also have awkward artificial breaks in between songs. The 2007 Skynyrd production has flawless flow of even-paced sound, uniform energy level, and the DVD videography is perfect. It is a superb work. I applaud its energetic power; choice of songs; sequence of songs; the lead singer's remarks; the crowd's vocal enthusiasm and joining in. |
| Watching the camera footage, I light up with joy, seeing polished experts performing in concert. Every band member, including the backup singers, gets coverage. Five cameras were employed. The pianist and drummer, are forced to stay put on the stage, but the lead singer and various guitarists stroll about and interact with each other and the audience. If I had to cite imperfections, I'd mention that Johnny Van Zant's voice had lost its youthful pitch (at age 47; and that the extreme ending is abrupt due to the time constraints of any music CD. The original album version of Free Bird was 9 minutes long. This live version stretches to 12 minutes and concludes the concert. The audience gives a rousing ovation, but the music CD was unable to reflect as much, though the DVD shows it. |
| When you play the DVD, make sure you have good audio. The DVD has the entire show, unlike the CD, but also has inferior audio. |
| I admire that these people, rather than ending their music making after the plane crash, continued it, albeit in an altered format. I admire how Johnny Van Zant chose to more or less pay homage to, and replace his older brother, rather than insisting on carving out a unique career himself. I love how keyboardist Billy Powell (classically trained pianist), 54 years old, showed how masterful, essential and eloquent his contributions were. In the same way the Liszt's Gretchen music contrasted with the heated Faust and Devil acts, even so Powell's piano playing contrasts soprano-like with the raucous guitar blaring and frentic drum beating. It is heartening how 57-year-old old Ricky Midlocke plays guitar side by side with the younger guys. Midlocke runs around dramatically, changes his guitars three times, and literally jumps with fun. Gary Rossington, 56 years old, is less active and sometimes stands still like a statue, but commands respect as having co-written six of the songs played, and having played in the band since high school. |
| Having heard all 6 of Lynyrd Skynyrd's studio albums, if forced to possess only one CD, it would be this one. If you like Lynyrd Skynyrd but have never heard/seen this one, do so. [The 25th anniversary deluxe, remastered edition of One more from the road released in 2001 has more songs, but I have yet to listen to it. It may please me more than this work.] |
| In conclusion, piano prodigy Liszt and genius Goethe hobnobbed among Europe's aristocrats and royalty. In contrast, the Skynyrd background was more or less being born "on the wrong side of the tracks" in rural, southern USA. Regardless of the many differences between these musicians and the 150 years, millions of appreciative listeners treasure and love their music. As I write this, most of us --myself and you readers-- possess at our fingertips access to an astonishingly rich, diverse, global array of music. Since I do not use "cloud" music subscription services, and own only as many CDs as my shelves can contain, my collection is limited to about 450 CDs. I shared here with you, in black & white words, my thoughts on just two such. |
| Whether you share my taste or not, we both celebrate our uplifted spirits experienced when enjoying our favorite music. |
(originally published in my September 2022 newsletter)
Back |
|
|
