Europe – Page 10

Franz Schubert | Pause (Die Schöne Müllerin, D 795)

According Dr. Jimbob’s Page, “Franz Peter Schubert lived from 1797 to 1828 in and around the Austrian capital of Vienna. He spent much of his life redefining the art song … Schubert also strove to make the piano part more than a harmonic accompaniment for the singer but rather an independent voice and sometime Greek chorus in its own right … Schubert came across (Wilhelm Müller’s) Schöne Müllerin (The Fair Maid of the Mill) poems in late 1822 …

Schubert spent his brief life making fruitless attempts to create a hit opera. He died disappointed and largely unknown, but posterity would come to recognize that with Die schöne Müllerin, Schubert perfected the genre of song cycle (and may have created its greatest example on his first try). Schubert also created a miracle of collaboration. Poet and composer, text and music, singer and pianist are true equals in the result, each informing the other, each completing the other, indeed each necessary for the other to make any sense. There’s a touching irony that this tale of frustrated love and missed connections has gone on to inspire great partnerships in the time since its creation.”

This version was performed by German tenor Fritz Wunderlich (whose name, according to one translation, means whimsical) and German pianist Hubert Geisen. Wunderlich died from an accident in his 30s, while Geisen was already 65 when the duo began its short but productive partnership. The combination left a huge impression on Geisen, who later wrote in his autobiography:

“Over the last years I often had to think about what made Wunderlich’s voice so unforgettable to his audience – especially in Lieder singing. I have worked with many singers, and I know some of them shared my opinion on how to perform a Schubert Lied, but I also know they thought that our work together was a burden. I was once called a ‘slave-driver’ … I did not ‘teach,’ but tried hard to improve what was already there – which makes quite a difference. That is why I refuse being called a ‘teacher’ of a singer like Wunderlich.”

After a recital together just before Wunderlich’s untimely death, Geisen recalls saying “‘Fritz, you sang so wonderfully, and we formed such an integrated whole – I think you are complete now. I cannot tell you anything anymore.’ He was furious at me and shouted: ‘What are you talking about? I will be your pupil as long as you live! You will tell me everything you know, and every time I sing a little worse, you will have to play even better, so they won’t notice … ‘”

The twelfth of the cycle’s twenty songs, “Pause” starts in Bb major, then transitions through G minor (0:50), F major (1:17), Db major (1:33), F major (1:50), and reverts to Bb major (1:56). There’s a transition to Ab major from 2:38 – 3:22, then an unsettled section until 3:41, where there’s a final return to Bb major.

TinWhistler | Down By The Sally Gardens

“Down By The Sally Gardens” is a traditional Irish folk song based on a poem by W.B Yeats, performed here by the duo TinWhistler. “We’re PJ and JJ, two brothers from the Mediterranean island of Mallorca,” they say in the description of their group on YouTube. “We mostly play traditional Irish music but also other kinds of “Celtic music”: Scottish, Breton, Galician, Asturian… Mostly on Irish tin whistles/low whistles (PJ) and guitar (JJ).” You can learn more and order their album on their Bandcamp page. Key change at 2:12.

Berklee Valencia Summit Sessions | Um Dia Mais

A group of students and faculty at Berklee College of Music’s campus in Valencia Spain collaborated on composing, arranging, recording, and engineering the track “Um Dia Mais” (One More Day).

According to the Youtube video posting, “‘Um Dia Mais’ is a song that combines experiential vignettes from different perspectives on the meaning of ‘a new morning.’ It is a song about hope, opportunity to start over, appreciating your surroundings, and seizing your day. The song was composed, recorded, and mixed during a three-day workshop, Summit Sessions: Ready, Set, Record!, which included a songwriting session led by Berklee faculty Viktorija Pilatovic; a production session led by artist, producer, and composer Magda Giannikou; and a recording session led by Giannikou and engineered by recording and mix engineer/audio technician Pablo Schuller.“

Featuring a 4/4 feel rooted in jazz fusion and infused with Brazilian flourishes, the tune begins in C minor but shifts to E minor for the chorus (1:00) before returning to C minor for the second verse (1:19). 1:56 brings a second chorus in E minor, continuing the pattern. An extended bridge begins at 2:34, initially in E minor but shifting to Bb minor at 2:53. At 3:11, we’ve returned to the E minor chorus, but at 3:30, we dive into an outro: a new 5/8 time signature serves as a compelling backdrop for a brief but wide-ranging keyboard solo; the vocal line, centered largely around one note, hovers and darts like a hummingbird.

Christian Jacob | Little Eyes

Jazz Times calls pianist/composer/arranger Christian Jacob “a post-bop modernist touched by the souls of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.” Jacob’s website outlines his multi-faceted resume: “Multi-Grammy nominated pianist and arranger Christian Jacob first gained widespread exposure as music director for Maynard Ferguson and later as leader of the Christian Jacob Trio and co-leader of the Tierney Sutton Band. Christian is also the musical director for both Broadway legend Betty Buckley and American icon Jack Jones.”

A French native, Jacob “fell in love with classical music at age 4 and discovered jazz at age 9.” After winning top honors at the Paris Conservatory, Jacob continued his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Jacob went on to teach at Berklee, tour with Maynard Ferguson, and win an accolade from The Japan Times as one of the best-selling foreign jazz pianists in the Japanese market. He is a multi-time Grammy nominee for his work with vocalist Tierney Sutton, drummer Ray Brinker, and bassists Trey Henry and Kevin Axt.

As an arranger, Jacob received a Grammy nomination as an arranger with The Phil Norman Tentet; his arrangements have been performed by John Scofield, Billy Cobham, Charlie Haden, Phil Woods, Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, Gary Burton, the Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra, and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. In 2016, he composed the score for director Clint Eastwood’s film Sully; the next year, Eastwood again hired Jacob to score The 15:17 to Paris.

Jacob’s composition “Little Eyes” was recorded in a live 2007 trio performance in Japan. Jacob recounts the performance: “In 2007 I was invited to tour and record in Japan. I always loved Japanese audiences, and to make this recording special, I chose four Japanese melodies that every Japanese person would recognize, and arranged them for trio. They were the highlight of the tour … I was happy to bring my two longtime partners: Trey Henry on bass and Ray Brinker on drums.” The tune begins simply and peacefully in G major. But after a restless transition through several keys of the moment (1:30 – 1:49), we land in G minor. The cycle begins again at 2:05.

Frida Elsa | Sway

“Sway” is a 2018 single by Swedish singer/songwriter Frida Elsa. While Elsa has yet to release a full album, she signed with PRMD Music & Publishing in 2017, and has a clear sense of herself as an artist. “I love being part of the creative process and above all to express myself in text and melody,” she says in her profile on Spotify. “I try, in a world of misery, to focus on all the positive things I get out of life. My lyrics focus on love, passion and hope for a brighter future.”

“Sway” modulates up a half step at 2:09.

Salomon Jadassohn | Elegie, Op. 108

According to the Grove Dictionary of Music, “Salomon Jadassohn was born to a Jewish family living in Breslau, the capital of the Prussian province of Silesia. This was a generation after the emancipation of the Jews in Central European German-speaking lands and during a time of relative tolerance.” Jadassohn attended Leipzig Conservatory in 1848, just a few years after it had been founded by Felix Mendelssohn. Jadassohn studied privately with pianist and composer Franz Liszt.

MusicWeb International reports that Jadassohn “later taught at the (Leipzig) Conservatory; his list of pupils reads like a Who’s Who of notable composers including Grieg, Delius and Busoni … As a composer he was prolific, having four symphonies, two piano concertos and a substantial assemblage of chamber works to his name.”

“Elegie,” a movement from the “Serenade for Flute and Piano,” Op. 108 (1890), straddles the line between G minor and Bb major throughout, then transitions to G major between 1:28 and 1:48.

Sabaton | To Hell and Back

Sabaton is a Swedish band comprised of “heavy metal military historians,” according to The Guardian, which describes a recent pre-COVID gig: “A vast crowd of people are singing raucously, raising large beer tankards skyward and grinning like they have just won the lottery. In this small and sweaty venue, a Swedish heavy metal band are opening their set with a song about the exploits of Field Marshall Rommel’s infamous 7th Panzer Division in the second world war. They follow it with a number about the horrors of Passchendaele in the first world war.

By the end of the night, we will have had exuberant hymns to Lawrence of Arabia, an all-female Soviet bomber squadron and the military genius King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Everyone in the room, the vast majority of whom are wearing Sabaton shirts, sings along with absolutely everything. Meanwhile, the venue gently rocks from side to side, because we are on a ship in the middle of the Baltic Sea. Welcome to the 10th annual Sabaton Cruise: The Battleship, where passions for military history and Olympic-standard drinking collide.”

“To Hell and Back,” released in 2014, focuses on the Battle of Anzio (referenced in the chorus), part of the Italian Campaign of World War II fought in January 1944. Starting in D minor, the guitar solo (2:30 – 2:47) rises up into E minor before a reprise of the hook. At 3:06, the outro climbs up to F minor. Many thanks to first-time contributor Erik Lofgren for this submission!

Franz Schubert | Piano Trio 2 in E-flat Major, movement 4

Though probably best known for his lieder, Austrian composer Franz Schubert also wrote symphonies, wonderfully intricate miniatures for solo piano, two masses, and more. Classic FM details Schubert’s popularity: “…musical soirees known as Schubertiads became all the rage, during which Schubert might sing some of his own songs while accompanying himself at the piano.”

However, his public’s fondness for the music translated into neither rapidly growing fame nor consistent financial compensation during the composer’s lifetime. Schubert heard only some of his later works in performance, reports Classic FM: “With little money and nothing much more than his ‘groupies’ to support him, Schubert began to produce a seemingly endless stream of masterpieces that for the most part were left to prosperity to discover, including the two great song cycles, the Eighth (‘Unfinished’) and Ninth (‘Great’) Symphonies, the Octet for Wind, the last three string quartets, the two piano trios, the String Quintet, the ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy and the last six sonatas for solo piano.” The exact cause of death is not known, but many historians have suggested mercury poisoning. Duncan, Edmondstoune’s Schubert (1905) suggests that the last musical work Schubert requested to hear was Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131. Violinist Karl Holz, Beethoven’s secretary, commented: “The King of Harmony has sent the King of Song a friendly bidding to the crossing.”

The Piano Trio 2 in E-flat Major was written in 1827, when Schubert was only 30. It was to be the last year of his life. The Trio begins with a more positive mood, but its fourth movement is far more complex, perhaps following the trajectory of its creator’s health. Starting in Eb major, there’s a shift at 1:15 to C minor, then a passage through a Bb major section. 2:46 starts with a bang and continues through a tour of myriad keys. 4:00 brings a profound jump to B minor, an extraordinary step indeed in comparison with the home key; from there, the piece continues onward through similarly varied and unpredictable territory.

Hubert Giraud | Sous le Ciel de Paris (Joao Palma, accordion)

Expatica.com notes that the French composer and lyricist Hubert Giraud, whose works were recorded by vocalists from Edith Piaf to Tom Jones, “started out as a musician playing with the likes of Django Reinhardt’s jazz group the Quintette du Hot Club de France in the 1930s and on Ray Ventura’s big-band tour of South America.” He also wrote the theme for the 1951 film Sous le Ciel de Paris (Under the Sky of Paris); the song was later recorded by Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, Juliette Greco, and more. Giraud died in 2016 at the age of 95.

The tune was beautifully showcased at the 66th CMA Trophée Mondial accordion competition, held in Portimao, Portugal in 2016. The competition welcomed contestants from more than 20 countries; Joao Palma achieved only ninth place in his junior division, giving some idea of the level of artistry represented at the competition. Palma, a Portuguese national, went on to win the World Accordion Cup, a competition protected by UNESCO’s International Music Council, in 2018.

Starting in E minor, the waltz progresses to E major at 1:03, reverting back to the original key at 1:49. Utilizing rubato as more of a rule than an occasional flourish, Palma throws in a last-minute whole-step modulation at 2:20 — quickly leading to an unexpected ending.

Many thanks to our frequent contributor JB for this submission!

U2 | Gloria

Pitchfork reports: “In the early 1980s, U2 had earned critical respect and a swelling fanbase but, despite a UK #1 album, were far from superstardom … U2 weren’t yet an arena band but they carried themselves like one. What’s more, they actually sounded better the bigger and brasher and bolder their music got.”

Released just months after the game-changing debut of MTV, the video for 1981’s “Gloria” combines a vast outdoor location, sweeping cinematography, and the happy involvement of the band’s fans from the margins. AllMusic describes the tune as a clear point in the band’s development, “marry(ing) the message, melody, and sound together.”

Starting in Eb minor, there’s a big shift at the outro (3:06) to Bb major.