Tag: Europe

Franz Liszt | Sonata in B minor

“Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor (1854) is arguably his finest composition and one of the greatest piano sonatas ever written,” (PianoStreet). “Many place it alongside Schumann’s Fantasy Op. 17 as “the two 19th-century masterpieces” of the piano literature.

Although Liszt performed it for his enthusiastic disciples in Weimar, the work failed to impress Brahms or Clara Schumann. Robert Schumann, to whom it was dedicated, was already incarcerated in the asylum in Endenich by the time of the Sonata´s arrival in his home in Düsseldorf. The Sonata drew an enthusiastic compliment from Richard Wagner … It has now been more than 150 years after the Sonata’s public premiere and no musicologist, music theorist or classical music fan can deny its influence, craft, and original power. The work also represents one of the most successful solutions of the problems of the sonata form to come out of the 19th century.”

The four movements of the Sonata are blurred together; between the first and second movements, a chord is sustained over the bar line, or the nominal demarcation between the movements, followed by a very unexpected chord progression. The transition to a surprising new key center is the result, starting around the 12:00 mark in the first video below. The second video, by Polychoron Productions, provides a detailed discussion of the modulation.

Rajaton | Laulamahan

Rajaton “is a six member a cappella group founded in Helsinki, Finland, that comprises two sopranos, two baritones, and an alto and tenor each,” (DCTheaterArts). “Rajaton is a pop sensation in its native Finland, where it is renowned for its genre-crossing repertoire of classical to Europop and where it has a double platinum, three platinum, and a collection of gold records, amongst over awards under its belt. The group … continues to spread the joy of their music through touring in over twenty-five countries. … The name Rajaton is the Finnish word for ‘boundless’ and (is a) metaphor for the wide breadth of their repertoire.”

From AllMusic’s profile of the group: “The group released its first album, Nova, in 2000, and over the course of the next decade managed another eight releases, including albums and DVD offerings. Their October 2007 album, Maa, was another strong seller for the band, as it cracked the Top Ten on the Finland album charts.”

The joyful track “Laulamahan,” released in 2022, shifts in texture throughout while the overall tempo remains unchanged. There are several modulations, the first of which is a shift two whole steps downward at 0:43. 

Gospel Church | Anthem of Praise

” … composer, pianist, and arranger Richard Smallwood has clearly and solidly changed the face of gospel music,” (Kennedy Center). “He can impeccably blend classical movements with traditional gospel, and arrive at a mix that is invariably Smallwood’s alone. A diverse and innovative artist, Richard Smallwood has achieved many honors; Dove Awards and a Grammy also attest to his talents … Smallwood has been honored by the Smithsonian Institution as a ‘gospel innovator and songwriter,’ and his hometown, Washington, D.C. heralded two separate occasions as ‘Richard Smallwood Day,’ also, distinguishing him with the Mayoral Art Award for ‘precision and excellence in artistic discipline.'”

… His debut album, The Richard Smallwood Singers, spent 87 weeks on Billboard’s Gospel chart. “The next project, Psalms, received a Grammy nomination. Two years later, another nomination for Textures, the album that contained the classic ‘The Center of My Joy,’ penned by Richard Smallwood along with Bill and Gloria Gaither.” His career has only grown from there.

Gospel Church, a prominent French gospel ensemble, produced this video performance of Smallwood’s “Anthem of Praise” in late 2023. After a cinematic instrumental intro establishes the piece in Bb minor, the choir enters at 1:03. At 3:33, the arrangement transitions to Bb major; from there, there are half-step upward modulations with each successive vocal soloist, eventually landing in Db major. The final few seconds bring an emphasis on the original Bb, now clearly the implied relative minor even in the absence of any chord color.

George Frideric Handel | Messiah (fail)

Now that the holidays are over, it’s perhaps the least distasteful time of the year to post this monumental gaffe by an organist accompanying Handel’s Messiah (1741). This error wouldn’t have been possible during Handel’s lifetime, when the “transposition” function on pipe organs was still a few hundred years in the future. It all adds up to a category of “unintentional modulation” — one which we hope won’t grow much over time!

“Performing under pressure is hard, and there’s no doubt that accompanying a full choir is stressful even for the most unflappable of musicians,” (ClassicFM). “But this is just… something else.

During a performance of Handel’s Messiah, at that crucial moment at the end of the ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus when the choir and organ come together in four glorious final chords, this organist completely loses it. It seems they accidentally pressed the ‘transpose’ function on their instrument, only-just-and-only-sort-of recovering it by adding an unexpected seventh at the end, before finally landing on the tonic chord. We can all agree the choir deserves a huge pat on the back for holding it together.” The video is only 0:44 long; in the interest of safety, make sure you’re sitting down by about the 0:20 mark.

Frédéric Chopin | Nocturne in G Major, Op. 37 #2

“Chopin composed 21 nocturnes, 18 of which were published during his lifetime,” (The Guardian). “They span almost his entire creative career – the earliest were written in the late 1820s, when the composer was still in his teens, the last in 1846, three years before his death. That period also coincided with massive advances in the technology of the piano itself; the instruments that Beethoven and Schubert wrote for – the kind that Chopin would have known in his youth – were very different in their tonal capabilities and power from those that he was able to play and compose on in the last decade of his life.

In some significant respects, Chopin’s development as a composer, and the steady refinement of his musical language, are inseparable from the increasing expressive power that the steady advancement in piano technology offered him through his career. Together with the mazurkas, the other miniature form that he made his own, the nocturnes provide a musical chronology of that development.”

“Chopin’s Nocturne in G (1839) is written like a barcarolle, a song of the Venetian gondoliers. In the left hand you’ll hear the gentle rocking motion of the boat,” (VermontPublic.org). “The music shifts and the key changes just like the scenery passing by. The boat comes to a rest and we hear a melody, like the gondolier singing a simple, repetitive song.”

After the piece begins in G major, at the 0:18 mark we’ve clearly launched into new harmonic territory, with many additional shifts throughout. However, the piece manages to come to its final resting point by returning to the key of G major.

Jacques Dutronc | Paris s’Éveille

“Jacques Dutronc might be a cool name to drop when discussing debonair Gallic musical greats, but there is a surprising dearth of material written about him outside the Francosphere,” (The Guardian). “In his home country he is a household name and the subject of countless biographies … The Parisian’s ascent to teen idol status wasn’t overnight. He burst through as a positively ancient 23-year-old … charting with the garage R&B of ‘Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi‘ in 1966. Hitherto, he’d been known as a fine session guitarist for other artists such as Eddy Mitchell, Micky Amline and Gene Vincent.

As a teenager, Dutronc, like so many others, was inspired by the burgeoning sound of rock’n’roll coming out of the US, and in 1959 he picked up the guitar for the first time … Just when it looked as if he might be on to a winning streak, Dutronc was called up for national service, and (his musical projects) El Toro and Les Cyclones fizzled out. Dutronc was impossibly handsome and suave, emoting in the boulevardier style to keep the mums on side, with just enough Dylanisms (shaggy fringe, chattery, circumlocutory rapping) to make him positively au courant … The hits kept coming, and in 1968 he scored another #1 with ‘Il Est Cinq Heures, Paris s’Éveille’ (It’s five o’clock, Paris is waking) … In France, Dutronc is as synonymous with (the 1960s) as les Beatles and la mini-jupe, while in territories elsewhere his cigar-chomping visage is the true embodiment of French pop at its most chic.”

“Paris s’Éveille” alternates between A minor for the verses and A major for the choruses. An agile flute darts around the edges of the vocal line, nearly constantly present but never upstaging the lyric.

Franz von Chossy Quintet | Perpetual Lights

“Franz von Chossy was a Munich native who began playing the piano when he was 6,” (JazzInfo). “His mother introduced him to classical music and encouraged him to learn folk music. Franz went to Amsterdam to study at The Conservatoire of Amsterdam. He then moved to New York to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Kenny Barron and Garry Dial, Dave Liebman and John Taylor. He also studied film composition with Edward Green in New York.

Franz has released numerous critically acclaimed CDs under his own name, as well as his quintet and his trio. Franz has played in Europe, America, Canada, Asia, India, Jordan, and Syria as well as Africa (Tunisia and Morocco) and Asia. Franz is a valuable member of jazz groups such as the Pascal Schumacher Quartet or Arifa. His ability to improvise … allows him seamlessly switch between styles …”

“The new suite from the Franz von Chossy Quintet, When the World Comes Home, is a musical interpretation of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise,” (JazzSick Records). “Von Chossy’s evocative piano playing moves between jazz and classical music and infused with fresh, contemporary accents by his band. Inspired by his collaboration with the Metropole Orchestra, he composed a cinema-like suite with Adam, Eve, and the fall of man as its points of departure … When the World Comes Home features an extraordinary line-up of piano, drums, cello, violin and clarinet.”

“Perpetual Lights,” the album’s opening track, is an ambitious piece of more than eight minutes in length. One of the few through-lines from start to finish is a restless subdivision of each beat into 16th notes — softly stated by the percussion or carried only by the piano. At other times, the 16ths grow into an overlay for something close to a straight-ahead rock groove, all the more noticeable because the melody often features sustained notes and phrases. The unusual instrumentation jumps out here and there: we hear a cello where we’d expect a bass; the violin and clarinet speak as one at first, then jump into dialogue. The piece starts in Eb, shifts to Bb minor at 1:09, then changes to C minor at 1:28. More changes in tonality follow.

Jacques Ibert | Française (Lorenzo Micheli, guitar)

French composer Jacques Ibert’s “skill (at) improvisation became useful when he was employed as a pianist at silent movie theatres, where he composed scores  to fit the action on the screen,” (JacquesIbert.fr). “He later was to write over sixty film scores for sound movies. World War I interrupted Ibert’s studies at the Conservatoire. He joined an army medical unit, and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by the French government.”

After his military service, Ibert continued to lead a life of high achievement, not only as composer but as a French citizen. “Shortly after returning to the Conservatoire, Ibert stood for the competition for the Premier Grand Prix (Prix de Rome). He won the prize,which meant living up to three years in Rome at the Villa Medici, in October 1919. In 1937, Ibert was named Director of L’Académie de France à Rome, the first musician to hold this post. In 1955, Ibert was appointed General Administrator of the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux (the combined management of Paris Opera and Opera Comique). In 1956, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux Arts of the Institut de France.”

Ibert wrote “Française” for guitar in 1926. “Ibert … wrote a number of operas, ballets, and film scores, as well as orchestral, vocal, and chamber music and some thirty instrumental pieces,” (ThisIsClassicalGuitar). The “Française” … “is a virtuosic composition with a startlingly original guitaristic style. This lively dance with roots in folk-music in 2/8 time begins with rapid triplets interspersed with linking scalic passages. A middle section offers ingenious harmonic modulations, intricate cross rhythms and short bursts of melody, leading to a reprise of the first section and a vigorous coda.” After a start in C major, the piece modulates to E major at 0:45. More shifts in tonality follow.

Ennio Morricone | Se Telefonando (feat. Mina)

“(Morricone’s) film scores alone spanned jazz, lushly romantic orchestrations, supremely freaked-out psychedelic rock and all points in between; outside of cinema, he worked in everything from 60s Europop to avant-garde modern classical …The most celebrated of Morricone’s diversions into pop music, at least in Italy, ‘Se Telefonando’ is a perfect example of what Anglophone pop audiences missed by snootily ignoring anything not sung in English: a fantastic, epic ballad fit to take on anything that came from Bacharach and David’s pens in the same era, complete with very Morricone-esque idiosyncrasies,” (The Guardian). “Its chorus melody was apparently influenced by the sound of a French police siren, and its bass notes are augmented by the sound of trombones.”

“One of the most beloved and iconic performers in Italian history, vocalist Mina was a fixture on the pop music scene in the ’60s and ’70s … “(AllMusic). “Her lush and powerful voice put a distinctive mark on her music, which frequently jumped genres, from Italian pop and R&B to bossa nova, jazz, and even disco … she was a trailblazing figure who challenged social mores and became a symbol for female empowerment, pushing boundaries with her liberated image and unapologetic lyrics. Into the 21st century, her prolific and genre-shifting output kept her atop the charts with over a dozen number one albums and multiple hit singles.”

“Se Telefonando” (1966) starts in F# major, its verse building gradually. The short chorus is heard for the first time in F# as well, but a common-tone modulation to A# hits at 1:19 for a re-statement of the chorus as the tune climbs to its highest point. At 1:49, the track returns to its original key with another chorus, only to climb back to A# at 2:14 with yet another chorus. We gradually realize there will be no subsequent verse as the tune fades!