Tag: Europe

Les Flechettes | Les Gens

“People” has been Barbra Streisand’s signature song since its release in 1964. The tune was written by Bob Merill and Jule Styne for the musical Funny Girl, a play about the life of comedian Fanny Brice, with Streisand playing the lead in the original Broadway production. The producers did not much like the song, but Streisand’s compelling performance during try-outs made it a keeper. Streisand’s recording strikes a wistful, plaintive tone. The orchestral backing features sweet strings, and a plodding string bass marking the slow tempo. Her record won the 1964 Grammy for Song of the Year.

Nothing wrong with that, but enter Les Fléchettes (“The Darts” in translation), a French pop group consisting of two sisters and their cousins. They recorded a couple of albums in the late 1960s, including the 1969 tune here. The group later reformed as Cocktail, the French entrants for the 1986 Eurovision song contest.

“Les Gens” is based on “People”, though you might struggle to discern that. The French lyrics were written by Eddy Marnay, a songwriter and producer, who won the 1969 Eurovision song contest as a lyricist, and produced several of Celine Dion’s early albums. Those lyrics, while not a direct translation, retain the overall theme of the English version. The pop arrangement here is happy and bright, and the prominent electric bass offers a soupçon of funk. The key goes up a half-step at 2:06.

The B-side of the single is also a French version of a song originally recorded in English, the Turtles’ song “Elenore”. The deliberately-dumb lyrics of the original are replaced by conventional love-theme lyrics in “Une Fille Est Toujours Belle”. Like the original, it modulates between minor verses to major choruses.

Junior Senior | Take My Time

“Junior Senior were a Danish pop duo. The duo consisted of Jesper ‘Junior’ Mortensen and Jeppe ‘Senior’ Laursen,” (Discogs). “They were well known for their 2002 single ‘Move Your Feet,’ which gained worldwide success in 2003, most notably in the United Kingdom.” The track barely made a scratch in the US, peaking at #45 on the US Dance chart — the band’s most prominent release in the States. But the tune reached #4 in Denmark, #20 in Australia, #11 in France, and #3 in the UK.

The duo’s 2005 release “Take My Time,” from the album Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, sounds like an update on the sound of the US-based band B-52s because … it is: B-52s vocalists Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson are both featured on the track.

Sounding for all the world like a late ’80s/early ’90s B-52s hit with a bit less frenetic energy, a lot less intra-band banter, and a broader harmonic vocabulary, “Take My Time” is a pop/funk fête delivered by a band that brings “joyful energy … mix(ing) all kinds of genres in a melting funky pot with a big smile on their faces,” (MTV). The track features half-step modulations at 2:48 (with an uninterrupted groove) and 3:14 (after what seems like a false ending — until the decrescendo shifts into reverse and the groove returns).

Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Sonata 5, Op. 10 #1, Third Movement

“Beethoven was a classical musician. He used the same grammar rules that you can find in Haydn’s works,” (Jaime Kardontchik, “Modulation in Beethoven’s Sonatas“). “So why does his keyboard music sound so vastly different from Haydn’s or Mozart’s music? For one thing, he was a son of the French Revolution with its Republican ideas of Liberty, Fraternity and Equality. He was an eighteen year old teenager when in 1789 the French Revolution shattered the pillars of the old monarchical world and he enthusiastically embraced these new ideas.

But what made in the end his keyboard music so distinctive is that papa Haydn and the younger Mozart grew up with and perfected the technique of playing and composing for the 4.5-octave harpsichord … Mozart died prematurely in 1791. The young Beethoven grew up together with this new and different keyboard instrument, the forte-piano. He extracted from the forte-piano every new sound possible as the piano makers were improving the instrument and expanding its range up to the present 7.5-octave piano as it is known today. Beethoven loved its sound, however imperfect the instrument was in his time; he understood the almost unlimited possibilities it opened for the expression of new musical ideas, took the risk, and bet on it. And two hundred years later, we are happy he did so. But historical circumstances and technical developments are clearly not enough to explain the individual and his contribution: he was simply Beethoven.”

After a start in C minor, a modulation into the relative major key (Eb) is in effect between 0:33 – 1:11). The 1798 sonata’s sprightly prestissimo movement continues to transition between the two relative keys throughout, passing through other keys (C major included) in the process.

Trijntje Oosterhuis | What the World Needs Now

Vocalist Trijntje Oosterhuis has been part of the Dutch pop scene since the 1990s. After touring with saxophonist Candy Dulfer, she formed the band “Total Touch” with her brother Tjeerd, releasing two successful albums in the late 90s. She went on to embark on a solo career.

She has released two albums of Burt Bacharach songs, The Look of Love (2006) and Who’ll Speak for Love (2007), with Bacharach performing on some of the tracks.

The selection here, “What the World Needs Now,” another Bacharach/David song, was a hit for Jackie DeShannon in 1965 (Billboard #7). The video is taken from a 2008 DVD release, Ken Je Mij (Do You Know Me), a series of duets with Uruguayan guitarist Leonardo Amuedo.

There’s a dramatic whole-step modulation at 2:40.

Antonin Dvořák | String Quartet in F Major (Op. 96, B. 179, “American”), movement I: Allegro ma non troppo (Dover Quartet)

“In 1892, the American philanthropist Jeanette Thurber persuaded Czech composer Antonin Dvořák to head her newly formed National Conservatory of Music in New York City for three years, (MusicProgramNotes.com) … “Within a year, Dvořák had composed his Symphony in E-Minor ‘from the New World,’ … Directly after composing the ‘New World’ Symphony, Dvořák took a long summer holiday in 1893 in Spillville, Iowa … Amidst nature and his countrymen, Dvořák overflowed with musical ideas. Within three days he sketched out his entire String Quartet No. 12, later nicknamed the ‘American‘ … There is no movement without a gorgeous melody, and equally enticing are their delightful accompaniments … The American is unreservedly a masterpiece and crowd pleaser.”

The Guardian, placing Dvořák in his overall historic context: “As well as raising American consciousness of its Native American and African American traditions – a stance seen by some as vindicated by the emergence of jazz – Dvořák influenced a new generation of Czech composers, whose work was even more implicitly nationalistic. He befriended the young Janáček, who would eventually develop his music differently, but his mentor’s example was crucial. Dvořák also influenced his violinist and composer son-in-law, Josef Suk, who in turn briefly taught Bohuslav Martinů. Martinů’s assessment of Dvořák said it best: ‘If anyone expressed a healthy and happy relationship with life, it was he.’”

The quartet’s first movement begins in F major and features many side-steps into other keys, but an A major section starting at 1:38 is particularly striking.

Billy Childs (feat. WDR Big Band) | Mount Olympus

From the WDR Big Band: “The American composer and pianist Billy Childs has several Grammy awards under his belt and is one of the few people who work both in the classical field (including multiple commissions for the LA Philharmonic) as well as the jazz scene, both for smaller groups and big bands. We had the opportunity to work with him back in 2018 and here’s a clip from that project. ‘Mount Olympus’ is a composition by Billy, here in arrangement by Florian Ross. It features Paul Heller on tenor sax and Billy Childs on piano.” From a 2020 JazzTimes profile: “Los Angeles-born and bred, Billy Childs has built a remarkable career as a pianist, composer, and arranger largely away from the New York jazz scene … he was classically trained both in high school and at USC, where he studied composition. After early gigs with J.J. Johnson and Freddie Hubbard, Childs went on to lead his own groups and release a dozen albums … netting 13 Grammy nominations. Artists such as Dianne Reeves and Chris Botti have leaned on his composing and arranging chops.”

“A top European jazz group, Germany’s WDR Big Band is a sophisticated ensemble, featuring an evolving line-up of some of the country’s best musicians,” (AllMusic). “A function of the German public broadcasting institution Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln based in Cologne, the WDR Big Band are musical ambassadors charged with promoting jazz and culture at home and around the world. Over their seven-plus-decades career, the WDR have released numerous albums on their own, featuring such guest artists as Ron Carter, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval … and (won) a Grammy Award for their 2005 Brecker Brothers collaboration Some Skunk Funk. Although much of the WDR Big Band’s performances take place in Germany, they often tour the globe.”

Released in 1989 on Childs’ album Twilight is Upon Us, “Mount Olympus: starts in D minor but shifts to Eb minor from 0:27 – 0:35 — the first of the track’s many unfolding moments. A frenetic 7/8 starts and ends the tune, with off-beat kicks obscuring the meter. But 4/4 takes over the arrangement’s midsection, with nearly every 16th note fair game for an off-kilter kick or suspenseful chord change. The track is the first of many on the live compilation Do You Know My Name.

for Travis

Johannes Brahms | Tragic Overture, Op. 81

“In the summer of 1880, Brahms … composed two concert overtures. ‘One weeps, the other laughs,’ he commented to his biographer, Max Kalbeck,” (IndianapolisSymphony.org). “The laughing piece referred to his rollicking Academic Festival Overture, Opus 80, filled with light-hearted student songs, written to acknowledge his doctoral degree bestowed by the University of Breslau, introduced by soft trombone chords. The weeping piece was his Tragic Overture, Opus 81, and a heavy counterpoise to the first.  Brahms explained his motivation saying, ‘I (simply) could not refuse my melancholy nature the satisfaction of composing an overture for tragedy.’

Though it was not written for any specific tragedy, speculation has suggested Tragic Overture was possibly written in contemplation of a commission to write incidental music for Goethe’s Faust. (This did not materialize.) Another possibility is that the composer had read Nietzsche’s work The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, published in 1872. This Overture is dramatic commentary on the spirit of tragedy in human life.

Tragic Overture begins with two slashing chords, which preface the solemn main theme, orchestrated within low strings and low winds in D minor. Trombones and tuba build a bridge to a contrasting F major theme, but relief is short.  A third main subject stemming earlier sketches is also introduced. Writing in sonata form, the composer moves directly into a convulsive development. Brahms scholar Walter Niemann wrote, ‘The fleeting touches of thrilling, individual emotion in this overture are not to be found in conflict and storm, but in the crushing loneliness of terrifying and unearthly silences in what have been called dead places.‘  Themes surge and spin in a tempest of emotion. A traditional recapitulation, introduced by two fortissimo chords, summarizes the main ideas with certain alterations.  Opus 81 premiered on December 20, 1880 in Vienna …”

A half-step key change, partially camouflaged by extensive chromaticism, takes place at 8:07. At 10:59, the piece reverts to its original key of D minor.

ABBA | Why Did It Have To Be Me?

Described by Pitchfork as “Björn’s barroom boogie about a sap who loses his heart, all but one lap-steel and two fingers of whisky short of vintage Hank Williams,” this is the eighth track on the Swedish pop band ABBA’s 1976 album Arrival. The tune incorporates elements of blues, rock, and pop, and a cover was included in the 2018 film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

It begins in G and modulates up to A in the middle of the third verse at 1:47.

Ludwig von Beethoven | Für Elise

“Beethoven wrote his Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, better known as ‘Für Elise’, in 1810, but it wasn’t published until 1867, 40 years after his death,” (ClassicFM). “It’s one of the first pieces learner pianists play on the piano; open a little music box, and there’s a good chance you’ll hear it’s charming melody. But although it seems like quite a simple piece, it turns out that ‘Für Elise’ is a actually a really sophisticated piece of music: well, it was written by Beethoven after all. When the music was being transcribed, Beethoven’s handwriting was misread. The text on the manuscript actually read ‘Für Therese’. It is widely acknowledged that Therese was Therese Malfatti, a woman to whom Beethoven proposed in 1810 – the same year he composed ‘Für Elise’.

The piece is in rondo form, where the main theme appears three times, separated by contrasting sections. The shape of the piece in Rondo form can be summarised as ABACA, where A is the main theme, and B and C are the two development sections.”

Starting in A minor, there’s a shift to F major at 1:15 and a return to A minor at 1:44.