blackdogstudio

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)

 

The Brahms' D Minor has not always been my favourite concerto in the brooding key of D minor. In fact, it is only over the last year that it has topped that list, tied with Sergei Rachmaninoff's Third.

 

My initial reservations regarding the work revolved around the long orchestral introduction (about three (3) minutes) before the piano finally makes its' entrance, coupled with the absence of a flashy cadenza akin to those of Rachmaninoff's or Rubinstein's.

 

It was until my musical sensibilities matured - to be able to appreciate the symphonic form and a love for Brahms' symphonies in partiicular - that the full genius of Brahms' first piano concerto could be more fully appreciated.

 

Although the full work has enjoying many a hearing by me, it is the opening movement that is my favourite part of this beautiful work. As such, my thoughts will be limited to that particular movement.

 

From the huge cords played by the orchestra to open the work, there is a sense of impending doom and a titanic struggle unfolding. There is alot to admire in this movement: the trills played by the pianist, the gorgeous horn solos and the interplay between the piano and the orchestra - sometimes complimentary, sometimes combative. It is a fantastic experience. Emil Gilels' classic recording with Eugen Jochum and the Berlin Philharmoniker is my favourite to date.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

 

As one may expect, J.S. Bach's D minor concerto's opening movement is the most radiant and least brooding of the masterpieces in this key. It is transparent in its' revelation of Bach's contrapuntal craft.

 

Here is a link to a hypnotic version of Glenn Gould playing this magnificent work:

 

 

What magnificent fingers!!!!!

 

Murray Perahia's recording with Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields rank among my favourite recordings in terms of how the piano playing is seamlessly assimilated with the playing of the orchestra and the propulsive momentum in the first movement.

 

Perahia, however, is unable to match Gould's diabolic digital dexterity.

Anton Rubinstein (1829 - 1894)

 

It has not yet been my fate to hear the cataclysmic recording of this work by Anton Rubinstein's pupil Josef Hofmann, apparently one of the greatest interpretations of this virtuoso concerto that teems with bravura display.

 

Now, this a work that keeps me on the edge of my seat. The momentum is Mendelssohn-esque, but the chords are bigger than anything Mendelssohn ever wrote. Although there are slower and tender passages in the opening movement, there is a sense of momentum that carries one through to the end. A cadenza of great power (but not profundity) paves the way for the first movement coda. The playing in the cadenza becomes faster and faster, until piano is joined by the orchestra for the final few bars, and culminates in a flourish of emphatic intensity!

 

As much as I love Marc-Andre Hamelin, his version of this work is not a favourite. He does not let himself go... Pianist Joseph Banowetz with the Czecho-Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Robert Stankovsky paints a more vivid picture, as least pianistically.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

 

It is interesting to note that of Mozart's twenty-seven (27) piano concertos, only two are in a minor key: No.20 in D minor (K466) and No.24 in C minor (K491). The D minor is of course the the stormier of the two.

 

K466 is probably the most famous of all the Mozart piano concertos. It was championed by no less than a young Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), who wrote two impressively powerful cadenzas for the work.

 

It is one of my favourite of the Mozart concertos. Though not as dark as later D minor works, it is a masterpiece on its' own and a foretaste to the brooding music of Beethoven.

Sergei Rachmaninoff ( 1873 - 1943)

 

"It is a concert for elephants!!!" a crazy David Helfgott remarked in the movie SHINE. The movie is a biopic of Australian pianist David Helfgott, and of his overbearing father who possibly helped push his son to insanity by demanding perfection. In the movie, Helfgott's pivotal mental demise occur during practicing and performing the "Rach 3", and winning the prestigious Gold Medal at his Musical Academy in London, England.

 

Rachmaninoff once remarked that his grand Third piano concerto was a concerto for elephants. It is the concerto that triggered my interest in collecting the major D minor piano concertos.

 

It is the work that introduced me to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff!!!

 

It is the work that introduced me to Martha Argerich!!!

 

There are nine (9) versions of this work in my collection:

 

Sergei Rachmaninoff and Eugene Ormandy; Martha Argerich and Riccardo Chailly; Vladimir Horowitz and Fritz Reiner; Vladimir Howowitz and Eric Coates; Vladimir Horowitz and Zubin Metha (VHS); Vladimir Ashkanezy and Andre Previn; Van Cliburn and Kirill Kondrashin; Stephen Hough and Andrew Litton; Arcadi Volodos and James Levine.

 

Rachmaninoff wrote this for the pianophile, giving the cloice of two different first movement cadanzas:

 

The Ossia - played here by Johnny Fang:

 

 

Horowitz and Argerich both favour the shorter and quick-silver scherzo-like cadenza:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gslFu9yjxg&feature=related

 

This is truly a remarkable concerto!!!!

Edward MacDowell (1860 - 1908)

 

This is the D minor concerto that I am the least familiar with, along with the Concerto Symphonique No.4 in D minor by Henry Charles Litolff (1818 - 1891).

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)

 

My favourite piano work by Mendelssohn is his Variations Serieuses, Op.54 and I must admit that I prefer his first Piano Concerto in G minor, Op.25 to his second in D minor. Incidentally, G minor is my other favourite key!!!

I have a great love of dissonance in art...

 

Could not imagine my life without it...

 

It increases the possibilities for expressiveness.

 

Remember Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" or Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled (Angel), 1982 or Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew"?

 

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko?

 

Sergei Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin or Alfred Schnittke?

 

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio?

 

Do dissonant works tell something about the minds of their creator?

 

Does it reflect the chaos of the artistic mind on the ragged edge?

 

Are those who produce dissonant works dammed to be self-indulgent and self-destructive?

 

To my knowledge, the earliest rendering of dissonant piano music that I've heard is the middle section of the second movement - Andantino - of Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata in A Major, D959 (op. post.).

 

Of course, the endings of Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Moonlight", "Apassionata" and "Hammerklavier" sonatas contain several dissonant elements as well...

 

One of the most compelling dissonant Classical compositions is Luigi Nono's "Como una ola de fuerza y luz" for soprano, piano and orchestra. Maurizio Pollini has a wonderful recording of this work, with Slavka Taskova, Claudio Abbado and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

 

That Anton Bruckner - the most luminous of symphonists - wrote a very futuristic and dissonant scherzo for his Ninth Symphony is most surprising... Then again, Bruckner - like all artists - had a duality to his nature as well.

 

One of Glenn Gould's greatest contribution to my life was introducing me to the "Second Viennese School" of Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. In other words, Atonal Music, Serialism, Twelve-Tone or Dodecaphony...

 

In the movie "Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould", one of the short films "Diary Of One Day" was set to the music of the Gigue from Schoenberg's Suite for Piano, Op.25. The film catalogued Gould's obsession with his multiple high blood pressure readings during a single day. The scene involved close-up shots of someone miming playing the piano who was recorded using x-ray techniques, resulting in a "moving skeleton". Images of the coronary arteries being delineated with dye during cardiac angiography were depicted as well. The sound of a beating heart was superimposed over the music of the gigue. Graphics of Gould's blood pressure readings and the names of his anti-hypertensive medications were flashed across the screen... The spooky undertones of this film was so well-suited to this strange dissonant music.

 

This music was different than anything that I've heard up to that point. The crystalline, sparse and seemingly random textures intrigued me. This led me to explore the suite as a whole, the other piano works by Schoenberg, Alban Berg's Piano Sonata, Op.1 and Anton Webern's Variations, Op.27. Apart from Schoenberg's suite, Webern's Variations are my other favourite.

 

Curiously enough, my favourite recordings of these works are not by Glenn Gould, but the FANTASTIC recordings of Maurizio Pollini. By the way, Pollini has also recorded a superlative version of Pierre Boulez's Second Piano Sonata, another of my favourite atonal piano works.

 

This interest in Atonal Classic Music, spawned an interest in Atonal Jazz or Free Jazz.

 

Canadian Free Jazz pianist Paul Bley's "12 (+6) IN A ROW" was my first Free Jazz discs and still is one of my favourites. Curiously, the CD sleeve contains a quotation by Anton Webern: "...there is in essence no difference between consonance and dissonance... there is therefore no real distinction, rather a difference of degree between them. Dissonance is only a further rung on a ladder which continues to develop."

 

Cecil Taylor's "For Olim" [the track "For The Rabbit" is a tour-de-force of sustained painistic energy] was the next atonal disc in my collection, followed in no particular order by Anthony Braxton's "For Alto", Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz", Eric Dolphy's "Out To Lunch", Pharaoh Sanders' "Karma", David S. Ware "Godspelized", Lester Bowie's "The Great Pretender" and John Coltrane's "Ascension".

 

 

John Coltrane's "Ascension" is among the most challenging in my free Jazz collection and among my favourites. It is an intense barrage of sound that pushes one back into the chair!!! Pharaoh Sander's playing is phenomenal on this disc.

 

Unfortunately, I've not been able to find any discs by Albert Ayler in the stores, but I've not looked recently...

 

The role of dissonance in my photography has evolved over the years. Whereas in earlier years it often meant a fusion of opposites - a beautiful model with bruises posed on the toilet: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6197573 - in recent years, it has mainly been achieved through the use of shadows - http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7589200 and also in the above photograph of Amber.

The crop above the bra will give this version, except in black and white. This is just a reference image to show that she is not topless. Thanks again.

I had posted this before and deleted it for the same reasons you've mentioned. I've decided to include it because it is a bit unsettling (compared to the others) and thus adds contrast. More importantly, it is to show that this young model was not topless during the shoot. Thanks again guys.

There are so many classical pianists who I consider favourites: Martha Argerich, Emil Gilels, Glenn Gould, Marc Andre Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Vladimir Horowitz, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Murray Perahia, Maurizio Pollini, Sviatoslav Richter...

 

All bring something special to their performances and it has been my good fortune to listen to several of them play the same work. There are days when Hewitt's version of the J.S. Bach's partitas will bring me pleasure, and other days when only Glenn Gould's "mechanical" version will do. In short, no one performer can decode all of the secrets and nuances of a particular work. Moreover, no single recording suits every mood. Sometimes artistry is preferred over technical perfection (as in a live recording), sometimes both are important.

 

Michelangeli did not share the dictum that wrong notes could be inspired - as was thought of Anton Rubenstein, Ferruccio Busoni and Alfred Cortot. His performances had to perfect. As a result, his performance repertoire was small and his recordings are few. He recordings are sometimes accused of being aloof and detached - a fair criticism on observation of some of his dvd recordings, and easily solved by closing one's eyes!

 

As might be expected, I am not fond of all of the Michelangeli recordings I've been privileged to hear. However, there are those that I really, really love: Beethoven's piano concerto no.1 in c major, Debussy solo piano works (including the prelude of book 1 after which this folder is titled), Rachmaninoff piano concerto no.4 in g minor and Ravel's piano concerto in g major. These works all bear the the stamp of a master colourist at work.

 

 

 

Nice work.

Beautiful. Nice title.

Great!

I like your unique manner of composing this! Regards.

You may consider boosting the contrast a bit!!! Nice composition! Regards.

I love your use of light here!!! Great capture, Kenrick!!!

I love the depth of field rendered in this one!!!! Regards.

Thanks for stopping by to comment. You can thank Owen Bruce for the post-processing. I have given up on trying to learn to retouch my own work - my six days a week, twelve (12) hour per day workdays at the clinic have taken care of that real good!!! Owen Bruce is my preferred retoucher. He is a super photographer as well!!! What I am happy to take credit for with my work is the lighting, my greatest preoccupation and insatiable obsession!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love how the leaf artfully divides the frame, yet caresses at the same time. The perception of depth in this one is truly remarkable, so lifelike. The softness is sublime!!!

Sharp and colourful! Excellent choice of shutter speed! Masterful work!

I love this model. Superb capture, Dale. Happy Holiday!!!

These candle formations are extremely gorgeous!!! So smooth!!! I want to touch them!!! Beautifully captured, Cherlyn.

That's exactly what I thought!!! Reminded me of the depictions of Nefertiti, with her long neck!!!! Great composition and choice of light (:-))!!! Fantastic capture!!!!! I don't know who this photo is by to give credit, but here is the analogy. Regards.