Time Off

 

Today I am planning a day off. Yesterday I crammed in visits to the local grocery stores so I would have today free. Plus Friday is a busy day at them.

The violinist didn’t show for our piano trio rehearsal. So the cellist and I spent a delightful hour with some cello solos. Vaughan Williams has written some beautiful simple settings for solo instrument and piano, “Six Studies in English Folksong.”


They are originally for cello and piano but have been arranged for other instruments including clarinet, alto sax, bassoon and tuba.

The third one is based on the hymn tune, King’s Lynn. (2:55 in the video above) I made a note in my cross index of music based on hymn tunes for future reference.

We also read completely through the third movement of Beethoven’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 5, no. 1. Here’s the original published cello part of it.

 

beethovencello01

 

And the piano part.

beethovencello02

I like the look of the old music. Here’s the way it’s usually put together.

beethovencello03

It has some engaging melodies in it. A good way to spend some time in the afternoon.

I especially like the B theme:

beethovencello04

It begins in the third measure of the piano part above. The cello picks it up five measure later. This is about 1:53 in the video below.

Needless to say, we read it way under tempo. Still, it was lots of fun.

I finished up with Borstslap’s The Classical Revolution: Thoughts on the New Music in the 21st Century. 

Ultimately I think he’s speaking in far too narrow a way about music today. But it’s always interesting to read someone who has a good mind with whom one disagrees.

If you’re interested here’s the list I took down of the composers he recommends.

1. Nicholas Bacri

http://www.nicolasbacri.net/

2. James Francis Brown

 http://www.jamesfrancisbrown.com/homepage.asp

3. Richard Dubugnon

http://www.richarddubugnon.com/

4. David Matthews

http://www.david-matthews.co.uk/homepage.asp

5. Alan Mills

http://www.cmc.ie/composers/composer.cfm?composerID=86

6. Jeff Hamburg

http://www.jeffhamburg.com/

7. Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz

http://www.wolfgangandreasschultz.de/

8. Wolfram Wagner

http://www.wolfram-wagner.com/

9. Reza Vali

http://www.rezavali.com/biography.htm

10. Hans Kox

http://www.classical-composers.org/comp/kox

11. John Bortslap (author) 

http://johnborstlap.com/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.