Classical Music Discoveries

The Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a now lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The Christmas Oratorio is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The author of the text is unknown. The work belongs to a group of three oratorios written towards the end of Bach's career in 1734 and 1735 for major feasts, the others being the Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) and the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249). All parody earlier compositions, although the Christmas Oratorio is by far the longest and most complex work. The oratorio is in six parts, each part being intended for performance on one of the major feast days of the Christmas period. The piece is often presented as a whole or split into two equal parts. The first part, for Christmas Day, describes the Birth of Jesus, the second, for December 26, the annunciation to the shepherds, the third, for December 27, the adoration of the shepherds, the fourth, for New Year's Day, the circumcision and naming of Jesus, the fifth, for the first Sunday after New Year, the journey of the Magi, and the sixth, for Epiphany, the adoration of the Magi. This performance by the CMD German Opera Orchestra of Berlin and the Berlin Community Choirs is conducted by Joana Filipa Martinez. This recording is available in our online CD store - ClassicalRecordings.co

On March 3, 2017 the Southwest Symphony Orchestra in St. George, Utah continues the tradition of showcasing first-rate young musicians from the southern Utah area. These dedicated, delightful prodigies demonstrate music education at its best and singularly produce a magnificent explosion of sounds. This extremely popular annual concert begins at 7:30 PM at the Cox Performing Arts Center on the Dixie State University campus in St. George Utah on March 3, 2017. For more information and to order tickets, please visit the orchestra’s website at SouthWestSymphony.co

Mozart’s Symphony No. 32 in G Major was composed in 1779 after his return from Paris. With the recent success of the Paris Symphony, with a louder orchestra, per his father Leopold’s comments, Amadeus decided to experiment with the larger orchestra, but this time, in the style of the Italians. The symphony is scored for strings, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 4 horns, 2 trumpets and timpani. The work is in the form of an Italian overture, consisting of 3 very brief movements that follow one another without a break. The entire symphony lasts less than 9 minutes. The work was originally considered as overture to Mozart’s “Thamos, King of Egypt” but this idea was abandoned as the date of the autographed manuscript does not align with the date of the completed opera. However, the symphony was used as an overture to another opera composed by another composer. The autographed scored is now located in the New York Public Library. Symphony No. 33 in B-flat Major was composed on July 9, 1779, in a single day. This 4-movement symphony is scored for strings, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons and 2 horns. Mozart decided to return to his smaller orchestral format for this symphony, however, he never returned to the smaller orchestra again. Evidently, Mozart decided he enjoyed the sound of the larger orchestra better than the smaller orchestra of his youth. The decision to use the smaller orchestra may have been prompted by his father, Leopold at this time. Bear in mind that Mozart was now 23 years old and was trying to break away from his father’s influence. The autographed scored of this symphony is preserved in Krakow, Poland. This series is sponsored by Dennis Loeffel. Purchase this on Itunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/complete-mozart-edition-symphonies/id118401915?app=music&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Das Rheingold, WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, or in English, 'The Ring of the Nibelung.' Das Rheingold premiered at the National Theatre Munich on 22 September 1869, with August Kindermann in the role of Wotan, Heinrich Vogl as Loge, and Karl Fischer as Alberich. Wagner wanted this work to premiere as part of the entire cycle, but was forced to allow the performance at the insistence of his patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The work was first performed as part of the complete cycle on 13 August 1876, in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. This performance by the CMD German Opera Company of Berlin is available for purchase at ClassicalRecordings.co Click HERE to Order

Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, had been established through his compositions of Italian opera. He turned to English oratorio in the 1730s in response to changes in public taste; Messiah was his sixth work in this genre. Although its structure resembles that of opera, it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text is an extended reflection on Jesus as the Messiah called Christ. The text begins in Part I with prophecies by Isaiah and others, and moves to the annunciation to the shepherds, the only "scene" taken from the Gospels. In Part II, Handel concentrates on the Passion and ends with the "Hallelujah" chorus. In Part III he covers the resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in heaven. Handel wrote Messiah for modest vocal and instrumental forces, with optional settings for many of the individual numbers. In the years after his death, the work was adapted for performance on a much larger scale, with giant orchestras and choirs. In other efforts to update it, its orchestration was revised and amplified by Mozart, among others. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the trend has been towards reproducing a greater fidelity to Handel's original intentions, although "big Messiah" productions continue to be mounted. The version, in this broadcast, is the original 1743 Covent Garden version which was personally orchestrated by Handel. This superb recording, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and performed by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is available only on Amazon.

Symphony No. 30 in D Major was composed in Salzburg and completed on May 5, 1774. This 4-movement symphony is scored for 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets and strings. The original tympani part was lost and several attempts have been made to reconstruct the missing part without any agreed success by musicologists. The first movement is in sonata form and opens with a falling, dotted fanfare motif. A transitional section follows which contains a dialogue between violins and bass alternating between loud and soft dynamics and ending with a trill. The second theme group of the sonata-form structure contains two sections. The first is a ländler scored for two violins against bass while the second is a minuet for the tutti featuring trills on almost every beat. The expositional coda returns to the ländler style. The development focuses on the minuet-style with the phrase-lengths elongated. Following the recapitulation, the movement coda returns to this minuet and regularizes its phrase-lengths before the final cadence. In the trio of the minuet, the first violin is syncopated an eighth-note ahead of the accompaniment. The finale starts off with a falling dotted fanfare motif similar to the one that starts the opening movement. The answering phrase and the movement's second theme have a contradanse character. Symphony No. 31 in D Major is better known as the Paris Symphony and is one of Mozart’s more famous symphonies. This symphony may have been the first of Mozart’s symphonies to be published in 1779. This 3-movement symphony was composed in 1778 when Mozart was 22 years of age. The premiere took place on June 12, 1778 in a private performance for Count Sickingen. The public performance took place 6 days later. The original 2nd movement, which is marked Andantino was replaced by an Andante movement on August 15th. In this recording you will first hear the original 2nd movement and then the much shorter replacement. The original 2nd movement was said “not to please” the audience. However, we leave it up to you as to which movement you prefer. Since the Paris audience liked their symphonies “loud”, as per Leopold Mozart, the symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, timpani and the regular complement of strings. This was Mozart’s first symphony to feature clarinets which he would champion into the orchestral format. We want to remind our listening audience that these symphonies may be purchased on Amazon and Itunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/complete-mozart-edition-symphonies/id118401915?app=music&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Our previous show, "Music to Deliver Newspapers By", was so popular that we decided to create a 4+ hour show of Christmas music. Most of this music is calming to help ease your stress during the holiday deliveries. Bear in mind that if you take offense to music about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that this music may not be your cup of tea. 08Dec16 - removed duplicated tracks and added additional music 12Dec16 - misc. corrections to track

Mozart’s “Great Mass in C minor” is the common name of the last musical setting of a Mass by Mozart, not counting the unfinished Requiem Mass. The “Great Mass” was composed in Vienna in 1782 and 1783 when Amadeus was no longer a church musician of the Salzburg Cathedral. This large-scale work is scored for 2 soprano soloists, a tenor and a bass, a double chorus and large orchestra. The Mass was not completed since portions of the Credo were missing and the entire Agnus Dei. It remains unclear as to why the work remained uncompleted. Possibly because the Mass had fulfilled its underlying purpose for Mozart. In a letter to Mozart’s father, Leopold, dated January 4, 1783, Amadeus writes he had made a vow to write a Mass in order to influence his then fiancée, Constanze to come to Salzburg and sing as one of the two soprano soloists. Since she did come to him, married him and sang her solo at the premiere, perhaps Amadeus saw no need to finished the remaining uncompleted parts of the Mass. So, it appears that the entire reason for this famous masterpiece was actually a ploy to tempt his fiancée to marry Amadeus in Salzburg. Once his mission was completed, there was no real need to finish the Mass. A work of unheralded genius, composed out of pure love for Constanze, we are pleased to present to you the “Great Mass in C minor” conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and performed by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. We also want to remind you that this performance is available on Amazon and Itunes. https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/album/mass-in-c-minor-k.427-grosse/id4568403?i=4568350&mt=1&app=music&at=1l3vtgU

The Southwest Symphony Orchestra’s 2nd concert of this season, entitled, Distant Replay - Pages of the Ages, was recorded on November 18, 2016. Under the baton of Lucas Darger, the orchestra performs: Academic Festival Overture by Brahms The Adagio movement from Symphony No. 2 by Rachmaninov Festival at Baghdad from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade The first movement from Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony Morning from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 by Grieg Finlandia by Sibelius To learn more about this symphony and their upcoming concerts, please visit their website at: SouthwestSymphony.co We wish to thank the musicians and staff of the Southwest Symphony Orchestra for allowing us to record and broadcast their concerts.

The Symphony in F Major, K. ? was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in early 1765 in London. The symphony is scored for two oboes, two horns and strings. The oboes are silent for the second movement. This 3-movement symphony was lost until a copy in the hand of Leopold Mozart was found in 1980. The title page stated it was composed when Wolfgang was 9 years old, which would place this symphony as being composed in 1765. However, since Leopold often advertised his son as being younger than his actual age, this date may be questionable. Before the discovery of this symphony, this work was known to exist as small parts of this symphony were hand written on the cover page of another symphony. Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, K. 22 was composed while the Mozarts were in The Hague. The year was 1765 and Mozart was 9 years old. The Mozarts were currently on their musical tour of Western Europe. Young Mozart fell seriously ill during this time and he wrote this symphony while he was convalescing. This 3-movement symphony, in Italian form is scored for 2 oboes, two horns and strings. All three movements prominently feature the horns. A rousing first movement in B-flat Major opens the symphony, followed by a more solemn, mournful movement in the relative key of G minor. A short and very boisterous finale closes the work. It is noteworthy that the opening theme to the finale is borrowed from a keyboard concerto by J. C. Bach whom Mozart had met the previous year in London. This same theme would also reappear in a much later work, “The Marriage of Figaro” as it closes the 2nd act. The Neville Marriner Conducts Mozart Series is sponsored by Dennis Loeffel. Advertisers: www.ClassicalRecordings.co

Welcome to the 39th edition of La Musica Chamber Music Hour sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival in Sarasota Florida. In this edition we will hear: 1. Mozart’s famous serenade “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” 2. Beethoven’s tirade against Napoleon invading Vienna with loud bombings, which interrupted his composition time, the “String Quartet in F minor” or “Serioso” 3. Schubert’s famous “Quintet in A Major for Piano and Strings” or better known as the “Trout Quintet” For more information about La Musica International Chamber Music Festival, please visit their website at www.LaMusicaFestival.org. Information for their upcoming Season in April 2017 is now available. Also advance ticket sales are now in progress.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major was composed in 1764 when Mozart was 8 years old. By this time, he was already famous in Europe as a child prodigy, but had composed little music. The autographed score of the 1st symphony is preserved in Krakow, Poland. The piece was written during the Mozart family’s Grand Tour of Europe while in London. The family relocated to Chelsea during the summer of 1764 due to Leopold Mozart’s health. He was fighting a severe throat infection, at that time. The house at 180 Ebury Street, now in the borough of Westminster, where the symphony was written, is marked with a plaque. The symphony was first performed on 21 February 1765. The work shows the influence of several composers, including his father and the sons of J S Bach. J C Bach was in important symphonist working In London and young Mozart had befriended him. This 3-movement symphony is scored for 2 oboes, 2 horns, harpsichord and strings. Symphony No. 4 in D Major was also composed in London at this time, when Mozart was 9 years old. Though the original manuscript for this symphony has not survived the years, the set of parts written in the hand of his father, Leopold, is preserved in the Bavarian State Library in Munich. This is a 3-movement symphony which was standard in the early classical music era in which the younger Mozart composed. The symphony is in the typical fast – slow – fast configuration. The work is scored for 2 oboes, 2 horns and strings. Purchase this on Itunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/complete-mozart-edition-symphonies/id118401915?app=music&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

The opening for a new concert season is always exciting. However, this year, for the Southwest Symphony Orchestra, the excitement was doubly so as we welcome a new conductor for the symphony, Maestro Lucas Darger. This year’s Halloween concert also welcomed the Hurricane High School String Orchestra to the stage, conducted by Debra Thornton. This special showcasing of a high school orchestra demonstrates the support of the Southwest Symphony Orchestra to youth music programs in southern Utah. Also, the St. George Dance Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director, Summer Belnap Robertson, was there to thrill the concertgoers. The first 3 selections in this broadcast will be performed by the Hurricane High School String Orchestra. They will play: Selections from Scheherazade Lion City Forest Incantations Next the Southwest Symphony Orchestra takes the stage and we will hear: Danse Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah Selections from Wicked Night on Bald Mountain Bella’s Lullaby from Twilight Funeral March of the Marionette Danse Macabre Selections from Phantom of the Opera You will hear some spooky noises during the performances of Wicked, Bella’s Lullaby and Danse Macabre but these are only the haunting dances of the St. George Dance Company that you will hear. We invite you to visit the orchestra’s website at www.SouthwestSymphony.co to see photos and videos from this concert. We wish to thank the Southwest Symphony Orchestra for being a loyal sponsor to our show for many years and we want to remind our listeners that their recordings may be purchased at our online store located at www.ClassicalRecordings.co

Mozart’s Symphony No. 28 in C Major is his last work in the Salzburg series. The date of the composition is uncertain. It probably dates in early 1774. The symphony is written in the style of his 25th symphony. This 4-movement symphony is scored for 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 trumpets and strings. Symphony No. 29 in A Major was completed on April 6, 1774. It is, along with Symphony No. 25, one of his better known early symphonies. It is characterized as “a landmark symphony, personal in tone, perhaps more individual in its combination of an intimate, chamber music style with a fiery and impulsive manner.” This is scored for 2 oboes, 2 horns and strings, as was typical of early-period Mozart symphonies. This is also a 4-movement symphony. The first movement is in sonata form, with a graceful principal theme characterized by an octave drop and ambitious horn passages. The second movement is scored for muted strings with limited use of the winds, and is also in sonata form. The third movement, a minuet, is characterized by nervous dotted rhythms and staccato phrases; the trio provides a more graceful contrast. The energetic last movement, another sonata-form movement in 6/8 time, connects back to the first movement with its octave drop in the main theme. This series is made possible by a generous donation from Dennis Loeffel. This CD is available on Itunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/complete-mozart-edition-symphonies/id118401915?app=music&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Tickets are now available for the 31st Season of La Musica International Chamber Music Festival in Sarasota Florida. Their season, entitled “The Search Continues”, begins on April 3, 2017 with works by Mendelssohn, Webern and Richard Strauss and concludes on April 12th. Don’t miss out on special events like: 1. The ever popular “Sonata a Due” on December 6 and dine with “Musical Chefs,” where the musicians cook for YOU, held on April 7th. 2. Also, don’t forget to attend their daily rehearsals and pre-concert lectures. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.LaMusicaFestival.org today!