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Requiem of the week- Mozart

The last time I sang the Mozart Requiem was on September 11, 2002.

The Requiem Mass in D minor (K. 626) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is almost certainly the best known requiem, since its creation (and non-completion) was presented in the 1984 movie Amadeus. Here’s a segment in which Salieri helps Mozart write his Confutatis. Parts of the Requiem show up in some three dozen TV shows and movies, such as The Big Lebowski and Watchmen.

As noted in Wikipedia, it was “composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer’s death on December 5. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the February 14 anniversary of his wife’s death. It is one of the most enigmatic pieces of music ever composed, mostly because of the myths and controversies surrounding it, especially around how much of the piece was completed by Mozart before his death.

“The Sussmayr completion of the Requiem is divided into fourteen movements, with the following structure:
I. Introitus: Requiem aeternam (choir and soprano solo)
II. Kyrie Eleison (choir) {used in commercials, too]
III. Sequentia (text based on sections of the Dies Irae):
Dies irae (choir)
Tuba mirum (soprano, contralto, tenor and bass solo)
Rex tremendae majestatis (choir)
Recordare, Jesu pie (soprano, contralto, tenor and bass solo)
Confutatis maledictis (choir)
Lacrimosa dies illa (choir) [which almost always make me cry]
IV. Offertorium:
Domine Jesu Christe (choir with solo quartet)
Versus: Hostias et preces (choir)
V. Sanctus:
Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth (choir)
Benedictus (solo quartet, then choir)
VI. Agnus Dei (choir)
VII. Communio:
Lux aeterna (soprano solo and choir)”

It is clearly my favorite requiem, as it is one of the two scores I ever purchased so that I can sing along, the other being Messiah by Handel. I have sung this in performance at least thrice. Once was in the spring of 1985 for which I had a now long-long cassette recording. Another time was sometime in the mid-1990s. The last time was on September 11, 2002, when my friends Tim and Gladys, and I crashed the Albany Pro Musica performance to honor the first anniversary of 9/11. (Wasn’t REALLY “crashing” as such.)

Here’s the Wiener Philharmoniker performance, with those nice section breaks. And here are scores and more performances.

Requiem of the Week: Verdi

I have never had the chance to perform the Requiem by my cousin Joe Green, I mean by 19th-century composer Giuseppe Verdi, but I listen to it each year. The piece has an interesting history, with one segment initially written in honor of Rossini’s death, but the project was abandoned. Verdi then wrote the whole requiem in honor of another late colleague.

One can hear the whole piece HERE and I’m sure elsewhere. Probably the most famous segment is the beginning of the Dies Irae which has been used in films and on TV, as this extensive list of Verdi on soundtracks will attest.

K is for Keltner, Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner’s drumming approach was idiosyncratic, loose, and soulful, and helped elevate the studio musician’s role from that of a generic hired hand to an individual who colors the music with personality and style.

Do you know what is generally lost for me in downloading digital music? Reading the liner notes. That’s the info on the LP or CD that tells you who wrote the songs and who played on them, and often a narrative about the artist and/or the recording session.

As an active liner note reader, I well know the name Jim Keltner. If you are not, you probably do not. Here’s just an excerpt from the page about him on Wikipedia.

Keltner is best known for his session work on solo recordings by three of The Beatles, working often with George Harrison, John Lennon…, and Ringo Starr…He, as a free-lance drummer, has also worked with Leon Russell, Gabor Szabo, Delaney Bramlett, Roy Orbison, Harry Nilsson, Jerry Garcia, Eric Clapton, Guthrie Thomas, Steely Dan, Joe Cocker, Van Dyke Parks, the Rolling Stones…, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Brian Wilson, Roger McGuinn, Seals and Crofts, The Ramones, Bill Frisell…, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Phil Keaggy, Steve Jones, Crowded House, Fiona Apple, Elvis Costello, The Bee Gees, Jackson Browne, The Manhattan Transfer, Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Sam Phillips, Los Lobos, Pink Floyd, Warren Zevon, Rufus Wainwright, Tom Petty, Gillian Welch, the Steve Miller Band, Alice Cooper, Sheryl Crow and Lucinda Williams among many others. Here’s a discography covering 1969-1998, or this even more extensive list (that loads slowly).

From his Drum Magazine bio: “His drumming approach was idiosyncratic, loose, and soulful, and helped elevate the studio musician’s role from that of a generic hired hand to an individual who colors the music with personality and style. He is known not only for his great feel and sensitivity, but also for bringing a fresh approach to the potentially tedious world of pop music.”

The following are just a handful of the songs he played on
She’s Just My Style – Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Keltner’s first session.
You’re So Vain – Carly Simon.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan.
Angel Baby – John Lennon
End of the Line – Traveling Wilburys. Keltner is in the video.
Wilbury Twist – Traveling Wilburys. Keltner is in this video, too.
Warren Zevon – Keep Me In Your Heart.
Little Sister – Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner live. These four guys put out a 1992 album called Little Village.
The Drummerworld page for Jim Keltner, featuring more songs.

Also:
How does Jim Keltner earn a living?
LENNONYC: Beyond Broadcast. Episode 3: Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner turns 70 on April 27, 2012, so this is an early happy birthday thanks.

ABC Wednesday – Round 10

Aretha, QoS, is 70

RESPECT by QoS is one of the five greatest cover songs EVER.

When Aretha Franklin burst onto the music scene in 1967, I suspect many people thought she was an overnight success. In fact, she had been signed by Columbia Records back in 1961, but because of the songs she was given to sing (“Rock-a-bye My Baby With A Dixie Melody”?), the producers she had, and/or the label’s promotion, she was unable to break through.

It wasn’t until she moved over to Atlantic Records, and recorded with the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, that her true gift came to fruition. And when her period at Atlantic came to an end, changing over to Arista Records in the early 1980s, had a few more hits.

Most of my favorites are from the Atlantic period, though one was from the Columbia era, and one was something else altogether. Links to each song.

12. Spanish Harlem (#2 in 1971) – this is such a great reworking. And I love the word “BLLACK.”

11. You’re All I Need To Get By (#19 in 1971). The RESPECT reprise is great. (Couldn’t find a studio version; this is LIVE from 1978.)

10. Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves (#18 in 1985). With the Eurythmics. Love Annie Lennox and Aretha sharing phrases.

9. I Say a Little Prayer (#10 in 1968). Reworks the Bacharach-David tune to something playfully funky.

8. Eleanor Rigby (#17 in 1969). The first great thing – she tells it in the first person: “I’m Eleanor Rigby.” Secondly, the phraseology is SO not dependent on the original.

7. Rock Steady (#9 in 1971). Love the organ intro. “What it is, what it is, what it is.”

6. Chain Of Fools (#2 in 1968). The bridge is my favorite section.

5. Ain’t No Way (#16 in 1968). Heartfelt ballad with a lovely solo soprano by Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mom.

4. (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone (#5 in 1968). When I used to listen to AM radio in the day, the DJs would often talk over the musical intro, which irritated me greatly. No talking over THIS intro, which was one chord.

3. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (#8 in 1967). The second appearance of this song in this blog in less than two months – previously in my Carole King post.

2. Sweet Bitter Love (1966). This title cut of a Columbia album was written by Van McCoy, who was better known for The Hustle a decade later. I first heard this song on a Columbia compilation album, Our Best To You: Today’s Great Hits… Today’s Great Stars, and loved it instantly. In the right (wrong?) frame of mind, it’ll make me cry.

1. Respect (#1 in 1967). Otis Redding, the original writer/performer of this song, famously said that Aretha “done stole [that song] from me,” making it her own. It became an anthem. One of the five greatest cover versions EVER.

Old Fogey Music QUESTION

It’s not that I don’t buy ANY new music, it’s that I am more likely to buy tried and true artists.

I’m trying to figure out that moment when I stopped following current music.

Surely, I remember the start was when I was maybe three, in the 1950s. But the coming of age music was in the 1960s, with the Beatles and Motown, et al, and later Cream and Aretha, and the like. Still active in the singer-songwriter 1970s, and revived in the early 1980s with the Clash, the Talking Heads, the Police, and so forth.

Was it the 1990s when I didn’t “get” Nirvana initially?

No, I actually eventually purchased some Nirvana and Pearl Jam. And, even as my music consumption diminished, MTV was still actually playing music videos, so that I was vaguely aware of the hit songs. But now? I look at the charts and don’t even recognize most of the names, let alone the songs.

It’s not that I don’t buy ANY new music, it’s that I am more likely to buy tried and true artists. My favorite album last year? By Paul Simon. The albums I’m most looking forward to right now? By Bonnie Raitt (her first on her own label) and Leonard Cohen. Oh, and that album of Bob Dylan covers. Got Bruce Springsteen for my birthday, and picked up Lyle Lovett and Paul McCartney with a gift card.

I’ve purchased very few albums by artists whose recording career started in the 21st Century, and most of those tend to be singers such as Corrine Bailey Rae or Adele. There may be an outlier, such as Arcade Fire, but it is the exception.

If you are of a certain age, are you still buying new music, and if so, is it from newer artists or ones you’ve grown up with?