David Dalle
Thursday April 4th, 2024 with David Dalle
Music for the eclipse: music of Ancient Egypt and other cosmic tunes; a farewell to Maurizio Pollini.
With the solar eclipse just days away, I hope many of you will be planning on watching this rare event! The first half of the show will be cosmic and solar in scope, including an extremely unusual recording which has tried to recreate the music of Ancient Egypt. This is a very elusive quest as so much is lost forever to the sands. There is no notation nor musical theory which would give an idea of pitch, rhythm, or timbre. However, there are many visual depictions of instruments and ensembles in different contexts which help give an idea of what role music played in the lives of Ancient Egyptians, in work, religion, and ritual. Music professor Michael Atherton worked with luthier Harry Vatiliotis, who has recreated many ancient instruments, and they made educated guesses based on more recent music of the Near East and North Africa. The result has to be very different from what the music actually sounded like, but it is convincing as a possible idea of this lost music. It does sound very otherworldly and ritualistic. We will hear one of the suites which features a song take from the Great Hymn to Aten from the Tomb of Ay. Aten being the Egyptian God of the Sun, the Hymn reads in part:
"adoration of Ra-Horakti who rejoices
in the sun's horizon,
in his name, Shu, who is Aten,
living forever, who is in jubilee,
lord of the encircling,
lord of the sky, lord of the earth,
lord of the house of Aten in Aket-Aten"
| Before we get into the main event itself, we will hear some joyful, festive music from Egypt and Sudan. |
| Maria-Maria Ali Hassan Kuban - The Rough Guide to Ali Hassan Kuban - World Music Network |
| Hagiruni Salamat with Sayed Kahlifa - Ezzayakoum - Piranha |
| Shen (Eternity) Michael Atherton - The Sound of Ancient Egypt - Celestial Harmonies |
| Love In Outer Space Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra - Egypt 1971 - Strut |
| Symphony No. 53 'Star Dawn', Op. 377 Alan Hovhaness/The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Wind Orchestra, Keith Brion - Symphonies Nos. 4, 20, and 53 - Naxos |
| We also say farewell today to the great pianist Maurizio Pollini, who died on March 23rd. His long and extremely successful performing and recording career began when he won the Chopin competition in Warsaw at age 19, in 1960, with Artur Rubinstein the chair of the jury. Because of this, Chopin was expected for his first concert tours and recordings. He withdrew from the concert stage for two years to broaden his repertoire and it wasn't until 1968, with a new contract with Deutsche Grammophon and a deepened musicality and much broader repertoire, that he really became a success. Pollini was very active in contemporary music and contemporary politics and he was friends with many radical left-leaning artists and thinkers. He would program recitals with Chopin and Beethoven alongside Schoenberg and Boulez for example. Pollini had several pieces written for him, including "Como un a ola de fuerza y luz" ("Like a wave of strength and light") for piano, soprano, orchestra, and magnetic tape by modernist Italian composer Luigi Nono. This was Nono's first composition for piano, done in collaboration with Pollini and conductor Claudio Abbado. The tape portion contains pre-recorded parts by the women's voices and Pollini, and is played continuously from speakers set behind the orchestra providing echoes and cross-references to the live performers. The piece was originally conceived as strictly for piano and orchestra, but the soprano was added after Nono's friend, the young Chilean revolutionary Luciano Cruz, died in 1971. The text is like a secular requiem for his friend and gives the composition its name. The 30 minute piece ends in absolute blazing, transcendent light--the Sun returning to us from behind the shadow of the moon!
"Luciano! in the hazardous winds of this land you will follow flaming young as the revolution in each burden of your nation always alive and as close as the pain of your passing. like, Luciano!, a wave of strength young like the revolution always alive and following flaming light for living." |
| Como un a ola de fuerza y luz Luigi Nono/Slavka Taskova, Maurizio Pollini, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado - Maurizio Pollini Edition - Nono, Manzoni - Deutsche Grammophon |
| Drei Klavierstucke Op. 11 No. 1 Arnold Schoenberg/Maurizio Pollini - Maurizio Pollini Edition - Schoenberg, Webern - Deutsche Grammophon |
| Drei Klavierstucke Op. 11 No. 2 Arnold Schoenberg/Maurizio Pollini - Maurizio Pollini Edition - Schoenberg, Webern - Deutsche Grammophon |
| Drei Klavierstucke Op. 11 No. 3 Arnold Schoenberg/Maurizio Pollini - Maurizio Pollini Edition - Schoenberg, Webern - Deutsche Grammophon |
| Trois mouvements de Petrouchka i. Danse russe Igor Stravinksy/Maurizio Pollini - Great Pianists of the 20th Century vol. 78 - Philips |
| Trois mouvements de Petrouchka ii. Chez Petrouchka Igor Stravinksy/Maurizio Pollini - Great Pianists of the 20th Century vol. 78 - Philips |
| Trois mouvements de Petrouchka iii. La semaine grasse Igor Stravinksy/Maurizio Pollini - Great Pianists of the 20th Century vol. 78 - Philips |
| Ending the program with two of the most thundering etudes from Chopin's two sets, from the first official recording Pollini made for Deutsche Grammophon, only a year before the Luigi Nono, he was recording several albums a year in the 70's. |
| Etude Op. 25 no. 11 Frederic Chopin/Maurizio Pollini - Etudes - Deutsche Grammophon |
| Etude Op. 25 no. 12 Frederic Chopin/Maurizio Pollini - Etudes - Deutsche Grammophon |
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Greeting David, all! Looks to be an interesting shoooow today. Ancient Egypt has me curious. And especially looking forward to Stravinksy as conducted by Pollini. (My Ma will smile in her resting place. ;) Dunno if i can catch the whole live ... OnDemand if not. Peace.
2:00 PM, April 4th, 2024