SWOONING Music Exists to Elevate Us As Far As Possible Above Everyday Experience
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472 047-2 SWOONING Music exists to elevate us as far as possible above everyday experience. GABRIEL FAURÉ music of endless rapture 3 he earlier Swoon collections proved otherwise thumping Carmina Burana, that great music can play us like based on the erotic and bibulous musings a violin. And if we respond with of mediaeval monks. As the book suggests, T Lust can lead to Excess and Obsession (not sympathetic vibrations, it’s because the great composers are, after all, talking about altogether unhealthy as attributes of the us – our longings, our desire for romance, artist), exampled by the lives of Leonard and our wish for the eternal. Bernstein and Percy Grainger. The energy My book Swooning: A classical music of their output is of course tempered guide to life, love, lust and other follies by Swooning’s serene constraint; even the and attempts to put these feelings into words, whistling in Ye banks and braes is in Love clustered into sections that correspond with slow motion. the sequence of emotions experienced in a Wagner is the hero of the Triumph Music love affair that doesn’t work out: Love, Lust, chapter, at his most sublime in the closing are the Excess and Obsession, Triumph, Joy, Anger, moments of his final music-theatre epic, Sadness, Freedom and Release, Hope and Parsifal. Swoon? This is a passport to heaven. two wings Peace. This collection includes some of the The flipside in scale of such valedictory of the soul. music alluded to in the text and follows the music is the usually joyful, Chabrier’s ‘Idylle’ same sequence of feelings. As ever, we can for solo piano, which the composer Poulenc never take enough rides on the roller likened to “… that first kiss.” HECTOR BERLIOZ coaster of romance. Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons has been When Love begins, cue orchestra ... or around the block as often as ... well, the at least listen for some violins. Hector four seasons. Great music, even when Berlioz was the arch-Romantic composer familiar, always provides solace. Why it who wrote two of his four symphonies should have brought me to tears several about the feeling. His ‘Aeolian Harp’ is years ago when piped through the sound an atmospheric early work included in system of a remote Spanish restaurant will the après-love sequel to the Fantastic forever remain a mystery to the señorita Symphony – Lélio, or The Return to Life. who offered me a bread roll. Gratitude, Schubert and Orff add delicate perhaps? Thank you, Antonio. commentary to this sweetest phase. Orff’s The habitually angry Beethoven tempers ‘In trutina’ is an oasis of peace in the his wrath in the slow movement of his 2 3 Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 Day 2000, with singer and instrumentalists SWOONING ‘Pathétique’ before our musical chart of a sending their song aloft from atop the sails romance enters the more melancholy of the Sydney Opera House. This is the WOJCIECH KILAR (b. 1932) territory of sadness, release and farewell. work’s first commercial release. 1 Prologue: My life before me 4’06 Has our folly been unique? We like to think Still in the sky, the mediaeval abbess (from The Portrait of a Lady) so, in those moments when we feel Hildegard of Bingen likened herself to “a Studio Orchestra ourselves beyond the reach of any feather on the breath of God,” in a famous Stepan Konicek, conductor consolation. As Madame Merle says in metaphor. Her music, both seraphic and From the album The Portrait of a Lady London 455 011-2 Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady, “... I sensual, would bring our emotional cycle to ൿ 1996 The Decca Record Company Limited, London am afraid there are moments in life when an end were it not for the wonderfully even Schubert has nothing to say to us. We human likelihood of our giving Love and its HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803-1869) must admit, however, that they are our attendant follies another chance. John 2 The Aeolian Harp 3’01 worst.” This anticipation of gloom is Dowland’s invitation to Come again will (from Lélio, ou Le retour à la vie, Op. 14b) evident in Wojciech Kilar’s music for Jane ultimately prove to be irresistible. So, too, Montreal Symphony Orchestra Campion’s film of James’ novel, subverting will this collection. We will all live to Charles Dutoit, conductor the implicit optimism in the title My life Swoon another day. From the album Berlioz: Lélio, Tristia, Symphonie fantastique Decca 458 011-2 before me. Let the grand passion of ൿ 2001 The Decca Music Group Limited Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet, Mozart’s Christopher Lawrence FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) arr. Johann Kaspar Mertz touching lovers’ farewell from his opera 3 Così fan tutte, and Lee Ritenour’s tear-stained Ständchen (Serenade) 3’58 Lagrima pull you back from the brink. (from Schwanengesang, D957) After a souvenir of a pilgrimage I took Shi-ichi Fukuda, guitar to the rain-soaked region of Galicia in From the album Schubertiana Denon CO-78978 north-western Spain from the group ൿ 1995 Denon Records/Nippon Columbia Co.,Ltd. Milladoiro, we progress to the business CARL ORFF (1895-1982) of the broken heart’s repair. Australian 4 In trutina (Within my mind’s uncertainty) 2’05 composer Ross Edwards gives us hope in (from Carmina Burana) music that seems to have sprouted from the loam in some isolated gully. We are back in Yvonne Kenny, soprano nature; we are of the earth. His Dawn Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Mantras was the musical highlight of the Vladimir Kamirski, conductor 24-hour international telecast of New Year’s From the album Something Wonderful ABC Classics 454 511-2 ൿ 1996 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 4 5 LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990) Arr. Irwin Kostal ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) 5 One Hand, One Heart 2’17 9 Largo 2’21 (from West Side Story) (from The Four Seasons – Winter,RV297) Katia and Marielle Labèque, pianos Alan Loveday, violin From the album Bernstein: Symphonic Dances and Songs from ‘West Side Story’ CBS MK45531 Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields ൿ 1989 CBS Records, Inc. Sir Neville Marriner, conductor PERCY GRAINGER (1882-1961) From the album Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Argo 414 486-2 ൿ 6 Ye banks and braes 2’52 1970 The Decca Record Company Limited, London Polyphony LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Stephen Layton, conductor 0 Adagio cantabile 5’38 From the album At Twilight Hyperion CDA66793 (from Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 ‘Pathétique’) ൿ 1995 Hyperion Records Ltd, London Gerard Willems, Stuart & Sons piano RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883) From the album Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas ABC Classics 465 758-2 ൿ 7 Höchsten Heiles Wunder! (Miracle of supreme salvation) 5’15 2000 Hammerklavier Productions Pty Ltd (from Parsifal) PYOTR IL’YICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) Vienna Boys’ Choir ! Pas de deux 4’58 Vienna State Opera Chorus (from The Nutcracker, Op. 71) Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra National Philharmonic Orchestra Georg Solti, conductor Richard Bonynge, conductor From the album Wagner: Parsifal Decca 417 143-2 From the album Tchaikovsky: The 3 Ballets Decca 460 411-2 ൿ 1973 The Decca Record Company Limited, London ൿ 1974 The Decca Record Company Limited, London EMMANUEL CHABRIER (1841-1894) @ LEE RITENOUR (b. 1952) 8 Idylle 3’44 Lagrima 4’20 (from Dix pièces pittoresques) Lee Ritenour, guitar Stephanie McCallum, piano Dave Grusin, piano From the album Perfume ABC Classics 461 798-2 Studio Orchestra ൿ 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation From the album Two Worlds Decca 467 132-2 ൿ 2000 Universal Classics Group 6 7 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) HILDEGARD VON BINGEN (1098-1179) £ Soave sia il vento (May the wind be gentle) 2’33 ^ O spectabiles viri (O clear-sighted men) 4’58 (from Così fan tutte, K588) Ensemble for Early Music, Augsburg Rachel Yakar, soprano From the album Hildegard von Bingen: Celestial Stairs Christophorus CHR 77205 Alicia Nafé, mezzo-soprano ൿ 1997 MusiContact GmbH Carlos Feller, baritone JOHN DOWLAND (?1563-1626) Orchestra of the Drottningholm Court Theatre & Come again: sweet love doth now invite 2’40 Arnold Östman, conductor Barbara Bonney, soprano From the album Mozart: Così fan tutte L’Oiseau-lyre 414 316-2 Jacob Heringman, lute ൿ 1985 The Decca Record Company Limited, London From the album Fairest Isle Decca 466 132-2 MILLADOIRO ൿ 2001 Decca Music Group Limited $ O Voo da Pomba (Flight of the Dove) 3’57 Total Playing Time: 66’56 Milladoiro From the album As Fadas de Estraño Nome Green Linnet Records GLCD 3118 * Specially recorded for this album ൿ 1997 Green Linnet Records, Inc ROSS EDWARDS (b. 1943) % Dawn Mantras* 7’14 Sydney Children’s Choir Cantillation Jane Sheldon, soprano Matthew Doyle, didjeridu Jim Franklin, shakuhachi Rixon Thomas, cor anglais Ian Cleworth and Brian Nixon, percussion Lyn Williams, conductor ൿ 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 8 9 Compilation Christopher Lawrence, Tracks 1, 2, 7, 9, !, @, £, & licensed from ALSO AVAILABLE ... Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan Universal Music Australia Product Manager Anna-Lisa Whiting Track 3 licensed from Denon Records / THE Mastering Oscar Gaona (Studios 301) Nippon Columbia Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd Track 5 licensed from Sony Music Australia Cover image Ingres: Odalisque with a Slave, Track 6 licensed from Hyperion Records $ WOON 1839-40 (oil on canvas). Fogg Art Museum, Track licensed from Green Linnet Records Harvard University Art Museums, USA Track ^ licensed from MusiContact S COLLECTIONS Dawn Mantras was recorded especially for ABC Classics would like to thank Jonathon Bird, this album. Lois Schoeck, Denis McNamara, Richard Davies, THE SWOON THE SWOON Recording Producer and Editor Virginia Read Cyrus Meher-Homji, Kim Townsend (Universal Recording Engineer Allan Maclean Music Group), Ted Perry, Eleanor Wilson, Tim COLLECTION I – COLLECTION III – Recorded 3 October 2001 in the Eugene Goossens Parry (Hyperion Records), Andy Schwartz (Sony Music to Inspire and Uplift Intensely Beautiful Hall, ABC Ultimo Centre, Sydney Classical, New York), Sarah Reardon (Sony Music, Music to Make the CD 446 631-2 / MC 446 631-4 Australia), Chris Teskey (Green Linnet), Makiko Earth Stand Still Kubo (Nippon Columbia), Alison Johnston and FEATURES: Sylvia McNair, Linda Siemon.