20 B♭ (O ) LISTENING LOG: M – R JOHN McCABE Clarinet Concerto I don’t recall hearing McCabe’s music, though his name is familiar. Four short movements, pandiatonic, very abstract, soloist intertwining with motifs in the orchestra, lots of timp – recalls beginning of Le Sacre. Andante very slow, suspended. Moderato slightly faster, brings in muted strings. Vivo not overly fast, more fluttering around. (F17) Joybox A 7’ entertainment depicting the bleeps and whistles of a slot machine, or so it says. Novelty: avant garde Brit lite. I thought we’d get three cherries, but alas, it just peters out. Missed possibilities. (N17) HAMISH MacCUNN The Land of the Mountain and the Flood I heard this on CBC and was impressed enough to remember the name. The Scottish flavor is not pronounced, but few enough pieces have any at all. A lovely melodious concert opener. (N10) Yes, I do recall the opening theme, vaguely folkish but not obvious, very homophonic. Warlike bit with cymbals unconvincing, doesn’t last. Build-up towards the end has a whiff of Wagner. Nice. (Ja16) Jeanie Deans [excerpts] MacCunn’s 1894 opera based on The Heart of Midlothian was a hit and has been revived, but only as an historical curiosity. It has palpable Scotticism, uses folk material, vaguely recalls Balfe, Flotow in its old-fashionedness, but there is awareness of Wagner, some chromaticism, reliance on arioso, avoidance of four-square phrasing, no straining after big high notes. More sophisticated than first appears. (N10) The Lay of the Last Minstrel: Final Chorus Pre-Elgarian patriotism – only so so. (N10) The Dowie Dens o’ Yarrow Illustrative tone poem on a heroic and tragic Scots ballad, very pleasant music. (N10) The Ship o’ the Fiend Another tone poem based on a ballad, “The Demon Lover.” The long major key romance is the satanic enticement to the fatal voyage: effective music, but less remarkable than if Mendelssohn had written it himself fifty years earlier. (N10) The beginning is romantic, breaks into stern, deliberate chase music mid-way. (Ja16) EDWARD MacDOWELL Lamia, op 29 Lisztian symphonic poem inspired by Keats. The music concentrates first on the romantic infatuation, then registers the tragic change. But MacDowell cannot manage the serpentine gothic of Keats’s story. Rather pallid. (Ap09) The only one of MacDowell’s tone poems I’ve heard before, and I didn’t find it memorable. Lisztian transformations of a serpentine, then a hunting motif for Lycius, then a love theme. Actually it’s quite nice, just well worn. (N11) Piano Sonata, piano, No 1 in G minor, op 45 “Tragica” MacDowell’s cycle of Sonatas is one of the finest of Romanticism, inexplicably neglected: dramatic, virtuosic, inventive, appealing – over the top. The Tragica is in four movements: First, stormy, dramatic. Second, brief, rhythmically tricky. Largo a passionate outcry, painful protestation (the passage with runs is gorgeous). Finale a heroic song in major. (My11) Piano Sonata, piano, No 2 in G minor, op 50 "Eroica" Another four-movement work, inspired by Arthurian legends and Tennyson’s Idylls. Slow intro, then Allegro, all somber, tragic, bass register. Scherzo is elvish grotesque, flighty. Guinevere movement is marked “Tenderly.” Finale again dramatic, still minor key, builds to two-fisted climax, triumphant major, subsides in desolate coda, a reminiscence of Guinevere before final acquiescence. (My11) Piano Sonata, piano, No 3 in D minor, op 57 “Norse” Dedicated to Grieg, hence the title (though with a nod to Wagner). Begins like the Eroica in deep gloom, rises to heroic sentiment with great rushes of notes. Middle movement spins a wistful melody with harmony rich in sevenths, beautifully atmospheric. Finale is furious combat in propulsive 9/8 to big climax, tragic coda. MacDowell’s most condensed, perhaps most performed Sonata. (My11) Piano Sonata, piano, No 4 in E minor, op 59 “Keltic” Thought by MacDowell and others to be the best of the four. Inspired by Irish legends of Deirdre and Cuchulain from Fiona MacLeod and the young Yeats. Looser, more rhapsodic in structure, but cohesive, not rambling. Semplice slow movement is full of arpeggiated harping – over the top and glorious. Finale a ferocious chase, with Deirdre taking a last bow before the coda. Great stuff. MacDowell’s cycle is limited only by the finite number of available Byronic poses. (My11) Woodland Sketches, op 51 Ten pieces, starting with the enduring Wild Rose. Unlike the Sonatas, nicely understated, but they hang in the memory: the Waterlily, Native Indian material, a glimpse of Uncle Remus, subtle American inflections elsewhere (Trysting Place, Deserted Farm). (My11) Sea Pieces, op 55 Eight pieces, generally ponderous, chordal, 4-bar phrases, emphasis on bass register and getting maximum sonority out of the piano, but at the expense of variety, texture. (My11) Two Fragments after the Song of Roland, op 30 Middle movements of a discarded Roland Symphony. Saracens is a swift, sinister Scherzo. Alda (the heroine) is an Adagio alternating between romantic Amour and Angst. Pleasant but not compelling. The recording is not bad for its age, 1958. (N11) Hamlet, op 22/1 Tone poem contrasts the somber with the swashbuckling Hamlet, followed by romantic theme for Ophelia, very beautiful. More striving turmoil builds to climax in major. (N11) Ophelia, op 22/1 Second of two paired tone poems develops the Ophelia theme from the first. Ophelia is made a naive ingenue surrounded by birdcalls. No sign of madness but for a few dark chords at the end. Both are effective pieces, viable either separately or together. (N11) Lancelot and Elaine, op 25 Tone poem on Tennyson’s poem, based on a detailed program. Details are unimportant: MacDowell is no Straussian realist. But romantic/military aura is clear enough. MacDowell in top form. (N11) Indian Suite, op 48 Just the Dirge movement – why didn’t he record the whole thing? There’s lots of room. I’ve even played the piece. (Je13) JOHN BLACKWOOD McEWEN Quartet No 2 in A minor The second of 19 quartets by Scotch composer unknown to me. I’m underwhelmed. Simple rhythmic idea repeated relentlessly. Andante offers very nice modal, folklike tune, but goes nowhere. Vivace tries to be clever but is not. Finale has tawdry ideas again repeated ad nauseam. Maybe it’s just “early.” The Chilingirian, normally fine, sounds uncommitted. (S10) Quartet No 8 in E♭ Shortish piece in 3 movements, more complex harmony than in No 2, hints of Ravel. Ideas are present but very small. (S10) Quartet No 15 "A Little Quartet 'in modo scotico'" Shortish, unassuming – Scots melodies dressed in frippery. Of the three quartets, this has the advantage of distinct character and raison d'être. (S10) WALTER MacFARREN Concertstück in E minor, piano & orchestra Walter was the younger brother of slightly less obscure George Alexander MacFarren, and this is his only extant work for piano and orchestra. A Concerto is lost. Very nice: The main part is duly Mendelssohnian, as the notes say, but the minor key intro has a pleasing fragrance of Chopin. (Muskoka—Jy14) GUILLAUME de MACHAUT Ballades and virelais There are 7 on the Gothic Voices disc devoted mainly to Solage, limited to 2-part and monophonic pieces in contrast to Solage’s consistent 4-part texture, but having the effect of making Machaut seem the lightweight. “Plus dure que un dyamant” and “Douce dame” are specially nice. If Gothic Voices has a fault, it’s too much sobriety in presentation (in contrast to David Munrow and some flashy groups like Unicorn), but they are the tops in early music. (Jy09) 14 Chansons I’m finding that Machaut’s sound is losing its strangeness: a good thing, I suppose. Here I’m reduced to hearing the music abstractly, since I have only OF texts plus computerized translations (comical!). Melismatic lines, very ornate, protracting every syllable and line of text, harmony skittish about thirds, rhythms triple and intricate, some hocketing, lots of Machaut cadences, but no extreme complexities of rhythm. “Ma fin est ma commencement.” (Jy09--Muskoka) Messe de Notre Dame The CD begins with motets by Vitry, Pierre de Bruges, Gilles d’Orléans, Bernard de Cluny. Ars Nova, with lots of hocketing (condemned by Pope Paul XXII), parallel fourths, Machaut cadences and half cadences. The texts of some, like the Pierre de Bruges, are roll calls of recognized composers. Alma praises music as heavenly order. Three Gothic organ pieces. The CD ends with Andrieu’s beautiful double ballade on the death of Machaut: la mort Machaut le noble rethouryque. Truly extraordinary. The Mass is sung at slow, steady tempo. It’s familiar enough, though dissonances are introduced by Kandel’s theories, and there are organ divisions between movements. Articulation is smooth, almost placid. Beautifully performed, thoughtful presentation of the great Mass, but still not my ideal performance. (Je12) GEORGE FREDERICK McKAY Evocation Symphony – Symphony for Seattle McKay was an isolated regional composer with an appealing neo-romantic style: someone compared him plausibly to Howard Hanson: tonal, widely spaced chords, lots of sevenths, no great dissonance, touches of Hollywood Indian. First movement has short-breathed phrases, meanders. Andante hovers with oboe solo. Finale is rhythmic, lively, but stops and starts. I had hoped for better. Randall Thompson is far more elegant, with decided character. (Ja11) From a Moonlit Ceremony Short 4-movement orchestral Suite, the two faster movements developing typical “Indian” tunes. Entertaining, no more. (Ja11) Harbor Narrative Travelogue of the Pacific Northwest. Here McKay is an American impressionist in a lavishly orchestrated, colorful series of nine short vignettes, unpretentious, virtually free of formalist constraints. To me the most attractive music here. (Ja11) Sir ALEXANDER CAMPBELL MacKENZIE Violin Concerto in C# minor Reminiscent of Bruch: Not overtly Scottish, very attractive, championed by Sarasate, maybe too fussy in its figurations.