{"id":25,"date":"2009-03-04T01:06:26","date_gmt":"2009-03-04T01:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregorymaytan.com\/?page_id=25"},"modified":"2017-08-13T19:26:46","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T19:26:46","slug":"scandinavia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/?page_id=25","title":{"rendered":"CDs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scandinavia<\/em><\/h2>\n

(Purchase at cdbaby.com<\/a>)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Maytan’s first CD featuring works by Norwegian and Swedish romantic composers Amanda Maier, Tor Aulin and Edvard Grieg. This was the CD that earned Maytan the distinction of \u201cCD of the Month\u201d by Strad Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis CD is both a revelation and a trio of performances of great artistry. It enables the listener to become acquainted with the virtually unknown works of three Scandinavian composers. It offers an inspiring example of the heights which two excellent musicians may attain when they play together with such skill and care that the two of them become one superb artist. Moreover, it introduces lovers of great violin playing to the beautiful, dynamic performance of a young player whose formidable technique coaxes from his instrument a powerful, warm sound in all registers.\u201d (NCCV)<\/p>\n

Scandinavia 2<\/em> <\/strong><\/h2>\n

(Purchase at Amazon<\/a>)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A sequel to Scandinavia where Maytan performs the well-known third violin sonata by Edvard Grieg, as well as some shorter and beloved pieces by Jarnefeldt, Sibelius and Alfven. The most noteworthy work of the CD, however, is probably the Six Pieces for Violin and Piano<\/em> by Amanda Maier, since this is likely the first recording ever of this work.<\/p>\n

Faure, Chausson and Franck <\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

(Purchase at Amazon<\/a>)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This CD features some of the most famous and loved French works ever written for violin and piano. All three works were written in Paris between 1870 and 1896 and reflect a lush, suave and virtuosic writing for both instruments.<\/p>\n

Amanda Maier<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong> <\/em><\/h2>\n

(Purchase at Amazon<\/a>)
\n(Purchase from Amazon UK<\/a>)
\n(Purchase from Amazon Sweden<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

This CD features three works by Amanda Maier that are world premiere studio recordings. The highlight of the CD is her one-movement violin concerto, written in Leipzig in 1875. It clearly shows the influence of composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn and is both a dramatic and lyrical work.<\/p>\n

Composer Notes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Edvard Grieg (1843\u20131907)<\/strong> was born and raised in Bergen, Norway. He\u00a0studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, and later lived in Copenhagen and\u00a0Oslo (then called Christiania). He is not only Norway\u2019s most famous\u00a0composer, but a distinctively Norwegian composer. Owing to long periods\u00a0of dependence and subjection first to Denmark and then to Sweden, Grieg\u00a0was born into a Norway struggling to maintain its national identity.\u00a0As a young man, Grieg set out to rectify this situation by giving Norway\u00a0a repertoire of music grounded in the themes and timbres of traditional\u00a0Norwegian folk music and yet sophisticated enough to merit performance\u00a0in the best concert halls of Europe.<\/p>\n

Grieg\u2019s corpus includes three violin sonatas whose renown varies\u00a0inversely with the order of their composition: the third is firmly\u00a0ensconced in the standard violin repertoire, having been performed and\u00a0recorded by virtually every great violinist; the second is moderately\u00a0well-known, and is performed occasionally; the first is virtually\u00a0unknown. The decision to record the first sonata was motivated in part\u00a0by the opinion of Nicole and myself that its relative obscurity is by no means deserved.<\/p>\n

Written in the summer of 1865, the piece reveals the young Grieg in the\u00a0early stages of his nationalistic project. Grieg himself described it\u00a0as \u201cna\u00efve and rich in ideals.\u201d Here he is only beginning to break away\u00a0from the Germanic influences acquired at Leipzig, and to incorporate\u00a0elements of Norwegian folk music (his second sonata is much more obvious\u00a0in this regard). Specifically, the trio of the 2nd movement imitates\u00a0the hardanger fiddle (a Norwegian folk instrument) with its drone open\u00a0strings in the violin. The first and third movements are both in sonata\u00a0form, the development in the third being a fugue.<\/p>\n

Amanda Maier (1853\u00ad\u20131894)<\/strong> was a woman of many talents. Mainly a violinist\u00a0and composer, she was also an excellent pianist, cellist and music\u00a0historian. She was the first woman to receive the degree of Music\u00a0Director from the Stockholm Conservatory. She toured all over Europe as\u00a0a violinist (frequently with her husband Julius R\u00f6ntgen, also a musician\u00a0and composer) and even performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with\u00a0the Leipzig Gewandhouse Orchestra. Amanda and her husband were known to\u00a0host frequent musical evenings in their home, where guests included\u00a0Brahms, Grieg and Rubenstein. One evening, they played through the\u00a0Brahms C minor quartet with Brahms at the piano! Grieg himself said of\u00a0Amanda Maier: \u2018I have always been an admirer of her talent.\u2019<\/p>\n

My teachers in northern Sweden introduced me to Maier\u2019s work when I was\u00a0fourteen years old. I quickly came to love the B minor violin sonata,\u00a0as did the pianist with whom I learned it. When we later performed it\u00a0at the Royal University of Music in Stockholm , we were surprised to\u00a0find that nobody in the audience had ever heard it before, including two\u00a0of my senior violin professors. Like the Grieg sonata, this is a\u00a0relatively hidden gem of Scandinavian origin.<\/p>\n

But, although Maier was born in Sweden and spent most of her life there,\u00a0nothing about her sonata is distinctively Swedish, or even Scandinavian.\u00a0In fact, one can hear in it more the influence of Schumann and\u00a0Mendelssohn than anything else \u2013 a fact that may be explained by the\u00a0fact that she wrote it in Leipzig around 1873. The first movement is in\u00a0sonata form. Its character is dark, somewhat reminiscent of Schumann.\u00a0The middle, slow movement is barcarolle-like in 3\/8 with a three voicefugue in the middle. The last movement is a dramatic rondo with a\u00a0triumphant conclusion.<\/p>\n

Tor Aulin (1866\u20131914)<\/strong> is one of Sweden\u2019s most beloved Romantic\u00a0composers. As a violinist, he was concertmaster of the Swedish Royal\u00a0Opera, and later became chief conductor of several prominent Swedish\u00a0orchestras. He was also the first violinist of a famous string quartet, the so called ‘Aulin quartet’.\u00a0Aulin also taught music. Among his students was\u00a0the famous Swedish playwright August Strindberg.<\/p>\n

Aulin\u2019s \u201cfour watercolors\u201d are very famous in Sweden, where they are\u00a0frequently arranged for other instruments as well as for orchestra, but\u00a0they are hardly known beyond its borders. Virtually every young Swedish\u00a0violinist encounters these pieces sometime during their study. I first\u00a0encountered them at thirteen, when I was assigned to learn the second\u00a0\u201cwatercolor\u201d, the Humoresk.\u00a0The \u201cwatercolors\u201d are distinctively Swedish, drawing, as they do, upon\u00a0elements of Swedish life and culture. The first is intended to describe\u00a0an idyllic country scene. To me, it brings to mind the beauty of the\u00a0Swedish springtime, and captures something very pure and innocent about\u00a0Swedish culture. The third evokes a similar ambiance: it is based on\u00a0the kind of lullaby a Swedish mother would sing to her child after a\u00a0long day working on the farm. The fourth is a polska, a popular and very\u00a0festive Swedish country dance.<\/p>\n

Armas J\u00e4rnefelt (1869\u20131958)<\/strong>, composer and conductor, was Finnish by birth and later became a naturalized citizen of Sweden in 1910, three years after he settled in Stockholm as conductor of the Swedish Royal Opera. J\u00e4rnefelt studied at the Helsinki Institute of Music and later in Berlin, and in Paris with Massenet. J\u00e4rnefelt\u2019s talents as a conductor shone in his interpretations of the operas of Mozart and Wagner and the works of his friend Jean Sibelius (who married J\u00e4rnefeldt\u2019s sister). J\u00e4rnefelt is credited with introducing Wagner\u2019s music to Finland and bringing Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 8 and Das Lied von der Erde<\/em> into the Swedish concert repertory. A composer of Romantic Finnish national and patriotic style, J\u00e4rnefelt\u2019s short pieces Praeludium<\/em> (1900) and Berceuse <\/em>(1904) are among his best known works. Both originally written for small orchestra, J\u00e4rnefelt later arranged Berceuse<\/em> for violin and piano and piano solo.<\/p>\n

Hugo Alfv\u00e9n<\/strong> (1872\u20131960)<\/strong>, composer and violinist, was born in Stockholm, Sweden, where he attended the Stockholm Conservatory for violin, composition, and painting. As a violinist, Alfv\u00e9n played for the Swedish Royal Opera Orchestra from 1890 until 1892 when he decided to make his career in music. As a conductor, he directed many choral ensembles and church choruses. Alfv\u00e9n\u2019s works are mostly programmatic and often inspired by Swedish landscapes, folk tunes and folktales, and his travels through Europe. In his orchestral works, he achieves subtle timbres and harmonies of a paint-like quality.<\/p>\n

Alfv\u00e9n\u2019s four movement concert suite Bergakungen<\/em> (The Mountain King), adapted from its original form as a ballet-pantomime, is one of his greatest and most well-known works. The lively last movement of the suite, Valflickans Dans<\/em> (Dance of the Shepherd Girl), was later arranged by Alfv\u00e9n for violin and piano. The story of the suite is based on the legend Den Bergtagna<\/em> about a shepherdess who is kidnapped by the mountain king and rescued by her boyfriend. A mountain troll they meet helps them out, but later becomes enraged after learning he will not have the shepherdess for himself, so he lets her and her boyfriend die in a snowstorm.<\/p>\n

Jean Sibelius (1865\u20131957)<\/strong> has long been synonymous with Finnish national music. Born into a Swedish-speaking family in Finland during cultural and language conflicts, Sibelius later learned the Finnish language, defined himself through Finnish culture, and became a national voice for the people of Finland. Sibelius familiarized himself with Finnish legends, most notably the national folk-epic: the Kalevala. Drawing from characteristics of Finnish folk music and poetry, Sibelius created a modern Finnish musical style. From 1885 to 1889, Sibelius studied composition and violin at the Helsinki Institute of Music. Throughout the 1890s Sibelius continued to define his Finnish cultural identity and also developed these influences in his music.<\/p>\n

Sibelius\u2019s most notable works include seven symphonies, several tone poems (including the famous Finlandia<\/em>), sets of incidental music and a violin concerto. The young Sibelius enjoyed playing chamber music at home with his brother and sister, who played cello and piano. Many of Sibelius\u2019s first compositions were chamber works and have been described as \u201cHaydnesque\u201d in nature. His \u201cRomance\u201d (1915) from Four Pieces<\/em>, Op. 78, No. 2, however, comes from Sibelius\u2019s late compositional period. Often overlooked amidst his larger works, such as symphonies 5\u20137, the Romance for Violin and Piano in F Major is a short piece with elements of nostalgia and melancholy characteristic of the music of Sibelius and Finland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scandinavia (Purchase at cdbaby.com) Maytan’s first CD featuring works by Norwegian and Swedish romantic composers Amanda Maier, Tor Aulin and Edvard Grieg. This was the CD that earned Maytan the distinction of \u201cCD of the Month\u201d by Strad Magazine. \u201cThis CD is both a revelation and a trio of performances of great artistry. It enables […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-25","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":509,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25\/revisions\/509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregorymaytan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}