Conducting Electricity

Historians often use the term “the long 19th century” to refer to the period from the French Revolution (1789) to the First World War (1914).  In music, this roughly corresponds with period we call “Romanticism”, from Mozart’s late works through Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz and Wagner all the way to Richard Strauss. The period ends, abruptly, with the advent of modernism, ushered in by Stravinsky’s ballet “The Rite of Spring”, and Schoenberg’s atonal works. From that point on, Romanticism was passé, no longer reflecting the spirit of the age.  As a young composer, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) was seen as a modernist. His operas “Salome” and “Elektra” did everything modern music was supposed to: pushed the limits of harmony, expanded the size of the orchestra and shocked

Continue readingMusic’s “Long 19th Century”: Eroica and Metamorphosen

A friend recently asked me what symphonic music I think feels of the moment: what music feels like now, as we adjust to a new normal of social distancing and uncertainty. I often use music to change my mood, so I immediately began to list pieces that feel optimistic and joyful, the opposite of the way many of us have been feeling under lockdown. But one of music’s greatest gifts is the solace it can offer when we listen to something that sounds like our feelings, be they contemplative, grief-stricken, lonely or ambivalent. In times of grief, two pieces of music have offered me strength. The first isn’t symphonic, but choral: Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. In just over an hour, Rachmaninoff mixes together ancient Greek and Russian chants

Continue readingFinding strength in classical music