Family Christmas - Family Christmas - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The composer stated that his symphony was about a crisis in faith, an issue that would concern him for life. The biblical Jeremiah preached in Jerusalem some six centuries before Christ, centering his message on religious reform in a time of confused morality. The Prophecy first movement sets the tone of slow, solemn contemplation found throughout the entire work. The scherzo movement, Profanation, gives a feeling of the destruction of Jerusalem during the tumultuous times of the prophet. The final Lamentation is the literal cry of Jeremiah, lamenting the pillaged city. This movement, composed years earlier, captivated initial audiences as the horrors of the Nazi Final Solution were being revealed. One of Bernstein's many works that embrace Jewish themes, the piece was dedicated to Samuel Bernstein, the composer's father, who helped impart his faith to his son. The work uses the Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation of the Book of Lamentations. In Jeremiah it is certainly possible to see parallels between the prophet and the young composer/conductor/pianist, taking brave and unpopular positions despite the risk. Not surprisingly, interest in his symphony sprung from various corners. The first performance was conducted by Bernstein with the Pittsburgh Symphony, at the invitation of it's director, Fritz Reiner, on 28th January, 1944. Koussevitzky invited Bernstein to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Jeremiah shortly thereafter, and the New York Philharmonic followed with four performances in the spring. In what was to be one of many whirlwind years for Bernstein, the symphony would win the New York Music Critics Circle Award for 1944. Album Tracks 1. Prophecy 2. Profanation 3. Lamentation 4. I. Free-Style Events Allegro Con Brio, Giocoso 5. II. Mixed Doubles Theme 6. Variation 1 7. Variation 2 8. Variation 3 9. Variation 4 10. Variation 5 11.

Eric Whitacre dedication to the beauty of sound, paired with exquisite texts, results in a poetic combination that creates a unique sonic experience. Album Tracks 1. Her Sacred Spirit Soars 2. A Boy and a Girl 3. Water Night 4. This Marriage 5. Lux Aurumque (Light of Gold) 6. Little Tree 7. When David Heard 8. Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine 9. I Thank You God for Most This Amazing Day 10. Sleep 11. Little Birds

The first performance of the Second Concerto took place in Chickering Hall, New York on 5 March 1889 in a concert which also included the American première of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. One critic praised 'a splendid composition, so full of poetry, so full of vigor as to tempt the assertion that it must be placed at the head of all works of it's kind produced by a native or adopted citizen of America.' He claimed to have enjoyed it far more than the new symphony. The work was dedicated to MacDowell's old teacher, Teresa Carreño, whose colorful life included successful careers as a conductor and opera singer as well as concert pianist, while multiple marriages (including one to Eugene d'Albert) kept her name constantly in the papers. She would no doubt have approved of the unconventional structure of the piece. The first movement Larghetto calmato, for example, is actually the slowest with a shimmering, almost Wagnerian introduction, although it is swiftly interrupted by a flurry of virtuosic material for the soloist. The second is a fleet-footed, almost jazzy Scherzo and the third, after a slow introduction is actually, of all things, a high-spirited waltz. The Witches' Dance (or Hexentanz), originally for solo piano, is the second of two Fantasy Pieces, Op. 17 dating from 1884. It was one of the most popular of MacDowell's pieces it exists in several versions and even found it's way into the encore repertoire of the great Leopold Godowsky. Later MacDowell became embarrassed by what he saw as the piece's 'flashiness' and shallow outlook, although he was still playing it himself in 1891. The little Romance for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 35, was written just before the MacDowells returned to America in 1888 and was dedicated to the venerable Austrian cellist David Popper. Even MacDowell's star-struck contemporary biographer, Lawrence Gilman, concedes that this is a sl