Could these three ballet 'starters' be more different?

Sorry, but Part 2 of last week's "Chain of associations" post ("Retracing how 'Excerpt I' came into my head + the odd path to 'Excerpt II' + a stab at explaining how it mattered") isn't quite ready. I'm aiming for tomorrow.

In the meantime --

WE HAVE MUSIC RELEVANT TO THE WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Set design by Konstantin Ivanov for Ballet No. 1's first performance, 1892

The start of Ballet No. 1

[2:56] Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg, cond. Command, recorded in Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, Apr. 29, 1964

The start of Ballet No. 2

[2:25] New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Decca 'Phase 4', recorded in Kingsway Hall, London, September 1965

The start of Ballet No. 3

[2:29] Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, cond. Decca, recorded in Victoria Hall, Geneva, November 1958

by Ken

Again, these are the openings of three really well-known ballets. I'll be surprised if you don't recognize all of them. In a moment -- well, right after the click-through -- we're going to hear them again, properly identified, and with additional performances of each of our ballets. Plus, as a bonus, we're going to hear how one of them continues on a bit once the stage action begins.

HERE ARE OUR THREE BALLETS PROPERLY IDENTIFIED
(And now with an interesting assortment of performances)

Chain of associations: Retracing how 'Excerpt I' came into my head + the odd path to 'Excerpt II' + a stab at explaining how it mattered

I KNOW I'LL REGRET IT, BUT I WANT TO TRY TALKING
ABOUT WHAT I THINK OF AS MUSICAL "AUTHENTICITY"
(Which has nothing to do with the kind usually talked about)

What is this distinguished-looking fellow up to? (FWIW,
note that whatever it is, he's doing it without a baton.)

EXCERPT  I

[2:47] New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Decca 'Phase 4', recorded in Kingsway Hall, London, September 1965

EXCERPT  II

[Don't overboost the volume! Note that Excerpt II starts 'p' (soft); even the crescendo is only to 'poco più f ' (a little louder).]

[4:49] Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Decca 'Phase 4', recorded in the Grand Théâtre, Geneva, Sept. 15-16, 1968

NOTE: Excerpt II is so startling in both conception and scoring, I've copied more of the score for when we hear it again. -- Ed.

A NOTE ON THE WORK THAT 'EXCERPT II' COMES FROM

Many (most?) people, when they think of it, think of the great love theme --


[2:48] Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Oct. 12-13, 1966

But that's not where we're heading. This theme is kind of foolproof, can't-miss. It's hard to imagine any conductor misfiring with it. -- Ed.

by Ken

Sometimes it's intriguing to try to retrace a train of thought, back to its point of origin, to maybe see how it was hatched, and then how it morphed through its wanderings. As it happens, in this case -- the case of the specific part of the "odd path" I referenced above, from Excerpt I to Excerpt II -- the pathway, if not the actual thought collision, is easy to identify: On a Stoky "compilation" CD that Decca put out, they're the first and last of the 17 tracks.


HOW EXACTLY DID THOSE TRACKS AT OPPOSITE
ENDS OF A 17-TRACK CD CRASH INTO EACH OTHER?

Glancing back over the BSO's concertmaster path from 1962

When Erich Leinsdorf (center) became BSO music director in 1962, he engaged Joseph Silverstein as concertmaster; two years later he hired away Cleveland's principal cellist, Jules Eskin. Both long outlasted him -- Silverstein until 1984, Eskin until his death, at 85, in November 2016.

TCHAIKOVSKY: Swan Lake: Act II, Dance of the Swans - Pas d'action (Odette and the Prince; 2nd Dance of the Swan Queen)

Bernard Zighera, harp; Joseph Silverstein, violin [at 1:20]; Jules Eskin, cello [at 4:55]; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, cond. DG, recorded in Symphony Hall, November 1978

by Ken

One measure of an orchestra's greatness is its principals, and we just heard the 1978-vintage Boston Symphony putting on quite a show -- one after the other after the other. I think we can hear then-music director Seiji Ozawa having a ball with the range of choices, both bold and intimate, made possible by his soloists' instrumental prowess and creative imagination, knowing too that pretty much anything he can think to ask of them, they can give him. Of course the same thing applies to the orchestra as a whole.

By 1978 Joseph Silverstein and Jules Eskin had been making music together for 14 years, not just as fellow orchestra principals but as fellow founding members of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players in 1964. (Was the prospect of Leinsdorf's plan for the BSCP part of the lure that brought Jules E. to Boston from Cleveland?) They remained as foundations of Seiji Ozawa's BSO, and Jules would wind up teaming up with Joseph S.'s successor, Malcolm Lowe, even longer than he had with Joseph S. (in the post-to-come we'll hear him paired with both); he was still on the job when current music director Andris Nelsons took the reins (in 2013 as music director designate, in 2014 as music director).

Harpist Bernard Zighera [right] dates way farther back, to the early years of the Koussevitzky era, having been imported from Paris in 1926 to be in place when the harp principalship opened, two years later. For his first 17 years he was the orchestra's pianist as well. (When he had to choose, and chose to retain his harp position, his piano duties were taken over in 1943 by a young Koussevitzky protégé name of Leonard Bernstein.)

So we're all on the same page, let me note that we're picking up from last week's "The BSO's soon-to-be-seated new concertmaster, 'the other Nathan,' is only its 4th in the last 104 years," but the plans I had for a survey of the concertmaster succession from Joseph Silverstein to Malcolm Lowe to the incoming Nathan Cole have kept turning and twisting and been obstinate about resisting forward movement. So I got the idea of this sort of transitional post where we'll get to listen to a lot of nice music. Never mind that very little of it was in the plans and so had to be worked up from scratch.


WE'RE GOING TO RETURN TO SWAN LAKE IN THE POST-
TO-COME. FOR NOW LET'S JUST ENJOY SOME LISTENING

Do I hear a waltz? (Tchaikovsky edition)

Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963)

by Ken

Nothing fancy going on here this week. As I explained in Friday night's preview, we're just listening to four waltzes that happen to be included on an-all Tchaikovsky DG CD reissue conducted by Ferenc Fricsay. Okay, maybe not quite "just." It's possible that there are one or two diversions or digressions along the way.

Right now, for example, we're going to kick off, not with a waltz, but with a polonaise. Friday we listened to the waltz from Act II of the opera Yevgeny Onegin -- in both its "concert" form and as it's heard in the opera, as the music around which the opening scene of Act II, a ball given on the country estate of Madame Larina, unfolds. We're going to hear that again, in some different performances (plus the Fricsay, of course), but first we're going to hear the polonaise that opens Act III, introducing a considerably more cosmopolitan ball, in Moscow, at the home of Madame Larina's daughter Tatiana, now married to a genuine prince (and a prince of a fellow is our Prince Gremin).

TCHAIKOVSKY: Yevgeny Onegin, Op. 24:
Act III, Polonaise

Staatskapelle Dresden, James Levine, cond. DG, recorded June 1987

Orchestre de Paris, Semyon Bychkov, cond. Philips, recorded October 1992

USSR State Radio and Television Large Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev, cond. Audiophile Classics, recorded 1986

Sofia Festival Orchestra, Emil Tchakarov, cond. Sony, recorded Jan. 15-21, 1988

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded December 1977

New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 12, 1971


NOW LET'S GET TO OUR WALTZES --