188: Chopsticks

A great video and a victory for sanity

Name That Tune

This week’s Name That Tune was submitted by Listener Ellen. Here’s your hint: fans of Harmonia Orchestra Seattle (one of the orchestras under Maestro Will’s direction) for 2+ years may be familiar with this composer. No Googling!

As always, your goal is to provide as much accurate analysis as possible. First try to get the nationality, year, and genre, then make educated guesses about the composer and — if possible— the piece. If you know the piece immediately, send us an email at toneprose@substack.com instead of commenting so the rest of us can have fun guessing.

Last Week’s Results
Tone Prose 187
Grieg, In Autumn

Listener Laurie came in fast and hot with a guess of three Scandinavian composers (Grieg, Sibelius, Alfvén), and she was bang on the money. Brava!

Joey was close, geographically, but strayed a bit further east and south with Dvořák, Janáček, and Sibelius. Gregor was close to Joey with Sibelius and Dvořák, but then took a zag with Copland. Listener Eric also guessed Sibelius and Janáček, but interestingly also heard notes of Puccini in the clip.

Think you can stump your fellow Listeners? Go ahead and try!

Head to our Google Form to submit a YouTube link OR upload your own 30-second clip of an unidentified piece of classical music for us to try to identify.

Duet

PianoCurio has quickly become one of my favorite YouTube channels for classical music content, and this video really sealed the deal.

It’s an analysis of a set of variations on a “Chopsticks”-like theme from 19th century Russian. Basically, it became a game among a highly recondite set of composers: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, César Cui, and Alexander Borodin among them. Mussorgsky tried his hand at a variation, but the other guys told him he hadn’t followed the rules and kicked him out of the club.

Tchaikovsky thought the whole thing was incredibly stupid, and Balakirev showed a “violent antipathy” toward the project. Liszt thought it was great, so take that for what you will.

Rolled R Cult

I’m currently in rehearsals for a concert featuring to works by Lili Boulanger, and in chorus rehearsal, I got a little clapback when I told the singers they should just sing normal French (uvular) Rs, rather than the rolled Rs that are called for in singing textbooks, which to me sound too Italianate and rather unnatural in a choral context.

And that’s why I was delighted to read this interview with French tenor Benjamin Bernheim (who, yes, is French, in spite of his name) in which he confirmed all of my priors:

Early in our conversation, I asked him about his approach to French style and technique; he furrowed his brow slightly. “Every language has to be taken seriously in terms of the work, in terms of the attitude of an artist,” he replied. “Because language is as rich as there are people and ways to say things. At the same time, I’ve had people asking me to roll my r’s when I sing French, which for me is not natural and does not allow me to tell a story correctly.”

He added, “You cannot say, ‘This is the way to sing in French.’ That doesn’t exist. I think people who are saying this are trying to build a cult and have people pay for it.”

Tone Praise

Villa-Lobos, Amazonas

This is a masterpiece of subtlety and refinement, and yet it packs a wallop. If you like The Rite of Spring and Sensamayá, you’ll love Amazonas.

Tone Prose is a co-production of William White, Joseph Vaz, and the Listeners (i.e. you.)