65: Drammatico

The Italian government wages a symbolic war; a new venue opens in NYC; a boring old TV show

Name That Tune

This week’s Name That Tune is a Maestro Will special. Here’s your hint: this clip comes from a recording that was conducted by the composer.

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 64
Holst, Wind Quintet in A-flat, mvmt. 3 Minuet (in Canon)

Wow, Listener Eric really pulled it out this week with an assist from Joey! I’ll admit, I (Will) never would have gotten my way around to Holst based on the clip. So in spite of Listener Jeremy’s best efforts, the current streak of success continues.

Lots of likely candidates were mentioned based on the medium (wind quintet). I weighed in with Reicha, as did Listener Michael, who mentioned Danzi, Klughardt, and Taffanel in addition.

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

Head to our Google Form to upload a 30-second clip of an unidentified piece of classical music for us to try to identify.

NEWS!

In today’s Italian-politics-meets-international-warfare news, the president and prime minister of Italy will buck the tradition of attending the opening night of La Scala’s season this year. No reason was given for the snub, but rumors suggest that it is in protest of the inclusion of Putin-acolyte Anna Netrebko in the cast.

Three comments from me (Will):

1. La Scala’s season-opener is December 1? What’s that all about? I guess things just work differently in Italy.

2. Oh to live in a country where the heads of state regularly attend the opening of the nation’s major cultural institutions and cause a scandal when they don’t! I suppose it would be like if Biden didn’t go to the opening game of Major League Baseball. (I presume that’s something he does.)

3. If, like me, you’ve only a vague awareness of Italian politics — enough just to know that Georgia Meloni is a far-right rabble-rouser who seemed to be pro-Putin — you might be pleasantly surprised (or at least relieved) that she’s taken a different tack as far as the Ukraine war is concerned, and is firmly allied with the Biden administration and the rest of the EU in offering Italy’s support for Ukraine.

Perelman Performing Arts Center

I (Joey) had the chance to check out New York City’s newest major venue, the Perelman Performing Arts Center, aka PACNYC. Having just opened a couple months ago, I was naturally curious about its potential as a classical music venue, though its programming decidedly skews non-classical. As part of my adjunct job with the Borough of Manhattan Community College, I had the chance to perform with some of my students at the Vartan and Clare Gregorian Stage in the lobby. 

Though the space still has a somewhat unfinished feel, it’s got a modern vibe that is not unattractive. All the elements of an up-to-date venue are in place: strong security, open-concept spaces, an integrated coffee shop/bar in the lobby, lots of staff milling about, and fantastic dressing rooms:

I didn’t enter the actual performing spaces, so look out for updates when I eventually get to a performance. But with its prime location in Tribeca near the 9/11 memorial, I don’t foresee things going badly for it, as long as it’s managed decently. We just need them to get some more classical programming on in future seasons!

That’s *Not* Entertainment

I (Will) happened upon this TV special from 1957, “A Conversation with Igor Stravinsky” which was aired by NBC. I’ve seen clips before, but never the whole thing. Stravinsky’s conversation partner is, naturally, Robert Craft, his American hanger-on for the latter part of his career.

I do not recommend that you watch this; if you can’t help yourself, skip to about 12 minutes in, and watch for maybe 10 minutes total. That’s where an engaging(ish) conversation about Stravinsky’s music begins.

I’m including it in this week’s newsletter because I found it so irritating. It starts with something like ten minutes of staged composing and “score study” by Stravinsky that I can only imagine would have bored even viewers of 1950s TV. They could have watched I Love Lucy for crying out loud!

Based on the La Scala story, you might have expected me to laud this bit of cultural output and bemoan the current state of television. But no, I do have standards for what’s entertaining and what’s not, and folks, this was a snooze-fest.

Tone Praise

It might surprise you to know that old music for viol makes up something like 20% of my (Will’s) recreational listening. Well, maybe it wouldn’t, I don’t know. But anyway, this is just fantastic, well performed, well shot, beautiful, etc. It’s a fun watch, because with every shot, you realize there’s another member of the ensemble.

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