Classically Speaking… Part 1

by Kenneth P. Howard in Opinion Posts

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning . . .

To everything, there is a beginning, so as a way of beginning this new classical music blog as inspired by the Princeton Record Exchange, I would like to introduce myself and propose a premise to this forum.

Music in general, but classical music specifically, has been a passion of mine since the womb. You may laugh, but my mother tells the story that while singing “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” during a church choir rehearsal for The Messiah in December 1962 she felt me kick. She was thinking that I was liking what I was hearing. I jokingly think it was being I want out of the womb to correct some of the tenors’ wrong pitches.

From the time that I learned how to put a stylus on a record (yes, folks I am that old), I was off to the races listening to almost anything I could get my hands on. My parents had a nice selection of recordings which not only had some of the Reader’s Digest anthologies of classical music but also some popular music at the time – Peter, Paul, and Mary, Ed Ames, Bob Dylan . . . As much as I enjoyed them, the strains of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mendelssohn thrilled my ears in more different ways. When my parents bought a piano, I began to play at it, and my dad would teach me some standards tunes. One Sunday, I asked my mother to help teach me a hymn that had been sung at the church service. The frustration that bubbled up from me when I couldn’t get it right away inspired my mother to go on the search for a formal piano instructor for me. At the local college, we convinced a professor to take me on as a student, even though I had only finished the first grade.  Thus began a tutelage that lasted for 10 years until my audition and acceptance to Westminster Choir College in 1980. This proved to be a perfect place for my further studies since choral music had been a concurrent part of my musical life since I joined the children’s choir in third grade. I can remember some of the music I sang from that time to this day. My love for opera had also kicked in, and I had become a devoted listener to the Saturday afternoon broadcasts from the Metropolitan. Further visits to local opera performances along with our family friend Grady Miller as well as the beginning of my record collecting deepened my enthusiasm.

My time at Westminster was challenging but also inspiring. The instruction I received was top quality, and the opportunities to sing in the chorus of choral and operatic works with major orchestras and conductors are experiences I would not trade for anything. When finances allowed from my work-study job at the campus library, I would increase my recording collection with visits to the PU Store and to the Record Exchange. I would also attend performances at the Met, sitting in the family circle (aka “peanut gallery”) These experiences and training have held me in good stead through my 20+ years of musical directing college and community musical theater as well as my singing and conducting two local community choirs at various points since graduation in 1987.

My personal, eclectic listening ranges the gamut from opera to choral music to light classics to symphonies and concertos (as well as some Jim Brickman and Broadway). It cannot be denied that art is the result of a person’s reaction to his/her experiences and perception of life and therefore can act as a mirror of the time in which s/he lives. This can also be reflected in any given performer’s choice (and avoidance) of repertoire and the resulting interpretations.

In my blog, I hope to share my thoughts on music, artists, and interpretations that resonate with me. While I respect that readers may find points of interests or disagreement from time to time, I welcome your feedback.

In this first installment, I want to share one of the anthologies which provided hours of escape for me.  In the 1960s, Reader’s Digest compiled a 12-lp collection of known repertoire with very respected conductors of the time. Many, if not all, of these performances have gone on to continued lives on separate cds (though sadly many are out of print), but I will never forget my first exposure to the works presented here.  Here is the run-down of artists and repertoire:

Rudolf Kempe            R.Strauss: Don Juan/ Respighi: The Pines of Rome

Charles Munch          Bizet: Symphony in C/Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini

Anatol Fistolauri          Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1

Fritz Reiner                Brahms: Symphony No. 4

Josef Krips                Mozart: Symphony No. 35/Haydn: Symphony No.104

Jascha Horenstein      Wagner: Flying Dutchman Overture/Venusberg Music from Tannhauser/Siegfried’s Idyll

Rene Lebowitz           Grieg: Piano Concerto/Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in e minor

Antol Dorati                Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet (selections)/Strauss: Dance of the Seven Veils

Sir John Barbirolli       Sibelius: Symphony No. 2

Georges Pretre           Franck: Psyche and Eros/Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2/Debussy: Nocturnes – Fetes &  Nuages

Sir Malcolm Sargent   Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1/Liszt: Piano Concerto

Oscar Danon             Prokofiev: Love of Three Oranges Suite/Stravinsky: Petroushka

Even looking back, this is an impressive line-up for an initial introduction to the classical music world. I recently saw a mint version of this set on EBay. (Who would have thought?) I still have many issues of different composers’ greatest hits albums that RCA and Columbia released. At one time, I used to frown on such sampler recordings because sometimes a work was not presented in its complete version. As I grew to understand the logic of the marketing industry, I realized that I was indeed swallowing the bait to want to know, learn and listen more. Even as an adult, I have bought such albums if I only wanted to hear a few cuts. I think that such recordings in their time were great to allow the uninitiated a starting point to test their level of interest and desire to dig deeper. My personal dig has lasted over 40 years and continues to this day.

READER’S QUESTION: What recording(s) introduced you to classical music? What do you feel are the plusses and minuses of anthology collections?