It's neat that Hacklily is right next to an article about Reicha. Very musical day on HN.
Anyway, here's a piece by Reicha in Hacklily: https://www.hacklily.org/#?edit=jnetterf/sheet-music/Fantais...
A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
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Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#12Glad that he's finally getting some of recognition that he has been unfairly denied for centuries. There is extraordinary intelligence and personality behind his music. It's almost inexplicable that he doesn't get more attention. By far the most "underrated" composer that I am aware of. Reicha's work proves that the style pioneered by Haydn was not only fundamentally sound, but capable of change and development far b…
My experience with Reicha is mostly through his wind quintets, which are all competent, but not especially memorable IMHO. Which is very close to how I feel about Haydn. Reicha is actually more famous among woodwind players for popularizing (maybe originating?) the ensemble than for any of his individual works. Even a lesser work of Beethoven like his wind octet seems like a much higher standard to me. (To be fair, I've made the same criticism in the past of the following 50 years of Romantic-era music.)
There are sadly many composers who might've been more obscure if they hadn't had someone like Bernstein to popularize their works. Nielsen, Martinu, and William Grant Still are three of my favorites whose symphonies deserve to be much more widely played.
Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely the influence worked in both directions. Some comments by Ilić on that topic can be found in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2xC3UDeTYo
There goes my afternoon :)
Didn't mention explicitly Beethoven's influence on Reicha, but I'd say the sonata movement he played at the end of the video (Grande Sonata in C Major) is inhabiting the same sonic world created in the third movement of the Waldstein sonata. IMO, influence was stronger in the Reicha --> Beethoven direction, since he simply adopted many of the same lifelong concerns of Reicha's into his own work around the same time Reicha left Vienna, and becoming even more pronounced in his "3rd period", while Reicha continued steadfastly on his own path.
Could it be that the Hammerklavier fugue, marked "con alcune licenze" is a kind of rejoinder to Reicha's Op. 36, about which he is said to have remarked, "daß die Fuge keine Fuge mehr ist"? What about the fugue in the D Major cello sonata, with its displaced accents and unusual structure? Could it be a riff on the compound and irregular metres seen the same Op. 36? What about the overall structure of the Diabelli Variations (a long series of different perspectives on one idea, which could potentially go on forever--not counting the penultimate section and coda)? Essentially the same fundamental structure as L'art de varier (which deserves a similar stature in the piano repertoire). Possibly the final variation, no. 33, a minuet is a reference to no. 39 in Reicha's set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks1jAMN7XTw&index=40&list=OL...
Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#14Funny to see this on HN, Ivan is a member here.
Ivan Ilic? I thought he was dead. (SCNR)
Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#15Glad that he's finally getting some of recognition that he has been unfairly denied for centuries. There is extraordinary intelligence and personality behind his music. It's almost inexplicable that he doesn't get more attention. By far the most "underrated" composer that I am aware of. Reicha's work proves that the style pioneered by Haydn was not only fundamentally sound, but capable of change and development far b…
My experience with Reicha is mostly through his wind quintets, which are all competent, but not especially memorable IMHO. Which is very close to how I feel about Haydn. Reicha is actually more famous among woodwind players for popularizing (maybe originating?) the ensemble than for any of his individual works. Even a lesser work of Beethoven like his wind octet seems like a much higher standard to me. (To be fair, I…
> Which is very close to how I feel about Haydn.
Well, the melody from one of his string quartets was used as a national anthem.
In terms of inventiveness, he did things like writing a menuet where the first half is a mirror of the second half. Also, his "The Joke" string quartet screws around with the audience with multiple false endings, then a final ending that makes it sounds like the music will continue.
Also, listen to the last movement of the "Lark" quartet. It's a extremely fast rondo that chugs along, unexpectedly turns into a 4-part fugue for about 45 seconds then switches back into the rondo themes as quickly as it began.
Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#16Glad that he's finally getting some of recognition that he has been unfairly denied for centuries. There is extraordinary intelligence and personality behind his music. It's almost inexplicable that he doesn't get more attention. By far the most "underrated" composer that I am aware of. Reicha's work proves that the style pioneered by Haydn was not only fundamentally sound, but capable of change and development far b…
My experience with Reicha is mostly through his wind quintets, which are all competent, but not especially memorable IMHO. Which is very close to how I feel about Haydn. Reicha is actually more famous among woodwind players for popularizing (maybe originating?) the ensemble than for any of his individual works. Even a lesser work of Beethoven like his wind octet seems like a much higher standard to me. (To be fair, I…
The wind quintets were written on commission, for public consumption, rather than being "written for the drawer", as many of the works in this recording series were. Nonetheless, they are still first rate compositions and full to the brim with truly unusual features.
The fact that those innovations are able to go by without being perceived while listening to or even performing them is a testament to Reicha's skill in making unusual ideas "work" musically, despite their strangeness.
Mr. Ilić is, in my view, 100% correct in his assessments regarding the undeservedness of Reicha's relative obscurity.
Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
My experience with Reicha is mostly through his wind quintets, which are all competent, but not especially memorable IMHO. Which is very close to how I feel about Haydn. Reicha is actually more famous among woodwind players for popularizing (maybe originating?) the ensemble than for any of his individual works. Even a lesser work of Beethoven like his wind octet seems like a much higher standard to me. (To be fair, I…
> Which is very close to how I feel about Haydn. Well, the melody from one of his string quartets was used as a national anthem. In terms of inventiveness, he did things like writing a menuet where the first half is a mirror of the second half. Also, his "The Joke" string quartet screws around with the audience with multiple false endings, then a final ending that makes it sounds like the music will continue. Also, l…
> Which is very close to how I feel about Haydn.
Glossed over that part when I first read the comment! It was Haydn who essentially created "The Classical Style", which is perhaps the most perfect mode of musical discourse that humanity has yet encountered. His importance is under-stated in the statement that he is "the Shakespeare of Music". That is all quite apart from the innumerable volumes of individual masterpieces that he created!
Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#18Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ivan Ilic? I thought he was dead. (SCNR)
I received an email from him last Saturday so I highly doubt that. If that's your idea of having a sense of humor I suggest you get it checked.
SCNR: Sorry, could not resist.
Charitably, I suspect it's an inside joke?
Re: A Friend of Beethoven, Now Rediscovered in His Own Right
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ivan Ilic? I thought he was dead. (SCNR)
I received an email from him last Saturday so I highly doubt that. If that's your idea of having a sense of humor I suggest you get it checked.
probably just a joke referring to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Ivan_Ilyich