TDCM: December 30th - Ernest Bloch

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)

Bio

Swiss-born to Jewish parents, Bloch moved around Europe studying composition before moving across the Atlantic and eventually naturalizing into the United States and settling in Oregon. Studied in Brussels, at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, in Paris, in Geneva, and eventually held several posts in various American Conservatories including San Francisco, Cleveland, the Mannes School, and the Music Academy of the West. At the end of his life was named a Professor Emeritus at Berkley. 

Music

America, an Epic Rhapsody

Helvetia

Piano Quintet No. 1

String Quartet No. 1

Symphony in C-sharp minor

Symphonie Israël

Violin Concerto

Suites for Solo Cello Nos. 1, 2, & 3

TDCM: December 29th - Marc Blitzstein

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964)

Bio

A child prodigy whose first composition was produced at age seven, Blitzstein attended Philadelphia University before studying with Boulanger in Paris and Schoenberg in Berlin. Primarily a stage composer, Blitzstein was also an outspoken music critic and political activist. He was summoned to the HUAC trials and admitted membership in the Communist Party but was released without public testimony. He was murdered in Martinique at the age of 58.

Music

String Quartet Italian

Piano Sonata

Piano percussion music

Serenade for String Quartet

Scherzo Bourgeois at Play

The Airborne Symphony (playlist)

TDCM: December 28th - Sir Arthur Bliss

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975)

Bio

Sir Bliss was born in London, studied at Pembroke and the Royal College under greats such as Stanford, Vaughan-Williams, and Holst. Fought in the 1st World War, was at the Somme & Cambrai, and was wounded in combat. Traveled to America several times and worked as the Overseas Musical Director for the BBC. Was knighted and succeeded Sir Arnold Bax as the Master of the Queen's Musick. Received a litany of honors and awards including honorary MusD degrees from Edinborough, London, Cambridge, and Bristol Universities.

Music

A Colour Symphony

Checkmate

Sonata for Viola and Piano

Meditations on a Theme of John Blow

Things To Come (arr. by Palmer)

Metaphoric Variations

Cello Concerto

Piano Concerto in B-flat major

Music for Strings

TDCM: December 17th - David Blake

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

David Blake (b. 1936)

Bio

Blake was born in London and served in Hong Kong before returning to England to study music at Gonville and Caius College. He received the Mendelssohn Scholarship and studied in East Berlin at the GDR Akademie de Künste. He returned to England and was awarded the Granada Arts Fellowship joined Willfried Mellers and Peter Aston as the founding members of the York University Department of Music. He taught there for 25 years and is currently a member of their board. 

Music

Variations for Piano

Violin Concerto: I. Lento molto, notturnale - Allegro deciso

Violin Concerto: II. Presto - Notturnale

In Praise of Krishna (Playlist)

Icarus

Cannot find any remaining music of his on YouTube. He has composed several chamber works, solo works, and choral pieces.

TDCM: December 15th - Boris Blacher

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Boris Blacher (1903-1975)

Bio

A German national born in a Russian-speaking town in Manchuria, Blacher eventually traveled to Berlin to study architecture and mathematics. He was the director of composition at Dresden but was fired and briefly accused of writing "degenerate music" by the Nazis. He returned to Berlin after the War and held posts at the Berlin Hochschule. He traveled to the US and around the world lecturing and composing. He had many famous pupils some of whom no doubt will be in the dictionary.

Music

Symphonie

Streichquartette

Cello Concerto

Poeme für grosses Orchestra

Dance Scenes La Vie

Violinkonzert

Piano Concerto No. 2

TDCM: December 13th - Georges Bizet

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Bio

Born to musicians, Bizet studied at the Paris Conservatory under Gounod and Halévy. He married the latter's daughter and taught piano in Paris while composing. Made waves as a teenager and then solidified his status as a master composer in his thirties.    

Music

Symphony in C

Symphony No. 2 Roma

Carmen Suites 1 & 2

L'Arlésienne Suite No. 1 & 2

Carmen

Overture in A

Petite Suite Jeux d'enfants

TDCM: December 10th - Sir Harrison Birtwistle

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Sir Harrison Birtwistle (b. 1934)

Bio

The second living member of the dictionary thus far, Harrison Birtwistle studied at Royal Manchester College of Music and was the Director of Music at Cranborne Chase School. He then studied further at Princeton. He was the musical director at the Royal National Theater, was knighted, and was the Henry Purcell Professor of Composition at King's College. He is a Companion of Honor and has received a number of awards included the Grawemeyer Award and Ernst von Siemens Prize.    

Music

Harrison's Clocks

An imaginary landscape

Tragoedia

Nomos

Notes from the End of a Garden

The Mask of Orpheus

The Triumph of Time

...AGM...

Earth Dances

Melancolia I

Theseus Game

TDCM: December 9th - Franz Berwald

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Franz Berwald (1796-1868)

Bio

A lost Swede composer, Berwald ran an Orthopaedic center in Vienna for several years but closed it in 1841. Had no formal training but was taught violin by his father and published his compositions in a journal he created, the Musikalisk journal. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm but in general, his musical career was a failure during his life.    

Music

Symphony No. 3 Sinfone singulière

Symphony No. 2 Sinfonie capricieuse

Piano Concerto in D-Major

Symphony No. 1 Sinfonie sérieuse

Five Tone Poems for Orchestra

Symphony No. 4 Sinfonie naïve

String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor

TDCM: December 8th - Leonard Bernstein

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

Bio

Leonard Bernstein was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard in 1939. He studied at the Curtis Institute and then the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. He was Koussevitsky's assistant and then Rodzinski's with the New York Symphony Orchestra. He eventually took over and in 1969 was named the Laureate Conductor for Life by the NYSO. He won 11 Emmys, a Tony, 17 Grammys, the Lifetime Achievement Grammy, and the Kennedy Center Honor. In many ways, he is the epitome of the celebrity conductor.   

Music

Symphony No. 2 The Age of Anxiety

Symphony No. 1 Jeremiah

Symphony No. 3 Kaddish

Dybbuk

Candide Overture

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Mass

Sonata for Clarinet and Piano

TDCM: December 7th - Lord Berners

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Lord Berners (1883-1950)

Bio

The 14th Baron Berners, Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson was an English socialite and notorious eccentric. He was an accomplished writer, publishing several novels and four autobiographies. He attended Eton and composed avant-garde music with noted influences from Stravinsky (who he met), Casella, and others. He served in the diplomatic service and was stationed in Constantinople and Rome. 

Music

Caprice Peruvien

Les Sirenes

Triumph of Neptune Suite

A Wedding Bouquet

Luna Park: The Four Niches

Trois Morceaux

Fantasie Espagnole

Fugue in C Minor

TDCM: December 6th - Hector Berlioz

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

Bio

The son of a doctor, Berlioz went to Paris to study medicine but did not enjoy it. He instead attended the Paris Conservatory and was a master guitarist and flutist. He entered the Grand Prix de Rome several times and finally won on his fifth attempt. He made his money as a critic and traveling conductor. France did not accept his music during his lifetime and he died in isolation. 

Music

Symphonie Fantastique

L'Enfance du Christ

Requiem

Harold en Italie

TDCM: December 3rd - Michael Berkeley

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Michael Berkeley (b. 1948)

Bio

Lord Berkeley is Sir Lennox Berkeley's oldest child. He attended Westminster Cathedral Choir School and studied under his father, Richard Rodney Bennett, and Benjamin Britten. He is a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of East Anglia. He is also a life peer and has received some notoriety for his pro-Children legislation. 

Music

Winter Fragments

Into the Ravine

Concerto for Orchestra

Gethsemane Fragment

Concerto for Cello and Small Orchestra

Funerals and Fandango

TDCM: December 1st - Sir Lennox Berkley

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Sir Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989)

Bio

Berkeley was born near Oxford and studied at Merton College. He met Ravel and went to Paris, studying there with Nadia Boulanger. He was friends with Poulenc, Stravinsky, Milhaud, Honegger, and Roussel among other notables. He worked for the BBC, was the President of the Performing Rights Society, was awarded CBE, and knighted. He had an immense influence on a generation of composers included men we've listened to already such as Richard Rodney Bennett and David Bedford. He earned a litany of honors and awards including the Collard Fellowship, the Cobbett Medal, the Ordre de Merite Cultural from Monaco, the Composer of the Year from the Composers' Guild, and the Papal Knighthood of St Gregory. He was also the President of the Cheltenham Festival and a member of the Royal Academy in Belgium.    

Music

Symphony No. 2

Symphony No. 4

Sinfonia Concertante Op. 84

Trio, Op. 44

Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, Op. 88

Symphony No. 3

Serenade for String Orchestra Op. 12

Divertimento

Sonatina for Guitar

String Quartet No. 1