S2.E26. Delicate ears beware - this is LOUD! Bach Christmas Cantata Chorus; Brahms Hungarian Rhapsodies 1, 6; Liszt Piano Concerto 1 in full; Saint Saens Organ Symphony finale.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome back to Perfect Pitch with Nick Healy Hutchinson and his fresh approach to the world of classical music. Whether you're an expert or a beginner, old or young. Perfect Pitch has something for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

The season of Advent meant that Johann Sebastian Bach found himself to be rather busier than normal. His Christmas oratorio is frequently featured at this time of year. But less so some of his Christmas cantatas. The first of these Christian etzen Diesentar Christian's Engraved Day doesn't actually have anything in the text directly related to the Christmas story. But the opening chorus with trumpets and timpani has an overtly festive feel about it. Here is that chorus performed by the Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir conducted by Carl Richter. But there are plenty of his twenty-one Hungarian rhapsodies, written for four hands on the piano in 1879, which bring out his real nature. Many of them were orchestrated later, some by Brahms himself, and many of the others by a wide variety of people you will have heard of, such as Vorjak and some by people none of us have, like Schmeling. Here are numbers one and six. Both are played by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the first conducted by Simon Rattle. It's under four minutes. But even in that brief time, you can hear how this orchestra brings out real colour and variety in its sound. Number six is conducted by one of Rattle's predecessors, Herbert Oncarrier. Liszt was to the piano as Paganini was to the violin. In fact, it was after seeing Paganini perform that Liszt resolved to be his equal on the piano. Most people now regard him as being one of the most skilled and virtuoso pianists who ever lived. Reading through his contact list is to see that he knew absolutely everybody in the music world at the time. From Haydn to Wagner. His artistry, the keyboard, was in such demand. He was able to make enough money by the age of 35 to put his live performances to one side. If the internet had been around in his day, he's the kind of guy who would sell out within hours of his tickets going online. Adulation at these performances is an understatement. He would spend most of the rest of his life composing and teaching. Having started as a teacher and used to make a living, he was now in a position of not having a charge at all, as well as being able to make considerable charitable donations. By all accounts, he was a thoroughly decent man, and one person even referred to him as the Good Samaritan. If he knew that, it certainly didn't stop him from having two affairs with married women, fathering three children with one of them. Ultimately, he preferred a quieter life and got himself ordained. His first piano concerto has four movements in it. But is played almost without pause. This is a piece which combines menace sensitivity and jocularity, all of which must have had instant appeal to a young Martha Agaritch in this performance with a London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abado. Liszt's greatest admirers was Camille Sanson, so much so that he dedicated his organ symphony to him. Your ears have taken a bit of a pounding today, and I'm afraid they're not going to get any respite with this, because we're going to finish with a finale to that wonderful symphony. The theme is so well known that it barely needs comment. But there's just a couple of things worth mentioning. It actually has its roots in the early 13th century from a Gregorian chant, the music being set to the words of the Dias Ire, which feature in later Requiem Massive. It might seem odd to be referring to the Day of Judgment, but its placing in the liturgical calendar is a week before Christmas, suggesting there is some anticipation of what's to come. Here's a very brief snippet of the inspiration some six hundred years previously. In the same way that Beethoven opens his fifth symphony in the key of C minor and concludes it in a blaze of light in C major. Just imagine what it must be like to the organist sitting there and having to wait the best part of half an hour before you can really let go. So many things to check before landing your hands and feet on the road. The final movement of the symphony is played here by the National Radio Television Orchestra of France, conducted by Jean Martinot, with Marie Claire Alain on the organ.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Nick will be back again soon. Please rate and comment on any of the previous episodes, and if you like what you hear, take a moment to press the follow button, as it helps to spread the word.