S2.E32. High Spirits and Charm - Bach E ma Violin Concerto, Gounod Jewel Song, 2 Mendelssohn Songs without Words, Schumann Spring Symphony.

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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.

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Forgive the oxymoron, but in the end, everything has to start with Bach. Beethoven described him as the immortal god of harmony. And yet you'll still find people who find his music excessively mathematical or even dull. Maybe you're one of them. There are endless examples to refute that. But whenever I overhear somebody brave enough to voice up an opinion, my easy go-to response is When was the last time you listened to an emate a violin concerto? The concerto, in the traditional three-movement format, was written in about 1737. And the first movement, which we're going to listen to now, is brimming with joy and high spirits. Despite giving her this profession and making her Italian as well, she's only ever heard singing the jewel song from the most popular French opera of the day by Charles Guno. The purist dismissed this work as sentimental, but only on the grounds that it's got lots of catchy tunes in it. The opera itself focuses more on the relationship between Farse and Marguerite, rather than sticking too closely to Goethe's text and not having any of his attention until he presents her with a box of jewels, at which point she's misturating one over. The jewel song, which is Bianca Castafiore's one and only showpiece, is quite deliberately ironic. And what's more he said, it makes me laugh. So he gives this aging prima donna an aria in which he marvels at how wonderful she looks. Ah, I love to see myself so beautiful in this mirror. The French and Bruno in particular were adept at giving their arias a dance-like rhythm, and it's easy enough to hear it here. He also throws in some testing high notes with a good measure, making this a proper and quite thrilling showpiece. And they are notes which are pierced with laser-like precision by one of the great primaus of all, Ariakellas. Songs without words. But they have an undeniable charm. So let's listen to two of them now. The first one, Opus Thirty, number one, is played by Leon McCauley, and the second one is Opus 19 number one, played by Andras Schiff. I think we have to stay in the romantic period to conclude today. Like his good friend Brahms, Schumann wrote four symphonies. But unlike Brahms, who spent a time for fourteen years toiling over his first symphony, Schumann knocked out the draft of his first symphony in just four days. It's a fresh, exuberant, unlike the other. The final movement is played here by the Berlin Philharmonic Auto conducted by Raphael Kubek.

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Nick will be back again soon.