S2.E51. Perk-me-up music! Berlioz Le Corsaire, Broschi Sol qual nave ch'agitata, Grieg Holberg Suite.

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.

The music of Hector Bellioz, he of Symphonie Fantastique fame, came in for quite a lot of stick from a number of celebrated composers. In a letter to his mother, Felix Mendelssohn wrote, He makes me sad, because he is really a cultured, agreeable man, and yet composes so very badly. Well, opinions can vary, and largely thanks to the efforts of the conductor Colin Davis, who did more to understand and champion the man's music than anyone else, those opinions have improved substantially for the better. Whilst an overture is typically associated with the beginning of an opera or a ballet, there's a very great deal which have that title as a standalone piece. Although Baron's poem The Corsair did find its way to being adopted for a ballet, Berlioz had nothing to do with that. So his overture Le Corsair contains no particular narrative. In that respect, it fulfills very nicely another, on the face of it, uncharitable quip once made of his work. Berlioz says nothing in his music, but he says it magnificently. The London Symphony Orchestra is conducted here by Colin Davis. So had the misfortune to overlap with Johannes Sebastian Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi. And you'll never hear his name bracketed with those three simply because he was way outside their league. He didn't write much of any distinction, and his greatest claim to fame was having a very well-known brother. More about that later. But upon seeing the beloved beach, leaves the waves and the treacherous winds and goes to port to rest. I'm not entirely sure what all that's supposed to mean. It's clearly a metaphor for something, perhaps a sort of two fingers to something or someone. But the music is an out-out showpiece. Nothing more to demonstrate the versatility of the human voice. You won't hear many more magnificent manifestations of melisma than this melisma being the word to describe the singing of multiple notes on the same syllable. At nearly nine minutes, it becomes even more fiendish for the soloist. So when I found this, I immediately thought that'll do very nicely. But as a demonstration of what a human voice is capable of, you can't deny its brilliance. I mentioned earlier that Ricardo had a more famous brother, whose name was Carlo. Better known, however, as Farinelli, the greatest castrato who ever lived. That piece was written specifically for him, to show off his extraordinary skills. Which is why I was so pleased to find the recording we've just listened to, because it was sung not by a woman, but by the counter-tenor Niccolo Balducci, accompanied by the Baroque Academy of the Gottenbird Symphony, conducted by Dan Lauren. If you really pick it up that it was not sung by a soprano, I'm tempted to say I don't believe you. But hats off if you did. Grieg's birthday was on the 15th of June. So it's a good excuse to mark it with one of his most famous works. The Holberg Suite gets his name from the man in whose honour it was written, Ludwig Holberg, who probably wouldn't have been the most popular boy in his school for being the But it wasn't wasted since it would lead him to being acclaimed as the founder of Danish Norwegian literature. And Grieg's piece, written in 1884, was to mark the 200th anniversary of Holberg's death. So in playing it today is doubly appropriate. It's in five parts. And all too often we only get to listen to them in isolation. That's a pity, because each movement sounds even better when alongside the others. And it doesn't come much more authentic than this. The camerata Nordica gives the work a lively momentum. It's not hard to imagine the fun they're having playing this with some really lush string playing in the quieter places without ever being laboured. This is not a bad way to perk things up. Stay tuned when it's finished. I've got a little message to give you before we go. It actually says contact us. But there's only one of us, and that's me. So if you ever feel like getting in touch on perfectpitchpod.com, wherever you are, please do. I will do my utmost to get back to you. But I would love to hear from you anyway. I don't think there's any need for Nicola to sign off this week, so I shall bid you farewell until next time. If you feel like reading the podcast on your choice of platform, ideally with a comment, please do. It really does make a difference.