S2.E65.Happy New Year with Weber, Bellini, and Tchaikovsky.

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This episode of Perfect Pitch is generously supported by the original Manuscript Society. Imagine for a moment that it's 1791, and you're in the very room where Mozart is composing his last great masterpiece, the Requiem Mass. And imagining it is really the best thing we can do. But we can make that image more vivid by being able to see the original manuscript with Mozart's own jottings and those of his student Franz Usmaer, who completed it. And this is where the original Manuscript Society steps in, enabling people all over the world to see and view these amazing manuscripts. Go to their website, original manuscriptsociety.com, where you can find more details.

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Let's open the new year with an overture. We've listened to two of Carl Maria von Weber's overtures in the past, Der Freischutz and Oriante. So today it's the turn of Oberon. Just like the other two, this never gets performed these days beyond a concert performance, despite its huge success when premiered in London in 1826. Faber's music dances and sings. It's full of charm and joy, and it just makes you feel good. I love the pacing of this live performance by the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the extra little burst in the brass towards the end. These are the little touches you get when Simeon Bitchkoff is on the podium. Set in Roman-occupied Gaul around 100 BC. Norma is a high priestess who's been a little careless with her vow of chastity. Because she has had two children with her former lover Pollione, and they weren't twins, so she slipped up twice, and he has since fallen for a younger maiden, Adelesa. It's complicated by the fact that both women are on opposing sides. Norma Rome, Adelesa Gaul. Needless to say, this was never going to end well. Norma fesses up and is sentenced to death, but Pollione jumps into the flames, so it's a bit of a lose-lose for everyone. The two women, however, are reconciled when Adelesa says that she won't marry Pollione and take Norma's children and declare their friendship for each other with growing urgency in this exquisite duet, Mira o Norma, which doesn't get much of an airing thanks to the popularity of Castadiva. But the mingling of two of the most gorgeous voices of the last century, Renata Scotto and Mirella Freni, make this a duet to Saver. It's just a beautiful, beautiful scene. It's unusual for having a theme which features throughout the symphony in each of the four movements, culminating in a triumphant march at the end. The second movement is marked and which means at a strolling pace in a song-like manner. But with further guidance con alcuna licenza, which loosely means don't even think of taking any liberties with that. Tchaikovsky is meticulous with his instructions in the manuscript, and is not stating anything controversial to say that these instructions are not always observed. At the risk of sounding frivolous, any old pro can play the notes. But it takes something altogether different to give them the real intonation which this melody demands. If you close your eyes and really listen to the playing, and then its dialogue with a clarinet and oboe, you will notice the extraordinary expression which can be conveyed by a top-rank player. The romantic, with a capital R period in music, covered the decades between 1830 and about 1900, and stood for a time of considerably more expressive and emotional music. So much of all that can be summed up in this movement of the symphony. It's the sound of yearning, pleading, desire, desperation, nostalgia on the one hand, and longing on the other. I wonder what will come to mind when you listen to it. Lawrence Wutenberg is the horn player with a Royal Conservativa Orchestra conducted by Maris Jansen.

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That's it for this week. 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.