The Well Tempered Clavier

I recently obtained a 4CD set of "The Well Tempered Clavier" by J.S.Bach. It is performed by Glenn Gould and I have been totally immersed in those 48 Preludes and Fugues for the past few days. I admire the harmony and powerful themes of this music. It communicates something very complex yet very definite to the listener. Perhaps the inticate patterns of an oriental rug or tiles arranged in intricate patterns come to mind here. The overall effect is one of harmony and mystery, some themes becoming emphasized in the listener's mind.
It is difficult to listen to discs 1-4 in sequence, so I interpolated discs 1 and 2 of Brahms Klaviersonaten which had the agreeable effect of leaving one impressed by the power and virtuosity of both Brahms and Bach, yet reducing the sweet treacle effect of the Bach. The Brahms had a harmonious and definite sound to it, but was more flowery, romantic and indeterminate. Where patterns seem to rise up before one when listening to the Bach it seemed to me that there were strongly defined but rosier themes in the Brahms.
All of the composers I have discussed in these posts seem to me to have a clear definite touch to them. In some parts of the Bruckner symphony cycle I seem to detect a reaching out to the world. The music inspires in me a sense of the powerful forces that created nature itself. The Mozart is a flowing of musical etiquette. The Bruckner Symphonies reminded me most of the times I spent in Far North Queensland, where I was reaching out to the world all around me in a two man tent pitched on solid eath.

Listening to the Piano Sonatas

If there is one area of Mozart's output I find particularly fascinating it is that of his piano sonatas. With the exception of Sonatas 1-5 I find all of the piano sonatas compelling listening. These latter works form constantly refreshing and poignantly beautiful sound as they are played, their internal dramas form and reform in my mind. I think Mozart's mastery of the keyboard is one of the finest and I have no doubt he was of the virtuoso class as I hear them yet again. Where Bach's tremendous outpourings for the keyboard tend to ramble interminably, Mozart's compositions rivet the listener to every note and one pricks up one's ears in anticipation of his emphatic rhythms and charming melodies.
Sonatas 1-5 are also interesting works but tend to throw the listener into a more contemplative, reflective mood. If the mind is attempting to spring into action Sonatas 6-8 with their emphasis on the virtuoso keyboard come to the listening fore. Sonatas 9-12 are a core of beautiful but bright listening, the slower movements making for deeply poignant moods. Sonatas 13-14 including the Fantasia in C Minor are brilliantly dramatic works containing many deeply moving slow passages. Sonatas 15-17 including the Sonata in F Major once again show off Mozart's sense of subtle, moving charm.
In contrast, I found many of the Piano Variations much duller on the ear, but when Mozart commands attention, even at times in these, he does so completely. The Sonatas form a plateau of intense listening pleasure and they move the mind towards rationality, each note following the next with a mathematical precision. The Bach experience in "The Well Tempered Clavier" is quite a different one, with polyphonic effects being entirely absent from the Mozart works. You feel that Mozart's Sonatas were intended to directly engage a small but attentive audience, whereas the endless Fugues of Bach are for rambling around the keyboard mainly to amuse Bach himself. Mozart's themes have a definite beginning, a middle section and an end whereas after listening to many of Bach's Fugues the listener just remains hopelessly confused. I can see Mozart performing his sonatas in a drawing room setting-you tend to envisage Bach banging away merrily to himself in an attic somewhere, not absolutely certain where the music is going.
Some stretches along Bach's Immense keyboard highway can startle you with their intensity, even virtuosity, but I never return time and time again to listen there as I do with Mozart.

Making a Listening Commitment to Mozart.

Lately, I have been focussing on Mozart's Piano Sonatas and Variations. I have discovered that these piano works of Mozart tend to focus my thoughts far more than his piano Concertos, which, though very inspiring, tend to become too familiar. The sonatas tend to pick up my thoughts and concentrate them particularly well. It is difficult for me to listen to the entire piano sonatas in one listening session although I have achieved that once or twice.
I tend to listen to about four of those Daniel Barenboim CD's before turning to the softer tones of the singing and orchestra of the Operas. I turn most often to "Cosi fan Tutti" or "The Marriage of Figaro".These Operas are also useful for tuning up my thinking though without the harsh sound of the solo piano virtuoso increasingly getting on my nerves. The Operas,conducted by Barenboim, tend to quieten down the listening experience.
I also tend to listen to the ethereal beauty of the Variations contained in the Minuet in D, K355, The Fantasia in D Minor, K397, The Rondo in D, K485, The Adagio in B Minor, K540, and completed by the Eine Kleine Gigue in G, K574. These I have played by the Japanese Pianist Mitsuko Uchida.These variations also pick up and concentrate my thoughts.
I tend to think of Mozart's earliest Piano Sonatas, 1-5, K279, 280, 281, 282, and 283 as being of a slightly cooler flavour than his later ones which awe me with their intensity. Sonatas 1-5 tend to ramble considerably, far more the rest which I think have far more diversity and delineation.
The "Marriage of Figaro" cheers me up enormously, while the darker themes of "Don Giovanni" tend to tear at me. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau makes a compelling Count in "The Marriage of Figaro" but there is much gay and poignant beauty throughout these three Operas.

"The Marriage of Figaro" to the rescue.

I had little to do today but turn on my computer and listen to some of the music stored there. I had taken my mother on an outing from the private hospital she was recovering in yesterday. She had fallen down some stairs at her home and fractured some bones in her pelvis. Walking was still fairly painful for her and the nurse said that she had better use her wheelie-walker while she was out and not attempt to climb any stairs. At about 9.45am we got into a taxi and headed along Oxley road in search of a restaurant. She said she would like to go to the Coffee Club in Toowong. I knew this was likely to cost a bit of money as the distance from the private hospital at Oxley to Toowong was considerable.

But we arrived at last and she agreed to pay the driver with her credit card. (The fare was about $30.00). The Coffee Club was definitely open and in full swing-it was Easter Saturday-I could barely hear myself talk above the din of the talk of other diners and the television there. We ordered omelettes with spinach and mushrooms as well as some orange juice and a milkshake. At last the drinks and food arrived and we had our repast. This time the bill was around $40.00. I agreed to pay half.

Next, we went to Toowong Village-a shopping mall nearby. It was even noisier and more crowded there. My mother had trouble keeping pace with me as I attempted to make my way through the crowds. After fighting our way through to the toilets we returned to some chairs in an out of the way corner on the ground floor. She asked me to go off and buy some mandarins and apples. I did this and paid the balance of the bill with my own money, some $2 or so. She said she would like something to drink, so I bought her a 600ml carton of milk with straw. We sat for a while and talked. At length she said she would like to return to the hospital as she had some pain in her lower back.

So off we went with me leading the way through the dense crowds and in search of a taxi to take us back. She waited on the side of the kerb nearest the mall while I jumped into a cab on a nearby rank and told the driver to do a U-turn and pick mother up. This accomplished we set out for Canossa Private Hospital and on arrival there she once again paid with her credit card. The whole affair had cost us that much and as we regained her room on the fourth floor of the hospital the nurses were preparing her for a dose of the painkillers she was on. I stayed on for a few minutes and finally decided to leave. It was the first time I had ever been to that hospital and didn't know the area at all so I asked her if I could borrow some money for a taxi to Oxley train station. She handed me a $20 note and off I went, first catching a train into Central Station and then a bus out to New Farm.

On my return to my room in New Farm, I found three messages on my phone, all from my mother. The first two anticipated my arrival at the hospital that morning hoping that I would come quickly and get there soon. The third was a rebuke for the cost of the outing and my poor dress which she thought made me look like a "street urchin". She sounded very angry and upset. Oh, well, there's no point in arguing with any of that. Back to Mozart Sonatas and Beethoven Piano Concertos 3&4 and the Mozart Requiem K626. I think I also tossed in two of the three CD's of "The Marriage of Figaro". I needed something to get me going the next day.

A Rest from Work

Well I am just recovering from last week's work-out with Steppingstone, an organisation which helps people suffering from a psychiatric malady. I help out at the Cafe Unit where members can order drinks such as coffee and fruit juice as well as a few things to eat during the day. I serve behind the till taking orders for the different items. I try to do a bit of reading during a morning's work but find this very hard to do as the stream of customers is very steady. On Friday I just went on strike so to speak and got out David Pogue's book on the internet and read that all morning instead of doing my usual shift. Luckily, some other members were around to take the workload and the staff there that morning didn't seem to mind.
I find that I can read while listening to my music from an ipod and can pass a morning quite enjoyably reading computer books in this way. The mozart piano sonatas have a very incisive and trenchant sound to them which has a way of focussing my attention on the printed page. The Mozart piano style generally is one in which the playing is very orderly so reading while listening to mozart isn't much of a problem. This morning I spent a few hours listening to Mozart's piano concerto's. They are a very bright spot in my listening hours and raise my spirits considerably. The bright melodies prepare me for different tasks during my day. But I have lately become interested in the more mysterious tones of the Russian composers particularly the Prokofiev Piano Cocertos as well as the works of Stravinsky, and I will see whether I can acquire any of these from the Itunes Store.
The sound of Daniel Barenboim plaing the different Mozart piano Sonatas is one which I never tire of and the poignant slow movements are very restful and beautiful. Vladimir Ashkenazy's performance of the Mozart piano concertos is very professional but I can find my attention wandering while he plays them.

Life in Brisbane

As I returned to life in Brisbane, thoughts concerning Mozart came back to me and I found myself buying his music again. The music settled me down a lot and I suppose by this time I was listening to all of those piano sonatas and quite a few of the piano concertos. I still tuned in to rock and roll radio and even bought records of Johnny Mathis and Wayne Newton, American rock and roll giants whom I thought had interesting and exciting voices. But I was still playing a lot of classical music at the boarding houses I lived in at that time and the new Brisbane classical and Jazz F.M. radio station 4MBS had me as a steady listener. Over the years I have virtually ceased listening to rock and roll music, or even Jazz and now concentrate entirely on classical. My music library now mainly consists of Mozart's music plus some Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Prokofiev. I find that ABC-FM plays some interesting classical music, though I tend to enjoy the afternoon Programs where you can listen to long pieces more easily. Say, a complete symphony or piano concerto or chamber music work playing on the air for an hour or so.
The political climate in Queensland had now changed, but there were no restrictions on any of the classical music one could buy. In fact, at one time I had the opportunity to purchase the complete works of Mozart on CD for about $1000 or so I think, but I turned that down. One thing that depressed me a little was that in recent months at least there have been no specialist classical music stores selling a large variety of classical music CD's. Only small ranges of this type of music can now be found at different stores in Brisbane. I find that the classical music I play is at once dramatic, exciting, and comforting to me. I can easily spend an afternoon listening to it.
It is a haven from the clamour of big city life. I need to see people every day but yearn for the privacy of my room where I can listen to piano music uninterrupted for one or two hours at a time.

Joy in Cairns

While I was camping at Port Douglas I had only a $10 radio with me which I could use to tune in to the Cairns radio stations which played rock and roll. There may have been an ABC-FM station which played a little classical music too. The era was still the one of L.P.'s and vinyl discs and I had left all of my audio and hi-fi equipment in Canberra. I felt on top of the world as I roamed around in Tropical North Queensland, drinking in the beautiful scenery and the sparkling placid water. Finally, I boarded the train which would take me back to freezing old Canberra. I felt completely elated and in command of myself.
After a few days on the train with all the stopping and starting at the different stations, I finally boarded the Sydney-Canberra train. My mood was still triumphant and I resolved to stick to the three year contract I had with the Public Service and then resign and head off to North Queensland permanently. I consequently completed my term in the Public Service and at the end of three years of employment, resigned my post as an Examiner of Trade Marks and headed straight off back to Cairns. I didn't regret my decision for an instant, in any case I felt that I would get nowhere in the Public Service. I very much needed to break away from the world of desks and stressful work which bound me to them. I was going to become a dropout, but I couldn't take any more of the clerical life. My marriage plans had fallen through and I felt that there was little keeping me in Canberra now.
After my return to Cairns I spen 4-5 years roaming around that tropical wilderness, travelling past Cape York along to Weipa in a Prawn fishing trawler and visiting some of the rainforests there. The experience refreshed me enormously and once again, I felt as though I had the world at my feet. I had a little money on me as the Australian Government was paying me Unemployment benefit at the time. Gradually, though, I fely my thoughts returning homewards and I finally drove back to Brisbane in an old Valiant Sedan I had purchased for about $600 or so with my tax refund. At least after all those experiences I was sane, well and truly alive and physically well!