One of my favorite works is Richard Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie. It think it is a perfectly symmetrical composition - with the majestic climax occurring in the middle of the piece. The first half, of course, opens with a stupendous sunrise, and continues to follow the climber (climbers?) up the mountain - through woods, along streams, across waterfalls, alpine meadows - until the summit is reached. Then, after some introspection about the insignificance of man in such a scene of nature, we are treated to the view from the apex, delivered by the battery of horns and the huge orchestral forces. This part never fails to take my breath away. We now go on the descent, with the music taking us down the hill, and the piece slowly fades away into the "night sounds" and all is still. As I mentioned, the work itself takes the shape of the mountain it describes.
But this is to digress - my topic stems from the cataclysmic storm through which we struggle after leaving the summit - a sort of balancing section on the back side to the flurry of activity on the earlier, upside, of the work. At any rate, this musical depiction of a rainstorm - thunder, lightning, what-have-you - is the most powerful I know.
There are storms in Beethoven's Sixth, in Rossini's William Tell Overture, in Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite, etc. Strauss' appears to me to out-power them all by a long shot.
So - question - are there other examples of storms depicted in music which should be heard? And, particularly, any by the unsungs?
I always think the opening storm sequence in Act 1 of Die Walküre is pretty spectacular. The opening of Act 1 of Verdi's Otello is also pretty terrific...
BTW if you like Strauss' Alpine Symphony, you really should try Langgaard's Symphony No.1!! Try the audio samples here...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Langgaard-Symphony-No-Fra-Dybet/dp/B001MV4P1G/ref=sr_1_1_digr?ie=UTF8&qid=1326571407&sr=8-1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Langgaard-Symphony-No-Fra-Dybet/dp/B001MV4P1G/ref=sr_1_1_digr?ie=UTF8&qid=1326571407&sr=8-1)
As Alan reminds us, lots and lots of good storms in the opera house!
That in Janacek's Katya Kabanova I always find especially chilling. And of course Peter Grimes.
A very striking example is the 2nd movement, Lento assai, of Rubinstein's Ocean Symphony. After some 4:30 minutes a storm is rising and reaches after a few minutes a climax, weakens, but a second climax occurs and then, after 12 minutes, it all turns to a very serene ending.
No exactly a storm, but Hekla by Jón Leifs is a fantastic depiction of a volcano erupting.
...and so is Symphony #50 'Mount St Helens', 3rd Movement, by Alan Hovhaness for that matter.
What about Novak's electrifying cantata "The Storm", a work which has one of the most thrilling openings in all music?
How 'bout Arthur Benjamin's Cantata "Storm Clouds" featured in the film The Man Who Knew Too Much"? I waited years for a recording of that work.
Jerry
I nervously mention the once "famous" Storm Rondo from the piano concerto No.3 by Steibelt, which was also published as a solo work and probably played in every salon in Europe at one time.
I have an ancient original that I have lovingly digitalised if anyone wants to have a bash:
https://rapidshare.com/files/274651075/Steibelt_-_L_Orage_precede_d_un_Rondeau_Pastoral.pdf (https://rapidshare.com/files/274651075/Steibelt_-_L_Orage_precede_d_un_Rondeau_Pastoral.pdf)
I used to have this in my repetoire and would have thought under a good set of fingers this could be rather amusing.
Thal
Novak's 'The Storm' is a masterpiece. The opening of Dag Wiren's impressive 4th Symphony features an approaching storm sequence. Also, Sibelius's 'Tapiola' the last movement of Moeran's 'Symphony'. 'The Tempest' by Sibelius and Rosenberg. Tubin Symphony No 2 is very 'storm like' in places. Debussy's 'La Mer'. Britten's 'Sea Interludes' I'm sure there are many others too.
Hummel's Concert Fantasy L'enchantement d'Oberon for piano and orchestra on themes of Weber contains a concertante depiction of a storm.
Sibelius "Tempest" prelude...... a brilliant evocation :)
Anything but unsung, but the Storm interlude in 'Peter Grimes' is wonderfully close and dramatic, especially ending with the slamming door in the pub. Sullivan made a couple of contributions: the ballet "L'ile Enchantee", the Prelude to "The Golden Legend" and Act II of "Haddon Hall". Walton's "Troilus and Cressida" has one too. Havergal Brian once said that after listening to Vaughan Williams' Piano Concerto it felt like surviving a storm, though I don't know if that was the composer's intention
Quote from: kolaboy on Saturday 14 January 2012, 23:53
Sibelius "Tempest" prelude...... a brilliant evocation :)
And of course there a "The Storm" movement in the incicental music proper.
The last act of Bellini's I Puritani begins with a nifty little storm. On the Sills recording there are actual thunder crashes added that never fail to get a rise out of the cats :) !
David
DANNA - The Ice Storm (film score)
FUCIK - Winter Storm
GUNNING - Storm!
HORNER - The Perfect Storm; Brainstorm (film scores)
HOVHANESS - Storm on Mount Wildcat, Op.2, No.2
SKULTE - Negaiss Pavasarī (A Thunderstorm in Spring) – ballet (1967)
SVIRIDOV - Snow Storm
That's my lot! :)
Has anyone mentioned the storm movement of Bridge's "The Sea"? And John Adams' "Nixon in China" has a tropical storm
John Adams "Nixon in China" - Tropical Storm is electrifying.
Berlioz - Royal Hunt and Storm scene in Les Troyens
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.17 "Der Sturm"
Mahler - Symphony 5 - movt II "Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz" (so much better than the overplayed Adagio....!)
Tchaikovsky - The Storm overture
Tchaikovksy - The Tempest overture
Shostakovich - Snow Storm music in his soundtrack for "Alone"
Lyapunov - Etude No.6 - Storm, from 12 Etudes d'Execution Trancendante, Op.11
Tormis, Veljo (1930-) - Snowstorm from Ocean
Gliere - Beginning of the Storm from Bronze Horseman suite
and for those into film music, there's an amazing storm in Omen III: The Final Conflict, music by Jerry Goldsmith (scene called "Electric Storm"
I agree about Sibelius' Tapiola - has to contain one of the rawest, bleakest storms in all music. Absolutely terrifying.
Rossini: Final movement of "Sonata a quattro" n.6
Barber of Seville (a very lightweight temporal, more than a tempest)
Verdi : Rigoletto (last act)
Vivaldi : Four seasons, Summer (Finale)
Concerto "La tempesta di mare"
J.Strauss jr. "Unter donner und blitz" (of course very far from the starting point of R.Strauss)
Honegger. Prelude pour la Tempete
Perhaps d'Indy in Jour d'etè a la montaigne
Adès The tempest
Martin The tempest
Isn't any storm or tempest in Bax (maybe in November Woods)?
An earthquake ends Haydn Last Seven Words of Christ
"Storm" is titled the finale of Paul Gilson Symphony "The sea"
Thanks, one and all for providing so many possibilities for a stormy Sunday here on an unusually-cold (for this so far rather mild winter) but bright and sunny day in the northeast USA. I have many of the pieces mentioned and will fill up some of the hours listening.
And, PS to Alan - I know and very much like the Langgaard Symphony No.1! Thank you for reminding me about it.
Raff's Orchestral Prelude to The Tempest, although I must admit that the storm at the start is a bit perfunctory.
How about Liszt's Orage from the Annees de Pelerinage? Great stuff, especially played by Cziffra.
Lemmen's "Grand Fantasia in E Minor - The Storm" for organ - here's a youtube link to a 1927 recording by Harry Goss-Custard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaCaUMm4OyA).
I'm glad someone mentioned Rossini. I suppose he's more properly a Classical composer, than Romantic, but since it seems almost nothing is talked about lately but 20th century non-Romantics, maybe cheating a little in the other direction is okay!
I just was listening to my all-time favourite non-Mozart opera, La Cenerentola, today, and in the second act, the little "flash storm" thing is superb. He also had the infamous stormy music from Guillaume Tell, which I suppose in most circles would technically be considered in the early Romantic era (1828). Rossini is often derisively seen as almost nothing but musical happiness, but I don't think anyone ever did musical storm depictions better. (I probably consider him the most under-rated "sung" composer.)
There's a great snowstorm in the Suite from Prokofiev's opera 'War and Peace'.
Most under-rated sung composer (apologies for...) I would give to either Dvorak or Haydn... ! :)
I love Sviridov's Snow Storm, but only the first and last movements are particularly stormy ;D
Has anybody mentioned the opening of Verdi's Othello, yet?
Glazunov's The Sea certainly has a good sea storm going for it. The finale of Scheherazade has a nice little storm. Symphonie Fantastique hints at a far off storm in the 3rd movement. But the storm of all storms has to be the last movement of Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite -- especially as Cincinnati recorded it on Telarc with real thunder. I live in Arizona (the Grand Canyon State) and this is the centennial year of Arizona becoming a state. So, in the next two months I have to play contrabassoon in that suite in three separate concerts! That storm really gets on my nerves.
The second movement of Kurt Atterberg's Symphony No.3 is entitled "Storm". It is about a storm at sea and when you listen to this 11:00 minute movement you can feel the waves swaying the boat back and forth. The movement begins quietly and then the storm approaches and reaches a full climax and then dies away leaving a peaceful calm.
All nine of Atterberg's symphonies are well-constructed and lyrical. His Piano Concerto is ultra romantic. There are at least two CD labels that recorded his complete symphonies.
Quote from: Jimfin on Sunday 15 January 2012, 00:26Sullivan made a couple of contributions: the ballet "L'ile Enchantee", the Prelude to "The Golden Legend" and Act II of "Haddon Hall".
Sullivan began his public career with a storm - Incidental Music to
The Tempest (1861-62). His Shakespeare scores (later incidental music to
The Merchant of Venice, 1871,
The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1874,
Henry VIII, 1877 and
Macbeth, 1888) contain some absolutely superb music:
The Tempest was the first triumph of Sullivan's career when played at the Crystal Palace in 1862 following his return from Leipzig.
The Suite from
The Tempest has been recorded three times: CBSO/ Vivian Dunn (EMI, 1972), BBC PO/ Richard Hickox (Chandos, 2000) and Kansas City SO/ Michael Stern (Reference, 2008) - all excellent versions which bring out the power of Sullivan's invention.
There are still the "Sturmisch bewegt" sections in Mahler First Symphony finale.
Oh, looking forward to hearing that "Tempest", Albion! I've only got an old tape of an amateur recording of much of it, plus of course the Hickox suite. Sullivan's incidental music never fails!
Quote from: Jimfin on Monday 16 January 2012, 12:31Oh, looking forward to hearing that "Tempest", Albion!
Sorry Jim,
semloh has tracked down a CD release of Adler's recording - http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/sullinst-adler.htm (http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/sullinst-adler.htm) - so I have withdrawn my copy.
The performance is well worth hearing for the additional vocal items.
:)
There was a broadcast on 30 January 1978 by the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra under Marcus Dods of some of the Sullivan Tempest music (including the songs 'Come unto these Yellow Sands' and 'When the Bee Sucks' sung by Irene Sandford). I presume this was never commercially released and so if anyone has it... I'll duplicate this post on the 'requests' board!
Oh yes please!
I am pretty sure that I have this performance on tape :)
How good the recording is I cannot yet determine since the tape it is on snapped during rewind a few minutes ago and will have to be patched ::)
I shall digitise the recording and send it to Albion :)
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 16 January 2012, 19:52
I am pretty sure that I have this performance on tape :)
How good the recording is I cannot yet determine since the tape it is on snapped during rewind a few minutes ago and will have to be patched ::)
I shall digitise the recording and send it to Albion :)
Colin, you're worth your weight in cocky's feathers! ;D
Are cocky's feathers the same as GOLD?, then I concur.
Quote from: Arbuckle on Monday 16 January 2012, 21:52
Are cocky's feathers the same as GOLD?, then I concur.
Yes, they are! ;)
Aahh :(
The recording I have is the Vivian Dunn/City of Birminghjam SO performance. This has never been transferred to cd so if there is any interest in it then I can certainly upload the performance now that I have digitised it ???
I think nobody has mentioned so far the tempest in the opening scene of Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride. Amazing piece, considering that it was composed in 1778-9.
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 16 January 2012, 22:36
Aahh :(
The recording I have is the Vivian Dunn/City of Birminghjam SO performance. This has never been transferred to cd so if there is any interest in it then I can certainly upload the performance now that I have digitised it ???
I would be very interested and I'd bet I'm not alone! Thank you. :)
Ok.
Links to Sullivan's Incidental Music to "The Tempest" and also Overture "In Memoriam" sent to Albion. Should be available soon.
Sorry the performance is the Dunn rather than the Marcus Dods :( I suppose this reduces my weight and value ??? ;D
Dundonnell, your weight and value are inestimably high: the joy your uploads have given me in the last few weeks I can scarcely express.
Ooohh....Thanks, Jim :-[ ;D
As I have said before ::) the really important thing is to get the all this music living and breathing again by having it on this site for others to hear and keep if they so wish. I read only last night a post I made on another site three years ago where I referred wistfully to having certain British symphonies on old and "unplayable" tapes. Well...the "unplayable" proved to be untrue :) :) :)
Quote from: Lionel Harrsion on Tuesday 17 January 2012, 10:24
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 16 January 2012, 22:36
Aahh :(
The recording I have is the Vivian Dunn/City of Birminghjam SO performance. This has never been transferred to cd so if there is any interest in it then I can certainly upload the performance now that I have digitised it ???
I would be very interested and I'd bet I'm not alone! Thank you. :)
"Links to Sullivan's Incidental Music to "The Tempest" and also Overture "In Memoriam" sent to Albion. Should be available soon."
No :( :( That promise too will have to be withdrawn. Apparently the Dunn performances have been issued on cd.
Profuse Apologies :-[ :-[
Yes, Dunn's performances (Suites from The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice together with the Overture In Memoriam) have been repeatedly coupled on CD with the Malcolm Sargent comic opera recordings (EMI) and still are.
How about "Cloudburst" from Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite; and "Sand Storm" from his Death Valley Suite.
The major portion of Henry Hadley's tone poem The Ocean is given to depiction of a storm, and a great rattling one it is. Delius early opera The Magic Fountain features a storm in the opening, but it is rather mild by comparison with others.
Philip Sainton's tone poem The Island is a gorgeous work with a central storm section. Remarkable music.
Quote from: minacciosa on Thursday 17 May 2012, 16:57
Philip Sainton's tone poem The Island is a gorgeous work with a central storm section. Remarkable music.
... which reminds me of the first movement, "Shipwreck", from Ernst Bacon's
The Enchanted Island (1954), based on Shakespeare's
Tempest.
Mostly 'unsung' apart from Cavalleria rusticana, this Interludio orchestrale between the last two scenes of the third act of Mascagni's (1863-1945) Nerone is in fact a raging storm for which he also wrote a text!
As far as I know this orchestral piece is not available separately and is only to be heard on the Bongiovani recording of the complete opera: GB 2052/53-2. That sure is a pity!
Jean-Féry Rebel's Chaos movement from The Elements / Les Elemens provides a storm at the start of creation. His 4 Seasons has a more conventional summer storm.
I also tripped over a YouTube playlist of 17-18th century musical storms: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA68368CB94C303E6 (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA68368CB94C303E6) with many examples by Rameau, Boyce, Linley, Telemann - a mix of sung and unsung. Apologies if their era is musically inappropriate for this forum.
I have just bought a whole Storm Symphony, number 7 by the Dane Paul von Klenau. It's on dacapo 8.224183 and the cd also includes the lovely orchestral song cycle for contralto and orchestra Gespräche mit dem Tod.
Having heard this and the other dacapo cd of the 1st and 5th symphonie I cannot understand why von Klenau is so "unsung". Despite tendencies towards his own form of twelve-tone composition, he really is a full-bloodied late romantic. Give him a go!
Klenau may be best known as the target of criticism in a brief article-let that turned up in Schoenberg's collection of essays "Style and Idea" (see also this (http://www.schoenberg.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=964%3Avr01&Itemid=716&lang=de). And I like Schoenberg's music but his criticism was perhaps rather unfair even then... though both composers were in unusual circumstances, to put it mildly, I suspect.)
Fortunately, dacapo has begun to do a bit to broadcast Klenau's works in various genres (symphonic, chamber, I think operatic also) and from what little I know of his music I hope they will continue to do so.
So far I didn't see Johan Wagenaar mentioned, if I'm right. There is a Storm chorus in part II of the comic cantata The Shipwreck (1889) and he used storm instruments as well.
I remembered having this lp after all the heavy weather you offered. The lp is from a very obscure (at least to me) Dutch label. If not on cd I'll post this
Elroel
There is a storm in Havergal Brian's Symphony No. 10, with wind and thunder machines doing their bit...
Quote from: BerlinExpat on Friday 29 June 2012, 08:06
I have just bought a whole Storm Symphony, number 7 by the Dane Paul von Klenau. It's on dacapo 8.224183 and the cd also includes the lovely orchestral song cycle for contralto and orchestra Gespräche mit dem Tod.
Having heard this and the other dacapo cd of the 1st and 5th symphonie I cannot understand why von Klenau is so "unsung". Despite tendencies towards his own form of twelve-tone composition, he really is a full-bloodied late romantic. Give him a go!
I tried to stir up interest in von Klenau sometime ago with linited success:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1571.msg18408.html#msg18408 (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1571.msg18408.html#msg18408)
I do wholeheartedly agree with your assessment :)
Saint-Saens's Le Deluge is (obviously...) all about a rather major storm and consequent flood... The movement entitled "L'Arche et le Déluge" in particular depicts the storm.
IIRC, it's about the Biblical flood, in fact. But I could be wrong.
Quote from: TerraEpon on Wednesday 04 July 2012, 18:50
IIRC, it's about the Biblical flood, in fact. But I could be wrong.
Exactly! You do RC!))
A tremendous musical storm emerges from the transition from slow movement to finale of John Adams' Harmonium.
Although in its context it can be considered a depiction of a psychological storm rather than a meteorological one (the ensuing setting of Emily Dickinson's Wild Nights suggests that Adams' storm portrays sexual tension), it's thrilling nonetheless. (I consider the whole work to be a masterpiece.)