Inside Music host George Marriner Maull looks into Pachelbel’s frequently encountered “Canon”. This work combines the musical device known as canon (think of a round like “Three Blind Mice”) with a recipe for writing music known as passacaglia, which features variations written over a repeating bass line. No one knows for sure when Johann Pachelbel, who died at the beginning of the 18th century in 1706, wrote what would become one of the most well-known and frequently performed pieces of classical music during the 21st century. In this episode Maestro Maull will focus on the “why” this music is enjoyed by so many. 

This episode is additionally sponsored by Judy Musicant.

You've Heard It A Million Times

In this episode of Inside Music, host George Marriner Maull presents another side of composer Johannes Brahms. Brahms wrote his Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68 over a long stretch of time, spanning about fourteen years of his life – but the end product was definitely worth the wait! This work continues to deeply move listeners nearly 150 years after its premiere in 1876. The bucolic third movement, which reflects a gentler, lighter aspect of Brahms, is explored by Maestro Maull.

Brahms Light

Excursions is a five-movement journey for solo piano. The first movement, With Energy, is a joyful tribute to the "little engine that could." The second movement, At A Distance, is reflective while the third movement, With Liberty, allows for much freedom with regard to tempo and character. The Passacaglia movement is based on a ten-note pitch series which is first treated in the bass voice, and eventually weaves itself throughout the upper voices. The final movement, Rhythmic Dance, includes many dance-like rhythms which are both playful and a bit distorted. This recording features Enriqueta Somarriba on piano.

Excursions for piano solo

This challenging one-movement work packs many moods and musical styles into a 7-minute ’theme and variations’ form. The Introduction section features several brief motives. In the Variation section, these motives are developed through metric manipulation, augmentation, diminution and rhythmic variance. A jazz-like section eventually leads to the recapitulation of the introductory material followed by an abrupt return of the first variation material. The piece closes with a samba-inspired coda. The piece is mostly tonal in nature. This recording features the composer Virginia (Ginny) Johnston on clarinet and Merynda Adams on harp.

Introduction & Variation for clarinet and harp

The Suite for Brass Trio features trumpet, horn and trombone and is in three short movements. The first movement is an animated rollick based on the opening theme in the trombone. The second movement is solemn and reflective and features the more mellow-sounding flugelhorn instead of the trumpet in this recording. The lively final movement has a "cha-cha" feel while also quoting previous material as well as the "Dies Irae" Gregorian Chant. This recording features Brad Siroky on trumpet and flugelhorn, James Robinson on horn, and Vernon Post on trombone.

Suite for Brass Trio

This three-movement Suite begins with a gentle "Song" with two opening themes. A contrasting lively theme interjects before the opening two themes return (in opposite order) to close the movement. The stark "Interlude" movement begins with a plaintive motif in the piano with the clarinet "answering" with its own legato phrases. The middle contrasting section builds with more jarring harmony growing into a restatement of the opening theme. The final section returns to the plaintive feel of the beginning of the movement. The closing "Dance" movement features mixed meters and many fun rhythmic "conversations" between the clarinet and piano. The middle section features a "throwback" to the legato opening of the piece before a recapitulation of the rhythmic dance theme. After a quick reflective moment, a quick burst of a coda ends the work. This recording features composer Virginia (Ginny) Johnston on clarinet and Marcia Maull on piano.

Suite for Clarinet and Piano

Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla transformed the world of tango with his amazing compositions. In his Fugata, he actually begins a tango with a short fugue... which may have presented some interesting issues for dancers to contend with. Eventually, this work for a small ensemble gives way to the Piazzolla we know and love. Join Maestro Maull for this south-of-the-border episode of Inside Music!

A Little Fugue A Little Tango

In this episode of Inside Music, host George Marriner Maull explores the effect that one of Brahms’s most significant influencers, Hungarian violinist Ede Remény, had on him. Asked by Remény in 1850 to serve as his piano accompanist on a performance tour, Brahms found himself inspired by the violinist’s “Gypsy café” musical repertoire. This love affair with Hungarian music ultimately blossomed into Brahms’s 21 Hungarian Dances, which were published nearly twenty years after meeting Remény.

The Café Brahms

Antonio Vivaldi’s "The Four Seasons" – "Le Quattro Stagioni" – is perhaps one of the most recognizable and often performed compositions in all of classical music. While it's not quite up there with the opening of Beethoven’s "Symphony No. 5", it is nevertheless quoted frequently in automobile commercials and feature film scores. And if lucky, you might even attend a live concert performance! If you are not familiar with the verbal descriptions inserted into the score by either Vivaldi himself or his publisher, join us to sample a little bit of "L’Inverno", or "Winter".

It's Cold Out There!

"Blessedly" was first a poem written by Jim Haba in memory of his late wife Erica, a professional artist and gallerist. Jim shared this poem in a year-end card, and Ginny was moved and struck by the simple beauty of the verse. She was inspired to set the poem to music, with Jim's permission and gratitude. The recording features Ginny on piano, vocals, clarinet and cymbals, as well as Bob Funesti on bass. Recorded at Studio Mozart in Little Falls, NJ. Engineered by Kostadin Kamcev. Mixed and mastered by Frank Fagnano.

Here is a reflection directly from Jim Haba about the creation of the poem: "I wrote 'Blessedly' for the year-end card (which for decades we had enjoyed preparing together) eight months after my dear wife, Erica, died. To find the world from which I wanted this tribute to emerge, I instinctively turned to 'The Navajo Night Chant,' devoted as it is to expressing both the primacy of beauty and the immediacy of our relationship to the eternal.  A life-long artist, Erica worshipped all forms of beauty and, in her own work, she most loved creating time-defying ceramic tile murals, perhaps as close as she could come to revealing the timelessness that, in my experience, she carried within herself."

Blessedly

Ginny has been composing modern classical music and writing songs since high school. She has often collaborated with various writers when she has not created her own texts and lyrics. Her influences run the gamut from the Beatles to Shawn Colvin to Stephen Sondheim to various classical music composers.

Suite for Clarinet and Piano

Ginny Johnston

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