thumbnail of The art of Emanuel Feuermann; Reger, Beethoven, and Handel, part 3
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You have just heard a recording of the Beethoven Serenade in D major opus 8 with string trio played by Simon Goldberg violin Paul Hindemith Viola and Emmanuel for him and cello. Every performance seems to have one piece that is not only the sheer doable but which challenges him perhaps even alludes in and with which he wrestles sometimes for years before he can perform it to his own satisfaction. Max rager suite with cello in G Major was a manual for him and special fascination. There were several periods during which he put it away and would not play it. He had reached a point where intensive practice did not resolve the impasse he had come to interpret in the work this week lay fallow for a while. Towards the end of his life however the rager occupied an increasingly prominent place in his study. When he was not engaged in learning new repertoire or on tour and would take out the cello to practise it. It was the rager that he would invariably turn to. An interesting coincidence or perhaps even a possible explanation for this preoccupation with what really is one of the more
peripheral items in the cello repertoire is the fact that rager was a professor at Leipzig during the years at 4am and studied there. And although rager only taught at the conservatory one day a week at that time it is quite possible that the young impressionable student came in contact and possibly even studied theory with regular rigor died suddenly in 1016 at the age of 43 while for him and was still in Leipsic. There is no connection between the composing of the ship's cello suites and the young cellist for the rager suite was composed in 1910. At least five years before before four human came to Leipsic. The recording we're going to hear was made in England sometime during the mid 30s. One wishes that a later recording were available so that we might be able to compare it with his most mature renderings. As we have indicated this week is not the most profound piece of music. It is patterned after the bark suites rager it like the Brazilian height of Villa Lobos was deeply influenced by Bach and attempted to
reincarnate the structural power that is at the heart of the master's music. It is interesting to note how appropriate the cello is as a vehicle for this kind of musical education. The various backing honest present year US via Lobos use the cello and some truly beautiful combinations to intimate but not to imitate the spirit of Bach. The G-Major suite of Raider suffers a certain amount from some of the peculiarities which weaken discompose as music. Yet there is little of the tonal moneyless or excessive and often irrelevant chromaticism in which rego was prone to indulge. It is probable that writing for one unaccompanied cello impressed a certain natural discipline. Rigor especially had to keep the melodic line clearly in mind so as not to inundate it with harmonic and rhythmic complexities. But the typical regular qualities of shifting keys and sometimes unresolved harmonic patterns often give us what ought to be a clear with MC pulse a somewhat
disjointed and unconnected quality rigor could not get a more sympathetic and beautifully played interpretation than the one that flaming gives here. The pretension to the piece to fade away and what remains is a haunting experience one which is quite convincing. Mm. Hmm.
Why. Why. Why.
Mm. Hmm. And.
That was the max rager suite one hundred thirty one C for
unaccompanied cello is played. In these six programs we have surveyed the musical achievements of one of the lesser known giants of our musical tradition. The warrant for this is that we have heard cello playing as beautiful and as moving as we are ever likely to hear. Perhaps this can be succinctly expressed by recalling the words of the New York Times critic who wrote on February 6 1938. As far as the cello and cello playing Mr. Foreign Minister one man revolution has pushed the capacities of his instrument almost incredible limits and wholly in the interest of its expressiveness. His is a technique that would storm the concert halls by it's surely unbelievable ease and brilliance. Wedded to the musical ideals of a mature and perceptive mind its product only removed from mere sensation is something for the heart and the mind to cherish and quote. There is another side to the significance of the manual for human. In addition to the standard he set for all future practitioners of the art of the
cello. This is suggested by the tremendous excitement generated in concerts by four women that stimulated critics of the kind of encomiums quoted above. It is doubtful that this kind of excitement which occurred so spontaneously and regularly in response to the remarkable personalities of the past can again be reproduced in our time. The age of the great virtue also performers and interpreters whether conductors or instrumentalist as fast ebbing away. There are and always will be extremely competent performers. But but we are moving to an age which can be characterized by its concern for the preservation of the old traditions. Just as the museum exists to prove a the proper atmosphere for the appreciation of our heritage of Fine Arts. So the purpose of the Lincoln centers of our day seems primarily intended to enhance the setting for the consumption of the classical tradition and music and the performing arts. The era of great interpreters which began in the late 19th century was it was itself a
successor to an epoch that endured almost three hundred years three hundred years of unbroken creative exploration and exploitation of the existing musical resources of the Western world. In the context of this deluge of new sounds and new forms interpretation was a secondary matter. But when the inevitable signs of exhaustion first showed themselves in our classical musical idiom at the end of the 19th century we experienced a rush of virtuoso instrumentalists singers and conductors who searched out the possibilities inherent in the vast literature. It is possible that we have already reached a point of diminishing creative returns in the ever recurring repetitions of this literature. How many Toscanini's Koussevitzky Stokowski's Rubenstein's good brother witches or geese or kings can the public absorb without surfeit. There will of course be new musical sources for the classical forms of the future but we will still need to know this unique heritage of great interpreters. Emmanuel for humans
recorded output was not large. The simple beauty of sound is expressive and technical capabilities on the instrument. In his place in the evolution of our musical tradition necessitated the work of this artist ought not be forgotten. And. Your host for this program the last in a series of six devoted to the art of an annual
forum on Wise cellist Seymour Itzkoff a member of the Department of Education at Smith College. The series was prepared for broadcast by the Eastern educational radio network at the Amherst studios A for college radio WFC are a broadcasting service of Amherst College Mount Holyoke College Smith College and the University of Massachusetts. This program was distributed by a national educational radio. This is the National Education already or network.
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Series
The art of Emanuel Feuermann
Episode
Reger, Beethoven, and Handel, part 3
Producing Organization
WFCR (Radio station : Amherst, Mass.)
Four College Radio
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-6688mp7g
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/500-6688mp7g).
Description
Episode Description
Reger: Unaccompanied Suite for Cello, Op. 131c; Beethoven: Serenade in D Major (with Szyman Goldberg, violin, and Paul Hindemith, viola); Handel: Adagio and Allegro from Organ Concerto in G minor
Series Description
Series exploring artistry of cellist Emanuel Feuermann, including historic recordings. The series is hosted by Seymour Itzkoff of Smith College.
Date
1967-05-22
Topics
Music
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:25:31
Credits
Host: Itzkoff, Seymour W.
Performer: Feuermann, Emanuel, 1902-1942
Producing Organization: WFCR (Radio station : Amherst, Mass.)
Producing Organization: Four College Radio
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 67-22-6 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:25:12
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Citations
Chicago: “The art of Emanuel Feuermann; Reger, Beethoven, and Handel, part 3,” 1967-05-22, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-6688mp7g.
MLA: “The art of Emanuel Feuermann; Reger, Beethoven, and Handel, part 3.” 1967-05-22. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-6688mp7g>.
APA: The art of Emanuel Feuermann; Reger, Beethoven, and Handel, part 3. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-6688mp7g