Compact Discoveries®
a series of one-hour radio programs produced, written, hosted, and edited by Fred Flaxman
©2006 by Compact Discoveries, Inc.
Program 95
"Trees"
MUSIC: clip from Sibelius Spruce, performed by Håvard Gimse [Naxos 8.555363, track 9] [under the following]
Welcome to Compact Discoveries. I’m your guide, Fred Flaxman.
For
the next hour we’ll be exploring tree music. Now I’ll
be the first to admit that if you tune in during any of these pieces,
completely missing the announcement of its name, you won’t be
able to identify the tree. But this will all be music that was
inspired by nature’s tallest creations.
We’ll have
tree music by Ottorino Respighi, Jean Sibelius, Malcolm Arnold and
Arnold Bax. That’s 53 minutes of heavy trees, leaving only five
minutes for light talk. So let’s get started with perhaps the
most famous tree music ever written: Respighi’s 1926 orchestral
tour de force, The Pines of Rome.
Its four movements are “The Pines of the Villa Borghese,”
“Pines near a catacombe,” “Pines of the
Gianicolo,” and “Pines of the Appian Way.” Charles
Dutoit leads the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in this 1983
London compact disc recording.
MUSIC: fades out
MUSIC: Respighi: The Pines of Rome performed by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal conducted by Charles Dutoit [London 410 145-2, tracks 1-4]
Respighi’s The Pines of Rome performed by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal conducted by Charles Dutoit.
We are listening to “Trees” on this hour of Compact Discoveries. I’m your guide, Fred Flaxman.
The
Finish composer Jean Sibelius, who lived from 1865 until 1957, is best
known for his symphonies and tone poems, but he often took time out to
compose short piano pieces. They are really delightful and deserve to
be better known. His suite of five piano pieces, Opus 75, which he
titled The Trees, begins with
a piece called “When the rowan blossoms.” The rowan is what
many Americans call a mountain ash. I’ll give you the names of
the other pieces as we come to them. The pianist is Håvard Gimse
[HOH-vard GIM-seh].
MUSIC: Sibelius: När rönnen blommar, Håvard Gimse pianist [Naxos 8.555363, track 5] [1:51]
The Lonely Fir.
MUSIC: Sibelius: Den ensamna furan, Håvard Gimse pianist [Naxos 8.555363, track 6] [2:43]
Aspen.
MUSIC: Sibelius: Aspen, Håvard Gimse pianist [Naxos 8.555363, track 7] [2:20]
The birch.
MUSIC: Sibelius: Björken, Håvard Gimse pianist [Naxos 8.555363, track 8] [1:41]
And finally, my personal favorite piece from Sibelius’ Trees, The Spruce.
MUSIC: Sibelius: Granen, Håvard Gimse pianist [Naxos 8.555363, track 9] [3:32]
Jean Sibelius’ suite of Five Piano Pieces, Opus 75, The Trees. The Norwegian pianist Håvard Gimse [HOH-vard GIM-seh], performed on a Naxos compact disc.
You are listening to “Trees” this hour on Compact Discoveries. I’m your guide, Fred Flaxman.
[optional break not included in the 57:44 total timing of the program]
Next we turn to the British composer, Malcolm Arnold, and his Larch Trees,
a tone poem for small orchestra dating from 1943. However the piece
wasn’t publicly performed until 41 years later, in 1984, and it
wasn’t published until 1985. Arnold was only 22 when he wrote it.
I think it is his only work of nature-music, and the style reminds me
of the impressionism of a more famous English composer, Frederick
Delius. The performance is by London Musici conducted by Mark
Stephenson on a Conifer Classics CD.
MUSIC: Malcolm Arnold: Larch Trees performed by London Musici conducted by Mark Stephenson [Conifer Classics 75605-51211-2, track 4] [11:15]
London Musici conducted by Mark Stephenson performed Larch Trees, Opus 3, by Malcolm Arnold.
From Malcolm Arnold we turn to Arnold Bax and our final work on this Compact Discoveries hour devoted to “Trees.” It is a symphonic poem called The Happy Forest.
Bax, who lived from 1883 until 1953, was also an English composer. He
wrote several pieces about trees and woods. This one is performed now
by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones
on a Naxos compact disc.
MUSIC: Bax: The Happy Forest performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones [Naxos 8.553608, track 4] [9:35]
The Happy Forest by Arnold Bax performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones.
MUSIC: clip from Sibelius Spruce, performed by Håvard Gimse [Naxos 8.555363, track 9] [under the following]
You have been listening to “Trees” for the last hour on Compact Discoveries.
This is Fred Flaxman hoping that you have enjoyed our selections and
that you’ll let me know one way or the other. You can reach me in
care of the Compact Discoveries
website at www.compactdiscoveries.com. You can also use the website to
view complete scripts for these programs, including information on
every recording used.
Compact Discoveries
is a registered trademark and production of Compact Discoveries, Inc.
Production of this program is made possible in part by the members of
WXEL-FM, West Palm Beach, Florida.
MUSIC: ends at 57:44
Back to the Compact Discoveries Home Page
