Welcome to my Musical Treats Blog

Hello dear blog visitors.  Welcome to my blog Musical Treats.  Here you will find posts featuring well known classical and jazz musicians, composers known and not very well known, and performances and recordings of extraordinary musicians that are known and not very well known.  I hope that you will find the posts interesting and educational and will visit my blog often.

I have posted some of my own recordings in the music streaming service Spotify as Robert Jan Dukarm. Here is a sample of one of my favorite piano pieces, “Hab’ Ein Blaues Himmelbett” from a Franz Lehár operetta.

If you wish to know more about me, please visit my Bandcamp page:  robertjandukarm.bandcamp.com  for my bio and to listen to and/or purchase my recordings.  I am in YouTube Music as Robert Jan Dukarm and have a YouTube channel with demo recordings of myself (playing solo and with other people) playing violin, piano, and organ pieces:

www.youtube.com/user/rjdukarm/videos

Thank you for your interest.

Robert Jan Dukarm

Ernesto Nazareth – Ameno Reseda (a polka)

Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934)

Ernesto Nazareth was a Brazilian composer and pianist. He is known today for his Brazilian Tangos, but he also wrote waltzes, polkas, habaneras, fox trots, sambas, and other types of dance music for the piano.

Here is a polka by Nazareth called Ameno Reseda. It is played by famous Brazilian pianist Arthur Moriera Lima (who won the 2nd prize in the Chopin International Piano Competition, the 3rd Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition, and the 3rd prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition.) I hope that you enjoy this beautiful music.

Edward Elgar – La Capricieuse (two very different performances of this popular piece for violin and piano)

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Edward Elgar was an English composer who (along with other composers) helped bring about a resurrection of English classical music in the 20th Century. English music suffered after the death of Henry Purcell in 1695 and England didn’t have a native born English composer of the importance of Purcell until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, William Walton, and Benjamin Britten came along in the 20th Century. Elgar is known for his Enigma Variations, Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Land of Hope and Glory, and a few violin/piano pieces. One of his most famous violin/piano pieces is La Capricieuse.

Here are two very different performances of La Capricieuse by Edward Elgar. The first is by Canadian Grammy award winning violinist James Ehnes and pianist Eduard Laurel, and the second is by famous Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis and pianist Tasso Janopoulo. The James Ehnes performance was released on a DVD called Homage which features him playing various pieces on violins from David Fulton’s collection of expensive violins and violas. Unfortunately the video of James Ehnes seems to have been taken down from YouTube. The Ivry Gitlis performance with pianist Tasso Janopoulo was filmed in 1962. I won’t say anymore because I want people to listen and hear how different the two performances are and decide for themselves which performance they like more.

Horowitz plays Rachmaninoff Prelude Op. 32, No.5 in G Major

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)

Sergei Rachmaninov was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor. Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia in 1917 during the Russian Revolution and came to the United States. Rachmaninoff had a busy career as a virtuoso pianist and conductor and composed music in his spare time when he wasn’t busy performing piano concertos with orchestras, doing piano recitals, or conducting.

Rachmaninov composed 24 preludes for the piano. One of his most well known and most beautiful preludes is his Prelude Op. 32, No. 5 in G Major. This prelude with its gently flowing left hand part and beautiful soaring melody is a favourite of many pianists. The great pianist Vladimir Horowitz (a friend of Sergei Rachmaninov) was famous for his interpretations of Rachmaninov’s piano music and often performed it in recitals.

Here is a live performance of Rachmaninov’s Prelude Op. 32, No. 5 in G Major played by Vladimir Horowitz from his famous 1986 recital in Moscow, Russia. I hope that you enjoy this beautiful music.

Brahms Hungarian dance No. 5 (violin and piano): Two very different interpretations

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Johannes Brahms was a German Romantic composer and pianist. He was one of the greatest composers of the 19th Century. Brahms composed music for solo piano, 4 symphonies, chamber music, organ chorale preludes, violin and viola sonatas, and many other works. His first compositions were for the pipe organ. Brahms final compositions were a collection of chorale preludes for the organ. He is most well known for his 21 Hungarian Dances which he originally wrote for orchestra but later arranged for solo piano and four hand duet. Joseph Joachim (a famous violin virtuoso friend of his) later arranged the Hungarian Dances for violin and piano.

Brahms began his music career playing the piano in the red light district of Hamburg, Germany (where he was born.) He had dreams of being an organ virtuoso but discovered early on that the organ is a much harder instrument to master than the piano. Brahms abandoned any dreams of becoming an organ virtuoso and became a piano virtuoso instead.

Here are two very different performances of the Hungarian Dance No. 5 for violin and piano. The first recording of the piece is by classical violinist Aaron Rosand and pianist Hugh Sung. The second recording is a live performance done in a radio station studio by Hungarian Gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos and pianist Frantisek Janoska. Roby and Frantisek play the piece in a fiery Hungarian Gypsy style. I will leave it up to you to decide which performance you prefer more. Enjoy.

Claude Debussy – Clair de Lune (a comparison between the composer’s interpretation and another pianist)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Claude Debussy was a French composer and pianist. He developed an original system of harmony and musical structure. Debussy’s music has often been referred to as impressionistic (although the composer disliked the term impressionism.) Debussy’s most famous compositions include: Clair de Lune, La fille aux cheveux de lin, The Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun, La Mer, and his opera Pelléas et Mélisande.

Here are two recordings of Claude Debussy’s piece Clair de Lune. The first recording was made by Claude Debussy himself in 1913 on a piano roll. The sound quality is so good it sounds as if it could have been recorded yesterday. The second recording was from a live performance in 1956 by the celebrated interpreter of Debussy’s piano music, Walter Gieseking. Ironically the sound quality in the second recording done by Gieseking is not as good as the sound quality on the piano roll recording. I won’t say any more about the performances featured in this post as I want people to listen to both performances and come to their own conclusions as to which performance they like best. Enjoy.

Ernesto Nazareth: Carioca (Brazilian Tango) played by Arthur Moreira Lima (piano)

Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934)

Ernesto Nazareth was a Brazilian composer and pianist. He is one of Brazil’s most popular composers. Nazareth composed Brazilian tangos, waltzes, polkas, and choros (a popular type of instrumental music that was invented in Rio de Janiero in the 19th Century.) Nazareth had a gift for composing beautiful melodies. His best dance music has an infectious rhythmic drive that makes you want to get up and dance.

Arthur Moreira Lima (1940 -)

Arthur Moreira Lima is a Brazilian classical pianist. In 1965 Arthur won second prize in the International Chopin Competition. He also won the audience prize and a prize for the best sonata performance. He also won prizes in two other major piano competitions: third prize at the 1969 Leeds International Piano Competition, and third prize in the 1970 International Tchaikovsky Competition. He has recorded the complete piano music of Chopin, Nazareth, and Cunha. In this post, Arthur Moreira Lima plays Ernesto Nazareth’s Brazilian Tango called Carioca.

J. C. Bach Sonata for Keyboard with Gamba Accompaniment – Michael Jarvis: Fortepiano; Sam Stadlen: Gamba

J. C. Bach (1735-1782)

Johann Christian Bach, the youngest of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sons, was an 18th Century German composer. He worked for a while in Italy and then moved to London, England in 1762. He became known as the “London Bach,” and also the “English Bach.” Bach composed cantatas, chamber music, keyboard music, symphonies, and operas. He had a great musical career first as a composer, and then as a performing musician. Johann often performed with Carl Friedrich Abel who was a viola da gamba virtuoso. The viola da gamba was a bowed stringed instrument (held between the legs while played) that was popular in Europe from the 16th to the 18th Centuries.

Here is a sonata by J.C. Bach for Keyboard with Gamba accompaniment. The keyboard instrument is a fortepiano (a copy of an early piano). The sonata is played by Michael Jarvis (Fortepiano) and Sam Stadlen (Gamba). This performance was recorded just before Sam Stadlen’s tour across Canada was cut short by the coronavirus.

Michael Jarvis (1958-2020)

Michael Jarvis was one of Canada’s finest harpsichordists, fortepianists, and organists. He performed with many of Canada’s leading orchestras and chamber ensembles all over Canada. Michael had a knack for finding rare but beautiful music and did many performances and recordings with colleagues that featured lesser known composers and their music.

Sam Stadlen

Sam Stadlen is a viol player, cellist, lecturer, and musicologist from the U.K. He has performed all over Europe, the United States, Canada, and South America. In 2015 Sam became a member of the internationally known early music stringed instrument ensemble Fretwork.

Helmut Walcha – Christmas Chorale Preludes

Helmut Walcha (1907-1991)

Helmut Walcha was a blind German organist, harpsichordist, and composer who played the works of Dutch and German Baroque masters. He is best known for his recordings of the complete organ works of J.S. Bach. Walcha learned music by hearing his wife or someone else play the notes. He then memorized what he heard and worked on it until he could play it and sing each part. He taught his students that to truly know music you have to be able to not only play it but also sing it.

Helmut Walcha composed and published 4 volumes of chorale preludes for the organ (and arrangements of orchestral pieces or organ pieces.) Here is a recording of two Christmas chorale preludes by Helmut Walcha:

Zu Bethlehem geboren (Born in Bethlehem), and Den die Hirten lobten sehre (Whom the Shepherds Praised Dearly) played by organist Wolfgang Rübsam.

Dieterich Buxtehude – Prelude in C Major (BuxWV 138): Harald Vogel, Organ

Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707)

Dieterich Buxtehude was a Danish-German Baroque composer and organist. He composed a wide variety of vocal music and instrumental music. Today he is best known for his organ music (which is a major part of the standard organ repertoire.) Buxtehude’s style of composition influenced many composers (especially Johann Sebastian Bach.) Bach famously travelled about 250 miles to learn from Buxtehude and to hear him play.

Buxtehude composed chorale preludes based on German hymn tunes for the church. He also composed organ preludes written in the form of fugues (and it is for these organ preludes that he is best known.) Buxtehude’s organ preludes are the pinnacle of the North German style of organ composition during his time. They are composed in what is known as stylus phantasticus (a style of composition that sounds like an improvisation and is characterized by short contrasting episodes and a free form.)

Harald Vogel – organist (1941 -)

Harald Vogel is a German organist, author, and expert on Renaissance and Baroque keyboard music (especially North German Baroque music and North German Baroque pipe organs.) In 1983 Harald Vogel recorded the complete organ works of Dieterich Buxtehude. Here is a recording of Buxtehude’s Prelude in C Major (BuxWV 138). I hope that you enjoy listening to it.

Scott Joplin – Pine Apple Rag (Itzhak Perlman, Violin; André Previn, Piano)

Scott Joplin (1868-1917)

Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. He became famous during his lifetime for playing a style of music called Ragtime, and for the many Rags he composed for the piano. Among his most famous rags are the Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer, Rag-Time Dance, The Easy Winners, and Elite Syncopations. Joplin quickly became known as the “King of Ragtime”. Most of the compositions he wrote were Rags for the piano. However, toward the end of his life, Scott Joplin was working on a Ragtime opera called Treemonisha. The opera was never fully staged during his life. In 1916 Joplin got dementia which was the result of him catching syphilis. Scott Joplin died in 1917 (when he was 48 years old). His death was barely noticed because there were more pressing events going on during that time such as the entry of the United States into World War I.

In 1975 violinist Itzhak Perlman and jazz pianist André Previn teamed up together to record several of Perlman’s violin/piano arrangements of Scott Joplin rags. Scott Joplin’s music was all the rage at the time (the film Sting which featured Joplin’s music was released in 1973). The Perlman/Previn album (The Easy Winners) became a huge hit and the album along with sheetmusic of the arrangements is still popular so many years after it was recorded.

Here is Perlman and Previn playing Scott Joplin’s Pine Apple Rag from their 1975 album ‘The Easy Winners’.