Check out this YouTube clip of André Previn and the NHK Symphony Orchestra performing the first part of the third movement of the second symphony.  I don’t feel bad that I don’t get it, because I know that if I am not getting my ecstatic experience from Rachy, I can get it elsewhere.

For me Rachmaninov (to paraphrase Bugs Bunny) made the wrong turn at Albuquerque after Tchaikovsky.   Tchaikovsky had gone far enough in the direction of sweet indulgence.   For me, we did not need to go further.  So I have found myself taking the other turn with Schoenberg and Shostakovich.

Curiously, I am able to find a parallel with my personal experience with rock music history.  Just as I felt rather sickened by the early 80s rock of groups like Foreigner and Toto (the Rachmaninovs of rock, if you will) I found my way in their diametric punkish counterparts, Black Flag, the Butthole Surfers and Dead Kennedys.  Bands who felt and expressed angst darkly both with radical sound and the occasional touch of humor.  This is how I found Shostakovich and my way into the angst-expressive side of the classical music tradition.

I realize that I am swimming against the tide here.  Rachmaninov is music for the people, as is proven over and over again by the borrowing of his melodies by pop and soundtrack composers and was demonstrated again that night at the New York Philharmonic when the audience jumped to their feet with ecstatic applause.  My ecstasy happens to lie in the grit.  The clouds that threaten the sunset.  The bitterness in that chocolate cake.

This is strictly a matter of taste as Rachmaninov was not expressing an easy life through his music.  Quite the contrary, he was expressing what he felt was the antidote to hardship.  Yet many of us seek a more homeopathic (“like cures like”) approach to our antidotes.  And the chief procurer of alternative music at the time was Arnold Schoenberg.

Around the time Rachmaninov wrote his second symphony (1906-7), Schoenberg wrote his Chamber Symphony No. 1, which is a work that takes the left turn at Albuquerque.  It emerges strongly from the world of romantic music, lush and large minded, but rhythmically and tonally it begins to stray and quest, to murmur and complain that we need change to face the challenges of a new era.

This brief segment of Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 played with ferocity by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic might just get you on your feet and wanting more:

Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 turns the sound world of Mahler in upon itself almost jazzily playing off of Mahlerian seriousness.  Yet it is not without its great climatic moments.   The work has five movements, but is meant to be played without pause and near the end of fourth movement Schoenberg creates a beautifully balanced apotheosis, which tracing its way back through the humor and lightness of the works beginning opens the way to a triumphant finale.

Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2 is characterized by its sweeping and saccharine (to me) melodies and is thus a very different work than Schoenberg’s funky Chamber Symphony.    But Schoenberg can ‘do lush’ as good as anyone and better than many, although his hues tend much more to dark red and indigo than light blue and pink.  One of the greatest examples of lush Schoenberg is his famous tone poem Verklaerte Nacht (Transfigured Night), which happens to sit very high on my personal list of ecstatic masterpieces.

Verklaerte Nacht is an earlier work written when Schoenberg was even more under the influence of the Romantics, particularly Wagner.   At the time he composed it, Schoenberg was caught in a romantic spell with Mathilde von Zemlinsky, whom he would later marry.   Verklaerte Nacht conveys all the uncertainty and swelling thrill of new love.   Yet even as it ends happily there are the strains of suffering that cloud and color that happiness.

In this YouTube clip from a Live From Lincoln Center telecast, Arnaud Sussmann, Erin Keefe, David Kim, Teng Li, David Finckel, and Priscilla Lee give us a nice sampling of the piece:

In the early 1920s, Dmitri Shostakovich began to compose some of the most exciting, radically charged symphonies of the 20^th century.   His symphonies will find many places in the Ecstatic Livingroom, but I will just sight his first symphony here as an antidote to Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2.

Shostakovich’s works are very lyrical, but he deploys force and atonal wallops like no other composer.    It is perfect transitional music from hard rock to symphonic music, if you are so inclined.    Shostakovich’s first symphony is a great introduction to his symphonic output.  At around 30 minutes, it’s a relatively brief listen and offers many of the trademark Shostakovich elements.    It begins innocently and easily enough with a few hummable tunes, but by the second movement those tunes have begun to morph into huge, explosive expressions of awe and fear.  It is a journey through beautiful lyrical moments and unspeakable fear, which ends in a thrilling climax. Shostakovich was only 19 when he completed this symphony and it is relatively easy going, compared to what was to come.   Even so, I cannot imagine what the first audience to have heard his Symphony No. 1, must have felt.

Here is a clip of Valery Gergiev, one of the world’s greatest interpreters of this repertoire, leading the London Symphony Orchestra in the finale:

This is music that gets me jumping up and down and often when I hear it live in concert halls, I look around and wonder how everyone can just sit there so apparently calm and not feel the need to get up and move!   This was of course, one of the reasons we created the Ecstatic Living room.  So we could just let go and do what we want to the music that we love.

This post was inspired by my personal inability to find the ecstatic experience in Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2, but it’s not meant to be a full-on put down of Rachmaninov.  He wrote some great ecstatic works, including his final piece, the Symphonic Dances, which is absolutely rocking.    But we’ll leave that for another time…..

And in case you’re interested, here are a few recommended recordings of these pieces:

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Buy on Amazon
Buy on iTunes

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Buy on Amazon

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Buy on Amazon

1. A few works of classical music that you adore:

There are so many! Eugene Onegin. Everything by Rachmaninov! Piano Concertos by Mozart – No. 23 is my favorite, particularly the second movement.

2. Classical music recordings that you treasure:

There are millions! Alexandre Tharaud’s Rameau Suites; Perahia’s Bach albums; Caballé singing Trovatore, especially “D’amor sull’ ali rosee”

3. Favorite non-classical musicians and/or recordings:

Ella Fitzgerald; Bill Evans; Take Six.

4. Music that makes you cry – any genre:

Some of the ones I mentioned in the first question, especially the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, and Caballe singing “D’amor sull’ ali rosee” from Verdi’s Il Trovatore. And Maria Callas singing “Addio del passato from the third act of La Traviata.

5. Definitely underrated work(s) or composer (s):

I like Hummel’s music, such as his Piano Concertos. He was a dear pupil of Mozart.

6. Possibly overrated work(s) or composer (s):

Verdi sometimes. Sometimes he goes for facility, but Falstaff, Otello and La Traviata are undoubtedly masterpieces.

7. Live music performance (s) you attended – any genre – that you’ll never forget:

Philippe Caubère is a French actor who did many plays that he wrote himself – improvisations telling us his story and his experience with Ariane Mnouchkine who is a famous theater director in Paris. She has a company called La Theatre de Soleil that is justifiably famous.

8. A few relatively recent films you love:

I’m actually too busy to go to the movies very often, but I saw and loved Slum Dog Millionaire.

9. A few films you consider classics:

Anything by Frank Capra, especially It’s A Wonderful Life.

10. A book (or two) that is important to you (and why):

Stefan Zweig’s memoir The World of Yesterday is difficult to describe but people should read it! Balzac’s Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes. I loveHamlet – it’s written centuries before Freud, but is so amazing in its psychological insight.

11. Thing(s) about yourself that you’re most proud of:

My fruitcake – I have a wonderful, simple recipe. I’m a very good baker. And my new long nails! I used to bite them, but it’s great to get rid of an addiction!

12. Thing(s) about yourself that you’re embarrassed by:

I won’t tell you!

13. Three things you can’t live without:

A view, flowers and humor.

14. “When I want to get away from it all I…”

Go to the sea.

15. “People are surprised to find out that I…”

They don’t find out anything about me. I keep it secret.

16. “My favorite cities are…”

New York and Paris.

17. “I have a secret crush on…”

I won’t tell you! Okay, I wouldn’t call it a crush, but I loved the young William Holden – especially in Picnic with Kim Novak.

18. “My most obvious guilty pleasure is…”

Pastries.

19. “I’d really love to meet…”

Peter Ustinov. I just love him. He was brilliant and very, very funny.

20. “I never understood why…”

People have to obey silly rules.

BONUS QUESTION:

21. Question you wish someone would ask you (and the answer to that question):

Q: I don’t like questions!

A: [silence]

For more on Dessay, including discography and upcoming calendar, visit www.natalie-dessay.com.

Xuefei has appeared on numerous TV and radio programs, including a successful performance at the BBC Proms, and an interview for “Woman’s Hour” on BBC Radio 4. In 2009 Xuefei performed at the Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Xuefei was the subject of a documentary by CCTV in China.

1. A few works of classical music that you adore:

There are too many to list, but some of the many that come to mind include Dvorak’s New World Symphony; Bach’s Cello Suites; Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto; Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp; Debussy’s Claire De Lune number Three; and most of Chopin’s music.

2. Classical music recordings that you treasure:

Again there are many I could list. A few that come to mind immediately include Jacqueline du Pre’s recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto; Rostropovich’s recordings of Bach’s Cello Suites; the album John Williams Plays Spanish Music; Together by John Williams and Julian Bream; The Complete Guitar Recordings by Agustin Barrios

3. Favorite non-classical musicians and/or recordings:

I like all sorts of music, not just classical. For example, I enjoy listening to the Beatles, Pat Metheny, Edith Piaf and Charlie Parker. I like listening to the sound track of Black Orpheus by Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim. I am also amazed by the Meeting of Spirits live performance by Paco de Lucia, Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin. Recently I have been listening to Portuguese Fado music; a particular favorite is the singer Mariza. I also enjoy the Cuban music of the Buena Vista Social Club.

4. Music that makes you cry – any genre:

Many pieces make me cry. Certain sections of all the music I listed in answer to question 1 can make me cry. I also get moved to tears when I perform some pieces, for example the slow movement of Rodrigo’s Concerto De Aranjuez, or Tarrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

5. Definitely underrated work(s) or composer (s):

For guitar, I think the works of Giulio Regondi (a nineteenth century composer and guitar prodigy), and Silvius Leopold Weiss (a prolific composer, great lute player, and a contemporary of Bach) are underrated.

6. Possibly overrated work(s) or composer (s):

In my opinion, some of the sonatas in the guitar repertoire are over rated. Sometimes guitarists play sonatas just for the sake of playing longer pieces. However I think the piano and violin, for example, have many great sonatas to choose from. The fact is that there are very few truly good sonatas for guitar. However, there are many wonderful pieces in smaller form for the guitar.

7. Live music performance (s) you attended – any genre – that you’ll never forget:

The first time I heard John Williams play live in China, when I was still a teenager. He played the Spanish repertoire and the music stayed with me. Most recently, I recall a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Bernard Haitink in Beijing’s new National Centre. It was so memorable to hear one of the world’s best orchestra’s with a great conductor, playing in the new magnificent hall in my home town of Bejing. I also got the chance to shake hands with the conductor following the concert.

8. A few relatively recent films you love:

I enjoyed seeing the movie Mamma Mia, starring Meryl Streep. I also enjoyed watching Notting Hill, starring Julia Roberts. I saw that movie three times. I also enjoy the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, starring Yun-Fat Chow, and directed by Ang Lee. As a Chinese person, I think this movie has greater meaning to me, as the English sub-titles do not really convey the subtlety of meaning that is present in the Chinese dialogue.

9. A few films you consider classics:

Some of my favourite include the movie Somewhere in Time with Jane Seymour. I also like The Ladykillers with Peter Sellers, and It’s a Wonderful Life with James Stewart. The Pianist by Roman Polanski. Knowing about the history and culture of China, I am also deeply moved by the movie Fairwell my Concubine with Kaige Chen.

10. A book (or two) that is important to you (and why):

My diary! Many books have influenced me at different times and in different ways, but the one constant companion is my diary. I play many concerts all over the world, and need to have a close eye on my calendar.

11. Thing(s) about yourself that you’re most proud of:

I am most proud of the fact that I have been given the opportunity in life to enjoy music, and bring music to people around the world. It is a great privilege.

12. Thing(s) about yourself that you’re embarrassed by:

I get embarrassed if I am having a bad day performing on-stage.

13. Three things you can’t live without:

Music, my guitar, and my computer.

14. “When I want to get away from it all I…”

Take myself shopping! I also like to stay at home, read magazines, and put on some music.

15. “People are surprised to find out that I…”

am quite lively and humorous. Many people seem to expect a Chinese person to be more serious and demure.

16. “My favorite cities are…”

I love the history, architecture, romanticism and culture of Paris and Granada. I love the bustle, the food, and the mix of East and West that you can find in Hong Kong.

17. “I have a secret crush on…”

dogs – particularly golden retrievers, but I can’t keep one as I travel a lot.

18. “My most obvious guilty pleasure is…”

Leaving my guitar in its case for a couple of days, and having a break from practice.

19. “I’d really love to meet (or to have met)…”

The guitarist Segovia would be on my list as he was probably the person who established the guitar as a concert instrument. I would also love to meet the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as I love the cello, and his music. The composer Isaac Albéniz would also be on my list as I am going to record his music this summer.

20. “I never understood why…”

I always try to have a clear answer to any question I am asked. I am realizing more and more that there isn’t always a simple answer to all questions, and that finding an answer is not always the way to deal with life. Music can help provide some meaning and light for these darker corners in our life.

BONUS QUESTION:

21. Question you wish someone would ask you (and the answer to that question):

Q: Would you like to come and perform in The White House?

A: Yes !

Complied and edited by Albert Imperato. For permission to post or print this interview write to aimperato@21cmediagroup.com.