ClassicsaDay #Classical1923 Week 1
By Ralph Graves
New year, new month, new theme. The Classics a Day team decided to look back 100 years. For the month of January, the challenge is to post classical works associated with 1923. They can be pieces composed in that year, premiered in that year, or received their first recording in that year.
1923 was a pivotal year in classical music. As I soon discovered when I began my research. Here are my posts for the first week of #Classical1923.
01/02/23 Gerald Finzi: A Severn Rhapsody, Op 3
Finzi completed this work in 1923. One critic called it “a picturesque and imaginative composition.” I don’t disagree.
01/03/23 Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16
Prokofiev completed his second piano concerto in 1912. But the score was lost in a fire. In 1923, he reconstructed the work but admitted it was almost completely rewritten.
01/04/23 Hans Pfitzner: Concerto for Violin in B minor, Op. 34
Pfitzner dedicated this concerto to Alma Moodie. She premiered it the following year with Pfitzner conducting. For a while, it was considered the most important addition to the violin repertoire since Bruch’s First Concerto.
01/05/23 Germaine Tailleferre: Piano Concerto No. 1
In 1923 Tailleferre spent a lot of time with Maurice Ravel. And it was time well-spent. She wrote this concerto, Le marchand d’oiseaux Ballet for orchestra, and her Ballade for piano and orchestra.
01/06/23 Henry Cowell: Aeolian Harp
This piece is played with what Cowell called a “string piano.” That is, the performer reaches inside a piano and strums the strings directly with one hand. The other presses down the keys, in essence, muting the sound of select strings.
