Another fantastic album by the wonderful Miranda Lee Richards. Alternative (Folk) with slight touches of Country and Neo-Psychedelia. Everything glued together with this great dreamy voice.
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A fellow Geordie ⊠
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In 1845, the then 22 years old youngest son of a prosperous Jewish family from Hamburg decided to emigrate to Caracas, Venezuela. There, Karl Hahn changed his name to the locally more acceptable Carlos, and later converted to Roman Catholicism to being able to marry the daughter of a well-to-do family of Spanish and Dutch-English descent. Carlos Hahn was very successful as businessman, and in the 1870s even came to be the financial adviser of the Venezuelan President. Carlos and his wife Elena had many childrenâat least 12, from whom 9 lived to adulthood.
In 1874, their last son Reynaldo was born in Caracas. Only three years later, the family decided to escape political unrest (in near 150 years nothing has changed) and left for France. There, they counted with a wide circle of socially high-placed friends and acquaintances. Young Reynaldo grew up in Paris, developed early musical talents and was admitted in 1885 to the Paris Conservatory. He studied piano in the same class as Maurice Ravel and Alfred Cortot, and his composition teachers were Jules Massenet and Charles Gounod. Massenet would become Reynaldoâs lifelong friend and mentor. He presented his young pupil to Camille Saint-SaĂ«ns, with whom Reynaldo took private classes.
In the early 1890s Hahn met for the first time with Marcel Proust, and the still very young Hahn and Proust began a love affair that lasted two years, transforming itself later in a close friendship that lasted until Proustâs death in 1922.
Reynaldo was well received at the salons and social events of the bourgeois and artistic circles in Belle Ăpoque Paris. He was known foremost as composer of art songs, but he also dedicated time to chamber music, piano music, orchestral works and opera-opĂ©rette. In late 1896 he began a close friendship with the celebrated actress Sarah Bernhardt, for whom he composed music and with whom he even travelled to London.
In 1914, at the outbreak of World War 1, Hahn enlisted as volunteer and spent the next years in different military activities. After the war ended, Cortot named Hahn professor of interpretation and singing at the newly founded Ăcole Normal de Musique de Paris. During World War 2, Hahn hid in Monaco, and after 1945 came back to Paris where he was appointed Director of the Paris OpĂ©ra. He died in 1947, apparently from a cerebral tumor.
During his lifetime, his music was very popular, but after his death he and his music were soon forgotten. Only in recent years his music is being rediscovered, played and recorded. Here some albums to get acquainted with Reynaldo Hahnâs music:
Marie-Nicole Lemieux beautifully sings art songs from Belle Ăpoque France. Lâheure exquise is a poem by Paul Verlaine with music by Reynaldo Hahn. Track 16 contains a version of his best-known piece of musicâĂ Chloris.
Only in 2013 Hahnâs Violin Concerto was recorded and released for the first (and only?) time. The second movement, Chant dâAmour is extremely beautiful and lyrical.
Also in 2013, the Italian pianist Cristina Ariagno released a 4-CD set with the complete music for solo piano by Reynaldo Hahn.
I yesterday posted the recent Quatuor Tchalik release with quartets by Saint-SaĂ«ns. Thatâs how I found out about their 2020 releaseâa very well-received album with chamber music by Reynaldo Hahn. Of the several works covered, the most appealing is certainly the 1922 Piano Quartet. This is one not to be missed.
Even if the number of albums dedicated to music by Hahn is rather small, there is quite some music to be discovered o rediscovered. And Hahnâs life offers enough material for a very fine movieâŠ
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There is zero logic beyond I wanted to hear it, to my album selections.
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And what better reason do you need?
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Nothing much wrong with Skinhead o Connor!!
Good stuff
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Thatâs how I discover a lot of music. My theory is to just push play, either you are going to like it or not!
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Really good, kept my attention the whole way through!
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Bela Fleck is an amazing musician. The music in this album is not really Bluegrass. This a double album full of wonderful, complex compositions played by fantastic musicians that are playing instruments typically used for playing bluegrass. Check it out.
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When I heard this album for the first time, I was so impressed that I listened to nothing else for days. Itâs still one of my all time favorite albums.
Beautifully produced it, succeeds to be both, very melodic and very progressive.
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Added for later.
Thank you
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And to wind down for the night, I will listen once again to an album I enjoyed immensely last night.
O/Modernt is a Swedish chamber ensemble initiated by the violinist Hugo Ticciati. They design fanciful, eclectic and genre-crossing musical programs, both for their live presentations as for recorded albums. Check out their website, itâs quite something!
Founded in 2011, their debut album on Signum Classics was released in 2018, with music by Arvo PĂ€rt, Peteris Vasks, John Tavener, Indian classical music and pieces by George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Itâs two hours of relaxing listening pleasure, with a spacious sound which at times seems to be wrapping around the listener. Included in this album is the Peteris Vasks violin concerto TÄlÄ Gaisma (Distant Light), with Ticciati playing the solo part. I posted these days Daniel Rowlandâs version, and I think I like the rendering on this album here even better. I think that even listeners not specially devoted to classical music will enjoy this album. Itâs quite uniqueâŠ
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