Spam Roundup December, 2019

There's spam, and then there's spam so oddly written it's somewhat amusing. Here's a roundup of some of the "best" comments I received this month from spambots around the world.

Say what?

Translations apps keep getting better and better. Except when they dont.

 - It's a pleasant article regarding media print, we all be familiar with media is a fantastic source of data. [Yes. Fantastic.]

 -   Do not leave out to countenance verbose product descriptions bequeath normally hold approaching to your computing device apace and decisively moving phones also stimulate an intention. [My intentions are already stimulated enough, thank you.]

 - Take 40-50 cherries and apples are all guilty of this crime to some of them, and exhale, floating in. [I wonder what crimes fruit might be guilty of.]

Remember: all the comments in this section were
supposedly inspired by my write-up of this green toy truck.

We continue "Lumbering along"

The Straco Express Layout, Part 23 - Lumbering Along is part of a much larger series about a modest little vintage tin toy display. Yet only this part attracts spambots. Why is that? 

 - As far as those of the jealous commenters, I would keep an open view next time because it only punishes you in the long run! [Yes, everyone's jealous of my deep knowledge of small vintage Japanese friction cars!]

 - Why viewers still make use of to read news papers when in this technological world all is presented on web? [That's right! You won't be reading about anything like this in the New York Times! Or even the Washington Times, come to think of it.]

 - You managed to hit the nail upon the top. [Maybe I should have filed this one in the previous section.]

Thought for the day

 - Your intersection and rearmost as chop-chop as potential.

Let's keep my rearmost out of this! 

That's a wrap for 2019. Here's hoping the new year will bring many decisively moving phones your way!

Jana Semerádová in fine form with Richter and Stamitz

I think the title of this release is just a little misleading. "Franz Xaver Richter, Johann Stamitz: Flute Concertos & Trios" suggests (to me) an album of two composers in equal measure.

Not so. This release has one flute concerto by Stamitz. The other five selections are all Richter. It's still a program of six well-crafted Roccoco works. The only folks who might be disappointed would be those hoping to add to their collection of Stamitz.

Richter was one of the founders of the Mannheim School. It represented a transition from the Baroque to the Classical period. Richter's music sometimes leans more towards the Baroque rather than to the Classical period.

Jana Semerádová delivers some fine concerto readings. Her playing is wonderfully nimble and expressive. Her nuanced phrasing makes Richter's Flute Concerto sound forward-looking. And her performance of  Johann Stamitz' Flute Concerto is just delightful.

Richter's Trio Sonata Op. 4 No. 1 is for two violins and basso continuo. This piece and the two harpsichord trios are late Baroque in style. Definitely more Handel than Haydn.

Overall, I found this release an interesting collection of music in transition. Well-recorded and well-performed.

Franz Xaver Richter, Johann Stamitz: Flute Concertos & Trios
Jana Semerádová, transverse flute; Ensemble Casto
Pan Classics PC 10406

#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalChristmas Week 4

Classical Christmas 2019 This marks the third year running that the Classics a Day team made Christmas music the December theme. I guess that makes it a tradition. When it comes to the music of the season, there's plenty to choose from. Since the 1100s composers have written sacred music for Advent and Christmas -- and plenty of songs and dances for the secular winter feasts, too.

The challenge is to post a classical work that's related to Christmas in some fashion. I further limited myself to selections I haven't posted before in December. As you'll see, there is more to holiday music than "Sleigh Ride" or "Messiah."

Here are my #ClassicsaDay posts for the fourth and fifth weeks of #ClassicalChristmas

12/22 Bob Chilcott - The Shepherd's Carol

Chilcott was a member of the King's Singers and turned to composition full time after leaving the ensemble. As might be expected, many of his works are choral compositions.

12/24 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sleigh Ride, K.605

This piece is part of "Three German Dances" published in 1791. Mozart wrote the set while serving a short-lived role as Imperial Chamber Composer to Emporer Joseph II.

12/25 Johann Heinrich Schmelzer: Sacro-Profanus Concentus Musicus: Sonata 12

Schmelzer's collection of concertos was published in 1662. Sonata 12, one of the "sacred" concertos, has become associated with Advent.

12/26 Claude Debussy: Des pas sur le neige

"Footprints in the Snow" is from Debussy's first book of Preludes (1909). The work is only 36 bars long, yet effectively paints an Impressionist picture of falling snow.

12/27 Andreas Hammerschmidt: Allelujah! Freuet euch, ihr Christem alle

Hammershmidt, the "Orpheus of Zittau," was one of the most popular Protestant composers of the early 1700s. Over 400 of his sacred works survive, including this Christmas motet.

12/30 PDQ Bach: Throw the Yule Long On, Uncle John

This carol comes from PDQ Bach's "A Consort of Choral Christmas Carols." If nothing else, it illustrates the importance of punctuation.

12/31 Roxanna Panufnik: A Tibetan Winter

This movement comes from Panufnik's 2007 work "Four World Seasons." Inspired by Vivaldi's work, Panufnik depicts each season in a different part of the world, using musical instruments from that region in her composition.

Karl Weigl Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6 -- Before and After

Austrian composer Karl Weigl was certainly steeped in the Viennese Post-Romantic style. He studied privately with Alexander Zemlinsky, and later with Robert Fuchs.

Weigl fled the Nazis in 1938, emigrating to the United States. Like many of exiled Viennese composers (such as Korngold), Weigl never quite moved past the boundaries set by Mahler.

The two symphonies in this release are both in Weigl's distinctive Post-Romantic style. Yet there are small but distinctive differences between them, perhaps reflecting changes circumstances.

The Symphony 4 in F minor was completed in 1936. Weigl was enjoying a successful career in Vienna, although that would soon begin to change. To me, the work greatly resembles Mahler's symphonies in the overall sound. The expansive melodies make big, dramatic gestures. The music has a gravitas that indicates this is serious stuff. And yet I'd characterize this as perhaps scaled-back Mahler. The scope just isn't quite as grand.

That's not a complaint. Weigl's music is well-constructed and does just what he means it to. The same is true of the 1947 Symphony No. 6. Weigl wrote this after the war, and two years before his death. Although he doesn't fully abandon tonality, the harmonies seem more abrasive.

The mood is much darker than that of the Fourth Symphony. Weigl's growth as a composer between the two symphonies is substantial. And hearing the two works back-to-back highlight that development.

The Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz performs these works well. Directed by Jürgen Bruns, the orchestra leans into the Viennese character of the music. In the Fourth Symphony, it shows the love Weigl had for his home. And in the acerbic Sixth Symphony, it becomes a deep longing for a time and place he can never return to.

Highly recommended.

Karl Weigl: Symphony Nos. 4 & 6 
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz; Jürgen Bruns, conductor 
Capriccio C5385 

Ecco la Musica performan Johann Samuel Welter cantatas credibly

Johann Samuel Welter is the only name on the cover of this release. But he's not the only composer features. The early music ensemble Ecco la Musica presents a varied program of music from 17th Century Germany. Five of Welter's choral cantatas are interspersed with instrumental works, by some of Welter's older contemporaries.

Welter's considered the most important choral composer between Michael Praetorius and Johann Sebastian Bach. The cantatas in this release showcase his artistry.

The works are mostly straightforward, with the four-square phrasing of hymn tunes. This aspect of their composition looks back to Praetorius.

At the same time, some of the choral passages are quite complex. And Welter is quite purposeful in his accompanying instruments. Those characteristics look ahead to Bach.

Directors Heike Hümmer and Matthias Sprinz opt for a small vocal ensemble of just five voices. It gives the works a lightness and clarity they might not otherwise have.  As soloists, all five singers have mellow deliveries that fit the music well.

Unfortunately, as an ensemble, they're not consistently together in their attacks. And with one voice to a part, there's nowhere to hide if the articulation isn't perfectly in sync.

The instrumental ensemble fairs considerably better -- especially with the other works. Paul Hainlein, Johann Nicolai, Johann Schmelzer, and Antonio Bertali are all represented.

The makeup for each work varies, providing some nice contrasts with the program. Hainlein's  Sonata à 5 Battallia ex C features the full ensemble in a work that resembles Giovanni Gabrielli's instrumental compositions.

Johann Nicolai's Sonata 14 à 2 features three violins along with basso continuo. It's a much more expressive work, with plenty of give-and-take between the three soloists.

I did enjoy this release. When the full complement of winds and brass back the vocal ensemble, the sound is inspirational. Overall, I can recommend this release for lovers of German Baroque music.

Johann Samuel Welter: Gott sey uns gnädig
Choral Cantatas
Ecco la Musica; Heike Hümmer & Matthias Sprinz, directors
Christophorus