Incidentally Speaking

December 12, 2012, 7:00 pm

Share this Post

Bill articulates how music propels dramatic action and sustains poignant moments in performing arts. “Incidental music” may be a misnomer. It started with Greek dramas but, as Bill explains, music often plays a pivotal if not starring role. Example: in the opening scene of the play Moderen (The Mother) by Helge Rode, Nielsen’s two-minute “The Fog is Lifting” drives the tableau of a mother leaving her son. Works by Fauré, Mendelssohn, Debussy, and others are equally compelling.


Playlist

Episode 1

Strauss: The Fencing Master fr. Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
(excerpt)
CSO/Reiner
RCA 68637
1:19

Mozart: Thamos, Koenig in Aegypten, K. 345 (excerpts)
Sinfonia Varsovia/Krivine
Denon 75372
16:55

Sibelius: Pelléas et Méllisande, Op. 46
Berlin Philharmonic/Karajan
DG 410 026
31:24

Nielsen: The Fog is Lifting
Galway, fl.; Williams, hp.
RCA 21296
2:10

Episode 2

Fauré: Pelleás et Mélisande Suite
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Marriner
Argo 410552
16:57

Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61: Overture & Incidental Music
BSO & Tanglewood Festival Chorus/Ozawa; Battle, s.; von
Stade, ms.; Dench, nar.
DG 439 897
11:52 & 21:03

Episode 3

Purcell: Music from The Gordian Knot Unty’d, Z. 597
La Stravaganza Köln
Denon 81757 9250 2
12:40

Sullivan: Macbeth(excerpts)
Dublin RTE Concert Orchestra & Ireland National Chamber Choir/Penny
Marco Polo 8.223635
15:25

Elgar: The Starlight Express, Op. 78 (excerpts)
LPO/Handley; Masterson, s.; Hammon-Stroud, bar.
EMI 69891
23:10

Episode 4

Anon: Folias Antiguas (excerpt)
Hesperion XXI/Savall
Alia Vox
1:07

Beethoven: Overture & Incidental Music to Egmont
Orchestra of St. Luke’s/Davies; Gessendorf, s.
EMI 49927
7:29, 13:15

Debussy: Le martyre de Saint Sébastien (excerpts)
New York Phil. & Choral Arts Society of New York/Bernstein;
Weaver, Montealegre, Addison, Babikian, Kleinman &
Simon, soloists.
Sony 60596
25:59

Episode 5

De La Halle: Robin m’aime
Les Menestriers Picards
Calliope 9512
1:48

Lully: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (excerpts)
Le Concert des Nations/Savall
Alia Vox 9807
:46, 8:14

Strauss: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Op. 60 (excerpts)
CSO/Reiner
RCA 68637
:23, 20:35

Gianono: Small Craft Warnings
unreleased
3:15

Gianono: Ethereal Trumpet fr. A Very Slippery Slope
Drewes, tpt.
unreleased
2:27

Grieg: Peer Gynt, Op. 23 (excerpts)
Oslo Philharmonic/Salonen; Hendricks, s.
CBS 44528
10:17