# Tell Me A Story With Music: The Tone Poem



## itywltmt

En français

All this month on my _Friday Blog and Podcast_ I have been exploring the theme of _story telling_. Of course, the most popular form of story telling in music is the_ tone poem_, an invention that - as I explained in my post on _Symphonie Fantastique _ - in one of the key contributions of the Romantic era. A toine poem is, by definition, the _antithesis of form_, it is a pure musical canvas, used to paint a particular story, express emotions, all those things we routinely associate with story telling.

Today;s playlist merely proposes a handful of tone poems (or orchestral fantasies), spanning nearly 100 years.

Our journey begins with *Franz Liszt*, who musiologists claim to be the inventor of the genre. In a past Tuesday Blog, I proposed Liszt's finest tone poem, _Les préludes_. Today's playlist presents another of his creations, _Tasso_.

One has to believe that the next torch bearer for the genre has to have been *Richard Strauss*. Strauss composed a series of epic tone poems, some of them massive beyond compare (_Also Sprach Zarathustra_, _Ein Helkdenleben_) and others (composed early in his career) have become standards of the genre, including _Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks_, my choice for this week's playlist.

Not all works get the moniker Tone Poem, but they do fit the mold. One of these is the series of orchestral fantasies by *Tchaikovsky*: _Romeo and Juliet_, _The Tempest_, _Hamlet _- all of them featured on my Podcasts almost two years ago - and _Francesca da Rimini_, my selection for today. Francesca is a lengthy work for the genre (at almost 30 minutes) but packs quite a punch. This performance by Tchaikovsky conductor _extraordinaire _Evgenii Mravinski grabs you from the initial downbeat and doesn't let go until the bitter end.

There are quaint and simple tone poems, and we owe quite a few to *Camille Saint-Saëns*: his _Phaeton _and this one, _Omphale's Spinning Wheel_ illustrate that the genre doesn't need to go over-the-top (a la Strauss), that straight-forward and economical composing does just as good a job.

My final selection today is *Gershwin*'s tone poem _An American in Paris_, a work that has transcended the concert hall (thanks to Vicente Minelli and Gene Kelly). In researching for today's post, I encountered this nice fact-filled web page  that talks not only about the well-known back story to the work, but also discusses the story of the recording featured today, the world-premiere recording by Nathaniel Shilkret. I was amazed at how well the performance stacks up to the "modern" performances (Previn, Tilson-Thomas, ...). I'm especially impressed with some of the sound effects and, if you pay close attention, you will hear Gershwin himself playing the Celesta.

Happy Listening!

*PLAYLIST*​
*Franz LISZT (1811-1886)*
_Tasso: Lamento e Trionfo_, S.96
Leipzig Gewandhaus under Kurt Masur

*Pyotr Ilich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)*
_Francesca da Rimini_ (symphonic fantasy) in E-, Op.32 
Leningrad Philharmonic under Evgenii Mravinski

*Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)*
_Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche_, Op. 28, Trv 171 
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner

*Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)*
_Le Rouet d'Omphale_, symphonic poem in A, Op.31 
Orchestre du Conservatoire under Charles Munch

*George GERSHWIN (1898-1937)*
_An American in Paris_ (1928)
Victor Symphony Orchestra under Nathaniel Shilkret

_YouTube _Playlist @ http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6swnss9F7SF37xbrhw2RUNoeTePZnRhQ

*April 26 2013, "I Think You Will Love This Music Too" will feature a new podcast "C'est poétique" at its Pod-O-Matic Channel . Read more April 26 on the ITYWLTMT Blogspot blog.*


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