The Schumanns are probably the most famous pair of married composers, and most definitely the sappiest. Romantic sensibilities simply drip from nearly every note they wrote. Robert‘s sappy high-point is probably Dichterliebe (poet’s love); Clara‘s might be her Three Romances for Violin & Piano.

Clara was an all-around musical powerhouse with an extensive performing career and a long list of compositions to boot. Thanks to good-old-fashioned-19th-century sexism (not to mention the 20th and 21st centuries), her music is overshadowed by her husband’s – though I would argue that only an expert could pass the “pepsi challenge” and tell their music apart. Even more unfortunate is the fact that her music is overshadowed by inferior male composers of her time (Jacques Offenbach, for example, was born the same year as Clara …)

Sometimes my choice of music for this blog is sometimes based on the date or event (especially for important days, like Saturnalia), sometimes based on what is playing in my head, and sometimes based on a completely random train of thought. Today, it’s the third – a random train of thought.

Since this particular thought-train is perhaps a bit dark, I should explain. 9/11 has been on my mind (and all over the news), and I couldn’t help but ponder the events of that day. Acts of terrorism, mass death, airplanes, suicide attacks … and then, without intending it, I remembered a piano piece titled “Suicide in an Airplane”, by Leo Ornstein. Tasteless, yes, but that’s how the brain works sometimes. So that’s why today’s piece is by Ornstein – but a different piece, titled “Solitude”, which I hadn’t known before today.

Ornstein skyrocketed to fame in the 1910’s with his futurist piano works. Futurism was meant to bring about a sort of industrial revolution in music – shunning the old musical ways or traditional instruments and singable melodies, and looking to machines and factories for inspiration. Hence, “Suicide in an Airplane” sounds like a plane motor (propeller – this was 1918, after all) in takeoff. However, after this 15-minutes of fame, he returned to a conservative musical style, composing all the way into his 90s. “Solitude” is a lovely piece and a return to the impressionistic style found in Debussy‘s earlier piano works.

A while ago I wrote a post praising the music of Daniel Dorff – Dorff has composed music for a number of children’s tales for narrator and chamber orchestra. My kids simply adore the pieces, and love to listen to them in the car. More importantly, I adore the pieces because they are fun to hear and aren’t the typical “check your brain at the door” children’s music which quite frankly is the bane of my existence.

After spending many hours in the car with my two kids this summer, I want to take a few posts to highlight some of the music which has made those journeys a bit more enjoyable. Along with the Dorff CD, Bridge Records also has released a CD of the music of Stefan Wolpe which has another of our favorite musical tales. The story is similar to Pete Seeger‘s “Abiyoyo”, but the music is infinitely more interesting. Seeger’s tale is essentially two phrases of music that repeat ad nauseam. Wolpe, on the other hand, has written a 20-minute tone poem / opera. The narrator speaks the story while the piano paints the pictures; the characters have their own short arias; there are musical leitmotifs; the piano score is not simple – modern, but playful.

I think we adults are often foolish in believing that children are incapable of understanding or enjoying complex things. It’s a disservice to them to expose them only to Barney songs, rather than music that they can continue to enjoy now as well as when they are old and gray. So when the kids are whiny, put this on and everyone will be a little bit happier.