Track by track 115 Remember Mozart/Hurkey Turkey

Archive number: 115

Title: Remember Mozart/Hurkey Turkey

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 3

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 04:02

Composer: van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano, keyboard, flute, voice; Niels van der Steenhoven – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Pierre van der Linden - Drums

Producer: Bobby Jacobs and Thijs van Leer

Engineer: Han Nuijten

Label: Red Bullet

Date of recording/release: Summer 2006

Alternative version: None

Notes: Following a drum beat there is a slow, deliberate introduction led by a five note guitar, bass and piano riff, more or less repeated eight or nine times (01:00-0024). Next comes a more tuneful section, hailed by a Mozartian trill and featuring the flute along with the band and harpsichord-like keyboards (from 00:25). This goes on until 01:12 when first the guitar then the keyboard (01:13-01:17) re-introduce the opening theme backed this time by van Leer's improvised flute (01:18-01:40). This leads to the central motif, van Leer's piano and band backed voice, based on the famous Mozart piece Alla Turca (hence the titles). That sections ends at 02:16 (slowing down before speeding up again from 02:02). At 02:17 the opening intro is played in slightly lengthened form for the third and last time, backed this time by squealing and wild electric guitars. At 02:52 we come out again with the tuneful and flute dominated second section broken up only by two brief sections on what sounds like acoustic guitar and keyboard (03:12 03:23) and keyboard with flute (03:41-03:46). The piece ends with a note from the flute.

The third movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K 331 (300i) (from WIkipedia) is a sonata in three movements:

1. Andante grazioso — a theme with six variations 2. Menuetto — a minuet and trio 3. Alla Turca: Allegretto in A minor and major.

All the movements are in the key of A major or A minor; therefore, the work is homotonal. A typical performance of the entire sonata takes about 20 minutes.

It is uncertain where and when Mozart composed it; however, Vienna or Salzburg around 1783 is currently thought to be most likely.

The last movement, Alla Turca, popularly known as the Turkish Rondo or Turkish March, is often heard on its own and is one of Mozart's best-known piano pieces. It imitates the sound of Turkish Janissary bands, the music of which was much in vogue at that time. Various other works of the time imitate this music, including Mozart's own opera The Abduction from the Seraglio.

Repeated notes, repeated ornaments, and loud/soft passages are characteristic of the Alla turca style. The imitation probably came closer with the piano of Mozart's day, whose bass strings made something of a rattle when played loudly, than is possible on modern pianos.

In Mozart's time, the last movement was sometimes performed on pianos built with a "Turkish stop", allowing it to be embellished with extra percussion effects.

Moreover, this third movement is implicitly related to the first one, because the beginning of the "Rondo" can be seen as an additional variation of the "Tema" of the first movement, varied in the Janissary style.

Thijs van Leer: the classical element

van Leer on stage with Letty de Jong 1974

Van Leer grew up in a family where classical music was prominent. He himself studied first under piano soloist Maria Stroo and then learned Bach and Mozart under Karel Hilversum. His two brothers (Frank and Maarten) have forged careers in music, chiefly of the classical variety.
As with the religious element, the classical element in Thijs van Leer's music is quite prominent. In a previous article on Jan Akkerman we outlined the elements of Bach, Bartok and Rodrigo in the live act and on vinyl in Anonymus (In and Out of); Eruption (Moving Waves); Hamburger Concerto (especially Starter), Birth and Delitae Musicae (Hamburger Concerto); Father Bach (Mother Focus); P’s March and Spake the Lord Creator (Ship of Memories). It is difficult to know how far to go looking for such things. Van Leer admits in one place that the middle line of Focus 1 is lifted from a Schubert theme. The distinctive opening notes of Focus 3 are the opening notes of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 in reverse. Coincidence or not?

On post-Akkerman albums by Focus the classical element comes out most obviously on the Live at the BBC album, which includes a solo flute arrangement of a Bach Sonata and on the Focus 9 track Remember Mozart, which utilises the Alla turca from Piano Sonata No 11. (Mozart also features on a track by that name on the album Hommage aan Rogier van Otterloo). Again, however, there could be more. One fan detects strains of the first movement of Brahms' String Sextet (Op 18) at the beginning of Tokyo Rose and Brother (both on Focus con Proby).
Here we want to focus chiefly on the solo output and the most obvious place to begin is with the Introspection series, which began in 1972 while van Leer was still very much part of Focus. I remember getting the initial album as a 15 year old and, though not the sort of teenager who bought classical music, being quite impressed with it. I liked the line in the sleeve notes that said of van Leer 'meanwhile he studied the History of Art, took lessons in harmony and counterpoint at the Amsterdam Conservatory and painted many pictures'. Could this be the same man as the one who played on Hocus Pocus? Clearly a genius.
On reflection, this is very light classical music for the most part and van Leer never got any deeper. The first album includes orchestral rearrangements of Focus 1 and Focus 2, the delightful Introspection and Rondo by composer and arranger Rogier van Otterloo (1941-1988), the delightful Pavane (op 50) by Faure and two pieces from Bach (from the Mass in B minor, BWV 232 and the St Matthew Passion, BWV 244). Letty de Jong's voice and the whole set is quite charming. This is perhaps the best of the Introspection albums.
In this same period another track was recorded that appears on an obscure 1973 compilation album Metamorphose. It is entitled Siciliana and is again by Bach. Subsequent Introspection albums (2, 3, 4 and '92) continued in the same vein with Focus 3-5 plundered, the Introspection series extended to four and the Rondo one to three. Other non-classical tracks given the treatment include Mild Wild Rose, Carmen Elysium (P's March), Le Tango, Brother and Song for Eva, which was used as a TV Theme and Rondeau des Enfants (for UNICEF). More straightforwardly, classical raids were made on Baroque composers Albinoni, Bach (at least 7 tracks), Giazotto, Gluck, Handel, Purcell, Scarlatti, Stölzel and Teleman as well as Mozart, Schubert, Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801), Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845-1924) and Enrique Granados (1867-1916) and Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880).
Other albums have included classical work. For example, the 1981 album Reflections had several classical style pieces and included contributions from Bach, Telemann, Brahms and Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858-1919). Later versions on CD added the popular Bolero by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). The 1986 album Renaissance though not orchestrated has a classical feel and includes yet more Bach. Bach gets a similarly more updated treatment on the 1999 anniversary album Bach for a new age which revisits some of the tracks already attempted.
As for orchestral arrangements, these are also employed on two or three albums of hymns (including Instrumental hymns [also issued as 12 Mooiste Liederen] and The glorious album) and one of show tunes (Musical Melody). The first track on the second of these albums is Rule Britannia by Thomas Arne (1710-1788) a great favourite at the last night of the proms in London. Classical arrangements can also be found on the four Christmas albums (where Bach again features) and the very Dutch Geluckig is het land. On the second Christmas album opera star Elly von Ameling features.
Since 2004 the only obvious classical influence in the Focus repertoire has been on Talk of the Clown (Focus X) based on a work by the English composer James Hook (1746-1827).

Clearly then the classical influence is quite strong though it is only part of the mix.

Jan Akkerman: the classical element 2

Tabernakel (1973), Akkerman's third solo album, is again diverse but has several classical elements. On Javeh and Lammy, especially the Amen, the classical input is strong and never far away. However, it is again on the lute tracks that it is most obvious. There are three tracks by John Dowland (1663-1626), ‘the greatest lutenist of his age’. The album opens with Britannia (the track played at the Rainbow) and features an orchestra and rhythm section. We also have two galliards (quick and lively Elizabethan dances), The earl of Derby, his galliard and another, simply here called A galliard. Dowland is revisited on track three of the later Live at the Priory for Heavy Sleep (better known as Come, heavy sleep). The second Tabernakel track is Coranto for Mrs. Murcott by Francis Pilkington (c1565-1638), on solo lute. We also have a galliard from Anthony Holborne (c1584-1602). His Last Will and Testament later features towards the end of the Lammy suite. An Elizabethan courtier, Holborne was possibly a lawyer and cultured well beyond the confines of music. He was also involved in diplomatic missions on behalf of Elizabeth’s secretary of state, Sir Robert Cecil. His best known publication was his Pavans, Galliards, Almains and other short Aeires published 1599, just three years before his premature death. The other two solo lute tracks on Tabernakel are A pavan (a more stately Elizabethan dance form) by Elizabethan composer, businessman and spy Thomas Morley (1557-1602), no doubt from his book of lute pieces The first book of ayres and A fantasy by the Italian Laurencini of Rome (c1550-1608).

The self-titled 1977 Jan Akkerman album features more jazz than classical music. The title Pavane, however, shows where Jan had been musically and Gate to Europe, featuring acoustic guitar and strings, is in classical vein. Something similar could be said of the album Eli made with Kaz Lux in 1976.

In 1978 Jan made an album with the German classical arranger and composer Claus Ogerman (1930-2016). Later bearing various titles, the album was originally called Aranjuez. That title drew attention to the opening track – the adagio from the Concierto de Aranjuez by blind Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999), an inevitable choice perhaps. Other classical composers featured are Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959). Author of over 2000 works, this experimental Brazilian composer drew on folk music and many diverse sources. Here Jan plays The Prelude from Modinha and The seed of God from Magdalena. Track four on the album is by 17th Century guitarist and composer Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710). He published one of the earliest books on guitar playing in 1694, Espanoleta. That track is followed by Pavane pour une infante defunte, an early work (1899) originally for piano, by French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937).

In the seventies Akkerman also performed with the classical guitarist Paco de Lucia (1947-2014) but after 1978 there was perhaps something of a retreat from classical themes, although one does find it, for example, in Valdez on Pleasure Point (1981) and on the 1987 album Heartware in Winterborn Lyric and Firenze. It comes out, less obviously in Prima Donna from Art of Noise (1990), which is apparently about the opera singer Maria Callas (1923-1977).

With the release of the excellent Focus in Time in 1997 we return to classical themes big time. The opening track, Home voyage and the closing track I’ll find my own way home (the sleeve notes describe it as 'Acid Bach') are based on parts of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) and Well Tempered Clavier 1 (BWV 846-869). Three other classical composers are also plundered. Aprés un Rêve (Op 7 No 1) written in 1877 is adapted from French composer and organist Gabriel-Urbain Fauré (1845-1924) as is Elegy (from Op 20). The song for Akkerman’s daughter Laurie Anne is adapted from Norwegian Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) and Leading me there from W A Mozart (1756-1791). (Jan himself told me how he inadvertently sent the late Rick van der Linden who features on the track, on a wild goose chase looking for the air in the works of Bach instead of Mozart!). Wildflower,  Akkerman’s own composition, also has something of a classical air.

The unplugged guitar album Live at the Priory, issued the following year, has many classical pieces. Wildflower is conjoined with the charming Altogether … Oh that! from Mother Focus. We have mentioned the Dowland piece. Le Clochard is prefaced by the appropriate Classical gas, a hit for Mason Williams back in 1968. Firenze is partnered by the jazz standard Autumn Leaves.

Some of these tracks feature on the 1999 unplugged studio album Passion. In addition there is the Bach derived title track best known through the hymn O sacred head sore wounded; two tracks from Anthony Holborne (Countess of Pembrook’s Paradise and Muy Linda) and the anonymous piece labelled Knight of the Lute. The distinctive final track includes part of the Liebestraum (No 3) by Franz Liszt (1811-1886). Written around 1847 it is his most famous piece. We are not talking about straight classical music, of course. Far from it. I'm thankful for that.

Studio albums since 2004 have rarely strayed into classical territroy. The track Passagaglia on Close Beauty would be an example. A rare item from 2006 called Fadoman includes nods to Rahcmaninov, Chopin and perhaps others.