What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Antoine Marchand]

I guess you did miss my point then.  Berlioz couldn't help but be influenced by Mozart, they were both great opera composers.  Yet their music is not similar.  Similarly Bach couldn't help but be inspired by Buxtehude, yet the middle baroque era is just as different from the high baroque era as the classical era is from the romantic era.

Do you understand now?

I understand, but I believe you are thinking on the basis of wrong categories, David.

Your categories "middle Baroque" (Buxtehude) and "high Baroque" (Bach) don't have any sense in this particular case (if really they have sense at all). If you pretend that differences between Buxtehude and Bach are that large as the differences between Mozart and Berlioz or the Romantics in general, probably you need to re-think the point.

I think these two recordings illustrate my point (both of them available on NML, the first one with excellent liner notes about this theme):

[Brian]

Coleridge-Taylor's violin concerto is wonderful.


First Listen Friday

STRAVINSKY | The Firebird (1945 suite)
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Kristjan Jarvi
LIVE online webcast JUST STARTING HERE

At least I think I've never heard The Firebird before!

[The new erato]

At least I think I've never heard The Firebird before!

Yet you know Coleridge-Taylor's violin concerto....the mind boggles!

[DavidW]

Keep listening Antoine, and try doing it without any distractions and maybe, just maybe you'll hear the differences between those two composers.  I really can't help you out anymore, you simply have to set your bias aside and do some quality listening.

[Marc]

Klaas Jan Mulder playing baroque on the Schnitger-organ in Zwolle, NL.
A.o. Bach (and sons) and Krebs.

Not a first pick, but a nice disc to start the weekend with!

[Brian]

Yet you know Coleridge-Taylor's violin concerto....the mind boggles!

Well, at a minimum, I've heard the final movement!

[The new erato]

IRGENS-JENSEN, LUDVIG Heimferd Soloists, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Choir, Ole Ruud Simax 2cds

A magnificent oratorio on the christening of Norway. Irgens-Jensen is a major composer, no doubt.

[The new erato]

Well, at a minimum, I've heard the final movement!

The other two movements are pretty nice as well; though overall I don't think it reaches the heights of his Piano Quintet.

[Brian]

Heh. I like the quotes Stravinsky deploys. Back-to-back he quotes Balakirev's Islamey and Rimsky-Korsakov's Night on Mount Triglav. I guess this section is meant to be a highlight reel of his Russian Romantic influences?

(Yeah, I love the second movement.)

[Brian]

First Listen Friday

STRAVINSKY | The Firebird (1945 suite)
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Kristjan Jarvi

Heh. I like the quotes Stravinsky deploys. Back-to-back he quotes Balakirev's Islamey and Rimsky-Korsakov's Night on Mount Triglav. I guess this section is meant to be a highlight reel of his Russian Romantic influences?

(Yeah, I love the second movement.)

Okay, that was awesome.

Second Listen Sfriday

STRAVINSKY | The Firebird (1945 suite)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Gunter Wand

Back-to-back!

[bhodges]

Okay, that was awesome.

Second Listen Sfriday

STRAVINSKY | The Firebird (1945 suite)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Gunter Wand

Back-to-back!

Glad you are grooving on it!  It's a fabulous piece.

--Bruce

[The new erato]

Heh. I like the quotes Stravinsky deploys. Back-to-back he quotes Balakirev's Islamey and Rimsky-Korsakov's Night on Mount Triglav. I guess this section is meant to be a highlight reel of his Russian Romantic influences?

(Yeah, I love the second movement.)

At some point he even quotes Frank Zappa.

[prémont]

It's a good pretext to post this video (several known faces there):

http://www.youtube.com/v/8ow0EbXVbpM

Ton Koopman (Conductor)
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

I suppose you think of Koopman´s many faces?

[SonicMan46]

For piano versions of the WTC, it's hard to beat Woodward.  I've been listening a lot to his set along with the piano sets from Tureck and Koroliov; these three are currently my favorites.

Don - really like the Woodward; also have Jill Crossland on the Signum label - enjoyable set for me.

As a 'change of pace', I'd be curious if you have heard Tuma on the clavichord?   

[SonicMan46]

Couple of more new arrivals in the last few days:

Rolla, Alessandro (1757-1841) - Viola Concertos w/ Merlini & Bruno on Tactus - my first exposure to this long lived composer, performer, and conductor at La Scala for many years; need to explore more of his works! 

Gliere, Reinhold (1875-1956) - Symphony No. 3 - Ilya Muromets w/ Downes & BBC PO - also a first listening to the orchestral output of this Ukrainian composer (just have a disc of chamber works) - both of these discs are enjoyable and beautifully recorded - I particularly enjoyed the viola works of Rolla - 

 

[Sid]

Regarding Buxtehude as "the Danish Bach," I was quoting a friend, who said he read this somewhere. Perhaps it's not a widely held view, but I thought it was an apt comparison (but my knowledge of Baroque music is not as refined as some members here)...

Thread duty:

Martinu: Piano Concertos 3 & 5 "Fantasia Concertante," Concertino for piano & orch.
Giorgio Koukl, pno./Bohuslav Martinu PO/Arthur Fagen
(Naxos)



I bought this disc a few months ago, and thought I'd give it a listen last night. I have known the 5th concerto for 20 years, I still have an old Supraphon recording on tape of it. The other two I had not heard before. The notes say that Brahms was an influence on Martinu when he wrote these concertos, and the way in which the piano and orchestra are equally important protagonists makes me agree with that opinion. Bachian counterpoint is kind of torn to shreds in the middle slow movement of the 3rd concerto (& I also hear similarities here with Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasilieras No. 3 for piano & orchestra in that regard) & the corresponding movement of the Concertino opens with the piano playing a melody that sounds like the opening of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It's interesting how many Czech composers seemed to have been hugely inspired by the Germans - Smetana by Wagner, Dvorak by Brahms and Martinu by J. S. Bach, Beethoven & Brahms. But they all sounded quite Czech as well. Some of the orchestral bits in this music sounds quite filmic & probably would not be out of place in The Lord of the Rings or something like that. I'm quite sure film composers like Howard Shore would be familiar with Martinu. It's also interesting how all three concertos end with an orchestral flourish. Martinu seemed to like to repeat himself in some ways, sometimes I find this a tad annoying, but 90 per cent of the time it doesn't stop me from liking his music. There are some ingenious and even brilliant ideas here for sure & I will listen to this throughout the coming week. Pianist Giorgio Koukl, who was born in the former Czechoslovakia & now lives in Switzerland, is apparently the foremost expert in this repertoire, having studied with guys like Rudolf Firkusny (to whom Martinu's 3rd concerto was dedicated)...

[PaulR]

Symphony #2

Good evening everyone.

[not edward]

This little package arrived this morning:



Starting off with the chamber and chamber orchestra disc; following up with the songs disc. It's a great reminder that sometimes with Stravinsky, less means more.

[Antoine Marchand]

I suppose you think of Koopman´s many faces?

It's true, Koopman makes a lot of funny faces when he's directing. 

And he has a multiFACEtic personality as director and performer. But I was thinking in the well-known musicians of his orchestra, you know, Andrew Manze, Jaap ter Linden, Marc Ponseele, etc.

[Antoine Marchand]

CD1: Piano Concertos No 1 & 2