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#1

The Diner / Re: What TV series are you cur...

Last post by DavidW - Today at 09:35:30 AM

I also finished S1 of Foundation.  I thought it was great.  I know I read them so long ago, if it was fresh I might have been mad... but those short stories and novellas have clever ideas but not much in the way of character development and depth.  I think the changes for the adaptation were necessary to make a tv show out of it, and I feel like ultimately it honors the themes and tone of the trilogy... but keep in mind that it has been a long time since I read it.

There is only one thing which is the violation of the three laws of robotics.  I do know that the last robot in the books adhered to the zeroth law which allowed him to do that, but that has not been addressed in the show.

#2

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Ihre Favourite Winterreise

Last post by Mandryka - Today at 08:51:40 AM

Gute Nacht is the only long strophic song in the cycle but it has the last stanza in the major. The others are shorter and/or have more contrasts within (e.g. Die Post, Frühlingstraum). (I think the best option is variation within a mostly strophic form like in "Der Lindenbaum".)
Müllerin has more simple strophic songs, I think, and begins with a fairly trite strophic one ("Das Wandern" became a folksy popular song in Germany, although with a slightly changed melodic line), although the only long one is the last one (Des Baches Wiegenlied) where it might fit better.

This requires some creativity of the singer and the accompanist to make little differences "speak". E.g in Gute Nacht the "disappointed hope" in the first 2 returns to minor after major (eg. verses 7+8  vs. 5+6) and of course the last stanza in major.

Benjamin Appl is particularly striking in the strophic songs in Winterreise I think. Exceptional performance all-round, more dramatic than I suggested in my comments on it above.

#3

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: CPO diaries

Last post by Brian - Today at 08:36:26 AM

Usually I read through CPO's booklets for this diary, but Qobuz didn't upload this one.  Wilhelm Berger lived from 1861-1911 and seems to have been heavily influenced by the German romantic mainstream. The Konzertstuck is a 30-minute one-movement piano concerto in a seemingly gigantic sonata form, that starts quietly and peacably and takes on occasional Brahmsian sounds and qualities (influenced especially by the major-key material from the first movement of Brahms' First Concerto). I thought it was reasonably entertaining, and although generally not too dramatic, it does have a grand flourish for an ending.

The Symphony No. 1 is a 45-minute pastoral work in B flat. I'd say it's "epic", but only in length - there's really nothing challenging or unusual or especially interesting in the span of the piece. It's just nice, agreeable background music, in the mid-romantic style of Bruch, Joachim Raff, or Johann Svendsen (though I definitely prefer the much more tuneful and youthful Svendsen symphonies). The fact that Berger's lifespan is almost exactly the same as Mahler's is remarkable because they sound like they come from different centuries. But again, it was very pleasant and cheerful and I used it as background music while getting some work done. A few years after this, Berger wrote his Symphony No. 2 in B minor; one has to assume CPO will record this shortly, along with his other orchestral work, a theme and variations.

This strikes me as a perfect "average" of a CPO recording: well played, well recorded renditions of music that is forgotten for good reason, but pleasant enough to revisit and play in the background.

After my encounter with Wilhelm Berger, I decided of course the natural next thing to do would be...



I can't remember if I've heard this music before, but if so, it was way back in 2008 or 2009, when my university library had copies of every CPO CD. Peterson-Berger was a Swedish composer strongly influenced by the high romantic influences of both Wagner and nationalism (especially Grieg). He wrote folksy Swedish-inspired things, several volumes of Lyric Pieces-like piano miniatures, and a series of large symphonies. In later life he became a music critic who deplored modernism and serialism, and lived alone on an island house with, according to Wikipedia, "his butler and his cats."

Symphony No. 1 is surprisingly like Wilhelm Berger's Symphony No. 1: about 40 minutes long, in B flat, with an epic structure that is mostly pastoral in actual sound. However, Peterson-Berger starts to reveal difference as the music moves along. His heroic tale has movement subtitles like "Between the feuds," and his orchestra is larger, with especially strong parts for trombones and tuba, plus some added percussion. This lends solemn heft to passages about "strife" and the hero's death. The finale ("Toward new beginnings") is more folksy and light, with a glittering conclusion. All in all, it's an entertaining piece.

The suite Last Summer is a half-hour sequence of pretty late-romantic nature pictures, sometimes with rather evocative impressionist scoring (like the piano and harp in the final piece, "Mountain Stream"). It sounds like it could have been written for an early movie. Because of the form, there's not really a narrative - just a sequence of colorful episodes. Peterson-Berger's orchestration is expert. I rather liked it.

Symphony No. 2 begins where the First left off, with a similarly mystical/spiritual feeling to the introduction. The main allegro has a more down-to-earth feeling, and I really like the dancing, tuba-thumping second subject around the 5' mark, which then slips into love-scene-type music. This is a symphony where the colors are so vivid and bold that you can imagine your own program. (My partner likes to imagine a movie in her head when she's at the symphony, and this piece would be good for that.)

The second movement starts with an absolutely delicious "exotic" episode full of pealing horns, clapping tambourine, and (yes) xylophone solos! This portion is structured like one of the big Mahler scherzos, with fundamentally a classical structure, but adding lots of little mini-episodes and bonus bits in between the traditional A-B-A. At three minutes, the main party subject suddenly yields to a slow episode and at 7', a wild new harmony arrives with glockenspiel and bass clarinet. At 10' we get confirmation of the structure when the scherzo returns, this time developed in new directions with new ideas. (I think...my memory isn't that good anymore  ) This movement is an absolute epic, and it builds to a sizzling finish that sounds like a cross between Rimsky-Korsakov and Nielsen in the best possible way.

After all that exuberance, it's no surprise that the finale begins slowly and calmly. The peace lasts for only about two minutes, after which Peterson-Berger reprises fast material in a more traditional, conventional romantic language. It's as if he's saying "we're back from the exotic climates now." The symphony ends with a rather questing, slow-but-intimidating tone that sounds rather like a beginning instead of an ending. (It's a quiet ending!) Maybe he's preparing us for Chapter 3 in his symphonic odyssey. Overall, this is a very interesting work I'll return to several more times, one that reminds me somewhat of the big Stenhammar masterpieces, and one that has an interesting structure with all the fun stuff packed into the middle.

After this, the second CD is rounded out with three short works. The Romance is a 12-minute violin and orchestra piece with a similar heroic/mythic tone. The violinist gets to sound bold and extroverted and romantic, and the center of the piece offers some of the tenderness and lyricism you'd expect from the title. Having the great Ulf Wallin around to play this short piece is like having Christopher Walken pop in to read two lines of your movie. Must be nice!

The short pieces that end the CD, an "Oriental Dance" and processional march-like opera prelude with occasional wedding-march feelings, are nice light fluff with glittering orchestration.

The opening gesture of Symphony No. 3 is not promising. It's a very short three-note cell and makes me think "there's going to be a whole symphony about this?" But then the orchestration - including a very prominent piano - starts to pull things in a more mysterious, less predictable direction. I'll be honest - I know for many GMGers No. 3 is their favorite Peterson-Berger symphony, but for about 15 minutes I got distracted working and forgot to take any notes. The symphony does have cyclical elements, as that opening gesture returns in the finale's development, but I did feel like WPB's imagination was more limited here compared to No. 2, in terms of structure, harmony, and orchestration. The quiet ending seems abrupt.

The Earina Suite is a 20-minute romantic chunk that also finds WPB becoming more conservative in his melodies, harmonies, and soundworld. It's pleasant, but instantly forgettable. The Chorale & Fugue is quite nice and short, with the chorale delivered by brass.

I'll resume the cycle with interest in weeks to come (there are five symphonies) - for now, going to change up my listening diet with something baroque.

[Hindemith, Paul]

#4

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by SonicMan46 - Today at 08:35:26 AM

Hindemith, Paul - well, coming toward the end of my collection with the works below for today's listening - Dave

 

#5

The Diner / Re: Last Movie You Watched

Last post by Karl Henning - Today at 08:20:34 AM

Also taking The Eye of Sauron literally annoys me and shows marked superficial reading of the book.

Heartily agreed.

#6

Composer Discussion / Re: Mozart

Last post by Pohjolas Daughter - Today at 08:03:43 AM

I'm enjoying the performance.  It's apparently with Charles Hazlewood and the Mozart Collective.

PD

#7

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Que - Today at 07:34:51 AM

#8

The Diner / Re: Non-Classical Music Listen...

Last post by steve ridgway - Today at 07:24:49 AM

I have almost nothing to offer the World and vice versa.

Just don't confuse the World with the human race .

#9

Composer Discussion / Re: Mozart

Last post by San Antone - Today at 07:22:49 AM

A couple days ago I listened to this album:



And I really appreciated how much more intense and dramatic the 20th becomes in a driven, PI performance.  This isn't polite music at tea time.  This is storming the heavens!  I loved it.

I like that set, as well those by Bilson, Immerseel, Levin, and Sofronitsky.  About all I listen to for Mozart and Haydn are PI recordings.

#10

GMG News / Re: Bug Report 2024

Last post by Karl Henning - Today at 07:12:01 AM

Site rather logy at present.