Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

[Mirror Image]

I am severely out of compliance . . . I've still not yet listened to Peer Gynt : (

Say it ain't so, Karl, say it ain't so!

[Mirror Image]

I bought some more (gulp) Schnittke but I have heard these Chandos recordings are much better performed than the BIS recordings:

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[snyprrr]

I bought some more (gulp) Schnittke but I have heard these Chandos recordings are much better performed than the BIS recordings:

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I sure wish their 6 & 7 were together like on BIS. I'm sure it's this BIS that Schnittke didn't want his name on, but, I don't know,... is it really that bad? How can I tell? Who has both?

[Karl Henning]

 Quote from: Mirror Image on Today at 12:16:34 AM

I bought some more (gulp) Schnittke but I have heard these Chandos recordings are much better performed than the BIS recordings[....]

 
I've nos. 4, 6 & 7 of that lot, John. So I do heartily (and musically) approve : )  I should start with the Fourth, but then,  I am a sucker for Schnittke's choral writing, which draws so heavily from the Russian Orthodox liturgical choral tradition.

Greg, I don't recall where you asked the question where you should start . . . I am half inclined to suggest starting with the Fourth or the Concerto for Choir.

[TheGSMoeller]

Quote from: Mirror Image on Today at 12:16:34 AM

I bought some more (gulp) Schnittke but I have heard these Chandos recordings are much better performed than the BIS recordings[....]

 
I've nos. 4, 6 & 7 of that lot, John. So I do heartily (and musically) approve : )  I should start with the Fourth, but then,  I am a sucker for Schnittke's choral writing, which draws so heavily from the Russian Orthodox liturgical choral tradition.

Greg, I don't recall where you asked the question where you should start . . . I am half inclined to suggest starting with the Fourth or the Concerto for Choir.

It took me a while to figure out where I first posted also, Karl.
Got a few suggestions from Jens, and now with your  Fourth or the Concerto for Choir pics I have plenty to begin with. And a nice eclectic group of symphonic, choral and concerto.
Thanks a bunch.

[Karl Henning]

Jens's suggestion of the Viola Concerto is sound, to be sure. And dang it, I don't know the Faust Cantata . . . .

[Lethevich]

@TheGSMoeller:

Do you like chamber music? His string (or piano) trio, piano quintet and SQ2 are all worthy and fairly accessable.

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The former has quite a few makeweights, but in the major works are very good recordings.

[Sergeant Rock]

I don't know the Faust Cantata . . . .

Here is Mephisto's great aria, Es geschah, a demented tango, both thrilling and chilling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR78SQeRiC4

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

I've nos. 4, 6 & 7 of that lot, John. So I do heartily (and musically) approve : )  I should start with the Fourth, but then,  I am a sucker for Schnittke's choral writing, which draws so heavily from the Russian Orthodox liturgical choral tradition.

Thanks, Karl. I'm actually going to start with the 2nd because even in the BIS series this work intrigued me.

[Karl Henning]

 Quote from: Sergeant Rock on Today at 01:40:35 PM

Here is Mephisto's great aria,

Es geschah, a demented tango, both thrilling and chilling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR78SQeRiC4

Sarge

 
A demented Tango (even if not in Boston): what's not to like?

[Karl Henning]

 Quote from: Mirror Image on Today at 02:04:49 PM

Thanks, Karl. I'm actually going to start with the 2nd because even in the BIS series this work intrigued me.

    That's cool. I don't believe I know the Second at all.

[Mirror Image]

That's cool. I don't believe I know the Second at all.

It's a choral symphony, Karl. It's subtitle is St. Florian as it was inspired by the composer's visit there.

[Mirror Image]

Bought two more Schnittke recordings one praised by Karl and the other to add to the Polyansky pile I have coming:

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Edit: I really want Frank Strobel's Schnittke film music recordings too.

[TheGSMoeller]

@TheGSMoeller:

Do you like chamber music? His string (or piano) trio, piano quintet and SQ2 are all worthy and fairly accessable.

[asin]B00004YYQV[/asin] [asin]B000007N39[/asin]

The former has quite a few makeweights, but in the major works are very good recordings.

I love chamber music, I'll add these to the (large) list, although I have a tendency to judge composers based on their chamber pieces (weird habit of mine) so I may hit these recordings early.
Thanks!

[kentel]

@TheGSMoeller:

Do you like chamber music? His string (or piano) trio, piano quintet and SQ2 are all worthy and fairly accessable.

[asin]B00004YYQV[/asin] [asin]B000007N39[/asin]

The former has quite a few makeweights, but in the major works are very good recordings.

These two cd's are very goog indeed. Schnittke is at his best when he uses his own principle of polystylism : the mix of a sweet and nostalgic theme within a context of cold and savage music produces an incredible effect. In this respect, the String Trio on the Naxos cd you mention here is one of his best works. I think he first used this principle in his first Concerto for piano and strings in 1960 (also one of his best works IMO). It's his trademark which, I believe, is inspired by Prokofiev's 1st Violin Sonata and 2nd Piano Concerto (mvt I).

However, not all his pieces are written in this polystylistic vein : the others are black on black,  like endless wailings which I find really annoying. That's incidentally the case of all his symphonies which are, with some other pieces like the 3rd Violin Concerto, the 1st Cello Concerto or the Violin Sonatas (but for the 1st), etc, the bad part of his musical production. Well, the 1st is polystylistic, but I don't remember why, it doesn't work there.

The best works, IMO (not H), in a chronological order :

Concerto for piano & strings (1960)
Voices of Nature (for choir & xylophon) (1972)
Congratulatory Rondo (for violin & piano) (1974)
Concerto grosso nr.1 (1977)
Piano Concerto (1979)
String Quartet nr.2 (1980)
In Memoriam (for orchestra) (1984)
Violin Concerto nr.4 (1984)
String Quartet nr.3 (1984)
String Trio (1985)
Concerto for piano 4-hands (1988)

and my favorite piece  : Not a Midsummer Night's Dream (1985)

Each of them is a big emotional blow. You don't forget it.

[not edward]

I bought some more (gulp) Schnittke but I have heard these Chandos recordings are much better performed than the BIS recordings:

Very much true of 6-8; I lost the Chandos 2 & 4 many years ago and have never heard the BIS 2 (although I heartily disliked the work anyway).

4 was the first of the Schnittke symphonies I heard and its intense exploration of a single mood I've always found very effective; as Karl says, Schnittke's attachment to the Russian choral tradition is very obvious in many works, and often brought out the best in him.

6 is probably the most 'difficult' of all Schnittke's works (think of it as a the skeleton of a symphony with almost all of the flesh dissolved away), but the Chandos is certainly better than the emotionally dead run-through on BIS.

7's an elusive, quirky piece that reminds me of Schnittke's expressed admiration for some of the more elliptical Shostakovich quartets (#7, #11 and #14 in particular, if I remember correctly). I think it still awaits a satisfactory reading: the BIS is more successful than that of the 6th, purely because it's a work that demands understated performance, which is where I think Polyansky falls down -- he plays it as if it's like other Schnittke, but it isn't.

8 is definitely the symphony I'd suggest for people unconvinced about the composer: it's a lot more attractive on the surface than its immediate predecessors, with the gradual freezing over of the first movement's passacaglia-like theme and the third movement's Mahler-cum-Bruckner echoes being particularly direct in their appeal. (Despite the more attractive facade, though, I think it's at least as disturbing a work as the 6th.)

Other orchestral Schnittke that I'd recommend as representing Schnittke at his best: the 1979 piano concerto (which you've ordered), the viola concerto, the Faust Cantata (forget the operatic version, it was cobbled together from an incomplete score and heavily cut). But I still think his most consistent area was chamber music.

[Mirror Image]

Very much true of 6-8; I lost the Chandos 2 & 4 many years ago and have never heard the BIS 2 (although I heartily disliked the work anyway).

4 was the first of the Schnittke symphonies I heard and its intense exploration of a single mood I've always found very effective; as Karl says, Schnittke's attachment to the Russian choral tradition is very obvious in many works, and often brought out the best in him.

6 is probably the most 'difficult' of all Schnittke's works (think of it as a the skeleton of a symphony with almost all of the flesh dissolved away), but the Chandos is certainly better than the emotionally dead run-through on BIS.

7's an elusive, quirky piece that reminds me of Schnittke's expressed admiration for some of the more elliptical Shostakovich quartets (#7, #11 and #14 in particular, if I remember correctly). I think it still awaits a satisfactory reading: the BIS is more successful than that of the 6th, purely because it's a work that demands understated performance, which is where I think Polyansky falls down -- he plays it as if it's like other Schnittke, but it isn't.

8 is definitely the symphony I'd suggest for people unconvinced about the composer: it's a lot more attractive on the surface than its immediate predecessors, with the gradual freezing over of the first movement's passacaglia-like theme and the third movement's Mahler-cum-Bruckner echoes being particularly direct in their appeal. (Despite the more attractive facade, though, I think it's at least as disturbing a work as the 6th.)

Other orchestral Schnittke that I'd recommend as representing Schnittke at his best: the 1979 piano concerto (which you've ordered), the viola concerto, the Faust Cantata (forget the operatic version, it was cobbled together from an incomplete score and heavily cut). But I still think his most consistent area was chamber music.

Thanks for your feedback, Edward. I do own all of Schnittke's SQs as well (the Kronos Quartet set on Nonesuch) as well and I've enjoyed it. Next on my Schnittke buying list will be Faust Cantata, the film music (Strobel) and the Requiem.

[Mirror Image]

I'm surprised to not see much love for Peer Gynt here. What a colossal ballet! I'm not sure about it being a ballet but I read somebody referred to it as a two-hour symphony. I'm inclined to agree. I don't see how anyone could dance to this work.

[eyeresist]

No love for the 3rd symphony?

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm surprised to not see much love for Peer Gynt here.

My excuse: I simply haven't listened to it yet.

Sarge