New Releases

[Brian]

There was a wee bit of discussion of the Warner Stravinsky edition a few pages ago, mostly speculation as complete contents have not been published, but it will have a few discs of very early/mono recordings of Stravinsky in his own music, a lot of Muti and Rattle, and - apparently controversially though I don't see why anyone would mind - some arrangements of his miniatures for accordion.

[Todd]

Stravinsky on accordion may be light entertainment, depending on the piece(s).

What the world needs now, though, is a new recording of Agon.  Clearly, Thomas Hengelbrock should conduct it, but I'll take almost anything at this point.

[akebergv]

There was a wee bit of discussion of the Warner Stravinsky edition a few pages ago, mostly speculation as complete contents have not been published, but it will have a few discs of very early/mono recordings of Stravinsky in his own music, a lot of Muti and Rattle, and - apparently controversially though I don't see why anyone would mind - some arrangements of his miniatures for accordion.

Amazon.fr has the contents listed, if not the performers, but Muti and Rattle seem likely. As for a new recording of Agon, I discovered a recording by Mravinsky that while decidedly not new still sounds enticing. I should add that Zappa in 1970 included a snippet of Agon in his concerts.

[Mandryka]

Review here

https://artmusiclounge.wordpress.com/2020/04/19/the-music-of-nono-sciarrino/

[pjme]

  You should see the 5th page of the booklet.
Edit edited for gore!

? A joke or are you really shocked???

http://legacy.closertovaneyck.be/#



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_of_God

[bioluminescentsquid]

? A joke or are you really shocked???

http://legacy.closertovaneyck.be/#



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_of_God

(stolen from twitter)

Speaking of van Eyck, here's what Björn Schmelzer (of graindelavoix) has been up to recently https://darkvaneyck.com/en/work-research/

[MusicTurner]

That ain't no sheep or lamb any more ...

[pjme]

That ain't no sheep or lamb any more ...

Exactly: "...Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world..."
as written in Latin on the altarpiece (John 1:29)

The altarpiece has been an iconographical puzzle for generations of art historians, its mystery compounded by the lack of archival information on the Van Eyck brothers. Despite the wealth of prior research conducted on the altarpiece, it was only during the KIK-IRPA restoration that scientists made an astonishing discovery: beneath the layers of yellowed and cloudy varnish, around 70% of the outer panels was obscured by 16th-century overpainting.

"This overpainting had been done so early on, and following the shapes of the original, with very similar pigments that had also aged in a similar way, that it was not actually visible on the technical documentation when the altarpiece first came in for treatment," recalls Hélène Dubois, the head of the restoration project. "And nothing like this had ever been observed on early Netherlandish painting." The discovery came as "a shock for everybody—for us, for the church, for all the scholars, for the international committee following this project", she says.
Most surprising of all was the lamb's humanised face, which emerged beneath its more animal 16th-century appearance. The original lamb has a more "intense interaction with the onlookers", Dubois says, adding that art historians and theologians will continue to research why the Van Eycks chose this "cartoonish" depiction—a striking departure from the painting's precise naturalistic style. "Botanists can actually identify every plant in there," Dubois points out. "The ones that couldn't be identified—those were overpaintings."
More at : https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/facelift-for-the-mystic-lamb

[MusicTurner]

That's very interesting, thanks! I wasn't aware of the restoring story

cf also https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51205614

[André]

Fascinating, Peter, thanks for the link to the article. I've seen the altarpiece twice, but couldn't see it again the last time I was in Ghent, as its restoration was under way.

Contrary to the Issenheim altarpiece in Colmar its impression is somewhat deceptive at first. It is placed at a certain distance behind a cordon and its scenes are populated by so many details (vegetation, groups of people, cities in the distance) that the impression is that of an overabundance of details. Furthermore, being an adoration scene, it is rather static. It's a contemplative experience. Opera glasses would come in handy when facing it.

By contrast the Issenheim altarpiece is all about action and movement. Even the crucifixion is theatrical, an almost expressionist scene of agitation. And being placed in the centre of a hall where one can move around its panels and observe the paintings up close, it's a totally different thing.

[MickeyBoy]

Thanks, Andre. I've been to Colmar and marveled at Gruenewald's masterpiece which as you say appears to us as Expressionist. I haven't been to Ghent, but i imagine that van Eyck and Gruenewald give us two aspects of the lamb-messiah we encounter most every day.

[pjme]

Exactement! Gruenewald - Van Eyck - two aspects of the slaughtered lamb - messiah.
I visited Colmar two years ago and was happily surprised with the new building / lay out of the museum.

Check out the details for a visit at:
https://visit.gent.be/nl/zien-doen/lam-gods-goddelijk-artistiek-hoogtepunt?gclid=CjwKCAiAxKv_BRBdEiwAyd40N9rcTRHbbQ_tsxuriyuuotqT3A0vLKnchM0qHAasSCZJKXDGtrYCLRoCYPkQAvD_BwE
Zoom in at details :
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/lukas-art-in-flanders

Twice The holy lamb inspired composers: Albert Hansen in 1930 and Robert Herberigs in 1949.  Hansen's oratorium may be lost, Herberigs colossal evocation ( soloists, choruses, organ and very large orchestra) has been preserved for National radio.

[Mirror Image]

MTT's Ives recordings were just issued as a box, so his Stravinsky seems a good possibility.

This would be a small box set, too. Probably only three CDs.

[Roy Bland]

[André]

Thanks, Roy!

Hopefully that will be available through normal channels at a reasonable price. Providing the performance is a valuable one (the soloist looks so young!) and sonics tolerable, I'd be interested in it. Gurlitt was a very good composer with a very meagre representation on disc.

[Brian]

Belated - February 2021 - but seems likely to be one of the best Beethoven anniversary albums. 11 page booklet essay by Honeck explaining his interpretation.



14:32
13:12
12:34
22:30
= 62:48

Honeck's notes indicate he is taking a bold interventionist approach with his own ideas:

"A final moment to consider is the grandiose passage near the end of the first movement which Beethoven has composed as a funeral march [measure 513 or 13:23]. Here, I reduce the tempo and pay particular attention to the wave-like secondary figures in the strings. I ask for a kind of tremolo which adds an almost gruesome, somber effect. I also direct the strings to play ponticello (near the bridge), thus producing an icy and rigid sound."

At the start of the finale, Honeck also attempts to have the cellos and basses "sing" their "narrator" part as if they are actually singing the words which Beethoven wrote on his score underneath the returns of the first three movements' themes, "subordinating the music to the flow of the speech melody, though in many instances, Beethoven does not notate these nuances."

also of interest:

"A great deal of discussion has taken place about the pace of the march (originally meant to be Turkish music) that follows [measure 331 or 9:29], perhaps due to the fact that some sources indicate the metronome marking as 84 for the half beat. But this would be an unbearably slow tempo for a march. Musicologists generally agree that this metronome number likely refers to the whole bar and I likewise concur for several key reasons. Firstly, the theme of joy from measure 92 [2:49] (metronome marking = 80) is in direct relation to the theme of joy of the march in measure 343 [9:37] (metronome marking = 84). Additionally, it is a tempo approximating a French Revolutionary march, which, according to tradition, was always faster than a Prussian march. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is the desired expression: the expectation of a happy victory.... Although I am personally cautious about pedantically following the metronome markings, I am grateful that Beethoven has shared these numbers. "

[Mandryka]

https://res.electrocd.com/image.php/couv/i/imed_20168.jpg?width=n4&forceresize=1&def=couverture_par_defaut

[Brass Hole]

April 9th:

[Todd]

[Brian]

Oooh, happy to see the Jasper Quartet back on recordings. Enjoyed their Beethoven-Kernis pairings.