New Releases

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Voilà:


That was my first encounter with this music, and also with the art of Hokusai. Some 40 years ago now...

Hokusai's ukiyoes exemplify the perspective unique in Japanese ukiyoe art. In contrast to the largely geometrical and proportional perspective in Western art, Hokusai's perspective is an exaggerated figure (diforme) without the middle space.  His perspective could be based on a dichotomous or trichotomous scale rather than a continuous scale. Even before Renaissance, Japanese artists explored their own unique method of perspective. But their perspective largely focused on the depth (top-down) dimension more than the width (near-far) dimension like Renaissance perspectives.

[Mandryka]

https://www.festival-lanvellec.fr/en/editions/libro-secondo-en

If anyone can work out how to order it please let me know! Maybe you have to write to Lanvellec, I remember that's how I got Kenneth Gilbert's CD on the organ there.

Recorded at Lanvellec, played entirely on a fucking harpsichord, I feel like a complete dickhead for having bought it.

[Madiel]

Aukhawk wrote : Reportedly Debussy owned a copy of the print, I had to investigate....

It was me not Aukhawk, but thank you for investigating.

[prémont]

Recorded at Lanvellec, played entirely on a fucking harpsichord, I feel like a complete dickhead for having bought it.

So not a note played on the Dallam organ?
The interpretation may still be worthwhile though.

P.S. I ordered it too, but it has not yet arrived.

[Mandryka]

So not a note played on the Dallam organ?
The interpretation may still be worthwhile though.

P.S. I ordered it too, but it has not yet arrived.

Actually it's not as bad as I thought, there are half a dozen pieces on the Dallam organ.  The interpretation is distinctively Aymsian.

[Brian]

iiiiiiiiiiiinncominnngggggg

DECEMBER/JANUARY

Looks like a good time to be a fan of the 35-year-old composer Francisco Coll, who has two concertos coming out on two labels. Also, I remember people complaining last year that there wasn't a ton of interesting stuff in the world of early music. Now, I don't know anything about early music, but looking at the January listings, I think I am seeing a lot more stuff than in prior months.



The Boris Bloch Beethoven album says that Bloch only really learned to like Beethoven from a classmate of his in conservatory...Michael Korstick.



"This is the first ever album devoted to the chamber music of Helena Munktell, one of the earliest female composers in Sweden. The daughter of an industrialist, Munktell received private lessons in piano and song from an early age, but soon also training in music theory and composition....She studied with composers such as Benjamin Godard and Vincent d'Indy....The Dix Mélodies are finely crafted musical scenes displaying a wide expressive range and variety of moods. Five years later another concert saw the first performance of Munktell's Violin Sonata in E flat major, by none other than the renowned Romanian violinist Georges Enescu."







In this order: Debussy Children's Corner, Chopin preludes, Mussorgsky Pictures. Total time either 83:51 or 85:51 (the booklet and back cover disagree and I am not going to count up all 44 tracks!)













For the Sorabjiphiles who were discussing track timings and work lengths:

CD 1 - 45 minutes
Nos. 84-98, 84 (Tango habanera) being the only one longer than 4 minutes
CD 2 - 72 minutes
No. 99 "Quasi fantasia" 16 minutes
No. 100 "Coda-finale." 55:56 divided across six tracks

There is a 17-page series of essays in English in the booklet; with translations, the booklet totals in at 56 pages. Ullen wishes to thank his family for tolerating him practicing Sorabji at home all the time!

[Brian]

DECEMBER/JANUARY CONTINUED









and the must have album of 2021:

[Mandryka]

Actually it's not as bad as I thought, there are half a dozen pieces on the Dallam organ.  The interpretation is distinctively Aymsian.

In fact it's very good indeed. Glad to have it.

[Mandryka]

https://www.challengerecords.com/products/15759685859521

Released in February but I only just found it, it sounds excellent.

[prémont]

In fact it's very good indeed. Glad to have it.

Hope to have it soon.

[prémont]

https://www.challengerecords.com/products/15759685859521

Released in February but I only just found it, it sounds excellent.

Certainly. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Clips at Presto sound very evocative like most of Marti's recordings. So I couldn't resist to purchase it from there as download despite the lacking booklet.

[Madiel]

I'd like the programming on that upcoming Dream/Images album, if only she hadn't completely scrambled each work. Look at what you'd have to do if you just wanted to listen to Ravel's Miroirs for example.

[Mirror Image]

I'd like the programming on that upcoming Dream/Images album, if only she hadn't completely scrambled each work. Look at what you'd have to do if you just wanted to listen to Ravel's Miroirs for example.

Yes and thank you for saying this! I've grown quite tired of these kinds of 'programs'. The same thing happened on the fairly recent recording titled Point And Line on ECM with Momo Kodama performing the Debussy and Hosokawa Études. Basically, one movement from each composer plays after the other and what you have is a jumbled mess of a program. When I went to rip this CD, I left out the Hosokawa altogether as I didn't care for his work. Thankfully, the Debussy was a fantastic performance. Anyway, I hope this isn't the new 'norm' as far as piano recitals go, because if it is, I won't be purchasing any more. While it might seem like a cool idea on paper, when it comes to actually listening to the album, it is a rather unsatisfactory experience.

[André]

Very nice program. The Oskar Fried work is quite remarkable. I have it on an all-Fried cd. I'm curious about the Lehár and Korngold. Lots of things happened in the period 1900-1925 in Germany/Austria on the musical front besides Mahler and Schönberg.

[vandermolen]

DECEMBER/JANUARY CONTINUED









and the must have album of 2021:

This is a bit of a dangerous thread for me! I'd never heard of John Robertson (a New Zealand/Canadian composer who turned to music comparatively late). On the basis of the 1st Symphony on You Tube his music seems very approachable and lyrical.

[Madiel]

Yes and thank you for saying this! I've grown quite tired of these kinds of 'programs'. The same thing happened on the fairly recent recording titled Point And Line on ECM with Momo Kodama performing the Debussy and Hosokawa Études. Basically, one movement from each composer plays after the other and what you have is a jumbled mess of a program. When I went to rip this CD, I left out the Hosokawa altogether as I didn't care for his work. Thankfully, the Debussy was a fantastic performance. Anyway, I hope this isn't the new 'norm' as far as piano recitals go, because if it is, I won't be purchasing any more. While it might seem like a cool idea on paper, when it comes to actually listening to the album, it is a rather unsatisfactory experience.

I think mixing up composers works okay when what you have is genuinely selections. For example, I found the Debussy/Rameau album by Víkingur Ólafsson quite interesting and successful. But he's not playing all of Debussy's Preludes or all of Children's Corner.  The albums that are annoying both of us are ones that take a complete work but present it as if it's selections.

[Florestan]

I think mixing up composers works okay when what you have is genuinely selections. For example, I found the Debussy/Rameau album by Víkingur Ólafsson quite interesting and successful. But he's not playing all of Debussy's Preludes or all of Children's Corner.  The albums that are annoying both of us are ones that take a complete work but present it as if it's selections.

I wonder what you'd make of this... 



(click to enlarge)

[Madiel]

I wonder what you'd make of this... 

I thought it couldn't get any worse. Then someone decided that one of Schumann's fragmentary works needed to be broken up into fragments.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I wonder what you'd make of this... 



(click to enlarge)

Augh!!! 

[Florestan]

Actually I have it but didn't listen to it. I'll report back if and when. Who knows, might turn out to be a revelation.