Malipiero's mausoleum

Started by Scriptavolant, May 31, 2007, 08:33:44 AM

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snyprrr

Quote from: snyprrr on December 30, 2010, 07:50:34 PM
There are about three discs of GCM's Piano Music. Is anyone familiar? There are some macabre titles, very tempting. There's also a whole disc of Violin&Piano, and a Complete Cello Music plus Piano Muisc cd.

I have the Piano Trio, so, any further exploration would probably MAKE me have to buy all the cds just mentioned, which, I am NOT allowed to do. ;)

Also, that 'Endecatode' cd from Stradivarius looks kinda interesting.

No one familiar with GFM piano music?

snyprrr

Quote from: snyprrr on January 03, 2011, 07:44:06 AM
No one familiar with GFM piano music?

Well, I went ahead and listened to some samples, and I like his laconic style here in the piano music. There is also a Fabio Biondi cd of violin and piano music that sounds great, but isn't going for less the $70 anywhere in the amazon world. Add in the cello music cd, and the Piano Trio (Sonata a Tre), and poof!, you've got quite a nice chamber appendix! Uselessly expensive, though.

There is also a cd of piano music recorded in 1968 that is also in the stratosphere. oh well...

Listen to those Biondi samples! ;)

Dundonnell

Moving on from a composer who wrote twenty-one symphonies after he reached the age of 80(Havergal Brian) to one who wrote a mere four in his eighties.......

Malipiero.

Very glad to see on the Naxos forthcoming cds listings that some highly regarded(at least by the composer himself :D) early Malipiero works are being released at the end of August:

Impressioni dal vero
- the three part work(1910-1922) written in Impressionistic style which reflects the composer's love of nature and

Pause del Silenzio: Malipiero's reflections on the horrors of World War One(1917).

Malipiero regarded the latter work as one of his most important creations.

The absence of all of these pieces from the catalogue has been an omission which good old Naxos is finally rectifying.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8572409

The new erato

Seems that Naxos really is getting their series of modern (relatively) Italian Music going, and extremely valuable (and long overdue) it seems. Cannot see myself not buyin any of these issues.

snyprrr

Quote from: Dundonnell on July 28, 2011, 07:50:00 AM

Malipiero regarded the latter work as one of his most important creations.


Yes!

I was recently listening to the 'Latter' Symphonies (8-12), and I really enjoy his cragginess. I haven't heard much Brian, but I'm assuming that there's a link here. GFM's Late Works I find perfectly charming, in an 80-year-old grumpy kind of way. Surely I must like Brian too.

Lethevich

Quote from: snyprrr on July 28, 2011, 10:30:57 AM
I was recently listening to the 'Latter' Symphonies (8-12), and I really enjoy his cragginess. I haven't heard much Brian, but I'm assuming that there's a link here. GFM's Late Works I find perfectly charming, in an 80-year-old grumpy kind of way. Surely I must like Brian too.

He was the only composer I could consider comparison with when I first heard Brian - the lack of lengthy melodies, the restless progression within concise movements, there are distinct similarities. I find Malipiero a more conventional figure, both in his style and also attitude towards composition, though.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

snyprrr

I'm looking at these two cds:

"Complete Music for Violin and Piano" (Opus 111)

"Complete Music for Cello and Piano" (Tactus)


Haha,... there are three other Composers on the first album, and the second is dominated by Piano Music, meaning,.... especially in the first (where the advertised music runs to only about 20% of the cd),... there might be a bit of PR going on. ::)

The Tactus album has a Sonata, a Sonatina, and an encore that also ends up on the violin disc by way of transcription. The violin disc has four separate pieces, which are complemented by pieces by Respighi, Pizzetti, and Casella.


I have to tell you that when I saw the Fabio Biondi recital, I felt as if I'd been had. The cd itself says it's Malipiero's Complete blah blah, which it is!, but, Malipiero's output is so modest that Pizzetti ends up being the big winner on this album. Actually, I'm being unfair, because this is a great album of the evolution Romanticism. These Italians brought something of the singing line, and freedom, to the tyranny of sonata form. This is actually a very nice rainy day album, beautifully played and recorded.


I don't have the cello disc :-[ ;D, but, I would expect the Sonata to be interesting. I have his Sonata a Tre for Piano Trio, which certainly belongs in the canon (piano solo in the third movement, with two extra, silent, staves). He has no Piano Quintet (certainly it would have ever been coupled with the Martinu), which means, that, if we then include his 'Complete Piano Music' (about 3 cds worth), I think we have the picture of Malipiero's 'Complete Music for Piano & Strings'.




Then, all we need to include are the 'Dialoghis', and the very nice selection of Chamber Music proper, the ensemble pieces in which Malipiero's tickling yields the most scintillating results: the Sonata a Cinque for the hallowed flute, harp, & string trio combination, and the pieces collected on the Stradivarius cd 'Endecatode', quirky and charming. Malipiero has a deceivingly complicated Works List, and I don't know if I've seen Grove's yet on him (go to the library...), but, ultimately, I think what we have in this Post is most/all of the Chamber Music.

There are, then, a few transitional type works, which, I believe, have been recorded, that lead to his Orchestral Works, and the, I believe we're home free! Malipiero and Milhaud do have a lot in common, not least that it is fun getting to the bottom of it all,... at least, haha, for me. Perhaps neither Composer is to everyone's taste, but, I'm sure the connesoor :-* can find examples of the sublime in both.

Dundonnell

I have to say that the new Naxos disc of relatively early Malipiero orchestral music demonstrates to my ears a composer of supreme quality and inventiveness. I am extremely impressed by all five works on the disc(8.572409).

"Impressioni dal vero I"(1910-11) are indeed highly impressionistic, betraying the influence of Debussy and would strongly appeal, I suspect, to all lovers of Delius.
"Impressioni dal vero II"(1914-15) and "Impressioni dal vero III"(1921-22) on the other hand are vigorous. energetic pieces reminiscent of the Stravinsky of Petrushka and the Rite of Spring but combined with strong echos of the Respighi of the Fountains and Pines of Rome. Each of the three sets has three movements inspired rather than directly depicting particular birds and scenes of Italian life such as festivals or (particularly impressive) the first movement of set II-'Dialogue of Bells'.

Even better however and with claims, as made by David Gallagher in his as usual excellent booklet notes, to be Malipiero at his greatest are the two pieces known, somewhat enigmatically, as "Pause del silenzio I"(1917) and "Pause del silenzio II"(1925-26). The first advances Malipiero's compositional style more towards the Stravinsky of the 1920s but in an unmistakenly Italian context while the remarkable second shows, I think, Malipiero at the height of his powers in a work with both power and nobility.

Much as I admire Malipiero's symphonies I do not recall being so impressed by any of his orchestral compositions as much as I have been by the music on this excellent disc.

Highly recommended.

The new erato

This is definitely the best of Malipiero I've heard (haven't heard extensively though).

bumtz

In case somebody is looking for Malipiero's complete string quartets performed by Quartetto di Venezia, they are a part of the "Italian Quartets" 10-CD box on Dynamic that can be obtained relatively cheaply from amazon.es: http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B000CNEFXI/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i03   

snyprrr

Quote from: bumtz on May 28, 2012, 05:02:17 AM
In case somebody is looking for Malipiero's complete string quartets performed by Quartetto di Venezia, they are a part of the "Italian Quartets" 10-CD box on Dynamic that can be obtained relatively cheaply from amazon.es: http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B000CNEFXI/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i03

I have them (not the Box, and yes, it's relatively cheap!). Not a Post in a year!! I'm growing very fond of the Symphonies 8-11, fans of BRIAN should take note here!!

Karl Henning

Not too surprisingly, in pulling a pair of Dallapiccola discs for today, I grabbed one volume of the Malipiero symphonies, as well.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

snyprrr

Quote from: karlhenning on June 28, 2013, 04:03:11 AM
Not too surprisingly, in pulling a pair of Dallapiccola discs for today, I grabbed one volume of the Malipiero symphonies, as well.

which voluuume?? report

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Parsifal

My knowledge of Malipiero comes from

[asin]B000VQQJO4[/asin]

I started out enjoying it greatly, but every successive concerto seemed to be identical to the one that came before.  I ended up being quite turned off.

Can I expect a different experience from the symphonies?

Karl Henning

I'll need to dig a bit into what I've got, in order to answer. I've got at least one other volume of the symphonies, but it's an age since I heard any of them, until today. I'll investigate, and be back to you.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Parsifal

Quote from: karlhenning on June 28, 2013, 04:13:12 PM
I'll need to dig a bit into what I've got, in order to answer. I've got at least one other volume of the symphonies, but it's an age since I heard any of them, until today. I'll investigate, and be back to you.

An impression might be as good as an investigation.  Do all the symphonies on the disc seem to be cut from the same cloth?

Karl Henning

Quote from: Scarpia on June 28, 2013, 04:31:33 PM
An impression might be as good as an investigation.  Do all the symphonies on the disc seem to be cut from the same cloth?

I'll have a listen this evening.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: Scarpia on June 28, 2013, 01:13:11 PM
My knowledge of Malipiero comes from



I started out enjoying it greatly, but every successive concerto seemed to be identical to the one that came before.  I ended up being quite turned off.

I don't know the concerti, but I find myself wondering if this is not The cpo Effect, the catalogue-centred mills grinding everything to much the same consistency.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Parsifal

#59
Quote from: karlhenning on June 29, 2013, 03:50:07 AM
I don't know the concerti, but I find myself wondering if this is not The cpo Effect, the catalogue-centred mills grinding everything to much the same consistency.

I have a lot of cpo and my own experience is that the cpo effect works the other way, making unfamiliar music come to vivid life.  (Just beginning my exploration of the Saygun series on cpo and enjoying it greatly.)

Regarding Malipiero, I enjoyed the first PC a lot and found the performance quite impressive.  I don't think the last one was any worse.   It was just that he seemed to be in the same groove.