La Taberna Maderna

[snyprrr]

Wow, what a coup! Now, if only someone could help me with the title. Anyone have the perfect Maderna header?

Anyhow, wow, have we not been graced with a little Madernalogue? Well, being that he's right smack dab right in the middle of all my favorite Italians, let me begin the conversation.

I had read about the DG (Aura, Biogramma, Quadrivium) cd in Penguin, and aquired the Boulez piece, and finally got Aura (w/Dallapicolla). Ok, but so much Maderna was OOP, so, it wasn't until I found the DG disc at AnDieMusick in Baltimore, that I got my first real taste of Maderna's improv-sounding, every sound plus the kitchen sink approach to conducting/composing (sort of like Segerstam, but without the exasperation!??). Maderna seems to love all things tinkling, and his scores glitter.

I also got Holliger playing the 3 Oboe Concertos (ten years, and $60), which, I think, may be the best place to start with Maderna (though, the DG disc rocks). I just love the sound of Maderna's orchestra,... very ennui, yet glittering (littered) with sounds. He always comes off pretty mellow, to my ears,... very laid back (the jolly fat man?).

And I have the Ardiiti disc of Chamber Music for Strings. It is one of the Arditti's most varied montaigne installments, with solos, duos, and trios, vying with Maderna's only real String Quartet (1955), that, along with Berio's (1956), really marks the beginning of the post-war serialist trend (no?). Some of Maderna's nicest pieces are for solo strings, such as Widmung, pour Ivry, and Viola.

Stradivarius is up to about 7 volumes in their ongoing Maderna survey, including issues of his Electronic Music, and Chamber Music (which doesn't really duplicate the Arditti disc). To my general displeasure, though, their recitals seem a bit of a mix/mash, and ultimately, I hope to just get the Violin Concerto on MP3 (unless one of you fine folks has it?). The Grand Aulodia and Il Giardino Religioso are the other two Maderna pieces I'm itching to hear, but they are scattered over a few discs.

Also, there is the budget ColLegno disc that I haven't heard, with the intriguing piece, Ausstralung. Then, there's plenty of big vocal stuff that I'm probably not all that keen on, a few straggler pieces, and, I think that's about it for Maderna, cd wise (except, of course, as conductor).



I'm hoping that someone out there can speak more lucidly about Maderna than I can. I'm really interested to see who counts him on their short list.

[some guy]

I can only second you, I fear.

The DG disc is to die for. Those three pieces are some of the more exquisite and excruciatingly gorgeous music of the late sixties, early seventies. Wow. Desert island disc in spades.

I just got the oboe concertos a couple of months ago. More wowing. The oboe's such a cool instrument, anyway, whether it's playing ancient music or Günter Becker's Concerto for Electronically Modulated Oboe and Orchestra. Very satisfying compositions, too. If you're into that kind of thing.

I haven't spent much time yet with Maderna's operas Satyricon and Hyperion, but early impressions are pretty good for those, too. (No, I'm not sure that "opera" is quite the right word, for either.)

Apparently Neos is putting out some Maderna discs. I noticed an "Orchestral Music, volume 1" thing on Amazon. I'll be heading on over to the Neos site after I click "Post" here.

[pjme]

Last november I witnessed ( in Venice/ La fenice) the worldpremiere performence of Maderna's 1946 Requiem . A massive 60 mins. work for soli, large chorus and an orchestra with a huge brass section ( 8 horns), 3 pianos + percussion.

Maderna was only 26 when he wrote it and it is totaly unlike anything in his later work. Think of a Stravinsky/Petrassi/Dallapiccola mix, with the odd Verdi ( Dies Irae...+ bass drum) influence....
Actually, the score was supposedly lost and only rediscoverd in 1996 by an Italian musicologist . La fenice forces performed it twice as their symphonic season opening. Riccardo Chailly was scheduled as conductor..but withdrew. The young Andrea Molino kept the complex score in good order.

VRT/KLARA will broadcast that performance later this year, in November.

P.
ps my favorite Maderna work is Grande aulodia.

pps : Mangiare con Maderna ?
Magnus Maderna?
Il mausoleo di Maderna???

[snyprrr]

I can only second you, I fear.

The DG disc is to die for. Those three pieces are some of the more exquisite and excruciatingly gorgeous music of the late sixties, early seventies. Wow. Desert island disc in spades.

I just got the oboe concertos a couple of months ago. More wowing. The oboe's such a cool instrument, anyway, whether it's playing ancient music or Günter Becker's Concerto for Electronically Modulated Oboe and Orchestra. Very satisfying compositions, too. If you're into that kind of thing.

I haven't spent much time yet with Maderna's operas Satyricon and Hyperion, but early impressions are pretty good for those, too. (No, I'm not sure that "opera" is quite the right word, for either.)

Apparently Neos is putting out some Maderna discs. I noticed an "Orchestral Music, volume 1" thing on Amazon. I'll be heading on over to the Neos site after I click "Post" here.

Everybody likes Maderna!

I saw 2(!) Neos discs, but no info. Will check.

Also, forgot to mention Serenata... Satellite (forget title), and, isn't there at least one or two other interesting chamber works?,... one in "Due Dimensioni"? Will check.

Last november I witnessed ( in Venice/ La fenice) the worldpremiere performence of Maderna's 1946 Requiem . A massive 60 mins. work for soli, large chorus and an orchestra with a huge brass section ( 8 horns), 3 pianos + percussion.

Maderna was only 26 when he wrote it and it is totaly unlike anything in his later work. Think of a Stravinsky/Petrassi/Dallapiccola mix, with the odd Verdi ( Dies Irae...+ bass drum) influence....
Actually, the score was supposedly lost and only rediscoverd in 1996 by an Italian musicologist . La fenice forces performed it twice as their symphonic season opening. Riccardo Chailly was scheduled as conductor..but withdrew. The young Andrea Molino kept the complex score in good order.

VRT/KLARA will broadcast that performance later this year, in November.

P.
ps my favorite Maderna work is Grande aulodia.

pps : Mangiare con Maderna ?
Magnus Maderna?
Il mausoleo di Maderna???

He does love the 3 pianos, haha! even then!



I was listening to, actually, the "early" String Quartet (not the "only one" I alluded to earlier, that's the 1955 one, the "proper" one), which is a one mvmt., 6min. piece that reminds of a Latinate Bartok (Ginastera?). Charming. Yes, the Arditti disc is special!

[MDL]

Just out on CD.

[MDL]

The DG disc is to die for. Those three pieces are some of the more exquisite and excruciatingly gorgeous music of the late sixties, early seventies. Wow. Desert island disc in spades.

Agreed. Loved that LP when it came out in the '80s. I've got the second CD reissue (DG 20/21). I think I appreciate it even more now. Absolutely gorgeous.

[The new erato]

Just out on CD.

Ordered it a few days ago. Impressions will be reported in due time.

[MDL]

Ordered it a few days ago. Impressions will be reported in due time.

Hoping to buy it today and play it tonight. The race is on!!!!

[The new erato]

You'll beat me I'm afraid. Not even sent from the UK yet.

[snyprrr]

Well, Maderna on Naxos is interesting!

[Sergeant Rock]

I had read about the DG (Aura, Biogramma, Quadrivium) cd in Penguin

I can only second you, I fear. The DG disc is to die for.

Agreed. Loved that LP when it came out in the '80s. I've got the second CD reissue (DG 20/21). I think I appreciate it even more now. Absolutely gorgeous.

Is that with Sinopoli conducting?...available now from Brilliant?

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Is that with Sinopoli conducting?...available now from Brilliant?

Apparently so, Sarge . . . which is a bit of goose, as the Arkiv Music reissue looks full price . . . the Brilliant is a wallet-friendlier alternative.

[Sergeant Rock]

Apparently so, Sarge . . . which is a bit of goose, as the Arkiv Music reissue looks full price . . . the Brilliant is a wallet-friendlier alternative.

Yeah, just €4.99 from Amazon DE

Sarge

[snyprrr]

Any fans of the Violin Concerto? There's rarely an affordable copy available...

[MDL]

Ordered it a few days ago. Impressions will be reported in due time.

Initial impressions:

Quadrivium. At 31' 41", is the new recording much quicker than the DG recording? My listening room is a tip and I can't find my old CD (and the LP is buried in the garage; yes, I'm a slob), but I'm sure Sinopoli spent longer on this piece. In the new Naxos recording,  the orchestra sounds closer and warmer, but perhaps softer than the Sinopoli; the first big climax, with the jagged, jazzy brass-and-metal-percussion cross rhythms, probably isn't as snappy as the DG, while the orgasmic clatter of gongs and tam-tams over sustained strings at 21'45"-ish is slightly softened in the new recording. Still, in such a complex score, different details are bound to be revealed with a new recording.

The Piano Concerto from 1942 in two versions? Yeah, nice. Well, meh. Nice background music for dinner parties.

Concerto for two pianos and instruments? Very Bartok, in a good way. I'll be returning to this before too long. But make no mistake; billing on the CD as it may be, the new Quadrivium is the star attraction of this CD.

[mjwal]

Grande Aulodia is one of my favourites - I was lucky enough to be introduced to Maderna about 20 years ago by a concert performance of this, which entranced me. That and other works are, ahem, referenced and discussed here:
http://highponytail.blogspot.com/2009/11/maderna-as-composer-problem-part-2.html
The first time I listened to Satyricon I wasn't really concentrating and couldn't really make anything of it - but the second time I was fascinated and laughed myself silly - he's the only one who can compete with Zimmermann's Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu (or whatever it's called) for wicked quotation from musical history.

[petrarch]

Also, there is the budget ColLegno disc that I haven't heard, with the intriguing piece, Ausstrahlung.

You can find this on the Orchestral Works vol. 3 disc on Neos. As usual with Maderna, the instrumental and orchestral writing is outstanding, and the use of tape to relay most of the spoken text works quite well. I don't care much for the sung bits, with a vibrato that is quite annoying in places, but luckily that is confined to a section in the middle of the work.

[cilgwyn]

Funny how Maderna's got a haberna & now Brian's got one too!
Are habanera's contagious?

[CRCulver]

In a late 1990s interview, Boulez said that he doesn't conduct Maderna not because he doesn't appreciate the music, but because the scores are often illegible and erroneous, and Boulez awaits new editions. Has the situation improved or are contemporary performers still working from these scores?

[snyprrr]

I pulled out the Oboe Concerto No.3, a late work, very dreamy impressionistic backgrounds with a very expressive Holliger. Maderna gets points for being probably the 'hippest' Composer...

ok, nevermind, it'll just start an argument, haha...

Maderna integrated the aleatory elements the most seamlessly of his contemporaries, perhaps?