Favorite Discoveries of 2010

[Sergeant Rock]

Okay, that's hard to believe.  I heard Karajan do Bruckner 8 with the Vienna Philharmonic and it was the best concert I have ever heard or expect to hear.  But it didn't change my life.

What, you don't believe in hyperbole? What kind of classical fan are you???

I own almost 400 recordings of Mahler...if that didn't change my life, it certainly changed my bank balance   

Sarge

[Bulldog]

Okay, that's hard to believe.  I heard Karajan do Bruckner 8 with the Vienna Philharmonic and it was the best concert I have ever heard or expect to hear.  But it didn't change my life.

I believe music has the capacity to change one's life.  After hearing Tureck's WTC, I became a more spiritual person.
It's not a religious thing but a matter of the human spirit.

[Scarpia]

I believe music has the capacity to change one's life.  After hearing Tureck's WTC, I became a more spiritual person.
It's not a religious thing but a matter of the human spirit.

My love of music has changed my life, but given the volume of music I listen to, it is hard to imagine an individual performance or recording literally changing my life. 

[Sergeant Rock]

My love of music has changed my life, but given the volume of music I listen to, it is hard to imagine an individual performance or recording literally changing my life.

Okay, I'll answer seriously this time. I knew Mahler only from a recording of the Second (Klemperer, a library copy) and the Fifth (heard over WCLV, Cleveland's classical radio channel), both of which end on a positive, uplifting note.

When I hitchhiked home from Ohio University to my village about forty miles from Cleveland in the fall of 1967, I knew I liked Mahler's music but was not, in any way, expecting the profound and tragic impact of his Sixth Symphony. I was literally stunned...I mean STUNNED at the conclusion. I'd never heard anything so uttertly negative, so nilhilistic...and I could not understand why everyone at Severance Hall was applauding...applauding defeat, applauding death??? I left the hall stunned...and honestly, I am still stunned by the realization that we are all mortal and we are already as good as dead. Yes, that evening changed my life. A few months later, I enlisted, went to Vietnam...and I don't know why I'm still alive. But I know the end is certain....because Mahler told me so...and I've lived every moment of my life since that concert as if it were the last.

Sarge

[Keemun]

Todd, which recording changed your mind?  I'm curious.    By the way, I adore Schumann's symphonies.  Probably my favorite early Romantic era symphonies.

Ray, actually it wasn't a particular recording.  I just began to "see the light" in the same recordings I had been trying to listen to for a while.  I recently acquired the Bernstein/VPO set and I like it a lot. 

I'm curious what else you've heard. The 5th Symphony was the first Rochberg I heard, and my reaction was lukewarm: a well-done Mahler imitation but rather uninspired and overblown. Since then, I've heard some other Rochberg pieces (1st and 2nd Symphonies, Violin Concerto, quartets) and found a much more interesting and adventurous composer than I expected.

I have recordings all of his symphonies, but the 5th is the only one I've really taken to so far.  I also have Black Sounds and Transcendental Variations, neither of which I've listened to in their entirety (yet). 

[71 dB]

Mendelssohn's String Quartets.

I have just a few Mendelssohn discs. I don't seem to be into his famous orchestral pieces like A Midsummer Night's Dream. Those sound "too-early romantic" to me.

But, from day one I have enjoyed Mendelssohn's String Symphonies. I own only one disc on Naxos but I have always liked it a lot. Earlier this year I started to suspect that Mendelssohn's String Quartets might to my liking, works that I had always totally ignored. I sampled them on Spotify and liked what I heard. So, just recently I bought all of them on Arte Nova label (Henschel Quartet). I really like this kind of rhytmic, pulsating music.



P.S. The Fuga of String Quartet in E flat major is amazing from a 14 years old boy! 

[Christo]

Okay, I'll answer seriously this time. I knew Mahler only from a recording of the Second (Klemperer, a library copy) and the Fifth (heard over WCLV, Cleveland's classical radio channel), both of which end on a positive, uplifting note.

When I hitchhiked home from Ohio University to my village about forty miles from Cleveland in the fall of 1967, I knew I liked Mahler's music but was not, in any way, expecting the profound and tragic impact of his Sixth Symphony. I was literally stunned...I mean STUNNED at the conclusion. I'd never heard anything so uttertly negative, so nilhilistic...and I could not understand why everyone at Severance Hall was applauding...applauding defeat, applauding death??? I left the hall stunned...and honestly, I am still stunned by the realization that we are all mortal and we are already as good as dead. Yes, that evening changed my life. A few months later, I enlisted, went to Vietnam...and I don't know why I'm still alive. But I know the end is certain....because Mahler told me so...and I've lived every moment of my life since that concert as if it were the last.

Sarge

Impressive story, Sarge. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Scarpia]

Okay, I'll answer seriously this time. I knew Mahler only from a recording of the Second (Klemperer, a library copy) and the Fifth (heard over WCLV, Cleveland's classical radio channel), both of which end on a positive, uplifting note.

When I hitchhiked home from Ohio University to my village about forty miles from Cleveland in the fall of 1967, I knew I liked Mahler's music but was not, in any way, expecting the profound and tragic impact of his Sixth Symphony. I was literally stunned...I mean STUNNED at the conclusion. I'd never heard anything so uttertly negative, so nilhilistic...and I could not understand why everyone at Severance Hall was applauding...applauding defeat, applauding death??? I left the hall stunned...and honestly, I am still stunned by the realization that we are all mortal and we are already as good as dead. Yes, that evening changed my life. A few months later, I enlisted, went to Vietnam...and I don't know why I'm still alive. But I know the end is certain....because Mahler told me so...and I've lived every moment of my life since that concert as if it were the last.

Sarge

Well, I understand what you mean.  Music has been a great enrichment to my life, but I've had to learn life's major lessons the hard way.   That Bruckner concert I had mentioned took place a short time after my father had been diagnosed with lung cancer.  The music was an escape from grim reality.

[Opus106]

What, you don't believe in hyperbole? What kind of classical fan are you???

I own almost 400 recordings of Mahler...if that didn't change my life, it certainly changed my bank balance   

Sarge

http://xkcd.com/725/ [The mouse-over text is only available at the site.]

[abidoful]

I discovered (a recording, not the actual pieces ) few awesome piano works by Bruckner; "Erinnerung" particularly was disquieting.

[nigeld]

Arvo Part he ain't, but this is heart meltingly beautiful

[not edward]

I'm curious what else you've heard. The 5th Symphony was the first Rochberg I heard, and my reaction was lukewarm: a well-done Mahler imitation but rather uninspired and overblown. Since then, I've heard some other Rochberg pieces (1st and 2nd Symphonies, Violin Concerto, quartets) and found a much more interesting and adventurous composer than I expected.

I'd concur with you very much here; I'm lukewarm about the 5th too but wholeheartedly enthusiastic about the 2nd and close to that regarding the violin concerto.

At present, my favourite Rochberg work by far is the 4th symphony, which, criminally, is still awaiting a commercial recording. It's possibly even more Mahler-9-inflected than the 5th (you could almost argue for it as a paraphrase of the first movement of the Mahler work) but it's introverted, concise and lightly orchestrated where the 5th is extroverted, diffuse and overblown.

Come to think of it, Rochberg's 4th is probably my favourite discovery of the year.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Come to think of it, Rochberg's 4th is probably my favourite discovery of the year.

Sounds like a job for Naxos...along with the 6th Symphony (not heard by me, but also not recorded). Have you heard the 1st Symphony? It's not perfect (tends to ramble a bit), but on the whole it's a knockout.

[Keemun]

At present, my favourite Rochberg work by far is the 4th symphony, which, criminally, is still awaiting a commercial recording. It's possibly even more Mahler-9-inflected than the 5th (you could almost argue for it as a paraphrase of the first movement of the Mahler work) but it's introverted, concise and lightly orchestrated where the 5th is extroverted, diffuse and overblown.

Your description of the 4th has picqued my interest, so I guess I should listen to all of his symphonies again. 

[k-k-k-kenny]

In a minimalist vein, Hans Otte's Das Buch Der Klänge and Stundenbuch
More romantic, Maurice Emmanuel's sonatines and cello sonata
Definitely romantic pianism, Ronald Stephenson

[Opus106]

Béla Bartók -- I've been listening to some of the concerto and concerto-type works in the past few days. Digging his orchestral works muchly!

[Octo_Russ]

Here's my discovery of 2010



No i haven't only just discovered Beethoven's Middle Quartets, it's actually the Tenth String Quartet 'Harp', i've listened to it dozens of times, but just recently it really hit me, i understood its beauty and structure, i finally got it!, it's like discovering the thing for the very first time, i love it when this happens to me.

So this is my discovery of 2010, especially the first movement, see YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9ahXntXXNs 

[Brahmsian]

Béla Bartók -- I've been listening to some of the concerto and concerto-type works in the past few days. Digging his orchestral works muchly!

Lovely, Nav! 

[jowcol]

Probably Jennifer Higdon, Sumera's 2nd Symphony, and pretty much ANYTHING by Ronald LoPresti.

[Mirror Image]

So far, much of this year has been about reaquainting myself with some composers who I had either not given a chance or have completely blown off for whatever reason. Some of my rediscoveries have been Berg, Bloch, Martinu, Piston, Vivaldi, Corelli, Rodrigo, Part, Massenet, Roussel, and Webern.