Alfred Schnittke - where to start?

[Octo_Russ]

I'm really new to Alfred Schnittke, and i want to get to know his music, it seems like he was very prolific, but where do you start?, i'm interested in possibly starting with his Symphonies, and Symphony 2 'St Florian' seems a good choice, but does anyone else have any other Orchestral recommendation?, a Concerto maybe?.

[greg]

The First Symphony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KGx3tZFjEU

if you want a monster of a piece that takes you everywhere.

Also, this disc is a good one:

http://www.amazon.com/Alfred-Schnittke-Concerto-Grosso-Strings/dp/B0000016DV/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1290479119&sr=1-2

[CRCulver]

I'm really new to Alfred Schnittke, and i want to get to know his music, it seems like he was very prolific, but where do you start?, i'm interested in possibly starting with his Symphonies, and Symphony 2 'St Florian' seems a good choice, but does anyone else have any other Orchestral recommendation?, a Concerto maybe?.

I wouldn't recommend starting with his Second Symphony. Schnittke's religious works are very fine indeed, but they are something of an aside in his career. Better to start with the zany polystylistic pieces. The First is a good introduction, as another poster mentioned. Other good starting points are the first two Concerti Grossi.

If you do go for the First Symphony, I'd recommend the recording on Chandos over that on BIS.

[snyprrr]

RABBITT HOLE ALERT!



Run!,... Hide!,... I went through this, and it's not pretty (pretty expensive, haha ), as I've ranted.

My Final Analysis is the 2 Cello Concertos summarize Schnittke's contrasts perfectly.

[lescamil]

I would would also recommend the first symphony, but the BIS recording does it for me. Carl-Axel Dominique's improvisation in the second movement is a barnburner, and Segerstam is a man whose craziness matches the piece. I would also recommend a disk featuring Ewa Kupiec playing Schnittke's three pieces for piano and orchestra. The three pieces on the disk encompass the full breadth of Schnittke's career, starting in his days fresh out of the conservatory with the early piano concerto no. 1, going to the concerto for piano and strings and then finally the concerto for piano 4 hands and chamber orchestra written near the end of his life. You might also want to check out his Choir Concerto, which is perhaps his most approachable sacred work.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Cello Concertos (both of 'em), Viola Concerto: show the composer in "mainstream modernist" mode and are among his more dramatic and accessible pieces

Piano Quintet (and/or its orchestrated version, In Memoriam): a haunting, "dark thoughts in the middle of the night" kind of piece, one of his best chamber works

Symphony #8: maybe the best intro to his stark and stripped-down late style, and the best of the symphonies that I've heard

Requiem: kind of old-fashioned sounding, with some surreal touches. A good intro if you don't want to plunge into his more radical sound-world

[Scarpia]

Cello Concertos (both of 'em), Viola Concerto: show the composer in "mainstream modernist" mode and are among his more dramatic and accessible pieces

Piano Quintet (and/or its orchestrated version, In Memoriam): a haunting, "dark thoughts in the middle of the night" kind of piece, one of his best chamber works

Symphony #8: maybe the best intro to his stark and stripped-down late style, and the best of the symphonies that I've heard

Requiem: kind of old-fashioned sounding, with some surreal touches. A good intro if you don't want to plunge into his more radical sound-world

Seconded, except I don't know the Requiem.  The Piano Concerti are also good places to start, I would say.

[MDL]

Going for £20 in HMV (or it was last time I looked).



Can't think of a better introduction.

[karlhenning]

RABBITT HOLE ALERT!

Run!,... Hide!,... I went through this, and it's not pretty (pretty expensive, haha ), as I've ranted.

Ranted, you?

That's a surprise . . . .

[karlhenning]

Seconded, except I don't know the Requiem.  The Piano Concerti are also good places to start, I would say.

Love the Maria Lettberg recording of the piano concerti.

[Grazioso]

Going for £20 in HMV (or it was last time I looked).



Can't think of a better introduction.

This set was being offered for even less--around $10 iirc--on Amazon.com at one point. Worth a check.

[Josquin des Prez]

Chamber works are his best compositions IMHO.

[not edward]

Chamber works are his best compositions IMHO.

I finally get to agree with Josquin on something!

I'd say the piano quintet, 2nd and 3rd string quartets and the first violin sonata are all good starting points (add the superb second violin sonata if your tolerance for dissonance and aggressive sounds is high).

I don't think the symphonies are as important in Schnittke's output as in many other composers, though I do think very highly of some of the later ones, particularly the 8th. If you're going for orchestral music I'd be more inclined towards the Concerto for Piano and Strings, the viola concerto, and if you want voices the Faust Cantata. (I think the ballet Peer Gynt--almost the bastard offspring of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and Mahler's later symphones--might be the finest of all his orchestral works, but at over two hours it doesn't really cut it as an introduction!)

[lescamil]

I'd say the piano quintet, 2nd and 3rd string quartets and the first violin sonata are all good starting points

This might be a good link for anyone willing to take this advice:

http://5-against-4.blogspot.com/2010/11/schnittke-week-string-quartets-nos-2-3.html