Salonen's Helix

Started by Mirror Image, May 26, 2011, 01:51:47 PM

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lescamil

Quote from: Elnimio on February 28, 2012, 10:50:11 AM
I heard his latest piece, "Nyx", with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. It was awesome. The perfect kind of modern classical, IMO. Accessible, but layered with complexity throughout to keep the more "intellectual" crowd engaged.

That statement about Nyx is a very apt statement that can be applied to pretty much all of his music. It's quite a trait that makes Salonen truly one of the greats today. I also like Nyx quite a bit. I'll be listening to it a few more times in the future, and it's good to have this new recording with the Bavarian RSO. Should be interesting to compare them to the French orchestra on those Présences videos.
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Mirror Image

Going to be released next month:

[asin]B008W5TDP8[/asin]

Really excited about this. I knew the Violin Concerto would be the next release. Salonen conducts the Finnish Radio Symphony on this recording and this is a good partnership as his Wing On Wing recording was, in my mind, a huge success. It will also be nice to have Nyx. I think a lot of Salonen. I think he's doing great things in music not only as a conductor but as a serious composer of concert music. I enjoy the rhythmic complexity of his music and the harmonic language.

AdamFromWashington

Anyone else see this? It's pretty cool. I love it when classical musicians get exposure!


http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/05/esa-pekka-salonens-ad-for-apple.html

lescamil

I saw it on TV 2 days ago. I wasn't even looking at the TV, but I heard Salonen's Violin Concerto playing and needed a double take to realize what it was.
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Catison

You can go to the iTunes store and listen to the Violin Concerto for free.  Plus the video is on there too.
-Brett

Karl Henning

Hoy, Brett!  How are you doing, lad?
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

Catison

Quote from: karlhenning on May 29, 2014, 04:08:36 AM
Hoy, Brett!  How are you doing, lad?

Good.  The Salonen iTunes stuff got me thinking about the forum again.
-Brett

AdamFromWashington

Quote from: Catison on May 28, 2014, 08:10:04 PM
You can go to the iTunes store and listen to the Violin Concerto for free.  Plus the video is on there too.

Yeah, I went and got that recording. Good deal. No price beats free. And I like that it's a different recording from the Deutsche Grammophon one. Variety is the spice of violin concertos...

Senta

Hello everyone - so nice to find this thread!

I have been a huge fan of his work for a long time now, it is great to see him getting more mainstream recognition as a composer recently.

My lesser-versed music friends even now actually know who he is due to the Apple ad :) What a pleasant surprise to see a spot like that.

I always found it fascinating how the dichotomy of being a conductor-composer has totally transformed his style from his earlier years. In college, my senior research project was on his compositions and career - it was such fun!

The study versions of most of his scores are available to view online now through the publisher, wonderful to spend time with. The orchestration is amazing.

I actually popped in as I was wondering if anyone had posted about his new choral piece - the world premiere was today in Zurich!

Karawane, for mixed chorus and orchestra - 28 min.
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/49670


Text is the Dadaist poem of same name by Hugo Ball.

I was so excited to hear about this - chorus and orchestra finally!

Here is a short video from rehearsal with Tonhalle, you can hear about 2 min. of the piece -
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/kultur/klassik/Die-Saison-in-der-Tonhalle-startet-mit-einer-Urauffuehrung/story/28745455


Would love to hear the rest based on the clip.

I see the 2nd performance will be broadcast live on TV tomorrow on Mezzo Live HD (8 pm CET) (and re-run Sept. 21)
http://programme-tv.orange.fr/programme/mezzo-live-hd/lionel-bringuier-dirige-salonen-prokofiev-et-berlioz_56219852.html

Also on SRF there is a program about the Tonhalle season opener/Lionel Bringuier Sept. 14
http://tvprogramm.srf.ch/details/aa356927-73ef-41c5-9fce-75d70f3f314a


I combed SRF radio site for a broadcast but did not see one listed. Maybe a recording will surface eventually?

So looking forward to hearing it!

North Star

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

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lescamil

There are now two videos of Karawane floating around on the internet, with this one most readily available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h107mQTzHHY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRJTBgzCfT4


It's an excellent work. It's been called a more "brutal" work than Salonen's previous output, but I honestly don't hear anything new here compared to his other notable works, but there is nothing wrong with that. I think we have another winner here.
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Senta

Yeah I was totally going to be bumping this ;) Thanks!

As mentioned elsewhere, we did indeed fly to Chicago for the premiere of the Cello Concerto in March - was beyond worth it, more on the experience and the piece here.

It's beautiful, magical, such a departure - electronics feature prominently, with live looping of the solo cello. To hear Yo-Yo Ma perform this is really a treat, he's such an expressive and enchanting performer and you can tell he loves playing this music :)

Despite the concerto being performed in Chicago/NYC, then touring across Europe with Gilbert/NY Phil, no recording had surfaced yet - but recently the Finnish premiere took place and it is currently available to stream online via YLE here:
https://areena.yle.fi/1-4164788
(Appears to not be available in the States, but there is a recording of this stream floating around the interwebs)

Interesting that so soon another soloist aside from Yo-Yo is already performing the piece, this performance is Nicolas Altstaedt.

So perhaps this concerto is a tad more manageable in difficulty (though still really tough!)

Also on the string front, here is a cracking performance of the Pentatonic Etude by Lawrence Power - it's specifically meant to quote/accompany the Bartok Viola Concerto. Love this piece!

Amusing the first comment on the vid is "This is so Metal" - I would concur it might be the closest I've heard to a viola shredding!

http://www.youtube.com/v/f3ngHLgnvc8

I'll probably be back soon to post more here, much overdue...going to revisit a few pieces this weekend to while away the time being cooped up from the hurricane  ;)

Senta

The full Cello Concerto performance mentioned above is now on YouTube!


https://www.youtube.com/v/ofEQmV1bCFc


Also, here is excellent video from BRSO with rehearsal of some of the best excerpts of Nyx and a great interview:


https://www.youtube.com/v/n_RqIQWAFXo


Herman

Did anyone mention Salonen's piece for violin solo (perhaps the best genre in the world): Lachen verlernt? It's fifteen years old by now, and Josefowicz recorded it in 2005 on an otherwise unessential cd with Beethoven and Ravel. (The violin is almost inaudible in the Beethoven sonata nr 10.)

The piece is nearly eleven minutes long and set in the form of a chaconne, which is kind of fun.

It's a beautiful piece.

Brian

Those of you who've heard and enjoyed Salonen's cello concerto - which has now been recorded twice, first by Yo-Yo Ma with the composer and now by Nicolas Altstaedt - will enjoy this little anecdote Alstaedt recounts:

"Joking about his quotation of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony's Scherzo, Salonen told me, "I should compose when I am sober"."

;D

relm1

Quote from: Brian on April 05, 2022, 06:50:12 AM
Those of you who've heard and enjoyed Salonen's cello concerto - which has now been recorded twice, first by Yo-Yo Ma with the composer and now by Nicolas Altstaedt - will enjoy this little anecdote Alstaedt recounts:

"Joking about his quotation of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony's Scherzo, Salonen told me, "I should compose when I am sober"."

;D

:laugh: Those finns.  I am a big admirer of that work so I say his process works for me.

CRCulver

#57
Quote from: Brian on April 05, 2022, 06:50:12 AM
Salonen's cello concerto - which has now been recorded twice, first by Yo-Yo Ma with the composer and now by Nicolas Altstaedt

Thanks for drawing my attention to this second recording, which turns out to have been released on Alpha Classics earlier this year. I had been reluctant to listen to the Yo-Yo Ma recording and get my first impressions of the concerto from there, because  that premiere performance is said to have got almost no rehearsal.

Herman

Salonen is a wonderful, understated talker. The Philharmonia has posted a bunch of clips in which the composer / copnductor talks about music, and they are invariably delightful.

The best is perhaps the one in which Salonen is in the beautiful town of Verona, ostensibly talking about French and Italian music, but really looking back on the start of his career, and his teacher Donatoni.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvMYv9jWpko