What are you listening to now?

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Vaughan Williams
Five Mystical Songs
John Shirley-Quirk
Sir David Willcocks
English Chamber Orchestra
King's College Choir, Cambridge



Oh dear, I could easily slip into an RVW marathon if I'm not careful. Five Mystical Songs have been a favorite of mine for years now. Only in the last year, however, have I discovered the enchantment of this performance from Shirley-Quirk/Willcocks. It's certainly a heartfelt performance and everything just feels right.

[Mirror Image]

Takemitsu
Ran
Hiroyuki Iwaki
Sapporo SO



The level of invention in this work is off-the-charts. Takemitsu works his magic for the big screen.

[André]

Gottfried von Einem (1918-1996) came to international prominence in 1947 with his opera Danton's Tod, of which he crafted a suite (recorded here). The disc's centrepiece is the 1955 piano concerto, a more modern affair. The Nachtstück for orchestra (1962) is, as the title implies, a nocturne, or « mood piece », in which a theme not far from the 'big tune' in Malcolm Arnold's 5th symphony wafts in and out of the musical material. This well-filled disc concludes with a suite from his 1957 ballet Medusa. More very good stuff!

Von Einem's musical idiom is never harsh or grating to the ear. He did use the 12-tone techique here and there, when it suited his musical intention, but he didn't believe in the staying power of serialism and electronics, a position which earned him condemnation from the Darmstadt ayatullahs. His language is slightly more modern than that of Hindemith, Barber or Menotti, slightly less so than Henze. If that appeals, an encounter with von Einem's music should be stimulating !

[Mahlerian]

Ligeti: Horn Trio
Saschko Gawriloff, Marie-Luise Neunnecker, Pierre-Laurent Aimard

[TheGSMoeller]

Over time I'm becoming increasingly more obsessed with B's 3rd Symphony. This is one of top choices, MinnSO/Vanska, and the 8th ain't too shabby either...


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[Daverz]

Takemitsu
Ran.

I saw this in the theater when it first came to the US.  I seem to remember it being 70mm.  Overwhelming, as you can imagine.

[Mirror Image]

I saw this in the theater when it first came to the US.  I seem to remember it being 70mm.  Overwhelming, as you can imagine.

Very cool!

Thread duty -

Silvestrov
Elegie
Poppen
Münchener Kammerorchester

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Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68
Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57
Takács Quartet
Marc-André Hamelin

[Todd]

Not as good as Joyous Light; it's merely superb.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

First up, Beethoven's op.59/3, then Martinu's fourth quartet. Belcea and Kocian respectively. I had thought perhaps queuing up the Martinu after the Beethoven might make for a letdown of sorts, and I was right. But NOT for musical reasons. Sonically, the Belcea is simply in another league. Gotta give credit to the Zig Zag team for producing what is undoubtedly the finest-sounding string quartet recording I've heard.

Not that the Praga team need make any apologies for their production values. They, too, have come up aces. It's just that Zig Zag managed to land squarely on the sonic sweet spot.

Interpretively, both are outta sight. Wonderful insights and supremely engaging.



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How would you say the Kocian Quartet measures up against the Panochas, DD?

[SymphonicAddict]

Symphony No. 2



I hadn't perceived the potential meaning of this work. There is an alluring timpani writing on the movements 3 and 4. I also noticed some wind passages that reminded me of Nielsen.

[anothername]

Mahler: Symphony No 8, Sir Georg Solti conducting.

[Mirror Image]

Milhaud from Beantown!

Milhaud
La création du monde
Munch
BSO

[Mandryka]

Guillaume de Machaut | Fortune's Child

The Orlando Consort have released volume five of this fascinating survey. 

Excellent program:

1 Gais et jolis
2 Dous amis, oy mon complaint
3 Dame, je vueil endurer
4 Trop plus est bele / Biauté paree de valour / Je ne sui mie
5 Douce dame, tant com vivray
6 Dou mal qui m'a longuement
7 Comment puet on miex ses maus dire
8 Dame, vostre dous viaire
9 Hé! Mors! / Fine Amour / Quare non sum mortuus
10 Dame, mon cuer enportez
11 Riches d'amour
12 Helas! pour quoy virent / Corde mesto / Libera me
13 Puis que ma dolour agree
14 Honte, paour, doubtance

I suppose the really interesting thing about these Orlando Machaut interpretations is all the vocalise and humming. As far as I know no one else has taken this approach to the untexted music in Machaut, and I'm not at all sure what the plus points of it are either in terms of historical authenticity or for the listener's experience.

[RebLem]

On Sunday, 29 APR 2018, I listened to 3 CDs.

1) Arvo Part (b. 1935):  |Tr. 1-3.  Pro et contra: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra (1966) (9'18)  |Tr. 4-5.  Symphony 1, Op. 9 "Polyphonic" (1963) (19'56)  |Tr. 6-8.  Collage uber B A C H (1964) (7'30)  |Tr. 9. Perpetuum mobile, Op. 10 (1963) (6'56)  |Tr. 10-13.  Mele aed (Our Garden), Op. 3, A Cantata for Children's Choir & Orchestra (1959, rev 2003) (11'07)  |Tr. 14-16.  Symphony 2 (1966) (15'06)--Paavo Jarvi, cond., Estonian National Symphony Orch., Truls Mork, cello (Tr. 1-3), Ellerhein Girls' Choir (Tr. 10-13), Tila-Ester Loitme, director.  Rec. @ Methodist Church, Tallinn, Estonia, 13-14 FEB 2003 (Tr. 6-8, 14-16), 20-21 JUN 2003 (Tr. 4-5), 27-28 AUG 2003 (Tr. 9).  Rec. Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn, 27-28 AUG 2003 (Tr. 1-3), 26-29 AUG 2003 (Tr. 10-13).  A Virgin Classics CD published 2004.  (TT: 71'02).

Much of Part's life and art have been influenced by changing political winds in Estonia.  His work represents a constant tension between his Estonian nationalism and his search for truth and meaning wherever he can find it.  Some major changes in his life occurred in the 1970's.  That was when he began working in a minimalist style that employs his self-invented compositional technique, tintinnabuli. Pärt's music is in part inspired by Gregorian chant. Since 2010 Pärt has been the most performed living composer in the world, and is considered by many to be the greatest living composer in the world.  Also, in the 1970's, he took a major step which might seem to contradict his dedication to Estonian nationalism and freedom from the Communikst yoke: he converted from Lutheranism, historically the dominant religion in Estonia, to Russian Orthodoxy, and since then much of his work has been liturgical. 
All the works on this program were written before those monumental changes in Part's life, when he was still exploring many different alternative ways of composing, trying to find his voice. 
Sometimes, Part switches styles even within a work.  Such is the case with the Cello Concerto.  The first movement is the most radically dissonant--the very first notes are of all twelve pitches in the scale sounding together, some of the most cacophanous music ever written, and then proceeds to test the instrument's survival by striking various parts of the cello with hand and bow stick.  A tone row is put together, but provides no satisfactory resolution.  The second movement, which lasts all of 31 seconds, is four bars of stylized D Minor baroque music, lyrical and charming but very brief.  The conflict is only partially resolved in the third movement, which attempts, with limited success, to resolve the conflict between the modern and the baroque. 
The First Symphony is an expl.oration of 12 tone technique combined with a hommage to one of his teachers at the Tallinn Conxervatory, the contrapuntalist composer Heino Eller.  Yet a still, serious, individual voice emerges from the bouts of exuberant energy,
The Perpetuum mobile is a series of overlapping, restless waves of chord clusters.
In the Collage, the outer movements are for strings alone, but the central movement, the Sarabande, is inspired by the Sarabande from Bach's English Suite # 6.  It adds oboe and harpsichord to the mix, and again we see the tension between old forms and new techniques competing for Part's attention and favor.
On the surface, Mele aed (Our Garden) is simple children's music.  The narrative in the booklet compares it to Tchikovsky's Nutcracker and Prokofiev's Peter &  the Wolf, but it reminded me more of some of the music for children written by Benjamin Britten.  It is mostly simple, naive melodies, but even here, politics intrudes with occasional dissonant interjections and disruptions, providing us with an allegorical narrative about the intersection of politics and the innocence of childhood.
And finally, we have the Second Symphony in which Part seems to resolve some of his conflicts and settle on a position re: the regime.  "Governed by seemingly random, threatening sounds, of which a battery of children's squeaky toys is very much a part, not an opponent, this symphony takes dissonance to almost unbearable levels, whether in splintered shards or massive blocks.  Rven the doomsday octaves of the tympani in the finale, seemingly on the retreat, crescendo again to initiate further horrors.  Then out of it all tumbles a Petrushka-like barrel-organ strains.  The ensuing arrangement, with the melody tenderly sung by woodwinds and violins, reveals it as "Sweet Day Dreams" from Tchaikovsky's 1878 piano Album for the Young.  One more angry clash derides the possibility that innocence could save the world, but fiercely protective open strings fight back, and leave the fragile voice of childhood alone on the darkened stage."--notes by David Nice, 2004.

2)  CD 5 of the 10 CD set titled "Carl Schuricht: The Complete Decca Recordings."  |Tr. 1-3.  Johannes Brahms (1833-97): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 (39'35)--Christian Ferras, violin, Wiener Phil.  Rec. Musikverein, Wien, 19-20 APR 1954.  |Tr. 4-6.  Max Bruch (1838-1920): Violin Concerto 1 in G Minor, Op. 76 (24'26)--Georg Kulenkampff, violin, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich--Rec. Radio Studio, Zurich, 23, 27 JAN 1947.

These are interesting documents, but neither of these performances are anywhere near the top of the heap.  For the Brahms, my favorite remains the classic Szeryng/Monteux/LSO recording.

3)  CD 5 of the 5 CD Memories set of Pierre Monteux recordings of the Beethoven Symphonies.  |Tr. 1-4.  Symphony 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (62'25)--Eleanor Steber, soprano, Freda Gray Masse, contralto, John McCollum, tenor, David Laurent, bass, Boston Symphony Orch. live @ Tanglewood 31 JUL 1960.

First of all, the timings on this one are pretty simple--Mvt 1--15 min., Mvt 2--11 min., Mvt 3--13 min.  Mvt 4--23'25.  The sound here is plagued with a lot of hiss, and it sounds about 12 or more years older than it really is.  The vocal quartet is superb, and very evenly matched--not a dud in the bunch, and they meld together well.  I especially appreciate Monteux's performance of the third movement.  In the middle of the movement, Beethoven marks a transition from adadio to andante moderato.  Most conductors ignore this, take a breath, and proceed at the same pace as before.  Monteux respects Beethoven's marking in this regards and speeds up, and it has a bracingly wonderful effect on the performance. 

[Harry]

Early morning listening.

Joseph Haydn,  Complete Baryton Trios CD 1 from 21.
1-7 all in A major.
Esterhazy Ensemble.

[Florestan]

First listen



Wow! With his knack for gorgeous tunes, lyrical cantilenas and ryhthmic drive Scharwenka has instantly entered my pantheon of lesser-known Romantics.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Gottfried von Einem (1918-1996) came to international prominence in 1947 with his opera Danton's Tod, of which he crafted a suite (recorded here). The disc's centrepiece is the 1955 piano concerto, a more modern affair. The Nachtstück for orchestra (1962) is, as the title implies, a nocturne, or « mood piece », in which a theme not far from the 'big tune' in Malcolm Arnold's 5th symphony wafts in and out of the musical material. This well-filled disc concludes with a suite from his 1957 ballet Medusa. More very good stuff!

Von Einem's musical idiom is never harsh or grating to the ear. He did use the 12-tone techique here and there, when it suited his musical intention, but he didn't believe in the staying power of serialism and electronics, a position which earned him condemnation from the Darmstadt ayatullahs. His language is slightly more modern than that of Hindemith, Barber or Menotti, slightly less so than Henze. If that appeals, an encounter with von Einem's music should be stimulating !

Agree entirely. http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/02/dip-your-ears-no-125-gottfried-von-einem.html

Hope to hear the follow-up recording soon.

[Draško]

Very good.