What are you listening to now?

[Papy Oli]

And your verdict?

Not convinced actually, feels like a bit of a hotchpotch, too bombastic maybe.... Having a second go nonetheless.

[Brian]

Not convinced actually, feels like a bit of a hotchpotch, too bombastic maybe.... Having a second go nonetheless.

It is harder than the other concerto. Luke has some very interesting posts about the left hand concerto, somewhere in Ravel's Rotunda.

[Mirror Image]

Not convinced actually, feels like a bit of a hotchpotch, too bombastic maybe.... Having a second go nonetheless.

Oh dear....(refrain from saying anything derogatory, refrain from saying anything derogatory, refrain from saying anything derogatory)

[Papy Oli]

Oh dear....(refrain from saying anything derogatory, refrain from saying anything derogatory, refrain from saying anything derogatory)

aaaaand breathe, John.... you did ask

I did like some Bolero-like moments in it...10 to 12 minutes in -ish... 

[North Star]

Not convinced actually, feels like a bit of a hotchpotch, too bombastic maybe.... Having a second go nonetheless.

aaaaand breathe, John.... you did ask

I did like some Bolero-like moments in it...10 to 12 minutes in -ish... 

It is harder than the other concerto. Luke has some very interesting posts about the left hand concerto, somewhere in Ravel's Rotunda.

Yes, should probably have recommended the PC in G major, especially since it is modeled on Mozart's piano concertos. And all of Luke's posts on Ravel are worth reading.

http://www.youtube.com/v/T2cdTmnHEM4

[Papy Oli]

It is harder than the other concerto. Luke has some very interesting posts about the left hand concerto, somewhere in Ravel's Rotunda.

Just listened to the samples on the Boulez/Zimmerman...seems more to my liking this one.

Yes, should probably have recommended the PC in G major, especially since it is modeled on Mozart's piano concertos. And all of Luke's posts on Ravel are worth reading.

http://www.youtube.com/v/T2cdTmnHEM4

Kiitos Karlo ! yep, definitely more for me.

[North Star]

Just listened to the samples on the Boulez/Zimmerman...seems more to my liking this one.

Kiitos Karlo ! yep, definitely more for me.

Do you know much else from Ravel?

[Papy Oli]

Do you know much else from Ravel?

not much actually; I only have :

- Celibidache's Bolero, a version I find absolutely enthralling

- the twofer of Solo Piano works by JP Collard - very much hit and miss, this one.

Maybe I should investigate the orchestral versions of those works instead. The "Valses Nobles et Sentimentales" samples on the Boulez/Zimmerman were quite appealing. 

The PC in G is one work I could enjoy again i am sure... Loved the Adagio Assai and the last movement was fun too. I have wishlisted the Zimmerman for a future purchase.

[Brian]

Yeah, I spent a few years in the company of the Concerto in G before hearing the Left Hand Concerto. The Left Hand Concerto is harder and thornier and less "classical" in its balance - I'll try to find those posts by Luke, but like Karlo says, anytime Luke posts about Ravel, insights abound.

[AnthonyAthletic]

Second listen...

[asin]B0000245XW[/asin]
Now this really takes some getting used to.  Individualism or the clunkings of a Rebel?....answers on a postcard.

Perseverance, my dear boy.  Perseverance.

[North Star]

not much actually; I only have :

- Celibidache's Bolero, a version I find absolutely enthralling

- the twofer of Solo Piano works by JP Collard - very much hit and miss, this one.

Maybe I should investigate the orchestral versions of those works instead. The "Valses Nobles et Sentimentales" samples on the Boulez/Zimmerman were quite appealing. 

The PC in G is one work I could enjoy again i am sure... Loved the Adagio Assai and the last movement was fun too. I have wishlisted the Zimmerman for a future purchase.

This is a superb set of the orchestral works:

Try Ma mère l'oye, Rapsodie espagnole, La Valse, Valses nobles, Le tombeau de Couperin, and Daphnis.

[asin]B000UZ4EYI[/asin]

Tombeau:
http://www.youtube.com/v/QT4d_xUgkck

Yeah, I spent a few years in the company of the Concerto in G before hearing the Left Hand Concerto. The Left Hand Concerto is harder and thornier and less "classical" in its balance - I'll try to find those posts by Luke, but like Karlo says, anytime Luke posts about Ravel, insights abound.

Samson Francois in the concertos is not perfect but he's something you must hear; the concertos themselves are absolutely unmissable pieces. The G major has that utterly sublime slow movement that melts the stoniest heart, but the left hand concerto is, all round, maybe the most sweepingly powerful score, a demonic and sarcastic score starting in the deepest depths of the orchestra, moving through moments of heartbreaking tenderness, towards hallucinatory jazzy central portion, and an astonishing breakdown/cadenza/coda to conclude.

Given that the Adagio of the Concerto in G was directy modelled on a Mozart Adagio, I'd award this crown (as many others!) to Ravel.

Melody is in the ear of the beholder, btw, and of course, but fwiw I can't think of many works more thoroughly melodic than these two masterpieces of Ravel's. More than this, - the melodic content and structure of both concerti packs an unusual and formidable moral/formal punch. Think of the weight of meaning with which the various types of melodic material in the left hand concerto are invested - the sarabande material, sometimes grotesque, sometimes poetic, sometimes overpowering; the jazz material, banal, obsessive, driven; the brief islands of more subjective material, allowed to grow for a moment and then submit... Or think of the structural weight put upon the long unfolding and repetition of that exquisite tune in the aforementioned Adagio - the power of its eventual return, for all its gentleness! - or the tight control exercised over the amount of expression implicit in the melodic mterial of the first movement of that concerto - Ravel allows melodies their head, then reins them in when they get too swooningly Rachmaninovian (there's a passage he cut around the cadneza when it got a bit too excited, for that reaosn)

[Lisztianwagner]

This is a superb set of the orchestral works:

Try Ma mère l'oye, Rapsodie espagnole, La Valse, Valses nobles, Le tombeau de Couperin, and Daphnis.

[asin]B000UZ4EYI[/asin]

+1

[madaboutmahler]

Good evening, all!

A strong recommendation from Karlo:
http://www.youtube.com/v/KhfESb2OG2E

Great music!! Thrilling writing!

[Lisztianwagner]

On spotify:

Igor Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring

[asin]B000W99IJI[/asin]
This is the first time I listen to Karajan's recording.....

[Papy Oli]

[asin]B000UZ4EYI[/asin]

Thank you for the rec. I have wishlisted the 8-CD set of Martinon set that includes the PCs as well and also Debussy's orchestral works (which i had planned to explore at some point as well). Kills 3 birds with one stone. 

[asin]B008DK3Q96[/asin]

[Papy Oli]

If you like Mozart, apart from yet more Mozart, you could also try Moscheles... who sits between Mozart and Chopin in his seven PCs. Terrific stuff, very well played by Shelley & Co.


I. Moscheles
Piano Concertos 2 & 3
H.Shelley / Tasmanian SO
Hyperion
German link - UK link

Oh. That rec is spot on too, thank you. All 3 volumes in the basket as well. Based on the hyperion samples, I think I'll get the 4th/5th first   

Grieg, Schumann. And might also suggest Bartók?

Those you don't seem to get, especially the Beethoven and the Brahms, I feel are too 'symphonic' for their own good. The orhcestra can be sometimes overpowering. And somehow I still haven't completely 'got' Beethoven's PCs -- after so many years of enjoying the rest of his music... well, most of it anyway, since the Missa Solemnis is below the PCs, in this regard.

Keeping Bartok and Schumann for tomorrow, Nav   

[North Star]

Thank you for the rec. I have wishlisted the 8-CD set of Martinon set that includes the PCs as well and also Debussy's orchestral works (which i had planned to explore at some point as well). Kills 3 birds with one stone. 

[asin]B008DK3Q96[/asin]

Ooh, nice! Hadn't realized that also the PC's were there.

Thread duty:

Dutilleux
Au gré des ondes, pour piano (1946)
Robert Levin
http://youtube.com/v/u7baSScWZ1A

Ainsi la nuit
Belcea Quartet
[asin]B00004YA0Q[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Good evening, all!

A strong recommendation from Karlo:
http://www.youtube.com/v/KhfESb2OG2E

Great music!! Thrilling writing!

I've been recommending Dutilleux for how long?!?!? I told you quite some time ago you should check his music out. Better late than never.

What a minute this is for his SQ, I would have never recommended his SQ, because I haven't even heard it myself! On that note, my apologies, Daniel. Carry on...

[TheGSMoeller]

Inspired by the recent surge of Langgaard listening to join the party. I have some of Rued's string quartet's on disc (including No. 2), but this new disc I have yet to hear. It's available on Spotify.
Edit: coming back to report that SQ No.3 and No.6 are beautiful accomplishments.

[asin] B007C7FFMM[/asin]


Super Rued!

[Brian]

Newly arrived today...

Alexander Tcherepnin: Piano Music Vol. 1

[asin]B007N0SXDQ[/asin]

A disc I'd targeted for some time, and I'm very happy indeed. To give some idea, Tcherepnin's father studied with Rimsky-Korsakov and taught Prokofiev, and Tcherepnin himself was friends with Martinu, Honegger and Roussel. So his early piano music (1918-1926) is right in a sweet spot of lyrical, rhythmical modernity that I enjoy very much. The later works are more experimental, harmonically free, and adventurous.