Pieces that have blown you away recently

[pjme]

From Alex Ross webpage:


Andrew Norman has won the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, for his formidable symphonic piece Play. In an interview with NPR, he has an exceptionally thoughtful reaction to the prize: "Maybe I can use this moment to talk about things that are important to me. Like to call attention to the fact that there are problems. For instance, this award has been given to three women out of its 30-year history. And to me that's kind of an issue. And in all honesty, I'm a white man and I get lots of commissions and there are systemic reasons for that, reasons we should all be talking about. There are so many talented composers out there. Rather than giving me another commission, why aren't we giving those people a commission?" Norman has also been named Musical America's Composer of the Year. I was asked to write a short essay for the occasion.

More on Norman: Will Robin's Times profile, Anne Lanzilotti's Music and Literature piece on Play.

https://www.youtube.com/v/c9DLBag6H1s

This caught my attention at once! Lovely, optimistic music from the US! Am listening again.

P.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

From Alex Ross webpage:


Andrew Norman has won the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, for his formidable symphonic piece Play. In an interview with NPR, he has an exceptionally thoughtful reaction to the prize: "Maybe I can use this moment to talk about things that are important to me. Like to call attention to the fact that there are problems. For instance, this award has been given to three women out of its 30-year history. And to me that's kind of an issue. And in all honesty, I'm a white man and I get lots of commissions and there are systemic reasons for that, reasons we should all be talking about. There are so many talented composers out there. Rather than giving me another commission, why aren't we giving those people a commission?" Norman has also been named Musical America's Composer of the Year. I was asked to write a short essay for the occasion.

More on Norman: Will Robin's Times profile, Anne Lanzilotti's Music and Literature piece on Play.

https://www.youtube.com/v/c9DLBag6H1s

This caught my attention at once! Lovely, optimistic music from the US! Am listening again.

P.

Great piece and great reaction. I'll check out more from this composer.

[Mirror Image]

From Alex Ross webpage:


Andrew Norman has won the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, for his formidable symphonic piece Play. In an interview with NPR, he has an exceptionally thoughtful reaction to the prize: "Maybe I can use this moment to talk about things that are important to me. Like to call attention to the fact that there are problems. For instance, this award has been given to three women out of its 30-year history. And to me that's kind of an issue. And in all honesty, I'm a white man and I get lots of commissions and there are systemic reasons for that, reasons we should all be talking about. There are so many talented composers out there. Rather than giving me another commission, why aren't we giving those people a commission?" Norman has also been named Musical America's Composer of the Year. I was asked to write a short essay for the occasion.

More on Norman: Will Robin's Times profile, Anne Lanzilotti's Music and Literature piece on Play.

https://www.youtube.com/v/c9DLBag6H1s

This caught my attention at once! Lovely, optimistic music from the US! Am listening again.

P.

I listened to maybe 5 minutes of this piece from Andrew Norman and that was enough for me. Optimistic music? Well, it's energetic, but that's about it. Nothing of remote substance, though IMHO.

[Gie663]

I'm a regular reader of the forums on this website, although I'm not a regular contributor myself.
But I do like to share my experience with this recording of Rameau's Six Concerts en Sextuor. Originally five of them were written for viola da gamba, violin and harpsichord (Christophe Rousset made an excellent recording of these). It was still during the lifetime of Rameau that these pieces were transcribed as six concerts in six parts -- presumably by Jacques-Joseph-Marie Decroix in 1768.
He did that with the utmost good taste and insight in Rameau's musical world. "The sound of the recording is quite resonant, and one might complain that the live acoustics of the studio tend to blur the parts too much. Yet this is easily forgiven when the strings' increased luster is weighed in the balance, and when choice dissonances melt into a halo of glorious sonority"(All Music website).
Rousset delivers such wonderful ensemble playing : it left me in tears, even after several listening sessions !

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Yesterday I was blown away by this piece by British composer Mark Simpson (born 1988)

https://www.youtube.com/v/ABSLiMuwZY0

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Again blown away, this time by Kourliandski with his elecotracoustic work The Riot of Spring. I gotta go and read all of nathanb's posts because he mentions some amazing stuff that no one is really talking about at all! Come on guys!

First time listening to this......I might have to post this in the 'blown away' thread!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

JUST HEARD HELEN GRIME'S VIOLIN CONCERTO

and

it was sooooooooooooooo good

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Twice today I have been utterly blown away, although I have to say that from hearing Kate Soper's 'Voices From the Killing Jar' makes Helen Grime's violin concerto feel like a slight breeze compared to Soper's gale which totally blew me off my feet.

Very rarely has a piece has affected me as much as Kate Soper's 'Voices from the Killing Jar' has. The music itself is captivating and with masterful word-painting of which I personally think can only compare with Britten for its theatrical nature, whereas Soper's score is both emotionally richer and more intricately detailed in orchestration than anything Britten has ever composed. This piece must be one of only a handful of pieces which I feel has truly managed to transport me into a sonic universe the likes of which could never be imagined before hearing the music for the first time. For the 40 plus minutes of its duration there was never a moment of exhaustion, never a moment of dullness or boredom, but only a logical transformation of one section to the next, one emotion to the next, one uniquely orchestrated moment to the next. The underlying rhythm of change in the music always keeps one on their toes and at the edge of their seat to find out what music lies ahead. What actually does lie ahead is never completely what one expects, but when it is finally heard it is impossible to imagine anything else it could have been. At the end of the piece, the final silence came almost as a shock as I had been so immersed in the universe of sound which Soper created that being brought back into reality is somewhat disappointing. 43 minutes of music just isn't enough, yet any change I feel would ruin the awesome experience of hearing this work for the first time. Highly recommended listen for anyone who hasn't heard this yet!

https://www.youtube.com/v/LCAt4mKhCpY

[Maestro267]

I picked up a recording of Puccini's Turandot the other week (Zubin Mehta conducting), and wow! I was absolutely blown away by it! Thrilling recording! If I'm going to get more opera recordings, I'll definitely go for Decca. It might mean paying a bit more, but they are wonderfully packaged, and more often than not they come with the complete libretto, absolutely essential for a first-time hearer of these opera, especially in a foreign language to your own.

[arpeggio]

I picked up a recording of Puccini's Turandot the other week (Zubin Mehta conducting), and wow! I was absolutely blown away by it! Thrilling recording! If I'm going to get more opera recordings, I'll definitely go for Decca. It might mean paying a bit more, but they are wonderfully packaged, and more often than not they come with the complete libretto, absolutely essential for a first-time hearer of these opera, especially in a foreign language to your own.

I would try Tosca next.

[springrite]

I picked up a recording of Puccini's Turandot the other week (Zubin Mehta conducting), and wow! I was absolutely blown away by it! Thrilling recording! If I'm going to get more opera recordings, I'll definitely go for Decca. It might mean paying a bit more, but they are wonderfully packaged, and more often than not they come with the complete libretto, absolutely essential for a first-time hearer of these opera, especially in a foreign language to your own.

I wonder which one by Mehta you listened to. Rubin does have a way with opera.

[The new erato]

I wonder which one by Mehta you listened to. Rubin does have a way with opera.

Rubin?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I picked up a recording of Puccini's Turandot the other week (Zubin Mehta conducting), and wow! I was absolutely blown away by it! Thrilling recording! If I'm going to get more opera recordings, I'll definitely go for Decca. It might mean paying a bit more, but they are wonderfully packaged, and more often than not they come with the complete libretto, absolutely essential for a first-time hearer of these opera, especially in a foreign language to your own.

Glad you discovered Turandot! Puccini is terrific. His music is much more than just those popular arias like Nessun Dorma and so on

[GioCar]

Glad you discovered Turandot! Puccini is terrific. His music is much more than just those popular arias like Nessun Dorma and so on

How true....

To me, Puccini seems to be one of the most underrated composers in the English fora I use to follow. Maybe his image has been distorted by considering him a sort of Italian "Gilbert & Sullivan" equivalent? I don't really know...

Anyway, one of the best ways to really get into Puccini's world and music is through the reference biography by Mosco Carner or, more recently, the Budden's essay

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Thanks for those recommendations, GioCar! I hadn't thought of reading a book about him yet, but I will keep those in mind when I want to stock up on some more music books

[The new erato]

https://youtu.be/oV22ljekWYQ

Olivier Messiaen - Le Merle Noir for Flute and Piano

Excuse my french but HOLY SHIT this is an infectious and ecstatic piece 

Le Merle also gave name to the grape varietal Merlot.

[Maestro267]

I wonder which one by Mehta you listened to. Rubin does have a way with opera.

I didn't know there were several. Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti and Peter Pears are among the cast on this particular recording.

[arpeggio]

Santa Claus just got me this.  Wow!!!!

I am now listening to the Blue/s Forms for Solo Violin.  Awesome.   

Link to the Cedille Websitehttp://www.cedillerecords.org/albums/coleridge-taylor-perkinson-a-celebration

[Rinaldo]

Simeon ten Holt, where have you been all my life? Canto Ostinato hits all my sweet spots:

https://www.youtube.com/v/JDCsOL2vBJc

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I picked up a recording of Puccini's Turandot the other week (Zubin Mehta conducting), and wow! I was absolutely blown away by it! Thrilling recording! If I'm going to get more opera recordings, I'll definitely go for Decca. It might mean paying a bit more, but they are wonderfully packaged, and more often than not they come with the complete libretto, absolutely essential for a first-time hearer of these opera, especially in a foreign language to your own.

Great, Turandot is in my top3 Puccini operas. Staggeringly beautiful, of course then there is Alfano's copy-paste ending...