Pieces that have blown you away recently

Started by arpeggio, September 09, 2016, 02:36:58 PM

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André

I don't think the Bloch quartets are a hot cd ticket. As far as I can tell, only the Portlands have recorded the 5th quartet (I don't have it).  I do have the piano quintets on Hyperion and know the first in other performances.

Jo498

Not super hot. But neither is a whole lot of other stuff that seems to get recorded.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

SymphonicAddict

Dukas - La Péri

Such was my delight to hear this piece again that it was like if I had listened to it for the first time. This is gloriously gorgeous music!!! By listening this simply I can't understand why Dukas was too self-critical, it's beyond me. Sensuality, exoticism and lush orchestration competing with those examples by Ravel and Schmitt for citing some composers.

I loved this piece and how utterly gratifying it was.

Mirror Image

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on January 20, 2019, 01:58:32 PM
Dukas - La Péri

Such was my delight to hear this piece again that it was like if I had listened to it for the first time. This is gloriously gorgeous music!!! By listening this simply I can't understand why Dukas was too self-critical, it's beyond me. Sensuality, exoticism and lush orchestration competing with those examples by Ravel and Schmitt for citing some composers.

I loved this piece and how utterly gratifying it was.

It's just too bad his oeuvre is so small. He threw out more than he published which is a real shame.

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: Mirror Image on January 20, 2019, 04:36:06 PM
It's just too bad his oeuvre is so small. He threw out more than he published which is a real shame.

Quite true. I'm sure many of the works he destroyed had potential. We are fortunate to enjoy the few works that survived.

Mirror Image

#705
Quote from: SymphonicAddict on January 20, 2019, 05:33:51 PM
Quite true. I'm sure many of the works he destroyed had potential. We are fortunate to enjoy the few works that survived.

Indeed. He's much like Henri Duparc and Maurice Duruflé in this regard.

Florestan

https://www.youtube.com/v/BU6ysWUmwBI

Not exactly this version but the orchestral one with Simon Rattle and the Birmingham SO --- overheard yesterday on my car radio. Truly springtime-like, fresh, innocent and carefree --- it really made my day.

Honestly, I find this scaled-down version even better, and the accordion is to die for.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

#707
Honegger, Prelude, Fugue and Postlude.

I have this recording, I don't know of any other modern recordings of the piece.



(The recording is also available on a subsequent 2CD re-release.) I learned it was extracted from an early Ballet, Amphion, which seems to be equally obscure.

It is a beautiful work. It starts out with ominous harmonies from the orchestra, then a striking fugue, and a return to the material from the opening. I find it captivating.

Mirror Image


pjme

Quote from: Ghost of Baron Scarpia on February 04, 2019, 09:46:45 PM
Honegger, Prelude, Fugue and Postlude.

I have this recording, I don't know of any other modern recordings of the piece.

I learned it was extracted from an early Ballet, Amphion, which seems to be equally obscure

Timpani issued "Amphion" some years ago. I listened only once or twice.... Still, a good idea to take that cd out of oblivion today. Will report back later.

Christo

Quote from: Florestan on January 24, 2019, 07:04:08 AM
https://www.youtube.com/v/BU6ysWUmwBI

Not exactly this version but the orchestral one with Simon Rattle and the Birmingham SO --- overheard yesterday on my car radio. Truly springtime-like, fresh, innocent and carefree --- it really made my day.

Honestly, I find this scaled-down version even better, and the accordion is to die for.
In August, 1995, on my way back from the Khanty-Mansiisk region in Siberia, I spent a few days in Tallinn and recall seeing Lepo Sumera in the Kloostri Ait in a small company, happily dancing & enjoying. We already knew his symphonies, issued by BIS. He would die in 2000, only 50 years old.
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: pjme on February 04, 2019, 11:34:56 PM
Timpani issued "Amphion" some years ago. I listened only once or twice.... Still, a good idea to take that cd out of oblivion today. Will report back later.


I did come across that release, but at least on amazon, only available used for unreasonable prices. I could consider a download (they have lossless at Presto).

pjme

#712
I enjoyed listening to "Amphion" and "L'impératrice aux rochers", both written for Ida Rubinstein.

Amphion (written in 1929, premiere 1931) is an unusual work as it combines elements from ballet, oratorio, opera and "mélodrame". There's little real melodrama in this work : Récit d'Amphion (Discourse of Amphion) takes  only 5 minutes. I find it (very) beautiful, even if Valéry's text may seem a bit pompous today. The musical accompaniment is delicate and has echoes of Jeanne au bûcher.
Other fragments reminded me of early Honegger (Le dit des jeux du monde): the (brief) use of solo percussion + contrabasses, some solo lines in the wind instruments.
Baritone Olivier Lallouette has a 5 minute (stark & noble) 'Récit d'Apollon', the Muses are sung by 4 female soli.
I will listen again - at about 38 minutes it isn't a difficult or heavy task at all. I definitely would like to see Amphion in a contemporary setting. The myth of Amphion (and Paul Valéry's libretto) contains many elements that call out for visual effects: Apollo gives Amphion, an uncultered brute, his lyre. He discovers the scale, then music itself and, while playing, rocks and stones form a temple dedicated to Apollo, of course.
Valéry gives the plot a bitter twist. Amphion, now seen as an "artist", must disappear. After completing his work, the creative artist interests mankind no more.The muses abandon Amphion and Honegger's delicate Postlude brings the score to a sad and gloomy end.
I found the recording (made in Timisoara) lacking depth. The orchestra isn't in the top league either. Still, it's the only recording....
The purely orchestral score for l'Impératrice aux rochers is very colourful. This recording adds 5 more fragments to the Suite that Honegger devised himself in 1928.

Jaakko Keskinen

Prokofiev's The Tale of the Stone Flower, it quickly became one of my favorite ballets ever!
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

Brahmsian

Rachmaninoff's 1st symphony, especially after attending a live performance last weekend.

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: pjme on February 06, 2019, 12:30:45 AM
I enjoyed listening to "Amphion" and "L'impératrice aux rochers", both written for Ida Rubinstein.

Amphion (written in 1929, premiere 1931) is an unusual work as it combines elements from ballet, oratorio, opera and "mélodrame". There's little real melodrama in this work : Récit d'Amphion (Discourse of Amphion) takes  only 5 minutes. I find it (very) beautiful, even if Valéry's text may seem a bit pompous today. The musical accompaniment is delicate and has echoes of Jeanne au bûcher.
Other fragments reminded me of early Honegger (Le dit des jeux du monde): the (brief) use of solo percussion + contrabasses, some solo lines in the wind instruments.
Baritone Olivier Lallouette has a 5 minute (stark & noble) 'Récit d'Apollon', the Muses are sung by 4 female soli.
I will listen again - at about 38 minutes it isn't a difficult or heavy task at all. I definitely would like to see Amphion in a contemporary setting. The myth of Amphion (and Paul Valéry's libretto) contains many elements that call out for visual effects: Apollo gives Amphion, an uncultered brute, his lyre. He discovers the scale, then music itself and, while playing, rocks and stones form a temple dedicated to Apollo, of course.
Valéry gives the plot a bitter twist. Amphion, now seen as an "artist", must disappear. After completing his work, the creative artist interests mankind no more.The muses abandon Amphion and Honegger's delicate Postlude brings the score to a sad and gloomy end.
I found the recording (made in Timisoara) lacking depth. The orchestra isn't in the top league either. Still, it's the only recording....
The purely orchestral score for l'Impératrice aux rochers is very colourful. This recording adds 5 more fragments to the Suite that Honegger devised himself in 1928.

Thanks for your report. I must say, the presence of spoken material does not attract me.

Ken B

Quote from: Alberich on February 11, 2019, 08:22:05 AM
Prokofiev's The Tale of the Stone Flower, it quickly became one of my favorite ballets ever!
A gorgeous grab bag of melody isn't it? I prefer the suite, since the whole thing is long. A guilty pleasure of mine is the Varviso recording, which is schmalzy and wonderful.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Alberich on February 11, 2019, 08:22:05 AM
Prokofiev's The Tale of the Stone Flower, it quickly became one of my favorite ballets ever!

One of my least favorite Prokofiev ballets (along with Romeo & Juliet). I find it overlong and could do with a lot of trimming. My favorite Prokofiev ballet is a toss-up between On the Dnieper and Le pas d'acier. The Prodigal Son and Chout are also favorites.

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: Alberich on February 11, 2019, 08:22:05 AM
Prokofiev's The Tale of the Stone Flower, it quickly became one of my favorite ballets ever!

That is his only ballet I don't know yet. What recording did you listen to?

André

Quote from: ChamberNut on February 11, 2019, 08:30:27 AM
Rachmaninoff's 1st symphony, especially after attending a live performance last weekend.

That's great ! A thrilling work indeed.