Pieces that have blown you away recently

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

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SymphonicAddict

Quote from: Christo on May 17, 2019, 09:34:08 AM
'second-rank, but dull' carries a slightly different meaning.  8)

'second-rank, but dull according to me' should be the correct sentence.  ;D

kyjo

Quote from: André on May 17, 2019, 06:43:28 AM
Love that disc, too. Dubois is a second-rank, but high quality composer. The Palazatto BruZane book/discs is a very nice complement (3 discs), but I especially recommend this superb release from François-Zavier Roth-Les Siècles:



Thanks, André. I'll be checking that disc out soon!
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

kyjo

Quote from: Mirror Image on May 17, 2019, 07:06:11 PM
Absolutely adore Martinů's Magic Nights, but let's not forget Nipponari as well, which is another gorgeous song cycle from him.

Ah yes, you've reminded me that I need to listen to Nipponari!
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Mirror Image

Quote from: kyjo on May 18, 2019, 08:38:22 PM
Ah yes, you've reminded me that I need to listen to Nipponari!

8) Would love to know what you think about it once you've heard it.

kyjo

#824
Not a first listen, but a rediscovery - the wonderful Chants d'Auvergne by Joseph Canteloube. It's such gorgeous, evocative, magical music of great rustic charm. It's some of the most instantly appealing vocal music I know, due in no small part to Canteloube's colorful, glittering orchestration which features bucolic woodwind solos and a prominent piano part (something I always love). Of course, the well-known Baïlèro is a highlight, but every song is treasurable. I listened to this superb Naxos recording (the first of two discs of the collection of Chants), featuring the wonderfully pure-voiced Véronique Gens, who brings out the innocent charm of this music and resists any temptation to make it unnecessarily operatic:

[asin]B00068VQAY[/asin]

Though these Chants have been recorded multiple times, the rest of Canteloube's output, including multiple operas, tone poems, piano works, and other vocal works, languishes in obscurity. I'd certainly like to hear more of it!
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

André

Quote from: kyjo on May 31, 2019, 05:11:06 AM
Not a first listen, but a rediscovery - the wonderful Chants d'Auvergne by Joseph Canteloube. It's such gorgeous, evocative, magical music of great rustic charm. It's some of the most instantly appealing vocal music I know, due in no small part to Canteloube's colorful, glittering orchestration which features bucolic woodwind solos and a prominent piano part (something I always love). Of course, the well-known Baïlèro is a highlight, but every song is treasurable. I listened to this superb Naxos recording (the first of two discs of the collection of Chants), featuring the wonderfully pure-voiced Véronique Gens, who brings out the innocent charm of this music and resists any temptation to make it unnecessarily operatic:

[asin]B00068VQAY[/asin]

Though these Chants have been recorded multiple times, the rest of Canteloube's output, including multiple operas, tone poems, piano works, and other vocal works, languishes in obscurity. I'd certainly like to hear more of it!



May I offer this recommendation?

;)




kyjo

Quote from: André on May 31, 2019, 06:12:51 AM


May I offer this recommendation?

;)



Thanks, André - I do remember coming across that disc before. It has glowing reviews on Amazon.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

vandermolen

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Irons

#828
Patrick Hadley: "The Trees So High - Vernon Hadley, LPO. Lyrita & Matthias Bamert, Philharmonia. Chandos.

Frank Howes in his book "The English Musical Renaissance" provide some analytical notes: So, too, in a more formal way, is "The Trees So High" a choral symphony, though more in the shape of Mendelssohn's Lobgesang, consisting as it does of three instrumental movements, "three independent brooks" (though thematically related in their derivation from the tune of the ballad) "which flow into one stream of the last movement", where soloist and chorus sing the actual ballad. These uses of symphonic form in vocal composition are the most original feature of Hadley's work and by them he overcomes the well-known recalcitrance of folk-song and symphony to each other.



The Lyrita, recorded at the Kingsway Hall are not the usual sound engineers but by John Dunkerley and Colin Moorfoot.  I would put this recording in the top three for quality of sound for this label. "Trees" is a very nuanced work and the detail caught by the engineers is top-draw. In comparison the Chandos sounds slightly veiled and less open. I thought Handley shaded the performance too, with smoother flow. The Lyrita does not win on all counts though, as there are two important advantages with the Chandos set. I tend to avoid choral works, but here the vocal element is wonderful and the Philharmonia Chorus come into their own. I actually got goose bumps listening to their rendition. Secondly, the Chandos double CD also includes three works from an even more obscure British composer, Philip Sainton. This is worth price of admission alone.
I refuse to prevaricate so my advice if you are tempted (If you like RVW you should be) - get them both! No sitting on the fence from me. 8)
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

pjme

#829
Quote from: kyjo on May 31, 2019, 06:19:30 AM
Thanks, André - I do remember coming across that disc before. It has glowing reviews on Amazon.

On YT one can listen to a 1962 radio performance of Canteloube's opera "Le mas" (written ca 1911-1913, premiered in 1929).
Most of the singers (Vessières, Voli) are very good with superb diction. But as a whole this 57-year old recording isn't very convincing to my ears: recessed orchestra & chorus, a pompous/sentimental/dated style that adds extra weight to Canteloube's already heavy (very nationalistic & pathetically folkloristic) libretto...
Canteloube distilled a purely symphonic Suite from Le mas. Possibly that work is digestive!

https://www.youtube.com/v/9WaPoSpSPso

Still, there may definitely be some hidden treasures in Canteloube's oeuvre.

His wonderful "Tryptique" (in the version by Frederica Von Stade/ de Almeida) blew me away when I first heard it.

Mirror Image

A work that has blown me away recently was Liszt's Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie through Leslie Howard's recording on Hyperion. I marveled at the sheer inventiveness and remarkable harmonies that Liszt created. Many movements sounding as if it was written in the 20th Century. This composer was so ahead of his time.

SymphonicAddict

Three specific works:

Vasks - Credo, for orchestra: This composer always has some treasures to discover. Credo is unbelievably life-enhancing and visionary, I found it very moving. It reminded me of Górecki and Braga Santos in some fragments.

Nyman - MGV: I've known other works by Nyman (Piano Concerto and The Draughtman's Contract) and this piece has enthralled me a lot as well. Sounds so optimistic, luminous, futuristic and even epic. The music is incessantly sparkling. A great discovery.

Xenakis - Jonchaies, for 109 musicians: The antidote for the previous uplifting stuff. This is wild and threatening! Here the restless rhythm is the rule. Simply impressive.

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on June 06, 2019, 10:27:35 AM
Three specific works:

Vasks - Credo, for orchestra: This composer always has some treasures to discover. Credo is unbelievably life-enhancing and visionary, I found it very moving. It reminded me of Górecki and Braga Santos in some fragments.

Nyman - MGV: I've known other works by Nyman (Piano Concerto and The Draughtman's Contract) and this piece has enthralled me a lot as well. Sounds so optimistic, luminous, futuristic and even epic. The music is incessantly sparkling. A great discovery.

Xenakis - Jonchaies, for 109 musicians: The antidote for the previous uplifting stuff. This is wild and threatening! Here the restless rhythm is the rule. Simply impressive.

I have enjoyed works by Vasks before and listened to samples from the album containing Credo. Wow, that does sound good!. Lossless download is already on my hard disc. :)

Roasted Swan

Quote from: pjme on June 04, 2019, 02:38:27 AM
Still, there may definitely be some hidden treasures in Canteloube's oeuvre.
His wonderful "Tryptique" (in the version by Frederica Von Stade/ de Almeida) blew me away when I first heard it.

Don't know Von Stade's recording but the version on Naxos by Veronique Gens is very beautiful too.....

[asin]B000PFU8L6[/asin]

pjme

#834
There's no doubt about that: Véronique Gens is a superb artist! Her version of the Triptyque is on YT - I will definitely listen.
I discovered that work at least 30 years ago on France Musique. On Friday evenings a program with treasures from the archives was broadcast. Triptyque was sung by Ludmilla Lebedeva and André Cluytens conducted the ORTF orchestra & chorus.
In the fifties French orchestras were able to dish up original programs. On the 29th december 1952 one could listen in the Théatre des Champs Elysées to:
Ouverture to le roi d'Ys by Lalo
Triptyque by Canteloube
Hornconcerto by Hindemith (Louis Courtinat soloist)
Prélude to act 1 /Fervaal by d'Indy
Psaume du fond de l'abime by Lily Boulanger (Hélène Bouvier et Paul Derenne soloists). !!

Imho,the "5 chants d'amour" by Arthur Degreef for soprano and orchestre (written 1901) have a Canteloube-like perfumed, Art Nouveau lushness. Do try....
https://youtu.be/tI0o7TPTU94
Saint Saens "La nuit" is another gem.
https://youtu.be/wDO6EnqDIhM

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: Roasted Swan on June 06, 2019, 11:36:28 AM
Don't know Von Stade's recording but the version on Naxos by Veronique Gens is very beautiful too.....

[asin]B000PFU8L6[/asin]

I have the famous de los Angeles recording, which left me cold.

I should try Gens, I suspect. Her early recital disc of French melodie is one of the few albums of vocal music that I really connect with.

[asin]B00003ZKR9[/asin]

Mirror Image

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on June 06, 2019, 10:27:35 AMXenakis - Jonchaies, for 109 musicians: The antidote for the previous uplifting stuff. This is wild and threatening! Here the restless rhythm is the rule. Simply impressive.

Very cool work. I like it. Believe it or not, I played Jonchaies for my mom and she really enjoyed it.

Maestro267

Reger's Mozart Variations hasn't so much blown me away as it has charmed me no end. It's absolutely stunning! Mozart's original theme (from the first movement of the Piano Sonata in A, K. 331, apparently itself a set of variations on this theme) is very memorable, so it's easy to spot it within the variations.

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: Maestro267 on June 07, 2019, 09:00:55 AM
Reger's Mozart Variations hasn't so much blown me away as it has charmed me no end. It's absolutely stunning! Mozart's original theme (from the first movement of the Piano Sonata in A, K. 331, apparently itself a set of variations on this theme) is very memorable, so it's easy to spot it within the variations.

I recall the piece falling like a sack of coal on my first exposure. I will have to revisit! :)

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: Ghost of Baron Scarpia on June 07, 2019, 09:04:19 AM
I recall the piece falling like a sack of coal on my first exposure. I will have to revisit! :)

The Hiller Variations are even better IMO. The Beethoven Variations, whilst not as great as those, offer a delectable listen too.