Leo Ornstein (1893-2002)

Started by schnittkease, August 31, 2017, 08:06:09 AM

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SymphonicAddict



It looks like this composer is not very commented here. Anyway, the two works on this disc are impressive, absorbing, intense and even sensuous. The Piano Quintet is a true revelation, it's up there with the greatest ones in my opinion. It's beyond me why it's not well known. The String Quartet No. 3 is not far in greatness. It's a bit more dissonant, but they are dissonances that suggest sensuality. Both works have some sort of Oriental or Jewish flavour, which gives more appeal and enjoyment. I was utterly marveled by his musical idiom.

vandermolen

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on June 04, 2019, 02:36:27 PM


It looks like this composer is not very commented here. Anyway, the two works on this disc are impressive, absorbing, intense and even sensuous. The Piano Quintet is a true revelation, it's up there with the greatest ones in my opinion. It's beyond me why it's not well known. The String Quartet No. 3 is not far in greatness. It's a bit more dissonant, but they are dissonances that suggest sensuality. Both works have some sort of Oriental or Jewish flavour, which gives more appeal and enjoyment. I was utterly marveled by his musical idiom.
Very interesting Cesar. I only have a Naxos CD of his piano music but must look out for the Piano Quintet - especially after your recommendation of the one by Bax, which was a revelation to me.
"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).

schnittkease

I second the Piano Quintet recommendation. Piano Sonata No. 4 is a fine work as well, especially in the hands of Arsentiy Kharitonov (see the above Toccata Classics series).

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: vandermolen on June 04, 2019, 02:40:49 PM
Very interesting Cesar. I only have a Naxos CD of his piano music but must look out for the Piano Quintet - especially after your recommendation of the one by Bax, which was a revelation to me.

I'm pretty sure you're gonna like it. To compare it with something else, it's close to Bloch's Piano Quintet No. 1.

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: schnittkease on June 04, 2019, 04:14:18 PM
I second the Piano Quintet recommendation. Piano Sonata No. 4 is a fine work as well, especially in the hands of Arsentiy Kharitonov (see the above Toccata Classics series).

Being enthralled by this composer, this will be on my radar very soon. Thanks.

vandermolen

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on June 04, 2019, 04:20:10 PM
I'm pretty sure you're gonna like it. To compare it with something else, it's close to Bloch's Piano Quintet No. 1.
I've ordered the one you posted above. After the Bloch comparison my nerve went and I ordered it.
::)
"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).

schnittkease

I don't think you'll be regretting this one.

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: ahinton on September 04, 2017, 07:03:54 AM
1893-2002, methinks.
WIKIPEDIA says 1895. Poor guy the one who cares enough to start a thread cant get his year of birth right.

schnittkease

Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 05, 2019, 03:05:01 PM
WIKIPEDIA says 1895. Poor guy the one who cares enough to start a thread cant get his year of birth right.

Me being that "poor guy," I take mild offense to your comment. ahinton is right; Grove Music (just a smidge more reliable than Wikipedia) gives Dec 2, 1893 as Ornstein's date of birth.

PerfectWagnerite

#30
Quote from: schnittkease on June 05, 2019, 07:54:18 PM
Me being that "poor guy," I take mild offense to your comment. ahinton is right; Grove Music (just a smidge more reliable than Wikipedia) gives Dec 2, 1893 as Ornstein's date of birth.
I am sorry the "poor guy" is referring to Ornstein not you. This is really fascinating for someone who seems like a major composer/performer and someone who lived to such an extraordinary age his year of birth is uncertain.
Wikipedia says 1895
Groves 1892.

Here is a NYTimes article saying it could be 1893:
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/05/arts/leo-ornstein-108-pianist-and-avant-garde-composer.html
Leo Ornstein was born in December of either 1892 or 1893, said his son, Severo



kyjo

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on June 04, 2019, 02:36:27 PM


It looks like this composer is not very commented here. Anyway, the two works on this disc are impressive, absorbing, intense and even sensuous. The Piano Quintet is a true revelation, it's up there with the greatest ones in my opinion. It's beyond me why it's not well known. The String Quartet No. 3 is not far in greatness. It's a bit more dissonant, but they are dissonances that suggest sensuality. Both works have some sort of Oriental or Jewish flavour, which gives more appeal and enjoyment. I was utterly marveled by his musical idiom.

I'm in total agreement with you, Cesar - the Piano Quintet is a scorching masterpiece. Like you say below, it is "of a feather" with another piano quintet written in the 1920s by a Jewish-American composer, Bloch's 1st. It is perhaps even more intensely spellbinding than that already magnificent work! There's also a great recording of it by Marc-André Hamelin and the Pacifica Quartet on Hyperion. I don't know the 3rd SQ yet but will seek it out. Ornstein's two cello sonatas also get top recommendations from me. The 1st is tragic and emotional, and the 2nd is sensuously beautiful.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: kyjo on June 08, 2019, 06:32:30 AM
I'm in total agreement with you, Cesar - the Piano Quintet is a scorching masterpiece. Like you say below, it is "of a feather" with another piano quintet written in the 1920s by a Jewish-American composer, Bloch's 1st. It is perhaps even more intensely spellbinding than that already magnificent work! There's also a great recording of it by Marc-André Hamelin and the Pacifica Quartet on Hyperion. I don't know the 3rd SQ yet but will seek it out. Ornstein's two cello sonatas also get top recommendations from me. The 1st is tragic and emotional, and the 2nd is sensuously beautiful.

Bolded text: I've also come to that conclusion. It's a really riveting piece, full of eloquent and heated moments. I remember hearing one of those cello sonatas on YouTube (I don't recall which one) and I thought it was somewhat touching, with lots of poetry.

SymphonicAddict

The Piano Sonata No. 4 (as recommended earlier by schnittkease, so thank you) is indeed a magical work. Featured by intoxicating passages, lots of orientalism (even there is a strong hint of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade somewhere), poetry galore and brilliant virtuosism. This composer impresses me more and more. Delightful music altogether.

schnittkease

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on August 14, 2019, 07:19:15 PM
The Piano Sonata No. 4 (as recommended earlier by schnittkease, so thank you) is indeed a magical work. Featured by intoxicating passages, lots of orientalism (even there is a strong hint of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade somewhere), poetry galore and brilliant virtuosism. This composer impresses me more and more. Delightful music altogether.

Glad you liked it. The next step would probably be the piano music played by Hamelin on Hyperion. This is a superbly played disc that contains music from both ends of his career (including the impressive Piano Sonata No. 8, written in Ornstein's tenth decade).