What are you listening 2 now?

[steve ridgway]

Xenakis - A.R.

[steve ridgway]

Xenakis - Mikka

[steve ridgway]

Scelsi - Chukrum

[Que]

 

[Irons]

One interesting factoid to emerge from Marina Frolova-Walker's fascinating book on music in early Soviet Russia was the frequency with which Scott's work was programmed in concerts there, along with Casella and Hindemith as exemplars of what was considered Western modernism at the time.

Your intriguing post had me taking down Boris Schwarz book Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia 1917-1970. From which "The VOKS bulletin carried a report on a concert of English music given in Moscow; among the composers were Cyril Scott, Lennox Berkeley, William Alwyn and Eric Coates".

[pjme]

A wonderful surprise:

Severo Ornstein - the composers son:
https://www.poonhill.com/

"A pyrotechnical dazzler, Ornstein's Concerto was clearly written by a pianist with a physical passion for hammering every inch of the keyboard. From the first note, the writing for piano teems with raw virtuosity. Using a traditional three-movement concerto form, the work glories in chromatic runs and gapped scales, as well as chords built of fourths and fifths (no tame triads for Ornstein). Rapid-fire runs and octave gymnastics alternate within toccata-like sections and passages of static repetition. Defying the reputation of modernists for taking their art too seriously, this work brims with fun and wild daring. Like watching a high-diver, it leaves the listener breathless, wondering if a safe landing is possible.

Fifty years after its composition, in a letter to Oliver Daniel, who was then preparing a biography of Stokowski, Ornstein recalled rehearsals for the premiere of the Concerto and gave a sense of the challenge of performing a brand-new work:

I remember our meeting when Stokowski looked at the score. He had a funny little room at the head of a rickety stairway back of the stage of the old Academy of Music. He studied the score for a long time, then turned to me and said, 'Let's do it.' We eventually gave two performances in Philadelphia and one in New York. He must have realized the difficulty of the piece because instead of leaving the rehearsal for Friday morning, the day of the concert, he set the first rehearsal for the previous Monday. Then his professionalism was very evident. He turned to the men and indicated that there would have to be not only extra rehearsals but longer ones. He practically devoted the entire week's work to the Concerto and gave a dazzling performance. It was entirely clear to me after working with him that under the surface appearance of great bravura there was a thoroughness that might almost be considered of an academic nature.

Ornstein's Piano Concerto has lain dormant for seventy years. Like the whole of his output, it awaits fresh performances and renewed critical attention."

https://americansymphony.org/concert-notes/piano-concerto-1925/

[Iota]

Albéniz: Iberia Books 1 - 4 (original Hispavox recording of 1962)
Alicia de Larrocha (piano)

Larrocha does some magically lovely things at times (the tenderness and nuance in the coda of Jerez (bk 4) is fresh in the mind e.g), and the fireworks and sparks in her playing seem to emanate directly from the heat of Albéniz' creative furnace, which produces an electric and very tangible emotional energy throughout. It does feel an essential recording for all sorts of reasons.

[Traverso]

Bach

Vol.7 CD 4

[Florestan]

[Mookalafalas]

Our own @madaboutmahler, who unfortunately doesn't post here any longer, was a student of Matthew Taylor. Just thought I would throw that out there.

  Nice to know. I was pissed to see Taylor has only 1 review at US Amazon, and that was 2 stars.

[Harry]

Peacock Pie.
Music by: See back cover.
MARTIN ROSCOE, Piano.
GUILDHALL STRINGS, ROBERT SALTER,(Violin) director.
Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, on 25-27 July 2001.

A typical Hyperion record if we may say so, six attractive and shamefully neglected English early-to-mid-20th-century works by five composers whose names are not as familiar as they should be, and by what I hear that fact is indeed shamefully. Martin Roscoe's playing is sparklingly sympathetic, as are the accompaniments from the Guildhall Strings. They find the spirited, unaffected tone that does this music great credit The recording is top of the bill.

[AnotherSpin]

Reger: Chorale Fantasias

Wouter van den Broek

[Harry]

Edward German.
Orchestral works- See back cover for details.
BBC Concert Orchestra, John Wilson.
Recorded: 2011, at the Air Studios Hampstead, London.

I always was a great admirer of Edward German's music, and this disc did a lot to cement my opinion about him. A lot of compositions stuffed on this release, which gives a broad view of his oeuvre. John Wilson knows exactly  where to go with the notes, and puts a lot of energy plus conviction in the music.

[VonStupp]

FJ Haydn
Symphony no. 49 in F minor 'Passion'
Symphony no. 50 in C Major
Symphony no. 51 in B-flat Major
Austro-Hungarian HO - Ádám Fischer

VS

[Traverso]

Vivaldi

CD 1 Concertos  L'Estro Armonico

[Harry]

Jean Françaix.
Les malheurs de Sophie, 1935.
Concertino for piano and orchestra in F major, 1934.
Les bosquets de Cythère 1946.
Ulster Orchestra, Thierry Fischer.
Philippe Cassard, Piano.
Recorded in Ulster Hall, Belfast, 2002.
Front cover: Portrait of Hortense Valpinçon as a Child (1869) by Edgar Degas (1834–1917).

The playing here is absolutely first class, rhythmically taut, clear and bright in texture, with a wide range in dynamics, as is usual from this label. Immediacy and brilliance first, crisp and a stylish next. Net result, SOTA recording, and a gorgeous and seductive performance.

[SonicMan46]

Couperin, Francois (1668-1733) - Keyboard Works w/ Angela Hewitt on piano (just 3 CDs) and Carole Cerasi on an assortment of harpsichords beautifully illustrated in the booklet. Short bio of Couperin below followed by a list of his 4 harpsichord books (27 orders or suites); Cerasi's collection is on 10 discs and starts with 'L'Art de Toucher le Clavecin (1716)' - Dave

P.S. reviews attached for the interested.

François Couperin was a French composer and harpsichordist, the most renowned of the Couperin dynasty, and a nephew of Louis Couperin. In 1693, he became one of the four organists of the royal chapel. Honors followed: harpsichord teacher to the royal children (1694) and right to succeed Jean-Henri d'Anglebert as court harpsichordist (1717). Like his uncle Louis, François is known above all for his harpsichord music. Between 1713 and 1730 he published four books of suites (ordres) for harpsichord. The movements of these suites have highly ornamented melodies and complex accompaniments, with frequent dialogues between treble and bass. Couperin also wrote notable chamber music, including trio sonatas and the Concerts royaux (c. 1714–15). He also wrote motets and other church music. His last and greatest liturgical work was Leçons de ténèbres (c. 1715). Johann Sebastian Bach knew Couperin's work and copied it. (Source)

Premier Livre (First Book, 1713)
Second Livre (Second Book, 1717)
Troisième Livre (Third Book, 1722)
Quatrième Livre (Fourth Book, 1730)

   

   

[nico1616]

Listening to symphonies 7&8 from this box, they are both compelling performances. I already listened to n°3 & 4, the latter being too fast for my taste but the Eroica is top.
This is turning out to be a great set and the extras are also worth it, here we have the Overtures Egmont and Ruinen von Athen (a rarity to me).

[Traverso]

Bach

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing Takemitsu Autumn