What are you listening 2 now?

[vers la flamme]

Pierre Boulez: Eclat, Multiples. Pierre Boulez, Ensemble Intercontemporain

[Symphonic Addict]

Petr Eben - String Quartet, Piano Trio and Piano Quintet

A first listen to anything by the Czech composer Petr Eben. Anyone who responds to, say, Bartók or Bacewicz's SQs, might have a good reason to hear this music. Seriously good stuff.




The whole ballet. Alfvén at his most tuneful and folksy. It could be considered his masterpiece.

[André]

What is the background on that picture? A grill pan? A truck bed? 

I'd go for the grill pan, which supposes that the works or performances sizzle.

[vandermolen]

Indeed, Jeffrey. I enjoyed it very much, especially the doomed-processional ending.

BTW, I like your new look. Nice new avatar!

Thank you Cesar! Yes, that end section of 'Curse of the Werewolf' is quite something I must say.

[Mirror Image]

Petr Eben - String Quartet, Piano Trio and Piano Quintet

A first listen to anything by the Czech composer Petr Eben. Anyone who responds to, say, Bartók or Bacewicz, might have a good reason to hear this music. Seriously good stuff.




The whole ballet. Alfvén at his most tuneful and folksy. It could be considered his masterpiece.

Nice selections, Cesar.

NP:

The Violin Sonata, Op. 134



Plumbing the recesses of the mind, this is certainly a late Shostakovich masterpiece, IMHO.

[kyjo]

Petr Eben - String Quartet, Piano Trio and Piano Quintet

A first listen to anything by the Czech composer Petr Eben. Anyone who responds to, say, Bartók or Bacewicz, might have a good reason to hear this music. Seriously good stuff.




The whole ballet. Alfvén at his most tuneful and folksy. It could be considered his masterpiece.

Interesting, Cesar; I don't know any of Eben's music. And yes, Bergakungen is phenomenal! One of my favorite ballet scores by anyone, and easily one of my preferred Alfvén works along with the 3rd (especially) and 4th symphonies.

[kyjo]

Well, they are the most well-known, due to early LP versions of nos. 7, 8 and 10, the 10th got a Swedish LP release, and the 8th even got one on Turnabout.

The 7th or 8th were often regarded as the best some decades ago; my big, old Larousse classical music encyclopedia (ed. N. Dufourcq, Danish translation 1965 but written by many international experts, in two very large and comprehensive volumes) highlights the 7th especially, as "a masterpiece". It also recommends nos. 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9.

Point taken. We'll say they're "famous" to diehard listeners like ourselves, if not to the general concert-going public.

[kyjo]

Last listen before bedtime.
Otar Taktakishvili (Georgian 1924-1989)
Symphony No.2

Here's a review:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Mar11/taktakishvili_rdcd00768.htm

Very nice, Jeffrey. What did you think? I recall enjoying Taktakishvili's (such a fun name to say!) 1st PC on this disc:

[asin]B00005B6C0[/asin]

[Mahlerian]

From the From box
Ben Weber
Fantasia (Variations) for piano Opus 25
Concertino for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and String Quartet Opus 45
Serenade for Strings Opus 46
William Masselos piano
Galimir String Quartet
Julius Baker flute
Harry Shulman oboe
Alexander Williams clarinet



Once again, some works by a composer unknown to me which seem to have never been recorded by anyone else.  Which is outrageous, I think. They are on the borderline of atonal/tonal, and nice to listen to.

Straus did a brief analysis of a short piece by Ben Weber in his Twelve-Tone Music in America, which takes on a very broad range of musical styles and approaches to demonstrate the vitality of the idea (far beyond the "traditional" method). The analyses of composers whom I knew almost nothing about like Weber, Ursula Mamlok, and Roque Cordero made it a really interesting read, more than the polemic half in which he argues against received academic wisdom (which I already agreed with anyway).

[Mirror Image]

Very nice, Jeffrey. What did you think? I recall enjoying Taktakishvili's (such a fun name to say!) 1st PC on this disc:

[asin]B00005B6C0[/asin]

Talking of that Taktakishvili is terribly trying tongue twister.

[Mahlerian]

Earlier listening:

Hosokawa: String Quartets
Quatuor Diotima, Mayumi Miyata


The Quatuor Diotima bring out the subtly inflected narratives of these works. I'd heard a few of them played by other groups, but as with their Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern quartets, the Diotimas have an attention to detail and an understated sound that makes them ideal for making the most difficult contemporary music sound as fluent as a repertory piece. Mayumi Miyata, who accompanies the group on Landscape V on shou, is excellent as always.

[Karl Henning]

https://www.youtube.com/v/tfRmlsVS92A

https://www.youtube.com/v/TdocQFG9WyE

[T. D.]

Listened carefully again to the whole Weinberg SQ set. It's really excellent!
Now listening to some of the "middle" quartets from

Trying to decide whether to get a "modern" Beethoven cycle, probably the Ébène. I'm a scattershot collector, more likely to try something new than to go for multiple recordings of works. And I already have this Budapest and the Vegh/Valois.

[Todd]

Prokofiev 1.

[Mirror Image]

Continuing on with Myaskovsky's symphonies: the 4th

[Daverz]

Bliss: Colour Symphony, the composer conducting the LSO in 1955, via Qobuz

[asin] B087XPD4G5[/asin]

https://open.qobuz.com/album/n23olf2cvw9ba

Very good mono sound.  The performance is quite exuberant.

[SonicMan46]

Robert De Visée (c. 1655-1732/3) -  mainly w/ Hopkinson Smith and others shown below - a relaxing afternoon plus dinner music -  Dave


     

[bhodges]

Earlier listening:

Hosokawa: String Quartets
Quatuor Diotima, Mayumi Miyata


The Quatuor Diotima bring out the subtly inflected narratives of these works. I'd heard a few of them played by other groups, but as with their Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern quartets, the Diotimas have an attention to detail and an understated sound that makes them ideal for making the most difficult contemporary music sound as fluent as a repertory piece. Mayumi Miyata, who accompanies the group on Landscape V on shou, is excellent as always.

Such a beautiful recording. I acquired it after hearing them do one of these live in concert. (Can't recall which one at the moment.) Though the group's mastery of everything was evident, the Hosokawa won the day.

--Bruce

[Mirror Image]

Concerto for Orchestra No. 4 'Khorovody'

[Madiel]

Vagn Holmboe - Symphony No.5.



Oh this is good

Among the earlier symphonies I think 2 and 5 are outstanding.