What are you listening 2 now?

[Todd]

Second disc of LvB variations.

[Traverso]

Robin Hood

[vandermolen]

Miaskovsky: 14th Symphony.

If reading listings correctly the only symphony in five movements. Miaskovsky has a spring in his step with only the fourth movement, the heart of the work, serious. Perhaps mysterious a more apt description. Loved the clever opening movement which as far as I recall the only time I'm reminded of his great friend Prokofiev (Classical Symphony).

Interesting Lol - I can hardly recall No.14 so must listen to it again soon.

[bhodges]

Coming up in about 15 minutes:

Xenakis: La Légende d'Eer (1977, livestream, free)

https://musicanova.fi/en/event/la-legende-deer-3/

--Bruce

[Harry]

Erkki Salmenhaara.

Symphonies 2-4.

Finnish Radio SO, Paavo Berglund, Petri Komulainen, Ulf Söderblom.

And acquired taste, but very much to my tast.

[Mirror Image]

NP: Martinů 7 Arabesques, H. 201a (Matoušek/Adamec)

[Biffo]

Sibelius: Symphony No 2 in D major - Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli - JB recorded this work at least four times and this 1952 performance is (from memory) the most intense though all the others are also fine.

[Mirror Image]

First-Listen Fridays!

NP: Koechlin Horn Sonata, Op. 70 (Tuckwell/Blumenthal)

[Papy Oli]

Franz Krommer - Clarinet Quartets Op.82 & 83

[ritter]

Ernest Ansermet conducts the OSR in works by Albert Roussel (Symphony No. 3 & No. 4, Le festin de l'araignée). CD 26 of this box:

[Christo]

Good afternoon all,

Eric Coates and other goodies from this:

It's over 40 years ago that I last heard these performances, would love to revisit them.

[Papy Oli]

The day I decide to have a break from French music, you guys come up with Milhaud, Koechlin and the Ansermet box...   

[Papy Oli]

It's over 40 years ago that I last heard these performances, would love to revisit them.

So you should  When i first browsed the Coates CDs last year or the year before, I always saw him under the moniker British light music. I think this is quite unfair, it is simply pretty good and entertaining. What more to ask ?

[Mirror Image]

The day I decide to have a break from French music, you guys come up with Milhaud, Koechlin and the Ansermet box...   

Indeed! We're here to tempt you, Olivier.

[Mirror Image]

Ernest Ansermet conducts the OSR in works by Albert Roussel (Symphony No. 3 & No. 4, Le festin de l'araignée). CD 26 of this box:

I own this box set as well. How are these performances, Rafael?

[Irons]

Interesting Lol - I can hardly recall No.14 so must listen to it again soon.

Well Jeffrey, I returned after some Bax for a second listen last night. Always a good sign.

[Harry]

Bedrich Smetana.

Orchestral Works, Volume II.

BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda.

An absolute stunning series, in performance as well as sound. Smetana is one of my favourite composers. A great joy to listen.

[Symphonic Addict]

If I've done, I'm sorry.

Don't worry, Karl. You are not.

[Symphonic Addict]

I really like the atmospheric Avshalomov Symphony No.1 Cesar, which does indeed have a 'Chinese' feel to it. It's my favourite of those enterprising Marco Polo releases of his music. I must listen to Bernstein's 'Concerto for Orchestra' I really like the performance of the powerful 'Jeremiah Symphony' on that Naxos release. By the way I like your new colourful avatar image!

Yes, that Avshalomov symphony was a nice discovery, Jeffrey. The last movement is especially festive.

Thanks, Jeffrey. I thought an avatar change would be appropriate. 

[André]

Both works are tougher to listen to than the other three they bookend. The First was composed in 1921 while Krenek was still a student of Schreker. It is cast in 9 sections running continuously. In that work the composer uses dodecaphonism - and of course atonality - in a very ingenious manner, juggling multiple micro sections into a unified whole. Each of the 9 'numbers' (Krenek's term for the work's structural components) is in turn subjected to multiple tempo and textural changes. So, number 3 (or 4, or 5, etc) does not present itself as an identifiable  part of the work (fast, slow, loud, soft etc), but features internal tempo, dynamic and instrumental variations. IOW it's a kaleidoscope of ever-shifting moods and colours. And yet there is a unity of sorts. It goes somewhere and gets there in due time.

In the Fifth (1949) Krenek seems to have attempted to free himself from the constraints of dodecaphonism, a technique he had adhered to faithfully - doggedly even - for a good portion of his career. 'Been there, done that', so to speak. He retained atonality as a means of musical expression, so the work does not constitute a turn toward a more conservative idiom. The work is divided into individual parts ('introduction', 'sonata', 'rondo' etc) and yet it does not make listening any easier. If anything, the constant flow of ideas in the first symphony generated its own forward movement, whereas in the fifth there is more of a stop and go, suite-like feeling. IOW the revolutionary cast of the earlier work achieves more than the more traditional late work does. Go figure. Krenek continued to compose long after that, but never returned to the symphonic genre.

It was interesting listening to both works in succession but, as a musical experience I would prefer to hear them in isolation.