What are you listening 2 now?

[Brian]

Jan Lisiecki's new nighttime-themed album, following up on his previous album of nocturnes. Somebody needs to let this kid out during the daylight hours!



A very soft-spoken, gentle, easy-listening Mozart "Twinkle, twinkle" variations, nice but not very nocturnal Schumann Nachtstucke, and then Ravel's Gaspard, with a really superb, top-tier "Ondine" followed by a 9-minute "Le gibet" (!!!) which by track timing is actually longer than "Scarbo" (!!!). As much as I loved the atmosphere and attention to detail in "Ondine," this "Le gibet" is really too much. The Paderewski nocturne is a short encore.

Incidentally, Herbert Schuch also has a nighttime disc pairing the Schumann and Ravel, with a different (minor-key) Mozart work, plus Scriabin's Messe Noire and a piece by Heinz Holliger. More generous on playing time, even though his "Le gibet" is 2:40 faster.

[ritter]

A Ravel-a-thon while working this afternoon, with these new arrivals:



The young Jacques Février had a close relationship with Ravel at the end of the composer's life (the pianist's father had befriended the composer when they were both students of Fauré). They were on a first-name basis ("tu" rather than "vous"), and Ravel turned to Février to perform the Concerto for the Left Hand when the three-year exclusivity awarded to Paul Wittgenstein had elapsed. It seems that Ravel left the hospital for some hours to listen to Fevrier's performance of the concerto on the radio, two days before the operation he never recovered from. Février also played the piano reduction of the orchestral part of the Concerto in G major when Marguerite Long was preparing the work with the composer.  Be that as it may, these recordings (which I only listened to distractedly on this occasion) didn't make as strong an impression as Février's superb Debussy did recently. They sound a bit effortful, and the phrasing doesn't seem to be very naturally flowing. I might get the elusive first volume of his series, but am in no hurry to do so. The second pianist in the duet pieces is Gabriel Tacchino.

[Que]

Johann Bernhard Bach.

Orchestral Overtures.
CD I.
Suite I-4.

Freiberger Barockorchester, Thomas Hengelbrock.

I actually forgot how good the Overtures were. Musicality is a key point, with gorgeous melodies, and well written. I was utterly amazed to be precise. The sound is top notch, and the performance leaves nothing to be desired. God what beautiful music.

If J. S. Bach had not copied four overtures by his cousin Johann Bernhard for his own use in 1730, they - like most of his other compositions - would probably be lost today. Johann Bernhard originally wrote far more orchestral suites for the Eisenach court, and the quality of the four surviving pieces makes the loss seem all the more bitter.

Interesting, Harry! It goes on the list. 

[Karl Henning]

Claude Helffer playing Albéniz & Debussy.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony no. 4 the 1878/80 Version Gerd Schaller

[ritter]

Claude Helffer playing Albéniz & Debussy.

How are you finding this, Karl?

Good dat to you! 

[Mirror Image]

A Ravel-a-thon while working his afternoon, with these new arrivals:



The young Jacques Février had a close relationship with Ravel at the end of the composer life (the pianist's father had befriended the composer when they were both students of Fauré). They were on a first-name basis ("tu" rather than "vous"), and Ravel turned to Février to perform he Concerto for the Left Hand when the three-year exclusivity awarded to Paul Wittgenstein had elapsed. It seems that Ravel left the hospital for some hours to listen to Fevrier's performance of the concerto on the radio, two days before the operation he never recovered from. Février also played the piano reduction of the orchestral part of the Concerto in G major when Marguerite Long was preparing the work with the composer.  Be that as it may, these recordings (which I only listened to distractedly on this occasion) didn't make as strong an impression as Février's superb Debussy did recently. They sound a bit effortful, and the phrasing doesn't seem to be very naturally flowing. I might get the elusive first volume of his series, but am in no hurry to do so. The second pianist in the duet pieces is Gabriel Tacchino.

Lovely, Rafael. This just proves that one who excels in Debussy doesn't mean the same will apply to Ravel, which further illustrates that both composers couldn't be more different from each other. Why they continue to be lumped together like Mahler and Bruckner et. al. is beyond me. And a good day to you!

[Karl Henning]

How are you finding this, Karl?

Good dat to you! 

Enjoying it tremendously, Rafael! Good day to you, as well!

[aligreto]

Bantock: Fifine at the Fair [Handley]





There is a really wonderful and enchanting opening to this music. It conjures up a mystical image in my mind's eye. The music swells into an orchestral tutti with occasional concertante offerings but the atmosphere basically remains the same. The tone and atmosphere of the second movement is diametrically opposite to that of the first movement. It is raucous, animated and exuberant evoking the atmosphere of the fair. Firfine's dance is elegant and beguiling, then emotionally intense and then back again. Elvire's theme is an interesting listen with its interesting scoring. I like the interesting conversation at the beginning between the cello and the violin. The music develops into a powerful and atmospheric piece of orchestral writing. The Epilogue ties up and closes out this fine work very well.

[Linz]

Faurè Requiem Laurence Equiliby Accentus

[classicalgeek]

Continuing on with the Japanese composer series:

Akira Ifukube
Sinfonia Tapkaara
Ritmica Ostinata
Symphonic Fantasia no. 1
Russian Philharmonic Orchestra
Dmitry Yablonsky
(on Spotify)



Ifukube is definitely one of the most unique voices I've heard so far in this series. His harmonic language seems related to Bartok, with influences of Stravinsky and Prokofiev. It's infused with a strong folk element, and even provides a dash of minimalism with its repeated figures (Ritmica Ostinata definitely lives up to its name!) I'm not sure his style is for me, but I'm definitely glad I heard it.

[Karl Henning]

CD 13

LvB

Pf Sonata № 2 in A, Op. 2 № 2
Pf Sonata № 3 in C, Op. 2 № 3
Pf Sonata № 4 in E^b, Op. 7

[Todd]

Disc one.

[Linz]

Playing Cd1 of this set Berlioz Requiem with Louis Frémaux

[Madiel]

In information theory, it's not so much the probability of 'could something be bent out of shape'. It's more a 'can it'. If it can, theoretically, and whatever the probability, then your data model is not robust. If one adopts a thematic, synthentic ID as the cataloguing key, then, fundamentally, nothing at all can disrupt that. So it's fundamentally and theoretically much more robust.

Koechel 6 is dated 1964. That makes it as old as me. If it hasn't been revised, it needs to be. If it has, we are now into Koechel 6+, and thereafter K6++,  K6+++, and so on. If it had been a thematic catalogue, there would still be new editions as new information came to light, but there would be no need to renumber already-known things in the light of new discoveries. I also don't accept the 'new ones would be far less likely to be put badly out of shape' argument: look at Vivaldi. One enthusiastic library search later and we now have hundreds of new additions to the Ryom catalogue to be dealt with, courtesy of a huge set of discoveries in the Turin archives. There is no way you (or I) can say that such major discoveries cannot now take place for the likes of Bach, Mozart or even Schubert. Fundamentally, in a chronological approach, you simply *cannot* say that we have now reached the point where the existing catalogue cannot be disrupted. It only takes one archive haul to up-end that assumption, big-time.

I am not aware of multiple, currently-accepted catalogues taking different approaches to the same composer. The 19th Century might be a bit murky on this score, but the general consensus these days is 'Chronological is bad', for reasons previously elucidated.

Do I detect a hint of Bruckner in your final comments?!

You're misunderstanding some of my points.

And you're wrong about your thematic approach not needing amending. The only reason it doesn't "need" amending is an explicit decision to abandon chronology when any new work comes to light, despite being chronological within each genre to begin with. That's not a more robust system, that's a system that you explicitly allow to become broken from a user perspective because you prioritise not disrupting the existing data over retaining the original basis for choosing the numbering. It NEEDS revising just as much to keep things in a tidy order, you just announce beforehand that you won't be doing the necessary revising.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Continuing on with the Japanese composer series:

Akira Ifukube
Sinfonia Tapkaara
Ritmica Ostinata
Symphonic Fantasia no. 1
Russian Philharmonic Orchestra
Dmitry Yablonsky



Ifukube is definitely one of the most unique voices I've heard so far in this series. His harmonic language seems related to Bartok, with influences of Stravinsky and Prokofiev. It's infused with a strong folk element, and even provides a dash of minimalism with its repeated figures (Ritmica Ostinata definitely lives up to its name!) I'm not sure his style is for me, but I'm definitely glad I heard it.

The guy made the music for Godzilla movies!

[Brian]

Wordy cover. The Lalo Symphonie is in the abridged four-movement version which was common in the early 1900s, arbitrarily chucking the intermezzo out the window. The Walton is magnificent and Zino is top quality.

[ritter]

Some Xenakis (in small doses for the time being). Claude Helffer plays Mists, and will later be joined by the Arditti Quartet in Akea.

From CD1 of this twofer:


I'm a relative newcomer to the music of Xenakis, and have had mixed feelings (actually, mostly negative — I thoroughly disliked Oresteia, for instance). And yet, I must admit I'm rather enjoying Mists. The piece has a nicely built forward movement, with a rather interesting melodic material, and exploits the sonority of the piano quite admirably.

I kind of get the idea (vaguely) of some of the composer's methods —"non-octave scales", "sieve", "stochastic"— which appear in the liner notes on the work and in a glossary at the end, but it seems to me that an understanding of this is really not (should not be?)  a prerequisite to appreciate this music.

[Klavier1]

[Linz]

CD2 for the Conclusion of the Requiem and other Berlioz's work