What are you listening 2 now?

[Mirror Image]

Continuing with my revisit with Roussel's orchestral music, I listened to the first symphony, in the Eschenbach/Orchestra de Paris recording. (I think I started this listening project after being very impressed with Markevitch's recording of Bacchus et Ariane.)



Roussel's first symphony often gets dismissed as an immature composers infatuation with impressionism, but this time around I find it a substantial work. Roussel wrote a structured symphony using an impressionistic vocabulary and I find he successfully reconciled the superficially conflicting natures of the two schools. Strictly speaking, Debussy's impressionistic symphony La Mer preceded it, but the works were composed more-or-less at the same time.

Eschenbach's approach is somewhat reserved and it is my plan to follow up by listening to Janowski's recording of the work, which I expect will be more extroverted.

I LOVE Roussel's 1st symphony and it's an incredible piece and forget the naysayers who claim otherwise. My favorite performance of this symphony is Segerstam on the Cybelia label. Of course, it's an out-of-print recording, but well worth tracking down and buying if you can get it for a good price. He paces the symphony just right to my ears and allows the dramatic moments to unfold naturally. I recall being less impressed with the Janowski cycle, but of course, your mileage may vary.

[vandermolen]

If its May, it must be time for me to have my annual moan about the absence of Latin American music in the Proms and Guarnieri is a prime example.  Not one single piece EVER since 1895!!  Yet as everyone who has heard his music must surely agree this is interesting/engaging/attractive/skilfully crafted etc etc music.  I do find it odd that in an age where inclusivity is king (or queen!) the entire South American continent remains neglected except for the odd token Estancia or Bachianas (Ginastera has had 4 performances - three of which were Estancia......)

You make a very good point. Claudio Santoro also comes to mind and there are many others.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Saint-Saëns
Septet, Op. 65
Laurent Wagschal, piano
Solistes de l'orchestre de Paris

From this 2-CD set -



An absolute delight. Outstanding performance, too.

[Harry]

You make a very good point. Claudio Santoro also comes to mind and there are many others.

That is the least of your worries me thinks, we in the Netherlands are totally deprived of the proms, for the BBC channel on which we could always watch has been taken out of the packet of our provider. That is bad, for I always looked forward to the proms. So me thinks, even if you are right about missing all those fine composers, its a luxury problem from my perspective.

[foxandpeng]

Einojuhani Rautavaara
Violin Concerto
Lintukoto (Isle of Bliss)
Leif Segerstam
Helsinki PO
Ondine

[Mirror Image]

If its May, it must be time for me to have my annual moan about the absence of Latin American music in the Proms and Guarnieri is a prime example.  Not one single piece EVER since 1895!!  Yet as everyone who has heard his music must surely agree this is interesting/engaging/attractive/skilfully crafted etc etc music.  I do find it odd that in an age where inclusivity is king (or queen!) the entire South American continent remains neglected except for the odd token Estancia or Bachianas (Ginastera has had 4 performances - three of which were Estancia......)

Not just the Latin Americans, but it seems the Proms is hellbent on ignoring Japan, too. To see a concert program with Ifukube, Ikuma Dan, Takemitsu, Akutagawa, Ishii, Yoshimatsu et. al. would be like spotting a bird that's been extinct for centuries. I used to be intrigued by the BBC Proms until I started looking at their concert programs and then thought, "Nothing special."

[Maestro267]

Those composers don't put asses in seats, unfortunately. They should though, and the general public should be better at looking beyond the standard repertoire now, given we have, y'know...*the entire Internet* available to us.

TD:

Schumann: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor
Vienna Brahms Trio

[Operafreak]

Bruckner: Symphony Nos. 1 & 5- Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons

[Mirror Image]

Those composers don't put asses in seats, unfortunately. They should though, and the general public should be better at looking beyond the standard repertoire now, given we have, y'know...*the entire Internet* available to us.

No, but they could be a part of certain concert programs. But I do realize this takes some actual creative thinking, which many orchestras today lack.

[kyjo]

Ernesto Halffter
*Rapsodia Portuguesa
Bocetos Sinfonicos
Sinfonetta
*Juh Hee Suh, piano
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Muhai Tang
(on Qobuz)



Distinctly Spanish music with a 'neoclassical' flavor that reminded me often of Halffter's contemporary, Joaquin Rodrigo. And of course Stravinsky's influence is prominent; there were parts of the Sinfonietta that sounded like they could have come from Pulcinella!

A great CD - the Sinfonietta is a neoclassical gem par excellence! Like his countryman de Falla, Halffter was disappointingly un-prolific....

[foxandpeng]

Einojuhani Rautavaara
String Quartets 1 & 2
Jean Sibelius Quartet
Ondine

[milk]

[Mapman]

No, but they could be a part of certain concert programs. But I do realize this takes some actual creative thinking, which many orchestras today lack.

I think the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is doing a pretty good job of this (although even they are not as adventurous as some of us may want, and next season is a bit more traditional than this season), but attendance has not been impressive. I think the right balance is something like putting one famous/popular work (or soloist) on each program, and filling the rest with less common (or new) music.

Here are two examples from next year's season:
Florence Price Symphony #1 and a piece by Still, followed by Trifonov playing Brahms Piano Concerto #2.
Pejačević Symphony in F# minor, with Mussorgsky/Rimsky-Korsakov Night on Bald Mountain and Grieg's Piano Concerto.

There's still a lack of Latin-American music, though. I only see two works by Arturo Márquez (at least more than just Danzón #2), and a new work by Tania León.

[Spotted Horses]

Einojuhani Rautavaara
String Quartets 1 & 2
Jean Sibelius Quartet
Ondine

First thought: I should get that recording.
Second thought: I have that recording.

This is a common reaction.

[Linz]

CD 2 Rossini Stabat mater Carlo Maria Giulini and the Berliner Philharmoniker

[SonicMan46]

Small package from PrestoMusic arrived today, an eclectic mix of a half dozen items - up first:

Fesca, Friedrich (1789-1826) - String Quartets, Vol. 2 w/ the Amaryllis Quartett (own Vol. 1 also w/ the Diogenes Quartet) - his forte was the violin and chamber music for the instrument - these are delightful works for the period - short bio below (another one struck down young w/ TB) and reviews attached for the interested.  Dave

Fesca, Friedrich German violinist and composer, father of Alexander Fesca; he studied piano and violin, making his debut in Magdeburg at 11; he also studied with Zacharia (theory) and Pitterlin (composition). He then went to Leipzig as a pupil of A. Miiller (composition) and Matthai (violin), where he played in the Gewandhaus Orch. (1805–06). After playing in the orch. of the Duke of Oldenburg (1806–08), he served at the court of Jerome Buonaparte in Kassel (1808–13). In 1814 he became a member of the chapel orch. of the Grand Duke of Baden in Karlsruhe. In 1821 he was stricken with tuberculosis. Works included an opera, 3 symphonies.; overtures; violin concerto; 16 string quartets; 4 string quintets; 4 flute quintets; and choral works. (Source)

 

[Iota]

Morning listening - 2nd disc of this set with music by Jacobus Handl-Gallus:

   


https://open.spotify.com/album/6xd0PqzhhRYGLx65xJsvas

Quite striking to see that cover art in blue, after only ever having seen it here in red!
A long time ago I spent a week in Marrakesh where all the buildings were kind of red or pink, then we hopped on a coach to Essaouiera on the coast, where suddenly everything was a resplendent blue and white! Such a difference! The above's not a completely dissimilar experience!


Here:



Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10, No. 2
Freidrich Gulda (piano)

After a promising first couple of sonatas in the Bernard Roberts Beethoven set I was listening to earlier, it went rather sharply downhill, lacking any spark or spontaneity, so I switched to Gulda who inhabits another musical world altogether.
The Op.10/2 is such clear and captivating playing, a combination of agility and poetry only really possible with the attributes of someone like Gulda. A great pleasure and something of a relief after the Roberts.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Schuman
Symphony No. 3
NY Philharmonic
Bernstein



Exhilarating. Anyone who is a fan of William Schuman and owns recordings of his music, this is a pretty standard recommendation. If you don't own it and are a fan of Schuman, then I'll have to ask: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!? BUY IT NOW!!!

[vandermolen]

Stephen Paulus: 'Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra'. I love this inspiriting and moving work.

[vandermolen]

NP:

Schuman
Symphony No. 3
NY Philharmonic
Bernstein



Exhilarating. Anyone who is a fan of William Schuman and owns recordings of his music, this is a pretty standard recommendation. If you don't own it and are a fan of Schuman, then I'll have to ask: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!? BUY IT NOW!!!

Totally agree John!