What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 5 in B flat  major Op..92
String Quartet No. 6 in G major, Op.101
Pacifica Quartet Volume 1 Cd1

[prémont]

Fair enough, I only heard him for the first time today. But if you found Var II or Var IV of the third movement e.g, 'coolly' played, then we do indeed hear things very differently. I liked his playing of the whole sonata though, and felt transported to some very intimate Beethovenian depths by his honest and unshowy way with the music.

I have listened to the complet youtube recording and I admit that there are moments where Sohn seems somewhat more emotionally involved in the playing. This is particularly true of the da capo of the third movement's theme but also of most of the first movement. His interpretation is among the good ones, but I have heard many op. 110's which engaged me more as a listener.

My impression from his complete sonata set is that he tends to be more analytical and neutral than deeply expressive, and he is often a bit muscular showy in his choice of ultrafast tempi and his left hand attack. I don't think the youtube recording is identical with the recording of the sonata on the cycle, but without A/B test I can't say for sure. However throughout the cycle his appproach is relatively consistent, and I don't recall op. 110 as being particularly expressive.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Vladigerov: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1.  Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Alexander Vladigerov.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Glass Violin Concerto No. 1




This is a concerto I've slowly fallen in love with --- it's taken me some time to "get it" much like most of Glass' music. I also find this Capuçon/Davies more convincing than Kremer/Dohnányi on DG released many years ago (not that this is a terrible performance, but it misses some of the nuances that this Capuçon/Davies performance brings to the table).

[André]

Schedrin's Drei Hirten (Three Shepherds) is a wind trio (fl, ob, cl). The composer refers to his childhood by the river Oka, where shepherds had their own melodies to lead their flocks across the pastures. It's very evocative. Whiffs of other pastoral melodies come to mind, from Puccini (the shepherd's song in the last act of Tosca) to Canteloube. In one movement lasting some 22 minutes it's a substantial, very evocative work.

Fresken des Dionysos is a chamber work for 4 winds (fl, ob, cl, bs), horn, viola, cello, celesta and crotales(*). It doesn't refer to the Greek god of wine, but to frescoes by the 16th century russian iconographer Dionysus in the Ferapontov Monastery - partial view of which appears on the cd cover. The overall sound picture is delicate, refined, structured a bit like some religious Pictures at an Exhibition, with a pensive 'Promenade' in the form of muted wind chords heard between sections.

The Tishchenko Konzert of the title is not a concerto, but a quartet for clarinet and piano trio. It is cast in 3 movements of some 35 minutes. The clarinet is kept busy most of the time, the other instruments accompanying or counterpointing its material. A big unaccompanied piano cadenza is heard at the end of the first movement, its material eventually picked up by the violin and cello and, lastly, by the clarinet.

Tishchenko's music is more dissonant and quirky than Shchedrin's. The notes describe the music in this way: « The material is characterized by extreme contrasts juxtaposing almost Late-Romantic tonality with sharp dissonances, and tender tonal balances with raw strength ».

Shostakovich, Shchedrin and Tishchenko formed a kind of mutual admiration society, dedicating works to one another and championing the other composers' music.


(*) I had to google to see what crotales look like - and what kinds of sounds they made. A very delicate, silvery sound, somewhere between a glockenspiel and a triangle. At first I had imagined something like maracas, since a crotale in French is a rattlesnake.🤨

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Reich Music for a Large Ensemble

From this set -



About Music for a Large Ensemble:

Music for Ensemble and Orchestra is an extension of the Baroque Concerto Grosso where there is more than one soloist. Here there are 20 soloists --- all regular members of the orchestra, including the first stand strings and winds, as well as two vibraphones and two pianos. The piece is in five movements, though the tempo never changes, only the note value of the constant pulse in the pianos. Thus, an arch form: sixteenths, eighths, quarters, eighths, sixteenths. Music for Ensemble and Orchestra is modeled on my Runner of 2016 which has the same five movement form.

[Taken from Steve Reich's website]

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Glass Glassworks

[DavidW]

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Reich Triple Quartet

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Harrison Suite for Violin, Piano & Small Orchestra

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Reich Duet



Absolutely gorgeous and heart-rendering. It's also lyrical and emotionally direct. This piece was composed in dedication to Yehudi Menuhin. There are two versions for this work --- one for two violins and string orchestra and the other for two violins and string ensemble.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Last work for the night --- Janáček Violin Sonata

[steve ridgway]

Varèse - Ecuatorial

[SimonNZ]

[Que]

Some rare Franco-Flemish repertoire here, focusing on the French region of Picardie. Main prize is the Missa O Gente brunette by Nicolas de Marle, a maître mineur from Noyon. Performances by Odhecaton are excellent but the (all male) choir is not small - this is "Vatican-style".

https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/o-gente-brunette

Nicolas de Marle was a French composer active during the 1540's through 1560's . According to a book of polyphonic Masses published by Du Chemin in 1568, Nicolas De Marle was choirmaster at the Cathedral of Noyon. A dozen chansons are ascribed to him in various publications of Du Chemin and of Pierre Attaingnant. His 12 chansons reveal his familiarity with both serious courtly huitains and the grivoise narratives.

PS Ultimately the music by these "minor masters" is enjoyable but of passing interest.

[AnotherSpin]

Schedrin's Drei Hirten (Three Shepherds) is a wind trio (fl, ob, cl). The composer refers to his childhood by the river Oka, where shepherds had their own melodies to lead their flocks across the pastures. It's very evocative. Whiffs of other pastoral melodies come to mind, from Puccini (the shepherd's song in the last act of Tosca) to Canteloube. In one movement lasting some 22 minutes it's a substantial, very evocative work.

Fresken des Dionysos is a chamber work for 4 winds (fl, ob, cl, bs), horn, viola, cello, celesta and crotales(*). It doesn't refer to the Greek god of wine, but to frescoes by the 16th century russian iconographer Dionysus in the Ferapontov Monastery - partial view of which appears on the cd cover. The overall sound picture is delicate, refined, structured a bit like some religious Pictures at an Exhibition, with a pensive 'Promenade' in the form of muted string chords heard between sections.

The Tishchenko Konzert of the title is not a concerto, but a quartet for clarinet and piano trio. It is cast in 3 movements of some 35 minutes. The clarinet is kept busy most of the time, the other instruments accompanying or counterpointing its material. A big unaccompanied piano cadenza is heard at the end of the first movement, its material eventually picked up by the violin and cello and, lastly, by the clarinet.

Tishchenko's music is more dissonant and quirky than Shchedrin's. The notes describe the music in this way: « The material is characterized by extreme contrasts juxtaposing almost Late-Romantic tonality with sharp dissonances, and tender tonal balances with raw strength ».

Shostakovich, Shchedrin and Tishchenko formed a kind of mutual admiration society, dedicating works to one another and championing the other composers' music.


(*) I had to google to see what crotales look like - and what kinds of sounds they made. A very delicate, silvery sound, somewhere between a glockenspiel and a triangle. At first I had imagined something like maracas, since a crotale in French is a rattlesnake.🤨

Oh, how utterly delightful! Shepherds piping away for their little sheep or goats... Such an idyllic, pastoral scene in the USSR of the 1930s. No sign of millions rotting in the Gulags, no trace of Ukraine starving to death in a carefully engineered famine. Just flutes, fields, and the sweet scent of Russian propaganda.

[Spotted Horses]

Weinberg, String Quartets 14, 15, Arcadia Quartet. Both of these quartets have the peculiar feature that there are no conventional tempo markings (Allegro, Adagio, Andante, etc). Instead metronome markings are given for all movements. Both quartets have some intense music, and some passages or movements of seemingly quiet stasis. My issue with the quiet stasis is that it is so quiet I can't hear anything. The dynamic range of the recording exceeds the dynamic range of my ears. But still, lots to enjoy in the parts I can hear.




Only two quartets to go. Makes me wonder if, when I'm finished, I should go back to the beginning and listen to the Silesian Quartet recordings.

[AnotherSpin]

Buxtehude Organ music

Masaaki Suzuki

[Que]

Notwithstanding my admiration for Pieter-Jan Belder's Soler cycle, this is a very different experience.

[Harry]

Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. (1665-1729)
Chamber Music.
Sonatas.
See back cover for details.
Musica Fiorita, Daniela Dolci.
Recording: 1999, Reformierte Kirche Meiringen (Switzerland).
Cover: François de Troy "Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre" (c.1704).

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) was the most famous composer of the Ancien régime. With the generous sponsorship of Louis XIV, she was able to work as a harpsichordist, organist, improvisational genius, pedagogue, and composer. And she was all that, amazingly so, she could stand with all those male composers, and be the better choice in many respects. What a wonderful thing that this woman somehow managed to excel in all she did. I would love to have met her, no doubt she must have been a very special lady. The performances recorded in 1999 are excellent, a little brittle in expression but that suits the music. Careful and well thought out interpretations of music that delights and charms by their quality and the musical personality of the composer.