What are you listening 2 now?

[JBS]

CD 2


The lead off work on this CD is To the Chief Musician, a fifteen minute work that goes through a number of moods. I'm not sure if there is a specific connection to any of the Psalms which begin with that rubric (some Bible translations render it as "To the Conductor". The other big segment is the song sequence Five Melodies From the East for mezzo soprano and piano.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Pizzetti: Orchestral Music. BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & Osmo Vänskä.

[Symphonic Addict]

Hindemith: Klaviermusik mit Orchester (for piano left hand) and Fünf Stücke for string orchestra

[steve ridgway]

Webern - String Quartet (1905)

A work of epic length (15 minutes)  .

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Hovhaness Symphony No. 15, Op. 199, "Silver Pilgrimage"

[AnotherSpin]

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Harrison Piano Concerto



This performance is still the one to beat of the two recordings available, IMHO.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Last work for the night --- Hovhaness Cello Concerto, Op. 27

[steve ridgway]

Xenakis - Nuits for 12-Part Mixed Chorus a Cappella.

[steve ridgway]

Richard Strauss - Metamorphosen

[AnotherSpin]

[Que]

Quite enjoying the rerun of this set.

[Toni Bernet]

Ethel Smyth: Mass in D, for Soli, Chorus, and Orchestra (1891)

'All that was in my heart I put into this work, but no sooner was it completed than orthodox faith strangely departed from me, never to return [...] Who shall measure the divine plan? I will only say this: in no period of my life did I feel more sensible, wiser and closer to the truth. This phase - compared to others that followed - never seemed overwrought, unnatural or hysterical to me; it was simply a religious experience that, in my case, could not last.'

This composition was not only motivated by religion, but also by Ethel Smyth's deep love for her Catholic friend Lady Pauline Trevelyan. Although Ethel Smyth set the mass in Latin, it was not a mass for the liturgy. For musical reasons (and following an Anglican liturgical tradition), she placed the Gloria at the end of the Kyrie, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Gloria sequence. In total, the mass lasts around an hour and, like Beethoven's Missa solemnis, is intended for a concert performance.

More about the "Gloria", from the Mass in D, cf:

https://www.discoveringsacredmusic.ch/19th-century/smyth

[Harry]

Andrea Falconieri. (c 1585-1656)
Canzone, Sinfonie & Fantasie (Napoli 1650).
"Libro Primo di Canzone, Sinfonie, Fantasie, Capricci, Brandi, Correnti, Gagliarde, Alemane, volte per violini, viole overo altro strumento á uno, due, et tré con il basso continuo".
Ensemble Isabella d'Este, Ariane Maurette.
Recorded: 1994, Church of Sornetan (Switzerland).

Very pleasant music well performed and recorded. The recorder does not pierce your ears, always a prerequisite for me, otherwise I will not play it. It's the second disc I hear from this ensemble and I am surprised and delighted by their professionalism.  Musicians who carefully present the music in the right time frame.

[Harry]

Ethel Smyth: Mass in D, for Soli, Chorus, and Orchestra (1891)

'All that was in my heart I put into this work, but no sooner was it completed than orthodox faith strangely departed from me, never to return [...] Who shall measure the divine plan? I will only say this: in no period of my life did I feel more sensible, wiser and closer to the truth. This phase - compared to others that followed - never seemed overwrought, unnatural or hysterical to me; it was simply a religious experience that, in my case, could not last.'

This composition was not only motivated by religion, but also by Ethel Smyth's deep love for her Catholic friend Lady Pauline Trevelyan. Although Ethel Smyth set the mass in Latin, it was not a mass for the liturgy. For musical reasons (and following an Anglican liturgical tradition), she placed the Gloria at the end of the Kyrie, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Gloria sequence. In total, the mass lasts around an hour and, like Beethoven's Missa solemnis, is intended for a concert performance.

More about the "Gloria", from the Mass in D, cf:

https://www.discoveringsacredmusic.ch/19th-century/smyth

She looks a formidable woman in this picture, and her music certainly is. A strong willed character with a fine intellectual mind. I admire this and above all her compositions. If she would not have existed, I had invented her in the fashion I described

[Iota]

Britten: Sonata for cello and piano in C major, Op. 65
Mstislav Rostropovich (cello), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Triggered to spin this by the 'Favourite Cello Sonatas' thread, this is the recording I got to know at school, but much as I liked it then my appreciation for it now is even greater (not always true of teenage enthusiasms!). Rostropovich's playing of course is well known, but Britten's superb skills as an accompanist don't often seem to get mentioned here, (Gerald Moore wrote in his memoirs about playing at all the main music festivals except for Aldeburgh, because "as the presiding genius there is the greatest accompanist in the world, my services are not needed."[/i]), and the interplay between the two here is transfixing.
The music is haunting and highly individual, with the central Elegia drifting into uniquely Brittenesque expressive territory, with as ever, not a note de trop. Marvellous.

[DaveF]

Hindemith: Klaviermusik mit Orchester (for piano left hand)

Thanks for alerting us to that one - I thought I knew Hindemith's catalogue fairly well, but a left-hand piece was a new one (World premier, so not surprising).  It has an opus number (29) but was another of those that Wittgenstein didn't perform and refused to let anyone else play either.  It reminded me a lot of the Bartók 2nd concerto, which however it predates by 10 years.  I thought the first movement sounded a bit like Hindemith on auto-pilot, but the interest (for me) then increased - 2 noisy, lively neo-classical movements either side of the extraordinary Trio, with perhaps the longest cor anglais solo ever - over 3 minutes.  Lovely stuff.

[AnotherSpin]

[Traverso]

Bach

Vol.10 CD 6

Coming to the last cantatas ......

[Harry]

Johann Friedrich Ruhe.
Sonatas for Viola da Gamba.
Sandor Szaszvarosi, (Viola da Gamba), Kousay H. Mahdi Kadduri, (Cello), Angelika Csizmadia, (Harpsichord.)
Recorded: 2006 in the Hungaroton Studios, Budapest, Hungary.
See for further details back cover.

Ruhe became Kapellmeister at Magdeburg Cathedral in 1734 after having been a member of the court orchestra in Wolfenbüttel and a cantor in Halberstadt. Although he then had a decisive influence on the musical life of the city for 43 years, he was completely forgotten after his death. The four sonatas for Viola da gamba are the only compositional legacy. As compositions they are fine and quite lively in these performances. Well judged tempi, beautiful phrasing, and a warm glow attached to the playing. Detailing is excellent too. This music can compete with the fraternity of musicians in his time. Sound is very good.