What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

Widor's chamber music has succeeded my expectations so far. Two more outstanding works, above all the Piano Quintet No. 1 (there's a late second one).

[Symphonic Addict]

Orbón: String Quartet

Wow! I've heard other pieces by this Spanish-Cuban composer before, but this succinct and succulent quartet has proven to be really outstanding. One never stops discovering amazing music.

[AnotherSpin]

Brought up animals in another thread and, quite out of nowhere, lines from Walt Whitman turned up:

I think I could turn and live awhile with the animals.... they are so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them sometimes half the day long.
 
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied.... not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

Isn't it striking? The way Whitman contrasts the restless turmoil of the human mind with the quiet, thoughtless presence of animals, their freedom from conceptual thinking, their lack of inner narrative. Qualities that resonate with what Zen calls 'no-mind'.

Started the morning with the second book of Trabaci's compositions, played by Sergio Vartolo. There's something oddly appealing in his slowed-down, stumbling style that suits a listener who hasn't quite woken up yet.

[Florestan]

Brought up animals in another thread and, quite out of nowhere, lines from Walt Whitman turned up:

I think I could turn and live awhile with the animals.... they are so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them sometimes half the day long.
 
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied.... not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

Isn't it striking? The way Whitman contrasts the restless turmoil of the human mind with the quiet, thoughtless presence of animals, their freedom from conceptual thinking, their lack of inner narrative. Qualities that resonate with what Zen calls 'no-mind'.

Oh yeah, we'd all be better off as pigs or wolves...

[Que]

Question : is there a thread devoted to Debussy's string quartet ?

I looked but didn't find any 🤨

Not to my knowledge.

It does come up frequently in our Debussy's corner:

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,5024.0.html

[AnotherSpin]

[Mister Sharpe]

Brought up animals in another thread and, quite out of nowhere, lines from Walt Whitman turned up:

I think I could turn and live awhile with the animals.... they are so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them sometimes half the day long.
 
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God..."

Recalls Alfred de Vigny's poem La Mort du loup (1843) which reads in part :

Hélas ! ai-je pensé, malgré ce grand nom d'Hommes,
Que j'ai honte de nous, débiles que nous sommes !
Comment on doit quitter la vie et tous ses maux,
C'est vous qui le savez, sublimes animaux !
A voir ce que l'on fut sur terre et ce qu'on laisse
Seul le silence est grand ; tout le reste est faiblesse.
– Ah ! je t'ai bien compris, sauvage voyageur,
Et ton dernier regard m'est allé jusqu'au coeur !
Il disait :  » Si tu peux, fais que ton âme arrive,
A force de rester studieuse et pensive,
Jusqu'à ce haut degré de stoïque fierté
Où, naissant dans les bois, j'ai tout d'abord monté.
Gémir, pleurer, prier est également lâche.
Fais énergiquement ta longue et lourde tâche
Dans la voie où le Sort a voulu t'appeler,
Puis après, comme moi, souffre et meurs sans parler.

Whitman's command of French was minimal at best, so he's unlikely to have encountered it, but he did read and enjoy French literature (mostly Hugo and Enlightenment authors), invariably in translation.

[Mister Sharpe]

Been thinking of Langgaard since my introduction last week to his Rose Garden Songs. 

[AnotherSpin]

Recalls Alfred de Vigny's poem La Mort du loup (1843) which reads in part :

Hélas ! ai-je pensé, malgré ce grand nom d'Hommes,
Que j'ai honte de nous, débiles que nous sommes !
Comment on doit quitter la vie et tous ses maux,
C'est vous qui le savez, sublimes animaux !
A voir ce que l'on fut sur terre et ce qu'on laisse
Seul le silence est grand ; tout le reste est faiblesse.
– Ah ! je t'ai bien compris, sauvage voyageur,
Et ton dernier regard m'est allé jusqu'au coeur !
Il disait :  » Si tu peux, fais que ton âme arrive,
A force de rester studieuse et pensive,
Jusqu'à ce haut degré de stoïque fierté
Où, naissant dans les bois, j'ai tout d'abord monté.
Gémir, pleurer, prier est également lâche.
Fais énergiquement ta longue et lourde tâche
Dans la voie où le Sort a voulu t'appeler,
Puis après, comme moi, souffre et meurs sans parler.

Whitman's command of French was minimal at best, so he's unlikely to have encountered it, but he did read and enjoy French literature (mostly Hugo and Enlightenment authors), invariably in translation.

Thank you, it's an interesting comparison. I read the translation - my French is even worse than Whitman's .

The lines by Whitman are from Song of Myself [32], first published in 1855. If I'm not mistaken; I'm usually not very interested in literary details.

[André]

Not to my knowledge.

It does come up frequently in our Debussy's corner:

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,5024.0.html

Thanks for that ! I am curious to see what recordings of the Quartet other members recommend.

[AnotherSpin]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Bach organ works. Pieter Van Dijk.

[AnotherSpin]

[Linz]

Johann Christian Bach Symphonie Concertante in B flat major (C 48) for Oboe, Violin, Violoncello
Symphonie Concertante in C major (C 43) for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Violoncello
Fortepiano Concerto in G major (C 60 B) for Fortepiano, Two Violins & Violonccello
Symphonie Concertante in C major (C 43) for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Violoncello ...
Anthony Halstead, The Hanover Band

[hopefullytrusting]

Also, listened to Symphony No. 2 and No. 3 from this set.

Just got done with 4 and 5. I've not listened to the Fifth Symphony in full in well over two decades - not a bad piece, overall, but it is Beethoven - none of the symphonies have been weak - they have all been great experiences, in fact, I would rank the 5th, currently, 5th - out of the first 5 - my current ranking is 4, 2, 1, 3, then 5, but I like them all.

[vandermolen]

Max Reger: Four Tone Poems after Arnold Bocklin:
New release - Another Spin has found it as well. My favourite work by Reger, especially for the opening movement 'The Hermit Fiddler' and the third movement 'The Isle of the Dead' - a valid and moving alternative to Rachmaninov's famous score.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, kyjo, grateful to ya'.  It's enough for me to know that someone feels that work as strongly as I do!! And to think that In Memoriam had to wait until 1998 for its first public performance! 

Yes, fantastic piece! IIRC I was guided to the piece by @vandermolen 

[DavidW]

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 1894 Original Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak
Munchner Philharmoniker, Gunter Wand

[AnotherSpin]

Anton Bruckner: Symphonie n° 8
Berliner Philharmoniker, Lorin Maazel