What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

That's my favorite disc dedicated to Grechaninov's music that I know. The cantata Praise the Lord is a stirring work that is less overly conservative than the majority of his output. And the 3rd Symphony is probably the strongest of his five - a sunny and melodic work.

Totally agree!

[Mapman]

Brahms: Clarinet Sonata #1, Op. 120/1
Stanley Drucker, Leonid Hambro

A good performance as expected from New York's longtime principal.

[JBS]

Liszt by Guy:
HP&R and Sonata in b minor

[André]

Widely different pieces, making listening to the disc both rewarding and challenging.

[Nostromo]

Disc 2.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Wim van Beek: J.S. Bach Martinikerk Groningen.

[Madiel]

Beethoven: Piano Sonata in E major, op.14/1



In terms of overall timing, Kovacevich is a little faster in the middle movement and that's basically it. In terms of mood, Goode is rather more calm and relaxed and Kovacevich maintains a sense of Beethovian drama whenever there's a sforzando or the like.

They're both pretty good, but to be honest if I'm in the mood to listen to this particular piece I suspect it would be because I was looking for something relatively relaxed in mood by Beethoven's standards, in which case Goode would be more likely to hit the spot.

[brewski]

This afternoon, a friend went to hear Mahler's Seventh Symphony with the Kansas City Symphony and conductor Matthias Pintscher, so in empathy, found this marvelous version with Abbado, from the 2005 Lucerne Festival.

[Madiel]

Beethoven: String Quintet in E flat, op.4



The order from Presto arrived super quick this time.

[AnotherSpin]

Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov is one of the most original and important voices of the last 50 years. He started composing modern, avant-garde stuff. Around the mid sixties his style started to shift toward a more consonant idiom. His second symphony harbors elements of both styles but it still has a modernist bend to it. The move from avant-garde to new-agey harmonies continued in his third symphony, an attempt to put in sound the crisis brought by this shift.

With the 4th symphony (for strings and brass) he has abandoned any pretense at modernism. It's a beautiful, pensive one-movement work of some 25 minutes. There is no defined form, tones and harmonies float around freely, as if in a dream. It ends quietly.

The 5th (about 45 minutes long) is his most often played and recorded work, a gorgeous stream-of-consciousness infinite melody that plays itself as if improvised by the composer. No hint of form or compositional device can be detected as the music grows organically from one phrase to the other. There is a clear mood shift around 20 minutes in, where things suddenly acquire a darker hue before transitioning to calm and softness again. After about 15 minutes the initial strains of the work reappear. So, while there is no discernible form, a pattern of sorts underlays the structure.

It's the aural equivalent of watching a display of aurora borealis on a clear, cool night. I'm reminded of the Angel's soliloquy in Elgar's Dream of Gerontius : « Softly and gently, dearly ransomed soul, In my most loving arms I now enfold thee, And o'er the penal waters, as they roll, I poise thee, and I lower thee« . Silvestrov's music here has a consoling, cleansing, redemptive tone.

The state of Silvestrov's recorded music is perplexing. There are no commercial recordings of his symphonies 1, 3 and 9. One each of 7 and 8 (on Naxos). Nos 2, 4 and 5 have been recorded a few times, the 5th being the most popular. Silvestrov also composed other orchestral works that bear the name 'symphony' as a subtitle: one for violin and orchestra, for cello and orchestra and one for baritone and orchestra. They are not part of the numbered works.

I wish a record company would take his orchestral output to the studio (or record performances), as CPO did for Pettersson.

Thank you for the detailed thoughts on Silvestrov's symphonies. I definitely feel closer to his late period myself, when the searches and anxieties of the avant-garde have largely settled.

It's a pity that performances of Silvestrov aren't more frequent. And when recordings do appear, they tend to focus mainly on the chamber music, like the albums on ECM Records. At the same time, quite a lot of Silvestrov's music is freely available on Bandcamp.

[Que]

This arrived on disc:



Missa de S Anthonii de Padua. 'Dufay's will ordained the Mass to be performed in supplication for his soul each year, a practice apparently continued until the great cathedral at Cambrai was demolished in 1796'

[AnotherSpin]

This arrived on disc:



Missa de S Anthonii de Padua. 'Dufay's will ordained the Mass to be performed in supplication for his soul each year, a practice apparently continued until the great cathedral at Cambrai was demolished in 1796'

What a remarkable story.

Music rings forever, until the materialists march in, mouthing liberty, equality, fraternity while clutching their guillotines. They raze the world to build paradise on the rubble.

Then comes the silence.

[Que]

I just listened to an F major suite, the one with the famous allemande grave. The harpsichord is colourful, and he really uses it to separate out the counterpoint. The overall approach felt rather dramatic and confident and elegant.

His performance certainly has gravitas, but is indeed colourful and elegant at the same time. I find it a multilayered, expansive approach. I feel it is best to take this one suite at a time.

[AnotherSpin]

After @André's post, I started listening to Silvestrov's Symphony No. 5 in various recordings.

Of the two modern-sounding versions, I definitely prefer Jukka-Pekka Saraste's heartfelt interpretation with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Robertson's version with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin felt cold and detached in comparison, perhaps even too mechanical.

The early recording by Roman Kofman with the Kyiv Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra is fascinating in its own right as a historical artifact that is as close as one can get to the time and place of the work's creation. It is a remarkable coincidence that Kofman's version is the one included in Silvestrov's own official archive on Bandcamp.

[Madiel]

Mozart: Clarinet Quintet



Somehow, owning it on CD is better. 

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

Various
Favourite Violin Encores

Arthur Grumiaux (violin), István Hadju (piano)

(Philips)

More of the same this morning. Superb.

[Que]

Good morning all,


More of the same this morning. Superb.

Is that this one? A personal favourite! 

[Madiel]

Medtner: Piano sonata in F minor, op.5



Stunningly good music. Helped in no small measure by Hamelin's ability to handle all the thick counterpoint.

EDIT: I believe there are only 2 opuses of solo piano works that I don't own now.

[Papy Oli]

Is that this one? A personal favourite! 

Yes, it is @Que ,

Grumiaux was the only one that "worked" for me in the JSB solo partitas and the harpsichord one with Jacottet. Also in some Mozart Quintets I think. Thought I'd explore further.

I love his "sound", not feeling like he's showing off, letting the music take centre stage.

[Roasted Swan]

Yes, it is @Que ,

Grumiaux was the only one that "worked" for me in the JSB solo partitas and the harpsichord one with Jacottet. Also in some Mozart Quintets I think. Thought I'd explore further.

I love his "sound", not feeling like he's showing off, letting the music take centre stage.

Absolutely - a player who sounds relaxed (in the best sense)