Your Favourite Purchases & Musical Discoveries of 2020

[Christo]

[Daverz]

I remember enjoying his No. 3 on Bis, but it's been many years.  However, I heard his Piano Concerto No. 2 the other day, and it's a wonderful concerto in the mold of (among others) Prokofiev.



I'll check out the Chandos Rota series.

[kyjo]

One positive "side effect" of the pandemic was having more time to listen to music! I feel like I make more wonderful musical discoveries with each passing year! Looking back over my (extensive!) listening log, these have been my foremost discoveries (and re-discoveries) of the year:


Alnæs: Symphonies nos. 1 and 2
Badings: Symphony no. 4
Barber: Souvenirs (version for orchestra)
Beethoven: Serenade for String Trio in D major, op. 8
Berlioz: Te Deum
Bliss: Meditations on a Theme of John Blow, Adam Zero, Checkmate
Bruch: String Quartets nos. 1 and 2
Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad (rhapsody)
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Cello Sonata
Chadwick: Symphonic Sketches
Coates: London Suite
Damase: Piano Sonata
Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony
Delius: Violin Sonata in B major, op. posth.
Del Tredici: In Memory of a Summer's Day
Dett: The Ordering of Moses
Dubois: Violin Sonata
Dupont: Les heures dolentes for piano
Duruflé: Trois Danses for orchestra
Dvořák: Rusalka, Dimitrij
Dyson: Violin Concerto
Foerster: Cello Sonata no. 1
Foulds: Cello Sonata, April-England
Frumerie: Symphonic Variations
Gade: Symphony no. 1, Echoes of Ossian (overture)
Gipps: Piano Concerto
Glière: Symphony no. 2
Hartmann: Symphony no. 6
Kabalevsky: Symphony no. 4
Martinů: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Melartin: Violin Concerto, String Quartets nos. 2 and 4
Matthews, David: Symphony no. 9
Medtner: Violin Sonata no. 2
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata no. 1
Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 22
Nielsen: Violin Concerto
Nordgren: Symphony no. 8
Novák: Signorina Gioventu (ballet)
Peterson-Berger: Violin Concerto
Pizzetti: Cello Concerto
Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution
Respighi: Metamorphoseon, Concerto a cinque
Saint-Saëns: Piano Trio no. 1
Sauer: Piano Concerto no. 2
Schnittke: String Quartet no. 3
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Stanford: Songs of the Fleet
Stenhammar: Sensommarnätter for piano
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Tveitt: Piano Concerto no. 5
Wetz: Symphony no. 2
Widor: Cello Concerto
Wirén: Symphony no. 2, String Quartet no. 3


WOW! I listened to a ton of wonderful music this year!

[springrite]

Alnæs: Symphonies nos. 1 and 2
Bruch: String Quartets nos. 1 and 2
Dyson: Violin Concerto
Foulds: Cello Sonata
Kabalevsky: Symphony no. 4
Martinu: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Matthews, David: Symphony no. 9
Sauer: Piano Concerto no. 2
Wetz: Symphony no. 2

I will just be lazy and use some of the works from your list that's the same as mine...

[71 dB]

Year 2020 was too crazy to concentrate on making much musical discoveries, but as I have mentioned a million times already, Haydn's Op. 20 was a revelation to me. Classical music used to be super-exciting for me two decades ago, but life has beaten me down so much over the years I feel too cynical to get excited by a lot of classical music anymore. That's why I try to do things differently. One thing is to be much less active on this forum and also follow US politics much less now that some sanity is being restored to it. I better follow my instincts to find music of my own taste and let others like Kabalevsky or whatever they like. If I find the music of David Maslanka more interesting than Kabalevsky then so be it! Even if nobody else cares about Maslanka. At least I do. Sorry, but I just don't see what's so special about Kabalevsky and I go insane seeing everyone is obsesses over this one composer on this board!



I have this music style in my head that would intrerests me, but I don't find such music hardly anywhere nor do I know whether someone has made such music. It's kind of Spanish, beautiful, etc. Some 15 years ago I explored Joaquin Rodrigo, but no. Rodrigo isn't that good composer imo. It wasn't what I was after. This inability to find this mystical music has eaten me mentally for years...

Gil Evans? Ennio Morricone? Orchestral Granados? Put these together and we are close... ...I suppose?

[Cato]

Wow!  You have some great times coming.  Also, you will have some weird times coming!  It will depend on what you choose!  HAve fun!

My favorite discovery this year...

Thanks Leo (and John) - of course I have you to thank for my introduction to Tcherepnin's 'Narcisse et Echo'.

You are quite welcome!   

For those who might want to discover Nikolai Tcherepnin's excellent music for the ballet Narcisse et Echo:

(The CHANDOS CD)

https://www.youtube.com/v/Kxd7qGyUCfU&t=31s

[Florestan]

[The new erato]

There is a new Tcherepnin Narcisse upcoming on Naxos.

As for me, I really discovered Eislers wonderful songs this year (the MDG four discs) and Reynaldo Hahn, both the Bru Zane songs (I have the new opera recording incoming) as well as his charming piano cycle Le rossignol éperdu on Steinway. Eager to hear more.

Of course there is always all the old stuff one rediscovers, but this really hasn't been a year for much listening, so new aquisitions (not many of them either) have been taking a front seat.

[Florestan]

this really hasn't been a year for much listening

On the contrary!  This has been a year for listening and drinking much more than usual. 

[The new erato]

Drinking on the other hand has been great.

[Florestan]

Drinking on the other hand has been great.

[vandermolen]

Drinking on the other hand has been great.

+1 

[vandermolen]

One positive "side effect" of the pandemic was having more time to listen to music! I feel like I make more wonderful musical discoveries with each passing year! Looking back over my (extensive!) listening log, these have been my foremost discoveries (and re-discoveries) of the year:


Alnæs: Symphonies nos. 1 and 2
Badings: Symphony no. 4
Barber: Souvenirs (version for orchestra)
Beethoven: Serenade for String Trio in D major, op. 8
Berlioz: Te Deum
Bliss: Meditations on a Theme of John Blow, Adam Zero, Checkmate
Bruch: String Quartets nos. 1 and 2
Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad (rhapsody)
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Cello Sonata
Chadwick: Symphonic Sketches
Coates: London Suite
Damase: Piano Sonata
Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony
Delius: Violin Sonata in B major, op. posth.
Del Tredici: In Memory of a Summer's Day
Dett: The Ordering of Moses
Dubois: Violin Sonata
Dupont: Les heures dolentes for piano
Duruflé: Trois Danses for orchestra
Dvořák: Rusalka, Dimitrij
Dyson: Violin Concerto
Foerster: Cello Sonata no. 1
Foulds: Cello Sonata, April-England
Frumerie: Symphonic Variations
Gade: Symphony no. 1, Echoes of Ossian (overture)
Gipps: Piano Concerto
Glière: Symphony no. 2
Hartmann: Symphony no. 6
Kabalevsky: Symphony no. 4
Martinů: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Melartin: Violin Concerto, String Quartets nos. 2 and 4
Matthews, David: Symphony no. 9
Medtner: Violin Sonata no. 2
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata no. 1
Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 22
Nielsen: Violin Concerto
Nordgren: Symphony no. 8
Novák: Signorina Gioventu (ballet)
Peterson-Berger: Violin Concerto
Pizzetti: Cello Concerto
Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution
Respighi: Metamorphoseon, Concerto a cinque
Saint-Saëns: Piano Trio no. 1
Sauer: Piano Concerto no. 2
Schnittke: String Quartet no. 3
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Stanford: Songs of the Fleet
Stenhammar: Sensommarnätter for piano
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Tveitt: Piano Concerto no. 5
Wetz: Symphony no. 2
Widor: Cello Concerto
Wirén: Symphony no. 2, String Quartet no. 3


WOW! I listened to a ton of wonderful music this year!

Interesting list Kyle.
+1 for many of them including the Foulds Cello Sonata, Frumerie, Wiren and many others.
Following Christo's advocacy I think that I shall explore Nino Rota's concert music in 2021, especially symphonies 1 and 2.

[steve ridgway]

I better follow my instincts to find music of my own taste and let others like Kabalevsky or whatever they like. If I find the music of David Maslanka more interesting than Kabalevsky then so be it! Even if nobody else cares about Maslanka. At least I do.

Yeah just find something you like and post it up. Maybe someone else likes it, maybe they don't.

[Maestro267]

Without question my "composer of the year" has been Nikolai Myaskovsky. The complete symphonies, along with the concertos for cello and violin and a disc of works for chamber orchestra. But the symphonies...wow! All twenty-seven of them have merit and value and are wonderful!

After that, my other favourite discoveries of the year have been:

- The eight symphonies of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. I have not heard more exciting music since I first discovered Ginastera, especially in the 3rd and 6th Symphonies.

- The seven symphonies of Ernst Toch. I kinda bought this set blind, and it did not disappoint. Again, wonderful and colourful orchestration.

I was also able to complete another Villa-Lobos cycle, namely the Choros, and add three more Schnittke symphonies (5-7) along with his Viola Concerto and In Memoriam. And I've finally started work on Allan Pettersson's symphony cycle this year.

[vandermolen]

Without question my "composer of the year" has been Nikolai Myaskovsky. The complete symphonies, along with the concertos for cello and violin and a disc of works for chamber orchestra. But the symphonies...wow! All twenty-seven of them have merit and value and are wonderful!

After that, my other favourite discoveries of the year have been:

- The eight symphonies of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. I have not heard more exciting music since I first discovered Ginastera, especially in the 3rd and 6th Symphonies.

- The seven symphonies of Ernst Toch. I kinda bought this set blind, and it did not disappoint. Again, wonderful and colourful orchestration.

I was also able to complete another Villa-Lobos cycle, namely the Choros, and add three more Schnittke symphonies (5-7) along with his Viola Concerto and In Memoriam. And I've finally started work on Allan Pettersson's symphony cycle this year.

I'm getting to know the Villa-Lobos symphonies better. I'm very pleased that you enjoyed the Myaskovsky set. The Cello Sonata No.2 and SQ No.13 are other favourites of mine, also the Piano Sonata No.5.

[Papy Oli]

A very large bundle of new composers unknown to me were sampled and discovered through a few months of streaming this year and some were even enjoyed in various degrees 

Making my personal cut, in no particular order:

Braga Santos, Goossens, Ethel Smyth, Lalo, Sauguet, Koechlin, Ibert, Braufels, Magnard, Gal (beyond the symphonies), Coleridge Taylor, Hurlstone, Joubert, Holbrooke, Kinsella, Lilburn, Stanford, Parry, Onslow, Ries, Reinecke, Krommer, Casella, Tubin, Holmboe, Weiss, Langgaard, Korngold, Wert, Ariostil, CPE Bach, Myaskovsky, Szymanovski, Bloch, Enescu, Novak, Viren, Tveitt, Gade, Czerny, Reicha, Spohr, Clara Schumann, Massenet, Campra, Escaich...

The high point of my classical year : Unlocking the Vaughan Williams symphonies, at last  0:)

A musically very rewarding year in many ways.

I intend to gradually review them more in depth again in the next year in parallel to my ongoing French exploration project.

[Symphonic Addict]

Fantastic selection of composers, Olivier. I love most of them. As for VW's symphonies, such a magnificent cycle couldn't go unnoticed for your listening experience. When I heard his symphonies for the first time I was instantly receptive to his idiom.

[Mirror Image]

I guess I do have some composers to add after all: first, and foremost, Hindemith. I know a lot of his music, but I'm in the process of rediscovering and discovering works by him, so he should be mentioned. Elliott Carter and Crumb need to be added as I hardly know their music, but I'm hoping to change this in due time.

[some guy]

My favorite thing about 2020 was finishing, at long last, the ripping of my CDs, which have been stored the whole time in Southern California. Since in my previous passes through them (2012, 2015, 2017), I had previously been selective, the CDs remaining could all be referred to as "the rejects." The delightful thing has been finding, over and over again, hundreds of times, that these CDs were full of simply splendid music, music that for one reason or other I had been unable to appreciate, the main reason, I am sure, being expectations. This time, since I would be stuck here for the duration of my cancer treatment, I determined to rip every remaining disc, regardless.

What a treat. Beethoven, Mozart, Godtphauss, Grippe, and a host of others. The music had not changed, of course, but I had. I had somehow achieved my goal of truly allowing each piece to speak and to be itself. That meant, for one example, that Ragnar Grippe's Shifting Spirits no longer had to sound like Varèse or Dhomont or Xenakis for me to like it. That meant, for another, that Michel Chion did not have to sound like Michèle Bokanowski for me to like his music. I still prefer Bokanowski, but my liking of her music no longer keeps me from liking music of her contemporaries that's not like hers.

It's been a long time in the making, a project I started around the time I first met John Cage, I suppose. It's results have been successful beyond all my expectations. In common with most people, 2020 in most ways was the worst year of my life. In this one way, however, it has been the best. I am now the listener I always wanted to be, and what a wonderful world this is, to be sure.