"New" Music Log

Started by Todd, April 06, 2007, 07:22:52 AM

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Todd



Leonardo Balada's orchestral works often include some of his best writing, and so it was with some excitement that I finally plumped for this recording of the Sixth Symphony (2005), the Steel Symphony 1972), and the Concerto for Three Cellos (2006)!  The recording opens with the Sixth Symphony, the Symphony of Sorrows, dedicated to the victims of the Spanish Civil War.  In this, it shares a theme with one of Balada's greatest works, Guernica.  The opening section of the single movement work is all intensity, vitality and anger.  Tuttis pulsate, rhythm drives the musical mass forward.  Not until about a third of the way in does anything that sounds sorrowful arrive, and it is beautiful and affecting, but it quickly gives way to another intense bout of musical outpouring, before returning to slow music.  The transitions are quick and masterful.  Some vibrant military marching morphs into a near orchestral galop, and then into a fearsome string onslaught, again via swift, masterful transitions.  Jesús López-Cobos extracts fine playing from the Jesús López-Cobos.  It's a heckuva way to open a recording.

The Concerto for Three Cellos, which counts Michael Sanderling as one of the cellists, is titled A German Concerto, and celebrates Germany's reconstruction after the two world wars.  Unabashedly avant garde, one needn't wait but for a few seconds before hearing what three cellos playing in unison up high sounds like, and then in tandem at different registers, and so on.  It's something new.  The surrounding orchestral music has some punchy, sometimes aggressive music swirling about, some thundering bass drum thwacks, piano interjections, squawking brass.  A German tune permeates the work, and some folk-like music, colorful percussion, and other nice touches pop up, as does a three cello solo.  Some outright romantic flourishes appear as well, with an almost Korngoldian touch, and the piece has a celebratory field.  It's another unique work from the composer.  Eivind Jensen leads the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in a fine performance.

The recording closes with the Steel Symphony, an homage to Steel Workers in an early 70s avant garde style.  The piece opens with an extended passage that sounds like the orchestra tuning itself, and only slowly morphs into a variant of a boom-clang avant garde work.  Ample brass blatting, eerie string figurations, bizarre percussion outbursts, repeated sections, and so forth created a chaotic yet purposeful soundworld.  It's not awful, but it's nowhere near as good as the first two works, either of which I would dig seeing in person.  (But come on, how many times will three cellists perform together?)  Jesús López-Cobos gets solid playing from the Barcelona band.

Yet another winner overall from Balada. 
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Brian



What a name! Melcher Melchers is the Boaty McBoatface of late romantic composers. A Swede (1882-1961), Melchers actually had the first name Henrik, but he knew a good gimmick when he saw one.

La Kermesse is full of good colorful gimmicks. It's a big, bright, splashy tone poem in the style of youthful Strauss or, especially, Karlowicz' "Episode at a Masquerade," with lots of percussion, an interesting oboe-bassoon duet melody, and catchy ideas (it opens with cello/bass darting figures that sound like they could be menacing, but prove to be the beginning to a party instead). The first three minutes hum along in joyous, exuberant major key, full of trumpet fanfares and wind solos. Then we get a development section that initially shares the initial good cheer, before the music starts to "fall apart" around 6'. Here things get more chromatic, with more dissonance and seemingly "wrong notes," as well as slightly foreboding counterpoint. It's not that things are going wrong in a cruel or harsh way. It's more like when you cross the line from happy drunk to stumbling mess drunk. After a slow interlude, we get to a fugue begun by a Sorcerer's Apprentice-like line from the bass clarinet. But this isn't Don Juan or Karlowicz' Masquerade: the music puts itself together again and charges to an exuberant finish.

The Élégie is, naturally, the opposite, a 10-minute study in softness, calm, and muted sorrow.

Melchers' apparently lone symphony (Qobuz didn't upload the booklet) shares some features with Cesar Franck's: it's in D minor, it's in three movements, and the movement timings are roughly 16/10/10. That's it for shared features, though. There's no motto theme here, no formal experimentation with re-introductions or hybrid slow movement-scherzi. Instead, it's a fairly generic piece with glib/basic tunes and generic moods. There is a cor anglais solo in the slow movement, but nothing really stands out. The piece definitely feels younger and less mature than the first two, like it could have been written in the 1870s. (It certainly seems to have been written before Nielsen's First.) In terms of sophistication and "modernity," I'd rank it about on a level with Dvorak's Fifth, just with more percussion and a Scandinavian melodic bent. The finale is another exuberant joyous piece like La Kermesse, but with less memorable color and harmonic interest.

Maybe I'm being harsh, but there is a clear progression on the disc from most enjoyable work to most derivative work. It's all very pleasant, start to finish. The difference is just that some parts are less memorable. This won't be a favorite, but fans of mid-to-late romantic music, especially of the happy kind, should definitely seek out Melcher Melchers. And they should talk about him with friends so they can say "Melcher Melchers" out loud.

Brian



Now here is one of the rarest - and strangest - discs of all time! Marvin Hamlisch, Broadway legend of A Chorus Line and Barbra Streisand fame, took his first-ever orchestral commission to write a piece summarizing a post-WWII political book endorsing one law and government for the world as a way to ensure world peace. The CD, self-produced and self-released in a limited edition by the Dallas Symphony, includes the 26-minute "Anatomy of Peace" plus a 10-minute spoken afterword by Abba Eban, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. The DSO lent me their archival copy for a history project I'm working on (and @brewski has seen bits of), and it was still in the shrink wrap 30+ years later. They gave me their blessing to open the shrink wrap. Now I'm not sure if anyone will listen to this CD after me, but it is without doubt an...ahem...unique experience.

OK. It's frikkin weird.

There won't be room in my published project to discuss this sucker in detail, so why not tell you about it here? ;D I don't want to pass any political judgment on the project, which summarizes Anatomy of Peace, the book by Emery Reves. The book started with a letter to the American people, co-signed by Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, three senators (including J.W. Fulbright), and a Supreme Court justice, urging readers to open their minds to the pro-global federalism message inside. Reves believed that a stronger UN would eventually eliminate nationalism, and that without nationalism, there would be no cause for wars. As a Hungarian who'd been chased out of Germany (the CD's booklet note claims rather dubiously that he was at the "top" of Hitler's enemy list), Reves had personal reason to hope for this.

Hamlisch takes the book's contents and compresses it all into a 17-line poem, which he has sung in full by a solo child and then again by a children's chorus. It's...uh...

Some fear the world
They hear the dissonance
And say it will always be

I see the world
As one community
That must be joined by one law

One law for me
One law for all of us
That will unite us someday

And I believe
It's not impossible
If we agree to one law

Nation pride will cease
The world will live in peace

And I believe
It's not impossible
For we are able to change

Make your own jokes, I'm moving on to the music now.  ;D Hamlisch (assisted by orchestrator Richard Danielpour) decides to structure the piece as a giant musical metaphor. All the instruments of the orchestra are different nations in cacophonous disagreement. The flute (big surprise) proposes the "one law for all of us" Big Tune, and then, a la Beethoven's Ninth or Sibelius' Third, it slowly gets argued with and then adopted by all the other instruments until the chorus jumps in and then there is a Grand Finale statement by everybody.

There is no getting around the simple fact that you had better really, really like the Big Tune, because it gets repeated a LOT. It shows up after 90 seconds, since Hamlisch is not a big guy for cacophonous disagreement. For the next 24 and a half minutes, every instrument has to play it in solo, in sections, and together, pretty much. The solo kid has to sing it. Then all the kids have to sing it. It was starting to drive me insane. And, of course, by the end it sounded like an affirmational Broadway showtune. Purely as music, without accounting for politics or words, this piece is maximum cringe. It's like Motivational Bolero.

Afterwards, Abba Eban's commentary is kind of a delight. He's a polished speaker with the now-extinct "transatlantic" accent, and he cracks lots of jokes. (My favorite: "Jesus said to love your neighbor and love your enemy, which is logical, because they're usually the same.") He does, however, express the Big Yikes 1991 sentiment that, with the Cold War over, there is no need for any wars anymore, and all wars are obsolete. Alas.

The performance - which appears to be the only performance ever - is spectacularly well-drilled and shows the DSO's standard and how electric Eduardo Mata was as a conductor.

All in all, I'm absolutely delighted to have had the opportunity to hear this exactly once. I wonder if or when anyone will hear it again.

brewski

#643
Quote from: Brian on September 01, 2023, 08:30:12 AMAll in all, I'm absolutely delighted to have had the opportunity to hear this exactly once. I wonder if or when anyone will hear it again.

"One! Singular sensation..."

;D

What an odd project. (And bigtime chuckle at "Motivational Bolero.")

I mean, great that Hamlisch gave it a go, great that the DSO and Mata did, too. (I did like the Mata years.) Thanks for all the detail on this piece and the recording, since as you say, whether anyone will hear it again sounds like a big question mark. But that's OK, Hamlisch did enough memorable work that he could be allowed a misfire or two.

But how lucky you are (or maybe "lucky") to be granted listening privileges, and assess the results.

-Bruce
"I set down a beautiful chord on paper—and suddenly it rusts."
—Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

Brian



Here is a first! Higdon's own booklet note for "Duo Duel" (a double percussion concerto) says the piece contains 41,973 notes. I've never heard a work with knowledge of the note count before. So, will this make me think of Amadeus;D

"Duo Duel" is 23:55, or 1,435 seconds, so that makes for 29.25 notes per second average throughout. This kind of analysis is honestly silly, but Higdon's point is that there is a whole lot of very fast virtuosic percussion solo work throughout, escalating to a Nielsen-style timpani battle near the end.

The first 6-7 minutes do not really engage me - they are rather slow and feature percussion instruments that, to me, are less interesting. Then the players switch to marimbas and things get a little more fun. I do wish there was more left-right channel separation between the duelists, but this is probably because percussion instruments take up so much space onstage.

And ultimately, even in the fast bits, there is a sense of underwhelm. I like the timpani duel best, and it is longer and more involved than Nielsen's. But it lacks one thing Nielsen has: surprise. We've been listening to percussion for 20 minutes, and our ears are trained for percussive sounds. When the timpani duel starts, we think, "ah, it's timpani time." If you remember the first time you heard Nielsen's duel, I bet you had considerably more emotion. Still, it is fun to hear different sticks and objects applied to the drumheads, and Higdon does a pretty decent job giving the orchestra work to do filling in between drum lines. This is a piece with lots of excitement and some attractions, but probably not any kind of staying power. Oddly, I liked Higdon's solo percussion concerto (written for Colin Currie) more.

Concerto for Orchestra is a 36-minute biggie that contains loads of kinetic energy. The first movement is a little bit generic but enjoyable, but the second - a strings-only scherzo that starts all pizzicato - is much more entertaining. The third, slow movement offers solos to every principal. Then we have another scherzo showcasing the percussion (along with harps) and a big whiz-bang finale. It's not exactly emotionally deep, not even in the slow movement with all its solos, and I didn't much like the percussion/harp movement. But the rest is plenty of fun. I can certainly imagine this being a concert-hall hit.

This CD is a bit like a chocolate brownie with a scoop of ice cream on top. It's indulgent and rich and feels unhealthy, and I'm not likely to remember much about it a year from now. But while you're devouring it, it's fun in the moment.

Pohjolas Daughter

#645
Quote from: Brian on September 01, 2023, 08:30:12 AM


All in all, I'm absolutely delighted to have had the opportunity to hear this exactly once. I wonder if or when anyone will hear it again.
What an interesting-sounding project for him to take on!

And cool that you got access to the recording!

PD

Edited:  Had posted incorrect links.
Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Brian

Hmm, is that the right news link?

JBS

Quote from: Brian on September 22, 2023, 01:01:40 PMHmm, is that the right news link?

Here's a link from Hamlisch's website
https://marvinhamlisch.com/a-concert-for-peace-marvin-hamlischs-anatomy-of-peace-to-be-performed-by-the-new-jersey-youth-symphony/

Of course when they were planning it, none of them had any idea what would happen that exact day: a perverse irony.

The Youtube with highlights is here
https://youtu.be/sSjNWt9SfkI


Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Brian on September 22, 2023, 01:01:40 PMHmm, is that the right news link?
Whoopsie!  Nope!  I'm currently using a Windows keyboard with my Mac and sometimes I goof when I'm cutting and pasting.   :-[

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

premont

Quote from: JBS on September 22, 2023, 03:47:19 PMHere's a link from Hamlisch's website
https://marvinhamlisch.com/a-concert-for-peace-marvin-hamlischs-anatomy-of-peace-to-be-performed-by-the-new-jersey-youth-symphony/

Of course when they were planning it, none of them had any idea what would happen that exact day: a perverse irony.


??

According to the website the concert took place February 26.2022.

The Russian attack on Ukraine was two days earlier.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: premont on September 23, 2023, 06:29:57 AM??

According to the website the concert took place February 26.2022.

The Russian attack on Ukraine was two days earlier.
So much for world peace and being one nation.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

JBS

Quote from: premont on September 23, 2023, 06:29:57 AM??

According to the website the concert took place February 26.2022.

The Russian attack on Ukraine was two days earlier.

Wait...what...[goes to look]...
Well, obviously I got confused in the two minutes it took me to double check the date of the invasion...

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: JBS on September 23, 2023, 06:44:29 PMWait...what...[goes to look]...
Well, obviously I got confused in the two minutes it took me to double check the date of the invasion...
It's o.k.  We all get confused...too much "stuff" going on in the news to try and keep track of properly.  Not easy to keep up...I try too...and often fail...despite "best efforts".  :(

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Brian



1. @JBS posts asking if anybody has any thoughts about Gabriel Feltz's Mahler cycle.
2. I search ClassicsToday for Gabriel Feltz reviews and find this instead.
3. Hurwitz loves it but it's unclear if it's because it's actually great, or if it's because that dude always loves an hour-long post-Mahlerian orchestral spectacular.
4. Time to investigate!

The 56-minute symphony begins with a modest slow introduction that is plainspoken and religious in character, echoing the title. The main first movement is in minor key, somewhat heroic/questing, and tinged ever so slightly with Hollywood in the rather simple melodies and showy orchestration (e.g. organ and harp duet introducing a second subject). The music alternates climaxes and quieter sections featuring the organ; it is much more of an organ-forward piece than, say, the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. The relationship is more like the piano in the Brahms piano concertos: a symphony with extensive, sometimes showy solo part throughout.

The first movement ends quietly, which leads into a proper allegro scherzo. The slow movement - just 9 minutes of the 56 - is the most explicitly based on the Gregorian motto theme, and doesn't stray very far from it.

Highlights abound. There's a really spooky, effective passage in the first movement around 9:30. Trumpets and trombones are frequently highlighted. The whole scherzo is lots of fun. However, the finale is something of a letdown - fast but insubstantial, and seems to end at random.

This seems like a piece I would have loved and listened to dozens of times if I'd found it in college. The melodies are simple enough to stick in the memory, the drama is tangible, and the size is grandiose. It's a young person's music - and indeed Eben was only 24 when he wrote it. But I'm not sure that it will have staying power for me now.

The performance is good but because of the challenge of recording organ and orchestra, the mic setup is very distant and low-level, a bit lacking in bass. This kind of contributes to the lack of "oomph" in the finale, especially.

JBS

Quote from: Brian on November 17, 2023, 07:25:37 AM

1. @JBS posts asking if anybody has any thoughts about Gabriel Feltz's Mahler cycle.
2. I search ClassicsToday for Gabriel Feltz reviews and find this instead.
3. Hurwitz loves it but it's unclear if it's because it's actually great, or if it's because that dude always loves an hour-long post-Mahlerian orchestral spectacular.
4. Time to investigate!

The 56-minute symphony begins with a modest slow introduction that is plainspoken and religious in character, echoing the title. The main first movement is in minor key, somewhat heroic/questing, and tinged ever so slightly with Hollywood in the rather simple melodies and showy orchestration (e.g. organ and harp duet introducing a second subject). The music alternates climaxes and quieter sections featuring the organ; it is much more of an organ-forward piece than, say, the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. The relationship is more like the piano in the Brahms piano concertos: a symphony with extensive, sometimes showy solo part throughout.

The first movement ends quietly, which leads into a proper allegro scherzo. The slow movement - just 9 minutes of the 56 - is the most explicitly based on the Gregorian motto theme, and doesn't stray very far from it.

Highlights abound. There's a really spooky, effective passage in the first movement around 9:30. Trumpets and trombones are frequently highlighted. The whole scherzo is lots of fun. However, the finale is something of a letdown - fast but insubstantial, and seems to end at random.

This seems like a piece I would have loved and listened to dozens of times if I'd found it in college. The melodies are simple enough to stick in the memory, the drama is tangible, and the size is grandiose. It's a young person's music - and indeed Eben was only 24 when he wrote it. But I'm not sure that it will have staying power for me now.

The performance is good but because of the challenge of recording organ and orchestra, the mic setup is very distant and low-level, a bit lacking in bass. This kind of contributes to the lack of "oomph" in the finale, especially.

So something to hear at least once, but possibly not more than that.

Meanwhile, I found the full Mahler cycle is uploaded on YT, so I can listen to it there if I can stand my phone's tinny sound...

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Todd

#656


I bought this recording as part of a big ol' splurge on downloads.  Typically, once files get copied to the external drive used in my main rig, each new purchased recording gets a short spin, to hear if everything is OK.  (Some purchased files have had issues, which is why I do that.)  When I got to this recording of Rachmaninoff's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, that did not happen.  So entranced was I by the austere gorgeousness (yeah, I meant to use that combination of words), so beguiling are the harmonies, so perfectly blended and balanced the voices, and so spectacularly recorded the performance, with literally perfect decay sound and timing, that I ended up sitting through the whole thing.  As the work progresses, the harmonies effectively ensnare the listener, preventing even the ability to move at all.  The work dates from 1910, but this is as perfect an example of timeless liturgical music as I know.  OK, OK, this could not have been penned five hundred years earlier, but I suspect it will be performed five hundred years hence.  Rachmaninoff has long been all about piano music for me, but this one work has shifted the focus a bit.  A staggeringly great recording. 





When I bought the Rach setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, I bought a couple others, including this recording of Tchaikovsky's setting of the same liturgy, using the same forces, and on the same label as the Rach work.  Straight away, one hears similar refinement and beauty and spaciousness, but the music is quite different.  Tchaikovsky's is simpler, more direct, with an unaffected beauty and sparseness.  And those cathedral decays!  Oh my.  Some of the music sounds like mixed chorus early Renaissance or even medieval music, with chant influence, distilled through a romantic era sensibility.  In addition to a big ol' chunk of the liturgy, the disc contains Nine Sacred Choruses which all sound like rarified, exceedingly beautiful, well, church choruses.  They lack the impact of the main work, but they sound just fine.  Superb singing and sound.





I saved Pavel Chesnokov's setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for last.  Coming in at about an hour-and-a-half, it's the longest of the three settings.  At least as presented in this recording, it is the most conservative, most expressively limited, and darkest hued work, with ample singing by the baritone soloist.  To be sure, the choral passages sound quite lovely, even serene.  The seriousness is never in doubt.  The music fairly shouts, or rather harmoniously sings, devotion.  This is real deal, serious religious music, seriously presented and performed.  It is enjoyable, but it less immediately beautiful than the Tchaikovsky, and less harmonically hypnotic than the Rach, and it certainly does not display the all-consuming power of the latter.  So, a nice addition to my collection, and a recording I will revisit, but it is not the best of this lot.

The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Florestan

Quote from: Todd on December 11, 2023, 03:06:41 PM

I bought this recording as part of a big ol' splurge on downloads.  Typically, once files get copied to the external drive used in my main rig, each new purchased recording gets a short spin, to hear if everything is OK.  (Some purchased files have had issues, which is why I do that.)  When I got to this recording of Rachmaninoff's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, that did not happen.  So entranced was I by the austere gorgeousness (yeah, I meant to use that combination of words), so beguiling are the harmonies, so perfectly blended and balanced the voices, and so spectacularly recorded the performance, with literally perfect decay sound and timing, that I ended up sitting through the whole thing.  As the work progresses, the harmonies effectively ensnare the listener, preventing even the ability to move at all.  The work dates from 1910, but this is as perfect an example of timeless liturgical music as I know.  OK, OK, this could not have been penned five hundred years earlier, but I suspect it will be performed five hundred years hence.  Rachmaninoff has long been all about piano music for me, but this one work has shifted the focus a bit.  A staggeringly great recording. 





When I bought the Rach setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, I bought a couple others, including this recording of Tchaikovsky's setting of the same liturgy, using the same forces, and on the same label as the Rach work.  Straight away, one hears similar refinement and beauty and spaciousness, but the music is quite different.  Tchaikovsky's is simpler, more direct, with an unaffected beauty and sparseness.  And those cathedral decays!  Oh my.  Some of the music sounds like mixed chorus early Renaissance or even medieval music, with chant influence, distilled through a romantic era sensibility.  In addition to a big ol' chunk of the liturgy, the disc contains Nine Sacred Choruses which all sound like rarified, exceedingly beautiful, well, church choruses.  They lack the impact of the main work, but they sound just fine.  Superb singing and sound.





I saved Pavel Chesnokov's setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for last.  Coming in at about an hour-and-a-half, it's the longest of the three settings.  At least as presented in this recording, it is the most conservative, most expressively limited, and darkest hued work, with ample singing by the baritone soloist.  To be sure, the choral passages sound quite lovely, even serene.  The seriousness is never in doubt.  The music fairly shouts, or rather harmoniously sings, devotion.  This is real deal, serious religious music, seriously presented and performed.  It is enjoyable, but it less immediately beautiful than the Tchaikovsky, and less harmonically hypnotic than the Rach, and it certainly does not display the all-consuming power of the latter.  So, a nice addition to my collection, and a recording I will revisit, but it is not the best of this lot.



If they had this effect on you when listening through impersonal loudspeakers, imagine how much more overwhelming the impact would have been had you experienced them live in a cathedral, surrounded by icons and burning incense, watching the movements, gestures and garments of the priests.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Todd

Quote from: Florestan on December 12, 2023, 01:11:11 AMIf they had this effect on you when listening through impersonal loudspeakers, imagine how much more overwhelming the impact would have been had you experienced them live in a cathedral, surrounded by icons and burning incense, watching the movements, gestures and garments of the priests.

Only the Rach had a notable impact, and I suspect that hearing it live, almost certainly with a less well-trained chorus, would have less impact.  The things you cite as adding to the experience would, at best, add nothing to the experience.  I've attended religious choral performances in person, so the experience is not unknown.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Florestan

Quote from: Todd on December 12, 2023, 03:55:31 AMI suspect that hearing it live, almost certainly with a less well-trained chorus, would have less impact.

I'm sure that the choirs of the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow or the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg are as well-trained in this type of music as any other and able to deliver flawless renditions.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini