Magnus Lindberg's lair

[snyprrr]

LIGHTNING ROUND!!

The rabbit trail led to Lindberg today (how diiid that happen?) and, since I noticed there hasn't been any new news, I thought that an Emergency Re-Evaluation was in order. What Is the Most Essential Lindberg?

1) Sony w/Cello Concerto

2) Sony w/Violin Concerto

3) Clarinet Cto. (Ondine)

4) Piano Cto./KRAFT (Ondine)

5) Finlandia 2-cd

6) Ondine Box

7) Ondine 1 Marea/Kinetics/Joy... I had this once and let it go. Maybe I'm like MI and just didn't respond?

Ondine 2... I remember being disappointed when this came out

9) Ondine 3... I remember being disappointed when this came out

10) Ondine 4

11) Ondine 5

12) Ondine 6

13) DG Engine/Aura... I remember being disappointed when this came out

14) Eotvos... Corrente/Ur/Dup Concertante/Joy


I'm pretty sure that's it (except for the PC 2 disc which I'm not interested in). What happened to Lindberg in my heart? He was... then he isn't... now he looks like Skellan Skasgaard?... what's going on? One work. Maybe two. I just don't even want to bother, wtf?

I chanced the SONY disc, and am listening to the Cello Concerto.

I like it,- somewhat an up-dated Lutoslawski?,...more adventurous than WL,... I'm not done yet, but this is just what I would expect a Modern CC to sound like,... it has some balls goin'! Again, a very attractive piece. I haven't yet tried the rest of the disc

[snyprrr]

I chanced the SONY disc, and am listening to the Cello Concerto.

I like it,- somewhat an up-dated Lutoslawski?,...more adventurous than WL,... I'm not done yet, but this is just what I would expect a Modern CC to sound like,... it has some balls goin'! Again, a very attractive piece. I haven't yet tried the rest of the disc

Finishing up that SONY disc, enjoyed the bubbling 'Fresco' and 'Parada', on to the 'Cantigas'. Frankly, right now, this seems to be the only ML I'll need for a while. The only work I'm interested in now is 'KRAFT' (which recording???), and, I don't know, I'd even go so far as to try that Ondine 'Marea-Joy-Kinetics' disc again.

BUT THAT'S IT BRUTHA!!

[snyprrr]

How do you all like the Violin Concerto?

I wasn't all that taken with with of the Piano Concert...i...

I did enjoy the Cello Concerto which I got TWO YEARS AGO!! (what's up with this Thread??)

[snyprrr]

How do you all like the Violin Concerto?

I wasn't all that taken with with of the Piano Concert...i...

I did enjoy the Cello Concerto which I got TWO YEARS AGO!! (what's up with this Thread??)

Finally listening now to LisaB's Violin Concerto. Wait... have I heard this before? The opening seems to remind me an awful lot of Lutoslawski,... I'm up to the gliss slides, and now the music begins to build some momentum...

So far, it's "ok", but I can't help but compare this to Late Lutoslawski, which we all know represents a step back from the pure High Modernism of the 60s and 70s. I think I'm listening to a more refined 'Chain' or 'Partita'...

Isn't the Cello Concerto much more adventurous? (I have it here somewhere...)


I'm almost feeling... Debussy?,... but definitely Lutoslawski and Dutilleux... in their more conservative moments...


I'm 7mins. in and I'm glad I listened before I bought. It just sounds too much like a regular ol' VC,... how does it compare with Ligeti or Norgard? Obviously, both of those are more adventurous. At 8:30 I feel like I'm in the alps with Strauss!

or even a mild Szymanowski... I'm also hearing lots of 4ths and 5ths, making it sound like Nielsen's "court music"...




I guess it's trying to be somewhat "cosmic", but... mm... I mean, it's ok... trying to be mysterious but not enough for me... it reminds me a little of LOTR, or 1916 Romanticism...


meh

I'm at the cadenza...

[snyprrr]

Had it been by Rautavaara I might have esteemed it more? The ending just sounds kind of regular to me...

[André]

This 4 cd set is made up of reissued Ondine performances. The publisher chose not to replicate the original disc contents - some pieces of which are not included, like the piano concerto, originally paired with Kraft. Instead, the arrangement of works is a strictly chronological one, starting in 1982 (Tendenza) and ending in 2005 (Sculpture). Post-2005 works can be found on newer discs - Lindberg is still very much active.

The booklet notes take this chronological view in perspective to assess the place of the early works: « Lindberg's early works are the product of an angry young Modernist ». The danger of building a cereer as an angry young Modernist is that someone younger will come after you, and will take the edge off your brand of anger and modernism. The young Mark Anthony Turnage (b. 1960) for example sounds more 'modern' to me than the young Lindberg, his own anger more punkish and provocative while not afraid to sound like an unashamed tout.

That is not to say that Lindberg remained an 'angry young Modernist' forever. « For me, the inspiring thing about composition is that every work contains something completely new but also something from the previous work » (from a 1995 interview). IOW he sees his work as in a constant flux, evolving over a long period of time, without abrupt transitions. This helps put a stamp on every work, a recognizable idiom: « Lindberg's music is definitely goal-oriented and as inexorable in its progress as a natural force. »

Disc 1 contains Tendenza (1982), Kraft (1985), Kinetics (1989) and Marea (1990). The first piece is certainly angry and turbulent. Kraft too is quite agitated, but it is also more organized and much more expansive. Lindberg was clearly making a major statement. He devoted lavish care in the design of the work, devising a computer program to manage its complex rythms and harmonies. It is not surprising that it has been one of his most often played works.

With Kinetics and Marea, Lindberg assimilated some of the influence of the spectralists (Murail, Grisey). «I used to write music like chiselling stone, but now I am softer, moulding clay instead ». This is an interesting statement. Kinetics is not all that different in sound world than Kraft, but the narrative is clearer, the textures darker (low winds, brass and percussion have a field day), some big chords held for a long time, as if to impress by the sheer weight of their sonority. The music is still restless, but less agitated. Marea takes the opposite direction, the music evolving toward ever brighter sonorities. These two works were composed as a trilogy, the third part being Joy (1990), which is longer (26 minutes) than the other two combined. Written for large instrumental ensemble, it has parts for electronics. This was Lindberg's most consonant work to date. He would not pursue in that direction, stating jokingly that « the next step would be Hollywood ! ». That of course is a pun, as there is nothing traditional in any sense in the work. I find it post-bergian.

(NB: quotes in italics are from the Ondine booklet).

[André]

Discs 3 and 4 comprise the following works:

Arena (1995) for large orchestra.
Arena II (1996) for chamber orchestra.
Feria (1997).
Grand Duo (2000) for woodwinds and brass.
Chorale (2002), written as a prelude to a performance of Berg's violin concerto.
Concerto for Orchestra (2003).
Sculpture (2005).

These works come from a slightly later phase in the composer's development. Textures are more shimmering but also weightier. Lindberg's idiom is still distinctly modern sounding, but it becomes more symphonic in the traditional sense. The major works here are Arena, Feria, the concerto for orchestra and Sculpture. Each comes across as a grand statement, with a distinctive compositional design and orchestral sound. Particularly original is the last work, where Lindberg deploys a very large orchestra (quadruple wwinds, large percussion section, Wagner tubas, organ, 2 pianos, 2 harps) but dispenses with the violins altogether. The sound is dark, weighty, the mood ominous. Commissioned by fellow finn composer Esa-Pekka Salonen for the inauguration of the Walt Disney Hall, for which occasion the wind players were distributed around the hall.

Arena and Feria are conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste, all the rest by Sakari Oramo. An all-Finn affair.

I respond better to Lindberg's later works, where gestures are bigger and the sound world very sophisticated, with no trace of aggressiveness

[Symphonic Addict]

Due for release on September 6th:

[Brian]

Thanks for posting that news. Did anyone listen to the previous Ondine Lindberg disc?



Note that Aura (in memoriam Lutoslawski) is not the same work as Era!