ha, finally found a composer without a thread!
I have really enjoyed this craggy, stubborn, angry, uncompromising, knotty, clanky, unattractuve, arid, acrid, giant forehead composer.
his discography is extremely piece meal and spotty though, making a collection quite an investment. i used to have the CRI cd that seemed soooo primal to me, parts sounding like Mingus meets "touch of evil".
my favorite piece is "five" for piano 4 hands, which Alan Feinberg ably dispatches with only 10 fingers.
also, i am chompin at the bit to hear his str. qrts. 6-7. newly re-released.
his work list is huge, and i don't think we're gonna get to much more after that "love letter" cd on Arabesque "Songs of Love," the only really modern cd fully devoted to his music.
any fans, or stories?
MISTAKE: piano piece is "seven, not "five".
NOT ONE Shapey fan out there?
Quote from: snyprrr on March 14, 2009, 12:25:35 PM
MISTAKE: piano piece is "seven, not "five".
NOT ONE Shapey fan out there?
Er . . . yes, based on a couple of pieces I've heard, but that was 40 years ago.
ah...bwah, bwah, bwah (downward trombone sound/ charlie brown signifying disappointment).
I do believe I'll have to start a Roger Sessions thread.
Quote from: snyprrr on March 16, 2009, 07:01:00 PM
ah...bwah, bwah, bwah (downward trombone sound/ charlie brown signifying disappointment).
I do believe I'll have to start a Roger Sessions thread.
ah, those were the days, haha!!
I recall seeing an occasional Shapey record in the 1950's and '60's, usually with a picture of him looking very Beatnik. 0:)
Here is an orchestral work by Shapey via YouTube: not many views and no comments.
https://www.youtube.com/v/aKq7123aOeo
There's a recording on spotify, it must be available elsewhere, with Robert Black playing the Fromm Variations, and the Univ Chacago Chamber players doing Quartet 7. And there are some other pieces which I haven't had a chance to hear.
This is interesting music. Big music, big gestures, full of feeling and with a very distinctive musical language. Extremely impressive.
Quote from: Mandryka on May 13, 2014, 08:58:33 PM
There's a recording on spotify, it must be available elsewhere, with Robert Black playing the Fromm Variations, and the Univ Chacago Chamber players doing Quartet 7. And there are some other pieces which I haven't had a chance to hear.
This is interesting music. Big music, big gestures, full of feeling and with a very distinctive musical language. Extremely impressive.
Available on the NewWorld 2cd set, something 'Radical Traditional' or... yes, big gestures and dramatic, expressionistic. Best intro to Shapey on the market. A very piecemeal Composer, Discography-wise. :( nothing new lately...
(horrible thread title!!) ??? (was that me???)
Quote from: snyprrr on May 14, 2014, 08:02:38 AM
Available on the NewWorld 2cd set, something 'Radical Traditional' or... yes, big gestures and dramatic, expressionistic. Best intro to Shapey on the market. A very piecemeal Composer, Discography-wise. :( nothing new lately...
(horrible thread title!!) ??? (was that me???)
I'm having difficulty with the Fromm Variations but I will persevere. I think part of my problem is with Robert Black, who sounds monochrome to me, or maybe it's the transfer. Or maybe it's me. Anyway as far as I know there's no other recording.
I've been listening to the 6th quartet today and, well, I love it. These two quartets, the 6th and 7th, are at least as good as anything Shostakovich wrote.
Quote from: snyprrr on May 14, 2014, 08:02:38 AM
(horrible thread title!!) ??? (was that me???)
You can change it. Can I suggest,
Raplph Shapey's Ship.
Quote from: Mandryka on May 14, 2014, 09:53:22 AM
I'm having difficulty with the Fromm Variations but I will persevere. I think part of my problem is with Robert Black, who sounds monochrome to me, or maybe it's the transfer. Or maybe it's me. Anyway as far as I know there's no other recording.
I've been listening to the 6th quartet today and, well, I love it. These two quartets, the 6th and 7th, are at least as good as anything Shostakovich wrote.
You can change it. Can I suggest, Raplph Shapey's Ship.
I know what you mean about the piano sound. Oy, how I can't stand even a hint of clunky- I think it may be that classic 'CRI Syndrome'- oh, what?, you haven't heard Aimard or Hamelin yet? Yea, that CRI Sound works fine on string music, but watch out for that piano. And Shapey is the King of Klunk anyway, haha!!
The first Shapey I heard was Alan Feinberg on Argo- 'The American Innovator', great great recital, surely you have it. That recording of Shapey Piano Music is what floored me originally, and I don't know if Shapey's had a finer seven minutes, sound-wise.
Actually, the 'Krolisch Sonata' on that cheap NewWorld disc is recorded very nicely. I'm curious how well the Miranda Cuckson Centaur discs sound.
I always imagined the Fromm Variations were named after Erich Fromm, the thinker. But no, nothing so deep. They were commissioned by Paul Fromm, a German American wine merchant.