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[Gian Francesco Malipiero]

#21

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by ritter - Today at 11:53:10 AM

Listening to Gian Francesco Malipiero's song cycle Le stagioni italiche, performed by the Vansìsiem Lied Duo (soprano Paola Camponovo and pianist Alfredo Blessano).

CD2 of this set:



A very ambitious work, lasting 40 minutes, consisting of four songs (with long stretches for the piano on its own) based on poetry from the Middle Ages (Brunetto Latini) to the 20th century (Gabriele D'Annunzio). I am finding this superb! It's from 1924, in Malipiero's "autumnal" mood, but with a rich variety of invention and expressiveness.

I must admit I don't really warm to the voice of Signora Camponovo, but Signor Blessano is most convincing at the keyboard.

#22

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Symphonic Addict - Today at 11:31:59 AM

Some composers had the real gift to write music filled with good humor in spades, some with more ease than others. The Danish Knudaage Riisager was one of those guys with a magical spark in his life and he demonstrated it in his works. This CD exemplifies that in the best possible way. I was revisiting it and I was absolutely, totally, wholly delighted by each of these works. WOW, exhilarating falls short to describe the feelings!! It includes the suites of three of his ballets (Slaraffenland, Darduse and the dances from Tolv med Posten) + his Concertino for trumpet, all of these works having a delightful Neoclassical touch. Not only is the music vivacious, tongue-in-cheek, witty to the core, but also stunningly orchestrated. This man knew his stuff for sure. A few numbers portray more beauty, and I mean, beauty that manages to bewitch to some extent (at least it did for me), e.g. Princess Sweets from Slaraffenland's Suite No. 1 (guess which composer's music it resembles) and even more ravishing, the Pas de deux from the Suite No. 2... simply amazing. I regret the complete ballets on this disc hadn't been recorded yet, but hopefully they will. If you're looking for music that lifts your spirits, this is the perfect alternative. I think this is the most compelling disc devoted to this composer. Warmly recommended.






BTW, the disc above also appears on a different incarnation, but with a less attractive cover art:

#23

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Symphonic Addict - Today at 11:01:33 AM

I keep meaning to play this, so it is good to be prompted! Appreciate the intro...

Listening now!

Will have to add this to my list of composers to check out.

PD

Hoping you have enjoyed them.

#24

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by JBS - Today at 10:58:17 AM

TD


The two Rhapdodies and the First Symphony.

I have the Chandos set, but it's been so long since I last listened to it that I have no real memory of these symphonies.

#25

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by JBS - Today at 10:54:02 AM

That looks like it would be a fun recording! 
Thanks for the history behind the violin.  How did you like the music and the performances, etc. of it?

PD

I'll have to listen to it a couple of more times. In the first sonata, either he went for some extra pianissimo effects or the editing is screwed up in places.

I have several recordings of these sonatas. My favorite is Zehetmair on ECM.

#26

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Linz - Today at 10:44:43 AM

Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E Flat Major, 1874 First version - Ed. Leopold Nowak, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Dennis Russel Davies

#27

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Brian - Today at 10:31:01 AM

Made an afternoon playlist inspired by things other GMGers have posted in this thread over the last 5 pages. Not necessarily the exact same recordings, sometimes other versions by different artists or other recordings by the featured artists.

#28

Composer Discussion / Re: Mozart

Last post by Spotted Horses - Today at 09:51:33 AM

A couple days ago I listened to this album:



And I really appreciated how much more intense and dramatic the 20th becomes in a driven, PI performance.  This isn't polite music at tea time.  This is storming the heavens!  I loved it.

I haven't listen to that particular recording, but I've immensely enjoyed what I've listen to in that set.

#29

The Diner / Re: What TV series are you cur...

Last post by DavidW - Today at 09:35:30 AM

I also finished S1 of Foundation.  I thought it was great.  I know I read them so long ago, if it was fresh I might have been mad... but those short stories and novellas have clever ideas but not much in the way of character development and depth.  I think the changes for the adaptation were necessary to make a tv show out of it, and I feel like ultimately it honors the themes and tone of the trilogy... but keep in mind that it has been a long time since I read it.

There is only one thing which is the violation of the three laws of robotics.  I do know that the last robot in the books adhered to the zeroth law which allowed him to do that, but that has not been addressed in the show.

#30

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Ihre Favourite Winterreise

Last post by Mandryka - Today at 08:51:40 AM

Gute Nacht is the only long strophic song in the cycle but it has the last stanza in the major. The others are shorter and/or have more contrasts within (e.g. Die Post, Frühlingstraum). (I think the best option is variation within a mostly strophic form like in "Der Lindenbaum".)
Müllerin has more simple strophic songs, I think, and begins with a fairly trite strophic one ("Das Wandern" became a folksy popular song in Germany, although with a slightly changed melodic line), although the only long one is the last one (Des Baches Wiegenlied) where it might fit better.

This requires some creativity of the singer and the accompanist to make little differences "speak". E.g in Gute Nacht the "disappointed hope" in the first 2 returns to minor after major (eg. verses 7+8  vs. 5+6) and of course the last stanza in major.

Benjamin Appl is particularly striking in the strophic songs in Winterreise I think. Exceptional performance all-round, more dramatic than I suggested in my comments on it above.