(http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/26/what_youthful_fervor.jpg)
I figured I would start a thread about Salonen the composer. The title of the this thread is Helix and it's actually the title of a very cool composition by Salonen. You can go to YouTube and see Gergiev conduct this work. Anyway, a little background on Salonen is in order first:
Esa-Pekka Salonen emerged as one of the most exciting and fast-rising major conductors of the last two decades of the twentieth century. He entered the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki 1973, studying horn with Holgar Fransman. Having graduated in 1977, Salonen remained to take composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara and conducting with Jorma Panula. He also studied composition with Franco Donatoni in Siena, attended the summer course at Darmstadt, and, from 1980 to 1981, studied with Niccolò Castiglioni.
Although he is primarily known as a conductor, Salonen views composition as his main career. His first large-scale orchestral work was the Concerto for saxophone & orchestra, "...Auf den esten Blick und ohne zu wissen" (1980-1981), based on Kafka's novel The Trial. His second orchestral work, Giro, dates from 1981.The following year, he composed Floof (revised in 1990), a bright work for soprano and ensemble based on texts by the Polish science-fiction writer Stanislaw Lem. This work won the UNESCO Rostrum Prize in 1992. During the 1980s, Salonen composed tape music and music with electronics and instruments combined. Works composed during this period include Baalal, a radiophonic piece, and Yta (Surface), a series of experimental compositions. Although Salonen's burgeoning conducting career somewhat slowed down his composition output, he continued developing as a composer. His 1996 orchestral piece, L.A. Variations, received its triumphant premiere at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1997. The following year, he wrote Gambit, an orchestral work dedicated to Magnus Lindberg. In 1999, he completed Five Images after Sappho, a song cycle for soprano and small ensemble. Salonen's music employs up-to-date compositional techniques within a central tonality. Other significant works include Wing on Wing for orchestra and two sopranos (2004) and a Piano Concerto (2007) written for Yefim Bronfman.
Salonen started appearing as a horn soloist and guest conductor beginning in 1982. His conducting career took off in 1983, following his sensational London debut with the Philharmonia. Salonen made his American debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1984. He received a record contract with CBS Masterworks (now Sony Classical), as well as the position of principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia (1985-1994).
One of his early projects with Sony was a recording of Messiaen's Turangalila and Lutoslawski's Symphony No. 3, the latter a world premiere recording that won a Gramophone Award for Best Contemporary Record in 1985. He took a second award in 1989 with the Sibelius and Nielsen violin concertos, featuring Cho-Liang Lin as soloist, and won further awards with the complete Stravinsky works for piano and orchestra, with Paul Crossley as soloist.
As a result of his highly successful performances with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in 1989, Salonen was invited to become the orchestra's music director. He assumed that post in 1992, becoming the orchestra's youngest music director, and a successor to such luminaries as Zubin Mehta and Carlo Maria Giulini. Salonen has led the L.A. Philharmonic on major tours, also making a series of highly acclaimed recordings.
Salonen is known especially for his twentieth century music performances, though he is also praised for his interpretations of Haydn, Mahler, and Beethoven. In addition to established modern composers such as Bartók, Messiaen, Stravinsky, and Hindemith, he also frequently performs more recent masters such as Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Lindberg, Saariaho, and Corigliano, whose concerto from the film The Red Violin he recorded with violinist Joshua Bell.
[Article taken from All Music Guide]
Hopefully, this will start some conversation about his music.
As many Modern fans as we have here, no Salonen fans? ??? What the hell is wrong with you people? :P
Well hopefully this thread will get some replies soon, has anyone actually heard a Salonen work?
Here's Gergiev conducting the work Helix:
http://www.youtube.com/v/JpRYuELSuv4
I love the energy and excitement of this piece.
I just watched Salonen's Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz on violin and I was very impressed. The audio and video quality were terrible, of course, but I could tell this is a very interesting piece of music that hopefully will be recorded soon.
I am a great fan of Salonen's music. I think that he is one of the most effective orchestral music writers around. It seems he is able to coax anything from an orchestra and make it sound nice, no matter what kind of textbook dissonance it has in it. His biggest weakness, however, is piano writing. It is musically very good music, but it is impossible to play! I studied his work Dichotomie once, with the intention of someday playing it, but I gave up after a few hours of fighting with it. I'm not a great pianist or anything, but I've met other pianists (some very good ones) who had the same experience. I also looked at his piano concerto with a similar result. My hat goes off to Yefim Bronfman, Per Tengstrand, and Gloria Cheng that much more, for them being three of the bravest pianists for playing such nonnegotiable music.
Quote from: lescamil on May 26, 2011, 04:52:25 PM
I am a great fan of Salonen's music. I think that he is one of the most effective orchestral music writers around. It seems he is able to coax anything from an orchestra and make it sound nice, no matter what kind of textbook dissonance it has in it. His biggest weakness, however, is piano writing. It is musically very good music, but it is impossible to play! I studied his work Dichotomie once, with the intention of someday playing it, but I gave up after a few hours of fighting with it. I'm not a great pianist or anything, but I've met other pianists (some very good ones) who had the same experience. I also looked at his piano concerto with a similar result. My hat goes off to Yefim Bronfman, Per Tengstrand, and Gloria Cheng that much more, for them being three of the bravest pianists for playing such nonnegotiable music.
Yes, I think he has a great ear for color, texture, and rhythm, which is something I've always admired about composers like Ravel, Bartok, Debussy, Ligeti, etc. I wouldn't know about the technical demands of his
Piano Concerto because I haven't heard it yet, but I can only imagine from what you're saying that it's demanding on the soloist. I don't think, however, this could be considered a bad thing. Getting world-class musicians to perform your music is a luxury Salonen has now. The same could be said of many composers of his generation like Magnus Lindberg for example, also a good friend of Salonen's. It's obvious that Salonen isn't after popular appeal with his music, and, this is, again, another luxury he can afford, but I think his music is quite accessible or from what I've heard so far.
I read that Salonen's big compositional breakthrough was his LA Variations. The response from this work brought many questions into Salonen's mind. In fact, as a result of the work's popularity, he took a year off from conducting to focus on composing. I wonder how much free time he gets now? He's the music director of the Philharmonia Orchestra now.
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 26, 2011, 04:59:06 PM
I wouldn't know about the technical demands of his Piano Concerto because I haven't heard it yet, but I can only imagine from what you're saying that it's demanding on the soloist. I don't think, however, this could be considered a bad thing. Getting world-class musicians to perform your music is a luxury Salonen has now. The same could be said of many composers of his generation like Magnus Lindberg for example, also a good friend of Salonen's. It's obvious that Salonen isn't after popular appeal with his music, and, this is, again, another luxury he can afford, but I think his music is quite accessible or from what I've heard so far.
The biggest, and I mean biggest, difference between Salonen and Lindberg is that Lindberg is a still active world class pianist in his own regard, whereas Salonen used to be a horn player and doesn't do that much anymore, as far as I know. Lindberg's piano music may be extremely difficult, but it is entirely feasible for most well-trained pianists to learn. Salonen's pieces are not only difficult to a high degree, but they are not very idiomatic and they seem to be "tailor made" to the dedicatée. For example, in Dichotomie, there is an entire page of glissandos that span the whole keyboard on both black and white keys (while doing things with the free hand sometimes), something that works well for Bronfman's huge, heavy, and rugged hands. Upon trying out that page, my hands were raw and almost bleeding (no joke!). I talked with Per Tengstrand (a great Swedish pianist who recorded Dichotomie) about this work, and he said that it was by far the most difficult work for him to learn and get up to performance level. Bronfman also was noted in saying that when he asked Salonen for a piano concerto, he begged and pleaded with Salonen that it not be as difficult as Dichotomie. The result, however, was something
even more difficult than Dichotomie, according to Bronfman, and there was a page of the work that was declared "completely unplayable". Salonen has revised the work continually since. Only one other pianist has played the work (Juho Pohjonen). Lindberg's piano music, however, gets performances by many other pianists other than the composer himself. The one major redeeming quality that his music has is just that, the musical quality of it. Musicians that I've talked to really
want to learn his music, but the sheer difficulty of it prevents his music from getting as many performers as Lindberg, Saariaho, and many of his other colleagues
.
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 26, 2011, 06:35:03 PM
I read that Salonen's big compositional breakthrough was his LA Variations. The response from this work brought many questions into Salonen's mind. In fact, as a result of the work's popularity, he took a year off from conducting to focus on composing. I wonder how much free time he gets now? He's the music director of the Philharmonia Orchestra now.
He has been the musical director of the Philharmonia for a few years now, actually. He directed them concurrently with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for some years, which is why he needed to step down from one of them to get more time. Last I read about him, he is working on an opera at the moment, along with some smaller works. He just premiered an orchestral work called Nyx in France, which I enjoyed (I still like LA Variations most out of his orchestral works). I particularly admire him for being so active with conducting and composing. I am really looking forward to his opera, which is going to be based off of Peter Høeg's novel The Woman and the Ape.
Quote from: lescamil on May 26, 2011, 07:55:34 PM
The biggest, and I mean biggest, difference between Salonen and Lindberg is that Lindberg is a still active world class pianist in his own regard, whereas Salonen used to be a horn player and doesn't do that much anymore, as far as I know. Lindberg's piano music may be extremely difficult, but it is entirely feasible for most well-trained pianists to learn. Salonen's pieces are not only difficult to a high degree, but they are not very idiomatic and they seem to be "tailor made" to the dedicatée. For example, in Dichotomie, there is an entire page of glissandos that span the whole keyboard on both black and white keys (while doing things with the free hand sometimes), something that works well for Bronfman's huge, heavy, and rugged hands. Upon trying out that page, my hands were raw and almost bleeding (no joke!). I talked with Per Tengstrand (a great Swedish pianist who recorded Dichotomie) about this work, and he said that it was by far the most difficult work for him to learn and get up to performance level. Bronfman also was noted in saying that when he asked Salonen for a piano concerto, he begged and pleaded with Salonen that it not be as difficult as Dichotomie. The result, however, was something even more difficult than Dichotomie, according to Bronfman, and there was a page of the work that was declared "completely unplayable". Salonen has revised the work continually since. Only one other pianist has played the work (Juho Pohjonen). Lindberg's piano music, however, gets performances by many other pianists other than the composer himself. The one major redeeming quality that his music has is just that, the musical quality of it. Musicians that I've talked to really want to learn his music, but the sheer difficulty of it prevents his music from getting as many performers as Lindberg, Saariaho, and many of his other colleagues
He has been the musical director of the Philharmonia for a few years now, actually. He directed them concurrently with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for some years, which is why he needed to step down from one of them to get more time. Last I read about him, he is working on an opera at the moment, along with some smaller works. He just premiered an orchestral work called Nyx in France, which I enjoyed (I still like LA Variations most out of his orchestral works). I particularly admire him for being so active with conducting and composing. I am really looking forward to his opera, which is going to be based off of Peter Høeg's novel The Woman and the Ape.
Very interesting post, indeed. I enjoyed reading this. It is interesting that even Salonen's orchestral music is difficult to play for even virtuoso orchestras. I wonder what orchestras during the 1920s/1930s thought about playing Schoenberg's works? I wonder if they had the same difficulty as modern orchestras have had with Salonen's music? Anyway, it's curious thought of mine.
I watched a video for Salonen's
Violin Concerto and that work looked incredible difficult to perform. I mean even a world class musician like Leila Josefowicz seemed to be having difficulty with many of the passages. This idea thrills me to death to be honest. I love hearing how difficult works are to perform well. This gives me a greater appreciation for the technical side of the music, which isn't as important as it's emotional content of course, but it adds another element of engagement for a listener like myself.
By the way, I haven't heard much of Lindberg's music, I understand he comes from a different angle than Salonen incorporating more Spectral influences to the music. What do you think about Lindberg and what orchestral work do you think I should hear first?
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 26, 2011, 04:24:53 PM
I just watched Salonen's Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz on violin and I was very impressed. The audio and video quality were terrible, of course, but I could tell this is a very interesting piece of music that hopefully will be recorded soon.
I attended the premiere in LA (drove 400 miles to hear it!)--it was an incredible experience. It's one of his best pieces in my opinion. He did a CD signing afterward, and I asked if there were plans to make a recording. He grinned impishly and said, "We're thinking about it."
Quote from: Toccata&Fugue on May 26, 2011, 08:26:50 PM
I attended the premiere in LA (drove 400 miles to hear it!)--it was an incredible experience. It's one of his best pieces in my opinion. He did a CD signing afterward, and I asked if there were plans to make a recording. He grinned impishly and said, "We're thinking about it."
Wow, that's awesome! 400 miles?!?!?!? You really wanted to hear this work didn't you? ;D Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I do hope a recording is in the works.
Though the biography in the first post here suggests that it was Salonen's conducting career that slowed down his career, he's also said that he stopped composing for a while because he was unhappy with European modernism but unsure how to draw inspiration from John Adams, whose music impressed him upon coming to the US. Salonen
is looking for mass appeal in his music. I like his recent pieces, but it frustrates me how in so many interviews he has to trash mid-century modernism and his own early work (which is often quite good).
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 26, 2011, 08:12:11 PM
By the way, I haven't heard much of Lindberg's music, I understand he comes from a different angle than Salonen incorporating more Spectral influences to the music. What do you think about Lindberg and what orchestral work do you think I should hear first?
Lindberg has several stylistic phases: very early serialist pieces (some of which have only recently come to light), brutal modernism from ~1980-88, then a highly energetic style from 1988-2003 in which basically every work develops as a chaconne (the music plays with tonality, but is not really spectral). Finally, there are the recent pieces that are rather mellow and trending towards neo-Romanticism. My favourite Lindberg pieces come from the 1990s when he was working in a highly caffeinated vein, and I would recommend the Sony disc with
Cantigas.
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 26, 2011, 08:12:11 PM
By the way, I haven't heard much of Lindberg's music, I understand he comes from a different angle than Salonen incorporating more Spectral influences to the music. What do you think about Lindberg and what orchestral work do you think I should hear first?
A great experiment might be to compare the two piano concertos. They were both written in what I think are the primes of the two composer's careers (I think both composers are still in their primes, for the record, even though I think Lindberg's pieces are declining in quality somewhat). Lindberg's piece was written about 20 years ago (for himself to play), but Salonen's about 3-4 years ago (for Yefim Bronfman). Lindberg's is considerably less accessible, but in my opinion, the better work all around. It sounds more difficult, but, like most composers who are pianists, it is very idiomatic and, on paper, it actually looks like a "normal piano piece", if you know what I mean, even though it doesn't sound like any piano concerto I have ever heard. The Lindberg was written at an interesting point in his life, when he was starting to reject the intense modernism seen in his works like KRAFT and Tendenza. You still hear an edge in the piano concerto, though, which has tapered off in all of his works since he wrote the concerto. He modeled the concerto after the Ravel concerto, apparently, and doesn't wish to treat the piano like a percussion instrument. To me, the piano is treated like anything from an average piano to a Hungariam cimbalom to a gong being gradually excited by a soft mallet. Salonen's work, to me, doesn't treat the work like a piano at all, but rather like any other member or the orchestra, or like an entire orchestra unto itself, going against the orchestra proper. This makes the piece a proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. It has a very "pretty" sound to it, all while being extremely difficult for nearly every performer, containing many demanding solos for various instruments, let alone the piano soloist (sounds a lot like John Adams, no?). All that said, I love both works and appreciate them both for different reasons.
Quote from: CRCulver on May 26, 2011, 08:50:25 PMThough the biography in the first post here suggests that it was Salonen's conducting career that slowed down his career, he's also said that he stopped composing for a while because he was unhappy with European modernism but unsure how to draw inspiration from John Adams, whose music impressed him upon coming to the US. Salonen is looking for mass appeal in his music. I like his recent pieces, but it frustrates me how in so many interviews he has to trash mid-century modernism and his own early work (which is often quite good).
I've read that Salonen admired Adams' work and Adams is my favorite living American composer, so should be interesting.
Quote from: CRCulver on May 26, 2011, 08:50:25 PMLindberg has several stylistic phases: very early serialist pieces (some of which have only recently come to light), brutal modernism from ~1980-88, then a highly energetic style from 1988-2003 in which basically every work develops as a chaconne (the music plays with tonality, but is not really spectral). Finally, there are the recent pieces that are rather mellow and trending towards neo-Romanticism. My favourite Lindberg pieces come from the 1990s when he was working in a highly caffeinated vein, and I would recommend the Sony disc with Cantigas.
Thanks for information regarding Lindberg. I've read a lot about him, but I haven't got into his music yet.
Quote from: lescamil on May 26, 2011, 09:32:29 PM
A great experiment might be to compare the two piano concertos. They were both written in what I think are the primes of the two composer's careers (I think both composers are still in their primes, for the record, even though I think Lindberg's pieces are declining in quality somewhat). Lindberg's piece was written about 20 years ago (for himself to play), but Salonen's about 3-4 years ago (for Yefim Bronfman). Lindberg's is considerably less accessible, but in my opinion, the better work all around. It sounds more difficult, but, like most composers who are pianists, it is very idiomatic and, on paper, it actually looks like a "normal piano piece", if you know what I mean, even though it doesn't sound like any piano concerto I have ever heard. The Lindberg was written at an interesting point in his life, when he was starting to reject the intense modernism seen in his works like KRAFT and Tendenza. You still hear an edge in the piano concerto, though, which has tapered off in all of his works since he wrote the concerto. He modeled the concerto after the Ravel concerto, apparently, and doesn't wish to treat the piano like a percussion instrument. To me, the piano is treated like anything from an average piano to a Hungariam cimbalom to a gong being gradually excited by a soft mallet. Salonen's work, to me, doesn't treat the work like a piano at all, but rather like any other member or the orchestra, or like an entire orchestra unto itself, going against the orchestra proper. This makes the piece a proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. It has a very "pretty" sound to it, all while being extremely difficult for nearly every performer, containing many demanding solos for various instruments, let alone the piano soloist (sounds a lot like John Adams, no?). All that said, I love both works and appreciate them both for different reasons.
Yes, it will be interesting to hear both works in a side-by-side comparison. Thanks for the information about Lindberg. The Salonen PC sounds extremely taxing on the soloist, but this is a concerto after all and all concertos should have some degree of difficulty to them for the soloist or else why write a concerto?
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 27, 2011, 09:03:36 AM
Yes, it will be interesting to hear both works in a side-by-side comparison. Thanks for the information about Lindberg. The Salonen PC sounds extremely taxing on the soloist, but this is a concerto after all and all concertos should have some degree of difficulty to them for the soloist or else why write a concerto?
Yes, concertos should have a degree of difficulty to them, but at the same time they should encourage different performers from the dedicatées to attack them. Works that are astronomically difficult generally don't get further performances after the premiere, unless the music makes it really worth it. I guess you can say that about the Salonen concerto. Bronfman has complained about its difficulties in many interviews, but obviously it means something to him as a performer, and, importantly, to the audience.
I have three CDs of Salonen's music, along with odd pieces in other compilations. I really love his work, but I have not heard the concerti.
The world of music today would be so much poorer without FINLAND!
Quote from: lescamil on May 28, 2011, 12:07:27 AM
Yes, concertos should have a degree of difficulty to them, but at the same time they should encourage different performers from the dedicatées to attack them. Works that are astronomically difficult generally don't get further performances after the premiere, unless the music makes it really worth it. I guess you can say that about the Salonen concerto. Bronfman has complained about its difficulties in many interviews, but obviously it means something to him as a performer, and, importantly, to the audience.
I don't think Salonen will be revising this concerto anytime soon. But I agree, the work must engage the performer or else why would they be playing it?
Quote from: springrite on May 28, 2011, 12:17:17 AM
I have three CDs of Salonen's music, along with odd pieces in other compilations. I really love his work, but I have not heard the concerti.
The world of music today would be so much poorer without FINLAND!
Excellent springrite! You and I usually share similar musical paths, so I can't wait to hear the music.
Quote from: springrite on May 28, 2011, 12:17:17 AM
I have three CDs of Salonen's music, along with odd pieces in other compilations. I really love his work, but I have not heard the concerti.
The world of music today would be so much poorer without FINLAND!
I agree with you. Many Finnish composers have left an indelible mark ever since Sibelius. Salonen and his colleagues should get more recognition than they presently do. That said, please do check out Salonen's concertos. The violin concerto and piano concertos are both excellent works. I could see both of them being around for a while, for both Josefowicz and Bronfman seem very committed to these works.
Quote from: lescamil on May 28, 2011, 11:07:37 AMThe violin concerto and piano concertos are both excellent works. I could see both of them being around for a while, for both Josefowicz and Bronfman seem very committed to these works.
Let's hope Salonen records his
Violin Concerto soon, because I'm itching to hear this work in excellent audio quality.
I have yet to listen to him, but how could I not like him? And he's much better looking than Boulez!
Quote from: snyprrr on May 28, 2011, 07:56:06 PMI have yet to listen to him, but how could I not like him?
What's taking you so long to get around to his music? Was it the same thing as what happened to me? I had so many composers to listen to that when I finally got an opening, I bought some Salonen and Lindberg.
Salonen's Violin Concerto:
http://www.youtube.com/v/mbBw03Q_3zw
http://www.youtube.com/v/DOCIgj6FXYQ
I have a feeling that the violin concerto will get a recording on DG, just as the piano concerto did, probably with some new orchestral pieces like the new piece Nyx. He also has a new-ish piece for string orchestra called Stockholm Diary that needs a recording. Also, a new string quartet called Homunculus could be a nice filler.
Quote from: lescamil on May 30, 2011, 04:19:53 PM
I have a feeling that the violin concerto will get a recording on DG, just as the piano concerto did, probably with some new orchestral pieces like the new piece Nyx. He also has a new-ish piece for string orchestra called Stockholm Diary that needs a recording. Also, a new string quartet called Homunculus could be a nice filler.
I really hope so! I'm dying to hear this concerto in good audio. In the videos linked above, the first video (Part 1) has some killer rhythms towards the end. Almost like "industrial" classical. Really metallic, hard sounding.
This one arrived today and it is excellent (so far):
[asin]B000787WYC[/asin]
Such intense, colorful music filled with such amazing rhythms. I'm digging it so far. 8)
The virtuosity that is required to play Salonen's music is just awe-inspiring to me. There is a section towards the end of Wing On Wing where the string section cuts loose and the brass just blares these passages that it reminded me of the fierce sections of Bartok's The Miraculous Mandarin. Salonen's music is wonderfully orchestrated too, but I love the rhythmic aspect of his music. I can definitely hear the John Adams influence. Not that this is a bad thing because I like Adams' music.
bump
Quote from: snyprrr on July 18, 2011, 10:29:34 AM
bump
Thanks for resurrecting this thread, snyprrr. I think Salonen's music deserves more attention than it has received here. His music is unusually accessible for a contemporary composer and I'm really enjoying the three discs of his music I have.
Foreign Bodies is a marvelously scored work that I think anybody would enjoy. Salonen always felt he was a composer first and a conductor second, but now I'm glad he's taking more time to compose, because he has a unique style of composition.
Quote from: snyprrr on July 18, 2011, 10:29:34 AM
bump
snyprrr, your bumps are tiresome. If anyone has something to add about a composer, they can always do a forum search to locate these dedicated threads. You don't have to keep them at the top if you don't have anything to add.
I'll bite the bump. I heard that Salonen is having a new work premiered in September. I think I read that on another thread, might have been the Lindberg thread. I thought another one of his latest works, Nyx, was good, but it didn't live up to the bar that the Violin Concerto set. Neither did his Dona Nobis Pacem for children's choir, but that piece... was written for children. You can't expect something earth shattering. Here is to hoping that in his next work, we get another "hit" like the LA Variations or Wing on Wing (I am sure it will be shorter and/or more concise).
I found Gloria Chang's Telarc recital, which contains some very nice Piano Music by Salonen. I hear Ligeti and Xenakis and elements of Minimalism,... and I think you can even sense the Nordic disposition (re: Lindberg).
YTA IIa (there's that Avant Cliche!) I have in its harpsichord guise (as IIb), and is up to the basic Modern Standards, but I really enjoyed his Dichotomie, which seems to take the same basic material and treats it, first to a 'Mechanical', and then to an 'Organic',... uh,... 'procedure'?? ??? Whatever,... the piece is pretty much the Poster Child for what's going on, I think: since we are in a Post Post-Modern world, Salonen is free to pick the 'influences' he so desires, and, it just so happens that he picks the same basic High Quality 'High Modernism' to mine that, mm,... I would!! ;) ;D (meaning, Yea, He's Cool!) We certainly have reached the pinnacle of practice, that's for sure.
It seems people like rooting for this guy.
I like Salonen's music and where he is heading with it. Accessible, but not without its complexity and extremely difficult for orchestras to perform. I enjoy this fact that not just any orchestra can pickup a score by Salonen and play it. This is music for a virtuoso orchestra. Keep churning them out Salonen!
Our dear friend, Sgt. Rock has recently bought a Salonen recording. I'm rebooting this thread because I'm hoping he can add some comments here once he's heard the music and absorbed it.
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 31, 2011, 10:55:05 AM
This one arrived today and it is excellent (so far):
[asin]B000787WYC[/asin]
Such intense, colorful music filled with such amazing rhythms. I'm digging it so far. 8)
I found this at the library. I'm verrry impressed! ;) I love the very first piece, 'Body Language': I hear horses galloping, and all kinds of kaleidoscopic tumult. 'Wing On Wing', also, is very interesting.
Salonen sounds here like the perfect Hollywood Composer (is that the Adams influence?). So much sounded like an orchestral spectacular,... I'm just really impressed here by Salonen's 'cutting edge' virtuosity with the orchestra,... lots of glittering colors and bumptous rhythms.
I like it! :-*
Quote from: snyprrr on October 20, 2011, 11:04:25 AM
I found this at the library. I'm verrry impressed! ;) I love the very first piece, 'Body Language': I hear horses galloping, and all kinds of kaleidoscopic tumult. 'Wing On Wing', also, is very interesting.
Salonen sounds here like the perfect Hollywood Composer (is that the Adams influence?). So much sounded like an orchestral spectacular,... I'm just really impressed here by Salonen's 'cutting edge' virtuosity with the orchestra,... lots of glittering colors and bumptous rhythms.
I like it! :-*
Excellent! I'm glad you enjoyed this recording as much as I have. :) Salonen's music is incredibly difficult for an orchestra. Only the virtuosic need apply. :)
Foreign Bodies is one of my favorite works by Salonen.
Wing On Wing and
Insomnia were also very interesting and
Wing On Wing just explodes with awesome rhythms at the end. From here, I would checkout his
Piano Concerto and
Helix both are fine works.
Just heard the great news that Salonen has won the 2012 Grawemeyer Prize ($100,000) for his Violin Concerto. The article says a recording will be released in May of 2012.
Story here (http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20111127/NEWS01/311280046/Grawemeyer-taps-Finnish-composer-Esa-Pekka-Salonen?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome).
--Bruce
Quote from: Brewski on November 28, 2011, 07:58:46 AM
Just heard the great news that Salonen has won the 2012 Grawemeyer Prize ($100,000) for his Violin Concerto. The article says a recording will be released in May of 2012.
Story here (http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20111127/NEWS01/311280046/Grawemeyer-taps-Finnish-composer-Esa-Pekka-Salonen?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome).
--Bruce
Awesome! Thanks for the news, Bruce! 8)
I heard his latest piece, "Nyx", with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. It was awesome. The perfect kind of modern classical, IMO. Accessible, but layered with complexity throughout to keep the more "intellectual" crowd engaged.
Ionarts-at-Large: Magic Salonen. Also Brahms, Schumann
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TdowWh9FcQU/T9T554zuv8I/AAAAAAAACVM/g4kh5QhVHGA/s400/BRSO_Salonen_Salonen_Fima.png)
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/06/ionarts-at-large-magic-salonen-also.html (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/06/ionarts-at-large-magic-salonen-also.html)
Quote from: Elnimio on February 28, 2012, 10:50:11 AM
I heard his latest piece, "Nyx", with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. It was awesome. The perfect kind of modern classical, IMO. Accessible, but layered with complexity throughout to keep the more "intellectual" crowd engaged.
That statement about Nyx is a very apt statement that can be applied to pretty much all of his music. It's quite a trait that makes Salonen truly one of the greats today. I also like Nyx quite a bit. I'll be listening to it a few more times in the future, and it's good to have this new recording with the Bavarian RSO. Should be interesting to compare them to the French orchestra on those Présences videos.
Going to be released next month:
[asin]B008W5TDP8[/asin]
Really excited about this. I knew the Violin Concerto would be the next release. Salonen conducts the Finnish Radio Symphony on this recording and this is a good partnership as his Wing On Wing recording was, in my mind, a huge success. It will also be nice to have Nyx. I think a lot of Salonen. I think he's doing great things in music not only as a conductor but as a serious composer of concert music. I enjoy the rhythmic complexity of his music and the harmonic language.
Anyone else see this? It's pretty cool. I love it when classical musicians get exposure!
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/05/esa-pekka-salonens-ad-for-apple.html
I saw it on TV 2 days ago. I wasn't even looking at the TV, but I heard Salonen's Violin Concerto playing and needed a double take to realize what it was.
You can go to the iTunes store and listen to the Violin Concerto for free. Plus the video is on there too.
Hoy, Brett! How are you doing, lad?
Quote from: karlhenning on May 29, 2014, 04:08:36 AM
Hoy, Brett! How are you doing, lad?
Good. The Salonen iTunes stuff got me thinking about the forum again.
Quote from: Catison on May 28, 2014, 08:10:04 PM
You can go to the iTunes store and listen to the Violin Concerto for free. Plus the video is on there too.
Yeah, I went and got that recording. Good deal. No price beats free. And I like that it's a different recording from the Deutsche Grammophon one. Variety is the spice of violin concertos...
Hello everyone - so nice to find this thread!
I have been a huge fan of his work for a long time now, it is great to see him getting more mainstream recognition as a composer recently.
My lesser-versed music friends even now actually know who he is due to the Apple ad :) What a pleasant surprise to see a spot like that.
I always found it fascinating how the dichotomy of being a conductor-composer has totally transformed his style from his earlier years. In college, my senior research project was on his compositions and career - it was such fun!
The study versions of most of his scores are available to view online now through the publisher, wonderful to spend time with. The orchestration is amazing.
I actually popped in as I was wondering if anyone had posted about his new choral piece - the world premiere was today in Zurich!
Karawane, for mixed chorus and orchestra - 28 min.
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/49670
Text is the Dadaist poem of same name by Hugo Ball.
I was so excited to hear about this - chorus and orchestra finally!
Here is a short video from rehearsal with Tonhalle, you can hear about 2 min. of the piece -
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/kultur/klassik/Die-Saison-in-der-Tonhalle-startet-mit-einer-Urauffuehrung/story/28745455
Would love to hear the rest based on the clip.
I see the 2nd performance will be broadcast live on TV tomorrow on Mezzo Live HD (8 pm CET) (and re-run Sept. 21)
http://programme-tv.orange.fr/programme/mezzo-live-hd/lionel-bringuier-dirige-salonen-prokofiev-et-berlioz_56219852.html
Also on SRF there is a program about the Tonhalle season opener/Lionel Bringuier Sept. 14
http://tvprogramm.srf.ch/details/aa356927-73ef-41c5-9fce-75d70f3f314a
I combed SRF radio site for a broadcast but did not see one listed. Maybe a recording will surface eventually?
So looking forward to hearing it!
Esa-Pekka Salonen named composer in residence at New York Philharmonic (http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-82590298/)
There are now two videos of Karawane floating around on the internet, with this one most readily available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h107mQTzHHY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRJTBgzCfT4
It's an excellent work. It's been called a more "brutal" work than Salonen's previous output, but I honestly don't hear anything new here compared to his other notable works, but there is nothing wrong with that. I think we have another winner here.
Yeah I was totally going to be bumping this ;) Thanks!
As mentioned elsewhere, we did indeed fly to Chicago for the premiere of the Cello Concerto in March - was beyond worth it, more on the experience and the piece here (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,429.msg1047559.html#msg1047559).
It's beautiful, magical, such a departure - electronics feature prominently, with live looping of the solo cello. To hear Yo-Yo Ma perform this is really a treat, he's such an expressive and enchanting performer and you can tell he loves playing this music :)
Despite the concerto being performed in Chicago/NYC, then touring across Europe with Gilbert/NY Phil, no recording had surfaced yet - but recently the Finnish premiere took place and it is currently available to stream online via YLE here:
https://areena.yle.fi/1-4164788
(Appears to not be available in the States, but there is a recording of this stream floating around the interwebs)
Interesting that so soon another soloist aside from Yo-Yo is already performing the piece, this performance is Nicolas Altstaedt.
So perhaps this concerto is a tad more manageable in difficulty (though still really tough!)
Also on the string front, here is a cracking performance of the Pentatonic Etude by Lawrence Power - it's specifically meant to quote/accompany the Bartok Viola Concerto. Love this piece!
Amusing the first comment on the vid is "This is so Metal" - I would concur it might be the closest I've heard to a viola shredding!
http://www.youtube.com/v/f3ngHLgnvc8
I'll probably be back soon to post more here, much overdue...going to revisit a few pieces this weekend to while away the time being cooped up from the hurricane ;)
The full Cello Concerto performance mentioned above is now on YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/v/ofEQmV1bCFc
Also, here is excellent video from BRSO with rehearsal of some of the best excerpts of Nyx and a great interview:
https://www.youtube.com/v/n_RqIQWAFXo
Did anyone mention Salonen's piece for violin solo (perhaps the best genre in the world): Lachen verlernt? It's fifteen years old by now, and Josefowicz recorded it in 2005 on an otherwise unessential cd with Beethoven and Ravel. (The violin is almost inaudible in the Beethoven sonata nr 10.)
The piece is nearly eleven minutes long and set in the form of a chaconne, which is kind of fun.
It's a beautiful piece.
Those of you who've heard and enjoyed Salonen's cello concerto - which has now been recorded twice, first by Yo-Yo Ma with the composer and now by Nicolas Altstaedt - will enjoy this little anecdote Alstaedt recounts:
"Joking about his quotation of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony's Scherzo, Salonen told me, "I should compose when I am sober"."
;D
Quote from: Brian on April 05, 2022, 06:50:12 AM
Those of you who've heard and enjoyed Salonen's cello concerto - which has now been recorded twice, first by Yo-Yo Ma with the composer and now by Nicolas Altstaedt - will enjoy this little anecdote Alstaedt recounts:
"Joking about his quotation of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony's Scherzo, Salonen told me, "I should compose when I am sober"."
;D
:laugh: Those finns. I am a big admirer of that work so I say his process works for me.
Quote from: Brian on April 05, 2022, 06:50:12 AM
Salonen's cello concerto - which has now been recorded twice, first by Yo-Yo Ma with the composer and now by Nicolas Altstaedt
Thanks for drawing my attention to this second recording, which turns out to have been released on Alpha Classics earlier this year. I had been reluctant to listen to the Yo-Yo Ma recording and get my first impressions of the concerto from there, because that premiere performance is said to have got almost no rehearsal.
Salonen is a wonderful, understated talker. The Philharmonia has posted a bunch of clips in which the composer / copnductor talks about music, and they are invariably delightful.
The best is perhaps the one in which Salonen is in the beautiful town of Verona, ostensibly talking about French and Italian music, but really looking back on the start of his career, and his teacher Donatoni.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvMYv9jWpko