GMG Classical Music Forum

The Music Room => Composer Discussion => Topic started by: Scion7 on March 19, 2012, 04:04:23 PM

Title: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Scion7 on March 19, 2012, 04:04:23 PM
Her recorded work is pretty minimal - a Hamelin sonatas CD, a bassoon concerto, and what looks like a long OOP Canadian vinyl LP anthology.

So you'll have to pretty much hit YouTube or some similar internet site to hear it, or go to the SCEG foundation to order it?

I like the Symphony Concertante (No.3) for Piano and Orchestra, the 2nd Symphony, and the bassoon concerto quite a bit.

Some interesting reading in the New Grove, and: http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/623250.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about (http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/623250.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about)
                                                                       http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/sc-eckhardtgramatte (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/sc-eckhardtgramatte)
                                                                      http://www.egre.mb.ca/sc/index.html (http://www.egre.mb.ca/sc/index.html)


(http://s17.postimage.org/drqstx0db/SC_EG.jpg)





Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Szykneij on March 19, 2012, 04:57:55 PM
(http://s17.postimage.org/drqstx0db/SC_EG.jpg)

I like the photo on the right. Lots of rosin dust on the strings and fingerboard, and her hand in what looks like a D major arpeggio in second inversion. This lady means business!
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Scion7 on March 19, 2012, 05:18:04 PM
They made a film about her - looks like the artist Walter Gramatté (banned by the Nazi regime as being 'degenerate art'), her first husband, is a large part of the story.

http://www.winnipegfilmgroup.com/cinematheque/the_work_of_paula_kelly_appassionata.aspx (http://www.winnipegfilmgroup.com/cinematheque/the_work_of_paula_kelly_appassionata.aspx)
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Szykneij on March 19, 2012, 05:22:06 PM
I just did a search and found all of her recordings, both CD and vinyl, on the pricey side.
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Scion7 on March 19, 2012, 05:36:01 PM
Yeah - small printings if/until she becomes more of a commercial property.   Like Bacewicz, much of her stuff is unpublished, let alone recorded.

She was a virtuoso, and I think most of her music is too hard for most at-home musicians to play?

For example:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIlFFHXCZJQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIlFFHXCZJQ)
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Szykneij on March 19, 2012, 05:47:11 PM
Quote from: Scion7 on March 19, 2012, 05:36:01 PM
Yeah - small printings if/until she becomes more of a commercial property.   Like Bacewicz, much of her stuff is unpublished, let alone recorded.

She was a virtuoso, and I think most of her music is too hard for most at-home musicians to play?

For example:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIlFFHXCZJQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIlFFHXCZJQ)

Terrific piece! It's a real feat to write an unaccompanied violin composition of that length and have it remain captivating throughout.
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Scion7 on March 19, 2012, 05:54:12 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoK8mM7jtZo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoK8mM7jtZo)

Exactly!   About the 60 second mark - - - !  And around 9:30!

By the way - Nandor Szederkenyi - damn, boy!  Go go go!
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: starrynight on March 20, 2012, 02:06:01 AM
I prefer other pieces by her on youtube such as the bassoon concerto (yeh unfashionable instrument but interesting music) and the Caprice No. 1 and the Suite de Mallorca (shorter constructed pieces but I don't mind that at all).
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: UB on March 20, 2012, 03:23:30 AM
If you go to the  Canadian Music Centre  (http://www.musiccentre.ca/home.cfm) you can listen to 89 recordings of her music for free.
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: snyprrr on March 20, 2012, 06:01:42 AM
Quote from: Szykneij on March 19, 2012, 04:57:55 PM
(http://s17.postimage.org/drqstx0db/SC_EG.jpg)

I like the photo on the right. Lots of rosin dust on the strings and fingerboard, and her hand in what looks like a D major arpeggio in second inversion. This lady means business!

I'm sorry, but that left pic looks like a thinner, white Oprah.

Nice stuff!
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Scion7 on March 20, 2012, 06:46:34 AM
hey, UB - that's really cool !

http://www.musiccentre.ca/apps/index.cfm?fuseaction=avarchive.playByComposer&authPeopleId=182

Note that some of these archival recordings almost sound like acetates and are kinda unlistenable but many are radio broadcasts of good quality.
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: mc ukrneal on March 20, 2012, 06:51:00 AM
I'm confused. Dmitri has a dacha too...  :'(
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Scion7 on March 20, 2012, 07:02:34 AM
They're both Russians.  She moved to Germany with her mother in her teens, then to Canada during her 2nd marriage.

I figgered 'dacha' sounded better than log-cabin (from the Canadian western-lands).
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Scion7 on March 20, 2012, 07:03:58 AM
Ah, on the CMC streaming site, they have Mark Hamelin doing the Piano Concerto - with some discussion with him prior.  Interesting.
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Szykneij on March 20, 2012, 02:59:37 PM
Quote from: mc ukrneal on March 20, 2012, 06:51:00 AM
I'm confused. Dmitri has a dacha too...  :'(

From what I've listened to so far, I'm not sure "Dissonant" is the best descriptor, either.
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Szykneij on March 20, 2012, 04:47:27 PM
Quote from: Scion7 on March 20, 2012, 06:46:34 AM
hey, UB - that's really cool !

http://www.musiccentre.ca/apps/index.cfm?fuseaction=avarchive.playByComposer&authPeopleId=182

Note that some of these archival recordings almost sound like acetates and are kinda unlistenable but many are radio broadcasts of good quality.

During the introduction to the first piece listed there (Concerto for Orchestra), the announcer states it was composed in the 12-tone idiom. Has anyone listened to this one? Is it indeed a 12-tone piece? It sounds tonal to me.
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Brahmsian on September 21, 2013, 09:00:40 AM
I did not realize there was an Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatte composer thread.  Cool!  :)

Love her piano sonatas, and her works for solo violin.  I've also heard some of her orchestral works (3 Piano Concertos, the Bassoon Concerto, her Triple Concerto for Trumpet, Clarinet and Bassoon, and Molto Sostenuto).

Here is a link to the Eckhardt-Gramatte Foundation website.  It includes bios of Sophie-Carmen (Sonia), her first husband, a talented painter, Walter Gramatte, who died at a young age, and her second husband, art historian Ferdinand Eckhardt.

http://www.egre.mb.ca/
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: kyjo on September 21, 2013, 01:44:40 PM
Eckhardt-Gramatte is a difficult-to-pin-down composer in terms of both her style and nationality. She was born in Russia, moved to Paris, and finally settled in Canada. Her earlier works (e.g. PC 1, found on YT) seem to be influenced by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov, while her later works (e.g. PC 3, also found on YT), are more dissonant and austere in tone. Her piano sonatas (recorded by Hamelin) are really unique (and, above all, staggeringly virtuosic) works that have flashes of brilliance contrasted with dark, inward moments. In addition to the two PCs I mentioned, other works of hers can be found on YT. I'd say she had an individual voice and is sadly neglected for this reason.
Title: Re: Eckhardt-Gramatté 's Dissonant Dacha
Post by: Brahmsian on September 21, 2013, 04:03:00 PM
Quote from: kyjo on September 21, 2013, 01:44:40 PM
Eckhardt-Gramatte is a difficult-to-pin-down composer in terms of both her style and nationality. She was born in Russia, moved to Paris, and finally settled in Canada. Her earlier works (e.g. PC 1, found on YT) seem to be influenced by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov, while her later works (e.g. PC 3, also found on YT), are more dissonant and austere in tone. Her piano sonatas (recorded by Hamelin) are really unique (and, above all, staggeringly virtuosic) works that have flashes of brilliance contrasted with dark, inward moments. In addition to the two PCs I mentioned, other works of hers can be found on YT. I'd say she had an individual voice and is sadly neglected for this reason.

I agree with this.  Definitely you could feel the Russian influences mentioned, but she did have her unique voice.  I hate to say this, because she lived the last 20+ years of her life in Winnipeg, Canada, my home city.........but it might have served her better to remain living in Europe.  She was a virtuoso piano and violin player in her early years, but devoted her life almost solely to composition once her first husband, Walter Gramatte, passed on.