Here I'd like you to nominate a work which means a lot to you and that you'd like others to discover - so it may be, but does not have to be, lesser-known.
My choice is the lovely Symphonie (1952) by the long-lived French composer Jean-Michel Damase (1928-2013). The 'Symphonie' is comparatively short (c.27 minutes) and I find it a very charming, humane, civilised and uplifting work which always puts me in a good mood. It is very approachable (reminding me of the music of Jean Francaix) but it is not without depth and has an inspiriting ending. In fact the CD below is one of my favourites and I love every work on it, especially the Piano Concerto 2 and the Concertino for piano and string orchestra although it is the 'Symphonie' that I keep coming back to and feel that it should be much better known:
[asin]B00M2D7MY0[/asin]
The opening theme to the TV-2 part movie, Frankenstein: The True Story, composed by Gil Melle.
(https://img.discogs.com/c8RENgoUE5rX7A9Gj4akSmzxuNs=/fit-in/363x347/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4015892-1352458108-8574.jpeg.jpg)
Quote from: Scion7 on May 10, 2016, 01:06:22 AM
The opening theme to the TV-2 part movie, Frankenstein: The True Story, composed by Gil Melle.
(https://img.discogs.com/c8RENgoUE5rX7A9Gj4akSmzxuNs=/fit-in/363x347/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4015892-1352458108-8574.jpeg.jpg)
Right, I'll be investigating that one.
Thanks. :)
PS The film itself was terrific and I recall a fine performance by David McCallum of 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.' fame.
I especially liked the scene where the monster wrenches off Jane Seymour's head!
Quote from: vandermolen on May 10, 2016, 01:56:17 AM
I especially liked the scene where the monster wrenches off Jane Seymour's head!
Certainly very entertaining. ::)
Gil Mellé also did the theme music for Rod Serling's Night Gallery.
Quote from: vandermolen on May 10, 2016, 01:56:17 AM
I especially liked the scene where the monster wrenches off Jane Seymour's head!
Yes, a sort of 'pre-punishment' for that awful old west doctor show that used to be on American television. :P
Otherwise, I love you Jane !!!!!!
Seriously, that is one of the best movie themes in the Classical field you will ever hear.
Melle was a genius is many ways - jazz musician, electronics-music pioneer, and large-scale composer.
He is probably most famous for the innovatory electronic theme for Rod Serling's
Night Gallery.
Steven Mackey's Ars Moriendi: Nine Tableaux on the Art of Dying Well. I wrote this on GMG two years ago:
I first discovered Mackey at a Borromeo String Quartet performance of his SQ "Ars Moriendi: Nine Tableaux on the Art of Dying Well". This was the first really "avant-garde" work I think that I've ever heard and it had a huge impact on me, both emotionally and musically (and this was at a time when my favorite composer was Felix Mendelssohn).
The subject is of the composer's father's death. Back when I first heard it performed live in 2007 I wasn't familiar with any Berg, but now it reminds me a lot of Berg's Violin Concerto. It has a similar theme of "death and transfiguration" with a lot of parts that seem like flashbacks. Instead of using the Bach chorale Es Is Genug, he uses the Irish tune Danny Boy. An incredibly moving piece.
It is on this album (available on Spotify):
[asin]B0017N8X3K[/asin]
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61aVFhDc53L.jpg)
Jean Cras - Quintet for flute, harp and string trio
https://www.youtube.com/v/Q-ATDBgDbLE
Note to Mirror Image: one means one!!!
Jean Cras' quintet is terrific. I think I will try most everything posted here. :)
For those who haven't heard Terry Riley's In C (1964), it is worth hearing for many reasons. When it appeared, it was something of a revelation, compared to what many composers were writing (e.g., Boulez, Wuorinen, Carter). If nothing else, it is the "contemporary" piece for those who might not be inclined toward contemporary music. (But since it is now over 50 years old, "mid-20th century" is probably more accurate.)
The score - just a single page of 53 short figures - is simplicity itself, and can be played by any combination of instruments. Against a constant pulse (usually piano), the musicians go through all 53 phrases, in order, until everyone reaches the end - roughly 30-45 minutes. Plus, the lack of difficulty required means that beginners or amateurs can play it. That said, the piece can be thrilling when done by professional musicians.
There are many fine versions available, but I like the especially sunny outlook of this one by Bang on a Can, recorded in 2001.
[asin]B00005NUPM[/asin]
--Bruce
Abel Decaux (1869-1943):
Clairs de Lune, for piano, 1900-1907. Sounds like something written after
Schönberg's atonal works and
Debussy's solo piano masterpieces, but predates them.
https://www.youtube.com/v/uei_czWHtVE
[asin]B0063JALOW[/asin]
QuoteDecaux's biography is soon told, but is none the less surprising for that. Born in Auffay in 1869, the same year as Roussel and seven years after Debussy, he studied the organ with Widor and Guilmant and composition with Massenet at the Paris Conservatoire. For twenty-five years from around the turn of the century he was organist at Sacré-Cœur, then in 1923 he went to America and taught the organ at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Out of this routine life came these four extraordinary pieces 'Clairs de Lune', plus a sketch for a fifth piece of the set, 'La Forêt'. Only a handful of other works are known by him.
An epigraph from the writer Louis de Lutèce sets the scene, with its white moon gliding silently in space, its motionless ghosts, pale luminescences, mysterious shadows, the carcass of a yowling cat .... This is the world of Edgar Allan Poe, whose writings, translated by Baudelaire and Mallarmé, were the (masochistic) bedside reading of many a French artist of the fin-de-siècle, including Gide, Debussy and Ravel: Aloysius Bertrand's Gaspard de la nuit belongs to the same company. Even Debussy ultimately found the task of setting The Fall of the House of Usher beyond him, but Decaux's more limited ambition succeeded most remarkably in bringing to life this world beyond what we call reality.
He wrote the pieces between 1900 and 1907, but they were not published until 1913. Whatever the reason for the delay (perhaps no other publisher would take them seriously?), Decaux's teacher Massenet died in 1912 and so was spared what would surely have been a rude shock, not so much at the technique—as Richard Taruskin has pointed out, everything stems from the two falling bell motives at the outset (major second, major third; minor second, minor third)—as at the extraordinary harmonies and the no less extraordinary syntax. Whole tone aggregations (as at the beginning of 'La Ruelle') and consecutive fifths were nothing so out-of-the-way around 1900, but some of Decaux's chords seem to have been taken from a source such as the songs in Schoenberg's Das Buch der hängenden Gärten; the only problem being that these weren't written until 1909. Throughout, major and minor triads are scrupulously avoided or else, as in 'La mer', coloured persistently with a sharpened fourth. Again, this piece was written in December 1903, nearly two years before the premiere of Debussy's La mer and six years before his similarly wild Prélude 'Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest'.
There's also
Hamelin's recording (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67513), pairing it with Dukas' Piano Sonata.
Nice – I love random discoveries and this thread is shaping to be a treasure trove of those.
My pick? Albicastro's 12 Concerti a Quatro Op.7!
https://www.youtube.com/v/uNvxFy_GtvQ
Britten's cello sonata.
[asin]B00008AJLV[/asin]
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxK4hUhNrcU&list=PLIKeSXr3b5NQFiyEnewhdZS-ETufBWAcA
https://www.youtube.com/v/=IxK4hUhNrcU&list=PLIKeSXr3b5NQFiyEnewhdZS-ETufBWAcA
Quote from: Brian on May 10, 2016, 07:46:10 AMNote to Mirror Image: one means one!!!
:P
Thread duty:
Malcolm Arnold's
Symphony No. 9 is a work I think all GMGers should try.
Quote from: Scion7 on May 10, 2016, 02:13:33 AM
Yes, a sort of 'pre-punishment' for that awful old west doctor show that used to be on American television. :P
Otherwise, I love you Jane !!!!!!
Seriously, that is one of the best movie themes in the Classical field you will ever hear.
Melle was a genius is many ways - jazz musician, electronics-music pioneer, and large-scale composer.
He is probably most famous for the innovatory electronic theme for Rod Serling's Night Gallery.
No soundtrack available so I've ordered a copy of the DVD. I recall that the film was based on the original premise that the 'monster' when he first emerges from Dr Frankenstein's clutches is very handsome but then disintegrates with predictable consequences.
Tigran Hamasyan, Luys i Luso
Tigran Hamasyan is a 28 years old armenian prodigal jazz pianist, with a very accomplished career
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigran_Hamasyan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigran_Hamasyan)
In this album he revisits sacred music of his country Armenia, as an ode to commemorate the 100th aniversary of Armenian 1915 genocide.
[asin]B012EJBSNC[/asin]
The originality of Tigran Hamasyan is dazzling. Here he bridges Armenian liturgical music from the IVth to the XIX th centuries blending the voices of the Yerevan state choir with his own piano arrangement.
Among the hymns he chose are St. Mesrop (362-440), the lamentations of Grigor Narekatsi and the monodies of the iconic Komitas, a nineteenth-century armenian priest and composer.
These fully rearranged chants resonate in Yerevan cathedral and make up a liturgical nebula of angels voice, high and melodious. The piano Tigran Hamasyan is surprisingly reserved but with a dazzling precision: its scholarly metrics are here the salt of the dialogue with the ancient lithurgic inspiration.
Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on May 10, 2016, 10:33:08 AM
Britten's cello sonata.
Its a beauty. I have the Rostropovich-Britten recording with Frank Bridge cello sonata, also very nice. Britten also wrote several suites for Cello. I have the recording of the third suite Op 87 with Matthew Barley at the cello.
Quote from: Spineur on May 10, 2016, 01:13:23 PM
Its a beauty. I have the Rostropovich-Britten recording with Frank Bridge cello sonata, also very nice. Britten also wrote several suites for Cello. I have the recording of the third suite Op 87 with Matthew Barley at the cello.
Yes, I love his cello suites, too! Something else to add to this thread...
This is difficult because GMG members already know almost everything ever composed, but I'd like to recommend my old pal Mark Edgley Smith's Five Madrigals to poems by e e cummings, on this disc:
[asin]B000EQ46GY[/asin]
A review described them as "seductively intricate", which is about right, but the middle movement is not at all intricate, just very very sweet. Sadly (or happily if you want to buy it) the disc quite often turns up in Hyperion's "Please, someone buy me" offer.
Quote from: North Star on May 10, 2016, 09:09:54 AM
Abel Decaux (1869-1943): Clairs de Lune, for piano, 1900-1907. Sounds like something written after Schönberg's atonal works and Debussy's solo piano masterpieces, but predates them.
https://www.youtube.com/v/uei_czWHtVE
[asin]B0063JALOW[/asin]
There's also Hamelin's recording (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67513), pairing it with Dukas' Piano Sonata.
A beautiful and extraordinary work. Thank you for alerting us to it. :)
Quote from: Brian on May 10, 2016, 07:46:10 AM
Note to Mirror Image: one means one!!!
What about a small group with the benign term "Honorable Mention" ? 0:)
Newer GMG members should know
Karl Henning's works:
https://www.youtube.com/v/tN3aMOrzEb8
Just as great, but listed as Honorable Mention because I can really only choose 1 work... ;)
https://www.youtube.com/v/7a7pFvJhfuc
https://www.youtube.com/v/H1GX6gAmom8
We're allowed only one? Then I'll make it "Solo e pensoso" from the 9th book of madrigals by the 16th-century Italian composer Luca Marenzio. Now here's a composer who is truly underrecorded: only two of his books of madrigals have been recorded complete, with several other miscellaneous compilations. And yet some musicologists regard him as the foremost composer of madrigals in this period. This is probably his most famous single work, notable for the opening set against a rising chromatic scale. There are HIP versions of some of his works, but for sheer musicality give me this older one by the great Deller Consort:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0PPZSqvC9E
Quote from: Draško on May 10, 2016, 04:44:27 AM
[img height=
http://350]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61aVFhDc53L.jpg[/img]
Jean Cras - Quintet for flute, harp and string trio
https://www.youtube.com/v/Q-ATDBgDbLE
What a lovely work - thanks for posting. :)
Many here already know it, but my first thought is Schoeck's Elegie. Late Romanticism gets no later, nor more romantic. The last word in autumnal nostalgie. Utterly, utterly, heart-rendingly gorgeous.
Quote from: vandermolen on May 10, 2016, 10:44:30 PM
What a lovely work - thanks for posting. :)
The Jean Cras recordings on Timpani are very worthwhile overall, certainly one of my major disscoveries of the last few years.
Not sure about completeness but La Venexiana have recorded Marenzio's books 6 and 9 and (slightly different but overlapping personnel) La compagnia del Madrigale books 1 and 5. Still less than half of them, I guess and this seems certainly unfair compared to Monteverdi or Gesualdo. But one may be optimistic with more interest in this music and several younger italian ensembles active in that repertoire.
Quote from: North Star on May 10, 2016, 09:09:54 AM
Abel Decaux (1869-1943): Clairs de Lune, for piano, 1900-1907. Sounds like something written after Schönberg's atonal works and Debussy's solo piano masterpieces, but predates them.
Wonderful work indeed. It caused a great impression on me when you first brought it to our attention here on GMG,
Karlo!.
My contribution to the thread:
Florent Schmitt's
Symphonie concertante pour orchestre et piano, op. 82. A major, briliiant late work by this neglected composer, where a whole lot of influences can be detected (Scriabin, even Schoenberg at times), but all woven into one unified whole by Schmitt's craft. And note the order of the participants in the title: "
orchestra and piano" (and not the other way around). That in itself is already a statement of what the work is conceived like.
https://www.youtube.com/v/50H94eSNqkM
AFAIK, there's only one commercial recording, which is very good but long OOP and not easy to find:
(https://florentschmittdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/florent-schmitt-symphonie-concertante-valois.jpg)
Quote from: The new erato on May 11, 2016, 12:08:17 AM
The Jean Cras recordings on Timpani are very worthwhile overall, certainly one of my major disscoveries of the last few years.
Thanks. Had not heard of him and will certainly be investigating. I have a feeling that starting this thread might not be good for my already depleted bank balance. ::)
Quote from: Draško on May 10, 2016, 04:44:27 AM
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61aVFhDc53L.jpg)
Jean Cras - Quintet for flute, harp and string trio
https://www.youtube.com/v/Q-ATDBgDbLE
I bought a second hand copy of the first Timpani CD featured above music by Jean Cras. It is beautiful and very eloquent music. I can play it in the house without being told to turn it down or turn it off. No booklet unfortunately. Reminds me of Debussy's chamber music - a very nice discovery and I look forward to investigating more music by Jean Cras.
Quote from: The new erato on May 11, 2016, 12:08:17 AM
The Jean Cras recordings on Timpani are very worthwhile overall, certainly one of my major disscoveries of the last few years.
The CD I bought (see above) had no booklet - it stated this in the advert but I had not noticed. I emailed Timpany to see if I could buy a copy of the booklet from them. Within a few minutes they emailed me a digital booklet which they said was better than the original as the pictures were in colour - what a nice company.
Robert Suderburg: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra "within the mirror of time"
Also, Hovhaness' Mount St. Helens Symphony (#50). :)
Quote from: jochanaan on May 15, 2016, 07:32:46 PM
Robert Suderburg: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra "within the mirror of time"
Also, Hovhaness' Mount St. Helens Symphony (#50). :)
I don't know the first work but the Hovhaness is one of his best I think. I especially like the Schwarz recording on Delos/Naxos.
Pet Sounds. Today is its 50th anniversary.
[asin]B008LA7RM0[/asin]
[asin]B000002U4U[/asin]
[asin]B00FA1DEWA[/asin]
Gentlemen of the gloom-and-doom persuasion, please be aware that you click below at your own risk! :laugh:
Darius Milhaud - Le Carnaval d´Aix, Op. 83b
https://www.youtube.com/v/QpjP3mZhQeo
or
(http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0001/131/MI0001131639.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
One of the jolliest 20-th century composers´ hommage to the hugely popular and influential 18-th century Commedia dell´arte. Infectiously frolicsome!
Quote from: Florestan on May 18, 2016, 07:04:31 AM
Gentlemen of the gloom-and-doom persuasion, please be aware that you click below at your own risk! :laugh:
Darius Milhaud - Le Carnaval d´Aix, Op. 83b
https://www.youtube.com/v/QpjP3mZhQeo
Whoa, that 4th movement is straight off Respighi's Gagliarda from
Ancient Airs & Dance (https://youtu.be/BSqymoJeV6s?t=3m26s)! Is Milhaud 'quoting' him or do the compositions share the same rennaisance inspiration?
Quote from: Florestan on May 18, 2016, 07:04:31 AM
Gentlemen of the gloom-and-doom persuasion, please be aware that you click below at your own risk! :laugh:
Darius Milhaud - Le Carnaval d´Aix, Op. 83b
https://www.youtube.com/v/QpjP3mZhQeo
or
(http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0001/131/MI0001131639.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
One of the jolliest 20-th century composers´ hommage to the hugely popular and influential 18-th century Commedia dell´arte. Infectiously frolicsome!
Yes, much too jolly for me. Where is the sense of looming catastrophe? Actually it sounds very nice, reminds me a bit of Francaix whose music I like. Actually if you like this you might well like the Damase piano concerto which features in the opening post of this thread. Milhaud is one of the composer's whom I need to investigate more. I have a complete box set of the symphonies but have hardly listened to it. Where should I start? Thanks for posting. :)
Quote from: vandermolen on May 18, 2016, 09:59:57 PM
Yes, much too jolly for me. Where is the sense of looming catastrophe? Actually it sounds very nice, reminds me a bit of Francaix whose music I like. Actually if you like this you might well like the Damase piano concerto which features in the opening post of this thread. Milhaud is one of the composer's whom I need to investigate more. I have a complete box set of the symphonies but have hardly listened to it. Where should I start? Thanks for posting. :)
You didn't ask me, but I used to be a fan of Milhaud, but like you said there's hardly anything dramatic in his music or heart-rending to keep me truly interested or invested in the music BUT my favorite work of his is
Symphony No. 6. He's very much a composer I've outgrown and find his idiom constantly off-putting, but his 6th shows a deviation from a lot of his other music. The problem I also have is his music starts to run together after awhile. Quite tiresome as there's not much variety in the writing, but if someone else enjoys him, then to each their own. His music just isn't my thing.
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 19, 2016, 04:32:50 AM
You didn't ask me, but I used to be a fan of Milhaud, but like you said there's hardly anything dramatic in his music or heart-rending to keep me truly interested or invested in the music BUT my favorite work of his is Symphony No. 6. He's very much a composer I've outgrown and find his idiom constantly off-putting, but his 6th shows a deviation from a lot of his other music. The problem I also have is his music starts to run together after awhile. Quite tiresome as there's not much variety in the writing, but if someone else enjoys him, then to each their own. His music just isn't my thing.
Right, No.6 it is. Thank you John. :)
I think that my experience with his music generally is identical to yours.
Quote from: vandermolen on May 18, 2016, 09:59:57 PM
[...] Milhaud is one of the composer's whom I need to investigate more. I have a complete box set of the symphonies but have hardly listened to it. Where should I start?
Your Mileage May Vary, but I ultimately found the
Milhaud symphonies a dull disappointment.
Stockhausen - LICHT
As with any other work, listen to the whole thing or hush ;)
Quote from: nathanb on May 20, 2016, 08:51:27 PM
Stockhausen - LICHT
As with any other work, listen to the whole thing or hush ;)
Working on it.
What are your favorite parts?
Quote from: SimonNZ on May 20, 2016, 08:55:07 PM
Working on it.
What are your favorite parts?
My favorite operas of the seven tend to lean towards the ones that employ different ensembles from act to act, so I favor Samstag over Freitag, for instance. My favorite overall opera would be Samstag; every part has great staying power, it's neither the longest nor the shortest, and we get every side of this era of Stockhausen (keyboards and voices, instruments and electronics, orchestra, chorus, etc).
Top Five Acts/Scenes would probably be:
1. Luzifers Abschied (From Samstag)
2. Michaels Reise Um Die Erde (From Donnerstag)
3. Invasion-Explosion Mit Abschied (From Dienstag)
4. Michaelion (From Mittwoch; containing the Bassetsu Trio layer, a trumpet/trombone/basset horn trio that offers the most fundamental representation of the LICHT superformula)
5. Hmm... maybe Hoch-Zeiten (Sonntag)? Luzifers Tanz (Samstag)? Orchester-Finalisten (Mittwoch)? Jahreslauf (Dienstag)? Tough one...
Edit: Hit quote instead of modify... guess I'm tired...
Quote from: nathanb on May 20, 2016, 09:10:48 PMTop Five Acts/Scenes would probably be:
1. Luzifers Abschied (From Samstag)
2. Michaels Reise Um Die Erde (From Donnerstag)
3. Invasion-Explosion Mit Abschied (From Dienstag)
4. Michaelion (From Mittwoch; containing the Bassetsu Trio layer, a trumpet/trombone/basset horn trio that offers the most fundamental representation of the LICHT superformula)
5. Hmm... maybe Hoch-Zeiten (Sonntag)? Luzifers Tanz (Samstag)? Orchester-Finalisten (Mittwoch)? Jahreslauf (Dienstag)? Tough one...
I've explored the 7 days of LICHT in depth as a listener, it was great fun; some highlights off the top of my head would be ..
Lucifer's Dance (from Sat.)
Michael's Journey (from Thurs.)
World Parliament (from Weds.)
Pietà (from Tues.)
Abduction (from Mon.)
Light-Waters (from Sun.)
Electronic Music w/ Sound Scenes (from Fri.)
Die Liebe Der Danae, by Richard Strauss. I can kind of see the reasons why it is neglected - composed in 3rd Reich and the title character's role being notoriously difficult to sing and also having a bad libretto. But the music is very nice.
Hmm. Hard to think of a piece most GMGers haven't already heard. In that spirit:
Machaut, Notre Dame Mass
Quote from: Ken B on May 23, 2016, 11:50:41 AM
Hmm. Hard to think of a piece most GMGers haven't already heard. In that spirit:
Machaut, Notre Dame Mass
I first heard it when I was 15.
Quote from: Draško on May 10, 2016, 04:44:27 AM
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61aVFhDc53L.jpg)
Jean Cras - Quintet for flute, harp and string trio
https://www.youtube.com/v/Q-ATDBgDbLE
I must thank you Drasko for this recommendation as it has led to me discovering the fantastic Timpani CD of the orchestral music which is both heartfelt and moving. Crash was the Captain of a ship and his lovely 'Journal de Bord' ('Ship's Log') is a beautifully reflective seascape and a great alternative to the more extrovert 'La Mer' of Frank Bridge's excellent 'The Sea'. The central movement 'midnight to four quarter' is a haunting movement, a little like Delius but better in my view and keeps going round my head. One of my best discoveries of this year and I enjoy every work on this disc. It's worth sampling on the Amazon site if nothing else:
[asin]B0006A7WFA[/asin]
Quote from: The new erato on May 11, 2016, 12:08:17 AM
The Jean Cras recordings on Timpani are very worthwhile overall, certainly one of my major disscoveries of the last few years.
Mine too! :)