Pieces that have blown you away recently

[pjme]

This afternoon on Dutch Radio 4: Esa Pekka Salonen : Gemini (Castor and Pollux) - Dutch Radio PhO/ Slobodeniuk

Listened to it while in the car driving trough  sunny landscapes : stunning orchestral exuberance. Conductors often know all the orchestration tricks and treats.
I love this - all the more or less recognisable influences included.

https://cso.org/experience/article/10060/esa-pekka-salonen-explains-how-providence-led

[foxandpeng]

Emil Tabakov symphonies via Toccata - all magisterial, no duds.

[relm1]

This afternoon on Dutch Radio 4: Esa Pekka Salonen : Gemini (Castor and Pollux) - Dutch Radio PhO/ Slobodeniuk

Listened to it while in the car driving trough  sunny landscapes : stunning orchestral exuberance. Conductors often know all the orchestration tricks and treats.
I love this - all the more or less recognisable influences included.

https://cso.org/experience/article/10060/esa-pekka-salonen-explains-how-providence-led

He's quite a fine composer.  I really enjoy his concertos.

[DavidW]

Saint Saens VC #3, my introduction was in concert last night. Now I have it on repeat to break it in.

[Symphonic Addict]

Saint Saens VC #3, my introduction was in concert last night. Now I have it on repeat to break it in.

That had to be nice. I heard that work live last year. Needless to say that my love for that work grew since then.

BTW, his Violin Concerto No. 2 is almost as good.

[hopefullytrusting]

Giya Kancheli's Amao omi:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq4w4MurVHY

A sacred choral work paired with a saxophone quartet?

Sounds like a mad lib, but it works. It blends so well, so smoothly, so seamlessly.

I feel awash, bobbing in an ocean, seeking my siren. It is so light, airy; I'm floating on.

[Symphonic Addict]

High-voltage music! Among his considerable large output, this opera stands out like decidedly hysterical. It often felt overwhelming, a little exhausting if you want, but I have to admit it was quite fun to listen to.

[Kalevala]

High-voltage music! Among his considerable large output, this opera stands out like decidedly hysterical. It often felt overwhelming, a little exhausting if you want, but I have to admit it was quite fun to listen to.

That's one that I've been meaning to get to.

K

[Brian]

Just listened to the last CD of the Ancerl Live box set from Supraphon, containing Jindrich Feld's Concerto for Orchestra and Schulhoff's cantata The Communist Manifesto. I imagine the latter will never be performed live again in most countries because of its political content, but it is a rousing piece full of march rhythms, bold singing, and thudding climaxes. It anticipates Soviet realism, in a way. Lots of fun. I think anti-Communists would also be amused by it because the constant marching and Orwellian power suggest a rather grim image of life under the regime, rather than a pastoral utopia.   

But the real find is the Feld Concerto for Orchestra. Every movement starts with the same slow flute melody, but they all turn in different directions. The music is not as dry as Feld's later work, but rather melodic, surprising, exciting, virtuosic. Anyone who likes Kabelac, early Lutoslawski, late Martinu, etc., should investigate. It is less immediately engaging and crowd-pleasing than the two really famous Concertos for Orchestra but I really look forward to listening again.

[Florestan]

Schulhoff's cantata The Communist Manifesto. I imagine the latter will never be performed live again in most countries because of its political content, but it is a rousing piece full of march rhythms, bold singing, and thudding climaxes. It anticipates Soviet realism, in a way. Lots of fun. I think anti-Communists would also be amused by it because the constant marching and Orwellian power suggest a rather grim image of life under the regime, rather than a pastoral utopia.   

Well, what did you expect? The CM itself speaks about "industrial armies". What do armies do? March. What is life like in a factory? Grim. Waltzing and park strolling is for complacent petty bourgeois, not for proletarians consciously building mankind's golden future. 

[Symphonic Addict]

The two works that comprise this CD: Akira Ifukube's Symphony Concertante for piano and orchestra and Rapsodia Concertante for violin and orchestra

Both pieces possess a succesful combination between rhythmic vitality and soulful poignancy that impressed me very much. A most terrific CD, mostly for the work for piano and orchestra.

[Cato]

This afternoon on Dutch Radio 4: Esa Pekka Salonen : Gemini (Castor and Pollux) - Dutch Radio PhO/ Slobodeniuk

Listened to it while in the car driving trough  sunny landscapes : stunning orchestral exuberance. Conductors often know all the orchestration tricks and treats.

I love this - all the more or less recognisable influences included.

I am interested: which previous composers do you detect?

[Brian]

First listen to Hindemith's Symphony in E flat: eh, it's OK, not the best

Second listen to Hindemith's Symphony in E flat: oh, this is FUN!

I'm excited for the third listen based on that trajectory 

(all with Bernstein)

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

First listen to Hindemith's Symphony in E flat: eh, it's OK, not the best

Second listen to Hindemith's Symphony in E flat: oh, this is FUN!

I'm excited for the third listen based on that trajectory 

(all with Bernstein)

Great composition. The Lenny recording is my favorite.

[Roasted Swan]

That's one that I've been meaning to get to.

K

A tremendous work and a tremendous recording

[pjme]

I am interested: which previous composers do you detect?

Will listen again on YT - I don't have a recording. But Holst/Mars, Debussy and Varèse, Stravinsky ...I seem to remember.

I'll be back soon.

[Cato]

Thanks to @Harry I have discovered and been blown away by the Piano Trio and the Piano Concerto of Peter Eben!.

Parallel to Prokofiev and Alexander Tcherepnin somewhat, yet still unique.

[prémont]

Thanks to @Harry I have discovered and been blown away by the Piano Trio and the Piano Concerto of Peter Eben!.

Parallel to Prokofiev and Alexander Tcherepnin somewhat, yet still unique.

I believe this is a good occasion to suggest Eben's organ works. They are quite unique, but becoming acquainted with them is rewarding.

[Cato]

I believe this is a good occasion to suggest Eben's organ works. They are quite unique, but becoming acquainted with them is rewarding.

They are next on my must-listen-to list.

[pjme]

Thanks to @Harry I have discovered and been blown away by the Piano Trio and the Piano Concerto of Peter Eben!.

Parallel to Prokofiev and Alexander Tcherepnin somewhat, yet still unique.

I tried before...Jindrich Feld and Petr Eben :

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,29166.msg1252089.html#msg1252089

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,30512.msg1339432.html#msg1339432

this was my introduction to Eben, late seventies...Vox clamantis:

.In the case of Petr Eben's Vox clamantis (1969) it was the trauma of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (and the suppression of "Prague Spring" liberalism) that was the inspiration behind this 'symphonic movement' which – despite the presence of controlled aleatoric elements that Polish composers such as Lutosławski were then exploring – follows in the lineage of Janáček and Martinů. The former is evident in the placing of the three trumpets (Gareth Bimson, Martin Hurrell and David Hilton) 'above' the orchestra so that their timbre cuts through at climaxes, while the latter is discernible through the way melodic elements – from Czech, Gregorian and Hebrew sources – are layered across the texture and come to the fore at moments of greatest emotional tension. Only the extraneous presence of a speaker (on tape) twice reciting the words of John the Baptist strikes a slightly passé note in what is otherwise a convincingly shaped and also powerfully felt response to troubled times. Vividly projected in this performance, it made one regret that orchestral music is not more prominent within Eben's output
Source: https://www.classicalsource.com/concert/vox-clamantis/