Favorite Discoveries of 2010

[karlhenning]

*coughs politely*

Ancerl. That is all.

Edward's right, you know : )

[Opus106]

*coughs politely*

Ancerl. That is all.

Not HIP enough. I've put Mackerras ahead on The List.

[karlhenning]

Oh, the humanity!

[Brian]

*coughs politely*

Ancerl. That is all.

POUNDS THE TABLE!

Ancerl in the Glagolitic Mass is one of my most treasured recordings. I could imagine the piece being taken a little more slowly in parts, but I don't want to. Very happy you've discovered this piece, Op 106. My favorite choral work, my favorite religious work, heck, one of my five or so pieces period. Just plain awesome from beginning to end.

Ray et al: I think the Quartet No 2 appealed to me because it's so darn sunny. That doesn't happen much in Brahms. Haven't played the other two yet; still trawling slowly through Brilliant's Complete Brahms edition.


-
My man Dave Hurwitz tells the truth on Ancerl's Glagolitic Mass: "Charles Mackerras and Rafael Kubelik may find more energy in the Gloria and parts of the Credo, but no one matches Ancerl's particularly powerful mix of fervor and dignity in the vocal movements, and no one, but no one, makes a more joyously raucous, roof-raising, nose-thumbing, totally secular commotion in the closing "Intrada"....There's so much musical wisdom, warmth, and life-affirming joy in these performances that I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they moved you to tears."

[karlhenning]

Brilliant's Complete Brahms edition

Ooh, danger, danger!

[Scarpia]

Ooh, danger, danger!

It sucks for major works like symphonies, but most of the chamber music included is first rate.  I got a copy for 21 Euros plus shipping from that bizarre french web site.

[Brahmsian]

Ooh, danger, danger!

Karl, you really ought to pull the trigger on this one.  It is so dirt cheap, it's criminal really.    There is some wonderful choral music (well, all of Brahms' works).

Go here, to fulfill all your dreams! 

Abeilles Musique

[karlhenning]

Karl, you really ought to pull the trigger on this one.  It is so dirt cheap, it's criminal really.    There is some wonderful choral music (well, all of Brahms' works).

Go here, to fulfill all your dreams! 

Abeilles Musique

Thanks! Done.  I should have paid that much just for the piano quartets, the string quartets and the organ chorales.

[Brahmsian]

Thanks! Done.  I should have paid that much just for the piano quartets, the string quartets and the organ chorales.

Excellent, Karl!!  Bon appetit with the Brahms Brilliant Box (my favorite Triple B)!    It is certainly gluttony!

[The new erato]

Ray et al: I think the Quartet No 2 appealed to me because it's so darn sunny. That doesn't happen much in Brahms.

A few words: The string quintets.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

But all this is ignoring the elephant in the room: prior to 2010, I had never heard a Beethoven string quartet. Now, I've seen Op 59 No 1, the "Serioso,"

Which one? These are 2 different pieces (59/1 is the first Razumovsky - the Serioso is Op. 95).

I'm seeing praise for Brahms 2nd Piano 4tet. While the other two are favorites of mine, this is one I just can't get my head around. It seems so long-winded by comparison, and un-Brahmsian somehow.

A few words: The string quintets.

Well yeah, but I love those because they're craggy late Brahms, not much sun there.

[The new erato]

Well yeah, but I love those because they're craggy late Brahms, not much sun there.

I find them beautifully sunny (but valedictory so). But being Norwegian, perhaps I regard other peoples semidarkness as sun.

[karlhenning]

I find them beautifully sunny (but valedictory so). But being Norwegian, perhaps I regard other peoples semidarkness as sun.

In Norway, you must take crags for granted ; )

[not edward]

I think with Brahms, the sun is never far away from the clouds, and the clouds always have the sun hidden behind them. (Except maybe the final of the 4th symphony.)

It's an oversimplification, of course, but it's one reason why I love his music so much.

[The new erato]

I think with Brahms, the sun is never far away from the clouds, and the clouds always have the sun hidden behind them. (Except maybe the final of the 4th symphony.)

It's an oversimplification, of course, but it's one reason why I love his music so much.

I think this is quite spot on, the familiar laughter through tears is a metaphor that quite often strikes me as appropriate with Brahms. Or smiling though gloomy if one so prefers.

[Brian]

Which one? These are 2 different pieces (59/1 is the first Razumovsky - the Serioso is Op. 95).

Yes, I meant both of them.

[kishnevi]

Hmm. Wonder if they have that at Borders . . . .

More likely B/N.  At least at my local Borders, they seemed to have dropped all the Philips Duos, unlike B/N.   They may have the Faure Quartett playing 1 and 3, or all three in a Virgin recording by Causse, Angelich and les freres Capucons.  I have both, and prefer the latter, and not only because it's got all three.

[Opus106]

POUNDS THE TABLE!

Ancerl in the Glagolitic Mass is one of my most treasured recordings. I could imagine the piece being taken a little more slowly in parts, but I don't want to. Very happy you've discovered this piece, Op 106. My favorite choral work, my favorite religious work, heck, one of my five or so pieces period. Just plain awesome from beginning to end.

Thanks, Brian. You say it's a religious work, and the text contains all the "right words" to suggest the same, but I keep reading that Janáček wanted this piece to be a more "nationalistic" one, if that's the right word to use.


Janáček was a strong supporter of pan-Slavism, and this mass has been viewed as a celebration of Slavic culture. [Wiki]

The Glagolitic Mass had little to do with organized religion in the composer's mind [...] and was not intended for liturgical use. Janácek's mass was conceived as a paean to Nature, and a tribute to humanity. In 1928, Janácek  was quoted as saying, "I wanted to portray the faith in the certainty of a nation, not on a religious basis, but on a basis of moral strength which takes God for witness." [All Music]

[karlhenning]

Excellent, Karl!!  Bon appetit with the Brahms Brilliant Box (my favorite Triple B)!    It is certainly gluttony!

Ray, YHM!

[Luke]

Re the best Glagolitic....Edward's view is representative, and I agree with it, up to a point:

*coughs politely*

Ancerl. That is all.

Well, yeah....of course. The only problem is that we have more recent recordings, from the last decade+ which give us the work as the composer intended, as reconstructed in the Wingfield edition, and it's even finer and more flabbergasting played that way. None of these recordings have Ancerl's magic, but Ancerl, and most everyone else, is missing some pretty extraordinary music (some of Janacek's most visionary thoughts, actually) through not having the original score available to them. Somewhere buried on this board is a thread in which I went through the differences in detail....they are astonishing, some of them.

I have no idea why some performers still persist with the superceded version of the score, though I'm being slightly rhetorical, because I'm sure they have their reasons.