The Classical Music Recommendation Thread

[Nick Parker 3,040]

1 hour ago, KK said:

I don't know if it holds up very well in the symphonic form for me. It has some fantastic colours in it, but I can't seem to derive a very meaningful structure or take-away from it. Last I heard it, it still came across as Sphere-cues stitched together, with flashy zingers every now and then.

 

As much as a Goldenthal fan as I am, I'm not familiar with Sphere. Are you saying he literally adapted his score into a symphony? It is it just in that vein? (Goldenthal isn't necessarily the most diverse when it comes to his trademarks).

[KK 3,307]

Yeah, Goldenthal-isms aren't exactly very diverse. I don't think he really got the chance to write enough music to really diversify his symphonic palette (disregarding stylistic/genre anomalies like Frida). But with this symphony specifically, the first movement draws from the Sphere material, and the second movement from his Final Fantasy score:

 

 

 

 

From what I remember, it just wasn't a very interesting, or novel take/development on the material. I didn't see any reason why that material was shoehorned into the symphony form outside of trying to find a home and audience for it in concert hall. Which is certainly not unprecedented, but at least when the likes of Shostakovich and Vaughan Williams were drawing from and re-appropriating their film music for the concert hall, they had interesting structural recapitulations of the material.

[publicist 4,643]

Still, the core material is so wonderfully moody that i don't care (it's good that it found a life beyond the horrid movie). Goldenthal heavily manipulates his sound in studio mixes, so another thing is that it sometimes just doesn't sound right in concert form like here.

[KK 3,307]

Yea, the raw material itself is great, though as you say, you can tell this stuff was really designed for studio recording over live performance. Which might make it a suitable alternative listening companion/option to the album.

 

But I don't think the symphony as a whole, on its own legs, is much good.

[publicist 4,643]

It's short, so...

 

Not 'classical', but this and selected other cues from Christopher Gordon's score for some kind of Shakespeare project are so good they need exposure beyond the film score realm (where they get lost in an instant, anyway).

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

6 hours ago, Nick Parker said:

As much as a Goldenthal fan as I am, I'm not familiar with Sphere. Are you saying he literally adapted his score into a symphony? It is it just in that vein? (Goldenthal isn't necessarily the most diverse when it comes to his trademarks).

 

The symphony uses some material from the score, but neither does that cover the entire score, nor (as far as I recall) does that constitute a full symphony movement.

 

But as a Goldenthal fan, you have to get the score. It's his best.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

"American Landscapes" Guitar Concerto

 

This guitar concerto by Lukas Foss is capital-G GREAT.   The other two pieces are fine as well.

 

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Add another to the pile of cool American third symphonies  

 

George Rochberg’s is really interesting!  Borrows a lot from other composers and repurposes then alongside original music. This is in dire dire need of a proper modern recording.

 

 

 

[Omen II 1,235]

Here is a nice performance of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater Dolorosa by the Academy of Ancient Music.  Of added interest to John Williams fans is that the video was recorded at All Saints in Tooting, where the album version of The Fury was recorded with the LSO.

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

A great Stabat Mater, played by a great ensemble.

[KK 3,307]

Stumbled onto this fun piece by Prokofiev's grandson, Gabriel Prokofiev:

 

Sounds like a talented bloke. Will have to do some digging...

[Disco Stu 15,495]

5 minutes ago, KK said:

Stumbled onto this fun piece by Prokofiev's grandson, Gabriel Prokofiev:

 

Sounds like a talented bloke. Will have to do some digging...

 

I've listened to and enjoyed this album:

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

Who the hell is DJ Yoda? And is that Gabriel Prokofiev on the cover?

[KK 3,307]

Cheers Stu! Will check it out.

[karelm 2,903]

On 8/16/2019 at 10:41 PM, KK said:

Yea, the raw material itself is great, though as you say, you can tell this stuff was really designed for studio recording over live performance. Which might make it a suitable alternative listening companion/option to the album.

 

But I don't think the symphony as a whole, on its own legs, is much good.

 

Here is Goldenthal describing the structure of the work:

 

The piece consists of two movements: Moderato con Moto and Rondo Agitato. The first movement encompasses a four-note motive spoken from the bassoon and a five-note phrase in the oboe section. These motives happen against a “rocking gentle percolation” on the harp and violas, and the four-note motive is stated boldly at the end of the first movement before being repeated in diminution form in the second movement.

 

“I needed to compose a first movement with the intent to ‘feel’ more expansive than its 13- or 14-minute duration,” describes Goldenthal. “I did this by opening up the vistas and featuring the sections of the orchestra rather than presenting the orchestra as a block—with its composites melding as one.”

 

In contrast to the rising expanse of the first, the second movement possesses a dense atmosphere that features the brass and percussion sections more heavily. Consequently, the principal motive is developed against an unsettling background of music until the momentum picks up and resolves in a chaotic rush of sound from the entire orchestra, alluding to the original motive only quickly before the percussionists take over in a primal voice.

 

Goldenthal gives a little insight into the meaning of this as he expresses, “The percussionists have a ‘conversation’ that attempts to bridge the gap of human long-distance communication....the first ‘wireless’ conversation that existed millennia ago, with hands and drum, warnings, war songs and love songs across tree tops, mountains and time.”

 

Yes, there are "self references" but he did that in Alien 3 and Cobb as well.  Prokofiev, Vaughan Williams, and others did this too.  Bernard Herrmann did that in one of his greatest film scores, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and his gigantic opera, Wuthering Heights, too.  The reason was because they generally considered film music to be, well, disposable.  They liked the material and felt it had legs.  

[KK 3,307]

I have no real qualms with him expanding on the film music material. I just wasn't entirely convinced by the symphonic form itself.

 

But maybe I just need to revisit it... Appreciate the additional insight Karelm!

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

5 hours ago, karelm said:

The piece consists of two movements

 

I never noticed!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Percussion Concerto by Helen Grime, premiered earlier this year by Marin Alsop and the London Philharmonic, with Colin Currie as soloist

 

A bit flighty for my taste, but worth hearing for the orchestration.

 

 

[karelm 2,903]

Kevin Puts' very fine Piano Concerto.  He is also a big time JW fan having grown up with the original trilogy, Raiders, E.T., the golden age and you can hear that in his music.  Puts was born in 1972 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for his opera, Silent Night. 

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I feel bad that I neglected to post about Michael Colgrass' death last month.

 

RIP, a wonderful composer.  His wind symphony compositions will live on in that growing repertoire for years and years to come.

 

 

[KK 3,307]

Rainy evening calls for this haunting beauty...

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Where has Carl Vine been hiding from me???  Many thanks to @SteveMc for tipping me on to this, I love it.

 

This work is not only colorful and intelligent, it also has that quality that is so often missing from contemporary music: his music is clearly written with the audience in mind.  It's the balance I'm always looking for in music and rarely find, the balance between complexity and accessibility, between intellect and emotion.  Not unapproachable but also not dumbed down.

 

Or at least this is the impression I get after listening to one String Quartet!  I'll definitely be exploring his work more soon.

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

*klaxon* *klaxon* *klaxon*

 

A new performance of Copland's Piano Quartet just added to Youtube.  This Italian ensemble bring it off absolutely brilliantly.

 

Just check out their positively stormy performance of the second half of the first movement.  Gives me the shivers!!

 

(from 3:06)

 

They even tackle the slyly jazzy rhythms of the second movement with aplomb.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

Recommend me a classical piece that can be compared to the beauty that is "Swan of Tuonela".

[Loert 2,510]

One of my favourite pieces by Bartok:

 

 

[karelm 2,903]

22 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Recommend me a classical piece that can be compared to the beauty that is "Swan of Tuonela".

Here you go.

 

 

KEM2.mp3

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Paying my respect on the death of Mario Davidovsky a couple of weeks ago

 

RIP

 

 

[karelm 2,903]

In honor of the passing of Christopher Rouse who died today at the age of 70, I present his lovely and moving elegy from his Flute Concerto.  His last completed work was his Symphony No. 6 which will be premiered in October.  His music is lyrical, dramatic, and expressive.  He was also very friendly on social media and I met him on many occasions.  He was a professor at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, across the street from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and they had so many lovely memories of him filled with humor and joy that were totally relatable to me.  He is already greatly missed. 

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

16 minutes ago, karelm said:

In honor of the passing of Christopher Rouse who died today at the age of 70, I present his lovely and moving elegy from his Flute Concerto.  His last completed work was his Symphony No. 6 which will be premiered in October.  His music is lyrical, dramatic, and expressive.  He was also very friendly on social media and I met him on many occasions.  He was a professor at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, across the street from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and they had so many lovely memories of him filled with humor and joy that were totally relatable to me.  He is already greatly missed. 

 

 

 

Oh my goodness!  This is how I'm learning of this!

 

I was listening to a track from Karolju (not the season but what can I say) literally less than 10 minutes ago!  Spooky.

 

Rest in peace, what a great man and a wonderful composer.  Greatly missed indeed.

 

 

Another personal favorite is the "Sarabande" from his ballet Friandises, but it's sadly not on Youtube.

[SteveMc 2,674]

Only 70, man, that's too bad. I was definitely expecting him to be an active presence for many years to come.    R.I.P.

 

[karelm 2,903]

In honor of the passing of composer Christopher Rouse, I wanted to post this picture.  I was playing bass trombone with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra next to Randy Campora (he's to the left and I'm to the right).  There was a photographer capturing the moments of the evening and I vividly remember this discussion.  I was so nervous because I had a solo and I never quite nailed it so my nerves were getting the better of me.  Having a solo you don't pull off is so terrifying because you aren't just performing next to your heroes but a 100 piece orchestra AND a world class conductor AND 2,000 audience members!!!!  You are failing so many people all at once!  The more I practiced and missed the solo, the more nervous/sure I would screw up the solo so I resigned myself to the music gods - it will be what it will be.  Randy, sensing my nerves distracted me with a very delightful story.  He told me of the time the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Chorus were performing Verdi's Requiem with giant bass drum.  Christopher Rouse, from Peabody across the street was so excited!  He said "Oh please, let me give the introduction talk!"  He begged Marin Alsop, "Please, please!" but Marin knew him to be verbose and to get too detailed for a concert audience.  She said "union rules require this to be two hours maximum so we can't allow the extra time."  He swore he would stay brief so she reluctantly agreed.  So concert night arrives and Chris Rouse walks on stage and low and behold starts getting into the minutia only music nerds care about.  He went on and on about technical details like instrumentation, modulation, harmony, structure, etc.  Suddenly, from the darkness at the back of the full concert hall someone yelled out, "Get on with the concert!!!!"  Rouse responded, "One more moment if you don't mind" and from the dark voice yelled "WE DO MIND!!!"  and Chris walked off stage after way too long talking about music minutia.  I laughed so hard at this story because I so much related to it as a music geek myself and I totally understood him and how much I would have been enthralled with those details no one else cared about.  It revealed so much to me about him as an educator and music geek and I thought it was so freaking funny and endearing that I completely forgot about all my nerves and unbeknownst to me, that moment was forever captured in this photograph below.  RIP Chris Rouse - you are missed and loved by this music geek!!!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Thanks for that lovely story.

 

I loved reading about Rouse’s teenage correspondence with Aaron Copland.  What started out as essentially fan letters in the 1960s eventually became Rouse sending Copland tapes of his own compositions.

 

Heres an excerpt from a letter from Copland to Rouse in 1968.  What an amazing thing to have such a meaningful correspondence with a hero at such a young age.

 

 

Here’s Leonard Slatkin on Rouse’s passing

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

A few bargains for those who like to purchase CD boxes:

 

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8468376--leonard-bernstein-his-greatest-recordings

 

https://www.amazon.it/gp/aw/d/B019977DZY/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A11IL2PNWYJU7H&psc=1

[Disco Stu 15,495]

It's a bit more 19th century sounding than what I usually gravitate towards, but I quite enjoyed this 1979 Viola Sonata by George Rochberg, an underrated American composer I think.

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

On 9/21/2019 at 9:31 PM, Disco Stu said:

I loved reading about Rouse’s teenage correspondence with Aaron Copland.  What started out as essentially fan letters in the 1960s eventually became Rouse sending Copland tapes of his own compositions.

 

Following on to the Rouse-Copland connection.  I didn't even realize that Rouse had been President of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music for the last 10 years of his life.  This is the endowment fund that Copland created with his will that provides grants every year for the performance and recording of music by American composers.

 

Quote

The Aaron Copland Fund for Music mourns the passing of our beloved President Christopher Rouse on Saturday, September 21, 2019. Chris became President in 2009, and quickly became deeply involved with all aspects of the work of the Fund. A tireless champion of contemporary American music and its creators, he also was deeply devoted to Copland’s music, of which he had a comprehensive knowledge and the greatest respect and care for its integrity. The directors and staff join the entire world of contemporary music in sending deepest condolences to his wife and family, and share their sense of profound sadness at the loss of a great man.

https://coplandfund.org/news/christopher-rouse-1949-2019

[karelm 2,903]

A nice career retrospective and memorial from Marin Alsop and NPR for Chris Rouse.

https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2019/09/23/763418066/remembering-the-fast-and-furious-music-of-christopher-rouse

[Omen II 1,235]

There's nothing like a bit of Gerald Finzi at this time of year when the evenings are drawing in.  One of his lesser known works is Farewell to Arms, the second part of which (Aria) is especially beautiful.  Here it is sung by Ian Partridge with the New Philharmonia Orchestra.

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

Which works by Finzi are well known?

[Omen II 1,235]

13 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Which works by Finzi are well known?

 

Classical music lovers would probably be most familiar with his Eclogue for piano and strings, Five Bagatelles, the clarinet concerto and the cello concerto.  But I take your point.

 

Love's Labour's Lost, which I posted somewhere earlier in this thread, deserves to be better known and played more often as well.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

3 minutes ago, Omen II said:

Classical music lovers would probably be most familiar with his Eclogue for piano and strings, Five Bagatelles, the clarinet concerto and the cello concerto.  But I take your point.

 

Thanks. I didn't have a point, I just wanted to be educated.

[Datameister 2,037]

Anyone have recommendations on great Bartok recordings/albums? I'm just starting to get into his fascinating ouevre and I'd love pointers if anyone has any.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1 hour ago, Datameister said:

Anyone have recommendations on great Bartok recordings/albums? I'm just starting to get into his fascinating ouevre and I'd love pointers if anyone has any.

 

For me, the string quartets are the beating heart of his career.  Everyone's got an opinion on recordings, but the Emerson String Quartet complete set is essential IMO

 

[Nick Parker 3,040]

1 hour ago, Datameister said:

Anyone have recommendations on great Bartok recordings/albums? I'm just starting to get into his fascinating ouevre and I'd love pointers if anyone has any.

 

I've always been a big fan of his second piano concerto after I saw the CSO play it back when I was 19.

 

Check out the second movement that starts at 9:40!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Blast from the distant past.

 

This is a letter to the editor that Aaron Copland wrote to the New York Times when he was 24 years old, defending the music of Gustav Mahler from the critics.  He really knew his Mahler!

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

This is a new solo piano composition by the pop artist Sufjan Stevens (a songwriter I admire a lot), performed by the pianist Timo Andres.

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I’m very happy that Chandos is realeasing a third volume of George Antheil recorded by John Storgards and the BBC Philharmonic.  The first two really made me a big Antheil fan!

 

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN 20080

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

4 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

John Storgårds

 

Fixed!

[SteveMc 2,674]

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Today, October 30th, marks exactly 75 years since the premiere of Appalachian Spring, Aaron Copland and Martha Graham's ballet masterpiece.  It was first performed in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, in 1944.

 

Here is a photo of the original performance, featuring Isamu Noguchi's iconic, minimalist set design.  Below that is a screenshot from the original program.

 

 

Ballet for Martha, as Copland originally titled it, is most famous for its incorporation (and popularization) of the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts."  The opening line of the hymn, "'Tis the gift to be simple," could also work as the defining ethos for Copland's approach to composition throughout his life.  In works like this and the Lincoln Portrait and the Third Symphony, his simplicity, clarity, and economy help create an atmosphere of reverence and thoughtfulness that has been touching audiences for decades.

 

The story told by Appalachian Spring brings to the fore some themes that I think can be found through Copland's work, especially in the Third Symphony which premiered two years later.  Namely, what it means to be an individual within a larger community and society.  The relationship of the Self to the wider Whole.  It is a piece of music that has deep personal meaning to me, and I return to it frequently as a kind of spiritual well to center me in times of anxiety.

 

The most widely known version of Appalachian Spring is the orchestral suite, which premiered in 1945.  The original ballet was scored for 13 instruments (double string quartet + bass, piano, bassoon, clarinet, and flute).  While the 7th section of the suite is most famous, the Simple Gifts section, the highlight of the ballet for me is the Bride's Solo dance, the 5th section (Still faster/Subito allegro).

 

Watch this wonderful television taping of the ballet which was filmed in the late 1950s.

 

My personal favorite version is the one that follows the structure of the orchestral suite, but keeps the chamber instrumentation of the original.

 

This is my favorite recording of that version!  It's a live performance recorded in an actual barn, and includes some ambient noise like bird chirps that really adds to the atmosphere.

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Celebrate the coming of November with Tchaikovsky!