KK 3,307 Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 15 minutes ago, loert423 said: Scelsi is brilliant. Make sure to listen to "Uaxactum", "Pfhat" and "Konx-om-pax". Cheers for the tip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 In a quartal mood. Jilal and justaguy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Lots of proto-Williams in Hindemith! Jilal 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Heh, I was thinking more of Watership Down, but then when we all know Morley ghosted SW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,480 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Treesong, Violin Concerto / Shaham, Williams, Boston SO (2001, Deutsche Grammophon, 471326) TreeSong for Gil Shaham: I. Doctor Hu and the Meta Sequoia; II. Trunks, Branches and Leaves; III. The Tree Sings; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in Memory of B.R.W: I. Moderato; II. Slowly (in peaceful Contemplation); III. Broadly (Maestoso) - Quickly; Three Pieces from Schindler's List for Solo Violin and Orchestra: Theme from "Schindler's List"; Jewish Town; Remembrances. The only JW album on DG, always a pleasure! Quote Treesong shimmers like a mist, with the solo violin becoming a passionate, solitary voice. Both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gil Shaham give totally dedicated performances. This beautiful disc should win quite a few admirers - both for the music and for the soloist, Gil Shaham. Shaham is probably the finest violinist of his generation, the natural heir to Perlman, and the only violinist of the Dorothy Delay school of violin teaching who has anything remotely like an individual sound, blessed as he is with the ability to spin a bel canto line of pure soul-searching sound. Either live on the stage, or recorded on disc, a Shaham concert is high quality - and his sound is both instantly identifiable and instantly unforgettable. At one stage during the Waltonian slow movement of the Violin Concerto he produces a pianissimo of such breathtaking clarity and beauty it is literally heart-stopping. The excerpts from Schindler's List put his sound into perspective: the three pieces have an elegance and tonal refinement that is utterly compelling to hear (and the recording he is given is simply sumptuous). Yet, whilst superficially beautiful they are also as moving as Perlman's were for the original soundtrack, even if Shaham does not surpass Perlman's own recording of them. Perlman is simply elemental in a way unlikely to be surpassed – born, as it were, to play this music. The Schindler's List excerpts, part of one of the supreme film scores of the last thirty years, shows Williams in his most classical vein. His two violin works have similar classical strength - reminding me slightly of Korngold, who moved between the two genres effortlessly, even if the music is very unlike Korngold's. If Treesong, is more idiomatic (although almost reminiscent of late Takemitsu) it is the revised 1998 Violin Concerto which impresses most. A work obviously indebted to the concertos of Prokofiev and Walton it shares with those composers' concertos an intense lyricism and almost paralysing virtuosity in the outer movements: the opening bars, for example, scale almost two-and-a-half octaves and elsewhere there are virtuosic flourishes that border on the frenetic. Treesong shimmers like a mist, and the soloist is often required to turn his instrument into a passionate, solitary voice. Binding both works together is a masterful grasp of the symphonic, the orchestration kaleidoscopic in its imaginative brilliance. Both the Boston Symphony Orchestra (long term collaborators with Williams) and Gil Shaham give totally dedicated performances. A wonderful disc, and a beautifully recorded one too. -- Marc Bridle, MusicWeb International Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted March 11, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted March 11, 2016 Bloody powerful stuff. KK, Dixon Hill and karelm 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Wow that's quite striking. It also reminds me of something else I can't quite place in my head at the moment. I'm not familiar with Honegger. Any other recommendations Sharky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 These are a good start. KK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 27 minutes ago, KK. said: Wow that's quite striking. It also reminds me of something else I can't quite place in my head at the moment. It reminds me slightly of Respighi, and Koechlin - the opening to Les Heures Persanes. And try this for some... proto-Newman? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I can hear shades of Koechlin too. Just not sure what I specifically had in mind though. And thanks for the recommendations gentlemen. Will check 'em out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Just as heads up, the scores for all of the works I posted with the exception of the 3rd Symphony and Demon of the Himalayas (a suite from a 1935 film score) are available on IMSLP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Awesome! Thanks for the heads up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnome in Plaid 219 Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 On 3/9/2016 at 4:35 PM, loert423 said: Scelsi is brilliant. Make sure to listen to "Uaxactum", "Pfhat" and "Konx-om-pax". "Okanagon" too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 "Hymnos" is my favourite, by far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Sharkissimo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,913 Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 21 hours ago, Sharky said: Bloody powerful stuff. Thanks for posting this. It was blocked for me in the US but I found another performance that was staged and it was so powerful. I fell in love with the passion of the heroin and her plight and had not heard the work before. I love Honegger but this really was a powerful experience to see. I encourage others to listen to the work in its entirety and maybe see the staged performance if you can tolerate operatic acting (think soap opera). Great recommendations, sharky, and potent music. Sharkissimo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightscape94 965 Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 1 hour ago, TheGreyPilgrim said: Quite good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,480 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 A recent discovery. Prokofiev is not really a composer I know very well. But this work discovered on the John Williams-Lustgarten album moves me. I find the first phrase of the piano in the first movement very "film music"... maybe even familiar... Now I listen to the version by Argerich and Maisky. Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 119 by Sergei Prokofiev https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kREKLh4TO7o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightscape94 965 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 22 minutes ago, Bespin said: A recent discovery. Prokofiev is not really a composer I know very well. His 5th symphony is very accessible. I wouldn't be able to live without his 2nd piano concerto either. Romeo and Juliet is fantastic as well. It's perhaps a bit repetitive in its full ballet version (which I heartily recommend) but you can't go wrong with the suites. Bespin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muad'Dib 1,802 Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 I like angry Prokofiev Loert 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 This is all kinds of awesome. Listen to that proto-spectralist episode from 4:19. Loert and Dixon Hill 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loert 2,511 Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 As far as angry Prokofiev goes, it's difficult to top his 3rd Symphony: As for Villa-Lobos, I got to know him through Rudepoema. I like to think of it as a kind of "Rite of Spring" for piano: His "Melodia Sentimental" is really good as well: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightscape94 965 Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 Villa-Lobos is truly special. When I was studying guitar I had been assigned his etudes, which I enjoyed. I went on knowing next to nothing about this output until about 10 years ago when I realized he composed a metric ton of orchestral, chamber and solo music. I haven't been able to put down his music since and he gets nowhere near the recognition he deserves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,913 Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 In honor of the passing of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies yesterday, I would like to recommend this, his most popular (but not entirely representative of his output) piece, "Ornkey Wedding with Sunrise" conducted by JW. RIP Max. Bespin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 On 13/03/2016 at 6:59 PM, nightscape94 said: Romeo and Juliet is fantastic as well. It's perhaps a bit repetitive in its full ballet version (which I heartily recommend) but you can't go wrong with the suites. No more repetitive than a full film score. In fact, it plays very much like a silent film score. I've seen the John Cranko staging that's been running at the Vienna State Opera for decades a few times, and with all the leitmotifs and very realistic choreography, it's really more like a silent movie than anything else. Fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,913 Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Rautavaara's "Angels and Visitations". It is like a 20 minute version of "Barry's Abduction" from CEOTTK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightscape94 965 Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Rautavaara is someone I've slowly gotten into the last few years, ever since I stumbled across his 7th Symphony. I make it a point to check out a new piece every so often. While not everything I've heard engages me on the same level, nor should it, I wouldn't call anything I've heard so far bad. I've really enjoyed Symphonies 7 & 8, Book of Visions, Cello Concerto No. 2, and Before the Icons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 His 8th is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightscape94 965 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Yes! Especially that last movement. I prefer the Vanska version over Segerstam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Surprised that nobody here mentioned the passing of Nikolaus Harnoncourt on March 5th. There are quite a few of his recordings that I personally don't find convincing, and I'm not the only one to find him hit and miss to a degree, but I do find at least some of his output excellent, and there's no denying the huge importance he had, especially through his making historically informed performance practices a thing. I wasn't quite aware of how instrumental he was to the actual genesis of the concept, but reading the obituaries, many techniques and practices that were apparently reintroduced by him are entirely familiar to me from choir practice. Surely the world of pre-romantic music, and choir music in particular, would be quite different today without him. Here's something that's a bit outside his core repertoire, a lecture on and performance of the surviving fragments of the finale of Bruckner's 9th: The original workshop concert was in German, I suspect that the English version presented here (with a very funny accent) was produced specifically for the CD release. It's not a definitive recording of the 9th, but certainly one of the better ones, and the elaborations on the finale make it essential. Bespin and karelm 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightscape94 965 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 I haven't actively avoided him as a conductor (I'm familiar with that Bruckner 9th release, which is decent, as well as a good 5th), but the only CDs I own with him on the podium are his Schubert symphonies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 And here's George Fenton: 15 hours ago, nightscape94 said: I haven't actively avoided him as a conductor (I'm familiar with that Bruckner 9th release, which is decent, as well as a good 5th), but the only CDs I own with him on the podium are his Schubert symphonies. I don't have his 5th on CD, but I remember it came out around the same time as Thielemann's version. Reviewers raved about Harnoncourt's and heavily criticised Thielemann's. I went to see both conduct the symphony live that same season and found Thielemann's take first rate and Harnoncourt's highly unremarkable. His 7th (which I do have on CD) is also on the odd end of the spectrum. As I said, hit and miss. I've also had the pleasure to see him conduct an excellent Fidelio just a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muad'Dib 1,802 Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Just came back from seeing Ginastera's Beatrix Cenci's and it was bloody amazing, particularly the opening and closing movements with the choir and the orchestra together, it was orgasmic. And I was so happy to see a contemporary opera being offered in the mainstream repertoire -not so much a large portion of the audience The only segment that's available online starts with the more traditional sounding music and then derives into Ginastera's signature style from his later period, where I believe is he found his sound. I need to find a proper recording of this to listen over and over. Meanwhile, for those who don't know about it: The set design was fucking amazing as well, everything was fucking giant and so well done. I wish they did it again so I could see it from a better seat! Sharkissimo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loert 2,511 Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 This was performed alongside Williams' Soundings at the Barbican today (along with Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto, Copland's Appalachian Spring and Hermann's "Love Scene" from Vertigo). Fascinating stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,480 Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 As usual some Easter Bach! Currently listening the St Matthew Passion BWV 244 (E. Gardiner). After it will those cantatas: BWV 4, 6, 66 (E. Gardiner) and 158 (P. Herreweghe). I'm not religious at all... but this music... it may be the best part of the Bible franchise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightscape94 965 Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 I've been obsessed with Strauss' Josephslegende symphonic fragment this week. People consider it second-tier Strauss but I think it's pretty brilliant. Not familiar with the entire ballet, but the fragment is about a third of the material. Interestingly, the full ballet score is Strauss' longest purely orchestral work and I had never heard of it until I stumbled upon the shorter version on a CD that contained Schmidt's symphony No. 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 I think it's fair to not call it first-tier Strauss, and it never did all that much for me, but even second-tier Strauss from the Rosenkavalier/Ariadne era is of course fine music. And it also clearly shows the influence Strauss had on Korngold - some flourishes near the beginning would show up again later in The Sea Hawk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Respighi sure knew how to end 'em, didn't he? A bit of Goldenthal's Michael Collins finale in there? ---- ---- karelm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,913 Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Those of you in the mood for adventures on the high seas might enjoy Farnon's Captain Horatio Hornblower Suite from 1951. Interestingly, Captain Kirk's character was based on Captain Horatio Hornblower and the opening theme is the same interval as the opening of the Star Trek TOS theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilal 569 Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 I just love Hindemith's harmonic language, which doesn't appear to be all too different from Charles Koechlin's (e.g. quartal/quintal voicings, suspensions, etc.). Lovely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,913 Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Mason Bates: Gemini in the Solar Wind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loert 2,511 Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Terrific piece of musical imagery! Gnome in Plaid and justaguy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Mason Bates is a fascinating composer, isn't he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melange 446 Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 On 16/03/2016 at 7:46 PM, Marian Schedenig said: And here's George Fenton: Sorry, I couldn't resist........................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 What the... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnome in Plaid 219 Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 "Didn't you get my apology piano?" "Pianos aren't supposed to bleed and scream!" "I guess it was less a piano and more a statement on pianos." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,913 Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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