an attempt at a general "What are you currently digging re. classical music" thread

Man, I do not agree that Strauss works any better as a signifier for 'stereotypically pretty classical music'.

Hahaha OTM unless we're talking about Der Rosenkavalier or something-- but even that is so gnarly that 'ah beauty' can hardly be the takeaway.

Frankiemachine, I commend you as the first non-fan of LvB I have encountered who does not turn it into an aggressive and challops-y stance. In fact your articulation of your unenthusiasm is v interesting to me.

I agree that LvB was not about any kind of common ideal of beauty. His music is so often redolent of contradictions, struggle, surprise, and sardonic humor that the scenes of straight-up beauty feel like just another part of the grammar. Eventually he comes to a kind of uncontextualizable beauty which is unlike any foregoing concept of beauty and seems to have been stolen from the sky somewhere (the last 3 piano sonatas, the lyrical episode in the latter part of the Diabelli Variations, the late quartets). I agree that his symphonies inspire much less awe than the sonatas and chamber music-- I love his symphonies and concertos deeply but they do spring far more from the conventions of the time.

I find it endlessly fascinating the diverse ways the generation after him came to grips with the Beethoven Problem (basically 'what the fuck to do next?). Schumann's solution is the most interesting and exciting to me in that it is at once the most subversive and reverent. I'm talking here about what Schumann is up to in his solo piano music and lieder, not his symphonies (which are v addictive and quirky but not ahem Great Works).

Re: Brahms, I have felt for a long time that the heart of what we was about is in the chamber music.

Re: Brahms, I have felt for a long time that the heart of what he was about is in the chamber music.

as a kid, one of the first things i ever fell in love with was brahms 4th symphony. its a warhorse, a chestnut, and beloved by old ladies, but i still love hearing it. its as catchy as pop music and i got no problem with the whole beauty thing. brahms did beauty up right! but one thing that i've learned is he was not one thing and one thing only. he still surprises me. i love the chamber stuff too. and the piano pieces. man, there is much richness and goodness there.

There's a particular review writer for Fanfare who has insisted repeatedly and at length that the 4th is a march to death, a depiction of utter annihilation and disaster. I haven't heard this in it myself, but I haven't spent that much time with the 4th-- still preoccupied with the 1st with its proto-mahlerian feel in the first movement...

i was hooked on the double concerto for awhile. kept playing it for weeks.

hey, now i'm playing vivaldi concertos. maybe i am an old lady...

Right this moment, I'm listening to some contemporary Serbian music linked to from Kyle Gann's blog and I am enjoying it enough to want to point it out (I'm on the first file linked to from this post): http://www.artsjournal.com/postclassic/2010/04/every_29_years_saturn.html

That photo of Gann and the Serbian composers at dinner together makes me want to be civilized (if it's not too late).

Messiaen's ‘Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus’ from Quatuor pour la fin du temps arranged for choir ensemble (!!!!)

performed & arranged by Hans-Christoph Rademann & Dresdner Kammerchor

Must give that one a listen later.

Really enjoying In Moto Propio for Woodwinds and what sounds like a bunch of processed cat-squealing vocals: a powerful and at the same time humorous contrast.

Picked up his Orchestra ages back. Will give it a listen later.

that's rly good xp

http://www.sequenza21.com/Turabgalila_Symph.jpg

:O

Since the above Beethoven discussion I've been to the Wigmore Hall to hear the Auryn Quartet play Beethoven SQs 7 and 15. I loved these especially 15 (although I had the advantage of recognising most of it from some forgotten past listening, while I only knew the opening theme from the 7th). Definitely something to follow up. It seemed to confirm it's only Beethoven's orchestral music I find tedious, although presumably the structural principles are fairly closely linked. I've never played classical music but I used to play in a jazz quartet (drums/bass/piano/sax) and although SQ playing is obviously massively different there are some similarities in the way the players interact that makes SQ playing easier for me to identify with than orchestral. I thought the Auryn's were superb, authoritative, elegant, precise, clear - but I'm no great connoisseur - I noticed that the following night's performance (more Beethoven) was lukewarmly reviewed in The Times.

I've been listening a lot to the Shostakovich Cello Concertos, Britten's Death in Venice, Strauss's Don Quixote, various other stuff. The Shostakovich I know well, the others are new to me.

La création du monde, Op. 81a by Darius Milhaud

Beautiful.

That performance of Turangalila I have, but have not yet given it due attention. However, Antoni Wit and the PNRSO are a hidden treasure-- their series of complete Lutoslawski orchestral works on Naxos is one of the best things that label has ever done.

Yes!

I strongly urge you to listen to this version of Turangalila which imo is, if not the best, way up there. I think I prefer this over the Myung-Whun Chung version!

I've been listening mainly to more "standard" material as my CD collection has been 1000+ miles away from Chicago in Florida -- though not for long, I'm now in Florida and about to drive back with a jeepful of my crap, mostly books and CDs.

Right now on the listening agenda:

Brahms/Beethoven - Violin Concertos
Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4
Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky/Scythian Suite
Janáček - Katya Kabanova
Mussorgsky - Sunless/The Nursery/Songs and Dances of Death
Beethoven - Op. 2 Piano Sonatas

Love LvB Op. 2. He was already fucking incredible.

LOL @ your nickname

Is this a reference to Xasthur going 'lite' aka John Williamsy? lol

Naw, it's a reference to Mark 'My Cousin My Gastroenterologist' Leyner's first novel, 'I Smell Esther Williams'. But I like your parsing of it.

trying to investigate grieg's piano music having been reminded of his folksy genius on this recital by thomas ades

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2000/dec00/ades.htm

there's quite a lot of it

There is indeed a lot of piano music by Grieg. Uneven stuff, but the best of it is great. In addition to Ades' picks, I recommend the Op. 54 set, which includes the well-known Notturno and the extraordinary Glockengeläute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24shW29Hv_A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtSbLHjW_8o

For starters, I would recommend the Lyric Pieces from Op. 43 and 54 (I think i'm remembering those numbers correctly) and the Slatter Op. 72. Leif Ove Andsnes is excellent in this rep. Or, there's a huge complete series played by Eva Knardahl on the BIS label. The individual volumes are cheap on amazon mp3, and Knardahl is even better than Andsnes.

Anybody got a recommendation for a recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10?

My two favorites: Mravinsky/Leningrad SO on the Erato label. I think Erato may have been folded into Warner but this is still easy to find. Paavo Berglund/Bournemouth SO on EMI.

I'm willing to bet Mark Wigglesworth on BIS is also excellent.

If you're thinking of the Shostakovich 10 and don't already have most of the symphonies it may be worth bearing in mind that there are some very decent complete cycles out there for around the price of a couple of standard price cds.

thanks for the grieg recommendations

karajan's shostakovich #10 is good iirc, nice lugubrious string sounds.....

Yeah Karajan is good too. Plenty of tension. IIRC you want the 'Karajan Gold' edition (he recorded it twice).

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's recordings of Debussy's préludes & 'Estampes' sounding so magical today.

Also, Alla Pavlova's Symphony No. 3 is a thing of beauty.

LOL couldn't disagree more with this review

The Symphony no.3, composed six years later, might have been by a different composer. It's written in a kind of pastiche nineteenth-century style, complete with faux-Spanish exotic syncopations, melody and harmony (falling tetrachords, augmented seconds). Some traces remain of the earlier technique - for example, both symphonies feature passacaglia, but where no.1 uses it subtly and sparingly, allowing it to hover latent in the background, no.3 does it to death.

Though I do agree that Symphony No. 1 is amazing.

Gmeeoorh for organ by Xenakis is sensational

Some really powerful and surprising music there. Thanks! I always found Xenakis' acoustic music more appealing than his electronic music. Do you know who the organist is?

On a softer note, today I was really enjoying "Sunday Song Set" performed by David Starobin (guitar) and Patrick Mason (baritone). It's an arrangement (by Michael Starobin) of selections from Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. (I haven't seen the musical.) Energetic, striking, and attractive with great intricate guitaristic orchestration and dazzling playing.

Christoph Maria Moosmann, sir.

Thanks!

That organ piece made me want to put on "Metastasis" - the first Xenakis I ever heard, actually. The guy could get seriously intense.

(Also, I see now that the organist's name is on the linked page. Sorry about that.)

It's ok. Are you familiar with Jonchaies?

For 109 (!) musicians. The strings are so amazing.

The best moments in his music are where there's just gigantic blocks of sound and you can't really tell what's going on internally.

No. I'll look for that one. Agreed re blocks of sound. "Xas" was important to me too.

'along with seventy strings massed against the wind and percussion...'

Turanga, that's amazing! Is that from Mode Records' Xenakis series?

Glad you liked! That 'Jonchaies' is from this release, conducted by Arturo Tamayo. Probably my favorite recording I've heard of that piece so far.

Lately I have been obsessed with Håkon Austbø's recording of Janáček's 'In the mists' - <3

I like the Firkusny recordings all right but this is on another level imo.

I'm listening to Andrew Staniland tonight. Nice stuff.

Austbo is a very talented dude and has recorded even more rep than most ppl know (he has stuff only on Scandinavian labels like a complete Debussy series)

Is In The Mists the set that includes 'The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away!'?

No, that would be 'On An Overgrown Path' which is also beautiful.

Austbø's 'Vingt regards' is actually my favorite btw.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517D6SRSg7L.jpg

never heard this but i like the cover

Slight resemblance to trolololo guy!

(mash-up idea?)

alfie schnittke feat eduard khil, 'a soviet artist's response to just criticsm: the musical'