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

NP:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51pPp3YFGAL._SS500_.jpg

Martha Argerich playing Bach's Partita no. 2 in C minor and English Suite no. 2 in A minor... beautiful and very brilliant

http://www.musicweb-international.com/film/2001/Aug01/Dekalog.jpg

Re: the Nono I posted above — remarkable stuff. The early Due Esspressioni seems to be an extension of Webern's muted dynamics and constantly shifting instrumental color. There are some really unique instrument doublings in the latter half of the piece.

A Carolo Scarpa is surprisingly Scelsi-like, gravitating around a single tone and alternating stretches of silence with exclamations from the orchestra (with a hefty percussion battery).

Post-Praeludium is scored for tuba and live electronics, but is surprisingly delicate and quite beautiful really. The actions of the player come back as echoes and eventually the lines pile up, weave across and interact with each other. Very ghostly.

"fragmente-stille" is famous. I've heard the Arditti recording but it's been probably four years, so I couldn't compare, but I remember the piece as being extremely static and dull — so funny how our perceptions change. There is so much drama in this piece and I find it excitingly varied and engaging. Need to hear the other recordings.

Or see fragmente-stille live. Saw the Arditti play that with one of Schoenberg's quartet and it works really well!

I hope that I'll be able to in my lifetime! Where did you see the Ardittis?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51r65Ld7cfL._SS500_.jpg

Scando-tonal syms from a composer that died too young (only 64). Neither are incredibly groundbreaking but both are very personal and unique. The 3rd is surprisingly bleak. He eventually wrote a total of 8 syms and 11 string quartets (which I especially want to hear).

Corey - At the QEH in London.

Listening to this week:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NR6KVZfcL._SS500_.jpg

The Ligeti (from his bizarre-yet-accessible late style) I know and love, but I'm new to the Nørgård pieces. I'm a huge Nørgård fan and think he's one of the greatest composers living today.

Listened:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411xebUY1CL._SS400_.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knqsx6_Ku1Q

― Gorecki or Go Home (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, September 15, 2010 4:48 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'm foolishly attempting to learn this one. It's probably going to be an all-year affair, and I usually seem to tackle Prokofiev, get halfway through and give up. So we'll see.

I was a fairly serious pianist when much younger, and I worked on Prokofiev 3, but getting halfway and giving up was my speciality, too. But it's a great piece, even though the energetic and lyrical sides seem stitched together awkwardly at a few points. I hope you stick with it! What else are you playing?

Agree about the stitching together aspect, tho it seems that's true of a lot of the Prokofiev I like.

As of right now, this is the only P piece I've managed to make it all the way through (and not, obv, up to speed):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chmSTEIcZ_w

Right now, mostly working on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJgku8ssPZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlNfF7be3kY

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYp53nPchp4

If you play a recital I want to be there! Lotus Land is the only Cyril Scott piece I know, thanks to this anthology:

http://assets.sheetmusicplus.com/product/Look-Inside/covers/3603869.jpg

(Which has a much plainer cover design in the edition I own.)

Oy, that I could ever get enough pieces in recital condition at the same time! (What else is in that anthology?)

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/An-Anthology-Of-Piano-Music-Vol-4-The-Twentieth-Century/3603869

Click on the "Song [sic] List" tab, then click "see all..."

It's been so long since I've played Kabalevsky.

This was one of the first songs I remember playing that I remember also liking playing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub872y6IS_g

I guess I have been partial to the Russians from day one.

So cuet! His feet don't even reach the pedals. I never played that one but I did play the Sonatina in the Anthology I mentioned above.

Listening to later today:

http://home.swipnet.se/sonoloco2/Rec/Stockhausen/IR05.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do1NJL4SIwE

Musical-score videos of obscure repertoire on Youtube are my favorite thing ever!

Serious LOLs -- the Kapustin Etude at ca. 0:20 is EXACTLY the theme song of The Price is Right.

Haha, a YouTube comment says the same thing. I hear it in the melody, but only fleetingly. (Talk about obscure, this guy's stuff isn't even available to buy in the U.S.)

http://automaticheartbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/SomeoneWillTakeCare-Cover.jpg

is this disc classical? it's interesting, it feels classical in some ways, and it's on the new amsterdam label (a classical label iirc).

horrible cover, btw.

I think so — I've been following his Twitter for a while. He usually has interesting things to say about queer rights and music. That is a really bad cover though.

Oh, that's a nice discovery for me. Not a million miles away from Owen Pallett's Heartland. (But leaning a bit towards Bang-on-a-Can.)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ciGVdi3SL._SS400_.jpg

Maybe it's poor form to post this, but it's the main reason I haven't been listening to more of other people's music lately. I guess I'm "currently digging" it; at any rate I'm relieved to have finally finished it after two months of pretty intensive work.

MIDI mockup of a new composition for solo piano

I hope maybe some of the folks who hang out in this thread and who enjoy stuff like Carter, Babbitt, Wolpe, Rakowski, and Imbrie will enjoy my work as well.

Not bad form at all. I'm very interested to hear it. I'll have to listen later when I can give it my full attention.

Last night at Northwestern I heard Ensemble Alternance perform new music by Mark André, Raphaël Cendo, Gérard Pesson and Phillipe Leroux, all of whom save André are completely to me. I'll be writing a review and will post it once it's up.

completely *new* to me, that is.

I've always had problems getting soundcloud files to play for me, but when I find a computer/browser that makes it work for me, I'll definitely give it a good listen!

Oh, I didn't realize Soundcloud could be problematic. I wonder if there's a better choice. Bandcamp? (I'm not keen on the Myspace model.)

http://home.swipnet.se/sonoloco2/Rec/Stockhausen/IR02.jpg

I'm on a Stockhausen kick.

I got a mailing from ArkivMusic about a bunch of Danish composers, and I'm always curious about composers from outside the usual big-name places (which I think of as Germany, France, England, Austria, and Russia), so I trucked on over to eMusic and got a two-symphony album by Asger Hamerik - his Symphony No. 5 was fine if not spectacular but the No. 6, "Symphonie spirituelle," this is lovely stuff - kind of like less bombastic Elgar maybe? (nb disregard if you hate Elgar, it's not really "Elgarian," just in terms of its mood it reminds me a little.)

btw it looks like another year will pass without me being home long enough to actually properly learn how to play piano again. kind of bummed. I was a decent child pianist, stopped playing in my first act of "you can't tell me what to do"ism, and as a result my left hand is now pretty much only good for chords (and my right isn't much to write home about dynamically). every year I think about finding a teacher but I am in and out of town so much that I never seem to get around to it, and one of my desires is to actually be able to play some of the classical music I love on an instrument instead of just listening.

my first act of "you can't tell me what to do"ism = not learning the piano, ever, despite fervent protestations from various people (i think i was the only kid in my class who didn't play any instruments)

terrible idea

yeah people are always sort of confused when they find out how much I'm into music but that I can't sightread/play any instrument whatsoever

I should just let it go but am going to give this thread one bump in case I can interest anyone in checking out the piano pieces I posted here.

https://sites.google.com/site/pnauert/elegy-2-preview.jpg

yeah i listened to episodes... last week, which i liked

certainly reminded me of a less anguished wolpe and perhaps a bit of carter's piano music

This is beautiful Paul, thank you.

Thanks for listening and commenting guys! Wish me luck persuading a pianist to play this stuff.

Corey, I'd be interest to see your Ensemble Alternance review if it's online somewhere.

Certainly like to hear that piece of yours in a recital, Paul.

Maybe you'd have better luck in Europe? :-)

xp you can find it here

That's a clear and nicely detailed review -- and good for musicweb allowing a generous word count. I know a couple of the composers by name (André, Leroux) but I've heard little or none of their music. (Turns out it's fairly well represented on recordings, so I can explore a bit. The Pesson seems like a good place to start.)

Thanks! I've been meaning to write a review of the concert I saw last week but I've been feeling fairly negative about it and haven't been motivated.

Bach's Orgelbüchlein right now. Put it on because feeling a bit too impatient and scatterbrained to pay attention to an extended work (average subwork length abt 2 minutes here), but am ending up sitting it out, it seems. :D

Exploring the music of Claudio Spies, Chilean-born American composer who was a professor at Princeton for several decades.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61ngI1NY4uL._SS500_.jpg
I suppose Spies music epitomizes "academic twelve-tone" practice, but there's nothing routine or formulaic about it. He has a knack for lean textures, angular but expressive lines, and memorable recurring sonorities, all of which harken back to Stravinsky's late 12-tone music.

oops huge picture