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

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

Not too big a picture. Actually "academic twelve-tone" is something that I sorta wanna explore a bit more but names are sorta buried under all the negativity.

Yesterday I saw a chamber recital as part of the Helmut Lachenmann w/e at the South Bank.

1st half: 1st/2nd string quartets played by Arditti who do the usual heroic job they do. 1st is the radical-in-inverted-commas stuff, 2nd had more NOTES and tremolos than the skeletal sounds, that sounded more like exploring the gap between different perceptions of music and a more obvious commentary on the tradition. Tougher and almost certainly shouldn't be programmed together.

Intermission was an interview and then the 2nd half with a few solos then a newly written duo for piano and soprano (first time he was written for voices since his opera). Totally great to hear what you can't on record (and w/Lachenmann's comment in mind). I never quite noticed how fond he is of almost child-like sounds, but there it is on the piano piece (which deconstructs a melody) how much his music is framed by silence (not in the same manner as Feldman but he is deeply attuned to gaps in between sounds), how at times there is a thin line between a mere transference of discoveries to something more substantial (passages from the cello and violin pieces sounded thin to me).

The final piece was really good. I think his writing for the piano does have bite. And with voices he has definitely learned from Kagel.

I liked Lachenmann as a personality. Listen through the thick accent and certain phrases come out. 'Philharmonic thinking' was a good one and it'll be much tougher to use 'interesting music' to describe anything ever again.

I'm always jealous hearing about how much new music is presented in London. Rare to hear an individual piece by Lachenmann in/around San Francisco, so a whole weekend of concerts seems extraordinary. I heard James Avery play a set of piano pieces many years ago and can absolutely see the "child-like" quality in that music. And I know a few things from recordings, like the string quartet "Gran Torso" (which I guess is the "first quartet" that the Ardittis did at your concert).

Sometimes I think Lachenmann is spoiled for me by all the poor imitations his students churn out. Not that a lot of names are popping into my head, just that I've heard several tedious pieces by students referencing his notions of deconstruction and anti-music.

Nice work Paul these are economical and well written for the instrument
There are lots of new music opportunities in North America, but more often than not they've come about by comrades-in-arms from certain institutions getting together and composing, promoting and performing works themselves, see ACME, Bang on a Can in New York, Esprit in Toronto, etc. etc. etc.

Thanks Owen! Yeah, that's usually how performances have worked for me as well. For a variety of reasons I undertook several composition projects this past year without having performers on board in advance. Something will work out, though.

http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=690395

Badura-Skoda, Schubert piano sonatas 14 & 20 on the fortepiano: a revelation.

Paul, sure, maybe its more than you're getting. Otoh I think many British composers haven't had a w/e of concerts. Don't think Ferneyhough could ever get the same treatment, myself. Or even some other continental composers I'd love to hear (Mathias Spahlinger).

Sometimes I think Lachenmann is spoiled for me by all the poor imitations his students churn out. Not that a lot of names are popping into my head, just that I've heard several tedious pieces by students referencing his notions of deconstruction and anti-music.

Heard of Pierluigi Billone, who seems to reference a lot of his ideas and really don't think he adds much. But I haven't heard many of them. From the talk I could really see that the energy which Lachenmann brings to his ideas and ideology can easily seduce a student to go down a bad path.

Whereas a few of Ferneyhough's students have more than something going for 'em, I think. Really like Franklin Cox and James Erber. Not much luck with Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf.

btw, picked up the first Wire magazine in ages and it has an interview w/ Irish Composer-performance artist Jennifer Walshe (she's on the cover!)

Don't think Ferneyhough could ever get the same treatment, myself.

haha omg!

Maybe you should give yrself a holiday, Paul :-)

No kidding!

amoeba sale this weekend:

http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/amg/classical_albums/cov200/cl900/l934/l93449ynqwi.jpg
http://www.iclassics.com/images/local/300/1382E.jpg
http://www.universalmusicclassical.com/images/local/300/3289E.jpg
http://www.onyxclassics.com/images/photos/ONYX4023.jpg

is there anyone following 2010 releases who'd care to suggest a few?

Releases of new music? New performances/recordings of older music? (Both?)

you know, whatever. anything with '2010' written in tiny print somewhere on the physical packaging.