Rolling Classical 2020

Bredeson will be performing via livestream in about 20m here: https://m.twitch.tv/concertsfortheendoftime

I missed the stream, unfortunately, but I'm listening to his album right now, and it's lovely. Just the right time for it, too.

Ah, cool, glad you like it. He played the Chopin arrangement, the Mertz, and the Prelude and Allegro from the Bach in the concert. I was also impressed by a Sean Clarke piece.

Just a couple of pieces into this almost 7h-long playlist of classical guitar music by black composers: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1CUR6hLOqbHKOQJx5jiSk3?si=BJDqQVXrTVijWHtCzDBG8w

Both Thomas Flippin's "A Soldier's Sonata" and Errollyn Wallen's "Three Ships" are p good so far.

Also heard this Shelley Washington electric guitar quartet this morning, which is pretty nice and reminiscent of Fred Frith's quartets: https://soundcloud.com/shelleywashington/the-workers-dreadnought

On another note, this is absolutely lovely (recent/new music for harp and elect y Richard Barrett and Milana Zaric, streamed last night): https://t.co/PJmTR28RQg

— Tim Rutherford-Johnson (@moderncomp) June 8, 2020

Awesome, thanks for the heads up.

just found the operatic countertenor John Holiday, holy shit @ this voice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Rz4t4Al48

or perhaps more appropriate to thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6MJJrJap8w

I liked the Barrett/Zaric stream. A little softer than what I expected from Barrett, reminiscent at times of laptop ambient gigs I've seen by e.g. Sarah Peebles - which is tbc actually a good thing!

Benjamin Dwyer – what is the word

Just bought this from Bandcamp on your recommendation.

Prepared guitar piece worth price of admission.

Nice! I'm a sucker for Beckett-themed contemporary classical but Dwyer does it better than most. It also helps make up for my utter ignorance of the Irish scene.

I haven’t heard it yet but this may be of interest to you, Sund4r (and others, of course):

https://thibaultcauvin.lnk.to/BrouwerEM

Cool, I don't know Cauvin's playing that well. I will try to look into it.

I'm into Dan Michaelson's new one, Colourfield

https://dan.michaelsonscores.com/album/colourfield

That was nice.

RIP Julian Bream; there's no classical guitarist I've listened to more: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53777949

RIP

I began to explore the classical guitar repertoire through his recordings, which were never anything less than remarkable, and Nocturnal is among my very favourite recitals for any instrument. He will be greatly missed.

Do you know his 20th Century Guitar albums? The original LP is really the definitive but the two CDs are also good. I'm listening to the first rn.

Just listened to the new Roomful of Teeth recording of Michael Harrison's Just Constellations while doing dishes: https://roomfulofteeth.bandcamp.com/album/just-constellations

It's all drone-based choral music in just intonation. Wasn't totally sure what I thought yet but it was pleasant.

it's okay but it's the OTHER roomful of teeth that got me today. "Are We Death" is likely to be one of the best singles of the year for me.

https://roomfulofteeth.bandcamp.com/album/the-ascendant

That made a stronger first impression.

Devónte Tine's take on Langston Hughes "The Black Clown" was probably the best thing I heard live last year; this is very much worth your time
http://lincolncenter.org/lincoln-center-at-home/show/harlem-week-the-black-clown-by-langston-hughes-661

(tho tbh, that's not the best clip out of context. Tines conversation merits the click though and the impression i get is that this is going to be a series, so probably worth tracking)

https://open.spotify.com/album/79x1fDyq0qs8OS75QfEoYC

the beautiful Yair Elazar Glotman soundtrack from Last and First Men is a big element of what makes the movie so apocalyptic and affecting for me.

probably bad form of me not to mention that the late Jóhann Jóhannsson wrote this soundtrack but died before it was recorded. Was just wiki-ing it and read he was in a late 80's vaguely shoegazey band (daisy hill puppy farm) that got played on Peel that I have a vague memory of hearing a version of Heart Of Glass from when I was 15.

Steve Cowan's (now McGill instructor) livestream solo guitar concert from tonight was archived here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/732611411?fbclid=IwAR3JaLC7rh4Sa8ZuUfN-hjsUAbjAOUc92Zad6i2gju6o5Uws4rnkrtf0BzI

This was the programme:

Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750)
Sonata V in G Major (excerpts)
Thomas Adès (b. 1971)
Interlude from "The Exterminating Angel"
Federico Mompou (1893-1987)
Suite Compostelana (excerpts)
Manuel M. Ponce (1882-1948)
24 Preludios (excerpts)
Frank Martin (1890-1974)
Quatre pièces brèves
Steve Cowan (b. ???)
Suite Laconique

The Adès piece (around 24m in) is v cool and aggressive. I didn't know it before. I own a couple of recordings of the Martin, ofc, but he performed it well, with a lot of intensity. Weiss piece is lovely too. There was an encore with Sor's fourth lesson from Vingt-quatre leçons progressives - an easy piece, to be sure, but done really nicely and a light way to end things.

Cool, thanks for the heads up. I'm a big fan of the Martin and curious about the rest so I'll check it out.

I'm listening to Joanna MacGregor 2016 recording of Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano on NML. On Sonata no.5. These are interesting. She takes the sonatas at appreciably faster tempi than in other recordings or performances I've heard, giving them something more of an energetic, rollicking feel, as opposed to the atmospheric, contemplative character I'm used to.

holy crap! just heard some stunning piece from Nikolai Kapustin's etudes on the radio that just blew my socks off, now I know what I want in my shopping basket next.

I didn't know those but I just watched a video of Yeol Eum Don playing 6-8 and, yeah, wow.

Kapustin is fun, yeah. The composer is a highly capable interpreter of his own works, but Marc-André Hamelin absolutely nails them.

alas I noticed he passed away a couple of months back when I looked up the name.

On the dronier and more microtonal end of the spectrum, I'm enjoying Bára Gísladóttir's HĪBER, 50 minutes of winter-inspired pieces for solo double bass against a discreet backdrop of found soundscapes. It really does make me feel like I'm hibernating, as intended.

Wow, that's great, thanks for that Pom. It's super glacial (which is duh because winter inspired) and yeah, could've fooled me if this was in a drone thread. First I've heard of her, if you've got more recommendations I'd like to hear it!

Glad you liked it, LBI! It was my introduction to her music as well, and I'm definitely going to check out her other stuff, most of which is thankfully on Apple Music/Spotify.

https://chrisicasiano.bandcamp.com/album/provinces

Filipino-American percussionist and composer Christopher Icasiano presents his debut solo work Provinces, two suites that explore the complexity of cultural identity and community as a second generation immigrant in Seattle. Composed predominantly on the drum set, Provinces’ virtuosic rhythmic patterns evoke melodies over long cyclical phrases, while a lush color palette provided by keyboards and percussion fill out the soundscape.

this has grown on me, god knows if it belongs here but I didn't know where else to park it!

What are the best Xenakis bangers?

― rob, mardi 22 septembre 2020 15:35 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

...
Jonchaies absolutely bangs.

― sock solipsist (pomenitul), mardi 22 septembre 2020 15:35 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Try Pithoprakta.

― The nexus of the crisis and the origin of storms (Sund4r), mardi 22 septembre 2020 15:36 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Looks like we’ll need a poll

― rob, mardi 22 septembre 2020 15:37 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I'm down.

― sock solipsist (pomenitul), mardi 22 septembre 2020 15:37 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Although it started as a joke, a Xenakis ballot poll actually sounds like it might be a good idea. What kind of interest would there be? We only got around 18 ballots when we did a poll for all notated music since 1890 some years ago so it might be slim.

I'd be interested! (Though I go AWOL a lot and miss stuff. Not least that notated music poll, despite submitting nominations! o_0 )

I would watch! I’m not versed broadly enough in X to vote. I will say that Persephassa live in Central Park was one of the peak live music experiences of my life.

Alternatively, we could do a dedicated chronological listening thread, Shakey-style.

Oh, that sounds fun.

And it doesn't have to be Xenakis (although I, for one, would be into it). We can nominate a few composers, then poll them to secure a consensus.

i'd be into a dedicated xenakis thread — perhaps as a precursor to a ballot poll ?

Excellent idea! Any other prospective participants?

Ha, thought so.

In other news, John Luther Adams's Lines Made by Walking and untouched, played by the ever-reliable JACK Quartet, both sound like unabashed Pärt riffs, and I'm totally cool with that.

Oh I'd be up for it!

Well, ok, untouched less so due to the microtonal inflections, but still.

xp excellent, so I guess that makes… six of us?

Iannis Xenasix, Metastasix, The Dämmerschein Six. The possibilities are endless!

John Luther Adams/JACK Quartet and three compositions inspired by slowly trudging across vast landscapes. I'm up for some of that!