I've been happily but haphazardly dipping into the 19th century thanks to pomenitul's polls, and so far the big revelation is Gabriel Fauré (I've listened to plenty of new-to-me pieces by other more familiar composers), based only on the Nocturnes so far. I gather the Requiem is major--does anyone have a recording to recommend? And my thanks to pom for specifically mentioning Le Sage's Nocturnes, which is wonderful.
― rob, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 19:56 (three years ago) link
I like William Schuman, me. And I like the full-name proposal! didn't really need to be argued so hard, even. Thought it was funny that the article concluded with "let it be Ludwig Beethoven" ... ...
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 20:04 (three years ago) link
Also plz let it be "Adolf Hitler"; Idi Amin not getting enough respect.
― I guess I'd be lonesome (Sund4r), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 22:07 (three years ago) link
I think I'd actually be on board with people saying "Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi" tbf.
― I guess I'd be lonesome (Sund4r), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 22:27 (three years ago) link
Clara was always "the good Hitler" tbf
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 22:30 (three years ago) link
lol
― I guess I'd be lonesome (Sund4r), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 22:31 (three years ago) link
*Kneels in fgti’s direction*
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 23:37 (three years ago) link
enjoying this"
https://www.kairos-music.com/sites/default/files/cds/0015030KAI_scelsi_frontcover.jpg
https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0015030kai
― budo jeru, Saturday, 7 November 2020 17:18 (three years ago) link
rob, which recording(s) of fauré's "requiem" did you end up listening to?
― budo jeru, Saturday, 7 November 2020 17:21 (three years ago) link
Not rob, obv., but I'm very fond of the pared down 1893 chamber version, featuring two of the greatest living French vocalists (really):
https://www.allmusic.com/album/fauré-requiem-mw0001869315
And I second your enjoyment of Scelsi Revisited. Pure (post-)(proto-)spectralist bliss.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 7 November 2020 20:42 (three years ago) link
Today's listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6357vL9TPg
"Poor fellow, I weep for him"
― I guess I'd be lonesome (Sund4r), Saturday, 7 November 2020 23:01 (three years ago) link
Does that Scelsi cover actually say "Ragnhild Berståd"?? Over-Nordicizing if so; her name is Berstad afaik.
― anatol_merklich, Monday, 9 November 2020 09:13 (three years ago) link
― budo jeru, Saturday, November 7, 2020 12:21 PM (two days ago)
pomenitul very kindly ilxmailed me a recommendation of the Accentus recording he linked to. I loved it—and have really enjoyed all the other Fauré I've checked out in the past few weeks—though my mental space was invaded by the US election and I need to return and revisit. I'm definitely open to other versions though, so let me know if you have a favourite!
― rob, Monday, 9 November 2020 14:00 (three years ago) link
Mötley Crüe-style, heh. At least Kairos's website dispenses with the overring.
― pomenitul, Monday, 9 November 2020 14:05 (three years ago) link
Now that the year is slowly drawing to a close, I put together a list of my favourite 2020 classical releases so far, if anyone's interested. A word of warning, however: it skews heavily towards contemporary music, in keeping with my listening habits of late. Oh, and the periodization is a bit iffy at times, but that's almost always the case anyway.
Renaissance
Philippe Pierlot, Lucile Boulanger, Myriam Rignol & Rolf Lislevand – Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe et ses filles
Baroque
Johann Sebastian Bach – Johannes-Passion (Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe)
Classical
Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Sonatas 1-4 (Frank Peter Zimmermann & Martin Helmchen)Ludwig van Beethoven & Joseph-François Gossec – Symphony No. 5; Symphonie à 17 parties (Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth)
Romantic
Edvard Grieg – Violin Sonatas (Eldbjørg Hemsing & Simon Trpčeski)Franz Liszt – Années de pèlerinage (Suzana Bartal)Franz Liszt – Between Light & Darkness (Vincent Larderet)Johannes Brahms – Clarinet Sonatas (Jörg Widmann & András Schiff)Johannes Brahms – The Final Piano Pieces (Stephen Hough)
Late Romantic / Early Modern
Amatis Trio – Enescu, Ravel, BrittenCarl Nielsen – Symphonies 1 & 2 (Seatle Symphony, Thomas Dausgaard)Célimène Daudet – Messe noire. Liszt, ScriabineCharles Ives – Complete Symphonies (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel)Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 2; King Kristian II (Gothenburg Symphony, Santtu Matias-Rouvali)Ralph Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 3, ‘Pastoral’; Symphony No. 4 (BBC SO, Martyn Brabbins)
Modern
Constantin Silvestri – Complete Piano Works (Luiza Borac)Cyrillus Kreek – The Suspended Harp of Babel (Vox Clamantis, Jaan-Eik Tulve)Daniil Trifonov – Silver AgeDmitri Shostakovich – Piano Quintet; Seven Romances (Trio Wanderer, et al.)
Postwar / Late 20th Century
Luciano Berio – Coro; Cries of London (Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Grete Pedersen)
Contemporary
Alberto Posadas – Poética del laberintoBára Gísladóttir – HĪBERBenjamin Dwyer – what is the wordChristian Mason – Zwischen den SternenClara Iannotta – EarthingEnno Poppe – Fett; Ich kann mich an nichts erinnernÉric Montalbetti – Chamber Music. Harmonieuses dissonancesGerald Eckert – absenceGonçalo Gato – NowStateHoward Skempton – Preludes and Fugues; Nocturnes; Reflections; Images (William Howard)Klangforum Wien – Scelsi RevisitedLeo Brouwer – 30 Estudios sencillos (Thibault Cauvin)Linda Buckley – From Ocean’s FloorLiza Lim – Extinction Events and Dawn ChorusNaomi Pinnock – Lines and SpacesOuti Tarkiainen – The Earth, Spring’s Daughter; SaivoRebecca Saunders – Still; Aether; AlbaRichard Valitutto – Nocturnes & LullabiesSebastian Hilli – confluence / divergenceStockholm Syndrome Ensemble, Andrej Power, Lawrence Power & Christianne Stotijn – Voices of AngelsThomas Wally – Jusqu’à l’auroreTimothy McCormack – KARSTTobias Eduard Schick – Chamber MusicTõnu Kõrvits – Hymns to the Nordic LightsTõnu Kõrvits – You Are Light and Morning (Sei la luce e il mattino)Víctor Ibarra – The Dimension of the FragileWet Ink Ensemble – Smoke, AirsXavier Dayer – Chamber MusicZeynep Gedizlioğlu – Verbinden und Abwenden
Cross-Era Recitals
Barbara Hannigan & Ludwig Orchestra – La passione: Nono, Haydn, GriseyBertrand Chamayou – Good Night!Élodie Vignon – D’ombres. Dutilleux, LedouxJean-Pierre Collot – The Way to Sound: Spectral Visions of Goethe (Dufourt, Liszt, Schubert)
― pomenitul, Monday, 9 November 2020 14:33 (three years ago) link
i will likely go fishing in the contemporary collection. what from that list do you think is most accessible?
― Four Seasons Total Manscaping (forksclovetofu), Monday, 9 November 2020 15:20 (three years ago) link
Howard Skempton, Leo Brouwer, Linda Buckley, Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble, et al., Tõnu Kõrvits are probably your best bets.
Right now, I'd say the Buckley is my favourite of the lot. Here's a review if you're curious:
https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/2020/10/01/linda-buckley-from-oceans-floor/
― pomenitul, Monday, 9 November 2020 15:25 (three years ago) link
nice, thanks!
― Four Seasons Total Manscaping (forksclovetofu), Monday, 9 November 2020 15:42 (three years ago) link
Big up Pom, thanks for that list! Bára Gísladóttir was a wonderful surprise already, so I'm stoked to explore more from your list.
― A Scampo Darkly (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 9 November 2020 16:06 (three years ago) link
My pleasure! A few more I haven't heard yet but that I suspect are quite good:
Enno Poppe – StoffGeorg Nigl & Olga Pashchenko – Vanitas: Beethoven, Schubert & Rihm (out Nov 13)Tigran Mansurian – Con anima (out Nov 13)Toru Takemitsu – Orchestral Works (Akiko Suwanai, NHK Symphony Orchestra Paavo Järvi) (not readily available in Canada)Various Artists – Donaueschinger Musiktage 2019 (ditto)
― pomenitul, Monday, 9 November 2020 16:15 (three years ago) link
Really enjoyed the Ives set and the Dwyer. Listened to 2/3 of the Hannigan, which is ofc good. Look forward to listening to more.
― I guess I'd be lonesome (Sund4r), Monday, 9 November 2020 16:34 (three years ago) link
I also forgot to include Paavo Järvi's excellent Franz Schmidt symphony cycle with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. Schmidt has a dodgy reputation because he turned a blind eye to the Nazi regime, although I've come across pieces that claim he was hopelessly naïve and had no understanding of politics, much like Wilhelm Furtwängler (besides, Schmidt died a few months before WW2 broke out). I suspect his legacy was also marred by his audible resistance to modernism, which is less of a dealbreaker for us than for the proto-hipster caste of the interwar and postwar periods. Anyway, the music itself is quite good and very much worth hearing if you're fond of the Austro-Germanic tradition. It's almost on par with the early and mid-period symphonies of Gustav Mahler, under whom Schmidt often played the cello while he was a member of the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra. The elegiac 4th Symphony is the most famous of the four, and rightly so: there's a depth of feeling that reminds me of another instrumental requiem composed in the 1930s: Alban Berg's Violin Concerto (admittedly, this is a bit of a damning comparison).
― pomenitul, Monday, 9 November 2020 22:52 (three years ago) link
Interesting! I picked up Neeme Järvi's Chandos set on a whim years ago. (Not the first time the Salvation Army got me listening to things no one seemed to talk about, lol.) I have to remind myself what I liked about it between listens, but I do indeed quite enjoy it when it's on. It gets better in chronological order, I recall. An extremely quick skim through reviews suggests that Paavo J's may be an improvement. Will listen...
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 10 November 2020 00:11 (three years ago) link
Neeme Järvi has always struck me as a merely serviceable and all-too prolific conductor whose recordings lack the extra oomph required to ascend to the top of the pile. Paavo Järvi, on the other hand, is a much cleaner and more dynamic performer, one who almost never gives the sense that his sole aim is to add yet another trophy to an already vast discography. While I haven't heard the father's Schmidt set, I can't imagine it topping the son's.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 10 November 2020 00:29 (three years ago) link
I dove into a "listen to violin music" whirlpool and remembered this bizarrely spectacular iPhone recording of Hilary Hahn playing the much-maligned Ysaye 6:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjPrHmDtVGg
I can't really describe how incredible this is from top to bottom
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 01:23 (three years ago) link
Impressive performance and recording both.
I know nothing about the sonata's reputation among violinists, so I'm curious: why is it much-maligned?
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 01:37 (three years ago) link
I think the consensus is that the difficulty of the work doesn't justify the compositions... and I'd agree with Sonata 2, which is the one that is the most accessible but is kinda dum (but disagree with Sonatas 3 thru 6)
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 01:41 (three years ago) link
Ah, I see, thanks. I haven't listened to whole set in a long time but that seems like a fair assessment.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 01:46 (three years ago) link
1 is weak, 2 quotes dies irae ad nauseam, 3 onward are tricky to present correctly but are sublime when successful
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 02:33 (three years ago) link
Enjoyed this composition for sine waves, zither, and choir. Very spare but pleasant and spacious: https://martaforsberg.bandcamp.com/album/new-love-music
― I guess I'd be lonesome (Sund4r), Thursday, 12 November 2020 20:33 (three years ago) link
I find it absolutely hilarious that Eton College (UK) sports a composer in residence and that from 2014 to 2015 it happened to be Christian Mason, who reminds me of a posher and hence twattier Mark Hollis if we go by appearance and affiliation alone, but his Zwischen den Sternen for chamber ensemble is possibly my favourite of the new contemporary classical works that I discovered this year, thanks to the ensemble recherche's recording for Winter & Winter. Soundworld-wise, it reminds me of Peter Maxwell Davies's Ave maris stella more so than the music of Mason's recent mentor, Harrison Birtwistle, and the ensemble recherche/Winter & Winter connection also brings to mind Hans Abrahamsen's marvellous Schnee. Looming in the background are George Benjamin (his PhD supervisor) and Julian Anderson, whom I both very much admire. Like Anderson, Mason has an unabashedly spectralist approach to instrumental writing, with conspicuous folk inflections that recall late Ligeti and especially late Rădulescu, which I thought I was just making up at first, yet, sure enough, upon googling the two names in tandem, I learned that Mason has written an explicit homage to the defunct Romanian expat. Anyway, it's a beautiful and fairly accessible cycle (its German title means 'Between the Stars', after all), one I think even listeners who find 21st century classical music forbidding are likely to enjoy.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 22 November 2020 02:14 (three years ago) link
And that Marta Forsberg album looks intriguing, Sund4r. I'll check it out soon.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 22 November 2020 02:15 (three years ago) link
I just watched this video of ensemble recherche playing that Mason piece in Freiburg in 2019. It's quite something, goes a lot of places in half an hour, really gripping and intense at times. The sound is pretty good on the video and the lighting is v cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZccjziC-5k
― actually-very-convincing (Sund4r), Sunday, 22 November 2020 05:44 (three years ago) link
Haha, I watched that video in a different browser and everything was mauve and green but I see there is just normal white lighting now. I think my partner may have done something with the colour settings in the other browser.
― actually-very-convincing (Sund4r), Sunday, 22 November 2020 05:46 (three years ago) link
Nice! It was uploaded to the er's official YT channel, so its production values are bound to be superior to the usual fare.
On the other hand, who's to say mauve and green aren't the two dominant colours when you're drifting between the stars? (Don't answer that.)
― pomenitul, Sunday, 22 November 2020 14:06 (three years ago) link
2 Grammy noms for the Dudamel Ives set.
― actually-very-convincing (Sund4r), Thursday, 26 November 2020 06:39 (three years ago) link
Good article on the history of Canadian works for guitar and electronics: https://www.musicworks.ca/feature/Canadian-compositions-guitar-electronics
― actually-very-convincing (Sund4r), Sunday, 29 November 2020 22:40 (three years ago) link
A solid EOY list courtesy of The Rambler:
https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/2020/12/08/rambler-releases-of-2020
I haven't heard all of these, but the Liza Lim and Clara Iannotta are undeniable highlights, especially the former.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 8 December 2020 14:38 (three years ago) link
Fine list to do some cherry picking from, thanks!
― A Scampo Darkly (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 14:49 (three years ago) link
Ah, thanks. Listening to the Lim now. The first movement sounds fascinating so far.
― The New York Times' effect on man (Sund4r), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 17:39 (three years ago) link
The bird call on the piccolo (or flute?) was great.
― The New York Times' effect on man (Sund4r), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 17:40 (three years ago) link
The "Dawn Chorus" movement is completely acoustic? Wow.
― The New York Times' effect on man (Sund4r), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 18:09 (three years ago) link
The bassoon solo "Axis Mundi" is really interesting too; a lot of energy and good variety in timbre and dynamics with a clear enough narrative shape. I'd be happy to go back and pick out the form a little more closely.
― The New York Times' effect on man (Sund4r), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 18:29 (three years ago) link
Her and Richard Barrett are my favourite Elision-affiliated composers.
Speaking of which, I had no idea the latter had released anything this year until TRJ included Mirage in his EOY list. I'll have to seek it out asap.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 8 December 2020 20:06 (three years ago) link
Nm, it's the same performance as the one xyz posted upthread.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 8 December 2020 20:08 (three years ago) link
"Songs Found in a Dream" pretty interesting timbrally as well, although I'm having a hard time processing these as 'songs' (or tbh picking out the sectional form with ease). Haha, Rutherford-Johnson did the liner notes? I will admit that the nebulous quasi-spiritual descriptions of the concepts behind the pieces are not really my thing but the sounds override these.
― The New York Times' effect on man (Sund4r), Wednesday, 9 December 2020 02:38 (three years ago) link
https://www.rarenoiserecords.com/2020/10/03/new-release-october-2020-stephan-thelen-presents-world-dialogue/
The Al Pari Quartet, a Polish, all-women ensemble, heard Kronos Quartet’s rendition of “Circular Lines” and began performing it at their own concerts. News of their interest in Stephan’s work reached him and he went on to collaborate with them as well on the other three pieces in this album.
this is really growing on me.
― calzino, Thursday, 10 December 2020 14:15 (three years ago) link
You can tell the composer is a mathematician.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 10 December 2020 14:36 (three years ago) link
I hear some Eastern influences in there as well as the math-rock, but I know what yer saying!
― calzino, Thursday, 10 December 2020 14:43 (three years ago) link
DG's video is shameless gothic cheese but how had I never heard this Schubert Lied before?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqfp06MLbeM
I hope she'll tackle Winterreise some day. She clearly has the idiom down pat.
Her two 2020 albums for Alpha Classics, Paradise Lost and Bach: Redemption, are likewise amazing.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 12 December 2020 04:45 (three years ago) link