Rolling Classical 2020

Ah, I see, thanks. I haven't listened to whole set in a long time but that seems like a fair assessment.

1 is weak, 2 quotes dies irae ad nauseam, 3 onward are tricky to present correctly but are sublime when successful

Enjoyed this composition for sine waves, zither, and choir. Very spare but pleasant and spacious: https://martaforsberg.bandcamp.com/album/new-love-music

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.

And that Marta Forsberg album looks intriguing, Sund4r. I'll check it out soon.

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

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.

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.)

2 Grammy noms for the Dudamel Ives set.

Good article on the history of Canadian works for guitar and electronics: https://www.musicworks.ca/feature/Canadian-compositions-guitar-electronics

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.

Fine list to do some cherry picking from, thanks!

Ah, thanks. Listening to the Lim now. The first movement sounds fascinating so far.

The bird call on the piccolo (or flute?) was great.

The "Dawn Chorus" movement is completely acoustic? Wow.

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.

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.

Nm, it's the same performance as the one xyz posted upthread.

"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.

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.

You can tell the composer is a mathematician.

I hear some Eastern influences in there as well as the math-rock, but I know what yer saying!

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.

That was amazing and just what I needed right now, thanks. I don't think I knew that piece either, although I own the 20-CD Schubert Meisterwerke on DG.

It's gorgeous, isn't it?

Turns out she and Eric Schneider skip the first six (!) stanzas. You can hear the full version here, sung by the equally stellar Christian Gerhaher, at a mildly faster clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih43NAQnmMU

One thing led to another and I ended up on a late night Schubert Lieder YT binge. It brought me back to the great Thomas Quasthoff, who never disappoints:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pze4NxCOjg0

Happy birthday Beethoven!

^this!

what do ppl feel are his best works and what are the best recorded performances?

I'm no expert on the guy yet but the grosse fuge and no 32 sonata are total bangers

Lazy answer: all of his works are his best works.

Real bullet-point answer, which is highly subjective:

* 16 string quartets, esp. the late quartets (12-16 and the Große Fuge) – Alban Berg Quartett (live, 1989); Belcea Quartet; Quartetto Italiano
* 9 symphonies (esp. 3, 5, 6, 7 & 9) – countless performances, for a complete set I've always been fond of Claudio Abbado's live renditions with the Berlin Philharmonic; Wilhelm Furtwängler's wartime (1942) recording of the 9th with the Berliners is stupefyingly intense, and not just because of the obvious historical context; Carlos Kleiber's takes on the 5th and 7th are rightly celebrated as well
* Missa solemnis (Beethoven thought it was his best work) – Michael Gielen, et al., with the caveat that there is no single 100% satisfactory recording of this one, unfortunately; Philippe Herreweghe's recent re-attempt at a historically informed performance is also quite good
* 32 piano sonatas (esp. 8, 14, 21, 23, 28-32) – Stephen Kovacevich; Maurizio Pollini
* Diabelli Variations – Stephen Kovacevich; Maurizio Pollini
* 5 cello sonatas (esp. 4-5) – Miklós Perényi & András Schiff
* 10 violin sonatas (esp. 9-10) – Isabelle Faust & Alexander Melnikov
*5 piano concertos (esp. 4-5) – Maurizio Pollini, Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado
* 7 piano trios (esp. 5-7) – Trio Wanderer
* violin concerto – Isabelle Faust, Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado (yeah, I love me some late Abbado)
* An die ferne Geliebte – Christian Gerhaher & Gerold Huber
* Bagatelles for piano – Stephen Kovacevich

As you can see, his late works are almost always best in my book. Performance-wise, these picks tend to highlight a more forceful and dramatic view of Beethoven without ever overdoing it. Basically, I want my Beethoven to be as Romantic and dynamic and transcendental as possible while maintaining a firm foothold in the classical tradition. I dislike genteel takes no less than self-indulgent re-imaginings. Really, though, these suggestions are just meant to get you started – part of the fun is seeking out different recordings and seeing which ones jive with your own ears.

I screwed up the bullet point formatting, but this should be readable enough.

tysm that’s fantastic!!! bookmarked

from what I’ve heard the later works feel more profound but that also makes me a bit scared of them. the earlier stuff goes down easier for casual listening but it doesn’t always stick with me

I fancy tackling the big symphonies first bc they’re so familiar as cultural signifiers/cliches but I’ve hardly ever listened seriously to them (except for 9 which I love 3/4 of). abbado is one of the few conductors I’m a little familiar with so he’s the easy choice

Bitte schön.

Chronologically working your way through just about any single one of these cycles is the most straightforward approach. It makes it easier to tackle the next cycle, and so on, until you hit the Missa solemnis and go 'wtf' because so many of his late creations are downright bizarre, including the finale to the 9th, imo among the most surreal (if you'll allow the anachronism) of normalized/institutionalized classical warhorses and impossible to hear with fresh ears until you suddenly do (that 1942 Furtwängler recording is what did it for me, appallingly bad nazi sound notwithstanding).

Btw finding the exact Abbado set I was talking about can be a bit confusing because it's a live re-recording of a to-him-unsatisfactory studio attempt (and I tend to agree with that assessment).

thank you. it’s hard to just wade in with this stuff when you have no context for it

This is the one:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7965665--beethoven-the-symphonies

It seems to have also been reissued as part of the DG's Abbado Symphony Edition boxset, which is available on Spotify and Apple Music.

cool thx

I don’t hate the 9th finale I just don’t know what the hell it’s trying to do most of the time. I will probably have to listen to the nazi one at some point

I'm not sure I do either tbh. One last thing: I didn't have much of a context for this stuff either when I got started, beyond a few pieces my dad was into when I was a kid. I just thought some of it was really moving and stayed with that feeling. I still can't read a score or play an instrument, but amateurishness is a huge step up from the legions of bougie concert-goers who dgaf about the music to begin with and who just show up to be *seen* and to mingle during the intermission (ye shall know them by their conspicuous absence whenever a post-1900 work featuring a smidgeon of dissonance is included in the concert program).

whether the rite of spring counts as music is still controversial in some of those circles

Some recent guitar stuff to check out:

https://www.lafolia.com/string-theory-35-mostly-guitars/

Thanks, putting on the Fongaard now.

Heh, these are definitely not inventions in Bach's sense of the term.

Ferneyhough’s Renvoi-Shards is not so different from the surrounding Fongaard

Haha what

I haven't listened to the album yet but that also made me go o_O based on Covell's description alone.

It's interesting but a long double album. I will come back to the later pieces.