Rolling Classical (Late 2015-)

I couldn't find the most recent thread. I thought of posting since I heard several pieces from this on the radio today and they sounded great: https://www.chandos.net/CD_Notes.asp?CNumber=CHAN%2010875. Likely my next purchase.

What are people listening to? Any albums of the year?

Not 2015 material but I've been enjoying these guys. (Full disclosure: they did a workshop with my composition class a week ago.)

A little tempted by the 24/96 FLACs here but only a little.

Rued Langgaard's Music Of The Spheres for the first time--a new recording is out conducted by Dausgaard--and was bowled over

from the bowls of ILM, I resurrect this thread to say this is indeed an amazing piece. Watched a youtube of Per Norgard saying he'd slipped this score to Ligeti in 1968, without L's knowledge of Langgaard's music, and Ligeti immediately confessed to a sudden realization of seemingly having been "influenced" by it. Tone clusters, weird, repetitive motifs, harmony that goes even further than Debussy in its total disregard for typical tension/release. The only thing that really gives it away as being a kind of Romantic tone poem is Strauss-y/Wagnerian orchestration. (It also reminds me a bit of Sibelius' later stuff which might support further Norgard connections)

― Dominique, Wednesday, 2 December 2015 18:05 (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought this was pretty interesting (by a guy I went to grad school with): I like the gradations between near-gibberish and crystal clear text and breath and pitch and noise in the flute part.

Nice new orchestral recording by a 30something composer: https://soundcloud.com/emiliececilia/monograph-of-birds-eye-views

Langgard sounds v interesting.

Haven't heard much this year other than old stuff by dead folks:

Loved (and wrote about) Anna Thorvaldsdottir and eighth blackbird; also heard Christina Vantzou's No. 3, which I liked but never got around to reviewing. Mette Henriette's self-titled album is somewhere in between jazz and Webern; I reviewed that last month.

Rued Langgaard is a pretty funny figure in Danish music history. Completely eclipsed by Carl Nielsen, and kinda bitter about it. He wrote this piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASBXuz1zvRg
The title is: 'Carl Nielsen, Our Great Composer' It's 32 bars repeated over and over and over...

His opera Antichrist was revived a few years back to great acclaim. He is like this hipster-dude, whom all the smart kids love, while they hate Carl Nielsen. However, my family is from the hometown of Carl Nielsen, and I've always loved the guy.

I'm in a new choir! We're singing Gorecki's Totus Tuus and Schnittke's Concert for Choir next year, so I'm listening to that atm.

sund4r, appreciate that you've kept this topic rolling. 2015 has been my popular-music-immersion year, so not much classical music listening here. But I'm sure I will revert to my old habits soon, and this thread gives me plenty of stuff to check out.

It also gives me an irresistible opportunity for self-promotion. Thanks to musical contributions from the magnificent pianist Marilyn Nonken and a bunch of wonderful San Francisco-area performers, I was lucky to have an album of my compositions released this year on New World Records. Details here: http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=93794 -- and liner notes (by my university colleague Amy Beal) here: http://www.newworldrecords.org/uploads/fileIIcaH.pdf

Apologies if this is kind of tacky.

Langgard doesn't turn up on Naxos Music Library!

I didn't know there was a new eighth blackbird! I loved Strange Imaginary Animals. The Dessner is sounding good so far. "Two Pages" isn't really my favourite Glass but I'd be interested to see how they do it.

xp

I did end up buying and so far loving the Poulenc disc btw.

Congratulations, Paul. Just read those notes. I'll listen to the music when I can.

nielsen is one of the greats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY1VQ-Zos0g

My choir sang his Hymnius Amoris recently. Which is quite early, and quite different from what he later made. For some reason the text was translated into latin before put to music, which is quite weird for a 'national composer'.

I was listening to this one as well, which is the most 'popular' Nielsen-work, as in, it's based on folk-music and depictions of folk-life. It's the Danish equivalent of Spring Symphony. Check out the song at 4:30. Love that one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oerjskq5t-s

I just checked out Sfærernes Musik (the original title of Music of the Spheres) and wow, that is very good as well. I need to check out more Langgaard.

This is good: https://soundcloud.com/emiliececilia/gather

2015 has been my popular-music-immersion year, so not much classical music listening here.

I sort of reached peak metal at some point this year and started listening to new music/classical with a vengeance.

Genre-hopping! The subwoofer I originally got so I could hear organ-pedal lines, has been a real boon for my enjoyment of dance music.

Arkiv has a one-day sale today with some really sweet box sets on the list (e.g. the latest remastering of the Solti Ring for 34 bucks). But I want to draw your attention to this box of late 60s early 70s contemporary music from the Columbia label, an absolute do not hesitate must have assortment:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp;jsessionid=FF660AAA223AA29E7AC0203D4A6A31DB?album_id=1753927

Hm that link did not come out right...

It's the last item on this main page of the one day sale:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/listPage.jsp?list_id=4434&page_size=100&page_type=4&site_id=E1466

Yeah, I've been thinking about that box since the summer. I'll probably get it from Amazon - it's only $1 more and I have Prime so it ships for free.

Aw man throw good old Arkiv a bone!

If I had any money right now I would also buy the complete columbia boulez box, you can hardly do better for a conspectus of forward-looking orchestral music from Debussy through Stravinsky's generation

Two first listens this week, with a common thread of almost unbearable beauty:

1. Faure's Requiem. Yeah I know. Someone who has listened to as much classical music as me, including faure chamber music and solo piano music, should really really have listened to this by now. Well I finally did and jesus h it is sublime. That chromatic chordal idea in the offertoire movement made my jaw drop. Mine is one of the recordings of the scaled down first version of the piece, by the way.

2. Anna Thorvaldsdottir - In the Light of Air. This is a new completion and has been written about on here and in the NYer. It is vast, strange and to me, immediately seductive the same way Crumb and Feldman are. I love when something this slow and meditative is somehow not boring for one second. Gettit.