Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Classical Compositions of… the 1890s

I've been revisiting Radu Lupu's disc of Brahms's opp. 117-119, along with the op. 79 Rhapsodies, and it's a shame that op. 116 didn't make it, as his playing is pitch-perfect throughout, both technically and musically.

Absolutely crazy list, lol. Fauré's Requiem is one of the most beautiful things ever created. But this is Mahler's first for me. A revolution not just in symphonic form, but in musical thinking. I consider it one of those intellectual Viennese breakthroughs on the level of Freud and Wittgenstein. Just absolutely crazy that an already renowned composer could base an entire movement of a Symphony on Frere Jacques in the 1890's.

crazy list

The worst (best?) is yet to come.

Far too much I know quite well now! Maybe I should resume my earlier piano-centric approach and just stop at Scriabin. And ensure he gets some love...

First draft of another playlist (I can't seem to stop making them!)
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4eTIOEqed1fO4D4Nf0p5dn

Far too much I know quite well now!

I'm trying not to be too edgy with my picks, although I already regret not including Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge. And I probably shouldn't have left out La Bohème…

Absolutely crazy list, lol

Too right. *creates 17 sock accounts*

Sometimes sock accounts are an ethical necessity.

Can save my Debussy and Schoenberg votes for later decades. Maybe Mahler and Sibelius too. Which narrows things a bit.

Crazy good list indeed. I'd honestly never heard of Paul Dukas, but wiki tells me he studied with Debussy.

In the last years of his life, Dukas became well known as a teacher of composition. When Charles-Marie Widor retired as professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire in 1927, Dukas was appointed in his place.[4] He also taught at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. His many students included Jehan Alain, Elsa Barraine, Yvonne Desportes, Francis Chagrin, Carlos Chávez, Maurice Duruflé, Georges Hugon, Jean Langlais, Olivier Messiaen, Manuel Ponce, Joaquín Rodrigo, David Van Vactor and Xian Xinghai.[1][2][20]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Classe-dukas.jpg
Paul Dukas and students of his composition class at the Paris Conservatoire, 1929. Olivier Messiaen is on the extreme right; Maurice Duruflé stands next to him

^^ Classe Dukas.

He was the ultimate late Romantic/early modernist French perfectionist, destroying and/or suppressing unsatisfactory works left and right. Everyone has heard The Sorcerer's Apprentice but his monumental Piano Sonata (which will be part of next week's poll) is the crown jewel imho.

Merci!

new world i suppose, i love scriabin's piano concerto too though. and most of this list really

Kinda missing Chausson's Symphony, for which I have a fondness I'm not sure I completely understand, but I see how difficult the culling here must have been.

I'm partial to it as well. There is much to regret here.

Good job on this one. I think I only have one beef which is you shoulda included one of Dvorak’s late fairy-tale symphonic poems.

So many major favorites of mine in this one but I feel a strong inclination to give it to Brahms op. 118 (Lupu OTM) or clarinet sonata #1

Fauré ftw

you shoulda included one of Dvorak’s late fairy-tale symphonic poems

Can't, in good faith, argue with that. My feeble reasoning was that there's already quite a bit of Dvořák and I couldn't go with just one of the late symphonic poems.

And speaking of the op. 118, have you heard Markus Groh's recording? He tries to Richter-ize it and I daresay it works, even though Lupu is the one I come back to the most.

Torn between Dvorak's 9th and Mahler's 3rd. I just heard the Mahler for the first time last year and really listened to it (Rattle/Birmingham) for the first time this year, and it's amazing, maybe my favorite even over Das Lied von der Erde. But I've loved From the New World since I was a teen. I actually have tickets to see it at the BSO next week.

Anyway, might have to set myself on fire instead of voting

If I'd had to vote right away, without (re)checking a number of things here, I think I would have landed on the Debussy quartet. Such a gem, and for some reason the only Debussy that's ever *really* hit me (other things have evoked a "strong admire", but the appeal of this to me is different).

Gotta go through those consecutive late-Brahms opp., btw, that's been on my list for so long, and this seems like a good opportunity.

This is probably Prélude à l'après-midi d'une faune but Verklarte Nacht is solid competition.

And speaking of the op. 118, have you heard Markus Groh's recording? He tries to Richter-ize it and I daresay it works, even though Lupu is the one I come back to the most.

― pomenitul, Friday, January 17, 2020 12:25 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Would that be (on) Groh's 'Johannes Brahms - The Late Piano Pieces'? Trying to find this to check it out after you dropped the R-bomb :)

Yep, that's exactly the one. His Liszt recital is pretty good as well.

Where are all the 'Pathétique' stans? I wouldn't call myself a Tchaikovsky enthusiast per se but hearing it played by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev's baton (so to speak, as he doesn't use one) remains one of my more memorable live music experiences.

Anyway, late Tchaikovsky is best Tchaikovsky by a country mile: greater formal fluidity, fewer inconsistencies (no matter how charming), even more potent melodies. Had he lived another ten years I'd probably count him among my favourites.

would be my 4th or 5th pick from this list but its v good obviously

Verklarte Nacht leading so far.

That and Debussy's sole String Quartet have gotten more spins out of me than any of the others so both are supremely tempting options.

And I probably shouldn't have left out La Bohème…

― pomenitul, Thursday, January 16, 2020 6:48 AM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

SERIOUSLY tho

I'm sorry. :(

I think Puccini is seriously underrated, and La Boheme especially. It might just be because it's the one opera where I've been in the chorus, so I've had to study it a lot. But still. Second act is almost proto-Ives'ian in places.

Voted Verklärte Nacht and if I'm to be honest my vote was decided by the lack of vote-splitting from the same composer, otherwise I might've gone for a Scriabin, Debussy, or Tchaikovsky. Saving my Ravel vote for the next decade.

Incredible choices, but Mahler 1 is the way to go

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

voted more or less randomly

Listened to Verklärte Nacht (Boulez) for the first time last night. Not to go overboard but it was - at times - transcending. I lack classical music literacy, but what I loved was that it swept me up and dropped me into a story straight away. It was only afterwards that I read the poem it's based on - which allowed me to see where my own dream-like narrative took me. A wonderful experience to be frank.

It is truly magical. I also recommend checking out the string sextet original, which is how I was first swept away by the piece. Recording-wise, the Arditti and Artemis Quartets (both with Thomas Kakuska and Valentin Erben of the Alban Berg Quartett, incidentally) are each wonderful in their own way.

This hasn't got any easier. *dons blindfold; throws rubber dart at monitor*

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I was the Grieg vote in the end. Narrowed it down to my most striking new discovery to overcome choice paralysis. I think I said in a previous decade that I hadn't knowingly heard his solo piano works before. Whoever observed that he sometimes Debussy'd it up was totes onto something.

I also recommend checking out the string sextet original, which is how I was first swept away by the piece. Recording-wise, the Arditti and Artemis Quartets (both with Thomas Kakuska and Valentin Erben of the Alban Berg Quartett, incidentally) are each wonderful in their own way.

Noted, merci!

Love the three-way tie for the top spot.

Glad, albeit not surprised, to see the Gnossiennes get some love. Probably my favourite Satie pieces, along with the late Nocturnes.

Not a single vote for the so-called 'Resurrection', though? Now that's surprising.

I failed to really bloviate on this one!

Good results- I ended up crowning Brahms op. 118 (along with another ilxor!?!) largely because like the grieg set its concluding piece is just so staggering. And though my core trinity are all present now (Debussy Sibelius Mahler) they will all be getting votes from me in the ensuing decades.

For Mahler I would have gone with the 3rd. The first Mahler to catch my imagination - I spent like half a year comparing as many versions as I could afford back when there was no such thing as free listening
Lemminkainen is indeed the top Sibelius choice this decade.

Late Tchaikovsky is great but tbrr my favorite of his symphonies is the first! It’s the most Sibelian sucthing as