Classical Music Thread

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OK ready for more Martinu? Last weekend I picked up the 3-CD set of Martinu's piano music by Emil Leichner. I don't know what possessed the doofus who designed this Supraphon reissue to put the word "Complete" on the cover. Comparing with the single-disc survey by Erik Entwistle (Summit Classical) shows us that Leichner focused on the pieces that Martinu have gathered in sets, thus missing a whole lot of individual pieces he wrote for friends, such as the wistful "Fifth Day Of The Fifth Moon", which Martinu wrote for Lee Hsien-Ming, the Chinese wife of Alexander Tcherepnin.


Indeed there are only three items that overlap between Leichner and Entwistle: the ever-popular Trios Essiqueses of 1927 ("Blues", "Tango", and "Charleston"); Fenêtre sur le jardin (1938 ) and the 1954 Sonata. Leichner is by and large a more adept pianist: his shapes the Trios Essiquesses dances naturally, with an enchanting lightness of touch; the accelerando and ritardandos come smooth and inevitable. Entwistle sounds jagged by comparison; he makes the "Charleston" sound like a Prokofiev Toccata.


It is harder to decide between the two pianists when it comes to Fenêtre and the Sonata. While Entwistle pales when it comes to dance pieces (perhaps this is why he largely avoided them in his CD), he is an effective evoker of moods. Leichner's Fenêtre is bathed in a magical half-light; Entwistle's is brighter while at the same time conveys Martinu's restless mood better (the set was written at a time when he was turned down a conservatory post, and beyond the flowery garden, Europe was on the verge of war). In the Sonata merit is likewise even, I'd perhaps favor Entwistle. All in all, I'm glad to have both sets.
 
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Positron said:
OK ready for more Martinu? Last weekend I picked up the 3-CD set of Martinu's piano music by Emil Leichner.
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Based, he really is an almost endless well to drink from isn't he? On Hurwitz's recomendation I was listening to his Bouquet of Flowers... thing and Its amazing how all of his works sound different but they all sound like Martinu, simply incredible.

JJLiautaud said:
He's dog shit but yes he's classical.
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Also apparently this opinion is enough to catch a 3-day ban from the jannies on /mu/
 
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Since this thread is from 2013 (!) somebody else must've have already posted socialist brvtalist music but I felt like it anyway.
Can't decide if I like the heavier or the faster version more.
 
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~nogger~ said:
Since this thread is from 2013 (!) somebody else must've have already posted socialist brvtalist music but I felt like it anyway.
Can't decide if I like the heavier or the faster version more.
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Don't worry about posting something that's been posted before just share the stuff you like and find interesting.

speaking of which the late romantics are a really great listen.
and speaking of posting stuff Apple Music(blegh) has the single greatest classical streaming service ever 10/10 I think it has a substantial fraction of all recordings ever released and its so well organized its great.
 
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~nogger~ said:
Since this thread is from 2013 (!) somebody else must've have already posted socialist brvtalist music but I felt like it anyway.
Can't decide if I like the heavier or the faster version more.
Click to expand...
Alexander Mosolov has unfortunately been consigned to the "one-hit wonder" bin, together with Carl Orff (Carmina Burana) and Mascagni (Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana). All these composers have a very considerable body of work that nobody but specialists take notice. Olympia used to have an anthology of Mosolov's music which is of course out of print.

Back to the Ultra-Prolific Composer Syndrome. Of more than 300 works by Camille Saint-Saens, only perhaps 5 are still regularly performed today (Carnival Of The Animals; Symphony No. 3 with organs; Danse Macabre; Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso; Piano Concerto No. 2. Six if you count the opera Samson et Dalila). Saint-Saens was accused for being a reactionary, continuing to write "old music" -- and in, horror of horrors, sonata forms! -- at the age of Wagner and Debussy. But in fact his works are impeccably crafted, and he has an ear as sensitive to instrumental sonority as Debussy. This sensitivity allowed him to write chamber music of unusual combinations. Chamber music with the trumpet is an extreme rarity, because the bright sound of the trumpet is very hard to balance, and Saint-Saens managed it with his Septet, with Trumpet, Piano, and String Quartet, and Bass.


Saint-Saens's inspiration for this piece was the baroque dance, which should be readily perceptible in the first movement. Saint-Saens was not terribly enthusiastic about having to write a piece of chamber music with the trumpet -- his friends needed to pester him over several years. But in the end he was extremely pleased with the work, and thanked those friends for "making him write, against my better judgement, one of my most successful work". (Remember Carnival Of The Animals was published posthumously)
 
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I found a performance of Martinu's Ballet The Kitchen Review:
Unfortunately its for children but its still nice to see the performance, and the MC does a really nice job of introducing ballet to children.
 
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Lowlife Adventures said:
Ruth Gipps, one of Vaughan Williams' students, was pretty based. This is what she had to say about homos taking over music.
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was looking to take a small break from Martinu and put on her second symphony and have been really enjoying it.
She is like a more tightly wound Vaughn Williams, and it is good to have a female composer that you like because I really don't care for Claire Schumann.
Also @Positron thanks for the recommendation on Biondi's VIvaldi from way earlier in the thread shit is so cash.
 
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Anyone got any Mahler recording recomendations I like chamber music but a couple of symphony cycles would be interesting to listen to, I have somehow gone 10 years of listening to classical music and never consciously heard Mahler.
 
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JJLiautaud said:
Anyone got any Mahler recording recomendations I like chamber music but a couple of symphony cycles would be interesting to listen to, I have some gone 10 years of listening to classical music and never consciously hearing Mahler.
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I'm not crazy about Mahler so I can but regurgitate the standard recommendations: either Bernstein cycles (on Sony and DG -- the DG is more complete and can be had for cheap. With Sony you either have to content for the mid-priced big box or the el-cheapo box with no sleeve notes) are renowned for their on-the-sleeve emotion. Riccardo Chailly benefits from the plush sound of the Concertgebouw and the state-of-the art recording tech. I have meant to pick up the Chailly cycle piecemeal because I was interested in the fillers, but now that I've collected most I think the fillers don't really matter after all (Mahler's orchestral arrangement of the Bach, for example, is of academic interest only, and that's being polite). Get the Chailly box set cheaply if you have the chance, and then supplement it with Chailly's recording of Mahler's vocal works (not with the Concertebouw) and you're good to go.

I'm very interested in the Boulez/DG cycle. I've heard his Sixth and Ninth and I'm very impressed -- very emotionally committed but with great textual clarity, and of course, state-of-the-art sound. I'm still looking for the ugly-looking box set to come up for cheap in the flea market.
 
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Toward the Unknown Region was VW’s first major choral piece (he calls it a ‘Song’ for chorus and orchestra) and despite its intermittent Wagnerian echoes (Wagner was an influence that he did want to get over, and it took him quite a time to do so) its obvious inspirational qualities—not to mention its technical savoir faire in terms of the handling of massed voices—made it a success from the first. Stanford (who conducted the first London performance in 1907) and Elgar are important models, but most of all the Parry of Blest Pair of Sirens—Parry who urged VW to write choral music ‘as befits an Englishman and democrat’. The spirit of adventure is always keen in Vaughan Williams; but after the great outburst at ‘Nor any bounds bounding us’ the words seem buoyed up on, bowled on by, wave after wave of musical excitement and elation. The great choreographer Agnes de Mille, describing an altogether different medium, nonetheless invoked an emotion which distils the spirit of Toward the Unknown Region to perfection: ‘To take the air. To challenge space. To move into space with patterns of shining splendour. To be at once stronger and freer than at any other time in life. To lift up the heart …’
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So I have a dangerous idea of writing up an intro to classical music appreciation as forum post and then asking Josh to shout out the thread so the people who are curious and want to get into it have a nice starting place to ease themselves into the music, but I need help like music suggestions to illustrate what the hell a fugue is, whats sonata form etc. Also apparently alot of newcomers get weirded out by the fact that there's dozens of recordings for any piece plus how to read a title and any number of ancillcary things that ought to be covered. Anybody interested?
 
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JJLiautaud said:
So I have a dangerous idea of writing up an intro to classical music appreciation as forum post and then asking Josh to shout out the thread so the people who are curious and want to get into it have a nice starting place to ease themselves into the music, but I need help like music suggestions to illustrate what the hell a fugue is, whats sonata form etc. Also apparently alot of newcomers get weirded out by the fact that there's dozens of recordings for any piece plus how to read a title and any number of ancillcary things that ought to be covered. Anybody interested?
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That's quite a big undertaking, and I think anyone interested in the nitty-gritty would have gotten some introductory books. I think we'd better just answer questions when it comes up.

It just dawn on me that Chailly has not officially recorded Das Lied von der Erde. You'll get Das Lied if you go for Bernstein (either cycle), and for a cheap, standalone Das Lied I recommend either Klemperer (soloists: Christa Ludwig / Fritz Wunderlich) or Haitink (Janet Baker / James King). Many people think Symphony No. 5 is the best point to start with Mahler, but I think you can do worse if your take Das Lied as your introduction.
 
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I was listening to a Melodyia collection and I'm impressed by the concentrated intensity of Myakovsky's Two Piece For String Orchestra, Op. 46a, especially the first piece, marked "Andante serioso e pietoso"

Knowing that the composer arranged them from movements of his Symphony 19, I took out my big box of Myakovsky's Complete Symphonies conducted by Svetlanov (16 CDs with only three pages of notes. Can you believe those guys at Warner Classics?) and listen to the movement "Andante serioso".
It is solemn and the brass adds a brighter color, but I still prefer the concentrated focus of the string orchestra version.
 
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