Listening Project
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 5:10AM
#2
RE: Listening Project
Well said, Bazza. Hadn't thought of the Holstian parallel, and I really like it.
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 9:36AM
#3
RE: Listening Project
DST wrote:
"....the best possible effect for a thread like this - it sent me back to listen to some Birtwistle CDs and indeed LPs".
I completely agree. Really excellent discussion. Nothing moribund about this thread! And thanks again to Brumas for starting and maintaining the whole thing!
Chris
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 11:44AM
#4
RE: Listening Project
And thanks to you all for participating! I've allready made some amazing discoveries through this thread (played the Korngold again yesterday actually), so it seems this thread fulfils its purpose!
(We are almost through again, by the way, so we need some new contributions. Fire away!)
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 11:47AM
#5
RE: Listening Project
Sorry for a small correction, Chris. I did not mean I "enjoy" or I "recognise" Birtwistle's work in question as "a masterpiece of last century". I just said "in its own merits (and for those who care about them)", the work is a masterpiece of tha past century. Apparently, I do not include myself in those who care about "its merits", but, on the other hand, I respect the "experts' verdict".
However, you are right that I do not "enjoy" only "oldies" (if the Classics can be called as such); I love and appreciate Shostakovich or Britten, for that matter.
Parla
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 6:58PM
#6
RE: Listening Project
Well Parla, I suppose each of us categorise works and composers into those we personally appreciate and those we don't. More difficult is sub-categorising the latter. Responses range from the XXX is no good because I don't like it (unfortunately, to be seen amongst posts in the forum), to accepting, as you put it the experts' verdict despite one's own lack of enthusiasm. More rarely, and most difficult of all is what Bazza reported in this thread, getting to understand the merits of a work, without personally enjoying it. "I appreciate B's craftmanship, but I fail to connect with the work on any deeper level". Head without heart. The encouraging thing is that with persistence working at the former we sometimes do change our minds.... and our hearts!
Chris
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 7:32PM
#7
RE: Listening Project
(We are almost through again, by the way, so we need some new contributions. Fire away!)
Here's a few ideas.
Berlioz - La Mort De Cléopâtre
Langgaard - Sfaerernes musik
Villa Lobos - Choros Nº10
Mon, Mar 25 2013, 8:01PM
#8
RE: Listening Project
Here's another suggestion:
Franz Schmidt: Piano Quintet in G major
It arrived recently coupled with the Bruckner Quintet, my reason for ordering the CD. As DST said (thanks DST) the Schmidt is a fine work, and much less well known than the Bruckner.
Chris
Tue, Mar 26 2013, 12:44AM
#9
RE: Listening Project
I like all these suggestions - the exception is the Villa-Lobos, for no other reason than that I don't know it! This could get lethally compulsive.
Sat, Mar 30 2013, 7:11PM
#10
RE: Listening Project
Updated the list!
Sat, Mar 30 2013, 7:59PM
#11
RE: The Song of the Sybil
This is cheating really, for I've known this recording for many years.
The Song of the Sybil was supposed to have been sung on Christmas Eve, but I suppose Easter Eve is a suitable alternative!
As Brumas says "music of unsurpassed beauty, stillness and quietude". On the face of it, there's nothing to it really! The basic material is so simple, a 'chorus' repeated many times (originally plainchant, but in our version for listening, fully harmonised, interspersed with verses for solo soprano which again became more elaborate as the music developed over the years. These verses are a wonderful vehicle for the voice and artistry of Montserrat Figueras. The instrumental opening and closing too became more elaborate and the drums and sackbuts heard here are very effective, and very dramatic (one could imagine them in a Zefirelli film!).
All these comments refer to the Catalan version as per our instructions, but you can also hear earlier, less elaborate versions, Latine and Provencale on the same CD, also to be found on YouTube. Comparisons are interesting!
How much of this is to be found in the surviving MSS and how much is Savall wizardry, I've no idea, but he has a wonderful gift in this music to make it sound both old and yet freshly composed.
Wonderful stuff!
Chris
Sat, Mar 30 2013, 8:47PM
#12
RE: Listening Project
Updated the list!
Come on, Brumas, do mix them up a bit! :-)
Sun, Mar 31 2013, 5:18PM
#13
RE: Listening Project
Alright, switched things up a bit and added an extra work. After the song of the sybil, this week we have religious music of a quite different sort: Olivier Messiaen's tremendous Apparition de l'Église éternelle.
And Baz, should I be expecting a bill for the Cant de la Sibil·la? ;-)
Thanks Brumas. I'll download them both and send you the bill if they are rubbish. :)
Sun, Mar 31 2013, 5:56PM
#14
RE: Listening Project
I guess I am with you, Chris, on "the Song of Sibyl". Its "unsurpassed beauty" (unsurpassed by whom or by what), as Brumas put it, cannot betray or cover the primitive nature of the "composition" (if it can be considered as a composition).
By all means, it is a wonderful listening experience (thanks to Saval's scope and his late wife's mesmerising voice), but I trust that's all.
Parla
Sun, Mar 31 2013, 6:08PM
#15
RE: Listening Project
And Baz, should I be expecting a bill for the Cant de la Sibil·la? ;-)
:-D
Luckily I downloaded them for free!
I was going to mention this the other day. A beautiful work, Sir Harry's "Egdon Heath".
http://haydnesqueIII.freeforums.net/