The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum

I know I'm obviously plagiarizing GMG here, but what are you currently listening to? Lately I've been catching up with listening to the recent uploads here. Right now I'm listening to the upload of Yegveny Tikotsky's (1893-1970) Symphony no. 6. After a strident opening, the first movement settles into a melodic, folsky mood with very little dissonance compared to the opening. Delightful so far, if nothing revelatory.

At the moment, listening to Sigismund Toduta Concerto no.4 for string Orchestra and Organ via Utube..

Luc Brewaey's vibrant, colorful "recompositions" for orchestra of Debussy preludes (a 2-CD set on the obscure Talent label), Alfred Newman's classic film score "The Robe" (even Aaron Copland regarded Newman as an exceptional American composer) and Bloch's "Three Jewish Poems" (Atlas conducting, on the ASV label). Good listening all around, especially after a long, tiring, six-day work week!

I would really like to hear more of Toduta's music. I own this Electrecord CD which contains the Concerto no. 4:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ce5ukKBFL._SX300_.jpg)

Interesting music. It sort of sounds like as if Bartok had studied Romanian folk music and absorbed influences from Renaissance polyphony.

Nice variety there, Bill! I haven't been able to get ahold of a copy of that Talent set, but I have heard Colin Matthews' magical orchestrations of the Debussy Preludes, which take the music to a whole new dimension. As you can see by my avatar, Bloch is a composer whose music I never seem to tire of. He put his soul into every single one of his compositions, producing music of both great purity and passion. :)

Swiss composer Peter Mieg, specifically the Piano Concerti. A pleasant recent discovery on YT.

yes..a great find, somewhat in the mold of Frank Martin but much less edgy from what I can gather.
Is that what you hear?

3 Avie cd's have my attention right now. All with music of Hans Gál
I'm listening to part 3 Elegie of the 1st symphony

Yes, that's a good assessment. I hear some Poulenc in there, too.

Yes, that certainly explains the reason it is less edgy than Martin,maybe a very slight dab of Francaix's style as well

Speaking of Frank Martin, the music of the sadly neglected Quebecois composer Jacques Hetu (1938-2010), which I've been beginning to explore recently, reminds me in places of the Swiss composer's difficult-to-pin-down style.

Hetu's hybrid style of Frank Martin, Olivier Messiaen, Henri Dutilleux and other Frenchmen(esp) is unique and unlike any other music you may hear. (He studied with the latter 2.) I think "intoxicating" would not be innacurate descriptor.

Now: Going to sample some of Isang Yun's music on YT before purchasing any recordings of it (I've been looking into the complete symphonies on CPO). I've heard it's noisy and very dissonant, so I should approach with caution, I guess! I'll try his Symphony no. 2.

Next: Jacques Hetu's Clarinet Concerto, and, if time allows, his Organ Concerto.

Later: Going to end on a lighter note with some Respighi:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uShu-n5qL._SY300_.jpg)

I'll be listening to The Birds tonight.

Not bad at all, in fact, quite fascinating music! Maybe it is one of Yun's more accessible works, as it didn't strike me as "excessively dissonant" or "noisy". Surprisingly enough, I was reminded of Havergal Brian's stream-of-consciousness style of composing. I'll be picking up some CDs of Yun's music for sure! :)

Listening to Finzi's and Copland's Clarinet Concertos.
Thorougly relaxing and mesmerizing...this is nite nite time music..

Ingvar Lidholm - Poesis per orchestra - on a 2nd hand BIS disc bought yesterday.
 I'm trying, but it might be £4 that could have been put towards a G&T at the Prom last night !

Thanks for 'steer' to Toduta - anything for organ works for me - and the Channel it's on, the output of which appears prodigious !
Also to Peter Mieg - new name. Think I'm going to like this thread !

Including the three symphonies for organ solo by Sorabji? (of which the first's been recorded, performed and broadcast, the second's been performed and the third awaits performance)...

Ah - you have much the better of me there. Scarcely know the name..and what I can find on YT doesn't seem to involve the organ.
 Do I sense that you assume there's not a snowball's chance that I'll like them ? Probably right, but I'd welcome the chance to try (without vast expense, of course!).

Try this post at radio broadcasts for fine lyrical organ concerto

http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,2976.0.html

Now: Robert Simpson's Flute Concerto on YT, of which there exists no commercial recording. I'm still trying to get my head around Simpson's intricate yet imposing music.

Next: Jacques Hetu's Organ Concerto.

Listening to Berwald Septet in preparation for attending a live performance. Much rewarded by the work.

Thanks - I have it downloaded from somewhere; delightful indeed !

Listening while I write : Vissarion Shebalin - A Capella Choral Cycles...beautifully refreshing music !

This month I have been enjoying Nordic symphonies; Melartin 4, Peterson-Berger 3, plus the marvelous two Merikanto pieces uploaded here.

Whilst on holiday I revisited some of my favourite Malcolm Arnold and in particular a piece that I hadn't listened to for quite a number of years - the Serenade for guitar and strings, a lovely melancholy miniature.

Melartin 4 and Peterson-Berger 3 are two outright gorgeous compositions and are the epitome of Nordic romanticism :) Are you familiar with their other symphonies, Jim? How about the Atterberg symphonies?

I've really been getting into the music of Latvian composer Romualds Kalsons (1936-) lately. His earlier works take Prokofiev and Shostakovich as their points of departure, but, more recently, Kalsons' style has evolved into a lushly melodic brand of neo-romanticism which produces quite beautiful results. Today I listened to his Concerto Grosso for Trumpet, French Horn and Orchestra (available in our DLs) and his Retrospection for orchestra (available on YT). The former begins dark and Shostakovichian, but the mood soon lightens with some grin-inducing Prokofievian irony along the way. The latter piece belongs to Kalsons' neo-romantic period and begins with a lengthy, mysterious clarinet solo which leads into a slow, melancholy waltz which is an obvious homage to Sibelius' Valse triste. The bright, propulsive energy of the middle section comes as a surprise, but it soon comes to a halt with a reprise of the waltz theme. The solo clarinet gives the last word of this beautiful piece in which not a note is wasted. BTW there are two other Kalsons pieces besides Retrospection which are not available on CD or for DL here than can be found on YT:

Wedding Songs for orchestra:

http://youtu.be/Kj6nmQ3M8IM


Cantata Parting Words for soprano, men's chorus and orchestra:


http://youtu.be/vdGxbSb6qwY


Kalsons is a composer well worth your time! :)

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Lk7g31mUL._SY300_.jpg)

Just finished listening to Fantasia for Double Orchestra (my second listening of this work). I honestly don't know what to think of Simon Bainbridge's complex music. It has a hypnotic, almost surrealist quality that I fail to comprehend. It's unlike anything else I've ever heard. At the moment, I'm not really convinced persevering with Bainbridge's music will yield many rewards. There's just so much better music out there, such as what's next on my listening schedule:

(http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/amg/classical_albums/cov200/cl500/l572/l57298retqz.jpg)

I was finally able to get ahold of this incredibly hard-to-find disc of some of Atterberg's "lighter" music. It's always good to return to old friends like Atterberg after a day of listening to composers like Tüür and Bainbridge. Atterberg's music never fails to warm my heart :) The Siciliano from the Suite Barocco is five minutes of pure heavenly beauty :)

Finished listening to Bettinelli's Inno IV. Beautiful choral work (Do you know it Clive?)
Now I start from the same composer his Terza Cantata for chorus and orchestra. This one more complex and it sounds also more modern, both inthe instrumental as the vocal parts

Mr. Kyjo - thanks for the steer towards some Kalsons pieces I've not encountered.
Mr Elroel - most kind of you to think of me...not quite sure (memory & old age !) how I was led to Bettinelli recently, but have discovered the pieces you mention, and yes, they're well worth a few minutes of your time.
Simon Bainbridge - didn't have much in common with his 'Garden of Earthly Delights' from the Proms. As stated...there's so much out there well worth attention, why spend too long on those who don't appeal so much ! Prefer some of the RAM students' pieces which he sometimes conducts !

I don't normally post this kind of thing  ;D  but...........

I have been listening to my own digitised version of the old LP version of Ernst Bacon's "Ford's Theatre" in honour of the fine composer whose music is so utterly neglected and whose widow has exchanged a number of charming emails with me

....and the new CPO version of Panufnik's marvellous, grand and imposing Sinfonia della Speranza: which I strongly recommend to those who don't know the work :)

I should have added that "Ford's Theatre"(or "Theater" in American ;D) is available in a modern Naxos version played by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin.

It is the only orchestral Bacon commercially available and is a moving, accessible piece which I strongly recommend also.

His Elegy Remembering Ansel Adams for clarinet and strings is available on a CRI CD. I agree with you about Bacon. His music is the same accessibility level as "populist" Copland, Harris or Ward but is overall deeper and less brash than the aforementioned composers. :)

.....and indeed the Elegy's recording is duly noted in my catalogue of Bacon's orchestral music ::) :-[ :)

I am trying to juggle too many balls at the same time these days ;D  Your eagle-eye saves me from egregious error :)

I was only familiar with Peterson-Berger 2 before; have 4 to give a proper listening but never heard 1 or 5. Will be working my way through all Melartin's symphonies when I get the chance.

I have been meaning to explore Atterberg! I have downloaded symphonies 1, 6 and 8 and the PC - but with so much to listen to not managed it yet! Anything you can recommend as representative of his best work?

I'm the Atterberg man around here ;D, so I'd be happy to give you some recommendations :) The complete symphonies set on CPO is essential listening as far as I'm concerned. My favorite Atterberg symphony and a good starting point IMO is the Third (subtitled West Coast Pictures), which is an breathtakingly gorgeous piece with some vivid nature painting. From there, I would explore the symphonies in this order: 2, 5, 1, 6, 4, 8, 7, 9. I highly recommend the three CPO discs which supplement the symphonies cycle (the main works on each of them are the PC, the VC and the Symphony for Strings). The PC is a hyper-romantic work in the vein of Rachmaninov which boasts some memorable melodies. The VC is a highly-charged, intense work on a symphonic scale with the typical Atterbergian soaring melodies. So, in summary, dig into these first:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61dOO0bXx1L._SX300_.jpg)   (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61l%2BZlxsJEL._SY300_.jpg)   (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rUq0g1EmL._SY300_.jpg)

If you catch the Atterberg bug (which I guarantee you will ;)), snap these up after exploring the recordings pictured above:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bjHI%2BmOSL._SY300_.jpg)   (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51hH1CHP16L._SY300_.jpg)   (http://www.tubascott.com/images/CD/French%20Horn/BIS-CD-376%20Horn%20Concertos.jpg)   (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416WZY2229L.jpg)   (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Mar13/Atterberg_sys_CHSA5116.jpg)

I'd say Atterberg's five best works are:

1. Symphony no. 3
2. Symphony no. 2
3. Piano Concerto
4. Symphony no. 5
5. Violin Concerto

But that's just my own opinion, of course! Just let me know if you need any more help with recommendations. Happy listening! :)

Listening in my car on the way to and from work today... Mongolian symphonic music.

Music of Sharav and Murdorj from YouTube downloads burned to CDR, and the two Gonchigsumlaa symphonies, burned to CDR from Melodiya LPs. Very nice!

Yes, that YT channel which contains super-rare Mongolian music is a little treasure trove! The Gonchiksumla (however you spell it ;D) symphonies are remarkable for the influence of RVW (of all composers!) that permeates them.

Thanks Kyjo, CPO set of Atterberg symphonies duly ordered!

Some truly marvelous music awaits your ears!  I'd be interested to hear what you think of this set once you get a chance to listen to it. I wouldn't be surprised if you will be as bowled over as much as I was at first hearing. :)

No. 3 blows my mind open every time I hear it. No. 5 is the masterpiece of the group. 6,7 and 8 are great fun and No. 9 is still a tough nut for me to crack.
The Piano Concerto is one of the finest ultra-Romantic concertos ever written. Amazingly beautiful!

Totally agreed. No. 9 will come as a shock to anyone expecting the luscious late-romanticism of the other symphonies. I'm not too fond of the vocal aspect of it either; vocal writing was not one of Atterberg's strong suits, I suppose. But then again, he couldn't be a perfect composer! ;)

The Atterberg symphonies (and I haven't heard every one yet, but based entirely on what I've heard so far) constitute one of the great neglected symphony cycles of the 20th Century.

Atterbergs life-asserting music is in a class all by itself..and I would describe it as ultra-romantic. It is one of the first things I would play for someone who was not fond of "classical music" and have done so with some of my freinds..all reacting positively to it.
While the symphonies are a wonderful creation (excludsing no 9) I think something of shorter duration might lure them in.
These two fine pieces did the trick:
En värmlandsrapsodi, Op.36 (1933) (A Värmland Rhapsody) 8'35
Ballad utan ord, Op.56 (1957-58) (Ballad Without Words)

Presently listening to the 2nd of 3 symphonies by Christopher Rouse..Highly animated, jabbing, desolate piece, but quite a treat!
Generally, Rouse's music is an assault on the senses, but it is unique, cleverly written and quite accessable (for me, at least)

Ştefan Neaga - Poemul Nistrolui

A very romantic piece of music. It is also very Romanian, but that doesn't look strange, because before WW2 is was Romanian territory. In the most of Moldavia Romanian is the language of the people..

The Music Conservatorium in the captial Chisinau is named after him.
His lesser known than Georgi Neaga (most of the time known as Nyaga.

+1 :)

Cyrillus Kreek.

Isn't that a who rather than a what ??? :) :)

If it is, by any chance, the Estonian Requiem I would value your assessment. I fell in love with the piece :)

Listening now to a, I think powerful modern symphony, but very much respecting music history.
It's written for baritone solo and orchestra by Olli Mustonen.

Everytime the Fins surprise me with music I like so much!

Here is link to YT. I think there will be a recording on cd very soon (Ondine?)



http://youtu.be/0O9SulwZnDw

I listened to the Setu Symphony and some Psalms of David. I want to listen to the Requiem again and then comment.

In an attempt to warm up to Havergal Brian's later style, I listened to his Symphony no. 14 (which in only available in the Archive) tonight. All I can say is more power to those that can get something out of Brian's later works! ;D This and pretty much all post-Symphony no. 6 works leave me cold, for the most part. :( I did like the section in the middle with the harp floating mysteriously above the low brass, but that's about it.

Lou Harrison - Easter Cantata & Mass to St. Anthony.

 Directed that way from the Hauer thread via YT, & reminded what a pleasure Harrison can be !

The 14th-strictly speaking-is mid-period Brian ;D The later Brian would be from around No.22 onwards. I too have some problems with later Brian. I would not say that the later symphonies "leave me cold" but their elusive nature take some "getting into". The 14th, which was Malcolm MacDonald's least favourite Brian symphony, actually rather appeals to me in its somewhat bombastic idiom ;D But I am rather surprised that you obviously don't rate Nos. 7-9 which are amongst my favourite Brian symphonies and, in my opinion, his best. These really are marvellous works to my ears :)

No 14 is one of my favourites! ??? :( ;D It took me years & years to crack open these later symphonies. Probably about 25 years at least! (Makes me sound intelligent,doesn't it?! ;D). Despite the enthusiasm of the HB Society and various 'Brianites',I thought they all sounded the same. To me,Brian had just simply run out of good ideas. (No 16 and No21 were honourable exceptions,thanks to those excellent Lp recordings!)
  Anyway,years later I had a pc & and a cd/dvd writer,and thanks to the enthusiasm of Johan,over at the GMG forum,and the ability to compile cds (via the downloads here) of the symphonies in order.......lo and behold,in true Arabian Nights style (well,sort of! ;D) these indecipherable,gritty,samey sounding late symphonies mysteriously 'opened up'. And,let me tell you,it was wierd the way it happened. I had tried for years to no avail. Suddenly,almost overnight,I was enjoying them!! The sheer variety of ideas and mood. The colour and individuality of Brian's muse. It was like a magic casement opening up. And I'm not exaggerating! I have never experienced anything like this with any other composer. Now I actually prefer them to allot of the earlier symphonies!! ??? :o ;D

It's wierd!! ;D

Just finished listening to Pascal Bentoiu's Symphony no. 1 on YT. Interesting piece to say the least. Lots of interesting sonorities, including the prominence of a group of saxophones which give the work a jazzy edge. Apparently, Bentoiu's later symphonies are more "difficult" than his earlier ones and I didn't exactly find no. 1 to be "easy" in any regard, so we'll see how that goes!

BTW: The Electrecord channel on YT doesn't mark the movement numbers, which is rather frustrating. I did some sleuthing and found them here: http://www.bestmusic.ro/pascal-bentoiu/discografie-pascal-bentoiu/album-8-simfonii-si-un-poem-cd-1-63014.html (The track listings of subsequent CDs can be found by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.)

Bravo! Persistence does pay off sometimes!

As promised, the Kreek Requiem was a mixed bag. Very fine choral writing and brass work. Very simple folk-based and real folksongs as themes. I was much disturbed by the constant "Big Ben" motif recurring over and over again.  Does that have some meaning in Estonia?  All and all an interesting listen but nothing I would return to often.
Kreek seems a purely Estonian interest.

For the umpteenth time ;D ;D one of my all-time favourite works:

Miloslav Kabelac's Passacaglia "The Mystery of Time" :)

Powerful, imposing, granitic, terrifying ;D

His recording is admittedly showing its age but my goodness, how Karel Ancerl nailed this piece with his Czech Philharmonic Orchestra back in 1960. Magnificent blaring brass, hammered timpani, the pieces works its way to such an overwhelming climax and then slowly winds back down, its intensity spent, towards the same mysterious, other-worldly regions as it had began.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kxcD0mU9jo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kxcD0mU9jo)

Indeed, the granitic power of the Kabelac could never be doubted :) A true masterpiece!

Just finished listening to Bentoiu's Symphony no. 2. I liked this one better than no. 1; it's more accessible with some nice jazzy chords and groovy rhythms. 8)

Yes, love the Kabelac, Mr. D !

Similarly gorgeous Sunday listening (stolen from another thread !) - Gavin Bryars 'The North Shore'.

"Mystery of Time" really does deserve a modern recording. There is an alternative version available taken from a radio broadcast with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Valek but it is a much lower voltage, more careful and cautious performance. What Ancerl achieves so magnificently in the 1960 recording is to gradually but inexorably screw up the tension as the work proceeds towards its shattering central climax. The Czech PO in its full glory attack the score with total commitment and if the brass appear in this recording somewhat "blaring" then I actually think that suits the music ;D They slice through the pulse of the music in a way which I find quite terrifying.

Actually (for the first time tonight....yes, I know, again ;D) I noticed some similarities between the Kabelac and some later Martinu-the Martinu of the 1950s(the Frescoes, Parables and the Epic of Gilgamesh).

Listening to the exquisite music of Jean Coulthard - Music On A Quiet Song
from this site:
http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Jean-Coulthard

Hello Colin,

thanks for bringing Kabelac' "Mystery of Time" to my attention - after listening to the recording this morning I also discovered an overwhelming companion piece on the CD,
Jan Hanus' Symphonie Concertante op.31. It is an exciting work for organ, harp, timpany & strings.

Terrific work by Hanus - & a very useful website, thanks !

Sometimes you find a work that pleases very much.
Such a work, I'm listening to now, is the DUETTO by the Russian composer Mikhail Gogolin.

Some of you might find it good as I do, so I uploaded it to Mediafire;

http://www.mediafire.com/download/o90habbu266d0ge/gogolin%2C_mikhail%2C_duetto%2C_alekandr_loskutov%2C_vn%2C_galina_loskutova%2C_pf%2C_vologda_phil_c_o%2C_mikhail_gogolin.mp3

On this site you learn more about this composer
http://www.gogolin.ru/en/

Excellent discovery, Mr. Elroel; plenty available at classical-music-online, too !

based on your tweak, I started listening to Jan Hanus last nite and did not stop till early morning.
Wonderfully orchestrated tonal works, many with a strong forward motion. Sometimes the melodies are elusive, but I'm sure more listening will reveal them. I'm surprised at how few of his fine symphonies are posted anywhere, yet he was very prolific. There is an inactive link to the 5th at UC and the 7th is mentioned but also a defunct link.
I know there are many talented Czech composers, so he is likely to be ignored.
But maybe lovers of Czech music could reczech this situation. This composer is extremely imaginative and sorely deserves a special thread. (Also the special n character at the end of his name causes problems locating his music.) I hope it did not diminish interest.

I have recordings of Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 which I shall gladly repost if you like :)

The Hanus Symphonie Concertante is a marvelous work. The lush textures Hanus is able to create in this work are spellbinding! If his symphonies are that good, I simply must hear them!

Dundonnell, please repost the Hanus symphonies, you have my deepest gratitude!!

I have re-uploaded the six Hanus symphonies and posted the new links :)

Hello Colin,

thank you for uploading the Hanus symphonies to this forum!!
Hopefully you have got his works for piano & orchestra (Aristophanic Variations + Three Fragments of the Apocalypse) as well?
I would greatly appreciate an upload of these works.

Best regards,
                         mjkF

I am afraid that the problem appears to be a Browser issue rather than anything wrong with the uploads themselves. I have just successfully downloaded each symphony from the links provided. I use Firefox personally.

In these circumstances I do not think that reuploading the files would do any good.

I do have five more pieces by Hanus-including the ones mentioned-and will up0load these as well.

Glad that the links are now ok for you :)

I have re-uploaded five more works by Hanus and added the links to my previous post. I do not have performers for the Three Episodes.

(By the way....it is Dundonnell rather than Odonnell ;D)

Listening to music from this site:
The Forgotten Ritual by John Ireland followed by Prairyerth by Robert Johnson..two very delicious morsels of music indeed.

I just got 3 CDs from David Kent Watson as part of Cameo Classics' closeout prior to the distribution deal clicking in.  I'm plowing through Brüll and Jadassohn.  Right now it's the Serenade No. 1 of Brüll.  I'm going to upload this entire CD into my system and burn 2 compilation CDs for my conductor friend, all Brüll.  I wonder if there are any overtures by Jadassohn?

Listening to the gorgeous horn concerto of Erkii Salmenhara. While I can only think of a few horn concertos that are memorable, this one
is heads and shoulders above any others...a wonderful work IMHO and posted here in Finnish music.
While the R Strauss seems to take top billing, Othmar Schoeck and Levko Kolodub have also produced some fine horn concertos.
Hmm..someone want to start a thread on horn concertos, there are many I have not heard and many that were not memorable..

Arrived today in the mail - it is all the fault of you all, here, I dare say  >:( - and will play it in a minute.

At this moment I'm still listening to a composer I had never, until yesterday, heard of. And whose very name is not even mentioned in Tomás Marco's Historia de las música española, siglo XX (Tome 6) - that I bought during a conference in Málaga in the Summer of 2000 and that I use as my main reference book regarding modern composers from Spain - let alone his music.

Yesterday in The Hague, I found a cd with four of orchestral works by composer Emilio Lehmberg or Emilio Lehmberg Ruíz (1905-1959), the son of a survivor of the shipwreck of the German frigate 'Gneisenau', that sunk in front of the port of Málaga on 16 December 1900. This marine, Lehmberg senior, married a daughter of the Ruiz-Rodríguez family that welcomed him, and their son is apparently a local name in Málaga, where a street is named after him. The most substantial piece on the cd is his only Symphony, the four-movement Sinfonía, finished a short time before his death in 1959. Of course, they are performed by the Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga, under director José Luis Temes (Verso 2067).

One of the three other pieces on the cd is a Suite Andaluza from 1942 in five parts, number four a 'Bolero' that sounds uncanningly familiar. Let's say that he found his inspiration in a piece that also heavily inspired Uno Klami's '3 Beaufort' or 'Force 3', part six of the Sea Pictures.  ;)

Here's some excellent horn concerto recordings I've acquired over the years:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TB5-ijMqL._SY300_.jpg)   (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61eia3TS08L._SX300_.jpg)   (http://www.cdvpodarok.ru/cdimg_250/00/02/88/73_big.jpg)

A very interesting post,kyjo. I hadn't even heard of the Lyrita cd and I thought I was familiar with most of their releases. This received some very interesting,enthusiastic and informative reviews on Musicweb (just had a look). Gramophone take note...these are what you call reviews!! Look at all the stuff about Gilbert Vintner in Rob Barnett's review (for example). His cantata 'The Trumpets' was recorded twice,in the sixties;the first a 1966 HMV release with the great Owen Brannigan?!! Well,I never!! And for once,even the York Bowen sounds tempting!! A post from the Musicweb message Board by 'Jeffrey Davis' (is this our own Vandermolen?!) rounds off his review with a complaint about the neglect of Ruth Gipps by cd labels. The Fourth symphony "a wonderfully life-affirming and inspiriting score". "All the works by this composer that I have heard have been great". And quite frankly I have,personally, lost count of all the enthusiastic posts and reviews I have read,in various places,over the years,about this composer;so why no isn't her music being recorded? It certainly doesn't fit into the Cooke,Fricker,Jones bracket. It all seems pretty approachable stuff and allot less controversial than York Bowen,who,quite frankly,seems to gather a lot of negative posts,despite the flood of recordings!
All in all a very tempting sounding cd,indeed! How long can I resist?!!!

One Amazon review describes the playing on this cd as in the "sensational class"! One very silly review there,too! The comment left is spot on! Dear oh dear!! ::) ;D

You'd really enjoy that disc, cilgwyn. Yes, even the Bowen work ;D

This is indeed 'our own' Vandermolen, and he's absolutely right as far as I'm concerned. The neglect of Ruth Gipps is a pity, the only two recordings of her work (this Horn concerto and the Second Symphony) cry for more, as do the recordings in the archives of this forum (among them Symphonies Nos. 3, 4 and 5). Especially Symphony No. 4 is exactly as he describes it. So, what we wait for is a record company that serves us with more Ruth Gipps, Williams Wordsworth, and Stanley Bate, to mention my own top priorities.

You will obviously get no disagreement from me regarding Ruth Gipps.....and William Wordsworth and Stanley Bate ;D ;D

I think it is a tad unfair to say "it certainly does not fit into the Cooke, Fricker, Jones bracket". These composers can only be 'bracketed' as neglected; their music is very different. I think that if one were to talk about British composers whose music demonstrates some indications of the influence of Vaughan Williams then Gipps, Wordsworth and Bate would certainly fall into that category....but then, to an extent, one could argue that so does that of Daniel Jones :)

Quite a lot of that CD is available to listen to on YT: here's a link to one part - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dBHyhQxbpQ

You're right, this is the CD I am talking about. And here's the Bolero I was referring at, from the Suite Andaluza from 1942, please draw your own conclusion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ItV3Z6Zz8E

BTW, the first three movements are very much in the style of the two ballets from Manuel de Falla, sounding almost like free variations on some of its themes, so Lehmberg clearly allowed himself to be inspired by well-known sources. Let's call him 'eclectic', his 1959 Symphony very much in the style of Brahms. At the same time, his music is attractive enough to reward repeated listening.

I've been working my way through the piano sonatas of Samuil Feinberg, who I find a fascinating figure for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. Well, maybe it is that early Soviet period in general that seems so strange and wonderful.

Yes, the Feinberg sonatas are great works that remind me of Scriabin on LSD! ;D

Curious kyjo, which composers do you not like?

Stockhausen, Boulez, Xenakis and other members of the Darmstadt school, any of the "spectralist" composers, R. Strauss (I actually like J. Strauss better, believe it or not!), Webern, Offenbach, Rossini, Verdi, Tavener, Part, Telemann, most Medieval and Renaissance composers are who immediately come to mind.

Well, I think you have a healthy appetite for many types of serious music. A very open mind. I agree with most of the ones you dislike except the Renaissance.

Thank you! I haven't really given Renaissance music a fair shake yet; some of it is quite beautiful, though I can only take it in small doses.

His 3 piano concerti (unrecorded?) are here and the themes are quite captivating.
http://classical-music-online.net/en/composer/Feinberg/2147

As the saying goes, "If Richard, then Wagner; if Strauss, then Johann".

If anyone is interested and-more importantly-to distinguish my musical taste from that of Kyle (since we were characterised recently as having very similar tastes :))-

I dislike most Mozart, Delius, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, York Bowen, plus, of course, the same modernists as Kyle ;D

(I should add however that my "dislike" of the these named composers is not so great that I would not sit through a performance of any of their works and I have a large collection of their music on cd. It is more that they would be very much at the lower end of my listening spectrum.)

Unlike Kyle however I DO like Richard Strauss, Tavener, Part and the other minimalists.

You will not be surprised to hear that I see some similarities.

Among my dislikes are not only the self-proclaimed avant-gardists, but also Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Scriabin. I also have a blind spot for most of Brahms, Schumann, Delius and Sibelius. (In general, Germany is not a country I look to when I think about music, while at the same time I admire German culture in general and I feel more at home in the language than I do in English.)

However I love Pärt, far more than Tavener, who is a completely different category IMHO and I also like most of the minimalists, again a completely different category, but NOT Philip Glass's 'symphonies'. :)

Again, much more important are the 'likes', first and for all those composers who wrote symphonies, especially those during the last century.  :)

i suppose i'm really the odd one out, since I love both Mozart and lots of "avant-garde" music, whereas the composers whose music I find least appealing are probably Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovich and John Adams! ;) :P (Coolidge, that is—i'm finding i like John Luther Adams more each time i listen, he's pretty "accessible" ;) as well) However, i will also second the "dislikes" for Richard Strauss, Scriabin, Delius, Rossini and Tavener, and add most Schoenberg, most Berg, Boulez, Babbitt, actually most of the American "serial" school (Shapey/Wuorinen/Perle/early Rochberg etc etc) Glass, Nyman, Rutter, Whitacre, Karl Jenkins and perhaps others.

Do agree that it's the "likes" that are the really important thing—no one's forcing anyone to listen to music they dislike, after all. That said, I am personally never satisfied simply "disliking" a piece of music unless i can explain in some detail why it offends my sensibilities to the degree that i will actively avoid a concert where it is programmed. Often pieces I initially disliked I ultimately wound up enjoying a great deal as I re-listened to them trying to figure out why I didn't like them. Those that remain i possibly won't ever like... and possibly, as seems to happen to almost everyone, i'll turn 50 and suddenly Bruckner will turn out to actually be great music :P

Re Wagner. Perhaps you have not heard the "right Wagner, as his orchestral music drew me to classical music in my youth. I cannot bear his "Fat lady Operas", but slap on his orchestral music like Orchestral Prelude to Good Friday Spell from Parsifal, Tannhauser and Venusberg Music, Magic Fire Music..or Tristan und Isolde..and try to get beyond the Flying Dutchman..unless it is just a "German" thing. BTW:I too, have little use for Schoenberg.

It's possible... I'm not sure, i used to object strongly to music with singing in it, but there's now an increasing amount of vocal music I enjoy and a reasonably large number of singers I can tolerate, so it's not the fact that most of Wagner's music is opera (although, admittedly, the vocal style required is not really to my taste, either). Sadly it's a lot of the same elements that seem to attract people to the music—a high-minded seriousness i find holier-than-thou, orchestral grandiosity that for me tips over into bombastic tub-thumping, endless chromatic lines full of longing and desire and etc that quickly become tiresome, this whole overriding sense of the man's massive ego and "mission from god" to deliver music to the world. (I suppose one has to have a pretty big ego to succeed as a composer, to be able to put pieces of yourself out in the world and not turn suicidal when critics call them derivative, repetitive and boring, explains why a lot of composers are not people you'd want to have coffee with) There's also some of that in Beethoven and Brahms, but at least they also have humour and poetry and other things that compensante somewhat. All the Wagner I've heard has been very, very serious, usually with its high point being a beautiful melody that then gets repeated and "developed" at such length that i never want to hear it again. I managed to slog through Tristan, which was a chore; have never completed any of the Ring operas and have given up trying. Bruckner, Mahler and Shostakovich i do occasionally revisit, though without much luck so far (there are a few Shostakovich works i like, but many more i've never warmed to)

I suppose in complete fairness i should also mention that i have played through Wagner's Album-Sonata in A-flat major which was actually quite charming and showed off some of his strengths (melodies, development & orchestration, if it can be called orchestration when there's only one instrument concerned) to good advantage. Everything else that i've heard i'm happy to pass my listening duties off to others.

(incidentally my objections to Wagner are pretty similar to my objections to Schoenberg and Boulez, two other self-proclaimed "God's Gift to Music"s—perhaps it's as much an ideological as an aesthetic thing)

I like some Strauss -Salome is one of my favourite operas, but the later operas I avoid like the plague. Much of his later music I just find smug. I could say something similar about Stravinsky. I can appreciate the greatness of his music without actually liking it; with exceptions, like the Rite.

Mozart is fine by me, but I prefer Haydn. I have always said that for me, listening to Mozart is like overhearing a brilliant conversation, whereas in Haydn's case, the talk may be less brilliant, but he is talking to me and not someone else in the room.

I am surprised that the name of Richard Strauss should have popped up so often amongst the composers members dislike. I am not an opera buff-with the marked exception of "The Ring" cycle :)-but Strauss's orchestral works do hold huge appeal for me. Of those my favourites are actually the marvellously atmospheric "Tod und Verklarung" and the glorious Alpine Symphony. But it is later Strauss (or indeed, last Strauss) that produces the most powerful emotional response. At the very end of his life, with his native country in ruins, to compose "masterpieces" like Metamorphosen and the Four Last Songs was quite remarkable. The Four Last Songs I cannot listen to and remain dry-eyed. To me they represent the aged composer's farewell to everything he held dear and indeed to life itself, in music of such incandescent beauty that I rate these songs as a pinnacle of 20th century music. Amongst all the ugly horrors of the world at that time and the way music was developing Strauss could write music which is almost a requiem in miniature for Romanticism.

Maybe, but Ariadne auf Naxos I find unlistenable.

Strauss is a very superficial composer IMHO. There's an egotistical quality to his music that I find quite appalling. I don't find one ounce of genuine emotion in his music.

Well-as can very sadly happen amongst those who love music-we shall just have to beg to differ :(

There is nothing more I can add.

And so will I.  Thank gawd his operas are almost never staged here in Russia :)

Having said earlier that there was "no more I can add" I shall almost immediately change my mind ::)

I think that it is-to say the very least-unfortunate that this thread has morphed from a thread concerned with what members were listening to(and, therefore, probably, liked) to a thread in which some members voiced their dislike of the music of certain composers. That introduces a tone of negativity which I regret. AND I speak as someone who has participated in this by listing composers whose music I thought that I disliked.

However...I had no sooner listed these composers than I reconsidered. On calm reflection I decided that I did not REALLY dislike ANY music which I can understand and appreciate. (This excludes avant-garde music which I can neither understand nor appreciate.)

I have also tried to be at pains to repeat several times that my failure to FULLY appreciate the music of a composer like Delius, for example, is my loss. I understand and respect the deep love others have for the music. I would not wish to suggest that my personal aesthetic tastes should in any way diminish or detract from that love.

I can accept that others, apparently, have no time for the music of Richard Strauss. That is a given. I find it much harder to accept that it is necessary to write in the extremely strong language used about music which not only gives pleasure but is so deeply and personally meaningful to so many, including myself :( :(

I don't either. I find tonnes.

Russia's loss.

"a high-minded seriousness i find holier-than-thou, orchestral grandiosity that for me tips over into bombastic tub-thumping, endless chromatic lines full of longing and desire and etc that quickly become tiresome, this whole overriding sense of the man's massive ego and "mission from god" to deliver music to the world"
I wish there were a better was to say this, but

Ok, we get it..as a musician, you don't much care for Wagner or his devotees and this is the negative prism thru which you see his music.
There are simply too many "Hot-buttons" that merit further comment, except to say self-righteousness should evoke a look in the closest mirror.
I defend your right to dislike the music, but be advised that not only Polyannish Angelic Teutonic Devils (like me) are fond of it.
The current Wagner hater annecdote is about Wagner teaching his parrot to say "Richard Wagner was a great man"
and it was a joke on his part..please....give this guy a break..I am extremely weary of all of the trash talk heaped on him and his followers.
God will judge him for his perceived human imperfections, not us.

As SI Hayakawa said "I never hesitate to give a piece of my mind...I have nothing to loose".

But Mr D! Has anyone really been so terribly scathing about Herr Strauss?  I know I haven't - and I don't think anyone else has been either?

And in my further defence, I was idly listening to ARABELLA (surely his most navel-gazing stuff?) at the time I was writing - so it was what 'I was currently listening to' ;)

As you've said yourself - we can't all like everything, and we can't all admire everything to an equal degree. I am sure that CAPRICCIO, ARABELLA, INTERMEZZO and Strauss's other operas bring enjoyment and satisfaction to many - and I would never seek to see that enjoyment quenched in any way.  It's a bit like people smoking cigars in restaurants - I rather wish they wouldn't, and I certainly wouldn't like to myself - but I am happy that they pursue such a peaceful and hedonistic habit. It's greatly preferable to drinking themselves into a noisy and quarrelsome post-prandial state ;)

I have days when I quite like ROSENKAV (and indeed, I've actually staged a heftily-cut version myself -  put on to allow Opera School students to show their paces - thankfullly all that "Mariendel" nonsense was among the cuts before I arrived in the project!).  ELEKTRA has some good moments (although it's severely prolix, in my personal view), and DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN has kept me interested.  But with all of his operas - and the criterion here is that opera is a theatrical medium - I find his dramatic approach blustering and unfocused. His characters are generally not well drawn musically (something he got right, unusually, in ELEKTRA) - the story all but disappears in a sea of musical syrup. So I have listened extensively to Strauss, and I know all his operas. I don't find his musical language very effective in the theatre, but that doesn't mean I cast it aside. I often think that these works address the cares and attentions of a Viennese public who are no longer really with us in any great number?

Opera is a tough genre to master - many try, but few excel. Yet there remain many, many composers (sadly...) whose operas are greatly less still successful than Herr Strauss's  ;)  Let us not list them - it would be a weary task ;)  Let us instead focus on what we find good, well-written, terse, vivid, inspiring, and attention-worthy, and - in the case of operas - worthy of a production budget to bring them to life on the stage :)

Meanwhile, I don't feel that having a lack of appreciation for Strauss and Bruckner is so terrible... whilst I can claim musical interests that encompass the rondeaux and virelais of Machaut and Solages, the monophonic songs of Oswald von Wolkenstein, huge swathes of French baroque opera, most of Shostakovich's output, all of Gluck's operas (even The Three Chinese Ladies), vast chunks of Russian "Silver Era" romances, most of Storace, Shield, Linley and Attwood, and the latest operas from Rorem, Richard Ayres, Sergey Chechetko, Desyatnikov, Glass, and Schedrin ;)

Its all about priorities..
I also have little use for most Mozart (except at a formal dinner as backgound) but the rest have their "special moments".

There are some things I enjoy from all these composers, but time is an issue and other musical priorities take hold unless I'm in a special
mood or there is a "trigger" which reminds me of a piece I should hear again. Nothing relaxes me more than the 2nd movement of Rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony for example. Even Eine kleine Nachtmusik fills a special time and place.
R Srauss is quite uneven for me, his popular tone poems certainly get my attention but not much else does....Tavener has not impressed, perhaps it was the mood..Glass (exclude the symphonies) and other minimalists in small doses at certain times are bearable.

I like it all, but what I listen to is based on the moment..

In answer to you first question, Neil.....Yes.

In answer to your second question......No, you haven't.

However, I really do not feel inclined to continue to discuss a matter that has caused me personal pain :(

Listening to The Poem for horn and Orchestra op 70b by Charles Koechlin.
This is a marvelous soulful piece of idyllic music.

Now it is the captvating and dreamy Ballad for Piano and Orchestra  op 50. also by Koechlin.
What absolutely endearing meodies.

I know Koechlin was a good composer, but when he is very good, he is marvelous.

Get to know him..

I agree, Roger. Koechlin is a very underrated composer. Have you heard Le Docteur Fabricius or Vers la Voûte étoilée? Both are magical, masterful works coupled together on this CD:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QCz6lRriL._SY300_.jpg)

Koechlin is captivating once you are on his wavelength, sometimes one may need to exercise some patience in that respect. This looks like an excellent buy.
I need to rehear Vers la Voûte étoilée which is yet another enticing impressionistic piece. I think I have heard parts of Le Docteur Fabricius(which I mistook for an Opera). It also uses a Ondes Martinot(not a favorable timbre for these old eardrums) and is rather lengthy(50-55 min) so to my loss, I did not stay with it.
The reviews at Amazon are extremely positive and the story behind it is quite fascinating, so time to restart with more patience.
More Koechlin is on tap for tonite!

"Tonite" is actually the name of an explosive, so don't tap it too hard.

Koree and the Mists James Penberthy..from the ABC Classic web site..
Fine dreamy piece from down under..

ok, I'll wait till tomorrow then ...unless "tomorrow" is a laxative..

Koree and the Mists by James Penberthy..from the ABC Classic web site..
Fine dreamy piece from down under..

and right before that, I heard the very fine melodious Symphony in A, Arhem Land by Mirrie Hill.
According to the notes at the site, she was the wife of composer Alfred Hill.

Koechlin very well served on YT, including Fabricius !

swissradio.ch (http://www.swissradio.ch/menu/discography/klassik/opern/index.htm) has an afternoon/evening of French baroque operas today - including Marais, Charpentier and Lully

(and no adverts or chit-chat, either :)

Update: the highlight of the French baroque programming has been Charpentier's Le Malade Imaginaire, which is infinitely funnier than Lully's :)

Thanks for the tip!  I will look certainly for them..

Now: Stjepan Sulek's Epitaph for a Lost Illusion. Perhaps not one of Sulek's best works, but still fascinating nonetheless.

Now that I've finished listening, I can report about one very interesting aspect of this piece: The majority of this work is modern tonal (that is, mildly dissonant and with tonal centers), but about eight-and-a-half minutes in, Sulek breaks into an unabashedly romantic, melodic episode that could've come straight out of a Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov symphony! Fascinating, fascinating.......

Terra Australis - Ballet
by Esther Rofe ; composed 1946
from this site:
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/content/2013/01/10/3667001.htm
I was bowled over by the quality of this music..Esther Rofe is an excellent composer and should be much better known.
This Ballet is in the general style of Ruth Gipps or Grace Williams with glowing melodies and fine orchestration.
The theme of the Ballet is the hardships of early Australia, the encounter with civilzation, and the expected sympatico for the mistreated aboriginees.

I have just heard this - and while the very beginning is a quite acidic, stay with it.
I am still stunned by some of the fine orchestral effects:

Wojciech, Kilar — Krzesany
Antoni Wit - Polish Natl RSO - Cracow Phil Chorus

http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/38131

He frequently does this -- it's an aspect of his compositional style. Sometimes it's oddly disconcerting, at other times magically effective.

I've actually heard this played by - I think - the Scottish National Orchestra as it was then. Stunning experience in the concert hall.

Being there would be awesome..

Just finished listening to a lengthy but very melodic complete ballet from a composer who was prolific but
who produced a ballet I was not aware of, till now..find out who and hear it at the link below..

op. 71 Scaramoushe, ballet
Neeme Järvi (conductor),Gothenburg SO

http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/37712

Hearing The Ernest Block Symphonic Suite of 1944 and am totally blown away by it.
It must be his best piece..one part echoes Rachmaninoff with the Dies Irae theme.
if you have not heard this, you are missing some very fine music...
Listen here:
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/36052

Just finished hearing Symphony No. 1 (1939) by Miroslav Magdalenic (1906-1969) ... a previously unknown (to me) Croatian composer. A rather conservative work, but with some interesting melodic and harmonic touches, oddly reminscent of Bantock and Elgar at times in the 1st movement. Worth a listen!

(available for download from Amazon, along with other works)

Never heard of him! Thanks for the tip!

Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony (brilliant work and brilliant performance courtesy of Muti and the Philharmonia).
The late sonatas of Myaskovsky
Glazunov's Two Pieces for Orchestra (Idyll & Reverie Orientale), op. 14

Welcome to the forum! Based on your post, it appears that you are into the Russian Romantics-they're among my favorite composers. :)

Thank you Kyjo.
Very much so (although I'm very much into the Scandinavian, French and British music also, although Russian/Soviet music is my principal interest and passion).

Excellent! I prefer music from those nationalities as well. Who are some of your favorite composers?

If he is a Croatian, he certainly merits a spin..

It's going to be quite a list, but my favorites are:
Glazunov
Myaskovsky
Atterberg
Alfven
Nielsen
Langgaard
Tchaikovsky
Bruckner
Bax
Sibelius
Shostakovich
Shebalin
Faure
Massenet
Wagner
Rachmaninoff
Tubin
Melartin
Skulte
Creston
Diamond
Barber
Lyatoshynsky
Mussorgsky
Elgar
Suk
Janacek
Zemlinsky
Cyril Scott
Puccini
Dohnanyi
George Lloyd
Boris Tchaikovsky

Who are some of your favorites?

Wow! We share many similarities! My top 20 (in order) are:

Rachmaninov
Tchaikovsky
Mahler
Sibelius
Shostakovich
Bruckner
Vaughan Williams
Ravel
Prokofiev
Debussy
Grieg
Elgar
Bartok
Atterberg
Nielsen
Scriabin
Bloch
Braga Santos
Barber
Dvorak

I look forward to reading your posts! I love a lot of the lesser-known composers you listed.

Hi Kyjo,

I should have mentioned Stephen Heller and perhaps John Ireland on my list. But yes, we do have similar tastes.
It's nice to see that you mentioned Braga-Santos. I admire his works immensely and find him to be a natural symphonist.
His last two are like 180s from the previous four, but he knew his orchestra. My favorites of them are his Second and
Fourth.

I'm looking forward to posting here. I write much about the music on Amazon. Here's the link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A6IPCERKJ6QNP/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp

I love Braga Santos' music, and his Symphonies 2-4 are some of my favorite pieces of music. The rest of his output is more variable in quality, especially the later works, which I have a bit of trouble warming to.

Last night, I listened to Schnittke's Cello Concerto no. 1 from this set:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xCf3w9nFL._SX300_.jpg)

I'm not a huge Schnittke fan, but I was stunned by the great power and intensity of this work. The last four minutes or so of the 4th movement are terribly moving and almost brought a tear to my eye! :)

I got to give this album a try. I have his 6th Symphony which I like, but like you, I'm not really a Schnittke fan. Thanks for sharing that.

Any fan of Braga Santos is welcome here :) :) (not that others are not equally welcome of course ;D)

Four of the original so-called "BS Experts" from GMG are members here as well and I am proud to have been counted as one. We were not really "experts" but just huge enthusiasts for the marvellous music-about which I have written screeds on here and elsewhere ;D  But for the benefit of our new member I shall reiterate that on the relatively rare(fortunately) occasions when I might be feeling down the Fourth Symphony and, in particular, its finale revives my spirits. There are very very few works written by a 26 year-old composer in the 20th century which possess and which encapsulate so magnificently that splendid French expression "Joie de vivre"

Yes, it's my favorite Schnittke recording. I also like his Symphonies 0, 6, 8, the Viola Concerto, Peer Gynt, PC 1, and a few other works. His expressionistic style isn't exactly "easy" listening for me, but the raw power and emotional intensity of his music is never in doubt.

I wouldn't want to listen to too much Schnittke in a row, nor if I was depressed ;D

....but I do agree about the "raw power and emotional intensity" of the music. Schnittke always strikes me-in the same way as Allan Pettersson as a tortured soul.

Just listened to Mikael Tariverdiev's (1931-96) Violin Concerto no. 1 (1992) on YT. I loved it! The first movement is playful and melodic, the second is a deeply felt Bachian aria, and the third is an infectious Prokofievian romp with a crazed ending. Do check it out! Here's his Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariverdiev

Currently listening to Martinu's 14 minute Concerto Grosso for 2 Pianos..a melodic, restless piece..and not a dull moment in it!!

Pavel Karmanov - Oratorio '5 Angels'; discovered by Mr. Elroel on You Tube ! Wonderfully relaxing for a wet Sat. morning !

Ferrer Ferran (b 1966) is a Spanish composer, who writes primarily for harmony orchestras.
I listen right now to his Passió de Cristo.

It is a powerful work where soloistic intrusions interact with the compleet orchestral  body. I use to listen to symphony orchestras mostly, but. Here you can find out what a first class harmony orchestra can do with music.

Great, isn't it - discovered him a few weeks back & put him on the YT thread....maybe your backing will boost interest !

Varied evening's listening:

Gosta Nystroem - Ishavet
Jordan Gudefin - Concerto for Marimba 'Night's Door'
Efrem Podgaits - Concerto for Bayan
David Maslanka - Mass

Sleep soundly after that (and a glass or two of Chardonnay) !

Thanks much for the link to the Bloch Symphonic Suite, Jolly Roger. I've wanted to hear that for a long time. I'd hoped it would be memorable, and it certainly is!

chill319 - I'm glad you liked it.
Tragically, its a piece that is often overlooked, so spread the word.
I think it may be his best work, there is something about it..and there are many great Bloch pieces.

Just finished listening to Alexandre Tansman's Psalms for tenor, chorus, and orchestra on YT (no commercial recording available).

I must say that this is probably the most impressive work I have heard from Tansman yet :)

Beautiful tenor writing, along with some impressive contrapuntal work for the chorus and driving rhythms from the orchestra, make this a work well worth checking out!

Well, have to take your word for it on the 'contrapuntal' bit, but would certainly agree it's my favourite Tansman piece ! No 'choral' bias, of course !

Having a very 'modern' day, inspired by a 21stC thread on another site.  Sylvano Bussotti - Bergkristall;  Niccolo Castiglioni - Sinfonia con Rosignolo;   Donald Erb - Percussion Concerto;  Jon Leifs - Hafis;  and for tonight Hans Zender's take on Schubert's Winterreise.

Will either make or break my attempts to be a thoroughly modern musical adventurer !

Oh, dear - seem to have stopped all traffic with last night's effort !

Saturday: American evening... Nicholas Flagello - Missa Symphonica; James Domine - Alto sax. concerto; James Syler - Blue; Richard Toensing - Magnificat.

A happy weekend to all.

Rich French Baroque pickings on Swiss Radio tomorrow!!

http://www.swissradio.ch/menu/discography/klassik/opern/index.htm

 10:07 Jean-Baptiste Lully - Alceste, ou le Triomphe d'Alcide (1988) Disques Montaigne (F)
 12:45 Jean-Baptiste Lully - Amadis (2006) Accord (F)
 15:40 Marc-Antoine Charpentier - Médée (1984) Harmonia Mundi (F)  [ <--  highly recommended! ]
 18:42 Michel Pignolet de Montéclair - Jephté (1992) Harmonia Mundi (F) - 1st recording
 21:11 Henry Desmarest - Vénus et Adonis (2006) Ambroisie (F)

Rare recordings of the kind that only real devotees might lash out on - so an ideal chance for an online streaming capture, if you fancy?  I shall leave the stream-capture in the hands of my dear other half, as I am out all afternoon at long rehearsals :))  So that will be my listening tomorrow evening and for some of Monday :)

What did you think of those Flagello works, Clive? He's a real favorite of mine-his music has great lyrical power.

Not managed to find all that much of his yet; Missa's excellent ! Not too complex...you can just lap it up. Is it just me, or might that be a feature of quite a lot of US composers; hugely enjoyable without 'taxing' you too much ? May be why some experts, maybe even some here, don't have much time for some of them.
For example, I also greatly enjoyed the other American pieces in tonight's 'concert', particularly the Syler, but I fear few if any colleagues here will go out of their way to try it. Perhaps it, and I are just too simple for this forum ?
And on that dispirited note.....!

Possibly.  It's a quality I've noticed in a good deal of contemporary American music, actually.  Not that I dislike it - quite the contrary.  It's nice to have something well-crafted and not cerebral to listen to sometimes.

The radio's giving me Kalinnikov before bed tonight; tomorrow I shall listen to more of my new Maltese holdings.  So far I've listened to the first disc of 19th-century works.  Quite attractive...entirely unmemorable, and somewhat old-fashioned in their time, perhaps, but very nicely put together.  Frankly, I'm impressed...I had expected less.  (The performances, on the other hand...)

Better balance up after 'American night'.

 Valeriy Antonyuk - Symphony no. 2 'Fanfare'; Efrem Podgaits - Missa Veris ; Alexander Rodin - Symphony of Moonlight; Iraida Yusupova - Gothic Cantata.

Been a lovely few days - away to work again tomorrow, so no 'finds' for a while. Do hope someone's found something to arouse interest !

Listening to Karol Rathaus -  Prelude for Orchestra op 71 (1958)
Robt Whitney and The Louisville Orch.

http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/18105

Rathaus is one of those composers I have difficulty coming to terms with and this work
is typical..a strange blend of dissonance and melody.. I think I like it..

More Rathaus on tap for this evening, now listening to his Piano Concerto of 1939.
This is a marvelous nostalgic work worthy of much more notoriety.
Unlike the Prelude, this is Rathaus at his best...
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/28290

Mmm...got very little of his downloaded, so listening to a piece of 'incidental' (?) music called Uriel Acosta. He seems to have had a very 'interesting' life, in common with many from his background & era, but clearly found a niche that suited him at college in the States.
Will try the works you've found when I've finished this - thanks !

Instead of downloading you may want to record and listen live as it is much less limited timewise. Takes longer, but then you can quickly determine if you want discard or retain it. Re Rathaus, his music is a mixed bag, but I think the piano concerto,polonaise and symphonies are quite noteworthy. To my disdain, he is ften lumped with Schoenberg, but I feel he shares little with him except original nationality and chronology.
I will have to listen to Uriel Acosta again..it did not stick with me, some of his music is not an easy meal upon first hearing. What do you think of the piece?
This is also worth a listen, also 2 symphonies are there:
http://youtu.be/teFE5Ovd1AI
http://youtu.be/pJfTL_U0XRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsdS45Shhrw

Nothing particular about 'Uriel' - just what I had ! Haven't yet heard anything that would compare with Schoenberg...some of whose music does not appeal. So, thus far I'd favour Rathaus !

Thread duty: currently trying Doina Rotaru - Spirit of Elements Symphony....to be followed by Kaija Saariaho - Orion, then Philip Glass Aguas da Amazonia.

Ottmar Gerster Symphony No. 2. A tremendous piece I've previously overlooked.

Thank you, Mr. Latvian - YT version happened to come up to the slow movement; it's lovely !

Incidentally, the YT Channel on which it's found, 'WatchBlueSkies' has a huge array of German (& former E. German) works which are well worth investigating if you don't know them.

Yes, a wonderful and useful channel, no doubt, but I have found a lot of the East German works featured on it to be rather "dry" and unremarkable, unfortunately. :( There have been some exceptions, such as the Leo Spies Symphony no. 2, though! Will have to give the Gerster piece a listen!

Ah, Mr. K. - you've discovered my secret; 'dry and unremarkable'....maybe I should have been an East German !

I finished listening to my new haul of Maltese religious music over the weekend - the last of the discs I listened to was the Nani Shipwreck Mass.  Thoughts on the cycle as a whole:

Honestly, I'm impressed, by and large.  Much of the music I bought was 19th-century vintage.  I was expecting it to be rather creaky and tiresome, but instead it's mostly pleasantly characterful.  Not earth-shattering - while it evinces knowledge of trends in Italian music (especially opera), it's between twenty and thirty years behind the ball, stylistically speaking.  But it's all beautifully crafted, and really quite worth.

The performances are less-than-professional quality, but overall I don't find myself bothered by that.  With the exception of the 18th-century disc I bought; there are some passages in the strings, especially, which would have caused me to not submit the album for publication, were I in charge.  I can take a little squeakiness, but there is a limit.

Also, three operas: Déodat de Séverac's Le cœur du moulin (rather peculiar story, not unattractive music); Giuseppe Sirico's Marinella from Trieste (a worthy work, but thirty years too late for its belcanto idiom - that said, I rather enjoyed it) and La fattucchiera by Vicenç Cuyàs (very, very attractive, and bespeaks promise unfulfilled - its composer died of TB at 22.  A bit long, as second-rate belcanto tends to be, but quite a nice evening's listen nonetheless.)

Oh Clive, you are being way too hard on yourself ;D :)

Mr 'Ser': Really quite envious - 'Shipwreck Mass' sounds right up my street as a choral lover ! Pity my cruise, starting Sun., doesn't call at Valletta !
Mr. K.: no worries, Sir...agree with you about much of the EG music !

cjvinthechair, I have had this site in my crosshairs for some time.
The East Germans were not happy campers and their music reflects some anger with a sterile and repressive socialist culture.
But I found quite a few unknown works and composers who had a a very compelling (albiet a bit pungent) message who must not be overlooked.

Besides Spies, one very gifted composer not to be missed is Ernst Hermann Meyer (1905 - 1988).
There are others, but he is a great place to start..The Concerto Grosso, String Symphony, and Symphony in B (my favorite of these 3) are very fine.
If you can endure the B audio, this is very worthy and important music. Is it atonal? or is it a mix?

Other notables are Max Butting, Günter Kochan, Andrei Shtogarenko, Kurt Schwaen, Othmar Gerster, Johann Cilensek(esp Symphony 4) and the handfull symphonies by Fritz Geissler.

Listened to Symphony "Petersburg" for large symphony by Evgeny Petrov.
at
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/37845

Not a very unique style but this composer is gifted.
Easy listening and very enjoyable, it is a highly "romanticized" description of the history of St. Petersburg.
Not to dimish this music, it sounds like it could have been written for a movie or documentary
and Petrov wrote several musical scores for the Russian cinema..
At first I had mistaken Evegeny (1930–2006) for Andrey Petrov (1930–2006),
who also wrote movie music (don't know if they are related).

And now listening to the music of Georgi Firtich (B.1938) who I had not heard before.
The title is "Recollection of Mikhailovskoe. In Commemoration of A. S. Pushkin, 1999"
It is a very magical piece that will send shivers down you spine if you are subject to that..
This composer should be much better known if his other music is this inspired.
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/20304

It appears you can order the whole set from the APS Bank website:

http://www.apsbank.com.mt/sacred-music-cds

Also from the label's own website:
http://www.geganew.com/en/cds/gr04/cd.htm

If it's available from them, I'd try theirs first - they appear to be the cheaper option.

Most of the works I've heard by EH Meyer are well-written with some good parts, but overall rather nondescript. Butting and Cilensek are rather talented composers and their music has more "personality" and "heart" to it. I intend to investigate Geissler's symphonies next.....

[/quote]

It appears you can order the whole set from the APS Bank website:

http://www.apsbank.com.mt/sacred-music-cds

Also from the label's own website:
http://www.geganew.com/en/cds/gr04/cd.htm

If it's available from them, I'd try theirs first - they appear to be the cheaper option.
[/quote]

Mmm..APS not cheap, 'geganew' not at all clear(how to order, pricing etc.)....fear will have to survive without !

Well, I may try ordering something from them myself in a day or so - they have some attractive-looking Bulgarian issues, too.  I was going to try the e-mail route when I get home tonight and see what happens; I'll let you know.

Just listened to Slovenian composer Jani Golob's (1948-) VC on YT (found on the channel "K0MP0NIST" run by Slovenian composer Crt Sojar Voglar). Interesting work! The first two movements are determinedly serious and often mysterious; the first movement has some powerful passages. The finale is completely incongruous to the two preceding movements in its Vivaldi concerto-cum-Shotsakovich polka wackiness.

Listening to Eino Tamberg's Joanna Tenata Ballet..WOW!!
I was held spellbound by this music...it is music NOT TO BE MISSED..
If you are not familiar with Tamberg's music, this is an excellent place to start.

http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/34965

Well, Jolly Roger you are absolutely right!! This is fascinating music.

The dramatic music is very turbulent at times, and quite lyrical at others.
This puts the high drama of the music in some context:
From http://contemporaryperformance.org/events/joanna-tentata
"Inspired by the supposed possession, Joanna Tenata tells the tale of a Mother Superior possessed by demons and the man who tries to save her.
It is a story about dogmas, exorcism and love, what is based on real event occurred in 17th century, with Ursuline nuns of the town of Loudun in France.
It is a love story about a man and a woman who wear church clothes, and whose religion does not allow them to love each other. The devils that possess these characters are the external manifestations of their repressed love."

I have been listening to Delius's sublime 'Cello Concerto (1921), than which no other piece of music can give more pleasure. "This concerto gives us fullest measure of Delius's richest orchestration and most lavish harmony," wrote Arthur Hutchings. "The music, with its beguiling beauty and riotous colour, is of the composer's best."

Well performed by Raphael Wallfisch with Mackerras and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.

That's surely an impossibly large claim for this Delius work, attractive though it undoubtedly is (and actually, for what it may be worth, I much prefer the same composer's Double Concerto...)

The same story has been set as an opera by Penderecki - "The Devils Of Loudon", as well as being the story behind Ken Russell's notorious film "The Devils" - which starred Vanessa Redgrave as Mother Jeanne, and Oliver Reed as Pere Grandier.

Thats very Interesting info, I wonder who did the movie music..I don't think Penderecki did, did he?
The Devils of Loudun was written by Aldous Huxley in 1952, but his Brave New World had a major impact on my thinking.
I'm also thinking this strain of music parallels Prokofiev's powerful Fiery Angel, based another sordid tale.

Willem Kersters (1929-1998): Symphony no. 3 (1967). A menacing, grim work with restless, propulsive outer movements. The motto theme, grippingly presented at the beginning of the piece, reappears throughout the work. The ending fades away with an oboe (English horn?) solo over pizzicato low strings.

Peter Maxwell Davies, wasn't it?

Max does indeed get the composer credit in the film titles.

However, AFAIK much of the music was concocted in collaboration with David Munrow, whose ensemble (the Early Music Consort of London) play on much of the soundtrack. Munrow in turn looked to various Renaissance, early Baroque and medieval composers (including a lot of Praetorius, with which the film opens) for his dots.  And of course Praetorius was a publisher as well as a composer - the dance suites in his Terpsichore are clearly French imports (the different ballets have French titles), although the actual authorship of these pieces is probably now untraceable for the most part. Praetorius certainly deserves an arranger credit, at least :)  [Praetorius never bothered much with crediting the composers he included in his dance collections - even though several of the pieces - such as Schein's LA BATTALIA - are clearly not Praetorius's work, and many of them date from up to a century beforehand).  There's also quite a bit of Munrow's own composition and improvisation on the soundtrack - there's a longish bit of improvisation on a Chinese sheng, for example. There are also a few medieval 'hits' on the soundtrack, which are known from different sources - such as "Schiazula Marazula", a pseudo-African (?) piece which was published in all kinds of dance albums from the 1550s onwards - Praetorius also includes it, but in a very watered-down contrapuntal arrangement of his own. It's not impossible that the tune (and it's only a melody-line - presumably played over a drone accompaniment?) had actually come from the Maghreb - shawm bands (shawms on the top lines, drone trumpets below, and a load of drums) used to busk their way round Europe at the time, bringing their own repertoire with them...  they have survived to this day in parts of Catalunya.

[Way back when, I used to have lessons with Alan Lumsden, one of the core Munrow players - who told me who had played and composed what on The Devils. PMD was a friend of Munrow's, and it was all done in friendly collaboration, I believe?]

Listening to The Symphonic Fantasy on BACH by Eugen Suchon.
This is one of the most horrific, turbulent and eerie works I have ever heard.
Put away all sharp objects before listening..this is very rough sledding, Kabelec's angriest moments come to mind. Be advised that the clip is over attenuated and should be played at the lowest 2 notches of the volume control at this site:

Eugen Suchon (1908 –1993 ) - Symphonic Fantasy on BACH for Organ and Orchestra (1971)   
Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferdinand Klinda (organ),Jaroslaw Krombholc (conductor)

http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/41378

Wow, I must hear that! I didn't know Suchon composed music like that!

The Balfour Gardiner Overture is not a first recording either but a very engaging piece.

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=166967 (http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=166967)

Wrong thread, Mathias :)

Back from the high seas (C's ?) - yes,quite lovely, thank you; Genova to Santos(Brazil) - on brief call in Barcelona, picked up in the Liceu shop a v. cheap & elderly recording of Rodion Shchedrin's 'Dead Souls' (operatic scenes after the Epic Poem by Nikolai Gogol), that I've just put on as background to this.
 Anyone familiar ?
Don't think it's going to become a 'go to' disc thus far, but very listenable as ever from RS.

This performance of the Suchon is also on YT.  I had an older recording with the same soloist but with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra under Ludovit Rajter. The Krombhloc is a much better recording.

Sorry, all!
I use the "Recent Posts" function when reading new entries and hit the neighbouring thread...  :-[

I hope I have not exaggerated on this piece, but I found it to be disturbing..

Listening to?!! Franz Lachner's Fifth symphony, but I'll be taking it off shortly as it's been left on repeat for hours.Not that I've been listening to it all the time. It's not that good!! I was replacing a dodgy video recorder with an even older one that,hopefully works. (And yes,I do have a dvd player! ;D) A post at the 'other' forum prompted me to have another listen to Lachner 5! An intriguing and rather obscure 19th c symphony. The theme in the first movement is great,but I can't help think what a composer like Schumann might have made of it. The finale is lively and makes up for a lack of rhythmic variety and memorable themes in between movements 1 & 2. In short,I find it intriguing and I quite like it;but I won't be playing it that much!! ;D Maybe,a little more Lachner (his eighth) then? Lachner is sometimes referred to as a sort of 'missing link' (No,not that kind!! ;D) . I'm not really that convinced by what I've heard so far,but it would be nice to get a chance to hear his other,unrecorded,symphonies.(Edit:shortened a bit! :))

Just begun Lachner's eighth symphony. This is rather nice;and so far,I prefer it to allot of Raff. I just hope the remaining movements live up to this one. Of course,I have heard it before,but this time I'm going to give it a bit more of a go. Incidentally,this has better sound quality than allot of those Marco Polo recordings. I wish they'd all been this good!
Sorry,I'm not listening to anything more recent!

 :o Yikes! I'm enjoying this Lachner symphony so much I'm starting to wonder whether I've playing the wrong cdr! (It's a download). No5 was intriguing but a little plodding in places. This one has a lovely light touch,and a particularly lovely,serene slow movement. I'm very surprised! :o :) So why two Raff cycles (and a bit!) and only three Lachner symphonies on cd?! :(

Not so convinced by the final movements. Not that I don't like them,but they're a bit more like predictable lesser 19thc composer fare. But it's still an interesting alternative to the usual suspects.

I wonder what I'll be listening to today (after it get's light!)?

Spohr today instead of Beethoven! ??? ;D

I was tempted to post,"Spohr today,Spohr tomorrow",but for some reason I resisted!
I might even listen to some Beethoven later on! ;D

Right now: Alexander Kopylov's symphony, and some orchestral incidentals.  Quite nice - I just picked it up secondhand.

I haven't decided what's on deck; most likely the Frederick Jacobi cello concerto, a piece for which I have a deep love.

While the music is not at all similar, the last time I was this impressed was with Joly Braga Santos Symphony 4.
Maybe it was just my mood, but I think this music is absolutely marvelous and should not be missed..I have relistened to it at least 3 times..
crank it up!!

Du Mingxin(1928) - Great Wall of China, symphony
Jean Kenneth (conductor),Hong Kong Philharmonic Orch
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/33329

At the moment, I'm listening to the Busoni Piano Concerto.  Perhaps it's not the most unsung piece in human history, but it's new to me, and thus far I really quite like it.

Now, I sincerely doubt that any piece new to me will impress me as JBS 4 (one of my all-time favorite pieces of music, as I have stated innumerable times), but I'll give that Mingxin work a try thanks to your enthusiasm, Roger! BTW I greatly appreciating you posting about your "finds" on classical-music-online.net. It helps a lot, considering how much rare music has been posted there!

Yep, it's a great work-a stroke of genius to be sure. The finale is something else!

To say the least.  But there's a great deal besides that I find I like in it.

A shade long, perhaps, but no matter.  I'm glad I've finally introduced myself to it.

[/quote]

Yep, it's a great work-a stroke of genius to be sure. The finale is something else!
[/quote]

Kyle, I totally agree with your sentiments re The Braga Santos 4 and feel the same way. My intent was to draw attention to this music. There is also this fine companion piece which also gets very very high marks!!

Du Mingxin (1928 )  - Festival Overture
Jean Kenneth (conductor)
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/33330

Thanks for the great feedback..

As recommended by Jolly Roger, I listened to Weinberg's Symphony no. 18 for chorus and orchestra (1986), subtitled War-there is no word more cruel. I must say that this is one of my best discoveries as of late! This deeply moving work is far from being all doom-and-gloom-it is wonderfully humane and inspiriting. The first movement opens with a beautiful passage for four cellos (?), but the mood becomes increasingly darker. The chorus is introduced in the elegiac second movement, which is a lament for the fallen. The mood brightens temporarily in the third movement with the entry of the womens' chorus, singing a simple, folk-like tune. The tone becomes inevitably more agitated as the movement progresses, leading to an orchestral tutti section complete with wailing trombones. The music dies down when the chorus re-enters and paves the way for a haunting section with a prominent part for the balalaika. The short final movement is a meditation (for chorus alone) on the words in the subtitle of the work. The symphony closes on a deeply valedictory note. Let's hope this one is next on Naxos' or Chandos' agenda!

http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=1978823

hey what's with Naxos new series called "CLassical Archives:???  apparently not available in the US?



GRINBLATS, R.: Rigonda Suite (Latvian State Opera and Ballet Theatre Orchestra, Tons) (1961)

Composer(s)   Grinblats, Romaulds
Artist(s)    Tons, Edgars, Conductor • Latvian State Opera and Ballet Theatre Orchestra
   
Genre    Classical Music
Category    Unknown
Catalogue    9.81209
Label    Naxos Classical Archives
   
    This album is not available in your country due to licensing restrictions or copyright laws that provide or may provide for terms of protection for sound recordings that differ from the rest of the world.

Spohr symphony No 5 today! I was very pleased to see the 'rave' review of the cpo cd of his fourth and fifth symphonies and the enthusiasm expressed for this composer in the December issue of IRR Magazine. After reading the review I just had to listen to the fifth again,as I wasn't as convinced as I was by the fourth,which is already one of my favourite Spohr symphonies. Anyway,thanks to the review,the fifth is now on my 'best of Spohr list!' I am now very happy that I DID buy the December issue of IRR. I usually buy it,but I must admit to almost skipping this months because of my increasing disappointment with recent releases. My mistake! This is what a good enthusiasts magazine is all about! In short,thank you IRR Magazine! Let the Spohr be with you! ;D

Spohr's fifth was followed by Raff's Piano Concerto (and it's still on!) Not a composer I am prone to rave about. I enjoy Raff at his best,and I do think his best music deserves to be heard;but his romantic scores just don't have the depth of expression of,say Weber,Mendelssohn or Schumann.
Having said that,his Piano Concerto is a lovely creation. Beautifully orchestrated,brim full of lovely tunes;and the slow movement is an absolute cracker with all the makings of a Classic FM (YUK!) 'pop' hit! And I hope that's not too disparaging! (Raff may be a little overrated in certain quarters,but he's not that bad that he deserves to be on Classic FM!) ;D Absolutely delightful;and I like the 'Ode to Spring' coupled with it,too (although the Piano Concerto is better).
As to why the Piano Concerto makes such an impression on me? I think it's partly because Raff just wrote this as a beautiful,tuneful piece of music. Unlike the symphonies and some other concert works I've heard there are no high flown pretensions. And that's why this one 'works' for me!! Lovely!

Played, urged by some of you here, the Erkki Melartin symphonic cycle, during the last weeks. Though the idiom is a little bit too romantic to my taste - for similar reasons I didn't surrender completely to the even more 'brazen romantic' Atterberg, a few years ago when the Swede was the talk of the day in fora like these  ;D - I love the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth especially. Almost like a 'better', saner and wiser and more humane, Mahler.  8)
Hope to follow the lead by some of the more adventurous here in discovering other new composers. Many thanks to all who helped me discover Melartin!

Oooh - I quite like the Melartin symphonies that I've heard.  I don't know the complete cycle - I only have two (I think?  Maybe one.) on CD.  But he's squarely within my crosshairs as the sort of thing that I enjoy.

I suppose I am mostly to "blame" for you discovering the Melartin symphonies, Johan ;D Excellent works, all of them, and, as you point out, nos. 4-6 are especially magnificent. At the moment, who do you prefer, Melartin or Atterberg?

Yes, definitely check out the other symphonies, especially if you haven't yet heard nos. 4-6! Oh dear, I am sounding like a broken record :-[......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5mkwJnq_0A

Milos Bok - Oratorio 'Gnomes of the Valley of Krinice'.

Yes, the strangest oratorio name I've met, yet a serious piece by a very driven composer (also enjoyed on YT a documentary about the recording of his 'Credo'.)
Is he familiar to anyone - considering buying a/some CD(s), so informed opinion appreciated ? To me, some of his music's majestic...Czech authorities seem to disagree.

Yes, you are. :-) and I now prefer Melartin over Atterberg, find him more 'personal' and less 'artificial' (for lack of more precise qualifications).

Yes, Melartin does have an individual voice, despite being influenced by Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Sibelius, Nielsen etc. I can see why you might find Atterberg's music rather "artificial", but I urge to re-listen to his Fifth Symphony, which is his darkest and most "personal" work, and not as decadently romantic as the other symphonies.

Aram Khachaturian - Symphony no. 3, & ,later, Richard Einhorn - Voices of Light Oratorio......a couple of days of inspiring music !

Please don't be put off by the title, and don't miss this..it is compelling piece music by a composer who should be much better known. This piece is chock-full of magical orchestral effects. Atonal?? I think not..but there is some doubt..

Anhalt, Istvan (1919 –2012) - Sparkskraps (1987)   
Alex Pauk (conductor),ESPRIT ORCHESTRA.
Recorded at Oasis Studios, Toronto (Canada), March 1992.
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/54208

I will certainly listen to the balance of his music here:

http://classical-music-online.net/en/composer/Anhalt/2241

Well done, Mr. JR - definitely a 'find' !

You're the first I ever hear - read - about the piece. I 'discovered' it by chance ten years ago and love it dearly. Gave it away about five times to friends - and again, heard nothing ever after. ;) What's your impression of it?


Thanks for the tip! Am playing the Fifth at this moment, and begin to see what you mean. I think I only played the later symphonies, as I generally prefer later work with all romantic composers, so I played Atterberg 7 and 8 a lot (and my 'articiallity' refers to No. 7 especially) and also the Ninth and Sixth. Up for No. 5 now.

I remember I had a similar experience with Rangström, playing his Third and Fourth Symphonies and not liking them at all (again, found them mannerist, not very 'sincere') and it took years before I played his First and found it far more convincing.  ::)

BTW, though the booklet coming with the Ondine set of the six symphonies gives no hint of their existence, Melartin actually composed two more symphonies. Wikipedia describes them as Symphony No. 7 "Sinfonia gaia", Op. 149 (1935–1936, unfinished) and Symphony No. 8, Op. 186 (1936–1937, incomplete). Given the development shown in the previous six, I'm sure I would be most interested in these two later symphonies. Does anyone have any information about them? Can they be performed in some form - and have they been?  ::)

Re Atterberg: Don't skip over the earlier symphonies, especially no. 3, which is my personal favorite of the cycle. You may find it too lushly romantic for your tastes, but do give it a listen!

Re Rangstrom: Oddly enough, I rather prefer his Third and Fourth symphonies to the first two! Rangstrom is not a very "sincere" composer by nature: he's very unbuttoned and not afraid to go over-the-top!

Re Melartin: Unfortunately, his Symphonies 7-9 are largely unfinished :( Tapiola wrote this in another thread:

A few more details....The manuscript for the 7th contains only the first movement (allegro) plus the first page of the second (without a tempo marking). The manuscript information says "keskeneräinen orkestrointi Artturi Rope", meaning "unfinished orchestration by AR"; I don't know whether this means that the orchestration is unfinished, because the symphony is unfinished, or whether the orchestration for the existing first movement is unfinished. There are some sketches for the 8th, but they "are so difficult to decipher and fragmentary that there can be no talk of a composition in the proper sense". No manuscript-material has been found for "Symphony no 9", although in a letter to a friend, dated January 6, 1936, Melartin writes that it is "now finished". So what we do have are the first six symphonies plus the first movement for the 7th, to which the composer gave the name "Sinfonia gaia". This information was derived from the excellent home pages of Erkki Melartin Seura.

But who knows, perhaps someone could patch up the Seventh, at least? ???

Many thanks, very helpful again!

RE Rangström: I realized that my memory had fooled me soon after posting this.  :-X It was his Second Symphony that I first heard and that's the one that kept me away from all others for long. I played the Third and Fourth later today, and they are indeed the ones I will return to.  :)

The Khachaturian 2nd  is one of my favorites..
Thanks for your feedback cjvinthechair, you can listen to more of  Anhalt, István and many other Canadians
 by joining here and looking up complete holdings under each composer:
https://www.musiccentre.ca/user
Anhalt (1919-2012) was totally unknown to me but apparently was quite esteemed in Canada, he was a Hungarian Jew who expatriated to Canada.
best friends with George Rochberg

Really?  That's interesting - I thought it was quite a well-known piece.  It's done fairly regularly around the DC area - I know it's been on the schedule at Wolf Trap on numerous occasions that I can recall.  Can't say as I've heard it live.  I do have a recording - it didn't do much for me, but I may be due for a relisten.

Tonight I have some music for clarinet trio to finish listening to:
http://www.schickele.com/shoppe/psrec/dances3.htm

It's a grab-bag; I bought it for the Schickele, which did not disappoint.  The other stuff is fairly uninspired.  I don't know what I shall listen to next - whatever I pull off the pile, I suppose.  ;D

Suppose I'd not have been surprised by a rather brash 'Hollywood' treatment - in fact, it's hugely diverse, quite ascetic at times: 'Relapse', 'Jailers', & when it does go 'huge' that seems appropriate in view of the journey we've taken to get there.
Sure it should have a much wider 'fanbase' !

Well, I started off the night with a new purchase: Martinu's Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra and Erkegali Rakhmadiev's Violin Concerto, with two small orchestral pieces tacked on - his is my first Kazakh piece on CD.  The Martinu is a bit of a bore, same as his music often is for me, I'm afraid.  The Rakhmadiev is pleasant enough...it even becomes cracking good fun in places (even if it's shamelessly stolen from Khachaturian at times.)

Now, though, I have a find - I have a disc of Bulgarian music for violin and piano...Pancho Vladigerov, Parashkev Hadjiev, and Vesselin Stoyanov.  The other two are pleasant enough, but I'm bowled over by the Stoyanov.  Not terribly lush, but what a lovely work - well-structured, nicely constructed, with decent melodies.  He's now on my list of to-find-more.  Not bad for a Thursday night.

That's the one that bored me! I quite enjoyed listening to Rangstrom's symphonies,or perhaps I should say,I found them quite interesting. I can't say I was 'grabbed' by them. It wasn't like listening to Langgaard,Martinu or Brian for the first time! Or even Roy Harris (until I found too many of them sounded a bit the same). I need to have another listen though,to fully make up my mind. I remember a Gramophone review,years ago,being very dismissive. I think that reviewer was unduly harsh;but again,I can't say my reaction was,"Wow! But I think they are worth hearing. Except,No2,I suppose! ;D How often you will want to listen to them again is another matter. Luckily Rangstrom didn't get the 'Plovdiv' treatment,so you have a decent chance to decide? (I'm giving Louis Glass the benefit of the doubt,until he gets a better crack of the old whip! And anyway, I like No's 3 & 5! Come on Cpo/Chandos!)

One additional point! I can't help feeling that Rangstrom No 1,3 & 4 are the kind of thing that Langgaard did much better! (No1,anyway!)

Probably most of us have had the experience of coming back after a time to a piece that made no large impression on us but now, surprisingly, "clicks." That happened to me yesterday with Symphony 2 ("The Sea") by Hakon Børresen. There is a distinctive use in the outer movements of the major-major chord in various inversions, but otherwise nothing unusual about the harmonic language of the 1904 piece. The subjects, however, are rhythmically interesting, melodically distinctive and eminently symphonic, not to mention well worked out. Above all, Børresen has something quite personal to say. I was moved so I listened again and was moved again. If you haven't listened to Børresen in a while, give him another try.

Børresen's Second is a work which, similarly, has made no large impression on me yet. I have found it disappointingly conservative (sounding more like Schumann and Mendelssohn than Børresen's contemporaries) and not as vividly atmospheric as I had hoped. Thanks for that write-up; I'll have to take another stab at it!

Trying to gain a greater appreciating for Strauss' music, I listed to Eine Alpensinfonie played by the Minnesota Orchestra under Edo de Waart (Virgin Classics). I certainly like it, and the Summit and Storm sections are particularly exciting. But all of Strauss' music has that degree of superficiality that prevents me from truly loving it.

Listening to some chamber music by Ellen Taafe Zwilich (the Chamber Symphony, String Quartet, and violin sonata) and Eleanor Cory.  So far I'm not impressed; I think Zwilich can do better.  These are very stringent...but they're earlier than anything else of hers I've heard before.  Pity; I usually quite like her music.

No, no, no ::)

Some of Strauss's music MAY have a "degree of superficiality". That is at least debatable....and you are fully entitled to argue that. But not "all" of it, surely ???
How can anyone argue that the Four Last Songs are superficial ::) I shall die on the barricades defending them against such a charge ;D :)

Anton Rubinstein's Symphony No.6 and "Don Quixote": re-release from Naxos of the former Marco Polo cd.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8555394 (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8555394)

Pleasant, well-constructed....and totally unmemorable-as I find all Rubinstein's music. I am afraid that, if he did not quite deserve the derision in which he was held by the younger generation of Russian composers(his work in establishing the St. Petersburg Conservatory must be properly acknowledged), he is very far from a great composer or, even, frankly, a very interesting composer.

(I shall post a catalogue of his orchestral music....but compiling it was a chore rather than a pleasure :()

Die on the barricades?! Better you than me!! :o Maybe for my last fish finger! ;D

I know you are a great enthusiast for the symphonic repertoire - and there I'll concur with you about A Rubinstein :)

But I have a soft spot for his operas - particularly THE DEMON, which is an outstanding piece of musical theatre. Very probably Rubinstein felt the tide of public expectation, since the work was based on a book (by Lermontov - hardly a slouch in the literary world) that had been banned by the State Censors since the day it was submitted for publication - and had only just come off the 'banned list'. He was on his honour to produce something extraordinary...  and I'd say he succeeded? :)

A conductor friend of mine mischievously refers to it as "Tchaikovsky's best opera" - but you can judge for yourselves? judge for yourselves (http://youtu.be/qRIvJjwLrvU)
(YouTube, complete opera, Latvian National Opera).

Ach, there I'll agree with you.  It's always been a crime to me that The Demon is not better known outside of Russia.  It's a phenomenal piece of theatre, says this opera nut.

You like Strauss' music and I don't; let's just leave it at that :)

I'm inclined to agree with you, Colin, but I do think Rubinstein's Piano Concerto no. 5 is a splendid work-rather like a cross between Beethoven's Emperor Concerto and Liszt's two PCs. It is by some distance the most accomplished work I've heard by him, though I don't know The Demon, which has garnered much praise in some circles.

I shan't say anything critical about Delius if you similarly abstain from criticism of Strauss ;D ;D

Now, now......You may criticize Delius; that is, if you abstain from criticism of Rachmaninov ;D In all honestly, Delius is not a composer whose music I could listen to on a regular basis. But, I don't dislike his music-far from it! The wistful melancholy of his music can (if I am in the right mood) be very effective to me. I love works like the Songs of Sunset, Florida Suite, and North Country Sketches, but struggle to appreciate works such as the Two Pieces for Small Orchestra and the PC. Go figure!

OK....we can substitute Rachmaninov then ;D

Henk Badings' Double Piano Concerto on YT. TOTALLY FREAKIN' AWESOME!!! ;D

Hans Henkemans is indeed very much underrated composer. He lived from 1913-1995
He was a versatile man: pianist, composer, music critic and psychiatrist.
He has been praised for his performances of Debussy's piano music, as well as a soloist in Mozart concertos
Donemus released a couple of his works on lp in the 70s and 80s, most of them later re-released on cd.

At Discogs you find: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Hans+Henkemans

Can we take that as a mild recommendation, Mr. K. ? In which case had better try it ! Liked his double violin concerto, so...promising ! Thanks.

Interesting! I love Delius;but 'North Country Sketches (one of my favourites) has been described as "music for people who don't normally like Delius" (not an exact quote,but you get the drift?) and the 'Piano Concerto' isn't exactly regarded as either typical of Delius's music or one of his most successful (by quite a stretch!). Of course,if you're not that keen on Delius,that may be a good reason to like it! And the 'Two pieces for Small orchestra'?!! ??? ::) I can listen to Delius happily for hours,but I don't see many confirmed Delians getting too excited about those?! ??? 'Brigg Fair','A Village Romeo & Juliet','Appalachia','Sea Drift'? Now we're talking! ;D

Rubinstein's Third symphony (and the Fifth before that)........and (gulp!)I'm actually enjoying them!!! :o I like his First & Fourth too,although I haven't made up my mind about the Sixth yet!

Embarassing,what?!! :-[ ;D

I've heard of Henkemans, but I've never heard any of his music. Thanks for the rec!

Apologies for the crude reaction I posted to the Badings work ;D It is a highly original work with imaginative use of percussion in particular.His Double VC is also great!

Several pieces on the 'Dutch Composers' Channel on YT.

Raff symphony No 8. Not particularly deep,but one of his best,as opposed to 'best'! Colourful orchestration,tuneful,nice and restful. I think Raff No's 3-5 are actually very good and deserve to be heard more often than they do. The Piano Concerto is absolutely lovely. A pity then that the admittedly entertaining 'Wild Hunt' in the finale of the Third just isn't scary enough! And the Fifth just isn't anywhere near as creepy or spine chilling as it should be! Even in Raff's best scores there's a chunk of the old Victorian drawing room,a salon quality,which prevents me from taking some of the high flown adulation of the pro-Raff camp too seriously. Yes,Raff was a talented composer who didn't quite deserve his postumous neglect. Yes,his best scores,like the Third and Fifth,do deserve an occasional concert hall outing;but let's face it. Maybe,even for the most fervent Raff admirers,it's a good thing they don't. The critics would tear them apart! Best in my opinion,if you do like Raff,to enjoy the recent flood of top notch Raff recordings and appreciate Raff for what he is! Either way,I have always loved woodland,so the Thirds always going to be on my list of cds worth playing;even if the 'Wild Hunt' doesn't scare the pants off me!

I'll leave that to Berlioz!! :o ;D

I just started a disc of Albanian concertante music: http://www.enokoco.com/conducting/cd-recordings/ (last but one on the page.)  So far, I quite like some of it, and am indifferent to some of it.  I can't remember composers offhand.  I do recall greatly enjoying the first piece, for violin and orchestra.

Thank you, SerAmantiodiNicolao, Albania is still very unknown to most of us. But what I heard sofar they made me want to know more of them.

Now I listen to Anton Rubinstein's Fifth Symphony. Very rewarding. The more I know of this composer the more I like his works. Earlier I had a listen to this, but not for a long time. Now hearing it again it really impresses.

Someone else likes Rubinstein! And there I was thinking I was making a fool of myself sticking up for his music (see earlier post!) :( ;D (And maybe I am?!! :( :o)
I like his Fifth,too. In fact,I think it's actually more enjoyable and interesting than the rather more well known Ocean Symphony. This one actually sounds a bit Russian! Not that I actually mind when Rubinstein doesn't! (Not terribly often,really!)And unlike Tchaikovsky,he says what he has to say without bombarding my ear'oles with huge noisy climaxes every five minutes. Not that I don't like Tchaikovsky. I love his music.In fact there really is no comparison in terms of inspiration;but then I like Parry,Stanford,Elgar and Vaughan Williams and I'm not worried about Parry and Stanford being under the influence of German composers. I just take them on their own terms.
Having said that;I do miss the emotional content,the feeling,the passion that I get from the best of Parry and Stanford. Rubinstein seems more of a technician. Certainly any passion or feeling that is expressed in his music is far more subdued.

Albania's a near-total unknown to me, too.  The disc was a bonus, though - it came with a disc of Kosovar (!) orchestral music, which I ordered from the conductor's site which I linked.  Haven't started that one yet, but I'll get to it shortly.

Rubinstein's 5th "sounds a bit Russian" because Rubinstein meant it to ;D That is why it is sometimes subtitled "The Russian". The themes and melodies are consciously "Russian".

As I said before, I don't think Rubinstein deserves the contempt shown towards his music by Balakirev and his followers. At the same time however I can recognise that the Russian Nationalist school-Balakirev himself, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov-possessed far more talent in developing a distinctively Russian-style of composition and that their music has a colour and a passion which is both more progressive than Rubinstein's and, ultimately, much more interesting than the latter's well-schooled, pleasant but backward-looking music.

The combination Albania-Kosovo is not so strange. They are in fact the same people. The only thing is that Ksovars were ruled by Serbs, and they did count as second grade people there. Now the difference is so obvious that the Kosovar people didn't, in their struggle for freedom, even think about becoming a part of Albania. They didn't so well under the Serbs, but the situation in Albania for decennia edven worse, suppressed by their own leadership..

But back to Albania: interesting composers there are, I think Cesc Zadeja, Limoz Dizdari, Kozma Lara, ThomaGaqi and Feim Ibrahimi.

But back to thread:
Now listening to Zadeja's 1st symphony. The sound quality is not so marvelous.

Raff was undoubtedly a fine composer, but I find much of his music rather underwhelming. A Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Berlioz, Liszt, or Wagner he was NOT, as some folks at UC and other places make him out to be. That said, I like his Fifth Symphony a lot, especially the stirring concluding march. But nothing about his music "grabs me by the throat", if you will.

I definitely agree with you about Rubinstein's Fifth sounding much more "Russian" than his other symphonies, and that is precisely why it is (by some distance) my favorite symphony of his. His other symphonies might as well have been written by a German composer in the mid-1800s. Now, I must stop degrading unsung mid-romantic composers ;D

Oh, I'm not done.....I'd much rather be bombarded by Tchaikovsky's huge, noisy climaxes than lulled to sleep by Rubinstein's pleasant mediocracy. OK, now I'm done ;D

I didn't say I actually disliked Tchaikovsky bombarding my ear'oles with huge,noisy climaxes every five minutes,Kyjo! ;D The more the merrier,I say,if they're that good! And some cannons please! Oh  yes,he did those too!! :o ;D
I do quite like some of Rubinstein's music though,and after all if we all agreed about every single thing there wouldn't be much of a forum! Although,you'd hear less about Anton Rubinstein! ;D

Funny you mention Rubinstein in relation to sleep! One of the composers I have been loading into my cd changer at the weekend,before getting into bed (cordless headphones!) is Tchaikovsky. He probably does help me sleep;but in a good way! ;D
Schmidt's Second and Berlioz's 'Harold in Italy' were on there,too!

 

Enough Rubinstein for now! I'm listening to Weber's 'Der Freischutz',which has to be one of my all time favourite operas. Those idiots who keep trying to update the libretto and add psychological overtones and things like that do annoy me (a bit! ;D). The supernatural elements and the spooky glen are great fun! I think I'll pop out and cast a magic bullet later! :o ;D

That's better (sticky keyboard!)

Well, yes.  The "(!)" was more to do with the fact that I had managed to find some for purchase online.  ;D

After listening to Weber's Der Freischutz last night,I thought I might follow it up with something in a similar vein. Out came Marschner's 'Der Vampyr'! It was just after midnight and I'm sitting there listening to the overture (and half asleep) suddenly this creepy sounding church bell really spooked me out. An impressive aria,or monologue,by the Vampire (a few scant notes with the cd set,no libretto!) and an eerie atmosphere throughout. The musical invention very consistent. You think,this is fairly obscure (it did get on bbc2 once,of course!) it's got to look a bit shaky after a masterpiece like 'Der Freischutz';but no,indeed. Very impressive! Maybe,the Vampire story line keeps it from being taken as seriously as it should? But in this day and age of tv series like 'True blood' and 'The Walking dead' I would have though interest would have grown in this creepy rarity?!! ??? ::)

Not sure if it was a good idea to listen to this one before bed,though?!! :o :o

There are many pieces by Richard Rudolf Klein (1921-2011) from Germany on SoundCloud and I have been listening to them, some really nice oratorios, and the most interesting to me is his Capriccio Concertante for piano and chamber orch. Unfortunately there are no notes on performers, a couple have spoken introductions. Quite a lot of music from someone I hadn't heard of before.

https://soundcloud.com/richardrklein21-1 (https://soundcloud.com/richardrklein21-1)

Oh the penalties of being a symphonic completist ::)

The recent Naxos release of Leonardo Balada's Symphony No.1 "Sinfonia en Negro: Homage to Martin Luther King"/Double Concerto for Oboe and Clarinet/"Columbus: Images for Orchestra"

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8573047 (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8573047)

Purgatory for me ::) I know perfectly well that this is another cd I shall never listen to again and which will gather dust on my shelves.

I'm not a great fan of Balada's music either, but I heard his Symphony of Sorrows (no. 6, I believe) played (and commissioned) by the Pittsburgh Symphony recently and was rather impressed by it!

Marschner is a fascinating composer.  I have on DVD a performance of his Hans Heiling from Sardinia, of all places, that was done a few years ago.  It's a stunning piece - the missing link between Weber and Wagner if ever there was one.  It mixes speech and song freely, and breaks the barriers between ensemble movements in a way that nothing earlier does, that I'm aware.  I highly recommend checking it out if you ever come across it.

I put the Albanians to bed last night - a net positive, though my mind was elsewhere due to some evils affecting my computer.  Nevertheless, I found much of the music to be quite attractive, if unmemorable.  I next listened to some Bernhard Sekles - eh.  Not terribly memorable, I'm afraid.  But it's a nice disc from Toccata Classics.  Right now I'm listening to some four-handed piano music by the Bulgarian Alexander Yossifov.  Quite pleasant.  Again, rather unmemorable, but I'm not complaining.  :D

Thank you for your reply! I have 'Hans Heiling' on cd. I find it remarkable that Marschner's operas were overlooked by record labels,throughout the 60s and 70s,when lesser known operas of this quality were still being recorded in studios and would have garnered a suitably 'starry cast'.

IMHO, if any composer could be called a follower of Tchaikovsky, it is Børresen -- and here I don't mean the progressive Tchaikovsky of the 'Little Russian' symphony or the amazing second string quartet, but the more conservative Tchaikovsky (often drawing on Schumann especially [though, of course, he claimed Mozart as his main influence]) of the later works. What I think Tchaikovsky learned from Schumann and Børresen learned from Tchaikovsky was the importance of developing craft but of putting sincerity first, regardless of the risk.

Hmmmm.....you've lost me here. The Little Russian.....progressive? ??? His later works-the epic Fifth and Sixth symphonies......conservative? ??? Schumann in Tchaikovsky? ??? I don't hear a trace!

Back to Borressen, Tchaikovsky is definitely noticeable influence in his First Symphony. I wonder why (to my ears) he took a stylistic step backward in his Second? ???

Well, a large part of the problem affecting Marschner, I suspect, is that singspiel doesn't translate well to other countries.  There's too much dialogue, which means non-native speakers will wrestle with it more so than native speakers.  And with other composers it can be overcome by translation, but in Marschner's best work the dialogue is so integral a part of the piece that there's no way around it.

At least, that's always been a reason that I've suspected singspiele aren't performed more often outside their country of origin.

I agree with you here, but there is a way out - which is to translate the spoken dialogue!  I am more than certain the original author would have wanted their work understood by audiences, and not performed in an entirely alien language which they don't understand!  :))

I've seen Magic Flute, Seraglio etc performed with translated dialogue - and it works excellently.  There is no reason not to do it!  The only exception, maybe, would be recordings.  There the dialogue is almost always recorded by native-speaking German actors in any case :)

There is also historical precedent for translating. When Dittersdorf's DOKTOR UND APOTHEKER was premiered in London (about 3-4 years after the Viennese premier) it was titled DOCTOR & APOTHECARY, and performed entirely in English :)

For some reason I am listening to Nikolay Peiko (1916-95)'s first string quartet, from an LP transfer with lots of lovely pops and crackles. It is a well-put-together & coherent work reminiscent of Shostakovich (at times could pass for a lost DSCH work) and Myaskovsky—I'm not sure it is exactly my "thing", but it is fairly enjoyable if one doesn't expect an unsung masterpiece and has its fair share of striking passages involving string harmonics and such-like. Perhaps not as substantial as Shostakovich or Weinberg's quartets but no less worth listening to. Hat tip to... whoever started the Peiko thread? I'm just going to guess Kyjo. And that he has 20 Peiko CDs already and a list of thirty similar composers to explore just burning a hole in his pocket. :D

Following that up with the first quartet of Othmar Schoeck (1883-1957), a substantial late-Romantic work that nonetheless has a lot of almost neoclassical-ish touches (Martinu neoclassical, not Saint-Saëns neoclassical). Pre-echoes rather since I think this piece is from the 1910s. I'm finding it a compelling piece, if a bit rambly and directionless in places. It's also rather enjoyable to follow along with the score on IMSLP. http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/5/55/IMSLP290658-SIBLEY1802.27201.7b5a-39087009240468score.pdf

One thing this piece does lack is craftsmanship—a lot of the dramatic buildups and final cadences are pretty unconvincing. The melodies, harmonies and developmental twists are delightful, however, though the idiom wears thin after a while.

Well, Mr. D., you could always send it on to a good home (yeah, just kidding !).

Listening to a lovely disc just arrived via E-bay (cheap, too !): Yo-Yo Ma playing Danielpour, Kirchner, Rouse concerti. Christmas starting early for me !

Thanks for bringing that to our attention. Squinting at the CD cover, the first piece appears to be the Rapsodi for violin and orchestra by Feim Ibrahimi (1935-97) which is certainly a strong piece. Speaking of Albanian repertory before 1990, violin and orchestra is a combination which seems to have brought out the best from their composers - examples by Thoma Gaqi, Aleksandër Peçi and Thoma Simaku also spring to mind.

That sounds right.

Of the others you mention, I am only familiar with Peçi, and cannot say that I ever cared much for him - his music's too modern for my liking.  One of the later pieces on the disc is by Tish Daija, which I also quite liked.

I'll have to revisit the disc in a little while to cement my opinions - much of the second half of it took a backseat to some computer issues with which I was wrestling at the time.  I hope those are resolved, but won't be certain for a few days.

Today's treat has been Flagello's Symphony 1. The finale is especially fine, and the performance on Naxos, though a bit shaggy, sounds committed. If you haven't heard the work yet, it falls into same the general "progressive Romantic" expressive category as Barber's Andromache's Farewell or Schuman's Symphony 8, both written slightly earlier in the 1960s.

Yes, Flagello's Symphony no. 1 is indeed a great work. Interesting that you compare it to Schuman's Eighth-I find the Schuman to be a thornier and more uncompromising work than the Flagello. Have you heard Flagello's Missa Sinfonica?

No, I'm just starting to get acquainted with Flagello. Thanks for the lead.

I agree that Schuman's Symphony 8 is much more "granitic" and astringent than Flagello's Symphony 1, but Flagello isn't afraid of dissonance, either. There's a lot more in the symphony than in the other works on the Naxos disc.

When I compared Flagello to Schuman and Barber I was thinking of other kinds of music that were happening at the time -- Boulez, Stockhausen, Schuller, Stravinsky's Movements for Piano and Orchestra, etc etc -- with a recognizably different aesthetic. Perhaps a comparison to Irving Fine's Symphony would have been more appropriate.

Yes, Flagello's First Symphony is one of his "craggier" works. Works such as his VC, PC 1 and Missa Sinfonica show his more lushly romantic side (think Barber's "softer" side).

Indeed, even Schuman's gritty later works are of a more conservative aesthetic than much of the other music being written at the time. There is still an allegiance to traditional symphonic models in these works.

Ditto for mentioning Irving Fine's Symphony! A magnificent work which utilizes 12-tone techniques in a most effective manner. The final movement sounds like a cousin to Copland's underrated Symphonic Ode in its craggy grandeur.

Tonight I've been listening to one of the CPO releases in the Felix Weingartner series - in this instance the Second Symphony and Das Gefilde der Seligen.  Very lovely, lush, late-Romantic music.  Mahlerian, but more accessible.  I'm impressed - a cut above most of what one hears from composer-conductors.

Weingartner-like Furtwangler-was convinced that he was a composer who conducted :)

Rather more attractive than the recent Naxos Balada disc  ;D the Kara Karayev Ballet Suites "The Seven Beauties" and "The Path of Thunder" (No.2):

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8573122 (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8573122)

Rich, romantic, lyrical music. One can easily see why these ballets were popular in Russia in the 1950s :)

Well, based on my admittedly limited experience of both, I'd say Weingartner succeeded on that count where Furtwangler failed.  ;D

Furtwangler was desperately disappointed that his music did not receive more recognition. He took his compositions very seriously and poured so much of his musical essence into them. Trouble was he didn't really know how to stop doing so ;D

Now.....Sir Peter Maxwell Davies's Strathclyde Concertos Nos. 7 and 8 on the recent Naxos reissue:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8572355 (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8572355)

Both concertos are quite tough works but nevertheless perfectly "accessible"....but the real treasure on this disc for me is the absolutely marvelllous, tuneful and gloriously impressive "A Spell for Green Corn: The MacDonald Dances" for Violin and Orchestra of 1993. This must be one of Maxwell Davies's most "accessible" works but it is really a revelation to me :)

Incidentally, with Concertos Nos. 9 and 10 due out next month, that just leaves the Strathclyde Concerto No.1 for Oboe and Orchestra to come from Naxos. I am presuming that the company will seek to couple it with "The Beltane Fire" from 1995, a substantial work at 37 minutes and a former Collins recording.

Karayev's ballet suites are certainly the equal of those of Khachaturian! Beautiful music :)

Furtwangler's Symphony no. 2 is a fine work and undoubtedly the most accomplished of his three symphonies. The superb recording by Barenboim and the Chicago SO shows just what wonders a world-class conductor and orchestra can do with an obscure work :)

Meh.  I listened to a couple of his symphonies on CD once, long ago.  I can't say they fired in me any desire to return for a second look.  Perhaps in another year or three...

There is a fascinating four part black and white documentary from c. 1970 on You Tube.

This is a link to Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueniu_VL0wo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueniu_VL0wo)

Whilst we may disagree about Furtwangler's merits as a composer surely there is no doubt that-despite that extraordinary conducting style-he was a quite superb conductor.

I was a bit daft in comparing Flagello to Fine. Thanks for not mentioning that. But what really separates Fine from Flagello, in my opinion, in not the twelve-tone part -- important as that was to Fine and his nervous contemporaries -- but the rhythmic part, for which we have no common label. Fine writes exploratory music using the nervous gestures we recognize from Austrian music in and after the period when the promise of European culture was dissolving under the pressures of the Great War and the cultural contradictions that led to it. Flagello, on the the other hand, writes music of nearly equivalent dissonance using the rhythmic and phrasing gestures we associate with the best music from 1880-1920.

I won't disagree with that assessment, but I love Symphony 3, perhaps even more.

I have just finished listening to Vladimir Yurovsky's 5th Symphony and all I can say is 'wow!' I absolutely loved it! I'm incredibly busy and it's been a looong time since a piece of music made me stop what I was doing, sit down, and listen to it. It's just up my street - all the best bits of 1930s/40s-style Soviet music (think Popov 1 and 2, Shos 5, perhaps bits of Kabalevsky), with a dash of film music (in a good way), except written in 1971. The end is thrilling! I would gladly post the recording, but I have no idea where I got it from... it is a live one, but that doesn't mean it isn't available on CD. A quick search doesn't help me... can anyone confirm?

Two further things: firstly, does anyone have any more of his music, or know of any recordings? He died in 1972, but was born in 1915, so I guess there must be quite a bit of music, including the other 4 symphonies at the very least. Almost everything I was ever able to find out is here : http://www.russiancomposers.org.uk/page1278.html

Secondly, does any one have any idea where I might find a score!?

Many thanks,
Lee

I have a recording of the Yurovsky Symphony No.4 which I am perfectly happy to upload for you :)

Btw...I totally agree with you about the Symphony No.5 :) :)

Yurovsky Symphony No.4 now available in Downloads section as promised :)

Yes, Fine's music is of a decidedly neoclassical bent, although his beautiful Serious Song for string orchestra is very much in the tradition of, say, RVW.

Thanks very much Colin! :)

Lee

Since half an hour I listen to Simeon ten Holt's Horizon, for 4 piano's.

Most of the minimal music can not catch me. Even worse: irritates me.
Here Ten Holt, best known for his Canto Ostinato, creates a world that fascinates,although every couple of minutes I think to stop it, but I don't, so I still listen. The whole work takes a little over 3 hours. If your interested: they're on YT

Part I
http://youtu.be/dY3kZTjfx6o

Here you find part II
http://youtu.be/wl5VGtEeUcI

part III
http://youtu.be/NcW87u9I97s

I finished off a disc of Konstantin Iliev earlier today (eh...) after returning from the moviecast of the new Met production of Falstaff (another eh...), and put on some Kosovar orchestral music (as yet a mixed bag.)  But after dinner I set it aside in favor of the Decca reissue of the D'Oyly Carte issue of The Grand Duke, which in its LP form was one of the first things I listened to while a callow youth.  It's a piece I dearly love; even so, I had forgotten just what a fine piece of work it actually is.  It's my candidate for most unjustly maligned Gilbert and Sullivan, I think - chock-full of cracking good tunes, and a libretto which must rank among Gilbert's wryest works.  A fine way indeed to finish off a rainy Saturday evening.

Agree with Jolly Roger on Kolodub's Symphony no. 4: very dramatic music.
Now listening to this 4th symphony. Must say I overlooked this one earlier.

BTW, also his symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 5, 9 and 11 are to be found on Classical-music-online.net

USA night (not the first !) :
Aaron Jay Kernis - Musica Celestis
Richard Toensing - Magnificat
Frank Ticheli - Symphony no. 2 (wind band).....incidentally, are those words we are allowed to mention here ?!
Gloria Coates - Cantata da Requiem
John Williams - 5 Sacred Trees Bassoon Concerto
Jeff Manookian - Requiem.

Sorry if that's disloyal to dear old England - just find USA music so much more diverse and approachable; happy to be shouted down....with evidence !

Speaking of the US, right now I'm listening to a two-disc set of organ music by Rheinberger, Guilmant, and their American pupils - Parker, Coerne, Chadwick, Sidney Homer, things of that ilk.  Quite pleasant listening, even if I'm not the biggest fan of listening to organ music on disc.

No...I am not going to rise to that challenge ;D My only comment would be that there is an inevitability about American music being more diverse given the much more obvious cross-fertilization of so many different European, non-European and ethnic cultural traditions involved in the US.

Symphony No.  9 ,Sensilis moderno is  simply overwhelming

A Dutch evening - Jeppe Moulijn: 4 Sea Poems for Soprano & Orchestra
                          Johan de Meij: Lord of the Rings Symphony (wind band again - sacrilege!)
                          Joep Franssens: Magnificat
                          Tristan Keuris: Organ Concerto
and my favourite (still!) Alphons Diepenbrock: Hymne an die Nacht.

This is really a fine thread, picking up some great suggestions here.
Never heard this fine piece before.
This is a must-hear for Martin devotees  - from the St Paul Chamber Symphony site.
Vintage Martin but Spanish Dances??

http://content.thespco.org/music/compositions/three-dances-for-oboe-harp-string-quartet-and-string-orchestra-frank-martin/

Frank Martin - Three Dances for Oboe, Harp, String Quartet and String Orchestra  1970
st paul chamber symphony,Thomas Zehetmair, conductor
Heinz Holliger, oboe-Ursula Holliger, harp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xEsI_mOysI



Published on Aug 24, 2012

Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (Taneev or Taneiev) - Piano Concerto in E flat major
1. Allegro (E♭ major) 2. Andante funebre (E♭ minor)
[World Premiere]

Mikhail Voskresensky - piano

Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Vladimir Ziva
Great Hall of Moscow Conservartory
Live recording 25.05.1998

This video is taken from the private collection of Mikhail Voskresensky.

Taneyev graduated in 1875, the first student in the history of the Conservatory to win the gold medal both for composition and for performing (piano). He was also the first person ever to be awarded the Conservatory's Great Gold Medal; the second was Arseny Koreshchenko and the third was Sergei Rachmaninoff.That summer he travelled abroad with Rubinstein. That year he also made his debut as a concert pianist in Moscow playing the first piano concerto in D minor of Johannes Brahms, and would become known for his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. In March 1876 he toured Russia with violinist Leopold Auer.
Taneyev was also the soloist in the Moscow première of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto in 1875. Tchaikovsky was clearly impressed by Taneyev's performance; he later asked Taneyev to be soloist in the Russian premiere of his Second Piano Concerto. (After Tchaikovsky's death, Taneyev also completed and premiered his Third Piano Concerto and Andante and Finale.
Taneyev attended Moscow University for a short time and was acquainted with outstanding Russian writers, including Ivan Turgenev and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. During his travels in Western Europe in 1876 and 1877, he met Émile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, César Franck and Camille Saint-Saëns amongst others.

When Tchaikovsky resigned from the Moscow Conservatory in 1878, Taneyev was appointed to teach harmony. He would later also teach piano and composition. He served as Director from 1885 to 1889, and continued teaching until 1905.[8] He had great influence as a teacher of composition. His pupils included Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Reinhold Glière, Paul Juon, Julius Conus, and Nikolai Medtner. The polyphonic interweaves in the music of Rachmaninoff and Medtner stem directly from Taneyev's teaching. Scriabin, on the other hand, broke away from Taneyev's influence.

http://www.mikhailvoskresensky.com/

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btw  his piano playing is sloppy...

Thank you, Mr. JR - YT has it, as so often ! Very pleasant.

Yes, YT does have plenty. Martin's fabulous String Etudes are also at St Paul and the audio qualiy at site may be better, you can browse the site for some more rarities.
http://content.thespco.org/music/composers/

If you have missed this composer and his music, you have missed some exceptional music.
And what could be more appropriate for the Christmas Holiday than a Prayer Song?
(both struggles and triumphs)

Lubchenko,Anton (1985 ) - Prayer Song (Chamber Concerto for piano and orchestra in d-moll) 2006 58 
Alexander Titov (conductor)

http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/30500

 

On the "unsung" side of the spectrum, I've recently listened to Gaziza Zhubanova's Symphony no. 1 Energy and EH Meyer's Viola Concerto. Neither made a very big impression on me, but the Zhubanova has a striking organ solo about 3/4 of the way through.

Listened earlier today to Brahms' PC 2 with Gilels/Jochum. I'd forgotten how much I loved this work. I actually prefer the second PC by some distance to the first PC, with the exception of the menacing opening of the latter. PC 1 seems to have too much note-spinning.

Ha!! Excellent taste :) No one does the Brahms better than the Gilels/Jochum combination imo. The opening of the First is indeed absolutely marvellous: savage, biting, snarling, rasping music ;D ;D

As a youth, getting to know things, I longed to hear this concerto for about a year. Finally I heard it live, performed by Hephzibah Menuhin. An unforgettable occasion!

Karolju - Christopher Rouse...the best way to wake a household on Christmas morn - and a happy day to all !

I'm listening to one of my Christmas presents - Maria Golovin by Menotti.  So far I like it - it's not his best work, but there's a lot of good material in it I find.


I love both of the Brahms piano concertos, but for different reasons.  The first is a stunner, but it's more of a symphony-with-obbligato than a true concerto.  My own favorite performance is that Glenn Gould gave with the NY Phil under Bernstein in the early 60's - I have it on disc.  He makes it a true give-and-take, rather than a virtuoso showpiece.

The second is a different matter altogether - I heard Emmanuel Ax play it with the National Symphony under Slatkin some years ago.

Having recently read Michael Haas's Forbidden Music about the fate of composers persecuted by the Nazis, I have been revisiting the Wellesz symphonies, of which I have the boxed set from CPO. And also Karl Weigl, very little of whose music seems to have been recorded. There is only one link in our downloads section here, to some songs.

Here's a nice quiz question: what links Weigl's 5th symphony with Shchedrin's 2nd Symphony, besides both being a reaction to WW2? They share something very uncommon.

Just finished listening to Raff's Symphony no. 2, performed by the Suisse Romande Orchestra under Jarvi. If deep, dark, serious music is what you seek, look elsewhere! This symphony overflows with buoyant energy (heightened by Jarvi's swift tempi) and flows along almost effortlessly, but what makes it especially enjoyable are the little harmonic and rhythmic twists that often foreshadow Dvorak. Raff's orchestration has a nicely "fresh" feel to it, setting him apart from some of his contemporaries (Schumann especially). Not an undiscovered masterpiece, but a work that certainly deserves an occasional airing!

Just finished up Rubbra's String Quartet no. 1, a strong work with two energetic, rhythmic outer movements surrounding a deeply felt slow movement which is an elegy on the death of Holst. This movement has a rather archaic atmosphere (e.g. the strumming cello chords bring to mind a lute) not uncommon in Rubbra's very rewarding music.

I'd have to refresh my memory of the Shchedrin, but I know the Weigl has an uncommon feature: the modernistic opening involves the orchestral tuning seguing directly into the actual work, a startling effect. (The remainder of the symphony is decidedly more conservative.) That seems like a device the often wacky Shchedrin would use in his music. If I'm incorrect, could you give us a hint please?

Rounding off tonight's listening session with a bit o' Atterberg, this time his First Symphony, an auspicious beginning to a symphonic cycle for the ages. The Scherzo is a whirlwind orchestral tour-de-force (Atterberg sure gives the winds a workout!) and the Finale progresses from an almost Bachian state of purity and calm in the opening to a grand, heroic theme in the horns that permeates the main section of the movement. Atterberg sure loves his bass clarinet-those solos give me chills!

Hrmm...you're making me seriously consider sinking some of my new Amazon gift card into the cpo cycle of Atterberg symphonies.

Speaking of Scandinavia, I'm listening to another of my Christmas gifts, the first symphony of Hakon Børresen (also on cpo).  Quite lovely music - nice, meaty Romantic stuff so far.

GO ON! BUY IT! YOU WON'T REGRET IT! ;D

But seriously, please do consider that wonderful set! By looking at the Amazon reviews, you'll see I'm not the only one who hypes about Atterberg. If you enjoyed that Borresen symphony, I imagine Atterberg would be right up your street!

same here !!..

You got it - both feature orchestral tuning as part of the music.

I see the reviews...I'm giving it serious consideration.  (For the record - I enjoyed the Borresen until the last movement, which I felt started to wander a bit.  Pity - I liked it very much up until there.)

I actually have some small passing familiarity with Atterberg - many years ago I purchased a Sterling disc with a couple of the concertos on it, and quite liked it.  But he's been off my radar for some while.

Atterberg is a much more considerable figure than Borresen IMO. His 2nd and 3rd symphonies are my favourites; the 3rd in particular is one of those works so emotionally overpowering I can't listen to it too often.

Indeed! Borresen was a minor composer; his music is enjoyable but doesn't have much staying power. That said, there are many good things to be found in his Symphony no. 1 and VC. Atterberg, on the other hand, had a masterful command of the orchestra and poured his heart into all of his music, producing glorious results. His 2nd and 3rd symphonies are my favorites as well, along with the 5th. I agree with you about the 3rd-the finale in particular is so deeply overwhelming that it can bring tears to my eyes :) Only very special music can achieve that :)

Alright, alright, I get the message...I'll buy it.  ;D

Is the cpo release worth getting?  That's the box set I found on Amazon.

I thought we already established that the CPO set of Atterberg's complete symphonies is an essential part of any classical music lover's collection ;D

No question: Atterberg has more to say about our complex society than Borresen, who was happy if his works compared favorably to those of his late-19th-century mentors Grieg, Svendsen, and Tchaikovsky. Atterberg addressed courageously the more difficult realities of the 20th century that we grew up in. (Borresen remains treasurable for his sincerity and freshness.) My Christmas present to myself was the Arno Volmer-led performances of Tubin. I am astonished again and again by these Symphonies and these recordings. The first 8 are on a very high level indeed (and I stop at 8 only because I haven't heard 9, and 10 is a bit too predictable for me.)

Agreed about the greatness of the Tubin symphonies. How do Volmer's recordings compare to Jarvi's? (I should really stop asking this question and get the recordings myself ::))

By both! If you end up selling the Big Issue outside Tesco don't worry,you won't be on your own! I'll be thinking of you in the comfort of my lovely,warm home! ;D

.....and you will be the CEO of the Holbrooke Foundation and still ask me for donations to fund recordings of his music ;D

Yes they are wonderful!!.... Volmer puts some umfff  into the performances!!

My mind is telling me yes, my wallet is telling me no ;D

Starting off tonight's listening with Maxwell Davies' Symphony no. 1. I can't say I was too terribly impressed with it (it's not one of PMD's best works), but it has some interesting (and occasionally haunting) moments, such as the opening of the third movement with its prominent role for a high-pitched timpani. It's a long work (55 mins.) and my attention did wander in spots, mainly because the work is so devoid of traditional symphonic structure and development and has little for me to "latch onto". PMD's fondness for mallet instruments (esp. vibraphone) is interesting for a while, but it eventually becomes rather commonplace due to overuse. I didn't dislike the piece, but I don't see myself returning to it anytime soon. His Third Symphony, while still rather overlong, had a greater effect on me.

Would it be appropriate to dub PMD a "modern-day Bax"? The rhapsodic, discursive nature of his music, as well as its suggestions of the craggy English coastline, links him with Sir Arnold. Now, of course, their harmonic languages are quite dissimilar. Just a thought!

what do you think of Auster's Suite from the Ballet Tiina??

Haven't listened to it yet, but will report back when I do. I loved Auster's beautiful PC!

just posted it on the Estonian downloads section....

Previously, listened to Britten's Quartettino (Maggini Qt/Naxos), an astonishingly assured work for a sixteen-year-old. Its harmonic language is quite forward-looking (rather Bartokian in spots), but there are also spots where it shows the young composer was familiar with the music of the impressionists. A case in point is the captivating, magical ending of the slow movement.

Also, gave a maiden listen to Joseph Martin Kraus' (an almost exact contemporary of Mozart) music: his Symphony in C major, VB 138. It is a highly enjoyable work featuring a prominent obbligato part for a solo violin. Also, the slow movement has a beautiful cello solo. The work is remarkable for managing to avoid imitating the styles of Haydn or Mozart and is harmonically advanced for its time.

Rounding out tonight's listening with Hovhaness' Cello Concerto, one of the few early works of his he chose not to discard. The solo part is decidedly non-virtuosic, and nearly the whole work is at a slow tempo, but it really is a beautiful work. Oriental modes permeate the entire work, especially in the solo cello's haunting ruminations. The brass chorales that keep recurring are quite stirring (great rhyme ;D) and the majestic ending is built off them.

Max's 1st doesn't work. It is intended to play with tempo in the manner of Sibelius, but because of the lack of rhythmic clarity, this effect is lost on the listener. The 3rd is a much more successful piece - but sinister!

Totally agree with you about there being a lack of rhythmic clarity in PMD's 1st. It's just too formless and nebulous to fully grasp onto. Have you heard any of Max's symphonies after the 3rd? I've only heard the first three-they seem to get progressively better from the 1st.

Just listened to Lev Abeliovich's Symphony no. 3. It's influenced by Shostakovich, but not heavily so. Abeliovich's musical language is lighter and more playful than Shostakovich in serious mode, and the fast movements (especially the scherzo) have a nervous, skittish quality to them. The composer is obviously quite fond of the wind instruments in this work. The slow movement is rather dull, but the symphony is quite fine overall, especially the slow, lyrical epilogue, which ends the piece in a peaceful B-flat major. There's also a marvelously intense passage near the beginning of the piece with some great horn writing.

I found the 6th mostly long and dreary, though there was a striking passage for high trumpets near the end of the first movement. Haven't heard 1 through 5 though, so no basis for comparison. I do find it somewhat astonishing that someone can be a professional and highly regarded composer for decades without ever developing a good sense of rhythm.

Anyway, heard Shostakovich 11 ("The Year 1905") last night—second listen ever. I think my first experience with the work must have been a rather inferior performance since I found it a much more compelling piece this time around. It's less of a symphony and more of an extended dramatic tableau, so purists might take exception to the title, but I do think it is one of DSCH's better works.

Next on the list are Symphonies 2, 3 and 4 in some order, & possibly a revisitation of The Nose, though I find Shostakovich works best for me in small doses >.> so might be a couple of weeks.

Tonight, I also listened to Maxwell Davies' Mavis in Las Vegas, a hugely enchanting theme-and-variations which couldn't be more dissimilar to the same composer's difficult Symphony no. 1. There are some novel instruments thrown into the mix, such as a banjo and an unusual-sounding organ (I am not familiar with the different varieties of organs). There's also a bell-like instrument (which could very well be regular bells) used near the beginning of the piece that I cannot identify. Anyway, great fun!

I ended the night on Elgar's Piano Quintet, a work which I had largely forgotten about. It is a simply glorious work, and its neglect is quite hard to fathom. From the first movement's unsettling, mysterious opening to the slow movement's emotional outpourings, this work is a masterpiece of the late-romantic chamber repertoire.

Thanks for your reply. "Long and dreary" would also characterize the First Symphony, for the most part. I'm certainly no expert on PMD's music, but I'm beginning to think symphonic writing was not his strong suit. To me, symphonies just don't "work" if there aren't any clear-cut themes or development. I have yet to hear any of his Strathclyde Concertos, which I'm hoping to acquire sometime down the road. I really enjoyed Mavis in Las Vegas, and will keep an eye out for more of his "lighter" works. I have the CD of the first and second "Naxos Quartets" but recall them being pretty tough going.

The Strathclyde Concertos I've heard are pretty much the same—formless, undistinctive, grey, and never getting off the ground rhythmically. I gave up after 1, 2, 7 and 8. Imagine a combination of the harmonies of Shchedrin, the tunefulness of Schoenberg, the large-scale architecture of Delius and the joie de vivre of Pettersson, all interpreted from the podium by an old man with Parkinson's disease. Perhaps I'm being too harsh, but I really can't hear any appeal.

The lighter works are a mystery to me so far. Along with Mavis the other "hit" is Orkney Wedding with Sunrise but I haven't heard either. If Mavis is indeed completely dissimilar to the Symphony No. 1 I suppose that's a good sign though.

If you listen to a piece like St Thomas Wake, you'll hear a good sense of rhythm. The problem is more one related to doctrine rather than ability.

I too, have been having difficulties coming to grips with PMD's symphonic music and I'm glad to see someone express a similar opinion, especially in light of so many positive reviews of it. Once hearing one of the symphonies, I feel like I must have missed the message, and I return to the well for another drink...but to little avail.. Even when it has passages that sound promising, it just seems to fizzle without saying something memorable. For me, little of it has much impact or staying power for me. Perhaps he is best in smaller non-symphonic doses. And if you can listen to his Antarctic Symphony without falling asleep, more power to you..  

Kicking off the New Year with Atterberg's Second, a work whose life-affirming heroics I hope are a beacon for the year to come!

Something new (to me !) for the New Year:
 Jacob Avshalomov - Symphony of Songs, Raptures for Orchestra on Madrigals of Gesualdo, Praises from the Corners of the Earth.
To be followed by: Paul Ben-Haim - Joram Oratorio, then Petr Eben - Symphonia Gregoriana for organ & orchestra.

Hope it offsets the horrendous rain we've got right across the UK; what a start to '14...how are you faring elsewhere ?

Just finished listening to Ernst Levy's (1895-1981) Symphony no. 15 (1967, his final symphony) in our downloads. Levy's musical language is thoroughly tonal and is characterized by restraint and long, flowing lines. It's quite individual; the closest comparison to Levy's style is perhaps Rubbra. This symphony is unusual for its structure: the final movement is just about as long as the first three combined. The scherzo is especially enjoyable, with its inquiet opening in 5/4 time. The mood brightens with a delightful, almost Hispanic theme in 7/4. The slow movement is notable for its beautiful oboe solo. The finale is dominated by ebbing and flowing string and wind lines, creating tension and release along the way. Halfway through the movement, the timpani introduces an quietly ominous rhythm over which the brass enter with a chorale-like subject. The idea is then repeated forte, creating a moment of grandeur. The ending, however, is soft and gentle, with a flute solo over a pedal note in the cello and bass.

On the basis of this and other works I have heard by Levy, he is certainly an important figure in 20th-century symphonism. If you're looking for powerful symphonic music that isn't bombastic or emotionally draining, Levy is your man!

Trying it now, Mr. K.. Could definitely get to like it, I think !
 So, 15 symphonies...pretty prolific; but v. little of him on YT. Are his works just not recorded/played ?

A couple of Levy's symphonies and other orchestral works were recorded by the Opus One label. Naxos recently reissued these recordings, but, for some odd reason, only decided to release these reissues in mp3 format ::) The original Opus One recordings are still in print but a bit expensive.

I just had a listen to Levy's 11th, courtesy of the Naxos website. I can see (just) why kyjo is reminded of Rubbra, but Levy is nowhere as individualistic or original. It reminds me much more of Copland in his more introverted moods. I could probably get to like it, but at first hearing it is rather academic.

I can see why you think Levy's music is on the "academic" side. But I think it has enough moments of inspiration and beauty to make up for that! Levy (like Rubbra) is not one of those composers that everyone will "get" at first hearing. He's certainly not a "flashy" composer (not that that's a bad thing)!

P.S. Apologies if I sounded too over-enthusiastic about the Levy 15th in my post. I tend to over-glorify things ;D

Listening to Dora Pejacevic's Symphony on CPO and greatly enjoying it. There are some Mahlerian influences but other sections reminded me of Korngold. Sad that she died so young.

Great work, Jeffrey. I've sung its praises many times before. It reminds me more of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov than Mahler and Korngold, but we all have different ears, I guess!

I knew that you'd approve Kyle  :)

Yes, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov definitely came to mind too. What a fine score.

Glad you like it, Jeffrey :) Have you listened to her Phantasie Concertante for piano and orchestra yet? It's a brilliant score, accomplishing in a quarter of an hour what most works accomplish in over half an hour! BTW Pejacevic is one of my favorite composers of chamber music. Her Piano Quintet is stunning.

Have you followed any of my recommendations as of late, Jeffrey? ;) Sorry I haven't been around GMG for a while; I've just grown awfully tired of that forum. I much prefer the laid-back atmosphere of the A-MF :)

I was thoroughly stunned by Yasushi Akutagawa's (1925-89) compact (17 min.) Cello Concerto (1969) on YT! It's quite modern, but not avant-garde. Moments of haunting reminiscence contrast with episodes of manic fury! The prominent use of the harpsichord in the work is quite Schnittkian. It's a must-hear! Just don't turn your volume up too much-those whip cracks are loud ;D

Currently listening to Albany's release titled The New American Romanticism - works by Leroy Southers, Lee McQuillan, Beth Denisch, and Jack Jarrett.  Having heard all save the Jarrett thus far, I find it a bit of a mixed bag; I like the Denisch, find the McQuillan inoffensive but inconsequential, and can't say as I care much for the Southers.

Kyjo: Akutagawa is wonderful! I had the rare pleasure of hearing his first symphony performed in Tokyo (in the company of A.S.) a year and a bit ago. Yet, he's not well known, even here: most people know his father, the writer Ryunosuke, but not the musical son.

The Jack Jarrett symphony is quite beautiful-rather Hansonesque and even showing the influence of the Russian Romantics. Anachronistic, perhaps, but a really satisfying work, especially for those who enjoy music of a neo-romantic bent.

That's wonderful, Jim! I have the Naxos disc containing Akutagawa's Trinita Sinfonica, Rapsodia, and Ellora Symphony, which is riveting stuff. I see his Symphony no. 1 is on YT; I've been wanting to hear it!

Speaking of which...I'm now listening to the Naxos release of symphonies by James Cohn.  I quite like it so far.  Just now I listened to another Naxos release, that of the two piano concertos by Fernando Lopes-Graça.  A little thorny, but not unduly so...quite inoffensive, though I found it a bit monochrome after a while.

I have enjoyed the Naxos series of American composers !!    a nice treat to hear.

check out the short little piece by Zaritsky.. under Belorussian downloads.... its Concerto for Oboe and Orch.... interesting.

That really is one of the most uncharitable and downright nasty posts I have ever had the misfortune to read on here >:(

It is perfectly legitimate to criticise or to dislike Maxwell Davies's music- I find several of the symphonies and the Strathclyde Concertos pretty hard-going at times. I have however already on this forum commended the wonderfully beautiful, lyrical "A Spell for Green Corn: The MacDonald Dances" for violin and orchestra(coupled on the recent Naxos disc with the Strathclyde Concertos Nos. 7 and 8).

What I take exception to however is to make such abusive remarks about a composer who is struggling desperately with lymphatic cancer, who has already undergone major surgery (which may or may not have succeeded), who has returned to his home in Orkney but has had to beg Her Majesty the Queen to allow him to delay a composition due in his capacity as Master of the Queen's Music because he is too weak to finish the work on time.

In these circumstances I find your reference to "an old man with Parkinson's disease" in thoroughly bad taste. I shall be charitable and conclude that you may not have known about Maxwell Davies's state of decidedly ill-health but I beg you please to reconsider your remarks.

That is news to me of a most unwelcome kind. I've met Max a couple of times and he is a close friend of several friends of mine, so while my links to him are extremely tenuous, he is a distant acquaintance to me rather than a name one reads about.

To be properly accurate-though very sadly-Maxwell Davies is suffering from an aggressive form of leukaemia. He worked on his forthcoming Symphony No.10 whilst in hospital receiving treatment.

Today I have listened to two new cds which arrived this morning:

the CPO Hendrik Andriessen Symphony No.2 together with three shortish orchestral works. All well-wrought pieces which demonstrate Andriessen's mastery of both ancient musical forms and a distinct neo-classicism. Andriessen was a fine composer-although without, I think, the innovative genius of his fellow Dutchmen Vermeulen, Pijper or Badings.

and the BIS release of the Kalevi Aho Symphony No.15, coupled with the Double Bass Concerto and "Minea". This was, for me, the more impressive cd. Aho is undoubtedly amongst the top ten symphonists alive today and has a genuine claim to be rated (alongside his fellow Finns Rautavaara and Sallinen) as amongst the very best of all. The Symphony is superb, a gripping work (as are all Aho's symphonies) but "Minea" is also an absolute cracker of an orchestral showpiece- a sort of "Beni Mora" for the 21st century, utilising Eastern musical influences to create a really outstanding example of just how well a 21st century composer can use the orchestra to create, drama, mystery and yet perfectly accessible modern music. I recommend this BIS cd with all possible enthusiasm :)

I completely echo your sentiments regarding the Aho disc-Minea is indeed brilliant and catapults Aho right to the top of the list of great orchestrators. Speaking of Beni Mora, I was just listening to that the other night (the Naxos recording). Now, that is the Holst I love-bold, evocative, and powerful! The final movement is sheer genius! Again, I cannot help but wish Holst wrote more music in the vein of Beni Mora, The Planets, and The Perfect Fool Suite :(

I only wish Holst had written more music in the vein of 'The Hymn of Jesus','The Cloud Messenger','First Choral Symphony','Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda','A Choral Fantasia','The Golden Goose','The Morning of the Year','King Estmere','Fugal Overture','Hammersmith','Egdon Heath','St Pauls Suite','Brook Green Suite','A Somerset Rhapsody','Savitri','The Wandering Scholar','At the Boars Head'.............

ie more music,full stop! I particularly love Holst when he's in his mystical or pastoral vein. His choral music,music for voices is wonderful. In fact don't think I've heard anything I don't love to bits by Holst. A fascinating composer.

I love 'The Perfect Fool','Beni Mora' and 'The Planet's' too,of course. Holst's own recordings are particularly rewarding. If only he'd recorded more (like Elgar!). 'The Perfect Fool' opera should be available complete on cd. And when are we going to hear his opera 'Sita'?! :(

Just received Herman Koppel's Oratorio 'Moses' (£1 brand new from Naxos Direct !). Got a BBC Music 5* rating, & thus far wouldn't argue !

Talking of Naxos, last night I listened to one of their Jonathan Leshnoff releases:

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559670

Bit of a mixed bag - I really liked the concerto, but felt the symphony could use some tightening.  (It's not offensive...just a bit long.)

Overall, though, I like Leshnoff; I heard his flute concerto being played by the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra last year and have been a fan since.

Have you heard Leshnoff's VC (recorded by Naxos)? It's a most beautiful, moving work which could be described as an updated version of the Barber VC.

Yes - that was my first purchase out of their Leshnoff cycle.  I like it, though not quite as much as I did the flute concerto.  Still, I find him a composer worth watching.

I would rather listen to Andriessen than Vermeulen, Pijper or Badings any day of the week, especially Pijper, whom I find a bit of a bore. I was at the UK premiere of Hendrik Andriessen Symphony No.2, and the orchestra was forced by the audience to repeat the scherzo. I have read about that sort of thing happening in musical history, but it was the first time I witnessed it.

I once sat directly behind Louis Andriessen at a concert, and I was so tempted to tap him on the shoulder and say how much I admired ... his father's music.

Incidentally, the Dutch Composers channel on YT has a lot of minor pieces by H.A. which are worth a listen. 

I guess I must be a bit neurotic, because if I am in the proper mood, I can even enjoy Schnittke.
Hence-
Vermeulen (except for the deliciously lush romantic first symphony) is generally dark and otherworldly an uniquely so but quite enjoyable if the mood is right, perhaps Badings is often from his head instead of his heart (as he admits), but has some fine moments, H Andiessen's music has a noble stable quality that seems to endure in the mind long after it is finished..from his soul perhaps..

Though I find Vermeulen's work more exciting than Hendrik Andriessen's, the latter wrote great music, and is worth time listening. His beautiful Variations on a theme of Kuhnau and the Miroir de Peine, as well as his Chromatic Variations I like.

Louis Andriessen's work is not for me!
The other son, Jurriaan, is somehere in between the two and was quite popular in the Netherlands in the later 70s and in the 80s of last century. His Psalms-Trilogy (mr. Clive?) is also worth to give it your time.

Pijper can be a bit uneven, but by and large I find I've enjoyed most of his work that I've sampled.  I have the trunk of Merlijn on CD, and I was quite taken with it.

Talking of the Andriessen clan, we're actually getting a Louis Andriessen festival here in DC later this year: http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwclassical/article/Washington-DC-Festival-Celebrating-Dutch-Composer-Louis-Andriessen-Set-for-April-6-13-2014-20130725


Why, I'm not sure.  But I'm certainly curious enough to attend a couple of performances.

Back to the topic at hand, last night I listened to a lovely disc of Giannini chamber music that I purchased with my Christmas gift card.  He's rapidly becoming one of my favorite American composers, and this listen did nothing to dispel my opinion of him.  Today's a nasty, dreary, rainy day, so I'll be listening to the Met broadcast of Die Fledermaus...

Ivo Petric 1931-, Symphony Goga, Concerto Grosso, Symphony No. 2, et al. Love those Slovenians! Go to his website if you are interested, there are a lot of pieces to listen to there. http://www.ivopetric.com/ (http://www.ivopetric.com/)

Latvian Classics for me today
*Adolfs Skulte: Symphonies nos. I, IV, V, VI, VII.
*Janis Ivanovs: Symphony no. VI.
*Janis Medins: "At he Church" for strings.

Earlier, the Russian
*Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov: Symphony no. I

I Discovered a wonderful new composer, thanks to Elroel.
Heather Schmidt (b. 1975) is a new Canadian composer and you can hear her on UT at:
2 piano concerti and a symphony, she has a message you must hear.

http://youtu.be/FFu4nd0WYek
http://youtu.be/zIbSBwfp3nQ
http://youtu.be/pyigQQGbgHc

I had me a nice haul of used CDs yesterday.  Right now I'm listening to Ernst Mielck's symphony on Sterling.  Rather thin stuff, to be honest, but it makes me wonder what he could have done had he lived.

I'm rehearing an opera by the C17th Hamburg-based composer Johann Georg Conradi - from the generation there which preceded Handel's and Matthesson's arrival at the Goosemarket Opera.  This one is ARIADNE, and it's mesmerisingly beautiful music :)  There is a much higher proportion of recitativo to arias than in operas by Handel or Keiser - the arias are almost a rare treat.  And there is some beautiful ballet and processional music :)

Must try to get a score of this!! :)

Edit: We've just had a comic aria accompanied by a bassoon quartet! (Altoon, Tenoroon, Bassoon, Contra-Bassoon). I was nearly crying with laughter as these poor guys attempted to keep modern copies of these ancient instruments in tune :)  Although I suspect Conradi was somewhat hoping for a grotesque moment in any case...

I cannot but echo your words about Tubin 1-surely one of the most impressive premier symphonies by any composer. The first movement, especially, is simply inspiring.

Heise's PQ is a highly original and hugely enjoyable work. I was expecting it to be standard mid-romantic chamber fare influenced by Schumann and Brahms but, boy, was I wrong! It's a shame Heise didn't write more because he clearly had an individual talent.

I recently listened to Hovhaness 22 as well. The finale has a Brucknerian breadth which can be quite awe-inspiring if handled effectively.

yes.... I would have to agree... I also like the first movement of Sym #3... esp. on the drive into work going 80mph/100km on the "tollway or turnpike" as some call it in Texas.

I listened to the Marco Polo/da capo release of Ludolf Nielsen's second symphony earlier this evening.  Now I'm listening to the recent Naxos release of John Knowles Paine's music...specifically the Tempest suite at the moment.  Pleasantly inoffensive music, if a bit boring in both cases.

I find the music of Aulis Salinen of Finland to be a mixed bag and a bit quirky. But much of it good, and when it is good, it is very excellent.
Tonite a heard his Horn Concerto, which was as enjoyable as horn concertos can be
followed by the dour but effective 8th symphony(is that a death rattle I hear?)
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/44777
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/44768
my favorite Sallinen work is Shadows:
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/28110

Ah...thanks, Mr. Roelof. Not sure if that's going to spring up from somewhere on the net, but will store the name in case !

That performance introduced the symphony to me. The CPO recording has a stronger performing ensemble. Re Paine, I appreciate his seriousness of purpose and finished style, which raised the bar for U.S. composers in the 1860s and '70s. In terms of center (German-speaking lands) and periphery, every composer who works in societies with little taste for classical music is, of course, at a disadvantage. In Paine's case, a comparison with the somewhat earlier Berwald shows the Swedish composer to good advantage, regardless of how long he managed a sawmill.

Regarding my description of Tubin 1 as modal/dorain... what was I smoking when I wrote that?? The symphony can scarcely be called modal in any sense that would allow VW's heartbreaking symphony 3 to be called modal.

My first exposure to Tubin was Symphony 3, and it remains a favorite.

Paine...has his flaws, I'll admit.  But I love him as much for what he represents as for what he was.  He had a great deal of talent, but I admire him most especially for what he did for the future of American music. 

Just finished listening to the Naxos release of Goffredo Petrassi's orchestral music, with the Partita - quite attractive stuff, for the most part.  Speaking of "attractive", I'm now listening to the Ignatz Waghalter violin concerto.  Very lovely.

The other day I listened on the train to the Pfitzner Piano Concerto ... very strange. Definitely to be heard if nothing else for the third movement scherzo, which features some quite bizarre staccato brass writing.

Me too. However, I think you'll agree that "American music" is quintessentially pop music, which is why Ives (ragtimes) and Gershwin (blues) and Copland (hicks ;) ) are (among others) performed more than Paine.

Really?  ;)

http://youtu.be/6e6X6mTlQ_Y (http://youtu.be/6e6X6mTlQ_Y)

http://youtu.be/clxkPxaUtWY (http://youtu.be/clxkPxaUtWY)

http://youtu.be/56HU5Vc07u4 (http://youtu.be/56HU5Vc07u4)

Listened to this fine tonal music at the Canadian Radio website:
Twomey, Ray - Marlborough overture Op.7 1962
Calgary Youth Orchestra ; John Thompson, conductor.
Premiered April 4, 1998, Mt. Royal College, Calgary, AB
http://www.musiccentre.ca/node/31095

Twomey, Ray - Sinfonia Op.11a 1997
Kensington Sinfonia; Edmond Agopian, conductor.
St. Michael's Hall, Canmore, AB,
http://www.musiccentre.ca/node/31432

If you enjoy the music of New Zealand's Douglas Lilburn, and Vaughan Williams, this will appeal to you
as what I heard is somewhat derivative. Twomey was born in England in 1938, migrated to New Zealand during the war, and later
to Canada 1965

Well expressed, and exactly my sentiments. For some reason that may be entirely unsupportable, I've long seen Parker's best works as the fulfillment of Paine's promise.

Parker is a composer with whom I have wrestled considerably.  I've listened to a few things - Hora Novissima, the organ concerto, and the piano trio are the largest of the pieces that I know - and more often than not I find his to be a promise unfulfilled.  The first two I've given a couple of tries, and they never really work for me.  The piano trio is a different matter, and I love it dearly.  In college I sang an excerpt from his late oratorio The Legend of St. Christopher, and found it to be immensely powerful.  I know a handful of his smaller works, too, but they're of less consequence.

Frankly, I've always preferred Chadwick.  At its best his music is greatly characterful and quite approachable.  And I see him, as much as Parker, as a natural heir to Paine's school of orchestral thinking, as it were.  The neglect of most American music by the mainstream orchestras today is shameful; in Chadwick's case I would argue that it rises to near-criminal levels.

some Podkovyrov... Symphony no 5...  and Atterberg.... and Ivanov's Sym #8

Currently struggling with,and losing to, some very intemperate weather on holiday in Turkey, so, an evening of uplifting music + a good book : Turkish music though, I think !

Fazil Say - 1001 Nights violin concerto
Ulvi Kemal Erkin - Symphony no. 1
Necil Kazim Akses - The Citadel of Ankara
Cengiz Tanc - Lyric concerto for flute, oboe & strings
Ahmed Adnan Saygun - 5 Songs for Mezzo-soprano & orchestra (lovely way to finish !)

Happy, warm, listening to all !

Great to know that you love to listen to Turkish composers while in Turkey too. Not that they are that well known or honoured locally (the Opera house in Istanbul at Taxim Square, named after Rey, had even disappeared when I went there last year). ??? I think I know them all, except for the citadel piece by Akses. Where did you find that?

Here is the piece you're talking about. I found it a minute ago

AKSES: The Citadel of Ankara

http://youtu.be/MJ9gfAG1x3k

Right now listening to a Violin Concerto by the Japenese composer Ichikawa.
The violinist is Masafumi Hori, unknown to me until now, and the orchestr, one of favourites is The Czech Philharmonic, under Zdenek Kosler. Very old fashion qua timin, just under 40 minutes, keeps me occupied until the end.

The work can be found on the Classical podcast, that was lately mentioned at the forum.

I'm listening to some Wallingford Reigger.  My first encounter with his work...and likely my last.  Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid.

I did listen to this earlier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVx7x-MnWOw  Never thought I'd get the chance to tick "Bahamas" off of my composers list...

Don't give up on Riegger just yet! His Third Symphony utilitizes dodecaphony but is a powerful and accessible work. The catchy Dance Rhythms for orchestra show Riegger in tonal, lighter mode. Both works can be found on a still-in-print CRI CD.

Kreek's Love song from the 13th Century and Ludig's Midsummer night sym poem.... ERSO Volmer conducting

Inspired by Mr. Dhibbard, an Estonian evening :

Eduard Tubin - Balalaika concerto
Heino Eller - Dawn/Twilight
Lydia Auster - Violin concertino
Peeter Vahi - A Chant of Bamboo
Cyrillus Kreek - Requiem
(can't finish without my choral piece!)

Synchronicity - I was also listening to the Kreek Requiem yesterday, and his Setu Symphony as well (which I think is the better piece).

Yup, you're right about Setu - I'm just biased.  Right, which country shall we honour with our interest next ?!

Tallinn just reeks with history..

Oh, I know - spent too short a time there, off a cruise ship; + it was a Sunday, so record shops largely shut - did hear a lovely mass/liturgy...whatever the right word is....in the (?) cathedral.

The last few nights I have been working my way through the organ music of Oskar Sigmund ( http://www.classicsonline.com/composerbio/Oskar_Sigmund/ )

but needed a break from that and switched to "Le Zodiaque" for piano by Georges Migot last night.

- G

Well, always welcome inspiration, so following new friend Mr Giwro, let's try a few German pieces.

Max Butting - Der Lugengeschichte vom Schwartzen Pferd
Ernst Meyer - Harp Concerto
York Holler - Spharen
Paul Hindemith - Requiem for those we love.

Mmm.....lovely evening !

I know the Alba recording of the Requiem (on my first visit to Tallinn, back in 1993, I remember somebody told me it had never been performed since the 1930s, as 'religious' pieces were forbidden in Soviet times). But where can we find a recording of the Setu Symphony?  ::)

I don't know if the Setu Symphony is commerically available.. I think that was a radio broadcast recording.  I see it is also on Youtube. 
I'd like to find a commercially available recording esp. in the new bit rate format that Chandos has

here is where it came from:

http://www.erso.ee/?concert=archive251&lang=en

currently this morning Abeliovich's Third Symphony.. following along with the score in hand which I like to do with a cup of Starbucks.


http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/45982

(interesting the Score is for Full Symphony Orchestra.. dedicated to Moisei Weinberg. published 1970 in Leningrad)

Ah - good for MR. 'dhibbard' - arriving on-line nicely to give a 'steer' for Sunday's programme : Belarus it is -
Andrei Mdivani - Frescoes symphonic poem
Evgeny Tikotsky - Symphony no.6
Vladimir Kuryan - Cimbalom concerto
Igar Khadoska - Lamentations Oratorio (what - you think I'd finish without a choral workout ? Wow, this is gorgeous !))

Thank you !!   btw, this recording is only the first 2 movements of the symphony..  hmm..there are actually 4 movements in this symphony.   and yes, I have Khodosky's Sym #4 lined up with the Olympics on the TV on mute ( a great combo)

Chill evening here in Turkey (yes, still !) so, since I've just been disappointed to discover that I already have the requiem uploaded this p.m. to YT, I'll continue with the country anyway : Lithuania tonight !
 Ceslovas Sasnauskas - Requiem
Saulius Auglys-Stanevicius - Marimba Concerto
Joseph Achron (officially Lithuanian born, I'm assured !) -  Violin Concerto
Onute Narbutaite - 2nd Symphony

Just for completion: Joseph Achron was born in Lazdijai, today it is in Lithuania. His place of birth belonged to Tsarist Russia. He was child of Jewish parents. His younger brother Isidor was a very gifted pianist, who for many years was a music accompanist to violinist Jascha Heifetz.

Just received a 2CD set in the post today  Salmanov - The Four Symphonies (2CD)   just now giving it a listen.

All Salmanov's symphonies are great, especially the valedictory Fourth. They are about on par with Shebalin's
cycle and are largely similar in style to them (think Miaskovsky-meets-Prokofiev-meets-Shostakovich).

I'm plugging away at the cpo Atterberg symphony cycle - right now I'm in the middle of the Third.  Quite impressive work...very interesting use of dynamic contrast.

Really enjoying the music of Dr. Robert Turner at the CMC website. Robert Turner was
a melodic and very prolific composer who deserves a much wider audience, his music is quite endearing.
His 3rd symphony and chamber Concerto were especially enjoyable.

You're making this fellow proud ;D The Third, as I have remarked countless times, is an extraordinary work :) Wait until you get to the awe-inspiring finale :)

Wow - thank you; one I'd missed entirely, as nothing on YT. After a successful visit to classical-music-online, I'll be getting up to speed on him tonight !

Well, so far I'm four of five CDs into the cycle, and I'm quite pleased.  The Third remains the capstone (of the eight to which I have listened), but I find much to enjoy in most of them thus far.  I will admit I've been too lazy to listen to them in numerical order, but that throws into greater relief some of his artistic development.

I can't really call it a surprise, as I was already familiar with Atterberg's music (I own a Sterling recording of the concerti for piano and violin).  But it's made for some pleasant listening these past few days.

I don't listen to them (or indeed a cycle of any sort) in numerical order, so don't feel lazy ;D Glad you are enjoying Atterberg's music, though I would say it is much more than just "pleasant listening" :)

Hi guys,
Swiss composer Peter Mieg, specifically the Piano Concert,
I m Erica leo, 23 years young. I love creating, listening music, playing dancing and outing with my friend. I love to make new friends.

I am an admirer of his music as well..at times, his tonality sounds a great deal like Frank Martin but Mieg is less angular, more lyrical and relaxing.
He is quite well represented on Ytube.
This is one prime site, there are others
https://www.youtube.com/user/cygnebleu/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/cygnebleu/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOibS8lWGZc

Listening to Howard Blake's Clarinet Concerto, highly reccomended for those who may not be
gaga over clarinet concertos. This is very dreamy romantic music typical of this fine composer.

Blake,Howard  (1938 ) - Clarinet Concerto (1985)
Thea King (clarinet),ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, HOWARD BLAKE, conductor. Recorded in 1985..
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/47579

Muzio Clementi's symphonies, has been awhile and still they hold me all the way through.

Indeed, the Clementi symphonies are among my favorite lesser-known late classical symphonies. Very inventive, quite "meaty" and thoroughly enjoyable music through and through. IIRC the Third is a stirring work which incorporates the British national anthem.

Got a good dose of Edward Gregson's music tonite and wondered why he is not considered as one of the best modern British composers.
Unlike some other heralded modern UK composers, his music does not sound fabricated and has a strong sense of purpose and direction.
Well crafted tonal music with no gimmicks.
In the past, I had only heard some of his virtuoso works for brass and brass band and had greatly misjudged him on that basis.
His Violin Concerto and Concerto for Orchestra, you must hear...The Clarinet Concerto has some magical moments.

Be advised that it may just be a personal preference, but none the less, he is certainly worthy of your time.

http://classical-music-online.net/en/composer/Gregson/15826

Thank you, Mr. JR; I'm trying to get as much value as possible from my recent 'subscription' to the c-m-o site, & it's more than useful to have someone else searching out gems too !

I'm listening to a disc of lieder by Othmar Schoeck at the moment - Elegi op. 36.  It's far less angular than I was expecting - not unattractive music, all told.  Before that, some Brahms chamber music.  And last night I listened to Leoncavallo's I Medici, which Opera Orchestra of New York is doing come April.  Wish I could be there - it's a well-put-together piece.  Not quite a masterpiece, but it gets better as it goes along, I find.

Last night started making my way through the Symphonies of Charles Tournemire again - I try to listen through them at least once a year.

I'm not much into horn concertos per se, but Schoek's Horn Concerto has an unforgettable opening theme that I keep humming.

You are welcome, cjvinthechair..
Besides searching by composer, depending on your mood, you can also access music by country or by artist (I use very busy conductors like Svetlanov, Bernardi, Jarvi, etc.).
If you click a piece of music you like, clicking on the posters name will bring up their page and clicking on the number of videos posted will bring the postings up..thru them if you have time.
Happy hunting.

 

Yes - getting there ! Unfortunately, one of my favourite posters, from Canada, has well over 6 thousand uploads; not so easy, nor is it easy(unlike YT) to get back to the place in his uploads where you finished last time !
So, the more people hunting the better.

  http://classical-music-online.net/en/composer/Markelov/3290

Speaking of which...here's a composer I found with some interesting works; he's a bit obsessed with bells, I suppose, but there's plenty else to enjoy.

Thank you..this looks very interesting..

Since it's a boring evening of transferring music to a new back-up drive, & have just done 'D', thought I'd have a 'D'-themed concert !

Ingolf Dahl - The Tower of Saint Barbara
 Ikuma Dan - Symphony no. 3
 Marc-Andre Dalbavie - Flute Concerto
 Rihards Dubra - Mass Signum Magnum

Hah, so do I periodically.

The last two days, Volmer's accounts of Tubin 9, 10, 11. Some composers are naturally diffuse and discursive -- therein lies their charm. I count Richard Strauss as perhaps the best of these. Alfvén is another of the best, to my ears; therefore, I find his fourth symphony more characteristic than his fifth, even though Alfvén himself preferred the fifth. Among the smaller group of composers who become less and less diffuse and discursive as they write, I, like many others, have particularly valued Sibelius for his last two symphonies, which cut to the bone.  And now I am equally amazed, even startled, by Tubin 10. It is a work whose unbroken emotional logic concludes precisely when it has had its full say without a moment of rhetorical repetition. In that it is like Sibelius 6 and 7. Yet it is as unlike those works as Tubin's creative period (ca. 1930-80) is unlike Sibelius's (ca. 1890-1930). The symphony was in very good hands during the first 2/3s of the 20th century. Among those elite. few composers push my buttons as reliably as Tubin.

Dan's symphonies are great, esp 4.
BTW: One was to get back to the same page for a posting, I copy and paste the (url, which has the current page number) in my email or notepad entitled "bookmark" and posters name. The next time I want to return, one click and I'm there...I get so mad when I forget to do update that.
Try this poster I have been following, this is page 298:

bookmark user hamerkop
http://classical-music-online.net/users/?p=29&item=17103&tab=files

bookmark user oboeist
http://classical-music-online.net/users/?p=113&item=33822&tab=files

lastly,
bookmark Gabisou (page 1)
http://classical-music-online.net/users/?item=33642&tab=files
last page
http://classical-music-online.net/users/?p=628&item=33642&tab=files

If you forgot to bookmark last time, key a page number after p= an take a shot.

http://classical-music-online.net/users/?p=999&item=33642&tab=files

Mr. JR - a star, Sir: some technical advice even an idiot like me might,just,be able to follow !
Hamerkop I haven't tried, but will try to get round to....sometime !
Gabisou is great, but had despaired of ever even beginning to work my way through 6000+ pages.
Oboeist I have a note of, under if/when/life's too short !
The other one I like, with not too much to work through, is Rugbytaganrog. Imagine you know him too ?

Great - will set up a 'holding file' for pasting, & see if I can get it to work. Much appreciated !             Clive.

I am primary after non operatic, non vocal works for orchestra, and if a poster ventures from that, I give up easily.
Yes, Rugbytaganrog (how could I forget that name?) was one of the first I scoured but can't remember the nature of his postings.
I must admit paging by postings is the least efficient way to plod thru everything. Its not so much that I am technically inclined,
I just have far too much time on my hands.
But it is akin to panning for gold, if you get my drift.

back to the thread topic,
I am relistening to the music of Arnold Cooke and find there is something captivating about the hybrid music of Hindemith and The English.  Cooke's music may be derivative, but if it is great, what's the diff? And I really like Arnell's earlier music, which are markedly Hindemithian in style,eg..try the grand piece of New World Overture and think Matis der Maler, http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/35006 or the Hindemith variations by Walton which I find totally captivating http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/21216.
Maybe its just a personal preference, but these are works that have real staying power with me as does Arnold Cooke. I do not feel the same way re Genzmer, often considered as Hindemith's contemporary. Good, but not great and nearly the inspiration of Hindemith.
Can anyone suggest and Hindemithian derivatives I may be missing, British it or otherwise? Maybe a thread for the Hindemith "school" is long overdue here.

I was listening yesterday to Humiwo Hayasaka's 1948 Piano Concerto, well worth hearing. I'm always curiously about two-movement works: this one is straightforwardly slow-fast. The orchestral opening sound like it might be a pastiche Bruckner symphony; the influence of Bruckner on Japanese composers is interesting to note. But after the piano enters and the movement proceeds, it soon enters very un-Brucknerian territory and becomes much more oriental, at times inhabiting a similar sound world to Hovhaness. The rondo finale, in contrast, is a madcap romp that would be fitting for the Keystone Cops.

Reading a biography of Ravel, so have listened to pieces as I go, always have loved the orchestral music, now will delve more deeply into the piano and chamber music.

I just listened to the 2 symphonies of Frederick Schipizky and it amazes me that his music has been under
the radar for most of us unless someone here knows of him. These symphonies are unforgettable.

His bio is here;
http://www.vancouversymphony.ca/artist/frederick-schipizky/

more at this thread on Canadian composers:

http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,3345.msg18728.html#msg18728

Amazing how now one can go to YouTube or Naxos and hear just about everything Ravel wrote (and I am still working on him--and enjoying things I never thought I would such as his sonata for violin and cello). I started listening to serious music in the 1970's when if my local library didn't have something I was interested in (off the beaten track, even then)--and they usually didn't unless it was standard repertoire--one had to wait to be able to afford to order something or go without. Of course I haunted every used record store I could find in any town I found myself, too. Of course only an old fart could write this "amazement" down in this day of instant access to so much. Thanks, also for bringing up Schipizky, I will listen to him again, it has been a few years. Best, Jim

For me it still works the other way around. I never took a special interest in Hindemith, but I love and admire Cooke and see what you mean with Arnell in the early 1940s. I really cannot tell how big the Hindemith influence is, but to my ears Cooke's music inhabits a world of his own, more lyrical and transcendent. In short: English. :-) For me, his closest connection might be Lennox Berkeley of the 1940s and 1950s, whose inspiratons are supposed to be French and not German. Again, I find his style rather English and prefer it to his supposed sources of inspiration, e.g. Poulenc or Milhaud. Personally, I would loosely "group" Cooke with Berkeley, and perhaps Arnell, Goossens and Rawsthorne. But I hope you have even beter advice for me.

One of the members told us he is very interested in 2 movement concertos. He may know the following two already,
but I found them very pretty to listen to:

Thomas Oboe Lee Piano Concerto and Violin Concerto.

Both in that magnificent collections CB , CB 2 and CB 3
http://youtu.be/mxRrh3VsX-g
http://youtu.be/NtfNY-LxCwA

Now I am reading Cesar Franck biography, so last night I listened to his early oratorio "Ruth" and I found it most beautiful even without the libretto. Also I have been listening to all the British pieces mentioned elsewhere that are on "James Stuart"'s channel on Youtube--all intriguing.

Thanks for the Berkeley lead, I need to hear his music, any piece in particular that features Hndemith style, or will any work do?.

Lennox Berkeley's music is certainly not Hindemithian and it would be misleading therefore to point to any particular Berkeley composition in such a context.

What Johan(Christo) is saying-as I understand him-is that, though Cooke studied with Hindemith, the influence of the German composer on Cooke is often over-stressed and that if we regard Cooke as a Hindemith epigone we are being unfair to a composer who developed a style of his own but with a neo-classical clarity of expression which reminds him of Lennox Berkeley. Berkeley is generally regarded as having been influenced by the French composers mentioned by Johan. In truth however the music of Berkeley is a fusion of such influences with the English tradition. What it is not, I would argue, is particularly like Hindemith. Even here however we need to be careful because Hindemith's own music demonstrates a degree of development and change over his lifetime.

I've never got on with Lennox Berkeley's music. His idea of "continuous development" (i.e. never repeating material) does not appeal to me, interesting though it is intellectually.

I tend to over-analyze music I am fond of in the hope that similar music will come my way. Perhaps a thread for music derived from or in hommage to Hindemith would be in order. The ties to Cooke, early Arnell and Walton are obvious ones, any others are more obscure. Very sorry to digress from the subject of this thread.

I seem to be stuck in a rut, listening to the same few pieces over and over... not necessarily a bad thing, as I love them! Nevertheless, perhaps I should branch out a little. They are:

Atterberg Piano Concerto
Taktakishvili Symphony No.2
Yurovsky Symphony No.5
Williams Jurassic Park soundtrack (sorry!!! it is good though, especially some of the non-big-tuney bits)
Peiko Piano quintet
Alwyn Autumn Legend
Barber Adagio
Martinu Cello Sonata No.3

Something of a random mix, but it keeps me occupied! :)

Since we're doing a little better than of late with the weather, a Spring-themed evening !

 Arnold Bax - Spring Fire
 Martian Negrea - Spring Symphony
 Yan-Yu Xua - Moonlight over the Spring River
 Slava Vorlova - Spring Concerto for Flute & Orchestra
 Efrem Podgaits - Missa Veris(Spring Mass)

 Hope I need plenty of Summer music some time this year !

sounds like the basis of another thread on "Spring" music.
there is also this fine piece:
Kabalevsky "Spring Symphonic Poem"
and
Benjamin Britten. "Spring Symphony"

Frank Bridge "Enter Spring" etc etc - there's a huge number of pieces with "Spring" in the title.

Yes, afraid there are - I chose 5 out of maybe 25 just from my collection !

Right now listening to a rather pleasant work:

Knudåge Riisager: Ballet Music: Etudes. (1947) Back in the 1970s an 11-minute Suite from this ballet came on a lp (on the Turnabout label, if I remember correctly).

This kind of music makes me smile. I reckonised some wellkown tunes in it. It takes 40 minutes from your time.
And... if you also like it, try his Ballets Benzin or Qartsiluni, two others of his thirteen ballets.
Both Benzin and yet another Ballet Slaraffenland are also on cd.

This is fun music, not digging deep, just playful

Found it, thanks - yes; cheerful...actually just what I need this evening !

Just had Juon's Chamber Symphony on. Great piece, full of lovely Russian tunes - if you like that sort of thing!

Listening to Bartok's Wooden Prince at Swedish radio and it is an absolute incredible performance
of a masterpiece....all 58 minutes!!
http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,3494.0.html

Ah - had a couple of his works ('Mystery' for viola/orchestra being the better); with the help of classical-music-online, now got, & listening to, the Chamber Symphony, thanks !

Glad you liked it! You should try the Piano Quintet No.1 too - in a very similar vein and equally tuneful!

Well, our mighty football team is trying to overcome formidable Denmark tonight, so in honour of the opponents :

Joachim Andersen - Ballade & Dance of the Sylphs
Ludolf Nielsen - Forest Walk
Niels Gade - At Sunset
Niels Viggo Bentzon - Symphony no. 12
Launy Grondahl - Trombone Concerto
Asger Hamerik - Requiem                (choral finish, of course !)

I have really enjoyed the Naxos series    Taneyev, S.: Stg Qts  Carpe Diem Qt [Naxos] series...  Its nice to see a fresh recording of these lovely works.
I have the Melodiya LPs but this series is great.     Hopefully we will see some more recordings from this era.

Concert from recent purchases :

Otaka - Fantasy for organ & orchestra
Mlyarnski - Violin Concerto
Chinese collaboration - Little Sisters of the Grassland Pipa Concerto
Searle - Symphony no. 3
Saxton - I will awake the Dawn
Hanson - Symphony no. 4 'Requiem'

A T for Tuesday concert (actually going to cheat & make it a TU programme !):

Tabakova - Dawn
Ulianich - The Bells of the Soul
Tal - Symphony no. 4 'Jubilee'
Usmanbas - Concert Aria for Harp & Strings
Teml - Organ Concerto
Tosar - Te Deum

Raining - so a WED concert for Wednesday:

Westlake - Bass Clarinet Concerto
Enna - Fairy Tale Symphonic Pictures
Dubra - Missa de Spiritu Sancto
Wolf-Ferrari - English Horn Concertino
Eklund - Symphony no. 5
Dambis - Concerto-Fantasia (in the name of Albrecht Durer) for choir, piano & percussion.

Vincent d'indy for the last two to three days,with a small break for Violin sonatas by Enescu & the Nonet & La Revue de Cuisine (etc)by Martinu,which arrived by post,so I had to check them out and,need I add,enjoyed!
I loved all the D'indy cds. I think he's a very fine composer,with a very individual sound world. (I find the unflattering comparisons with Debussy and Ravel made by some critics rather mean!) His orchestral seascapes are particularly evocative. The Second Symphony,deservedly,imo,gets some attention on various forums;but I would also like to plug his third symphony,which tends to be overlooked. A quirky,imaginative score with nice humorous touches.The Chandos recording is excellent;but I still have some affection for the older Auvidis Valois recording,which has a nice (blue coloured!) photo of him on the front!
But I have enjoyed everything!

I 'm currently listening to the following cds,which I received through the post today!

Ropartz: Symphony No 3 Plasson emi

Franz Schmidt: Symphony No 3 Rajter Opus

I was particularly pleased to acquire the Plasson Ropartz cd,as I've been trying to get it for a long time & the sellers on Amazon always seemed to be asking huge prices,or at least too much for my budget. I got this for under a tenner & it's the first release issue of the cd too! So,thank you to that German seller! :) (I see they've still got it listed. So,presumably they had more than one to sell?!! Best to check stock  first,if anyone else is looking!)
What  marvellous,invigorating,upifting music. I had heard the Plasson performance had the edge on the recent Timpani recording,so good for them,but I decided to wait! I now have this recording & all the Timpani symphony recordings (minus their third).

Having just bought the Decca Eloquence reissue of Schmidt's Piano Quintet in G major (coupled with Bruckner's String Quintet) I decided to 'throw the boat out' a little further & get the Rajter recording of his third symphony. I have heard allot of good things about his Schmidt recordings & there is a particularly persuasive review of his recording of the third on Amazon. And as if that isn't enough,to cap it all,he was,as most people here will know,a pupil of the man himself!! Now,I really do like this symphony very much.........but,nevertheless,I have had a few reservations about the work. Not that,as a non-musician,I could really put my finger on them;but they were there! My recordings were initially by Jarvi and then the (fairly) recent Sinaisky release. Well,I have now listened to the Rajter performance & I can say now,with a large degree of confidence,that Rajter's performance has finally laid all my reservations to rest. As I just pointed out,I am not a trained musician,but everything about this performance feels so right. The scherzo in particular,I have never heard it played like this before. In fact,I would go so far as to say,I don't think I could really listen to the other recordings now. Even to my untutored ears,they surely get this all wrong! And what lovely,clear,transparent sound. Quite a relief after the boomy acoustics of that Chandos recording. I feel I can hear single every detail. In fact,I have never been able to pick out so much detail,such is the clarity of this recording.
I know there are allot of admirers of these performances at the GMG! If the rest of Rajter's performances are as good as this one.......................... ......?!!!!!!!!

I would rush to buy all the other Rajter recordings now,if I could;but I've spent too much on cds (and some dvds) this month & if I can't pay the bills I probably won't be able to play my cds if I'm living in a cardboard box!!

Currently on a Piano concerto kick. The opening salvo of which follows:

Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński - Piano Concerto in A-flat major, Op.2 (1824)
Norbert Burgmüller - Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op.1 (1829)
Józef Władysław Krogulski - Piano Concerto in E-major (1830)
Mihaly Mosonyi-Piano concerto e-minor (1844)
Johann Rufinatscha  Piano Concerto in G minor (1850)
Józef Wieniawski - Piano Concerto in G-minor, Op.20 (1858)
August Winding - Piano Concerto in A-minor, Op.16 (1868)
Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf - Piano Concerto, Op. 10 (1873)

Those interested in following the same path, need only turn to youtube and enjoy!

Lovely bunch of 'unsungs' there, Sir ! Life's too short to get through all the PC's available on You Tube, so my sphere of interest generally starts a little later(though I've located Schellendorf & have it on now) - when you get to the 20th Century, I'll be happy to know what gems you unearth that I may well have missed !
Welcome to AMF !

anyone else obsessive to violin concertos..?

Tobias

listening to Bentzon symphonies again and trying to understand why he lacks a substantial following..
Symphony 8 in particular is a world class work.I see his best music as least equal to that os Tubin or Hindemith.
http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,558.msg19390.html#msg19390

Gareth Farr's new piano concerto
Michael Hersch "Along the Ravine"
Williamson the display

Arguably the finest Bentzon Symphonies date from his earlier period and some, at least have been recorded. The symphonies which most impressed me when I first heard them and which still strike me as masterpieces of the mid-20th century symphonic repertoire are Nos. 3 and 4 on Dacapo DCCD 9102 and 5 and 7 on Dacapo 8.224111-both conducted by the late Ole Schmidt. Bentzon,of course, wrote many, many more symphonies after these but if one was seeking to demonstrate the quality of inspiration and mastery of symphonic construction which the younger Bentzon could display then these are the works which I would encourage others to sample. Bentzon may not quite rival Vagn Holmboe as one of the very best of the post-Carl Nielsen Danish symphonists but his neglect is lamentable.

The Decca D'oyly Carte G & S The Sorcerer & the Ohio Light Opera recording with dialogue (how dare those Americans do our British institution! :o >:( ;D) I think the Ohio performance is quite good,actually;but you do miss the characterful voices of the British lot! It is nice to have the dialogue though! I actually don't mind the odd American accent personally,as long as they can sing!!!!! The Ohio recordings DO seem to have improved of late and I actually really DID honestly think their recording of Ruddigore was very good! Their Princess Ida wasn't too bad either imho.......although it did have one spanner in the works...............that bloke from their recording of the 'The Arcadians'! With a bit of luck they've sacked him now!! Luckily,he only has one big solo on cd 2,so you don't get to hear him too much (apart from a duet!). The rest of the cast are pretty good,to be fair & let's face it,the Decca recording wasn't exactly one of their best! Ohio's Princess Ida,mind you,is very good and one reason to acquire the recording (other than the dialogue!) A pity those miseries at the BBC won't release their wonderful performance of Princess Ida on cd (praised on the G & S website). Still,we've got it here........so there!! :)
I'm going to have to bung on the BBC recording next. Thanks to the AMF I can listen to it! :)

I managed to tape (yes,you read that one right!) Sullivan's The Beauty Stone off Radio 3 a couple of weeks ago. Saved me a few quid!! ;D Albion was dead right about this one! I wish they'd do Haddon Hall now! It struck me that The Beauty Stone is a good one for people who think that G & S are a bit too light weight. If your kind of G & s goes as far as The Yeomen of the Guard this could be your cup of tea!!

I also received a s/h copy of the 1973 Decca D'oyly Carte Mikado a couple of days ago. Yes,I know the best one is supposed to be the 1957 recording (or even the 1926 one!). But this is the one I grew up with & the one that was always in the libraries,back then (c. late 70s/early 80s). Not having heard it for years I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. John Reed is unforgettable! I really don't think it's that bad,meeself!! ??? ;D But then again,I even like the Glyndebourne Mikado. Yes,it lacks humour,but the singing makes it for me! (And Owen Brannigan manages to be funny).
Talking about funny;the BBC recording of The Mikado (uploaded here) is very funny indeed in places! Proof (imho,as they say!) that the dialogue SHOULD have been included in the Decca recordings;although maybe not with Malcolm Sargent at the helm (although he didn't like it,anyway!) It would have been a laugh a minute with him in charge!!! (Next funniest Mikado,the 1926 recording,by the way!)

Okay,that's enough G & S for now!!! ;D

Dundonnell,thanks for the overview.
Bentzon had over 700 opuses, which unfortunately may have dliuted the quality of his music and exposed more folks to his music of lesser quality.
Being prolific may have been a disadvantage, I will have to hear more of his later works to make that assessment. Some of his music is quite angular at times.
And I must pick up the Danachord CD's for 3,4,5,and 7 you mentioned, thanks again.
 

It tends to be assumed that if a composer has written so many pieces, the quality must be uneven, but if there are poor pieces by Bentzon I haven't heard them yet.

I digitised symphonies 3, 5 & 7 from old LPs, but if these are the performances reissued on Danachord, I can't post them.

Lithuanian concert to console me for the Basinskas I'm too stupid to download !

Naujalis - Autumn
Klenickis - Sinfonietta
Narbutaite - Sinfonia Secunda; Bethleem
Serksnyte - De Profundis
Sasnauskas - Requiem

Danachord has no moral right to sit on this fine music..copyrights are not for infinity, are they?

Sorry, it's Da Capo not Danachord. Commercial CD transfers of the performances are available.

http://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/artist-niels-viggo-bentzon.aspx (http://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/artist-niels-viggo-bentzon.aspx)

sorry, i guess i should have looked more closely..

Listening to The Volund Smed (Wayland the Smith) Suite by the Danish Composer Fini Henriques(1867-1940).
Delicious, tonal, lyrical and dramatic music..IMHO,a very fine composer.
Apparently was very popular in his native Denmark but virtually unknown internationally.

Wow, well done, Mr. JR; totally unknown name there. Now found on YT a rather lovely suite for oboe & strings which I'm happily listening to ! Thanks so much.

my pleasure cjv. What was the piece and link you found?

sorry if omitted the original:
The Volund Smed (Wayland the Smith) Suite Predude
Fini Henriques
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_-uFG-oNfY

see also

Fini Henriques - Dance of the joy of life Ballet "The little mermaid"
DRSO - Michael Schönwandt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPSai1J_CI

Fini Henriques (1867-1940) Romance violin and orchestra, Op. 12 (1894)
Andante
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPSai1J_CI

Fini Henriques (1867-1940) - Vuggevise, Myggedans
Michaela Fukačová (cello),Danish National Chamber orchestra,Børge Wagner
from a Promenade Concert in Copenhagen Citty Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5MoUBpQAY0

Berkshire had a da capo release of some of his music on offer which I purchased not so long ago.  This: http://www.broinc.com/search.php?row=0&brocode=&stocknum=&submit=Find+Item&text=Henriques%2C+Fini+{1867-1940}%3A+%27Romance+Op.12&filter=all  Quite nice.  If you do a search there are two or three other things of his available in compilations there as well.

Been on a Daniel-Lesur kick lately, Cantique des Cantiques, Missia Brevis, La Vie Interiere, Hymnes....

Lots of lush, beautiful music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGcUr9mMVD8

Oboe suite's in 3 parts, unfortunately. This is the first.

Precious Moments in the Concert Hall  "Estonia"    nice collection from Estonia Radio ERSO  Sumera's Open(r)ing is interesting.
Tubins ballet suite "Kratt".. Ellers Violin Concerto and Part's Credo..... this is a fairly new CD from ER  ERCD059.   I think it is available in the CD marketplace. 

Tonight, concerti for my favourite instruments:

 Ye - Pipa Concerto
 Chaynes - Organ Concerto
 Mathias - Flute Concerto
 Bunin - Viola Concerto
 Sowerby - Harp Concerto
 Yagisawa - Saxophone Concerto
 Ewazen - Marimba Concerto

 All available on YT . Happy Easter to all !

Listening to George Rochberg's Oboe Concerto on uTube.
The NYC Philharmonic does a superb job under Zubin Mehta.
This was not something I had expected to be expected from an oboe concerto.
This fine music is some Rochberg's most gripping.

http://youtu.be/5EnoyuPlmGQ

The CD is avaiable here and is worth every penny for the enriched sonics which
this piece merits..
http://youtu.be/5EnoyuPlmGQ

I know Rochberg wrote othet orchestral works, 6 wonderful symphonies and a highly unconventional masterpiece(IMHO) violin concerto but this oboe cpncerto makes me wonder other concertos I may have missed. Imagine if he did an Organ Concerto!!

Agree, Mr. JR - it's on now; grand start to Easter morning ! I'm also a fan of Imago Mundi, & thanks to 'James Stuart' on YT now have a much wider collecton of Rochberg's music....still not convinced by the 12 tone so much though.

I'm not at all a fan of 12 tone music either, but the quality of Rochberg's music is such that it dosen't matter. Perhaps it is a mixture and that makes it enticing.
All the Rochberg symphonies and lengthy but fabulous violin concerto can be found on Utube, the 5th is my favorite and a real blockbuster.
Both are on CD and the cd's do real justice to his music..

http://youtu.be/7NNewea7OWM

the vc starts here

http://youtu.be/ZybAQW8fq8E

Last night was the well-tempered guitar (24 P+F for guitar duet) by Castelnuovo-Tedesco... A longtime favorite of mine, and something I've not listened to in quite some time.  Tonight it is the 2 organ symphonies of Johannes Haarklou, along with his P+F on B.A.C.H.

Giwro

Tubin's Kratt  (2CD set) ballet

listening to this obscure but impressive Canadian piece which IMHO deserves top billing!!!

Bales,Gerald  - Essay for strings
CBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jean Beaudet.
http://www.musiccentre.ca/node/15128

Last night it was Daniel-Lesur choral music... Song of Songs, mass... Delicious!

German Gypsy Suite
Bantock Fifine at the Fair
Bax November Woods
(I have bought a ridiculously cheap box of 6 DCs "Beecham British music" for the sake of the German and of some Delius owned-in the Beecham recordings- on vinyl).

Aulis Sallinen - Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan

Klami - Symphonie enfantine..etc on BIS806  and other Klami CDs on Ondine and Finlandia

The Estonians love Uuno Klami since he served in the Estonian War of Independence in 1918 and was a volunteer to liberate Karelia s in 1919.   Seems like their adopted Finnish brother composer.  ERSO even did a cycle on Ondine.

Daniel Muck's First Symphony.

Always interesting a 'new' composer, and one who wrote a symphony

...and he's on YT. Thank you, Mr. E !

Joseph Wölfl's Piano Concertos 1, 4, 5, 6, entirely pleasant, a bit beyond Mozart and not quite Beethoven but melodic and worked out all the way through.

Listening to the symphonies and concertos of Joseph Tal which are in abundance on YT.
At the risk of sounding too harsh, what I heard was mostly cacophony and a complete waste of time.
I could not endure listening to anything to its completion.
Am I missing something?

There is a very good (and lengthy) article on Tal on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Tal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Tal)) which includes a section on the composer's relationship with listeners.

Thanks for the additional info, it does help explain the intent of Tal's music. "cannot be fully comprehended in one hearing", I would add "or possibly one lifetime"..

Kaija Saariaho  - Opera 'Adriana Mater'

An opera with four players/singers on stage only. Not much action on stage. Highly dramatic though.
Kaija Saariaho is for me one of the most important composers of today.

Yes, some outstanding music from this composer. Just acquired the 'Maa' Ballet music...very innovative !

Klami... finnish composer... several of his CDs on BIS/Ondine and Alba

Like so many Finnish (& Baltic, & Russian) composers, a delight. Just acquired his oratorio/cantata Psalmus. Do try it !

OK  actually that is on my Amazon wish list... think I'll move it into my cart.   Looks like its only available as a used CD.

Just saw Rene Eespere's Glorificatio....a live performance here in Tallinn.... I have to find that recording.  The Finnish and Estonian's have wonderful choirs.

Klami is a fine composer, based on what I have heard. He writes very simple attractive neoclassical music, albeit sometimes understated and slow to develop. I've heard him described as a Nordic hybrid of Ravel and Stravinsky. This article contain some fine descriptions of Klami and his major works.

http://composers.musicfinland.fi/musicfinland/fimic.nsf/0/959EFA5ACAD7B4ACC2257535003F49CE?opendocument

I'm listening now to the Symphony in b by the other Schumann, Georg.
The works is from 1887 and should be played on many stages.
And than I go to listen to his Oratorio Ruth. It's been a while I heard that one.

thanks  I'll copy that over to the Klami section under Finnish composers.   I've read some of this commentary in the notes to the various CDs.

There's an excellent afternoon's listening of C20th expressionist opera on Swiss Classical Radio this afternoon.

I've just finished hearing Gottfried von Einem's Der Besuch der alten Dame ("The Visit Of The Old Lady"),  and the broadcast of Gerhard Rosenfeld's Kniefall in Warschau ("A Deep Bow in Warsaw") has just begun.

I've heard the Einem work before, and it's a very good piece of music-theatre.  The Rosenfeld piece is new material for me.

Listen in (http://www.radiocrazy.ch/streams/6060.m3u)

Decades old, but new to me: the dual ballet-pantomines 'Signorina Gioventu', op. 58, and 'Nikotina', op. 59, by Vitezslav Novak. The first is a passionate paean, the second a delightful drollery. Both works are clearly products of the 1920s, both possess an aesthetic sophistication one might not expect from the Novak who wrote 'The Storm' and 'Pan', often considered the high points of his art. The ballet-pantomimes were intended as a double bill and they work wonderfully in tandem.

Ah, thank you - quite good on Novak's symphonic/tone poems, but ignorant of the ballets. Will be trying to find them !

Doreen Carwithen's Piano Concerto and film music. Great stuff to me!

British piano concertos are always among my favourites, and Carwithen's is one of the most impressive!

Erkki Melartin....  the 6 Symphonies on Ondine.......  Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra 

Ah, Melartin/Grin, the set that introduced most of us to these wonderful symphonies, which really deserve to be represented by recordings that eschew ill-advised cuts.

Klami... very tempting!

Re Novak's ballets -- the ballet-pantomime is a Czech version of the sort of ballet we associate with French Baroque opera -- but with lots of folk admixture and generally broad humor. Before Novak it wasn't considered a candidate for art music. Since him, it has been. The recordings and performances on the Supraphon discs demonstrate splendid technique and spirit. I bought these superb discs (gently) used, which made them affordable.

Despite lukewarm reviews for this recently deceased unique composer, this symphony really floats my boat.

Asenjo,Florencio - Symphony for Strings (1948)
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra  Orchestra,Kirk Trevor 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqKnvAiGdZo
obituary here and worth a read..
http://www.utimes.pitt.edu/?p=26442

Thanks for the recommendation Roger, I like it too.

Glad you liked it..there is more of Asenjo on utube and here:
http://www.albanyrecords.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Session_ID=84a1efa3b4ffc8c9b4bb14a51e824095&Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AR&Product_Code=TROY822&Category_Code=a-NR

Yep, very pleasant listening, thank you, Mr. JR - Naxos Music Library has 4 of the Albany discs.

Wilhelm Killmayer's Hölderlin Lieder.

I'm listening to the version for voice with orchestra. To be exact the first Zyklus. The use of the orchestra is absolutely splendid.
I also listened as a comparison to the version with piano. Here also the voice with the texts are the stars. The piano is backing up. Surprisingly the same happens in the orchestral version!

NDR Radiophilharmonie
Peter Schreier (tenor)
Berhard Klee (conductor)

Did the same, during the past half year, and appreciatie them a lot. What is your favourite so far?  :)

Very acceptable, Mr. E ! Are you listening on 'classical-music-online' ?

For anyone unaware, this resource has a significant amount of Killmayer's work available(+ many hundreds of other composers !).

I'll let you know in a week or two.... got sidetracked listening to Klami's symphonies.....

I enjoyed just walking into Ondine's headquarters retail shop in downtown Helsinki and purchasing some CDs....reminds me of the old Tower Record days.....

Mr Clive,

Indeed, I listened to it on Classical Music Online, and decided to download the files of the orchestral version. The piano version was already in my collection, from a broadcast by the Bavarian Radio, quite a few years ago. After listening to both versions, I can not decide which one is my favourite. This orchestral version does not overpower the singing voice.

No, it doesn't - so, for me, the orchestral version will always win; the bigger picture, eh....actually, just means I'm too stupid to appreciate the subtleties of piano-only accompaniment !

Anyway - current listening ! Came across the chance to get hold of a good collection of work by Erland von Koch, & working my way through some of the concerti, for guitar, oboe, saxophone & tuba. Very melodic, delightful compositions. 

Rowland Lee's Requiem, which I am loving, thank you Clive. Jim

Oh, where? I can't get enough of his music.

What? Somebody likes it ? Well I'm blowed...and happy to help, Mr. Jim.

Same here..

Currently enjoying this cd,which arrived today. The cd has been deleted by Chandos,although it is available as a download.I managed to buy an inexpensive one from a seller on Amazon. The only other copy was being advertised at around £150,or thereabouts!! Lovely,lyrical,beautiful music,all of it,and with an admirable economy of expression. Not a note too long! And,I might add,wonderful performances! Like the two Lyrita cds it is hard to see why this beautifully written music is so neglected by the cd labels and,with the exception of one or two of her most popular compositions,here in Wales,of all places! :(

(http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r688/dinasman/51gcO1-vCPL_zpsb1dd5bb8.jpg)
(http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r688/dinasman/51WyHcqiCL2_zps9c6a9fb4.jpg)

I notice the £150 ish pound copy (of Grace Williams 'The Dancer' cd) is gone from the Amazon listing! Does this mean someone actually paid that much?!! :o Of course,perhaps the seller just removed the copy! Mine was a couple of pounds! They could have saved a few bob! Described as in "Good condition",I would describe it as "Very good". A few minor marks on the cd itself,aside!

Thank you - will be searching for a chance to hear this !

also check with eBay from time to time.. you will find lots of deleted CDs or out of print CDs for sale in the "used" category... many times just as clean and in almost new condition. 

Listening to the music of the Bulgarian composer Miloslav Danev on YT..
VERY POWERFUL STUFF..
eg..
http://youtu.be/MM-y_Sn7I60?list=UU8V5SG8FT-ffithBIAsNtGQ
http://youtu.be/Bp-aoIOuFnw?list=UU8V5SG8FT-ffithBIAsNtGQ

and more at his YT site..
https://www.youtube.com/user/10092189/videos

That's a composer worth to be watched, I think. Never heard any work of this composer before.
Thanks for the info JR

Busy scribbling that name down - can't get YT where I am this week, but will be there on Sun.; thanks, Mr. JR ! Oh, seems to be Miroslav !

Miroslav Danev is the correct name, damn..my spelor is brokn.
Thanks for the correction, Danev is too good to have his name abused.
Here is his own owebsite:
http://miroslavdanev.wix.com/miro1

Yes, great atmosphere as well as musical argument. Thanks, Jolly Roger!

Listening to a long list of great stuff by Randolph Peters from Canada via the amazing http://www.musiccentre.ca/centrestreams/ (http://www.musiccentre.ca/centrestreams/), free to join and free to listen. Jim

http://www.netiraadio.ee/      check out the classical feed.... usually great variety including some choral music!!