# Andre's music spot



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

For a couple of years now, a friend & I have had a regular get together to listen to eachother's recordings. We do this about once a week. Sometimes we listen to things that we'll hear live in concert, at other times just anything that takes our fancy. We have found that this makes for a pleasant evening.

My friend is into Romantic and C20th music, I'm more into music of the last 100 years, but we're both pretty much all-rounders. He has more operas than I have. Most of my collection was acquired in the past two and a half years, he was a big collector in the 1980's & '90's. We find it interesting to listen to & discuss the different things in eachother's collection. Sometimes we compare different recordings of the same work. & occassionally we listen to non-classical stuff as well.

I will be posting what we listen to each week here. Feel free to discuss these composers, works, performers, or other favourite performances, etc. To start, I'll post some of the things we have been getting into over the past 12-18 months. Usually, we listen to the sets over a number of weeks, we usually listen to a variety of recordings during each session. This is only a fraction of what we have listened to, but it gives you an idea of what we have listened to:

*From the friend's collection:*

*Tchaikovsky:* Nutcracker Ballet (complete)
RPO/Ambrosian Singers/Previn
(EMI) 2 discs










*Shostakovich:* Symphony No. 5
Cleveland Orch./Maazel
(Telarc)










*Wagner: *Tannhauser
Soloists/Chorus of Royal Opera House/Philharmonia Orch./Sinopoli
(DGG) 3 discs










*Chopin:* "Heroic" Polonaise; Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise; Variations Brilliantes on a Theme from Ludovic by Halevy; Mazurkas Op. 6; Contredanse; Tarantelle
Malcolm Frager, piano
(Telarc)










*Schubert:* Lieder
Battle/Levine
(DGG)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Schubert:* The Late Piano Sonatas & other works
Maurizio Pollini, piano
(DGG) 2 discs










*Handel: *The Messiah
Soloists/Monteverdi Ch./English Baroque Soloists/Gardiner
(Philips) 3 discs










*Debussy & Ravel:* Chamber Works
Ensemble Wien-Berlin
(DGG)










*From my collection:*

*Schubert:* Complete Piano Trios & Grand Duo
Collard/Dumay/Lodeon
(EMI - 2 discs)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Villa-Lobos:* Bachianas Brasilieras 1 - 9
Soloists/Nashville SO/Schermerhorn
(Naxos - 3 discs)










*Carter:* String Quartets 1 & 5
Pacifica Quartet
(Naxos)










*Part:* Berliner Messe
Elora Festival Singers/Edison
(Naxos)










*Granados:* Piano Trio; Piano Quintet
LOM Piano Trio & guests
(Naxos)










*Mozart: *Great Mass in C; Ave Verum Corpus
Soloists/LSO & Chorus/Davis
(Eloquence)










*Mahler:* Lieder
Christa Ludwig, mezzo soprano/various orchs. & conductors
(EMI)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Webern, Boulez* - piano works
Maurizio Pollini, piano
(DGG)










*Schoenberg, Sibelius* - Violin Concertos
Hahn/Swedish RSO/Salonen
(DGG)


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Interesting range of CDs. What's the Granados piano trio and piano quintet like? 

Good to see there are muscial soirees in our city. It's exactly what folks used to do in centuries before us, when music was their only major form of entertainment.


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## Romantic Geek (Dec 25, 2009)

I almost picked up that Tchaikovsky album...but opted to get a box set of Karajan conducting the 6 symphonies when I was at the record store. I'm not regretting the choice atm.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Interesting range of CDs. What's the Granados piano trio and piano quintet like?...


I thought you'd be interested in that one. This is a good disc if you want to get into Granados' chamber music. It also includes as a bonus track a piano trio arrangement of the famous_ Intermezzo _from his opera _Goyescas_. In these works, salon music is not far away, and there are also strong hints of Spanish gypsy melodies and even Moorish harmonies. The style is typcially late c19th/early c20th. If you know some of the chamber works of Debussy & Ravel, Granados can sit comfortably amongst those (no wonder, as he spent a long spell in Paris as a student and performer). The only downside with this disc is that (unusually for Naxos) the time is rather short at about 45 minutes. I guess they couldn't find anything else suitable to couple it with. The reason I got this disc was to be able to hear the piano trio before I went to a recital of it in the middle of the year, with pianist Kathryn Selby & her "Trioz" here in Sydney...


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I love that Pollini album where he plays the late Schubert sonatas. He has such a controlled, refined touch that is very suitable to these works. Sometimes I think his playing is a little too 'clean' and formal, but it works well with these sonatas.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Ravellian said:


> I love that Pollini album where he plays the late Schubert sonatas. He has such a controlled, refined touch that is very suitable to these works. Sometimes I think his playing is a little too 'clean' and formal, but it works well with these sonatas.


Yes, it's a great set, & the friend & I have listened to each work twice over the past two or so months. It really warrants repeated listening. I also like Pollini's "no frills" playing. He's only interested in conveying what the composer seems to have intended, nothing more and nothing less. I don't own any of Schubert's piano works, & I might get this set. I liked the _Three Piano Pieces D. 946_ the most. It has this feeling of the old Vienna of Schubert's youth. He was reminiscing of better days when he wrote this, which was late in his short life, when he was not very well (I think all but one of the works on the set are posthumous). I also want to hear some other "takes" on these works, eg. Bolet and Richter. The_ Impromptus _would be great to hear again, I haven't heard them for many years...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Saturday 18.12.10*

This week we again listened to *Schubert's* _Piano Sonata D. 960 _played by Maurizio Pollini. Then we listened to highlights from *Handel's* _The Messiah _on the Naxos disc below. My friend & I were to go to a live performance of the work the next day, but unfortunately he was unable to make it due to not feeling well. I wasn't feeling too crash hot either, but I was able to go. To finish up, we heard *Beethoven's* _String Quartet No. 10 ("Razumovsky No. 3") _played by the Hungarian String Quartet on an old Columbia LP.










Schubert: friend's collection
Handel & Beethoven: my collection


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Saturday 08.01.11*

To kick off the new year, we decided we'd delve into Liszt on our music nights this month. So it was Brendel & Horowitz playing the seminal _Sonata in B minor _& other works to get us started. Then we discussed & read poems from Schoenberg's _Pierrot Lunaire_, and listened to that to finish up. We will see this work in April here in Sydney at an Australia Ensemble concert at the University of New South Wales. It's been more than 10 years since I last heard this work (I've never owned it on disc before) & probably the first time my friend heard it. He tapped in to the darkness & grotesquerie of the work straight away.

*Liszt:*
Sonata in B minor
Legends I & II
La Lugubre Gondola I & II
Alfred Brendel, piano
Philips
(Friend's disc)










*Liszt:*
Sonata in B minor
Funerailles
Vladimir Horowitz, piano (recorded 1930's)
EMI
(My disc)










*Schoenberg:*
Pierrot lunaire, melodrama for voice & chamber ensemble, Op. 21
Herzgewächse (Heart's Foliage), song for soprano, celesta, harp & harmonium, Op. 20
Christine Schafer, voice/soprano
Members of the Ensemble InterContemporain
Pierre Boulez, direction
DGG
(My disc)


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

I have the _Ode to Napoleon_ on CD. It's interesting how Schoenberg wrote for a reciter/narrator with instruments. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that the instrumental music is obviously atonal, and that writing atonally for the human voice "would not work" when combined with atonal music for instruments.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Thanks for replying, HC. One must remember to distinguish serial works like Schoenberg's_ Ode to Napoleon _ with his earlier freely atonal ones like _Pierrot Lunaire_ & _Herzgewächse_. In a way, by working out the serial system in the early 1920's, Schoenberg had figured out a way to "tame the beast" of atonality. In a way, with serialism, Schoenberg and the others gained a sense of more structural solidity/integrity, but they probably had to trade that off for that sense of floating tonality and freedom/ambiguity in their earlier freely atonal works. I think that the _Ode_ is a bit harder for me to grasp than freely atonal pieces like _Herzgewächse_ (Heart's Foliage), the song for soprano, celesta, harp & harmonium on the same disc. That is a freely atonal work, with the soprano singing normally, & it makes me think of the vague tonality in some of Debussy's music especially. But I'd say that the best place to start with atonal or serial vocal works are Berg's operas (especially) _Wozzeck & Lulu_. I don't know if they're on youtube, but look for Marie's arias in _Wozzeck_, and you will probably hear a similar lusciousness as in _Herzgewächse_. In many ways, these composers were carrying on techniques that Wagner had started to explore in his operas. So I think that writing atonally or serially can "work" in the hands of these masters, it just takes a bit of time and patience maybe to tap in to what they were trying to do...


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

What a terrific idea Andre. Setting aside time to listen to music sounds like fun and I bet it provides a more focused listening session. So much of my music listening is interrupted by distractions around the house. And what a group of recordings, so many 20th century works. Keep up the reports. I want to check out some of the Pollini recordings you mention, especially the Schubert late works.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

I agree about the _Ode to Napoleon_ being hard to grasp, and it doesn't help that Schoenberg's understanding of spoken English idiom is not perfect.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Saturday 15.01.11*

This week we continued our exploration of Liszt with some of his works for piano & orchestra, played by Bolet, Cziffra & Richter. Then, following on from the Schoenberg of last week, a work by his teacher Zemlinsky (& like _Pierrot Lunaire_, in his _Lyric Symphony _ Zemlinsky also employed speech-song, but to somewhat a lesser degree). The friend had not heard the music of Zemlinsky before, and he said he could hear a bit of influence of Wagner especially.

*Liszt:*
Totentanz
Malediction (I especially enjoyed this one, a rarely heard work)
Hungarian Fantasy
Jorge Bolet, piano
LSO
Ivan Fischer, conductor
Decca (Friend's disc)










*Liszt:*
Hungarian Fantasy
Georges Cziffra, piano
Orchestra de Paris
Gyorgy Cziffra Jnr., conductor
EMI
(My disc)










*Liszt:*
Piano Concertos 1 & 2
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
LSO
Kyril Kondrashin, conductor
Philips LP GLS64 (My record)

*Zemlinsky:*
Lyric Symphony for soprano, baritone & orchestra
Soile Isokoski, soprano
Bo Skovhus, baritone
Gurzenich-Orchester Koln
James Conlon, conductor
EMI (My disc)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Saturday 22.01.11*

This night, the friend & I both went to the concert in the Sydney Domain, which I reviewed below in the Latest Concerts thread:



> *Symphony in the Domain *(open air concert as part of the Sydney Festival)
> *An evening with Shakespeare*
> 
> John Bell, compere/narrator
> ...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Saturday 29.01.11*

This week, we continued exploring *Liszt*. I really liked my friend's recording of the _Transcendental Studies_, a work which I had not heard before. These etudes influenced basically everything else that was written in this genre after. Composers as wide & varied as Scriabin, Debussy, Bartok, Messiaen & Ligeti all learnt from Liszt's set of 12 pieces, and I could clearly hear this. To finish off, we went into some lighter territory, with *Boccherini* & *Stockhausen*.

*Liszt*
Transcendental Studies, S.139
Jorge Bolet, piano
Decca
(Friend's CD)










*Liszt*
Mass in Four-part for male chorus & organ "Szekszard Mass"
Four Sacred Male Choruses
- Mihi autem adhaerere
- Ave maris stella
- Anima Christi, sanctifica me II
- Ossa arida (this last one is amazing, it has organ four hands, & is only 2 minutes, but there are strange harmonies & dissonances which sound very c20th)

Jozsef Reti, tenor
Sandor Palcso, tenor
Gyorgy Melis, baritone
Jozsef Gregor, bass
Gabor Lehotka & Imre Kiss, organ
Male Chorus of the Hungarian People's Army (Bela Podor, chorus master)
Istvan Kis, conductor
Hungaroton LP LPX 11447
(My LP)

*Boccherini*
2 string quintets from Op. 39 (with double bass)
String Quintet in F, G. 338
String Quintet in D, G.339 (2nd movement - Pastorale: Amoroso ma non lento)
La Magnifica Communita
Brilliant Classics
(My CD)










*Stockhausen*
Spiral I
Harold Boje, electronium & short wave radio
EMI
(My CD)


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Any interesting range of music there, Andre. We seldom read of both Boccherini and Stockhausen in the one sentence!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Well I thought that what the Boccherini & Stockhausen pieces had in common is that they were good 'winding down' types of music. Definitely not as heavy as the Liszt we had listened to before. I really like Boccherini, because he composed in a comparatively light style, but it was not without substance. & those Stockhausen electronic pieces, based on chance, do not demand a great deal from the listener (they are similar to modern ambient kind of electronic music)...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Saturday 5.2.11*

This week, we finished our exploration of *Liszt*. We listened to Brendel playing _La Lugubre Gondola I & II_ again, as well as Bolet playing _Malediction_. We also heard the tone poem _Les Preludes_. We had planned to listen to Liszt's _A Faust Symphony_, but with forty degree heat outside, and quite uncomfortable inside, we opted for some shorter works. The friend & I will be going to a concert of the *Beethoven* Op. 132 in May, so we listened to that as well as the Op.135 string quartet. Then for something lighter, *Milhaud's* jazzy _Genesis_, which reminded my friend of *Gershwin*, so I played the _Concerto in F_, which he hadn't heard before. It kind of suited the sultry and humid evening we were experiencing. To wrap it up, we listened to some popular light classics.

*Liszt:*
- La Lugubre Gondola I & II - Alfred Brendel, piano (Philips)
- Malediction for piano & orchestra - Jorge Bolet, piano/LSO/Ivan Fischer (Decca)
- Les Preludes - Philharmonia Hungarica/Zoltan Rozsnyai (RealTime Records CD) RT-2201 Digital Masterpiece Series Disc One
(Above 3 from friend's collection)

*Beethoven*
String Quartets Opp. 132 & 135
LaSalle Quartet
Brilliant Classics
(My disc)










*Milhaud*
La Creation du Monde (Genesis)
Orchestra National de France/Bernstein
EMI
(My disc)










*Gershwin*
Concerto in F (2nd movt. - Andante con moto - Adagio)
Kathryn Selby, piano/Slovak RSO/Richard Hayman
Naxos 8.570870 "The Best of Gershwin"

Popular Classics from RealTime disc above
Philharmonia Hungarica/Zoltan Rozsnyai

*Bizet* - Carmen Prelude
*Chabrier* - Espana
*Dvorak* - Slavonic Dance Op. 46 No. 8
*Berlioz* - Rakoczi March
*Brahms* - Hungarian Dance No. 5


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

You should write more about what you thought of each piece!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Yes, it's a good idea, I'll try to do that in future.

The highlights for me were the Liszt _La Lugubre Gondola(s)_ which basically sounded atonal. Liszt apparently had a premonition of Wagner's death in Venice, and it actually ended up happening.

I've written about the Beethoven late quartets elsewhere. These transport me to other worlds, but they are also very internal. There's also a sense of mystery here - eg. what is the meaning of the motto at the end of Op. 135? We'll probably never know. It's probably better to view the whole cycle of 6 late quartets as one unified work, rather than as seperate works to themselves. All I can say is that these works are pure genius, and my friend agreed. He wasn't sure if he'd heard these pieces before, but we are both looking forward to the concert of the Op. 132.

As for the rest - the Milhaud, Gershwin - these were just light listening due to the extreme heat. But these are two of their favourite works of mine. I like the rhythmic bounciness of the Milhaud, and I think that Gershwin was a very good orchestrator. He didn't feel confident to orchestrate the _Rhapsody in Blue _but he did orchestrate the _Concerto in F_ - which I think is better orchestrated than the former...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Saturday 12.2.11*

This week, we listened to music of the Classical Era. I particularly liked my friend's recording of Beethoven's _Hammerklavier_ sonata played by Emil Gilels. I don't think that I had heard this pianist before. The piano in Gilel's hands sounded as rich as an orchestra. I agree with my friend who said this was a very "deep reading" of the work. Then we continued to explore Beethoven's late quartets. I love the intensity and no holds barred attitude of the LaSalle Quartet on these recordings. Then we went back in time a bit, to listen to two of Mozart's most famous string quartets. To me, the opening of the Dissonance quartet sounds like Schoenberg, but my friend said it reminded him of the opening of_ Winter _from Vivaldi's _Four Seasons _& I could hear why. He said he had heard the first movement of the Hunt and the second movement of the Dissonance on radio before, but he's never owned these on disc. All in all, it was a good music session as usual.

*Beethoven*
Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106
Emil Gilels, piano
DGG CD 416 527-2
(Friend's disc)










*Beethoven*
String Quartets Opp. 130 & 133 "Grosse Fuge"
LaSalle Quartet
Brilliant Classics
(Image above - my disc)

*Mozart*
String Quartets 17 & 19 - "Hunt" & "Dissonance"
Chilingirian Quartet
Regis
(My disc)


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Your reports make interesting reading.

Can't go wrong with _The Hunt_ and _Dissonance_. It doesn't surprise me to read the latter reminded you of pieces by Schoenberg.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I've always liked The Hunt. I know it might be thought to be an easy one to like but apart from the glorious melody it has there is an inwardness to parts of it which I find appealing as well. I've known the Chilingirian performances for quite a while as well (they were recommended in The Penguin Guide years ago) and they have an appropriate subtlety and intimacy for the music.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

> Your reports make interesting reading.


Glad you enjoy them & thanks for reading them.



> Can't go wrong with The Hunt and Dissonance. It doesn't surprise me to read the latter reminded you of pieces by Schoenberg.





> I've always liked The Hunt. I know it might be thought to be an easy one to like but apart from the glorious melody it has there is an inwardness to parts of it which I find appealing as well. I've known the Chilingirian performances for quite a while as well (they were recommended in The Penguin Guide years ago) and they have an appropriate subtlety and intimacy for the music.


I've been delving into Beethoven's late quartets lately, but I'm also interested in what happened in chamber music before - Haydn, Mozart, Boccherini in particular. My friend & I both enjoyed the two Mozart quartets. Basically, they are masterpieces. I read on wikipedia that the _Hunt_ was considered to be the slightest of Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (as you suggest), but listening to it, the slow movement in particular has this profundity & depth which shines through any of the surface 'sweetness' that one hears in a lot of Mozart's music. The horn call like sounds in the first movement give the quartet an almost orchestral voice. & the _Dissonance_ quartet is probably the most dissonant string quartet music that was written until Beethoven came along & produced his own great works in the genre. In the following weeks, my friend & I will further explore string quartets in particular from all periods. It's amazing how much the 'goalposts' set up in the Classical Era were constantly reworked and shifted by future generations of composers of string quartets. People as diverse as Berg, Hindemith & Tippett were all influenced profoundly by them, Beethoven in particular. So that's the repertoire we will explore in future sessions, as my friend has not heard these works in recent memory anyway...


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Andre said:


> Glad you enjoy them & thanks for reading them.
> 
> I've been delving into Beethoven's late quartets lately, but I'm also interested in what happened in chamber music before - Haydn, Mozart, Boccherini in particular. My friend & I both enjoyed the two Mozart quartets. Basically, they are masterpieces. I read on wikipedia that the _Hunt_ was considered to be the slightest of Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (as you suggest), but listening to it, the slow movement in particular has this profundity & depth which shines through any of the surface 'sweetness' that one hears in a lot of Mozart's music. The horn call like sounds in the first movement give the quartet an almost orchestral voice. & the _Dissonance_ quartet is probably the most dissonant string quartet music that was written until Beethoven came along & produced his own great works in the genre. In the following weeks, my friend & I will further explore string quartets in particular from all periods. It's amazing how much the 'goalposts' set up in the Classical Era were constantly reworked and shifted by future generations of composers of string quartets. People as diverse as Berg, Hindemith & Tippett were all influenced profoundly by them, Beethoven in particular. So that's the repertoire we will explore in future sessions, as my friend has not heard these works in recent memory anyway...


I was listening to Shostakovich's Violin concerto in A minor today, and to my ears much more than other violin concertos I've heard it sounds in places very influenced by earlier string quartet sounds, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this work sometime.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

tdc said:


> I was listening to Shostakovich's Violin concerto in A minor today, and to my ears much more than other violin concertos I've heard it sounds in places very influenced by earlier string quartet sounds, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this work sometime.


I have heard the Shostakovich 1st violin concerto a while back. I'll try to give it another listen (probably on youtube, I don't own a recording of it, the recording I heard was from my local library - Vengerov/Rostropovich) & will get back to you on either here or on your message board...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Saturday 19.2.11*

In the following week's music listening sessions, my friend & I will focus on Beethoven & Debussy, as we'll be going to a performance of their piano trios by "Trioz" here in Sydney in early March.

We had heard my friend's Ravel & Debussy chamber music disc before, but being a chamber music fan, how could I object to him bringing it along for a second listen? I'm not sure if this disc is still in print, but it's a great collection of some of their chamber works. I particularly liked Ravel's _Sonata for violin & cello_, which had quite a bit of dissonance & even aggro for that composer; & Debussy's sensual _Chansons de Bilitis_, narrated by the great French actress Catherine Deneuve. I like how Debussy just lets tonality hang around in his music, there doesn't need to be a strong resolution or anything like that. I was interested to learn that the _Chansons_ were written more than 10 years before Schoenberg's _Pierrot Lunaire_ which is also for voice and chamber ensemble. Perhaps due to Debussy's more understated style, Schoenberg's work eventually made more of an impact.

Then we listened to a bit of Beethoven, the magnificient, mighty and noble "Archduke" piano trio & also some of his string quartet Op. 135 & an arrangement of it for 23 solo strings. The recording does not specify who made this arrangement, but the notes do mention Leonard Bernstein, so it might be him. Whoever it was, they toned down some of the dissonances in the original quartet, probably because they didn't want the arrangement to sound too much twentieth century-ish. My friend & I both agreed that it was a good arrangment. & the "Archduke" trio is a work full of innovation, my favourite bit is then second "theme" or phrase in the 2nd movement, which wouldn't be out of place in the music of Ligeti or Xenakis. Check it out.

Finally, more Debussy, the so-called _Piano Trio No. 1 _(although it had not successor). Written for Tchaikovsky's benefactress, the railway widow Nadezhda von Meck, it is a work from his student days, more reminiscent I think of salon music and Gabriel Faure's lighter chamber music. It's definitely not a "great" work, but a delightful work to hear nonetheless. My friend & I look forward to hearing it & the "Archduke" live on March 6th...

*Ravel*
- Introduction & Allegro (harp, SQ, flute, cl.)
- Pavane for a Dead Princess (flute, harp, SQ)
- Sonata for Violin & Cello
*Debussy*
- Syrinx (flute)
- Sonata for flute, viola & harp
- Chansons de Bilitis (narrator, 2 flutes, 2 harps, celesta)

Catherine Deneuve, narrator
Ensemble Wien-Berlin (DGG)
(Friend's disc)










*Beethoven*
String Quartet Op. 135
- Final movement played by Lasalle Quartet (Brilliant Classics) (My disc, image above)
- Whole work arr. 23 solo strings - Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida Thompson (Channel Classics) (Library disc)










*Debussy*
Piano Trio No. 1
Joachim Trio (Naxos) (My disc)










*Beethoven*
Piano Trio No. 7 "Archduke"
Chung Piano Trio (EMI) (My disc)


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Interesting notes.

The Naxos French piano trio CD is a fine one.

I never heard of the group _Trioz_.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> I never heard of the group _Trioz_.


"Trioz" is also called "Selby & friends." It's a group headed by pianist Kathryn Selby, they are amongst the finest chamber musicians in this country. They usually play piano trios, but sometimes have guests where they play quartets & quintets. This year they'll also be doing a cello sonata program. They tour Australia & play 5 concerts per year. In Sydney, they perform at City Recital Hall Angel Place & also the Uniting Church in Turramurra. Check them out:

http://www.selbyandfriends.com.au/season_2011.php


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*26.02.11*

This week we again listened to the Debussy & Beethoven "Archduke" piano trios, in preparation for the concert next week. My friend also bought along a disc of Debussy's piano music. I had not heard of the pianist Jacques Rouvier before, but I think that he had a very colourful but direct style.

Since we've been getting into Beethoven's late quartets, we also listened to an ancient 1943 recording of an arrangement for string orchestra of the _Grosse Fuge_. I assume that the arranger was the composer, the LP does not say. My friend & I agreed that this was more dissonant than the arrangement of Op. 135 that we heard last week.

To finish, Ives' crazy _Three Page Sonata_. There's a jumbled quotation of Beethoven's 5th symphony opening at the beginning, then the trademark hymn tunes slowed down to the nth degree, then a fugue were the pianist hammers out the musical notation of the letters B-A-C-H. Compared to this, Liszt's fugue on the same theme sounds rather tame.

All in all, this was a good evening & next week we'll also get into some Copland, whose short work for piano trio _Vitebsk_, will also be played at the concert...

*Debussy*
Children's Corner
Reverie
...D'un cahier D'Esquisses
Berceuse Heroique
Danse
Mazurka
Nocturne
The Little Negro (Le petit Negre)
Morceau de concours
La Plus Que Lente

Jacques Rouvier (Steinway)
DENON
(Friend's disc)










*Debussy *- Piano Trio No. 1
*Schmitt* - Tres Lent for piano trio
Joachim Trio
Naxos (Image above, my disc)

*Beethoven* - Grosse Fuge in B flat major, Op. 133
Dresden Staatskapelle/Karl Elmendorff (rec. 1943)
Melodiya Mono LP (coupled with Schubert 4th symphony "Tragic")
MIO 46 117 007
(My LP)

*Beethoven* - Piano Trio No. 7 "Archduke"
Chung Trio
EMI (Image above, my disc)

*Ives *- Three Page Sonata (Ed. Cowell)
Peter Lawson, piano
EMI (My disc)


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Andre said:


> Since we've been getting into Beethoven's late quartets, we also listened to an ancient 1943 recording of an arrangement for string orchestra of the _Grosse Fuge_. I assume that the arranger was the composer, the LP does not say.


I very much doubt it. It's more likely to be Furtwangler's transcription.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Webernite said:


> I very much doubt it. It's more likely to be Furtwangler's transcription.


That's pretty logical, since the recording was made in the 1940's. There's no such information on the LP (issued in 1985), only a biography of the conductor, in both Russian and English. Did Beethoven make any similar arrangements of his string quartets? I know Mahler & Bernstein did...


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

I know he made an arrangement of the Grosse Fuge for two pianos, but I think that's all.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*05.03.11*

This week we concentrated on three composers whose music we would hear at a piano trio recital the following day - *Copland, Suk, Beethoven *- as well as a bit of *Ives* just for a change. I enjoyed my friend's disc of some of Copland's famous orchestral works, it was a great recording especially in terms of sound. In contrast to those works, which can evoke some of the wide open spaces of America, we listened to my disc of his only _Piano Sonata_. This work with it's two slow outer movements and jazzy middle movement for me evokes the big cities in America. There's a feeling of loneliness and isolation amongst the crowds of thousands, it reminds me of an Edward Hopper painting. My friend agreed that it had different, perhaps more intimate, things to say than the more extroverted orchestral works.

Then a composer whom neither of us knew much about, the Czech Josef Suk and his _Asrael Symphony_. This is quite a dark work, written after two people very close to the composer died within a short space of time - Suk's wife and also her father, fellow composer Dvorak. Parts reminded me of Mahler (the big emotions), but my friend was thinking more in terms of Dvorak's influence. We only had time to listen to the last two movements.

Then we revisited, for the third time together, Beethoven's mighty "Archduke" piano trio. This was the main work in the recital the following day. Finally, for something completely different, Ives' _Violin Sonata No. 4 _and also his song _At the River_, which was quoted in the third movement. I feel that the song takes me right back to about 1900 to that river in Conneticut, but my friend said he didn't get that feeling. The violin sonata proved to be a good choice to listen to, as the Copland piano trio in the recital was similar in terms of technique. This was a good music night and it was good to hear some orchestral music, since we've mainly been concentrating on solo piano and chamber in recent weeks.

*Copland*
Fanfare for the Common Man
Rodeo
Appalachian Spring (Suite)
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/Louis Lane
Telarc CD-80078 (released 1982)
(Friend's disc)










*Copland*
Piano Sonata
Peter Lawson, piano
EMI (My disc)










Suk
Asrael Symphony (Part II - IV.Adagio; V. Adagio e maestoso)
Helsinki PO/Vladimir Ashkenazy
Ondine
(Library's disc)










*Beethoven*
Piano Trio No. 7, "Archduke"
Chung Trio
EMI (My disc)










*Ives*

Violin Sonata No. 4 (Children's Day at the Camp Meeting)
Glenn Dicterow, violin/Israela Margalit, piano

"At the River" (song)
Deborah Voigt, soprano/Brian Zeger, piano

EMI (My disc)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

On Sunday my friend & I went to the following recital, which I reviewed in the concerts thread:



> Went to this one on Sunday afternoon here in Sydney's northern suburbs:
> 
> Trioz "Vitebsk" tour
> 
> ...


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Interesting notes, as usual. Sounds like the Trioz might be worth listening in real life. Also, you should get your friend to be a member here, if (s)he is not already one so we shall have more Aussie representatives at TC!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Thanks for reading again, glad you liked it. Yes, Selby & Friends or "Trioz" are really excellent, they are one of the best chamber ensembles in this country. I'll ask my friend if he wants to join TC, but he's very busy & doesn't have a computer at home, so it might be difficult...


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Great stuff Andre. I've enjoyed your reviews of late on Ives and Suk. Two composers I'm looking to get more familiarized with.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Glad you've enjoyed popping in here, tdc. With Suk, his _Serenade for Strings_ is a good place to start, though I couldn't find that in my local library, and so borrowed the much darker and substantial _Asrael Symphony_ (Asrael is the angel of death). With Ives, I've come to him via his solo piano, chamber and song repertoire, but his orchestral music is good too, I want to get into that more myself down the track...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*12.03.11*

This week my friend brought along *Canteloube's* _Songs of the Auvergne _sung by Kiri. I enjoyed the lush orchestration and the songs which - though by no means easy to sing - were not as virtuosic as some in the repertoire. I had heard this disc before together with my friend about two years ago, and I found that this time I enjoyed it much more. Maybe it's because I've listened to more artsongs since that time.

Then we got into some *Stravinsky*, which was my friend's choice from my small Stravinsky collection. My friend said he enjoyed the _Violin Concerto _the most on the disc, he had never heard this work before. It was also interesting to hear the 1947/1967 revised version of _The Rite of Spring_. It sounded more restrained than other recordings I've heard (my friend agreed), but I'm not sure if the reason is the conductor's interpretation or simply the sound of the different version. It doesn't really matter, we both enjoyed this disc & it had been about a year since I'd heard it last.

To finish up, *Beethoven's* _Ghost_ piano trio. My friend had never heard this before either. The ghostly middle largo movement made him think of church music. We kind of agreed that this isn't a particularly scary ghost - but of course it was not Beethoven who gave the work this name. I love the dissonance of this work, it sounds so natural in Beethoven's hands.

*Canteloube*
Songs of the Auvergne (Series 1-3)
Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano
English Chamber Orchestra/Jeffrey Tate
Decca CD (Friend's disc)

*Stravinsky*
Violin Concerto
Zvezdoliky, cantata for male chorus and orchestra
Symphonies of Wind Instruments
The Rite of Spring (revised 1947/1967 version)

Jennifer Frautschi, violin
Philharmonia Orch./Robert Craft
Naxos (My disc)










*Beethoven*
Piano Trio No. 5 "Ghost"
Chung Trio
EMI (My disc)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*19.03.11*

*PROKOFIEV*
Romeo & Juliet Suites 1 & 2
National SO, Washington DC/Mstislav Rostropovich
DGG (1983) - 410 519-2
(Friend's disc)

*DVORAK*
String Quartets 10 & 12 "American;" Four Cypresses (selections)
Australian String Quartet
ABC Classics
(My disc)

*GUBAIDULINA*
In tempus praesens, concerto for violin & orchestra (2006/7)
Dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin/London SO/Valery Gergiev
DGG
(City of Sydney library disc)

I had never heard Prokofiev's _Romeo & Juliet _to this extent before (although there is a 3rd suite). I have been more familiar with his more experimental & modernistic works, so it was interesting to hear something that had more obvious connections with the Romantic tradition. Rostropovich personally knew the composer, and the disc notes say that they even lived together in the same house during the early 1950's. The interpretation & sound of this disc was excellent.

My friend chose the Dvorak disc from my disc purchases of the past three months. Most of these are of chamber music. My friend had heard the "American" quartet on radio years ago, and he had never heard the other works on the disc. The 10th quartet, written in Europe, is typically Czech, and the 12th was written during the composer's stay in the Czech community in Spillville, USA. It sounds a bit like Czech music combined with the open-air feel of the prairies. I'm pretty sure it would have influenced guys like Ives and Copland later. The 12 Cypresses (of which there is a selection of 4 here) were originally songs for voice and piano, later transcribed for string quartet. I get a sense of the patterns of the Czech language transformed into instrumental music, a bit like Janacek was to do later. This recording was from about 6 years ago, the personnel of the Australian String Quartet has changed since then, but the level of artistry and craftsmanship remains the same. A superb disc which only cost me $10 brand new!!! Needless to say, both my friend & I enjoyed this disc. We both disagree with people who say that Dvorak was just a weak imitation of Brahms. Utter rubbish, imo - there are so many harmonic innovations in this music.

Then the Gubaidulina, which I borrowed last week from the library. My friend had never heard the music of this contemporary Russian composer. He liked it more than I did. He said he liked the darkness and lyricism. It took him back to the feelings he felt when he lost his brother in a tragic accident 6 years ago. I agree that there is a sense of tragedy and forboding underlying this work. In my humble opinion, the work is a very effective vehicle to show off the talents of the dedicatee, Anne-Sophie Mutter. In terms of violinistic and orchestral technique, this is a very assured work. But I just felt that it was too kind of "new age" for my tastes. I won't compare it to other composer's violin concertos, because there's no use in doing that. Ditto Gubaidulina's more experimental and out-there earlier chamber works which I have been familiar with for a few years. Despite all of its merits and complexity, I felt that this violin concerto offered me little real meat to chew on. My friend disagreed, so this just shows that we are not carbon copies of eachother when it comes to opinions on classical music (& that's a good thing, otherwise it would be quite boring!!!). Unfortunately, we ran out of time & couldn't listen to the Bach concertos, which we will listen to together sometime soon...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*26.03.11*

*RAVEL*
Bolero
Pavane pour une infante defunte
Daphnis & Chloe Suite No. 2
Saint Louis SO/Leonard Slatkin
SLSO Chorus/Thomas Peck, director (in Daphnis)
Telarc CD 80052
(Friend's disc)

*REGER*
Clarinet Quintet
Philharmonia Quartet Berlin/Wenzel Fuchs, clarinet
(Naxos)
(My disc)

*RAVEL*
Piano Trio
Joachim Trio
(Naxos)
(My disc)

*PIAZZOLLA*
Zum (arr. for piano trio by Quentin Grant)
Macquarie Trio
(ABC Classics)
(My disc)

*J. S. BACH*
Violin Concertos in A minor & E minor
Trondheim Soloists
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin/conductor
DGG
(Library disc)

A varied musical evening, taking in orchestral and chamber from various composers. We started with *Ravel's* ever popular orchestral works, on a Telarc disc which had great sound.

Then my friend chose the *Reger* _Clarinet Quintet _from my recent chamber purchases. It reminded my friend of Mozart's work in the same genre. Since listening to this work by Reger, I have felt that it sounds very much like vocal music, the clarinet being like a voice accompanied by the other instruments.

Then *Ravel's* _Piano Trio_, which my friend had not heard before (like the Reger). The last movement of this work makes me think of being at the beach - the seagulls, the sun, the surf, the beautiful people! But when I heard this work live played by another group at the Sydney Conservatorium last year, I didn't get that feeling - obviously that performance was done differently, which is interesting.

Then a short tango by *Piazzolla* as a break. My friend commented how this music changes mood in a short space of time, the blink of an eye. I've been listening to this disc a lot lately as I find that I have tired a bit of the more "serious" music. But although Piazzolla may be light, I don't think he's lightweight, his music has much substance, imo.

To finish, two of *J. S. Bach's *violin concertos, played on modern instruments but with imitation Baroque bows by Anne-Sophie Mutter and her cohorts. We tend not to listen to Baroque together, I'm basically clueless about much of it, so I've been trying to listen to some at least lately.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*2.4.11*

*BRAHMS*
Double Concerto for violin, cello & orchestra in A minor, Op. 102
Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80

Gidon Kremer, violin
Mischa Maisky, cello
Vienna Philharmonic Orch./Leonard Bernstein
DGG 410 031-2
(Friend's disc)

*RAWSTHORNE*
Practical Cats - An entertainment for speaker & orchestra (1954)
Text: Verses from 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' by T. S. Eliot

Simon Callow, narrator
Royal Liverpool PO/David Lloyd-Jones
Epoch
(Library disc)
*
Robert BEASER*
From 'Mountain Songs'

Virginia Taylor, flute
Timothy Kain, guitar
ABC Classics Discovery series
(My disc)

*PIAZZOLLA*
Le Cuatro Estaciones Portenas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires) arr. piano trio by Jose Bragato

Macquarie Trio
ABC Classics Discovery series
(My disc)

*SCHOENBERG*
Pierrot Lunaire, melodrama for voice & ensemble

Christine Schafer, speech-song
Ensemble Intercontemporain/Pierre Boulez
DGG
(My disc)

A varied musical evening. We enjoyed my friend's recording of the *Brahms* works, I especially like the Hungarian sounding ending of the _Double Concerto_. There was plenty of humour and lightheartedness in the *Rawsthorne*, the music has a decidedly Bergian lushness, a bit of the fun like Prokofiev & there is even a part that sounds very much like Elgar's_ Land of Hope and Glory_. Then we finished off with some chamber music, the decidedly Celtic sounding _Mountain Songs_ of contemporary American composer Robert *Beaser*, the tango-inspired world of *Piazzolla's* _Four Seasons_, & finally *Schoenberg's* _Pierrot Lunaire_ which evokes the world of the cabaret (my friend & I plan to go to a concert of this Saturday week)...


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Andre said:


> *19.03.11*
> 
> *GUBAIDULINA*
> In tempus praesens, concerto for violin & orchestra (2006/7)
> ...


I think history will be kind to Gubaidulina's VC. The critics have been, for what *that's* worth. I liked it the first time I heard it, and get more out of it with each new listen. "New Wave" is not a label I'd put to Gubaidulina work. She likely is the greatest living classical music composer.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Vaneyes said:


> I think history will be kind to Gubaidulina's VC. The critics have been, for what *that's* worth. I liked it the first time I heard it, and get more out of it with each new listen. "New Wave" is not a label I'd put to Gubaidulina work. She likely is the greatest living classical music composer.


Thanks for replying. Well I haven't been turned on by much that I've heard by Gubaidulina, although I don't mind some of her earlier chamber works, such as _Seven Words _for bayan, cello and strings. I might get back to that Mutter disc, I borrowed it from the library & gave it about 3 listens, then returned it. I find it a bit hard to distinguish between Schnittke's and Gubaidulina's concertante works, eg. they both tended to use rich percussion & instruments like the harpsichord and celesta to add colour.

BTW, I'm no longer contributing my weekly listening & concert reviews to this thread but if you want to see what I'm up to currently, go to my music blog on this site, and feel free to contribute. Nothing I say is set in stone, it's always open to discussion & debate...


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