August 2014 - Classical Music

Bach, J.S. - Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Christ our Lord came to the Jordan)
Bach, J.S. - O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (O Eternity, you thunderous word) - 1724 work
Beethoven - Piano Trio in E flat, WoO 38
Beethoven - Theme and Variations for piano trio, op.44
Brahms - String Sextet No.1
Brahms - Piano Quartets 1 and 2
Bridge

• Mid of the Night
• Isabella
• Two Poems for Orchestra after Richard Jefferies
• Enter Spring  

Byrd - Sing joyfully
Chopin

• 3 Waltzes, op.64
• Mazurkas, op.posth. 67 and 68
• 3 Ecossaises, op.posth. 72/3

Debussy

• Preludes, Book 1
• Clair de lune (original piano version and orchestral version)
• Marche ecossaise (orchestral version)

Dvorak

• Legends (orchestral version)
• Serenade for Strings
• Czech Suite 

Haydn - Symphonies 82 and 83
Haydn - The Creation 
Hilgendorf - Daichi
Holmboe - Concertos 1 (for piano) and 11 (for trumpet)
Holmboe - Suite from 'The Ill-Tempered Turk' 
Mozart - Piano Sonatas 6, 9 and 18
Mozart - String Quartets 14 and 15 
Poulenc

• Clarinet Sonata
• Elegie for 2 pianos
• Improvisation No.15 

Rachmaninov - Six songs, op.4
Schoenberg - Transfigured Night (orchestral version)
Schumann

• String Quartet No.1
• 'Album leaf' No. 1, op.99/4
• Novelette No.9, op.99/9 

Sculthorpe - Cello Dreaming
Shostakovich - String Quartets 4, 10 and 14
Shostakovich - Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok
Sibelius - En Saga (2 versions)
Sibelius - The Wood-Nymph
Strauss, R. - Four last songs
Telemann - Tafelmusik Volume 2
Vivaldi - Kyrie in G minor
Vivaldi - Magnificat in G minor (1720s version)

My Bach listening really did hit a bit of a milestone this month, as I reached the second year of Bach's employment in Leipzig. Which, it turns out, means I arrived at a sequence of 'chorale cantatas' where both the music and text are heavily based on existing hymns. Early impressions are very favourable - there is nothing staid or straightforward about the way Bach incorporates the existing material into his new works.

Elsewhere, there is plenty of evidence of new purchases on my part - Beethoven piano trios, Mozart string quartets, Haydn symphonies, Rachmaninov, Holmboe, some Debussy, Dvorak, Schumann and Sibelius. Again, early impressions are favourable. I was particularly taken with Haydn's 82nd symphony, the early Rachmaninov songs and a particular section of Sibelius' The Wood-Nymph which had an extraordinary rushing sound.

I've started a survey of Brahms' 24 major chamber works, as I now own a recording of each. I'm re-engaging with the Chandos set of Bridge's orchestral works, this time by the relatively novel method of listening to a disc at a time. And, after listening to the 8th quartet last month, I've officially returned to surveying Shostakovich's string quartets for the first time in a few years. I do like my listening projects, and have to replace old ones as they fade away, such as reaching the end of my (not that large) Richard Strauss collection.

Listening to Peter Sculthorpe's Cello Dreaming had absolutely nothing to do with the composer's death, which reached the news a day or two later. It was simply that I unearthed an long-unheard, locally produced CD that was gathering dust in an obscure location in the house and had not been added to the catalogue. I actually know very little of Sculthorpe's music, but am certainly aware of his reputation as one of Australia's most significant composers. I actually met him once as a student many years ago. I shall have to investigate further.

I shall also have to plan these rambling posts a bit more carefully...

August 2014 - Popular Music

Tori Amos

• Boys for Pele
• From the Choirgirl Hotel
• Midwinter Graces
• Unrepentant Geraldines

Beyonce - Beyonce
Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
Peter Gabriel - So
Patty Griffin - American Kid
Missy Higgins - The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
k.d. lang - Invincible Summer
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Janelle Monae - Metropolis Suites II to V
Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Radiohead - Amnesiac
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Thrice - The Alchemy Index

It really is about time that I talked about The Alchemy Index, but I have this idea in my head that one day it will get an essay in its own right. So even though this is the first in a while I unearthed it and listened... you shall just have to wait.

Aren't I wicked.

Instead I'm going to briefly remark on The King of Limbs, because this is perhaps the most I've enjoyed it. In late 2012 I was still saying, after having the album for over 18 months, that it wasn't appealing to me on the level of most Radiohead albums. This past month something finally clicked. I actually listened to the album twice in one afternoon, having enjoyed it enough the first time to want to repeat the experience.

I think perhaps I allowed the sounds of the album to wash over me, without trying to pay too much attention to individual details. I had already thought of it as something of a 'soundscape' album (particularly the opening track, 'Bloom'), so it makes sense that it would work better experienced in that way.

But that's one of the things I love about music - that there are a variety of approaches, and that it's actually necessary to adjust my listening technique and expectations to get the most out of different pieces of music. Not all music is trying to do the same thing, so it shouldn't all be judged by the same criteria.