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...