Friday 22 May 2015

Classical Music - April 2015

Haydn - Symphonies 87, 89, 94 and 101

One of the things I took on my travels (via iPhone) was my collection of Haydn symphonies. I have recordings of 23 of them now - in fact the last 23, spanning the period from 1785 to 1795 when Haydn was an international star.

I had vague notions of listening to all of them during the month, but I only managed to listen to 4. Even that, though, was enough to show me that the symphonies are full of inventive ideas. However much Haydn might be thought to be the father of the 'standard' symphony, each work has something distinctive and memorable about it. Sometimes it's led to a nickname (rarely has a name been more apt than the 'Clock' for no.101), but the works that have to rely on a number each have some unique twist.

In fact, this was recognised at the time. Wikipedia helpfully tells me that a review of the first performance of that 'Clock' had this to say:
"Every new Overture he writes, we fear, till it is heard, he can only repeat himself; and we are every time mistaken."
So while I already have more symphonies by Haydn than by any other composer, I see no reason to stop at 23. There's another 80 or so to explore when I get around to it.

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Popular Music - April 2015

Nothing.

Well, not literally nothing. But it was just fragments, not albums.

This was caused by me spending the month travelling. I can't quite explain why this particular part of my usual routine - which I love - is so badly disrupted by travel, but this isn't the first time. I didn't even use music for drifting off to sleep, except for just a song or two on a couple of occasions.

I actually spent a considerable amount of travel time listening to podcasts, something I haven't had much interest in until a recent conversation, which led to a particular pop culture podcast, which led to a couple more dealing with a murder investigation and the story of starting a company.

But this is a music blog... Sorry, no music!

Monday 18 May 2015

Classical Music - March 2015

Bach, J.S.
  • Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan (What God does is well done)
  • Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost (Ah, dear Christians, be comforted)
  • Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele (Adorn yourself, beloved soul)
Barber - First, Second and Third Essays for Orchestra
Bartok - Piano Concerto No.2
Beethoven
  • Triple Concerto
  • Romances 1 & 2 for violin and orchestra
  • Quintet for piano winds (original version and piano quartet version)
  • String Quartets 12, 13 and 15
  • Piano Trios 1 to 3, 9 and 10 (Op.1, WoO 38 and Op.44)
  • Clarinet Trio (original version and violin version)
  • String Trios 1 to 4
  • Serenade for string trio 
  • Violin Sonatas 1 to 5 (two versions of each)
Brahms
  • Piano Trio No.2
  • String Quintet No.1
  • Cello Sonata No.2
Chopin
  • Piano Concerto No.2
  • Fantasy on Polish Airs
  • Variations on "Là ci darem la mano"
  • 2 Polonaises, op.26 
Debussy - Berceuse Heroique (orchestral version)
Dvorak - Suite in A, 'American' (orchestral version)
Holmboe
  • Chamber Symphony No.1
  • Intermezzo Concertante for tuba and orchestra
  • Concerto giocondo e severo
  • Violin Sonata No.2
  • Primavera
Schubert - Symphony No.8 ('Unfinished')
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.9
Sibelius - Finlandia
Sibelius - Symphony No.1
Snider - Penelope
Vine - String Quartet No.2 

There was a veritable explosion of Beethoven activity in March. Through a complex series of events I ended up with even more new (or newish) Beethoven recordings to listen to than I expected.

This was pretty marvellous.  It's hard to pick out highlights. At one end there was some truly delightful music from the early part of Beethoven's career. Special mention needs to be made of the string trios, as performed by the Leopold String Trio on Hyperion, because every bar on these discs sparkles.  At the other extreme, I was introduced to the 3 string quartets that Beethoven wrote for Prince Galitzin - extraordinary pieces, alternately wild and grand as performed by the Takacs Quartet. The famous hymn in the Lydian mode in (the inaccurately numbered) 15th quartet showed me from the first hearing just why it is famous.

My Chopin chronology backtracked because I acquired a recording of his orchestral works... although it's fairly clear that the teenage Chopin was writing the orchestra to be in the background of fairly dazzling piano parts. I seem to remember quite liking the Fantasy.

March also provided me with a fairly unique puzzle, but it was a good puzzle to have. The problem was how to classify Penelope, a song cycle with some theatrical origins inspired by Homer's Odyssey, composed by Sarah Kirkland Snider to lyrics by playwright Ellen McLaughlin, sung by Shara Worden with instrumental accompaniment by the group Signal. Which half of my blog does this fit in? Is this classical music, or popular music?

The truth is it's both. And neither. It's a true hybrid - not one of these embarrassing crossovers that has plagued the world since Hooked on Classics became a hit, but a work of art that uses elements of both musical languages. While getting to know Penelope, I switched back and forth repeatedly as to where it would live in my collection. That's a pop melody there... but then this section is something a pop song would never do... but that's layering that could only be created in a studio...



The performers weren't any help, as in both cases they are known for straddling different styles. In the end, the reason that Penelope has ended up in the classical list is that the composer is given prominence - first billing, in a way that is alien to pop music. So it goes under 'S' for Snider.



But really, more important than its classification is its quality. It has the resonances that distinguish the best song cycles, the sense of unity, of emotional narrative, the marriage of music and words so that both are heightened. More than anything, it's flat out beautiful.


Wednesday 13 May 2015

Popular Music - March 2015

Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Missy Higgins - The Sound of White
Radiohead - Amnesiac
Sting - Mercury Falling
Washington - There There
Rachael Yamagata - Chesapeake

Chesapeake is Rachael Yamagata sounding relatively bright and happy.

Apparently, this is something she has semi-apologised for, promising fans that her next album will go back to being dark and miserable. First of all I worry about any fans that complained about her music not sounding tortured enough, but hey, she wouldn't be the first artist to get that reaction. But she really shouldn't have apologised in any shape or form.

It's not actually that happy anyway. The lyrics still have plenty of angst in them, with failed or flawed relationships making regular appearances. The main difference is that the music has a bit of energy and bounce to it.

It also, as a consequence, has variety. Yamagata's previous album Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart has some fine music, but it is also seriously flawed due to the lack of variation. As much as anything this is due to her failure to wrestle Elephants into a single album, as she instead delivered 2 discs with contrasting musical styles. But the longer, ballad-laden disc needed an injection of energy from its companion.

And so Chesapeake is actually a vast improvement as a listening experience. I can't by any means say I've come to grips with the album yet, as I only had a relatively brief period of listening to it in March before having to lay it aside, but all the early impressions were favourable. As an overall album, it might well be Yamagata's best yet.

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Classical Music - February 2015

Bach, J.S.
  • Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben (Dearest God, when shall I die)
  • Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (In you alone, Lord Jesus Christ)
  • Jesu, der du meine Seele (Jesus, you who have my soul)
  • Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut (Lord Jesus Christ, you highest good)
Beethoven
  • Violin Sonatas 1 to 3
  • Romance No.2 for violin and orchestra
  • Triple Concerto
  • String Quartet No.12 
Brahms
  • String Quartets 1 to 3
  • Piano Quartet No.3
  • Violin Sonata No.1
Bridge
  • Suite for Strings
  • Two Songs of Robert Bridges
  • Two Old English Songs (orchestral version)
  • Two Intermezzi from 'Threads'
  • Two Entr'actes
  • Sir Roger de Coverley (A Christmas Dance) (string orchestra version)
  • Todessehnsucht (string orchestra version)
  • Valse Intermezzo à cordes
  • The Hag   
Chopin
  • Ballade No.1
  • Scherzo No.1
  • 3 Nocturnes, op.15
  • Mazurkas, opp. 17, 24 and 67/3, and in A flat, B flat, C and D
  • Waltzes opp.18, 69/1 and 70/1
  • Bolero
  • Fantaisie-Impromptu
  • Variations brillantes in B flat, op.12
  • Rondo in E flat, op.16
  • Prelude in A flat
  • Cantabile in B flat 
Debussy
  • Images for Orchestra
  • Preludes, Book II
  • Rhapsodie for clarinet and orchestra
  • Jeux 
Dvorak
  • Symphony No.9
  • String Sextet
  • String Quintet No.3
  • String Quartet No.12
  • Piano Quintet No.2
Edwards - O Quam Preciosa from Mountain Chant
Grieg - Borghild's Dream from Sigurd Jorsalfar
Handel - 'Larghetto' from Xerxes, arranged for oboe and orchestra
Haydn - Symphonies 88 to 92
Holmboe
  • Concertos 7 (for oboe) and 10 ('Wood-Brass-Gut')
  • Cello Concerto
  • Tuba Concerto
  • To the Calm Sea
  • Brass Quintet No.1
  • String Quartet No.6
  • Triade
  • Beatus Parvo
Liszt - Au bord d'une source
Mozart - String Quartets 20 to 23
Rachmaninov - Songs, opp.26 and 34
Rachmaninov - A letter to K. S. Stanislavsky from S. Rachmaninov
Schumann -Lehn deine Wang' and Mein Wagen rollet langsam, op.142/2 and 4 (both rejected from Dichterliebe)
Shostakovich - String Quartets 1, 6, 11 and 15
Sibelius
  • Lemminkäinen Suite
  • En Saga
  • Karelia Suite
  • The Wood-Nymph
  • The Bard
  • The Oceanides
Vine - Smith's Alchemy (excerpt)
Vivaldi
  • Laudate pueri in G, RV 601
  • Salve Regina in C minor, RV 616
  • Salve Regina in G minor, RV 618
  • Deus tuorum militum
  • Sanctorum meritis
There's been a delay in finalising this post, anticipated, but still regrettable. Coming back to this list... I did listen to a great deal of classical music in February! Partly that was due to continuing to work through recent purchases, which wasn't hard to do with their high quality.

Among the highlights were the Brahms string quartets - particularly the first two - and the first of his violin sonatas. This music was new to me, and I can see myself returning to this music a great deal. One of the most striking things to me is that the range of Brahms' moods is greater than I had thought. I tend to associate him with slightly inward-looking music, and while that's true in some cases (and might be emphasised by some performances), he also wrote some quite bright and bold music.

My Chopin exploration was also rewarding, with works from his time in Vienna and early years in Paris. As in his teenage works, the emphasis is often on brilliance, but there is increasing sophistication. And then there's the first Ballade, which to me is probably Chopin's first out-and-out masterpiece and a work of real substance.

My Dvorak exploration (mostly of new purchases) also reached a key period, focused on his time in America. Personally I don't love the 12th string quartet, and suspect the reason it is performed so much more than any of Dvorak's other string quartets is simply the gimmick of it being 'American', but the other music listed here was all first class.

In Haydn, I was introduced to the symphonies between 'Paris' and 'London'. I think symphonies 90 to 92, which were planned as a set, are particularly good and no.90 is an early favourite. The false ending caught me by surprise even though I had read about it beforehand.

And that ramshackle collection of anecdotes is all I'm capable of writing at this distance. Apologies.