Classical Music - May 2015

Beethoven

• Violin Sonatas 6 to 8 (two versions of each)
• String Quartets 7 to 9
• Serenade for flute, violin and viola

Bentzon - Two pieces for oboe and piano
Brahms - Cello Sonata No.2
Chopin

• Piano Concerto No.1
• Krakowiak
• Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante

Dvorak - The Water Goblin
Haydn - Symphonies 83, 88 and 96
Holmboe

• Requiem for Nietzsche
• Concertos 1 (for piano), 2 (for flute and violin), 4 (for piano trio), 5 (for viola), 7 (for oboe), 8 ("Sinfonia Concertante), 10 ("Wood-Brass-Gut") and 11 (for trumpet)
• Brass Quintets 1 and 2
• Piano Trio
• Nuigen 
• Moya (7 Japanese Songs)
• Sange mod Vårdybet (Songs Towards the Deep of Spring)
• Jeg ved en urt så dejlig og bold (I know a plant so lovely and fine)
• Two Border Ballads (two versions of each)
• Romanian Suite for piano
• Sonatina Briosa

Langgaard

• Lokkende toner (Enchanting music)
• Sæterjenten (The dairy maid)
• Høstfuglen (The harvest bird)

Nielsen - Two Fantasy Pieces for oboe and piano
Nielsen, T. - Fields and Meadows
Schierbeck - The Chinese Flute
Snider - Penelope
Syberg - Prelude, Intermezzo and Fugato for organ

My travels in April took me, among other places, to a major source of Holmboe discs. And you can see the results here in May. Every recording here was a first listen, although for some of the concertos I already have another recording.

The Requiem for Nietzsche demanded to be listed first because it is both a large-scale work (at just over 50 minutes, it's one of Holmboe's longest) and a very fine one. It's very "modern" sounding by Holmboe's standards, coming from a period in the 1960s when he was experimenting more. The choir often speaks rather than sings, in some places to stunning effect.

This time the Holmboe love spilled out to other Danish composers, as a number of the discs I bought were Danish anthologies rather than being devoted to his music. I finally acquired some (Carl) Nielsen - perhaps I will one day not mystify people by passing over Denmark's most widely celebrated composer. Of the material I listened to in May, however, the highlight was Poul Schierbeck's song cycle The Chinese Flute (or more properly Den kinesiske fløjte), really marvellous and evocative music that makes me interested in hearing more of this particular composer.

A few non-Danes did get a listen as well, guys you might have heard of such as Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Haydn and Dvorak, and Sarah Kirkland Snider again. Perhaps the most notable thing here was my 'official' introduction to Beethoven's "Razumovsky" string quartets. All of them are up to his exalted standards.

Popular Music - May 2015

Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel
Beyonce - Beyonce
Eurovision - Join Us (Copenhagen 2014)
Nik Kershaw - Radio Musicola
John Mayer - Paradise Valley
Joni Mitchell - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
Moloko - Catalogue

Eurovision was on during May. So what did I do? After this year's competition, I pulled out the official album from last year's competition and finally listened to the whole thing, allowing it to meet the criterion for entry to this blog.

This year there were complaints that there wasn't anything terribly wacky about Eurovision. Too many acts were trying to have normal songs, they said. Well, that's partly true, but it reflects how the competition has been influenced by having professional judges again. Your crazy novelty act might win a fair amount of the popular vote, but it won't do well with the people familiar with the music business.

Or with me. Personally, I don't watch Eurovision for the bizarre acts, I watch it for the ones who have mastered the art of the 3-minute pop song.

And it most definitely is an art. It takes genuine skill to find the right mix of songwriting, staging and performance to do well at Eurovision. In 2015, I felt that there was a fairly clear gap between the best performances and the rest, and found myself pretty well in sync with the scoring.

In 2014, on the other hand, I thought there were a lot of fine songs, which is why I was motivated to buy the album. And I found myself all over the place with regards to the scoring.

Of course, listening now, I'm missing one genuinely crucial element of the equation, which is the live performance aspect. Stage presence can really elevate a song and lack of it can kill one... which might possibly explain why some quite good songs on the discs didn't even make it to the 2014 final. I mean yes, there are some genuine duds ("Cake to Bake" from Latvia, ugh) but there are also some songs like the entries from Albania, Estonia and Macedonia which I would have personally given a respectable mid-table position.

And I would have happily used them to replace a few songs in the final. One can't help the stupid "Moustache" from France because of the rules giving them direct entry (but at least the voters gave it the last place it deserved). I would easily dump Greece's "Rise Up", but then the target demographic was young partygoers who are more excited than I by young men jumping on trampolines.

The greatest mystery to me, in terms of songs being overrated, was the major popularity of "Not Alone" from the badly named Armenian act Aram mp3. Two-thirds of the song is absurdly repetitive to my ears. I have a vague memory he might have been a young heartthrob type.

But to turn to the good stuff... first of all, let me say that Conchita Wurst thoroughly deserved to win for Austria with "Rise Like a Phoenix". A decent song with a fine melody, but just as importantly a performer with a very good voice and truly massive stage presence. I was also perfectly satisfied with the Netherlands coming second with the understated "Calm After the Storm".

But some of the songs I enjoyed the most ended up doing quite poorly. I remember that on the night, I really enjoyed Malta's "Coming Home", an infectious toe-tapper with one really nice harmonic twist in the bridge...23rd place.

But now, listening to the studio versions, there are two songs that stand out to me as having been unjustly shunned. All in my opinion of course.

The first is from Italy. Emma (Marrone) only managed 21st place with "La mia città". Perhaps that's partly due to the live performance not being quite at the top level, but also partly because in the live performance, everyone ended up so distracted by the shortness of her dress that they forgot about the music. 

Because it's a fabulously tight and catchy pop-rock song. Best of all is the little coda on the end of each chorus. Here it is... studio version. I don't want you distracted by that dress.

The second song, the one that I remember being fairly enchanted by on the night, and the one that I simply couldn't get out of my head after listening to the 2014 album, is "Start a Fire" from Azerbaijan's Dilara Kazimova. Equal 21st place with Italy.

People just didn't like it much. I suppose it's positioning (3rd in a sequence of 26 songs) was a disadvantage. Maybe people didn't like the staging, though I thought it suited the song well. Reviewing the live performance, there's the occasional off note in a quite difficult melody.

But it is that melody that penetrates me so deeply. It's utterly beautiful, and haunting, and the use of the instrument that Wikipedia tells me is called a balaban is nigh on perfect for the tinge of melancholy that's already present.

In the world of Europop, a bit of a failure. But for me, this is something to treasure.