Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
george - Unity
David Gray - White Ladder
k d lang - Drag
Lior - Autumn Flow
Joni Mitchell - Night Ride Home
Moloko - Catalogue
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Simply Red - Picture Book
Do you know which album stands out the most on this list? The one I don't like.
The reason I even own a copy of Drag is because it was actually cheaper to buy it in a 2-pack with another k d lang album, Invincible Summer, than it was to get the latter on its own. I'm not automatically attracted to group lots of that kind, but when it's actually cheaper I'm not going to say no.
But Drag has always been a disappointment. Every now and then I've mustered up the will to give it another shot, as I did during October. And each time I end up thinking no, this is really quite boring.
The whole concept of the album - a smoking theme - doesn't entirely help. The whole thing is a little bit arch, and a bit too fond of its own cleverness with the double reference to lang wearing men's clothing. But it's the triple reference that kills it: the album drags. There are flashes of interest here and there, but over the course of 52
minutes it lives up to its name in ways that are quite unfortunate.
Bach, J.S. - Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit (What My God Wants, May It Always Happen)
Beethoven
Symphony No.1
Romance for violin and orchestra No.1
Piano Sonatas 6, 10 and 13
Violin Sonatas 2, 5, 6 and 7
String Quartet No.2
String Quintet
Chopin
Mazurkas, op.67/2, 67/4 and 68/4
Galop Marquis
Largo in E flat
Nocturne in C minor
Waltz in A minor
Dvorak
Requiem
Mass in D
Te Deum
Haydn
Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida ('Heiligmesse')
Missa in tempore belli ('Paukenmesse')
Missa in augustiis ('Nelsonmesse')
Holmboe
Symphonies 2, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 13
Concerto No.1 (for piano)
Epitaph
Tempo Varibaile
String Quartets 1, 2, 3, 9, 12, 13 and 16
Violin Sonatas 1 and 2
Primavera
Mozart - Piano Concertos 1 to 4, 15, 16 and 25
Nielsen - [various songs and choral works translated into English]
Nørgård - Inre och yttre landskap (Inner and outer landscape)
Nørholm - Three Songs for male choir, to words by Garff
Poulenc - Sonata for 2 pianos
Rachmaninov - Suite No.2 for 2 pianos
Ravel
Piano Concerto in G
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
Violin Sonata No.2
Schubert - String Quartet No.15
Schubert - Piano Sonata in G, D.894
Shostakovich - Symphonies 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 15
Sibelius - Lemminkainen Suite
Vivaldi
Concerto for Strings in D minor ('Madrigalesco'), RV 129
Sonata a 4 in E flat ('Al Santo Sepolcro'), RV 130
Sinfonia for Strings in B minor ('Al Santo Sepolcro'), RV 169
Violin Concerto in C minor, RV 202 (Op.11/5)
Violin Concerto in C minor ('Amato bene'), RV 761
Concerto for 2 violins in G minor, RV 517
Concerto for violin and cello in B flat, RV 547
Quite a long classical list again. Although the length of the list doesn't always reflect the listening. For example, nine of Shostakovich's symphonies take up just one line. And Dvorak's colossal Requiem, which in some ways is one of the more challenging things I've listened to despite his innate tunefulness, doesn't take up any more space than the little scraps of Chopin's last works.
The Beethoven chronology is a little more scrambled than usual, because it catches the end of one of my time slices (works from around 1798-1800) and the beginning of another (works from around 1801-3). There's a lot development in those years, and the end of Beethoven's "early period" isn't all that far from the beginning of it!
One of the most pleasant surprises of the month was early Mozart. I had assumed that the first 4 piano concertos, which are essentially his arrangements of piano works by others, would be relatively uninteresting. But they were a real delight. It's true they might not have the depth of the more mature piano concertos, but listening to them was highly enjoyable.
And at the other end of a career, the late Haydn masses. I think it will take a while to really get to know these works well, but they are making a good first impression. The 'Paukenmesse' and the 'Nelsonmesse' in particular strike me as compositions I will want to return to quite a bit.
And, um... that's it. Having left the last post lingering so long, I don't want to dwell on this one. I want to catch up.
Christine and the Queens - Christine and the Queens
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
Seal - Human Being
Thrice - Beggars
Megan Washington - There There
Another rather light month for pop music listening (partly affected, as is always the case, by my rule that a partial listen that gets interrupted doesn't count). There's plenty to talk about, though, because of the new entry on the list: the self-titled album from Christine and the Queens.
I stumbled across "Christine" (essentially just one person, not a band) on an episode of the Graham Norton Show.
I watch the show fairly regularly. It's quite rare, though, for the musical performance to grab my attention the way this one did. Pop music, undoubtedly, but art-pop. And a true performance piece, not simply a singer standing on the stage.
A few weeks later, Deezer chose another track from album, "Science Fiction" as one of their featured songs. After that, I decided that I had found a pop artist I wanted to hear more of. I can't remember now whether I sampled the whole album online before going out to find a CD copy. Yes, yes, I'm still buying CDs...
And Christine and the Queens is a fine CD. Those first two songs I heard are arguably among the best ones, but the album as a whole is strong. Lots of pop hooks, easily digestible but not mindless.
What annoys me, though (and this would have applied whether or not I chose physical media) is that the record companies have decided that I absolutely must listen to Christine and the Queens and not the album that Christine originally released, called Chaleur Humaine. Apparently, the French quotient of this French singer was too much for us all to stomach.
Some of the songs appear to be identical, though, and still include considerable amounts of French. Some have been rewritten, including the first two tracks I encountered. And in some cases the two albums have completely different songs.
This annoys me on two levels. The first is that I still believe in the integrity of albums and don't think this kind of thing should be done, though when it comes to a different language I can understand it. Plus, Christine and the Queens still flows well and some of the new songs are very good indeed.
But the second annoyance, and the far greater one in this day and age, is that I'm denied the choice. It would be a trivial thing to allow Chaleur Humaine to also be available for download from iTunes and the like, but no. English language stores simply deny that it exists. It seems my best bet for purchasing Chaleur Humaine, which I would like to do having found a way to hear it, is buying a good old-fashioned physical CD from Amazon France.
It appears that there is a special tour edition of Chaleur Humaine that also includes the new songs added to Christine and the Queens and a couple of tracks, so that might be what I go for. But it's a perfect illustration that the way music is sold as digital files still doesn't reflect the way the internet works. Finding out about music from around the world is easy, and yet the record companies want to insist that they will decide what I listen to based on where I live.
Pavane pour une infante defunte (piano and orchestral versions)
Menuet Antique
Jeux d'eau
Sonatine
Miroirs
Gaspard de la nuit
Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn
Ma mere l'Oye
Valses nobles et sentimentales
A la maniere de...
Prelude
Le Tombeau de Couperin
Schubert - Piano Sonata in D, D.850
Shostakovich - Symphonies 5, 8, 10 and 15
Shostakovich - String Quartets 13 to 15
Sibelius - The Wood-Nymph
Vine - Symphony 4.2
Vine - Celebrare Celeberrime
The month started with a continued wave of Haydn listening, and ended with a wave of Ravel listening. And some other composers managed to get a hearing in between. As I mentioned in the entry for July, I ended up deciding to listen to all 23 of the Haydn symphonies I own to work out which were my favourites. This was prompted by a poll on a forum about favourite Haydn symphonies. Not being entirely confident I would be fair to them all going by memory, I held a run-off.
Over several rounds, symphonies 93 and 102 were the winners. They were closely followed by symphonies 98, 99 and 103. Though of course this is all relative; it's not as if I didn't enjoy all the other symphonies that didn't make the cut.
I don't remember what, if anything, triggered the avalanche of Ravel. It may have been as simple as realising that it had been quite some time since I'd listened to most of this music. It turns out that it doesn't take a great deal of time to listen to Ravel's complete works (including use of online resources for works I don't own a recording of) as he was not a prolific composer and many pieces are quite short.
Still, the quality of what he wrote is very high. Personally I think he wrote some of the very greatest piano music, and what I know of his other work is equally impressive. Perhaps the small quantity of work is because he was so painstaking in getting it right.
Elsewhere, I reached the end of my chronological exploration of Shostakovich's works (with the last 3 string quartets, the final symphony and other material I listened to online)... and promptly turned around and started exploring the symphonies further. Many months had passed since I listened to the earlier symphonies after buying a box set in January, and I felt I wanted to get to know them better.
Symphony No.10, which I did already have another recording of, strikes me as a superb work. Symphony No.5 is not too far behind. Symphony No.8 I struggled with on this occasion. It felt in some ways like a re-run of the 5th symphony, only longer and bleaker, and I found myself disengaged.
The largest work I listened to during the month was Dvorak's oratorio Saint Ludmila. Frankly, it was a bit of a struggle compared to some of the other sacred and choral works I've been listening to. And that wasn't primarily due to the length, but the text. 19th century sensibilities were obviously a bit different to mine, as I couldn't warm to a story that seems to consist of a country converting to Christianity not because of any theological conviction, but because the leader fancied a woman and was told he had to convert in order to get her. That, and a little bit of good old-fashioned threatening about God's retribution. I wasn't inspired.
Kate Bush - The Red Shoes
Marc Cohn - The Rainy Season
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
Eskimo Joe - A Song is a City
Gotye - Making Mirrors
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Nik Kershaw - 15 Minutes
Level 42 - Running in the Family
Wendy Matthews - Cafe Naturale
Joni Mitchell - Mingus
Agnes Obel - Aventine
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Seal - Human Being
Tears for Fears - The Seeds of Love
Tears for Fears - Elemental
Thrice - The Alchemy Index, Volume 1 (Fire)
Hmm. It would seem my sense of adventure is decreasing when it comes to popular music.
Admittedly, this list includes two albums that were new the month before (Paul Dempsey and Radiohead), which I was still exploring. But apart from that it feels like there are a heck of a lot of old favourites here. A little spurt of listening to Australian artists, an apparent fondness for artists associated with the 1980s...
It's all rather safe. Even if I'm listening to the Kate Bush album I listen to the least, it's still largely in my comfort zone.
I can't be adventurous all the time, because my notions of musical adventure require attentive listening and it takes a fair bit of time and energy. And a lot of my more exploratory listening in recent times has been on the classical music side.
Still, I'm a little bit disappointed. I don't see anything on this list that makes me think "ooh, I have something to say about that for the blog".
Mozart - Piano Concertos 8, 9, 11, 12, 20, 21, 22 and 27
Nielsen - [various songs and choral works translated into English]
Nørgård - Two Pastorales (version with piano)
Schubert - Arpeggione Sonata
Schubert - Piano Sonata in A minor, D.845
Shostakovich
Symphony No.14
String Quartet No.12
Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok
Violin Sonata (2nd movement, orchestrated)
Sibelius - Symphonies 6 and 7
Sibelius - Tapiola
I didn't mention last month that I had begun listening to a new purchase, a box of Mozart's piano concertos performed by Murray Perahia and the English Chamber Orchestra. I wasn't familiar with the concertos, having only heard a couple of them on individual occasions, but I was aware of their reputation as containing some of Mozart's finest music.
That reputation is holding up well as I start exploring Perahia's recordings. Somehow, Mozart makes more sense as a great composer in this context. It's as if the combination of piano soloist with orchestra is a natural fit for Mozart's talents, his grace and style. It probably doesn't hurt that many of these works were designed to showcase his own pianism, and therefore his own strengths.
There were two other new purchases at the same time, and again I didn't mention them in the entry for June although I did start listening to them at the end of that month. One was a box of Haydn's masses (plus the Stabat Mater), which represents entirely new territory for me. Indeed, I don't know all that many masses by any composer. So far my reaction has been a little variable, ranging from "that's sort of nice" to "I'm really, really enjoying this". And then in late July the masses were sidelined by a spontaneous project to decide which Haydn symphonies (of the 23 I own) are my favourites.
The other new purchase was a collection of Dvorak's sacred works and cantatas. In Dvorak's case the Stabat Mater was a real standout, a work whose first couple of movements in particular made a deep impression with their drama and feeling. The Spectre's Bride, a work of similar length, also made some impact though I was rather distracted by an English translation that rhymes. The Stabat Mater translation rhymes too, but in that case I had access to other translations of the same text. Why people feel the need to translate in rhyme and risk distorting the meaning of the original, I don't know. And for The Spectre's Bride the English rhyming scheme doesn't even match the Czech one. How pointless!
Also worth mentioning is that my Chopin listening reached some late masterpieces. The Barcarolle in particular has always seemed one of his great works, but the Polonaise-Fantaisie and the final pair of Nocturnes are also very fine. They point to new levels of sophistication that, sadly, Chopin did not live long enough to pursue much further.
Tori Amos - Strange Little Girls
Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
Beyonce - Lemonade
Toni Childs - House of Hope
Paul Dempsey - Everything Is True
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
FKA twigs - EP1
Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
k d lang - Invincible Summer
John Mayer - Born and Raised
Joni Mitchell - Mingus
Over the Rhine - Ohio
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
REM - Automatic for the People
Something for Kate
Beautiful Sharks
Echolalia
Desert Lights
Leave Your Soul to Science
Washington - Insomnia
Right. Having left this post lingering in draft mode for far too long, I'm going to dispatch it fairly quickly. I did listen to a much greater variety of pop music than I had in the previous couple of months, though in truth it's not quite that various in terms of how many artists I listened to.
July was the month that I got hold of a physical copy of the new Radiohead album. And at first, my reaction was mixed. I felt that it has a strong start, but I wasn't entirely sure whether the mellow feel of the album was a good thing or whether it was a bit monotonous.
Over a few more listens I came to appreciate the album more, which was no real surprise because that's what happens with most music. Familiarity with the songs means picking out the details and the distinctions. It's not yet at the point where I would rank it highly among Radiohead albums, but I've certainly enjoyed listening to it.
The other feature of the month was Paul Dempsey's new album, Strange Loop. Which led to a general binge of listening to Paul Dempsey both in solo form and as the lead of Something for Kate. It didn't take long at all for me to really start enjoying this album, with a couple of standout songs lodging themselves in my brain very quickly.
The singles are all standouts, with the first single "Morningless" being one of the most driving songs (um, no pun intended) of Dempsey's solo work, closer to Something for Kate than usual.
But on the whole it's the quieter, moodier songs on the album that have real magic. Dempsey now seems to have a very strong understanding of how to use a palette of sounds to create a mood.
And the song that I couldn't stop playing over and over, and completely failed to get tired of, was "Idiot Oracle". It floats so delicately, avoiding all square rhythms. "Morningless" avoids square rhythms too, as indeed is the case for many of Dempsey's songs, but where that one is neurotic, "Idiot Oracle" is light and air.
Bach, J.S. - Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (May you be praised, Jesus Christ)
Bach, J.S. - Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott (Take from us, O faithful God)
Beethoven - String Trio No.2
Berlioz - Les Nuits d'été
Chopin - Three Mazurkas, op.59
Debussy
Cello Sonata
Elegie for piano
Les soirs illumines par l’ardeur du charbon
Dvorak - Symphonies 4 to 9
Dvorak - The Heirs of White Mountain
Faure
Piano Quartet No.1
Piano Quintet No.1
L'horizon chimérique
Haydn - Missa brevis (original version)
Holmboe
Viola Concerto
Symphony No.13
Haiduc
Quartetto sereno
Sværm (string quartet version)
2 songs for choir, M.122
Hemlängtan (Homesickness), op.34/1
Ikke forlig (No Compromise)
Mozart - Piano Concertos 14 and 24
Ravel - Sheherazade
Saint-Saens - Saltarelle
Shostakovich - Symphony No.13
Shostakovich - String Quartets 9 to 11
Vivaldi
Concerto for Strings in D minor ('Madrigalesco'), RV 129
Sonata a 4 in E flat ('Al Santo Sepolcro'), RV 130
Sinfonia for Strings in B minor ('Al Santo Sepolcro'), RV 169
Violin Concerto in C minor, RV 202 (Op.11/5)
Violin Concerto in C minor ('Amato bene'), RV 761
Concerto for 2 violins in G minor, RV 517
Concerto for violin and cello in B flat, RV 547
Kyrie
Credo
Magnificat
Nisi Dominus in A, RV 803
Lauda, Jerusalem
As I was writing this list out, it was looking a bit thin for a while. Only one Beethoven work? Only a couple of entries from my 'general' page for the composers I don't have large amounts of works from? But then I hit the composers who I spent a lot of time with.
Debussy is only represented by a few works, but this is the end of the chronological survey I started early in the year (a quick traversal by my standards). I've only listed the works I own a recording of (including the set of piano music that inspired this exploration), but did listen to other works along the way using online sources. So, now I have some ideas about what else I need to purchase, particularly chamber music and songs.
The similar Shostakovich traversal is not yet complete, but hit some very fine works this month. The 9th string quartet is one of my favourites now (particularly the finale which dominates the work), and I also think the 13th symphony is powerful (particularly the first movement).
The somewhat longer Holmboe traversal was also completed with the Viola Concerto being a late masterpiece. I then went and confused things by listening to some choral works from much earlier in his career from a newish CD.
But the thing that captured my attention the most this month only occupies one line in the list. I've owned recordings of Dvorak's 7th, 8th and 9th symphonies for a couple of years, and in the previous month I'd listened to the 4th symphony from a new set of the 4th, 5th and 6th. After first listens to those last two, I was sufficiently inspired to throw all six works into my listening, several times over in most cases.
And it was well worth it. Dvorak is one of the most immediately enjoyable composers with his great gift for melody. People who are not well-versed in Classical music (including one of my own relatives) find his music appealing.
I think personally I found the 9th and (somewhat surprisingly) 4th symphonies the ones I responded to the most, but really it's hard to find a Dvorak work that isn't a pleasure so long as one avoids the very early material when he knew about tunes but not about structure. The surprise regarding the 4th symphony is because it's earlier than any of the works I've previously enjoyed.
Beyonce - Lemonade
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder
Jars of Clay - If I Left the Zoo
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
A surprisingly small collection. I think there were a few times where I started listening to something but didn't finish (damn work, getting in the way), so that's one explanation. There were also periods where particular classical obsessions dominated (such as streaming copious amounts of Vivaldi).
So there isn't really a lot to say here. There are still a couple of albums here that I'm getting to know, and others that I can depend on for enjoyment. I've still yet to sit down with the Elbow and Incubus albums in the way I normally would, and completely focus on them for at least one listen.
Snider - Penelope
Szymanowski - Roxana's Song (violin and piano version)
Szymanowski - Kurpish Song (violin and piano version)
Vine - Symphony No.3
The Holmboe survey covered a fairly short period this month, from 1987 to 1991. One reason for slowing down is that I don't feel I know this late Holmboe as well as some of the earlier periods. I have a mental impression of the evolution of his work up until around the late 1970s, but then it gets a bit hazy. Certainly the works after that are a bit starker, but what else can I say about them?
And with the Preludes in particular, I was spending time getting to know them as distinct individual pieces, because on a first hearing it's easy to hear all 10 as similar works with nearly identical instrumentation. But in fact the character and mood of them varies considerably.
I think the most interesting exploration during the month, though, was of Shostakovich. The symphonies in particular were great listening experiences. The 10th symphony I already knew, although I wouldn't say I know my existing recording (Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra) all that well. My new set (Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) certainly made me think it's a great work.
But then the 10th has a great reputation. More surprising was how much I enjoyed the 11th symphony, which sometimes gets criticised. Admittedly, I didn't think it was the best thing Shostakovich ever composed, but all of it was good and the final movement was superb. Even the 12th symphony, which has a distinctly bad reputation, seemed to me to be decent music on the whole.
I think reactions to Shostakovich are, more than for any other composer, wrapped up in political ideas and extra-musical associations. Some of these are legitimate things to take into account, whereas others strike me as fairly tenuous distractions. People are constantly telling listeners to look out for codes in Shostakovich's music instead of just letting the music to speak for itself. Yes, some of the music was undoubtedly written with political considerations in mind, but in the long term that's just a context. What's ultimately going to matter, when the Soviet Union period is a historical footnote, is whether the music itself makes people feel something. More often than not the answer is yes.
Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel
Tori Amos - Night of Hunters
Beyonce - Lemonade
Toni Childs - House of Hope
Paul Dempsey - Everything is True
Francis Dunnery - Tall Blonde Helicopter
Radiohead
The Bends
Kid A
Amnesiac
Hail to The Thief
Sting - Live in Berlin (CD version)
Rachael Yamagata - Chesapeake
Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
Goodness me, is that the time?
I set everything up so that I could be punctual with my posts about May, but then didn't follow through.
It was an exciting month in pop music for me. So many albums I was interested in appeared in such a short space of time, although the listening list doesn't quite convey that. Obviously I jumped on the Beyonce bandwagon. Because I'm still one of those people who likes to have a physical product I had to wait a little while, but I'm also not one of these people who gets in a state if they can't have something the moment it's announced.
Besides, it was definitely worth the wait. In some ways it's too soon to be certain how much I like Lemonade, but it certainly didn't take long to know that I was impressed with it. It's a bold album, taking all sorts of risks - musical risks with the diversity of styles, and big huge thematic risks. How much this is art imitating life is not something I'm going to speculate on, but the story laid out on the album is a vivid one (and it should be acknowledged that the work itself points to it being highly personal). It's very rare to have a pop album that has such a clear thematic arc, made even more explicit in the video version.
And the videos are worth talking about, because there's something different going on compared to Beyonce's previous album. On Lemonade, the spoken word is just as important as the sung, and many of the songs are interrupted. Where Beyonce played as a sequence of (very good) music videos, Lemonade plays more like a single film with music.
News of a new Radiohead album led me into a bout of reminding myself how much I liked the old ones, which was just as satisfying as I'd hoped. I did get to hear the new one online thanks to a BBC streaming of it. However, the wait for a physical copy was longer. At the time of writing, I still haven't bought it due to some personal circumstances that meant it wasn't convenient to rush out on the CD release date in June.
And then, in a less surprising move, Paul Dempsey released his 2nd solo album. So I decided it really was time to get to grips properly with his 1st one, which I only bought last December. It's slightly more melodic and slightly less forceful than his band work, but cut from similar cloth. And given how much I like Something for Kate, that's a good thing.
I did buy his new album very shortly after it came out. But, at the time of writing, I still haven't listened to it. It is sitting on the top of a pile, waiting for the moment when I can give it the genuine attention it deserves.
The moment is getting closer. But what's the rush?
Janacek - Capriccio
Kodaly - Sonata for solo cello
Milhaud - Psalm 121
Mozart
Symphony No.41
String Quartet No.15
Piano Sonata No.11
Nielsen - Aftenstemming (Evening Mood)
Palm - Under ronn och syren (Beneath mountain ash and lilac)
Poulenc
Flute Sonata
Quatre petites prières de Saint François d'Assise
Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon
2 songs from La Courte Paille
Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin
Schubert - String Quartet No.13
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.4
Shostakovich - 24 Preludes and Fugues
Sibelius - Symphony No.5
Stravinsky - Agon
Szymanowski - Mythes
Vivaldi - In exitu Israel
Vivaldi - Lauda, Jerusalem
Wikander - Kung Liljekonvalje (King lily-of-the-valley)
Holmboe era for the month was from 1980 to 1987. When I think about the dates, it still feels slightly odd to be listening to classical music that overlaps with my experience of popular music - not just popular music I know, but popular music that I actually remember hearing on the radio or seeing on TV when it was first released. Holmboe was writing his last string quartets around the same time that Whitney Houston and Prince were ruling the airwaves.
Of the Holmboe works listed here, I'd particularly recommend the 2nd flute concerto, and the two chamber works Gioco (for string trio) and Ballata (for piano quartet). But that's just today's recommendations off the top of my head. Catch me on another day and different works will have made the strongest impression - and that's a characteristic I admire in all of my favourite musicians, the difficulty of singling out favourite works.
Jumping back a couple of centuries, I completed my survey of Beethoven's works from around 1795-97, and then just starting dipping my toes into the next period, roughly 1798-1800, with the Horn Sonata and string quartet. The two cello sonatas were definitely a highlight of the earlier period, in which a lot of pieces are 'nice' without being strongly memorable. The greater power in the next set of works is already apparent, and I'm feeling that it's when Beethoven really started sounding distinctive.
The other works I'd particularly like to single out come from a newly purchased disc. Franck's Violin Sonata and Szymanowksi's Mythes (also for violin and piano) are performed by Kaja Danczowska and Krystian Zimerman. And while I don't have any other recordings to compare them to, I certainly got a heck of a lot of enjoyment out of these performances. Really excellent music that I want to get to know better.
Sheryl Crow - The Globe Sessions
Lifehouse - No Name Face
Madonna - Ray of Light
Thrice - The Alchemy Index, Volume 1 (Fire)
Thrice - Major/Minor
Hmm. I honestly don't remember there being this little pop music in my month.
In truth there probably wasn't. I was doing things like exploring Prince's back catalogue after news of his passing, which doesn't count because I don't own any albums (as yet - turns out that Purple Rain really is rather good). So this (as always) is just the list of what I own and listened to in full.
When I started this blog, that rule seemed a lot less significant than it does now. Back then I simply wouldn't have done things like streaming albums. I'm a long way from abandoning the process of buying music, but there's no denying that technology has affected how I explore music that I'm less familiar with while figuring out what to add to my collection.
I also often get surprised by how long it is since I've listened to something. The last spin of Ray of Light was in 2014? Okay, well the spreadsheet says so. That Sheryl Crow album has been in storage since 2012? Lifehouse since... well okay, I kind of knew I don't listen to that one all that often.
But listening to Unrepentant Geraldines has, as I observed last month, become a surprisingly regular event.
Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! (Praise God in all lands!)
Aria 'Spielet, ihr beseeleten Lieder' from BWV 210
Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn ihn (Everything with God and nothing without him)
Beethoven
Piano Concerto No.2
Piano Trio No.1
Piano Sonata No.2
Serenade for string trio
Biebl - Ave Maria
Chopin
Ballade No.4
Scherzo No.4
Polonaise in A flat, op.53
Debussy
La Mer
Images for orchestra
2 Dances for harp and orchestra
Chansons de Bilitis
Images, Book II
Children's Corner
Le petit negre
Hommage a Haydn
Morceau de Concours
Dvorak - String Quartet No.12
Gade - Morning song from Elverskud
Grieg - Ave, Maris Stella
Holmboe
Symphonies 9 and 10
Chamber Symphonies 2 and 3
Cello Concerto
Recorder Concerto
Tuba Concerto
Flute Concerto No.1
Violin Concerto No.2
Concerto giocondo e severo
Tempo variabile
Suite from 'The Ill-Tempered Turk'
String Quartets 8 to 15
Sextet
Brass Quintet No.2
Violin Sonata No.3
Quartetto (for flute quartet)
Nuigen for piano trio
Triade for organ and trumpet
Sonata for solo cello
Contrasti for organ
Beatus parvo
Beatus vir
Cantata profana, 'Frieze'
Two Border Ballads
Hyld (Elder tree)
Mozart - Symphony No.29
Mozart - Piano Sonatas 3 and 9
Nystedt - Salve Regina
Poulenc
Sextet
Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano
Napoli
Nocturnes
Songs from Banalités and Chansons villageoises
Rachmaninov - 6 Songs, op.4
Schubert - Die schöne Müllerin
Schubert - Octet
Schumann - Arabeske in C
Shostakovich
Symphonies 8 and 9
String Quartets 2 and 3
Piano Trio No.2
Sibelius - The Oceanides
Vine - Symphony No.2
The Holmboe listening sped by, covering music composed between 1965 and 1978. It probably didn't hurt that some of Holmboe's (personally) most interesting and rewarding music is from this period, from the tail end of his 'avant-garde' phase through to the translucent pieces he wrote during the 1970s, and the sudden burst of concertos. There are definitely distinct periods in Holmboe's career where he was particularly focused on 1 or 2 forms of music.
If you want to sample some Holmboe, you could do a lot worse than hunting down the Concerto giocondo e severo, which at 10 minutes long is not too taxing and neatly encapsulates the way that he handles an orchestra.
I also continued to listen to a fair amount of Debussy. I've put La Mer at the top of the list because it's one of his big, famous orchestral pieces, but... the truth is I'm not sure I like it all that much. I've no reason to think the recording I have (Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) is poor - indeed there are plenty of other things on the same set that I like a great deal - it's just that for some reason the particular piece doesn't make a strong impression.
Chansons de Bilitis, on the other hand, which was a brand new piece for me in March, made a very favourable impression and I'm keen to get to know Debussy's vocal work better. For a long time I had no idea he wrote so many songs. While many of them were in the early stages of his career before his style fully formed, there are still a decent number of mature works and judging from this they are worth hearing.
I slowed down a little on Shostakovich (well, at least if you count the works I own recordings of, rather than ones I stream), but Symphony No.9 made a particularly positive impression as something quite different from the grand epics that preceded it. I'm beginning to realise that Shostakovich could write rather fun music when he chose to.
And having started with the exact same 3 composers as last month... I'm going to mention Dvorak. The 12th string quartet, known as the 'American', is one of his most popular works, and frankly in the past I've not appreciated it much. Standing alongside his other chamber works it seemed simplistic, and unjustly elevated over other pieces that didn't come with some kind of nickname or gimmick attached.
While I'm certainly not alone in perceiving that it is different in style to Dvorak's other quartets, with more of a straightforward melody-plus-accompaniment texture, the sheer quality of the melodies and what Dvorak does with them is actually quite impressive.
Tori Amos - Strange Little Girls
Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines
Beyonce - Beyonce
Paul Dempsey - Everything Is True
Eskimo Joe - A Song is a City
Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight
Peter Gabriel - So
george - Unity
Jars of Clay - If I Left the Zoo
Katie Noonan's Vanguard - Transmutant
Radiohead - Kid A
Tears for Fears - The Seeds of Love
Megan Washington - There There
My somewhat fitful revisiting of the Jars of Clay catalogue continued with their 3rd album, If I Left the Zoo, which I would generally rate as my favourite of all their albums. Which in typical fashion means it's the album that marked a decrease in their popularity from their initial success.
So why is it my favourite? Fundamentally it's because I feel there aren't any weak songs, with each having its own distinct style. There are upbeat numbers, mid-tempo ones and slow ones, and they all contribute, and at no stage do I start getting bored.
A big part of the success is the production. It has lots of quirky little touches which heighten the interest without overwhelming the songs. It also makes sure that the songs sound sufficiently different from each other while still belonging together. There isn't anything on the first 2 albums that is quite as distinctive as the toy piano on "Sad Clown" or the mandolin on "No One Loves Me Like You" (even though they had used mandolin before) or the gospel choir on "I'm Alright".
The other album I think is worth mentioning is Unrepentant Geraldines, simply because I found myself listening to it so regularly. While I love all of Tori Amos' albums, some of them are undoubtedly challenges that I have to be in the right mood for. Their length or intensity means that I will only reach for them occasionally. Geraldines, with its warmth and intimacy, seems to have become an album I can listen to just for the sheer pleasure of listening to Tori Amos. I see the album on my iPhone, start hearing the opening of "America" in my head and it's a gentle invitation.
(Apologies for the tacky video, just close your eyes...)
Well, it's fairly obvious where my focus lay during February. The explorations of Debussy, Holmboe and Shostakovich dominated.
The Shostakovich focus may be less obvious until you realise that there are 5 symphonies listed here, and several of them are very large works indeed. The 3rd symphony lived down to its reputation, and the 4th I struggled with, but the others made a strong impression.
Much of the Debussy was from the new set of the piano music that I purchased in late January (performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet), which I found very rewarding indeed. Certain pieces that I thought I already knew came to life when heard this way. Suite bergamasque was a particular standout.
The Holmboe exploration covered music from 1953 to 1964, moving further and further away from the more folk-influenced works into some of his most complex music. The material from the 1960s is about as avant-garde as Holmboe ever managed, though I suspect by the standards of some other 20th century composers it's still fairly traditional.
I want to mention a couple of other pieces, though. Vine's 1st symphony does exactly what it says on the tin; it goes through the elements of a symphonic form in less than 11 minutes, and I found it highly effective.
Listen for yourself. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has uploaded it (and indeed, the entire set).
The other work I ought to tip my hat to is Haydn's 103rd, possibly greatest symphony. It certainly is a masterpiece, from its opening drumroll onwards. I deliberately left it last in working through the 23 Haydn symphonies that I own, in a listening exercise that took me about 10 months. And now, I want to get some more.
Tori Amos - To Venus and Back (venus orbiting)
Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines
Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man
Toni Childs - House of Hope
Paul Dempsey - Everything Is True
Bryan Duncan - Mercy
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Gotye - Making Mirrors
Sophie B. Hawkins - Whaler
Jars of Clay - Much Afraid
Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Metropolis Suites II and III)
Something for Kate - Echolalia
Something for Kate - Leave Your Soul to Science
It's really happened this time. I've left it too late, and too much has been happening in my life, and frankly I don't even remember listening to some of these albums recently.
I believe this might be the first time an Elbow album has appeared on the list, after a couple of false starts, but I can't recall enough to comment on The Seldom Seen Kid in any detail except to confirm that I liked it. Bizarrely, it's the 3rd Elbow disc I've bought. Having streamed all of their albums a year or so ago, and deciding that I liked them, my first purchase was actually a B-sides collection owing to some peculiar circumstances. I decided, however, that it was best not to listen to that first!
And then their most recent album was bought, but somehow I didn't manage to sit down and listen to it the whole way through as required by my "rules" for this blog and my spreadsheet. So The Seldom Seen Kid has crossed the line first. Barely.
Jar of Clay's second album, Much Afraid, was listened to for the first time in a number of years, and I was reminded how much better I think it was than their debut. The songs are in general a lot more nuanced and interesting, though the album still doesn't quite hold together as some songs don't seem to contribute the right tone. But that tone overall is tentative, questioning, troubled... afraid. And when it works, it's very affecting.
I have the impression that in some Christian circles, though, the tendency of Jars of Clay to express trouble and doubt are somehow seen as wrong. A Christian band should be all happy and clapping and telling everyone how joyful it is to be a Christian.
For me, the song on the album that best captures how beautiful and powerful the Jars of Clay approach can be is "Portrait of an Apology". It's dark, melodramatic, full of self-condemnation... and ultimately a cry for rescue.
Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Haydn - Symphony No.98
Holmboe
Symphonies 6 to 8
Chamber Symphony No.1
Concertos 10 to 12
String Quartets 1 to 3
Primavera
Suono da Bardo
Liber Canticorum, Books I and II
Moya
Janacek - Concertino
Mozart
Symphonies 28 and 40
Piano Sonatas 2, 8 and 10
Oboe Quartet
Rachmaninov - Songs, opp. 8 and 14
Rachmaninov - Suite No.1 for 2 pianos
Schumann - Kreisleriana
Shostakovich - Symphonies 1 and 2
Shostakovich - Piano Trio No.1
Sibelius - The Bard
Snider - Penelope
Stravinsky
The Firebird
Petrushka
The Rite of Spring
Jeu de Cartes
Orpheus
Whitwell - Flatworm's Heaven - A Train Song
Having taken some time to listen to all the Beethoven I had acquired, I finally reached the pinnacle of his late string quartets. No.14 in C sharp minor is something very special, and I also listened to the "great fugue" which I hadn't heard before.
And so, I promptly went back to the beginning again.
Because Beethoven's opus numbers are at times quite misleading, I've used a couple of resources to create a more chronological picture of his work. This doesn't just apply to the music I have recordings for, but all sorts of other items as well.
I decided that Beethoven was yet another composer who should be subjected to a chronological listen, only this time I would lump together a few years at a time. I only have recordings of a couple of works from the early 1790s, so the rest of the entries here are works from 1795-97. This includes his earliest opuses, but also works that were published without an opus number or published much later.
And this earlyish Beethoven is... nice. It is consistently of high quality, but to modern ears it's not often that ground-breaking (however contemporaries might have reacted). And it's actually a bit surprising how sunny much of it is. We tend to think of Beethoven as a rather stormy figure, but a lot of the early chamber music in particular is designed to be light and enjoyable.
Debussy and Shostakovich also started receiving the chronological treatment in January, prompted by some new purchases of both (piano works for Debussy, and symphonies for Shostakovich). I'm using online streaming to hear those works I don't own.
I also explored Stravinsky's ballets, including 2 later ones from a disc that I bought last year but listened to for the first time in January. Both Jeu de Cartes and Orpheus were quite enjoyable, and I think Stravinsky is yet another composer I would like to know more about.
Tori Amos - To Venus and Back (venus orbiting)
Tori Amos - American Doll Posse
David Bowie - Never Let Me Down
Deborah Conway - Bitch Epic
Jars of Clay - Jars of Clay
Moloko - Do You Like My Tight Sweater?
Agnes Obel - Aventine
Simply Red - Picture Book
Third Day - Come Together
It so happened that the death of David Bowie perfectly coincided with me listening to one of his worst albums.That's not just my assessment, it's a very widely held view, even by Bowie himself.
Because of my rules about what goes into this blog, most of the albums in my extremely slow and intermittent exploration of Bowie's work don't appear here. Only the albums I've purchased "earn" a mention, and Never Let Me Down is one of the several I picked up cheaply some years ago. That was mainly on the strength of the title track which I've always enjoyed a fair amount. But the album on the whole does tend towards being tedious.
It does mark a significant milestone, however, in that it represents the end of "Bowie that I know". That's not entirely true - there are one or two later songs that I'm familiar with. But it's the end of the era where I'd be confident of knowing most of the singles. It's the end of the era where Bowie could be expected to be heard on the radio. It's the end of the 3-disc best-of I eventually purchased, before deciding to go on this fuller exploration.
So off I go into the unknown. Whether there will be any reports back here will depend on whether I purchase any of the later albums.
But while I'm here let me say this: even though my own reaction to his work is sometimes mixed, the impact of the man on popular music is undeniable. At its best his music is superb, but the greater impact was often from his stylistic choices. Every modern pop star who changes their aesthetic from album to album owes a considerable debt to Bowie.
Bach, J.S. - Ach wie
flüchtig, ach wie nichtig (Oh how fleeting, oh how trivial) Bach, J.S. - Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ (You Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ) Beethoven - String Quartet No.10 Beethoven - 'Kakadu Variations' for piano trio Brahms - Clarinet Quintet Chopin
Fantaisie in F minor
Ballade No.3
Allegro de Concert
Tarantelle
Polonaise, op.44
2 Nocturnes, op.48
Prelude, op.45
Waltz, op.70/2
Dvorak
String Quartets 7 to 10
Piano Trios 1 and 2
Piano Quartet No.1
String Quintet No.2
String Sextet
Grieg - Piano Concerto Handel - Keyboard Suite No.7 Haydn - Symphonies 84 and 99 Holmboe
Symphonies 1 to 5
Concertos 1 to 9
Concerto for Orchestra
Violin Sonatas 1 and 2
Bagatelle No.1 'Arabesque'
Molto allegro scherzando for solo violin
Romanian Suite for piano
Sonatina Briosa
Piano Suite
Small piano pieces
Lagerkvist songs (partial)
Hominis Dies
Jeg ved en urt så dejlig og bold (I know a plant so lovely and fine)
Holst - The Planets Janacek - Mladi (Youth) Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.1 Schubert - Moments Musicaux Schubert - Piano Sonata in A minor, D.784 Schumann - Papillons Sibelius - Symphony No.4 Thybo - Concerto Breve for organ and brass quintet Vivaldi - Beatus vir (1739 version)
It's fairly obvious that there were explosions of listening activity around certain composers in December...
The (somewhat sputtering) chronological exploration of Chopin's music reached a fairly important milestone, in a group of works that arguably helped inspire this method of exploration in the first place. Chopin completed his opuses 43 to 49 during one particularly impressive burst of activity at George Sand's house in Nohant, in the summer and autumn of 1841. I've listened to this set of works as a unit once before, and devised a sort of concert of them in an order I find musically satisfying. It's just over an hour of music, and while not all of it would rate as Chopin's very best, none of it is bad and it does include some major highlights such as 2 of his finest nocturnes and the epic Fantaisie. For Dvorak, I suddenly decided to listen to all of the chamber works I own, from String Quartet No.7 onwards. The starting point was not entirely arbitrary, as this involved skipping the early quartets that Dvorak half-revised or never had published, and starting around the time his career began to take off in earnest. I'm not sure what brought this on, beyond a desire to get to know many of the pieces better, but the rewards have been excellent. Dvorak is perhaps the most naturally tuneful of all famous composers, and all of these pieces are enjoyable. I think if I was trying to introduce someone to classical music, Dvorak would be one of the first composers I would use. And then there was Holmboe... having listened to the last of the works I'd purchased earlier in 2015 (the choral work Hominis Dies), I immediately wanted to put those works in context and began a chronological survey. In the second half of December I got through the earliest pre-opus works right through to opus 39. My enthusiasm for this slightly obscure Danish composer appears limitless. -----------------------------------
The total number of classical works/performances I listened to in 2015 was, according to my spreadsheets, 421. This is down on the previous year, but more than 2013, and it seems likely to be near the longer-term average.
Beethoven, Chopin and (of course) Holmboe had strong years. My excursion through Bach's cantatas is not gathering momentum with only 17 entries. At this rate it will take me several more years to get to the final disc of the BIS Suzuki series, and I'm unlikely to have any memory by then of the first disc which I listened to in March 2012!
Tori Amos - The Beekeeper
Tori Amos, Samuel Adamson and Cast - The Light Princess
Tim Corley - Like Stars
george - Unity
Gomez - Split the Difference
Sarah Harmer - All Of Our Names
Jars of Clay - Jars of Clay
Pearl Jam - Vs
Rachael Yamagata - EP
I'm still a bit behind, aren't I?
Well, let's just deal with the month quickly. The one thing I feel like pointing out from December's list is that I decided to (very slowly) go back through the discography of Jars of Clay. In part this was because I noticed my popular music spreadsheet said I simply hadn't listened to the first two albums since I started the popular music spreadsheet (around the time I started this blog).
And it's not that I mind their debut self-titled album. Far from it. It does, however, suffer from having a number of very similar-sounding songs. Same beats, textures, even same key.
It was a couple of the songs that didn't sound quite so similar, though, that made the album a hit. For example, while 'Flood' does resemble the album as a whole quite a bit, it's just different enough to stand out. Being in a minor key helps.
My total pop music tally for the year was 112 entries. The list consists mostly of albums, although there are a few 'greatest hits' CDs, EPs and singles in there. That's back to 2013 levels, so it's beginning to look like something of an average after a few years of keeping track of this information.
It seems... not enough. Not when own a lot more discs than that and keep buying more. And yet it does represent one work every few days, which isn't bad given the way that I listen and the amount of attention I try to pay to new music in particular. In most circumstances, music is not background, it's foreground.
Andresen - Three Norwegian Dances
Bach, J.S. - Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Now come, saviour of the heathen) (BWV 62)
Bach, J.S. - Wohl dem, der sich auf seinem Gott (Happy is the man who on his God)
Beethoven - Violin Sonata No.10 (2 versions)
Brahms - Clarinet Trio
Chopin
Waltz in A flat, op.42
Waltz in E flat for Emile Gaillard ('Sostenuto')
Mazurka in A minor for Emile Gaillard
Mazurka in A minor for 'Notre Temps'
3 Nouvelles Etudes
Fugue in A minor
Haydn - Symphonies 86, 90 and 93
Holmboe
Cantata Profana 'Frieze'
Omnia flumnia
The Heron of Oblivion
Elder Tree
What the Beech Tree Sang
Janacek - String Quartet No.1, 'Kreutzer Sonata'
Nørgård - Images of Arresø
Schubert - Piano Quintet
Senstius - Fantasia in D minor
Schumann - Introduction and Allegro appassionato in G for piano and orchestra
Sibelius - Night Ride and Sunrise
Szymanowski - Masques
Vine - String Quartet No.5
Vivaldi - Vos aurae per montes (You breeze through the mountains)
The Brahms Clarinet Trio is one of those works that really connects with me. Who knows why. It's inward, withdrawn music, and something about the way it hesitatingly unfolds makes me respond in ways that bolder music wouldn't.
That this is true is evidenced by the fact that, unlike so many of the works listed in my classical music spreadsheet, which I created precisely because some works just melted into an undifferentiated blur, I can immediately hear bits of the Clarinet Trio when I think of it. I certainly don't know all the notes by heart, but I know the mood, what it evokes. And when that spreadsheet told me I hadn't actually listened to the piece for over 5 years(!), I still had a clear notion of what I would hear when I finally pressed play again in November.
I don't want to just listen to my existing favourites. A key part of my listening decisions is to avoid that. And yet, at the end of the day the reason I keep exploring is to find music like this. Music that, when I need it, I know I will enjoy. Music that moves me.
Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
Tori Amos, Samuel Adamson and Cast - The Light Princess
James Blake - Overgrown
FKA twigs - EP1
Patty Griffin - Servant of Love
Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder
Lior - Autumn Flow
Wendy Matthews - Cafe Naturale
Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon
Katie Noonan's Vanguard - Transmutant
Agnes Obel - Aventine
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
Foy Vance - Hope
Rachael Yamagata - Chesapeake
Rachael Yamagata - Loose Ends
In November I made a decision to try and focus on the new pop music purchases I'd been making recently. Some of which I'd already listened to, some of which were just sitting there waiting, and some of which only arrived during the month.
It was a partial success. I got to know a few of these albums much better, which was the intention. I listened to a few without really paying close attention (not least because I broke my usual rule that I must first listen on CD before using the iPhone, meaning that in some cases I didn't ever sat down with the booklet lyrics). There were some new ones that I didn't get to during the month.
"New" purchases also included Foy Vance's album, which I can tell you for certain I purchased in October 2009, because I know where I was and he signed it for me. I've finally listened to it! However, it's in the 'not really paid close attention yet' category.
Of the things that I paid more attention to, Autumn Flow is worth talking about because I had in mind to buy Lior's debut album many times over the last decade and just never made the leap until now. There was always something else that was on special or a higher priority. I'm now kicking myself a bit, because it really is a very fine album indeed that I should have started enjoying a long time ago.
It starts with what is essentially the only hit song Lior has ever had, 'This Old Love', which is beautiful, but the great strength of the album is that it is in no way a stand-out track. The whole record is at a consistent level of inspiration. If you think this is good... well, in my opinion the whole album is just as good.
And there is enough change of mood to keep things interesting. The tone does tend towards mellow, but unlike some albums that get a bit boring as a result, there are plenty of songs that pick up the pace without ever feeling that they don't belong.
Of course, there is also new Tori Amos on this list, but she is the composer rather than performer (apart from a couple of bonus renditions at the end). And The Light Princess is truly fascinating. I'd go so far as to say Act I is a masterpiece. The economy with which Amos and librettist Samuel Adamson communicate the story is at times breathtaking and brilliant, especially when two parallel scenes are playing out in two kingdoms at once. While I'm no expert on musical theatre, the performances generally seem excellent.
Act II is just a little weaker, with one section in particular that (so far) does not work so well for me. In part this is probably because the one performer/character that I find a bit strident and grating takes centre stage and is basically called on to be as strident as possible, then to wallow in sentiment.
But overall, it's an impressive piece of work, that took many people many years - not just Amos and Adamson, but a whole cast and crew, and a director and other people at the UK's National Theatre who shaped and guided the creation of the work long before it reached the stage.
And now I get to keep the aural parts of the results, at least, in my library. Well done everyone.
Bach, J.S - Mache dich, mein Gest, bereit (Make yourself ready, my spirit)
Bach, J.S. - French Suite No.1
Beethoven - String Quartet No.11 'Quartetto Serioso'
Brahms - String Quartet No.2
Chopin
Piano Sonata No.2
Ballade No.2
Scherzo No.3
Impromptu No.2
24 Preludes, op.28
2 Nocturnes, op.37
2 Polonaises, op.40
4 Mazurkas, op.41
Mazurka for Emile Gaillard
Mazurka 'Notre temps'
Haumann - The Day the Cherry Trees Blossomed
Haydn - Symphonies 86 and 104
Holmboe
Suono da Bardo
Hevjið í homrum (Raise in the Passes)
Lauda, anima mea
Jørgensen - Quintet for brass
Norby - Herbst-Lieder (Autumn songs)
Schubert - Piano Sonata in A, D.664
Sibelius - Symphony No.3
Szymanowski - Metopes
Hmm. Well, I was supposed to be catching up in January, and instead I fell even further behind.
The part of this list I think is worth talking about is the Chopin. This selection of pieces all come from a period around 1838-40, although parts of them were started a bit earlier than that and took until then to come to fruition.
And that means we're in the period of Chopin's relationship with George Sand, and their trip to Mallorca which seems to have been a mix of storms, sickness and working on some rather fantastic music. I don't know whether it was good for Chopin, but the results are certainly good for the music-listening public.
By now Chopin was a fully mature and powerful composer. But then one remembers that he was still only in his late 20s, turning 30 in 1840.
For me, the 24 Preludes are an absolute masterpiece, conveying a huge range of moods in fragments that are often tiny in themselves yet coalesce into a single whole. Some of them are definitely capable of being played on their own, but it's the way that they contrast with each other when played in sequence that really impresses me. There's two levels of structure going on at once, the small-scale and then the 40-minute expanse.
All of the pieces from this period, though, are worthwhile. And they show that while Chopin knew how to be pretty and decorative, as he had right from his teenage years, his mature music has a great deal of depth and sophistication.
David Bowie - Scary Monsters
Kate Bush - Never For Ever
FKA twigs - EP1
Patty Griffin - Silver Bell
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Joe Jackson - This Is It (The A&M Years 1979-1989)
Jars of Clay - Good Monsters
John Mayer - Continuum
Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Agnes Obel - Aventine
K T Tunstall - Eye to the Telescope
Megan Washington - There There
Well, hello there... I set up the bare bones of this post at the end of the appointed month, but consciously put it aside on the grounds that there were other things I had to work on more than this blog. Readers should know by now that production of posts is erratic, even though the keeping of records is not.
There is in fact quite a bit to talk about here: new purchases and new listens primarily.
FKA twigs' first EP was not quite a first listen I think, but it was a new purchase and actually it was rather challenging to find a way of parting with money to express my appreciation for the music. For reference, EP1 can be found on Bandcamp, tucked away under the artist name "[artist]" in somewhat typical FKA twigs fashion.
Or you can just download it in a million places, or listen on youtube. The artist herself helpfully provides all the videos, including here. Personally the visuals aren't a major selling point for this EP, but it's an opportunity to listen. Perhaps the easiest single track to try is "Breathe".
But for me, making a purchase was important. Because this is wonderful music, in a genre I'm only occasionally attracted to. I'm so unfamiliar with it that I had to double-check just now that "trip hop" was a suitable term for this particular flavour of electronica. What's so great about it is the delicacy of touch. In fact, having listened to some of FKA twigs' later work, I find some of it less immediately appealing because the beats are heavier. EP1 is 16 minutes of ethereal, erotic music.
Agnes Obel's Aventine was another case of a new purchase after previous listens. I was introduced to Agnes' music at a party earlier in the year, liked what I heard, and made a note to try more later.
And honestly, part of my reaction is that I shouldn't like this music. It is very simple, even simplistic, with the most basic pulsing piano bass lines that would be barely distinguishable from song to song were it not for the fact that some are in duple time and some in triple. Add a few strings and Agnes' dreamy vague lyrics, and that's it.
But by golly, it works. And it works because the mood, the atmosphere of this music is pitched so perfectly. It's a sparse, intimate sound that evokes mists and twilight and fairytales. There's an air of magic about it.
Lastly, I should mention Silver Bell almost by way of apology over the ridiculously long time it took me to listen to it after receiving it as a gift. I wasn't ready to listen. I guess I didn't want to mix up my Patty Griffin albums. I was still coming to grips with Downtown Church and then there was American Kid... and so Silver Bell sat in my collection, much in the same way that it sat in record company vaults for many years.
My understanding is that a lot of Patty Griffin fans did in fact hear a bootleg of the album in the intervening period, but for me, hearing what should have been her 3rd album but ended up being her 8th has been a really interesting experience. It's a curious time capsule of sounds, and even of songs as some of these tracks ended up on other albums. There are things here that make perfect sense as a follow-up to her 2nd album, Flaming Red, and things that I'm not sure sound quite like anything else in her catalogue.
A fuller listening retrospective may be required to place it in context...
