Bach, J.S. - Orchestral Suite No.1
Beethoven
- Sextet for horns and strings
- String Quartet No.5
- Piano Trio No.2
- Cello Sonatas 1 and 2
- Horn Sonata
- Piano Sonata No.3
Chopin
- 2 Nocturnes, op.55
- 3 Mazurkas, op.56
- Moderato in E
- Premiere Rhapsodie for clarinet (orchestral version)
- Jeux
- Khamma (piano version)
- Preludes, books I and II
- La plus que lente
Dvorak
- Scherzo capriccioso
- In Nature's Realm
- Carnival
- Piano Quintet No.3
- String Quartets 13 and 14
Franck - Violin Sonata
Grieg - Sangerhilsen (Singers greeting)
Haydn - Piano trio in D, Hob XV: 24
Holmboe
- Symphony No.11
- Flute Concerto No.2
- Preludes 1 to 4 for chamber orchestra
- String Quartets 16 to 20
- Gioco
- Ballata
- Music with Horn
- Two Sarvig Psalms
- Hominis dies
- Laudate dominum
- Brúgvar (Bridges)
Kodaly - Sonata for solo cello
Milhaud - Psalm 121
Mozart
- Symphony No.41
- String Quartet No.15
- Piano Sonata No.11
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
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.
