Classical Music - May 2017

Barber - Fadograph of a Yestern Scene
Barber - Canzonetta (orchestral version)
Beethoven

• Symphony No.7
• String Quartet No.11, 'Quartetto Serioso'
• Piano Trio in E flat, op.97
• Allegretto in B flat for piano trio
• Violin Sonata No.10
• Piano Sonata No.26

Debussy

• (Nocturne and) Scherzo for cello and piano
• Intermezzo for cello and piano
• Khamma (piano version)

Dvorak - Humoresque in F sharp for piano
Dvorak - Lullaby and Capriccio for piano
Haydn - Symphonies 39, 41 and 58
Holmboe

• Sværm (Swarm) (string quartet version)
• Quartetto Sereno
• Haiduc 

Medtner - Theme and Variations in C sharp minor
Medtner - 2 Elegies 
Nielsen - Symphonies 1 to 6
Poulenc - Suite française (version for cello and piano)
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet
Rachmaninov

• Piano Concerto No.3
• Piano Sonata No.2
• 13 Preludes, op.32
• Liturgy of St John Chrysostom

Ravel - Gaspard de la nuit
Schubert - Piano sonata in B flat, D.960
Schumann

• Symphony No.4 (1851 version)
• Violin Sonata No.2
• Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales) for clarinet, viola and piano

Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No.2
Sibelius

• Symphony No.7
• Suite for violin and orchestra
• Tapiola
• 7 Songs, op.17

Stravinsky

• The Rite of Spring (1947 version)
• Le Chant du Rossignol
• The Soldier's Tale

Villa-Lobos - Choros No.11
Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras No.7

The Debussy and Poulenc are from a disc of cello music that I finally acquired on the 2nd attempt. Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale was a purchase form the previous month. Otherwise this is still a lot of the same material as before, as I continue to work through purchases from late 2016.

The most notable entry here is the one for the Nielsen symphonies. After spending time in March/April getting to know the Brahms symphonies better, it was Nielsen's turn in May.

The Nielsen symphonies are certainly an interesting bunch of works, becoming less and less conventional as one works through the sequence. Not that the 1st symphony is entirely well-behaved by Classical standards, and the 6th is still in the symphonic tradition... but the latter is startlingly modern, sounding an awful lot like Shostakovich's 15th symphony. Chronologically of course, that's backwards: it's Shostakovich's symphony that resembles Nielsen's.

I've no doubt which Nielsen symphony is my favourite, and that's no.5.  There's something about the long span of the opening movement, in particular, that strikes me as a perfectly judged combination of flow and drama. But I enjoy each of them and look forward to getting to know them even better.