Kate Bush - Before the Dawn
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Jars of Clay - Who We Are Instead
Jo Lawry - Taking Pictures
Alex Lloyd - Watching Angels Mend
Joni Mitchell - Turbulent Indigo
Radiohead - OK Computer
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Much of September was, for reasons I won't go into, not especially conducive to listening to popular music. I mean, look, there isn't even a Tori Amos album in the list. But there was a period that was conducive to finally tackling all of Before the Dawn, which captures Kate Bush's set of live shows in London and in total lasts about 2.5 hours.And which I was gifted (on request) not long after it came out. And which, sad to say, doesn't excite me very much at all.
Live albums are awfully difficult things to pull off. In this case it's very clear there is an important visual component that is missing from a quite theatrical show, but that's not always true of live performances and doesn't really explain why I find so many of them lacking. The bigger issues here are twofold. First, it's difficult to capture the energy of a live show and make it sound big and bold while still having the kind of clarity we expect for home listening.
The second issue, and the one that really hampers Before the Dawn in my view, is that so many of the songs sound a great deal like the studio versions. Just with less studio polish.
It's made particularly bad by the fact that most of the concert is taken up by renditions of Bush's two studio-conceived suites: the "Ninth Wave" suite that formed the second half of the album The Hounds of Love, and "A Sky of Honey" which did the same for Aerial. Playing these whole sequences of songs means there's no
opportunity, for over half the running time, to have new and interesting
juxtapositions of material from different eras.
There's nothing particularly wrong with the music, in fact the "Ninth Wave" is particularly fine. But while it might have been exciting to see it come to life on stage, there's very little to cause me to listen to this rendition when I can play The Hounds of Love instead. A bit of extra linking narration is well done, but that's about the only nugget to be found. The performance of the music didn't seem to offer anything new.
If that album was a disappointment, Jo Lawry's Taking Pictures was a very pleasant surprise. The music is not radical, but it's very finely crafted adult contemporary pop. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that I have this album at all. It's been sitting waiting to be listened to for some time (quite possibly a couple of years), and... I honestly have no idea how I came to have it. After I enjoyed it so much I had 2 guesses as to who gave the album to me, and both of those people denied any knowledge of it. I had thought it might be something that I borrowed, but if so I have no means of returning it.
Whether it was a loan or a gift, I am happy to make it part of my collection. Just as soon as I get it back from my parents...
Monday 24 December 2018
Sunday 23 December 2018
Classical Music - August 2018
Bach - Mein Seufzer, meine Tränen (My sighs, my tears)
Bach - Herr Gott, dich loben wir (Lord God, you we praise)
Barber - Nocturne (Homage to John Field)
Barber - A Hand of Bridge
Beethoven
Brahms - 3 Vocal Quartets, op.64
Bridge - Two Intermezzi from "Threads" (orchestral version)
Bridge - Sir Roger de Coverley (A Christmas Dance) - quartet, strings and full orchestra versions
Dvorak
Holmboe - Symphony No.9
Mahler - Symphony No.1
Mozart
Schumann - Piano Trios 1 and 2
Schumann - Romanzen und Balladen, Volume 4 op.64
Scriabin
A fair bit of activity back in August, from grand works to rather tiny ones.
My exploration of Beethoven's works (at least, the ones I own recordings of) certainly hit a grand mark with the 9th symphony. I think this was perhaps the most I'd ever enjoyed the work, enough that I listened to it a couple of days in a row. I also pulled out some other formidable symphonies. Any Mahler is inherently a bit grand, and while Holmboe wrote considerably more concise symphonies his own 9th is perhaps the toughest and most difficult work he composed in the genre.
At the smaller end of the scale were many of the piano pieces, including Bagatelles from Beethoven and a tiny Question from Dvorak. But this was also the month that I finished going through Maria Lettberg's recordings of Scriabin's piano works, an exercise which took just over a year. And it was a pretty rewarding exercise. I have a distinctive bad memory of the op.3 mazurkas, but that is the only misfire I can recall.
And a few months later, I'm turning around and going through Scriabin again. More on that when the relevant time comes.
Bach - Herr Gott, dich loben wir (Lord God, you we praise)
Barber - Nocturne (Homage to John Field)
Barber - A Hand of Bridge
Beethoven
- Symphony No.9
- String Quartet No.15
- Große Fugue for string quartet
- Bagatelles, op.126
Brahms - 3 Vocal Quartets, op.64
Bridge - Two Intermezzi from "Threads" (orchestral version)
Bridge - Sir Roger de Coverley (A Christmas Dance) - quartet, strings and full orchestra versions
Dvorak
- The Spectre's Bride
- The Heirs of the White Mountain
- Scherzo Capriccioso
- Piano Trio No.3
- Impromptu in D minor for piano
- Question for piano
- Nocturnes 4, 5 and 7
- Barcarolle No.5
- Valse-Caprice No.3
- Impromptu No.6 (piano version)
Holmboe - Symphony No.9
Mahler - Symphony No.1
Mozart
- Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in D
- Horn Quintet
- Piano Sonata No.11
Schumann - Piano Trios 1 and 2
Schumann - Romanzen und Balladen, Volume 4 op.64
Scriabin
- Piano Sonata No.10
- Preludes, opp.37 and 67
- 2 Impromptus a la Mazur, op.7
- 3 Pieces, op.49
- Album Leaf, op.58
A fair bit of activity back in August, from grand works to rather tiny ones.
My exploration of Beethoven's works (at least, the ones I own recordings of) certainly hit a grand mark with the 9th symphony. I think this was perhaps the most I'd ever enjoyed the work, enough that I listened to it a couple of days in a row. I also pulled out some other formidable symphonies. Any Mahler is inherently a bit grand, and while Holmboe wrote considerably more concise symphonies his own 9th is perhaps the toughest and most difficult work he composed in the genre.
At the smaller end of the scale were many of the piano pieces, including Bagatelles from Beethoven and a tiny Question from Dvorak. But this was also the month that I finished going through Maria Lettberg's recordings of Scriabin's piano works, an exercise which took just over a year. And it was a pretty rewarding exercise. I have a distinctive bad memory of the op.3 mazurkas, but that is the only misfire I can recall.
And a few months later, I'm turning around and going through Scriabin again. More on that when the relevant time comes.
Monday 26 November 2018
Popular Music - August 2018
Tori Amos
Kate Bush - Never For Ever
Janet Jackson - Janet.
Jars of Clay - Furthermore
Nichole Nordeman - Woven & Spun
Pearl Jam - Binaural
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
It remains true that, if in doubt about pop music, I retreat to Tori Amos. But there are a couple of other things on the list that were not quite so predictable.
Picking up Janet. for the first time in a long time was a slightly left-field choice. Absence hasn't really made the heart grow fonder, though. It's still an album that rates as enjoyable without being stellar. There are good things on there, certainly, and nothing terrible, but I have no strong reaction to it. It did remind me that I want to explore her whole catalogue at some point, just to see what I've been missing outside of this album and Rhythm Nation.
Pearl Jam's Binaural is, if anything, dropping lower and lower in my opinion. Yes, there are a few good songs, and "Light Years" is gorgeous, but there are also some clunkers, killed by music or lyrics or production. I can never get over how "Sleight of Hand", one of the songs supposedly recorded using special techniques, sounds so lifeless. Lightning Bolt, on the other hand, which I admittedly still don't know that well, leaves a much more favourable impression as an album.
As I work, very sporadically, through the Jars of Clay catalogue, I listened to both halves of Furthermore, one live (which I hadn't listened to in years) and one acoustic. Most of the known songs are not revelatory, with these versions tending to be similar to the original studio recordings. The real assets are the songs not previously on albums. Frankly, Furthermore is worth hearing for "The Valley Song" alone.
- From the Choirgirl Hotel
- To Venus and Back - venus orbiting
- Night of Hunters
- Unrepentant Geraldines
- Native Invader
Kate Bush - Never For Ever
Janet Jackson - Janet.
Jars of Clay - Furthermore
Nichole Nordeman - Woven & Spun
Pearl Jam - Binaural
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
It remains true that, if in doubt about pop music, I retreat to Tori Amos. But there are a couple of other things on the list that were not quite so predictable.
Picking up Janet. for the first time in a long time was a slightly left-field choice. Absence hasn't really made the heart grow fonder, though. It's still an album that rates as enjoyable without being stellar. There are good things on there, certainly, and nothing terrible, but I have no strong reaction to it. It did remind me that I want to explore her whole catalogue at some point, just to see what I've been missing outside of this album and Rhythm Nation.
Pearl Jam's Binaural is, if anything, dropping lower and lower in my opinion. Yes, there are a few good songs, and "Light Years" is gorgeous, but there are also some clunkers, killed by music or lyrics or production. I can never get over how "Sleight of Hand", one of the songs supposedly recorded using special techniques, sounds so lifeless. Lightning Bolt, on the other hand, which I admittedly still don't know that well, leaves a much more favourable impression as an album.
As I work, very sporadically, through the Jars of Clay catalogue, I listened to both halves of Furthermore, one live (which I hadn't listened to in years) and one acoustic. Most of the known songs are not revelatory, with these versions tending to be similar to the original studio recordings. The real assets are the songs not previously on albums. Frankly, Furthermore is worth hearing for "The Valley Song" alone.
Monday 19 November 2018
Classical Music - July 2018
Bach, J.S.
Beethoven - The Consecration of the House (complete)
Beethoven - String Quartets 12 and 16
Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Haydn (orchestral version)
Bridge - A Prayer
Dvorak
Faure - Piano Quintet No.2
Haydn - Symphony No.63
Mozart - Symphony No.35 "Haffner"
Mozart - String Quartet No.16
Nørgård - Symphony No.3
Schumann - Symphony No.2
Shostakovich - Symphony No.8
Sibelius - Six songs, op.88 (the "flower cycle")
Stravinsky - Orpheus
There hasn't been a lot of evidence that I've been progressing through Stravinsky's works chronologically, because I don't own very many recordings and my self-imposed rules for this blog don't include things that I stream.
I'm sure that I'll be increasing the size of my Stravinsky collection, but in the meantime Orpheus is one of the works that had already made me realise there was far more to Stravinsky than the few early ballets that are famous. It's a very appealing score, often gentle and melodious.
There were a few symphonies in the mix this month, and a general focus on orchestral music which isn't entirely typical for me. But much of this was simply due to where my planned explorations of composers were up to. And there was no lack of quality in the music I was hearing.
- Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (Dearest Jesus, my desire)
- Alles nur nach Gottes Willen (Everything only according to God's will)
- Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke (I am content with my fortune)
Beethoven - The Consecration of the House (complete)
Beethoven - String Quartets 12 and 16
Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Haydn (orchestral version)
Bridge - A Prayer
Dvorak
- Legends (orchestral version)
- String Quartet No.11
- String quartet movement in F
- Moderato in A for piano
Faure - Piano Quintet No.2
Haydn - Symphony No.63
Mozart - Symphony No.35 "Haffner"
Mozart - String Quartet No.16
Nørgård - Symphony No.3
Schumann - Symphony No.2
Shostakovich - Symphony No.8
Sibelius - Six songs, op.88 (the "flower cycle")
Stravinsky - Orpheus
There hasn't been a lot of evidence that I've been progressing through Stravinsky's works chronologically, because I don't own very many recordings and my self-imposed rules for this blog don't include things that I stream.
I'm sure that I'll be increasing the size of my Stravinsky collection, but in the meantime Orpheus is one of the works that had already made me realise there was far more to Stravinsky than the few early ballets that are famous. It's a very appealing score, often gentle and melodious.
There were a few symphonies in the mix this month, and a general focus on orchestral music which isn't entirely typical for me. But much of this was simply due to where my planned explorations of composers were up to. And there was no lack of quality in the music I was hearing.
Sunday 4 November 2018
Popular Music - July 2018
Tori Amos - Under the Pink
Beyonce - Beyonce
Agnes Obel - Aventine
Let's face it, this list is pathetic. The albums are good, but just 3 completed listens in 31 days? Pathetic.
I know the first half of the month was affected by the World Cup. The second half of the month, as far as I can remember, was affected by me working too damn hard.
It was not a great time. For one thing, Croatia was robbed...
Beyonce - Beyonce
Agnes Obel - Aventine
Let's face it, this list is pathetic. The albums are good, but just 3 completed listens in 31 days? Pathetic.
I know the first half of the month was affected by the World Cup. The second half of the month, as far as I can remember, was affected by me working too damn hard.
It was not a great time. For one thing, Croatia was robbed...
Saturday 13 October 2018
Classical Music - June 2018
Bach, J.S. - Der Friede sei mit dir (Peace be with you)
Barber
Beethoven - Bagatelles, op.119
Brahms
Haydn - Symphonies 62 and 68
Hindemith - Kammermusik No.5
Holmboe - Sinfonia II
Lorentzen - Tower Fanfare
Lorentzen - NUMUS Fanfare
Mozart
Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No.9
Ruders - Three Motets
Schumann
Vaughan Williams - Songs of Travel
This was a pretty active month in classical music. I spent more than one session juxtaposing a selection of Scriabin's fragmentary piano pieces. Once you're paying close enough attention to not miss them going by, you can notice they are of consistently high quality.
I also played some of the my favourite Barber songs for the first time in several years. Both Hermit Songs and Melodies passageres (in French, which is rather interesting for an American composer) contain some real gems and are among the Barber works I would recommend people hear.
But I think the real highlight for me during June was listening to Brahms' Liebeslieder-Walzer, which are for a quartet of singers with piano duet. This sequence of songs (and it's undoubtedly a planned sequence) fizzes with wit. Finally listening to the recording I had purchased a year earlier (the singers are Mathis, Fassbaender, Schreier and Fischer-Dieskau) was a total delight.
Barber
- Melodies passageres
- Hermit Songs
- Souvenirs ballet suite
Beethoven - Bagatelles, op.119
Brahms
- String Quartets 1 and 2
- Liebeslieder-Walzer
- Hungarian Dances 1, 3 and 10 (orchestral versions)
- Two Old English Songs for string quartet
- Thy Hand in Mine (orchestral version)
- Mantle of Blue (orchestral version)
- Blow Out, You Bugles
- Symphony No.6
- 6 Piano Pieces, op.52
- 6 Mazurkas for piano
- 4 Album Leaves for piano, B.109
- 2 Waltzes for string quartet
Haydn - Symphonies 62 and 68
Hindemith - Kammermusik No.5
Holmboe - Sinfonia II
Lorentzen - Tower Fanfare
Lorentzen - NUMUS Fanfare
Mozart
- Piano Concerto No.12
- Rondo for piano and orchestra in A
- String quartets 14 and 15
Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No.9
Ruders - Three Motets
Schumann
- Piano Concerto
- Das Paradies und die Peri
- Soldatenlied
- Piano Sonata No.3
- Preludes, opp.16, 48 and 74
- Poèmes, opp.44 and 71
- Pieces, opp.52 and 59
- 2 Nocturnes, op.5
- 2 Dances, op.73
Vaughan Williams - Songs of Travel
This was a pretty active month in classical music. I spent more than one session juxtaposing a selection of Scriabin's fragmentary piano pieces. Once you're paying close enough attention to not miss them going by, you can notice they are of consistently high quality.
I also played some of the my favourite Barber songs for the first time in several years. Both Hermit Songs and Melodies passageres (in French, which is rather interesting for an American composer) contain some real gems and are among the Barber works I would recommend people hear.
But I think the real highlight for me during June was listening to Brahms' Liebeslieder-Walzer, which are for a quartet of singers with piano duet. This sequence of songs (and it's undoubtedly a planned sequence) fizzes with wit. Finally listening to the recording I had purchased a year earlier (the singers are Mathis, Fassbaender, Schreier and Fischer-Dieskau) was a total delight.
Wednesday 3 October 2018
Popular Music - June 2018
Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
Tori Amos - Native Invader
Fiona Apple - When the Pawn...
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Francis Dunnery - Fearless
Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight
FKA twigs - M3LL155X
Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen
Gomez - In Our Gun
Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
Missy Higgins - Solastalgia
Lior - Autumn Flow
Joni Mitchell - Turbulent Indigo
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
Recent albums coupled with some old favourites and a few oddities. The latter category includes Francis Dunnery's album. It contains his one big hit "American Life in the Summertime", which once you understand his aesthetic is fairly consistent with the rest of his work, just a little more pop.
I own a total of three Francis Dunnery albums, and to be honest I'm not sure why. Well, I know that it was partly because a couple of them were very cheap opportunistic purchases, and I was curious. What I don't know is quite why I was so curious. The more I've listened, the more I've realised that Dunnery is a rather quirky songwriter, which could be interesting but the quirks are not the kind I embrace. There's a ramshackle quality, and I'm a listener who likes structure.
Fearless is probably the most conventional and organised of the albums that I have, but ultimately I still don't quite find the songs satisfying.
I suspect that nowadays, when I use the internet to sample music that I'm interested in, Dunnery might not have found his way into my collection, or perhaps Fearless would have but not the later more obscure albums. These CDs are relics of an age where I worked from memories of the radio and, when available, sampling in a shop.
Tori Amos - Native Invader
Fiona Apple - When the Pawn...
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Francis Dunnery - Fearless
Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight
FKA twigs - M3LL155X
Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen
Gomez - In Our Gun
Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
Missy Higgins - Solastalgia
Lior - Autumn Flow
Joni Mitchell - Turbulent Indigo
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
Recent albums coupled with some old favourites and a few oddities. The latter category includes Francis Dunnery's album. It contains his one big hit "American Life in the Summertime", which once you understand his aesthetic is fairly consistent with the rest of his work, just a little more pop.
I own a total of three Francis Dunnery albums, and to be honest I'm not sure why. Well, I know that it was partly because a couple of them were very cheap opportunistic purchases, and I was curious. What I don't know is quite why I was so curious. The more I've listened, the more I've realised that Dunnery is a rather quirky songwriter, which could be interesting but the quirks are not the kind I embrace. There's a ramshackle quality, and I'm a listener who likes structure.
Fearless is probably the most conventional and organised of the albums that I have, but ultimately I still don't quite find the songs satisfying.
I suspect that nowadays, when I use the internet to sample music that I'm interested in, Dunnery might not have found his way into my collection, or perhaps Fearless would have but not the later more obscure albums. These CDs are relics of an age where I worked from memories of the radio and, when available, sampling in a shop.
Monday 1 October 2018
Classical Music - May 2018
Bach, J.S. - Ich habe genug (I have enough) (Soprano version)
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.32
Beethoven - "Gratulations" Menuet
Bridge
Dvorak - Eclogues
Haydn - Symphonies 67 and 69
Holmboe - Concerto No.9, for violin and viola
Medtner - Skazka, op.31/3
Medtner - Skazka (1915)
Mozart - Piano Concerto No.11
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.13
Schumann
My Schumann chronology reached the point where, after a year of song and then a year of orchestral works, there was a year of chamber music. The results of which were rather good.
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.32
Beethoven - "Gratulations" Menuet
Bridge
- Summer
- Lament
- Two Poems for Orchestra after Richard Jefferies
Dvorak - Eclogues
Haydn - Symphonies 67 and 69
Holmboe - Concerto No.9, for violin and viola
Medtner - Skazka, op.31/3
Medtner - Skazka (1915)
Mozart - Piano Concerto No.11
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.13
Schumann
- String Quartets 1 to 3
- Piano Quartet
- Piano Quintet
- Allegro appassionato
- 4 Preludes, op.37
- 2 Pieces, op.57
- 2 Poèmes, op.69
My Schumann chronology reached the point where, after a year of song and then a year of orchestral works, there was a year of chamber music. The results of which were rather good.
Sunday 23 September 2018
Popular Music - May 2018
Tori Amos
Christine and the Queens - Chaleur Humaine
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
Missy Higgins - Solastalgia
Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour
John Mayer
Janelle Monae - Electric Lady
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
Simply Red - Picture Book
Thrice - Major/Minor
Assuming that anyone actually continues to read this blog, you would have noticed that the April entry for pop music talked about my purchase of two albums as soon as they came out, but only went on to discuss one of those albums.
That was partly for reasons of length, and partly because I knew full well that I had spent a considerable amount of May listening to Missy Higgins' Solastalgia and could discuss it here.
Of the pair of new purchases, Solastalgia was the one that was a little unexpected and a very pleasant surprise. I already have Missy Higgins' first 3 albums, but had skipped her fourth which consisted of covers of other Australian artists. I might get back to it one day, as reviews indicate she did successfully place her own spin on the material.
Those first 3 albums are a slightly mixed bag for me. They are never poor, but also don't always seem to be quite as great as they could be. Her debut, a significant success at least in Australia, has a somewhat folk feel and some truly beautiful and powerful songs. The second album feels like a struggle in comparison, as if she didn't know how to avoid repeating herself. The third album's first half is a bit more pop and in my opinion has some of the best work she has done, but then the second half falls away a bit.
Solastalgia is something new again, and all the better for it. For one thing it has a considerable tinge of electronica. But the more interesting aspect of the album is how clearly thematic it is. The title itself is a term referring to distress caused by environmental change, reflecting how the album is a rumination on life, the state of the world and in particular the ways in which we seem to be destroying it.
It's the opening track, "Starting Again", that I think is a stunning success. It's a song to a child about all the reasons it's not a good idea to bring a child into the world, and how those reasons evaporate once a child arrives. It's a powerful, complex sentiment that I don't think I've ever heard put into song before, and Higgins' lyrics are fully up to the task.
Nothing that follows has quite the same impact, but the arc of the album is a satisfying one as it roughly moves from past to future, ending with "The Old Star" which imagines our distant descendants returning to the solar system to see what little is left.
The album as a whole is perhaps not a masterpiece, but it's always at least good, and worth hearing. And it means something. I think that was one of the pleasing things when I bought this alongside Dirty Computer: here are two singers both using the album format to present a considered artistic statement and to get listeners to think about things as well as being entertained.
- Little Earthquakes
- Abnormally Attracted to Sin
- Native Invader
Christine and the Queens - Chaleur Humaine
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
Missy Higgins - Solastalgia
Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour
John Mayer
- Battle Studies
- Born and Raised
- Paradise Valley
- The Search for Everything
Janelle Monae - Electric Lady
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
Simply Red - Picture Book
Thrice - Major/Minor
Assuming that anyone actually continues to read this blog, you would have noticed that the April entry for pop music talked about my purchase of two albums as soon as they came out, but only went on to discuss one of those albums.
That was partly for reasons of length, and partly because I knew full well that I had spent a considerable amount of May listening to Missy Higgins' Solastalgia and could discuss it here.
Of the pair of new purchases, Solastalgia was the one that was a little unexpected and a very pleasant surprise. I already have Missy Higgins' first 3 albums, but had skipped her fourth which consisted of covers of other Australian artists. I might get back to it one day, as reviews indicate she did successfully place her own spin on the material.
Those first 3 albums are a slightly mixed bag for me. They are never poor, but also don't always seem to be quite as great as they could be. Her debut, a significant success at least in Australia, has a somewhat folk feel and some truly beautiful and powerful songs. The second album feels like a struggle in comparison, as if she didn't know how to avoid repeating herself. The third album's first half is a bit more pop and in my opinion has some of the best work she has done, but then the second half falls away a bit.
Solastalgia is something new again, and all the better for it. For one thing it has a considerable tinge of electronica. But the more interesting aspect of the album is how clearly thematic it is. The title itself is a term referring to distress caused by environmental change, reflecting how the album is a rumination on life, the state of the world and in particular the ways in which we seem to be destroying it.
It's the opening track, "Starting Again", that I think is a stunning success. It's a song to a child about all the reasons it's not a good idea to bring a child into the world, and how those reasons evaporate once a child arrives. It's a powerful, complex sentiment that I don't think I've ever heard put into song before, and Higgins' lyrics are fully up to the task.
Nothing that follows has quite the same impact, but the arc of the album is a satisfying one as it roughly moves from past to future, ending with "The Old Star" which imagines our distant descendants returning to the solar system to see what little is left.
The album as a whole is perhaps not a masterpiece, but it's always at least good, and worth hearing. And it means something. I think that was one of the pleasing things when I bought this alongside Dirty Computer: here are two singers both using the album format to present a considered artistic statement and to get listeners to think about things as well as being entertained.
Thursday 20 September 2018
Classical Music - April 2018
Bach, J.S. - Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (I will gladly carry the Cross)
Bach, J.S. - Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet (You, who call yourselves of Christ)
Barber - Nuvoletta
Beethoven - Piano sonatas 27, 29 and 31
Beethoven - Es ist vollbracht (finale for "The Triumphal Arches")
Bridge
Jersild - Il Cantico delle Creature
Liszt - Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne
Medtner - Romantic Sketches for the Young
Mozart
Nørholm - Two Studies, op.113
Schubert - Symphony No.9
Schubert - String Quintet
Schumann
Vivaldi
It seems like it was a fairly busy month, progressing through my various listening projects and throwing in a few other bits and pieces when I felt like it. But nothing is particularly standing out as something to write about. Not when I still have some more entries to catch upon.
So, April is duly catalogued.
Bach, J.S. - Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet (You, who call yourselves of Christ)
Barber - Nuvoletta
Beethoven - Piano sonatas 27, 29 and 31
Beethoven - Es ist vollbracht (finale for "The Triumphal Arches")
Bridge
- String Quartet No.2
- Where She Lies Asleep
- Love Went A-Riding
- Silhouettes
- Ave maris stella
- O Sanctissima
Jersild - Il Cantico delle Creature
Liszt - Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne
Medtner - Romantic Sketches for the Young
Mozart
- Symphonies 33 and 34
- Piano Sonata No.10
- Oboe Quartet
Nørholm - Two Studies, op.113
Schubert - Symphony No.9
Schubert - String Quintet
Schumann
- Symphonies 1 and 4 (original version)
- Overture, Scherzo and Finale
- 12 Gedichte aus "Liebesfrühling", op.37
- Der deutsche Rhein "Patriotisches Lied"
- Romanzen und Balladen, op.53
- Belsatzar
- 2 Ballades (fragments), WoO 11
Vivaldi
- Kyrie in G minor
- Credo in E minor
- Magnificat in G minor (1720s version)
- Dixit Dominus in D, RV 594
- Lauda Jerusalem
It seems like it was a fairly busy month, progressing through my various listening projects and throwing in a few other bits and pieces when I felt like it. But nothing is particularly standing out as something to write about. Not when I still have some more entries to catch upon.
So, April is duly catalogued.
Wednesday 19 September 2018
Popular Music - April 2018
Tori Amos
Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
Peter Gabriel - So
Patty Griffin - Downtown Church
Patty Griffin - American Kid
Missy Higgins - Solastalgia
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Wendy Matthews - Ghosts
John Mayer - The Search for Everything
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Janelle Monae
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
U2 - Rattle and Hum
Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
Something rather unusual happened right near the end of April. I bought two albums right on the day that they were released.
Yes, it's true I occasionally manage this for very favourite artists like Tori Amos, though in that particular case I'm usually after some special edition with bonus tracks, so in fact I don't walk into a store on release day anymore. In any case it's a rare event, and what was perhaps more unusual this time around was that I'd already listened to both albums on Deezer late at night (releases appear at midnight) and over breakfast. In one case in particular, that was an important part of my purchasing decision. I'm still very much of the view that I should spend proper money for music that I appreciate, rather than tossing a fraction of a cent to the artist via a streaming service, but streaming has created a "try before you buy" environment I make extensive use of.
The first album, and the one I already had a fair idea that I wanted from the previously released singles, was Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer. At the time of writing I'm actually playing it for the first time in a couple of months, having utterly devoured it upon release.
Part of that release (and from memory it might have been my introduction to the full album) was a film version, an "emotion picture", available for free online. It doesn't completely match the audio version but is very close, and contains videos for the majority of the songs as well as some important linking narrative that helps express the themes and ideas.
And what themes and ideas.
Much of pop music can be dismissed as little more than a catchy tune. There's never been any doubt, though, that Janelle Monae intends to say things with her music. There's been an ongoing kind of story in her previous albums about being different and not belonging, wrapped in references to androids. I've frequently loved it (as can be seen in some previous blog entries), but one criticism some reviewers have had is that her style tends towards intellectual and slightly arch. Personally, I don't have the slightest problem with these qualities. I actually like my music to be intellectual.
Dirty Computer, though, is something different. It is unabashedly pop music, full of hooks and singalong tunes. It is unbuttoned, uninhibited.
And to be honest, some of it initially made me a bit uncomfortable and disappointed for those very reasons. I was worried that I wasn't going to warm to the first half of the album in particular. "There's not much there", I found myself thinking. It felt shallow.
But I was completely wrong. What's there is a grand celebration of difference, queerness and freedom. A statement that it is better to live than be in hiding. A declaration that being 'other' is not the same as not belonging.
I still struggle to some extent with taking on the message and "letting go" while listening to the album. I continue to prefer the more subtle and restrained songs on the album, though none of the brasher ones actually put me off now. I wasn't sure I'd ever enjoy "Pynk", essentially an ode to lesbian love. It's a song that is so emphatically not about something I can relate to. But now I do enjoy it.
More than anything, though, even with the songs that are not what I would consider a natural fit for me, I can feel the music urging me to feel differently, to open up to change. It's speaking to me.
That's art. And I like that.
- Boys for Pele
- From the Choirgirl Hotel
- American Doll Posse
- Unrepentant Geraldines
- Native Invader
Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
Peter Gabriel - So
Patty Griffin - Downtown Church
Patty Griffin - American Kid
Missy Higgins - Solastalgia
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Wendy Matthews - Ghosts
John Mayer - The Search for Everything
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Janelle Monae
- The Archandroid
- Electric Lady
- Dirty Computer
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
U2 - Rattle and Hum
Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
Something rather unusual happened right near the end of April. I bought two albums right on the day that they were released.
Yes, it's true I occasionally manage this for very favourite artists like Tori Amos, though in that particular case I'm usually after some special edition with bonus tracks, so in fact I don't walk into a store on release day anymore. In any case it's a rare event, and what was perhaps more unusual this time around was that I'd already listened to both albums on Deezer late at night (releases appear at midnight) and over breakfast. In one case in particular, that was an important part of my purchasing decision. I'm still very much of the view that I should spend proper money for music that I appreciate, rather than tossing a fraction of a cent to the artist via a streaming service, but streaming has created a "try before you buy" environment I make extensive use of.
The first album, and the one I already had a fair idea that I wanted from the previously released singles, was Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer. At the time of writing I'm actually playing it for the first time in a couple of months, having utterly devoured it upon release.
Part of that release (and from memory it might have been my introduction to the full album) was a film version, an "emotion picture", available for free online. It doesn't completely match the audio version but is very close, and contains videos for the majority of the songs as well as some important linking narrative that helps express the themes and ideas.
And what themes and ideas.
Much of pop music can be dismissed as little more than a catchy tune. There's never been any doubt, though, that Janelle Monae intends to say things with her music. There's been an ongoing kind of story in her previous albums about being different and not belonging, wrapped in references to androids. I've frequently loved it (as can be seen in some previous blog entries), but one criticism some reviewers have had is that her style tends towards intellectual and slightly arch. Personally, I don't have the slightest problem with these qualities. I actually like my music to be intellectual.
Dirty Computer, though, is something different. It is unabashedly pop music, full of hooks and singalong tunes. It is unbuttoned, uninhibited.
And to be honest, some of it initially made me a bit uncomfortable and disappointed for those very reasons. I was worried that I wasn't going to warm to the first half of the album in particular. "There's not much there", I found myself thinking. It felt shallow.
But I was completely wrong. What's there is a grand celebration of difference, queerness and freedom. A statement that it is better to live than be in hiding. A declaration that being 'other' is not the same as not belonging.
I still struggle to some extent with taking on the message and "letting go" while listening to the album. I continue to prefer the more subtle and restrained songs on the album, though none of the brasher ones actually put me off now. I wasn't sure I'd ever enjoy "Pynk", essentially an ode to lesbian love. It's a song that is so emphatically not about something I can relate to. But now I do enjoy it.
More than anything, though, even with the songs that are not what I would consider a natural fit for me, I can feel the music urging me to feel differently, to open up to change. It's speaking to me.
That's art. And I like that.
Wednesday 12 September 2018
Classical Music - March 2018
Bach, J.S.
Bartok - String Quartet No.3
Beethoven
Bridge - Dance Poem
Chopin - 24 Preludes
Debussy
Haydn - Symphonies 53 and 54
Hindemith - Kammermusik Nos. 2 and 3
Holmboe
Nørgård - Symphony No.2
Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin
Schumann
Sibelius - Five Christmas Songs, op.1
Sibelius - Songs, op.72 (first two are lost)
March was a fairly active month for my classical music listening. The most notable exploration was of Debussy, as a couple of large box sets were released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of his death. I spent quite a bit of time sampling those sets, particularly for works that I didn't already own recordings of.
What's listed here, as per usual self-imposed rules, is what I heard from my own collection. It's not hard to see that I was focusing on the orchestral works. I listened to most of the 2-CD set that I have with Bernard Haitink as the main conductor, a collection that is consistently recommended.
I didn't, in the end, decide that either box set was going to meet my needs. One was too comprehensive (with a large number of discs given over to transcriptions and arrangements that I'm just not interested in) and the other was not comprehensive enough, with a handful of awkward gaps. What the exploration did was give me a better sense of Debussy's body of work and the areas where my collection was lacking. It so happens that, at the time of writing, I'm waiting delivery on 4 albums worth of his songs.
- Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild (God the Lord is sun and shield)
- Lobe den Herren, den Mächtign König der Ehren (Praise the Lord, the mighty king of honour)
- Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort (Settle account! Word of thunder)
- Cello Suite No.1
Bartok - String Quartet No.3
Beethoven
- Cello Sonata No.4
- "Kakadu" Variations for piano trio
- Germania (finale for "The Good News")
Bridge - Dance Poem
Chopin - 24 Preludes
Debussy
- Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
- Nocturnes for orchestra
- La Mer
- Images for orchestra
- 2 Dances for harp and orchestra
- Premiere Rhapsodie for clarinet (orchestral version)
- String Quartet
- Czech Suite
- String Quartet No.10
- 2 Furiants for piano
Haydn - Symphonies 53 and 54
Hindemith - Kammermusik Nos. 2 and 3
Holmboe
- Viola Concerto
- Concerto No.5 (for viola)
- Sextet
- Piano Concerto No.10 (for 2 pianos)
- Symphony No.32
- Piano Sonatas 7 and 8
Nørgård - Symphony No.2
Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin
Schumann
- Dichterliebe
- Romanzen und Balladen, opp.45 and 49
- 3 Duets, op.43
- Piano Sonata No.2
- 5 Preludes, op.15
- Poeme, op.41
- 4 Pieces, op.51
- Vers la flamme
Sibelius - Five Christmas Songs, op.1
Sibelius - Songs, op.72 (first two are lost)
March was a fairly active month for my classical music listening. The most notable exploration was of Debussy, as a couple of large box sets were released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of his death. I spent quite a bit of time sampling those sets, particularly for works that I didn't already own recordings of.
What's listed here, as per usual self-imposed rules, is what I heard from my own collection. It's not hard to see that I was focusing on the orchestral works. I listened to most of the 2-CD set that I have with Bernard Haitink as the main conductor, a collection that is consistently recommended.
I didn't, in the end, decide that either box set was going to meet my needs. One was too comprehensive (with a large number of discs given over to transcriptions and arrangements that I'm just not interested in) and the other was not comprehensive enough, with a handful of awkward gaps. What the exploration did was give me a better sense of Debussy's body of work and the areas where my collection was lacking. It so happens that, at the time of writing, I'm waiting delivery on 4 albums worth of his songs.
Monday 10 September 2018
Popular Music - March 2018
Tori Amos
James Blake - Overgrown
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Marc Cohn - Marc Cohn
Eskimo Joe - A Song is a City
Patty Griffin - Flaming Red
Patty Griffin - Silver Bell
Missy Higgins - The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour
Moloko - Things to Make and Do
Janelle Monae - Metropolis Suites 1, 2 (from The Archandroid), 4 and 5 (Electric Lady)
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
The thing of most note here is that I spent some finally getting to grips with Patty Griffin's Silver Bell album, a long-lost gap in her career that was released in 2013.
For some reason it takes me a long time to completely engage with new Patty Griffin albums, after the four or so that I was initially introduced to by an American friend. I think that this is partly due to not being convinced in some cases that they are genuine albums, as opposed to a series of (often quite magnificent) songs that happened to find themselves on the same disc.
Anyway, Silver Bell does play quite well as an album, though it will always be hampered slightly by the fact that a couple of songs ended up being re-housed in the 13 years between recording and release. It's worth having.
And... that's all I'm going to say. Efficiency is the key here as I try to catch up. Again. Sigh.
- From the Choirgirl Hotel
- To Venus and Back (Venus Orbiting)
- The Beekeeper
- Native Invader
James Blake - Overgrown
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Marc Cohn - Marc Cohn
Eskimo Joe - A Song is a City
Patty Griffin - Flaming Red
Patty Griffin - Silver Bell
Missy Higgins - The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour
Moloko - Things to Make and Do
Janelle Monae - Metropolis Suites 1, 2 (from The Archandroid), 4 and 5 (Electric Lady)
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
The thing of most note here is that I spent some finally getting to grips with Patty Griffin's Silver Bell album, a long-lost gap in her career that was released in 2013.
For some reason it takes me a long time to completely engage with new Patty Griffin albums, after the four or so that I was initially introduced to by an American friend. I think that this is partly due to not being convinced in some cases that they are genuine albums, as opposed to a series of (often quite magnificent) songs that happened to find themselves on the same disc.
Anyway, Silver Bell does play quite well as an album, though it will always be hampered slightly by the fact that a couple of songs ended up being re-housed in the 13 years between recording and release. It's worth having.
And... that's all I'm going to say. Efficiency is the key here as I try to catch up. Again. Sigh.
Tuesday 4 September 2018
Classical Music - February 2018
The blog fell away again. In the interests of catching up over the next few weeks, I shall present lists with a minimum of comment, unless something really catches my attention.
-----------------------------------
Bach, J.S. - Ich bin ein guter Hirt (I am a good shepherd)
Barber - Medea ballet suite
Bartok - String Quartets 1 and 2
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.28
Beethoven - Cello Sonata No.5
Brahms - Cello Sonata No.1
Bridge - The Sea
Dvorak - Slavonic Dances, Series 1 (orchestral version)
Dvorak - Hymnus ad laudes in festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis
Faure - L'horizon chimérique
Haydn - Symphony No.60
Holmboe - Egilskvad
Koppel - 3 Pieces for mixed choir with texts from the Psalms of David
Mozart - Piano Concerto No.9
Nørholm - Fanfare-Intrada
Ravel - Gaspard de la nuit
Schumann - Frauenliebe und -leben
Schumann - 5 Lieder, op.40
Scriabin
Stravinsky - Jeu de Cartes
The one thing I will comment on here is the Stravinsky. Not so much about the particular piece, more the era that it comes from.
I've been exploring Stravinsky chronologically, and realising there is so much of his work after The Rite of Spring that I know almost nothing about (the Rite actually being rather early in his career)... and then realising just how good a lot of that later work is.
Jeu de Cartes happens to be one of the later ballets on a disc that I bought in 2015, and so one of the things that motivated the exploration I'm now undertaking. Because I own a recording, it qualifies for these blog listings. But it's just one representative of a "neoclassical" period that represents a very large slice of Stravinsky's career. And I've heard a lot of very good things from that period which I intend to add to my collection in the future.
-----------------------------------
Bach, J.S. - Ich bin ein guter Hirt (I am a good shepherd)
Barber - Medea ballet suite
Bartok - String Quartets 1 and 2
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.28
Beethoven - Cello Sonata No.5
Brahms - Cello Sonata No.1
Bridge - The Sea
Dvorak - Slavonic Dances, Series 1 (orchestral version)
Dvorak - Hymnus ad laudes in festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis
Faure - L'horizon chimérique
Haydn - Symphony No.60
Holmboe - Egilskvad
Koppel - 3 Pieces for mixed choir with texts from the Psalms of David
Mozart - Piano Concerto No.9
Nørholm - Fanfare-Intrada
Ravel - Gaspard de la nuit
Schumann - Frauenliebe und -leben
Schumann - 5 Lieder, op.40
Scriabin
- Piano Sonatas 4 and 9
- Preludes, opp.17 and 35
- Prelude and Nocturne for the left hand
- Poème satanique
- 2 Poèmes, op.63
- Scherzo, op.46
- Quasi valse, op.47
- 4 Pieces, op.56
Stravinsky - Jeu de Cartes
The one thing I will comment on here is the Stravinsky. Not so much about the particular piece, more the era that it comes from.
I've been exploring Stravinsky chronologically, and realising there is so much of his work after The Rite of Spring that I know almost nothing about (the Rite actually being rather early in his career)... and then realising just how good a lot of that later work is.
Jeu de Cartes happens to be one of the later ballets on a disc that I bought in 2015, and so one of the things that motivated the exploration I'm now undertaking. Because I own a recording, it qualifies for these blog listings. But it's just one representative of a "neoclassical" period that represents a very large slice of Stravinsky's career. And I've heard a lot of very good things from that period which I intend to add to my collection in the future.
Saturday 21 April 2018
Popular Music - February 2018
Tori Amos - Boys for Pele
Tori Amos - Native Invader
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Nik Kershaw - Human Racing
Wendy Matthews - Ghosts
Mike and the Mechanics - Mike and the Mechanics
Radiohead - Amnesiac
Sting - Mercury Falling
Okay, let's call it. My popular music listening is in a rut.
I know I'm not listening to the same albums all the time. That is to say, there are albums on this list that I hadn't listened to for a couple of years. But they're still the same albums. I don't make a lot of new popular music purchases. I'm not exploring.
Well, actually that's not entirely true. One of the rules of this blog is that I only post recordings that I actually own, which means that it misses out on things that I explore on Deezer or Youtube but haven't purchased. Those explorations do in fact sometimes lead to purchases, but that's often a slow process.
One of the problems with popular music in particular is that when I do purchase something, it can be some time before I listen to it. This is partly caused by my old-fashioned beliefs. I like the first listen, at least, to be using the CD (though for popular music in particular it's highly likely most subsequent listens will be on my iPhone), and I like to engage with the words as well. That's an investment of time I'm not always in the right frame of mind for, and pop albums are longer than many of the classical works that I do this for.
So there's my litany of excuses, in an essence a response to a list of albums where I think, "do I have anything to say about these". I suppose I can say that after years and years I still think Boys for Pele is stunning, that Ghosts is truly excellent, that The Idler Wheel is pretty well perfect and that these are all just about the best things those 3 women have done. Which is I like listening to them.
Tori Amos - Native Invader
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Nik Kershaw - Human Racing
Wendy Matthews - Ghosts
Mike and the Mechanics - Mike and the Mechanics
Radiohead - Amnesiac
Sting - Mercury Falling
Okay, let's call it. My popular music listening is in a rut.
I know I'm not listening to the same albums all the time. That is to say, there are albums on this list that I hadn't listened to for a couple of years. But they're still the same albums. I don't make a lot of new popular music purchases. I'm not exploring.
Well, actually that's not entirely true. One of the rules of this blog is that I only post recordings that I actually own, which means that it misses out on things that I explore on Deezer or Youtube but haven't purchased. Those explorations do in fact sometimes lead to purchases, but that's often a slow process.
One of the problems with popular music in particular is that when I do purchase something, it can be some time before I listen to it. This is partly caused by my old-fashioned beliefs. I like the first listen, at least, to be using the CD (though for popular music in particular it's highly likely most subsequent listens will be on my iPhone), and I like to engage with the words as well. That's an investment of time I'm not always in the right frame of mind for, and pop albums are longer than many of the classical works that I do this for.
So there's my litany of excuses, in an essence a response to a list of albums where I think, "do I have anything to say about these". I suppose I can say that after years and years I still think Boys for Pele is stunning, that Ghosts is truly excellent, that The Idler Wheel is pretty well perfect and that these are all just about the best things those 3 women have done. Which is I like listening to them.
Sunday 15 April 2018
Classical Music - January 2018
Barber - Cello Concerto
Beethoven - Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt
Beethoven - Triumph-March for "Tarpeja"
Brahms
Faure - Mirages
Haydn - Symphonies 56 and 57
Holten - Psalm 23
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.9
Nielsen - Symphony No.4
Schumann
Sibelius - The Three Blind Sisters from Pelleas and Melisande
Simpson - Symphony no.5
January wasn't all that active for classical music, either. The largest amount of activity came from my continuing exploration of the amazing number of songs that Schumann wrote in 1840. The most famous works do tend to be the most memorable, but the variety of styles of songs (including styles that don't suit modern tastes so well) is one of the most impressive things of all.
The best listening moment of the month came from combining the Brahms and Dvorak sextets on a Sunday morning while having an especially nice breakfast. It just so happened that my chronological listening projects for both composers had reached the correct point. Sensory pleasure in abundance.
Beethoven - Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt
Beethoven - Triumph-March for "Tarpeja"
Brahms
- String Sextet No.2
- Piano Quintet
- Variations on a Theme by Paganini
Faure - Mirages
Haydn - Symphonies 56 and 57
Holten - Psalm 23
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.9
Nielsen - Symphony No.4
Schumann
- 4 Duets, op.34
- 12 Kerner Lieder
- 6 Gedichte aus dem Liederbuch eines Malers
- Liederkreis (Eichendorff)
Sibelius - The Three Blind Sisters from Pelleas and Melisande
Simpson - Symphony no.5
January wasn't all that active for classical music, either. The largest amount of activity came from my continuing exploration of the amazing number of songs that Schumann wrote in 1840. The most famous works do tend to be the most memorable, but the variety of styles of songs (including styles that don't suit modern tastes so well) is one of the most impressive things of all.
The best listening moment of the month came from combining the Brahms and Dvorak sextets on a Sunday morning while having an especially nice breakfast. It just so happened that my chronological listening projects for both composers had reached the correct point. Sensory pleasure in abundance.
Sunday 25 March 2018
Popular Music - January 2018
Tori Amos - Native Invader
Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man
Patty Griffin - Impossible Dream
Joni Mitchell - Shine
Radiohead - OK Computer
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The year got off to a slow start, but there's some definite quality here. I finished the Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell comparison, though unfortunately in this case the Joni Mitchell album is... well, it's not all bad. But there are times when it is so dour and miserable in its message. Which I think is what she wanted, but as a listener the music is not enough to get past this.
Patty Griffin writes a lot of things that are in some way pretty miserable. And perhaps never more so than on Impossible Dream, where the sense of regret aches through the speakers in the sequence of "Useless Desires", "Top of the World" and "Rowing Song". But it's so goddamn beautiful. When late Joni Mitchell sometimes offers a lecture, Patty Griffin offers an embrace for the world's heartache. To be honest it's not my favourite album of hers because there's a bit of inconsistency in the quality. But the best moments? They're incredible.
Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man
Patty Griffin - Impossible Dream
Joni Mitchell - Shine
Radiohead - OK Computer
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The year got off to a slow start, but there's some definite quality here. I finished the Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell comparison, though unfortunately in this case the Joni Mitchell album is... well, it's not all bad. But there are times when it is so dour and miserable in its message. Which I think is what she wanted, but as a listener the music is not enough to get past this.
Patty Griffin writes a lot of things that are in some way pretty miserable. And perhaps never more so than on Impossible Dream, where the sense of regret aches through the speakers in the sequence of "Useless Desires", "Top of the World" and "Rowing Song". But it's so goddamn beautiful. When late Joni Mitchell sometimes offers a lecture, Patty Griffin offers an embrace for the world's heartache. To be honest it's not my favourite album of hers because there's a bit of inconsistency in the quality. But the best moments? They're incredible.
Sunday 18 March 2018
Classical Music - December 2017
Bach, E. - Hommage á Igor
Bach, J.S. - Sie werden euch in den Bann tun (They will put you out of the synagogues) (No. 2)
Barfoed - Brass Quintet
Barber
Bridge
Dvorak
Haydn - Menuet/Trio and Finale in C
Holmboe - Concerto for Brass
Medtner - 6 Skazki, op.51
Mozart
Schumann - Songs, opp.29 to 31
Scriabin
Sibelius
Beethoven's Zur Namensfeier overture is quite good for a piece that doesn't have a high profile. Wellington's Victory is pure entertainment and not at all highbrow.
This was the first time in a while that I'd listened to some of Faure's late songs, because I hadn't liked them all that much before. I now strongly suspect that this is the fault of the set of recordings I have (on the Hyperion label with Graham Johnson as pianist) rather than the music. Hyperion have rarely led me astray, and indeed the earlier songs in the same set are fine, but in these late works there's a lack of the flow I've heard in some other recordings online, and also one of the singers is distinctly wobbly. It's quite rare for me to be dissatisfied with a recording that has made its way into my collection, but this is one of those rare times where I'll be hunting for other versions.
No complaints at present with my collection of Medtner's skazki (also on Hyperion, and indeed the only complete set in existence). The pieces keep getting better later in Medtner's career.
--------------------------------
I listened to 608 recordings of classical works during 2017. This is down from 2016's massive peak of 836, but still higher than previous years. A lot of this is still exploration of new music, much of it purchased in late 2016. I still have not quite finished listening to everything that I bought at that time, and there were a few more purchases in 2017 to keep me going.
The top 10 composers this year were:
1. Haydn (46)
2.= Beethoven (40)
2.= Schumann (40)
4. Dvorak (39)
5.= Holmboe (33)
5.= Bridge (33)
7. Sibelius (30)
8.= Barber (29)
8.= Scriabin (29)
10. Faure (24)
Schumann, Bridge, Sibelius, Barber and Scriabin enter the list, to a large extent influenced by new purchases and/or listening projects. Haydn, Beethoven and Dvorak stay up high, above Holmboe who does not have last year's insane numbers. Faure manages to stay in, just ahead of some of last year's top 10 that missed out (Mozart, Debussy). It was a weaker year for Nielsen, Shostakovich and Chopin.
The victory for Haydn is entirely on the back of the Hogwood set of symphonies (45 recordings). So, without realising it, that's been the soundtrack for the year.
Bach, J.S. - Sie werden euch in den Bann tun (They will put you out of the synagogues) (No. 2)
Barfoed - Brass Quintet
Barber
- Symphony No.2
- Capricorn Concerto
- Second Essay for Orchestra
- Excursions
- Two Songs, op.18
- Commando March
- Wellington's Victory
- Zur Namensfeier
- Music to "Leonore Prohaska"
- Piano Sonata No.31
Bridge
- Coronation March (1910)
- The Pageant of London
- Five Entr'actes from "The Two Hunchbacks"
Dvorak
- Stabat Mater
- Ave Maria
- String Quartet No.9
- Scottish Dances for piano
- La chanson d'Ève
- Le jardin clos
- Le don silencieux
- Chanson, op.94
Haydn - Menuet/Trio and Finale in C
Holmboe - Concerto for Brass
Medtner - 6 Skazki, op.51
Mozart
- Symphony No.31, "Paris"
- Piano Concerto No.6
- Piano Sonata No.5
Schumann - Songs, opp.29 to 31
Scriabin
- Piano Sonata No.8
- 4 Preludes, op.33
- Poème tragique
- 3 Pieces, op.45
- 2 Mazurkas, op.40
- 2 Impromptus, op.10
- Valse in F minor, op.1
Sibelius
- 2 Songs from "Twelfth Night"
- 8 Songs, op.61
- Hymn to Thais
Beethoven's Zur Namensfeier overture is quite good for a piece that doesn't have a high profile. Wellington's Victory is pure entertainment and not at all highbrow.
This was the first time in a while that I'd listened to some of Faure's late songs, because I hadn't liked them all that much before. I now strongly suspect that this is the fault of the set of recordings I have (on the Hyperion label with Graham Johnson as pianist) rather than the music. Hyperion have rarely led me astray, and indeed the earlier songs in the same set are fine, but in these late works there's a lack of the flow I've heard in some other recordings online, and also one of the singers is distinctly wobbly. It's quite rare for me to be dissatisfied with a recording that has made its way into my collection, but this is one of those rare times where I'll be hunting for other versions.
No complaints at present with my collection of Medtner's skazki (also on Hyperion, and indeed the only complete set in existence). The pieces keep getting better later in Medtner's career.
--------------------------------
I listened to 608 recordings of classical works during 2017. This is down from 2016's massive peak of 836, but still higher than previous years. A lot of this is still exploration of new music, much of it purchased in late 2016. I still have not quite finished listening to everything that I bought at that time, and there were a few more purchases in 2017 to keep me going.
The top 10 composers this year were:
1. Haydn (46)
2.= Beethoven (40)
2.= Schumann (40)
4. Dvorak (39)
5.= Holmboe (33)
5.= Bridge (33)
7. Sibelius (30)
8.= Barber (29)
8.= Scriabin (29)
10. Faure (24)
Schumann, Bridge, Sibelius, Barber and Scriabin enter the list, to a large extent influenced by new purchases and/or listening projects. Haydn, Beethoven and Dvorak stay up high, above Holmboe who does not have last year's insane numbers. Faure manages to stay in, just ahead of some of last year's top 10 that missed out (Mozart, Debussy). It was a weaker year for Nielsen, Shostakovich and Chopin.
The victory for Haydn is entirely on the back of the Hogwood set of symphonies (45 recordings). So, without realising it, that's been the soundtrack for the year.
Saturday 17 March 2018
Popular Music - December 2017
Tori Amos
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Madonna - Ray of Light
Joni Mitchell
Radiohead - Kid A
Something for Kate - The Official Fiction
Something for Kate - Leave Your Soul to Science
Washington - Saint Lo
The Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell comparison moved into the later part of both careers. In the case of Tori Amos that didn't stop me from listening to other albums, too. In the case of Joni Mitchell, it meant listening to albums I hadn't heard in over 5 years. I definitely should listen to Turbulent Indigo more often than that, as I think it's a strong work.
Elsewhere, there's... well, not that much. You know how it is, December gets busy.
---------------------------
Right, I can finally tally up the albums for the whole year.
*presses filter options on spreadsheet*
115 regular albums, a couple of "best of" compilations, and one single (Saint Lo played to death in the latter part of the year).
Better than last year! A bit. And right on what looks to be the long-term average. I suspect anything much higher would require a specific focus and a move away from the classical music.
So... welcome to 2018.
- Y Kant Tori Read
- From the Choirgirl Hotel
- Gold Dust
- Unrepentant Geraldines
- Native Invader
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Madonna - Ray of Light
Joni Mitchell
- Night Ride Home
- Turbulent Indigo
- Taming the Tiger
Radiohead - Kid A
Something for Kate - The Official Fiction
Something for Kate - Leave Your Soul to Science
Washington - Saint Lo
The Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell comparison moved into the later part of both careers. In the case of Tori Amos that didn't stop me from listening to other albums, too. In the case of Joni Mitchell, it meant listening to albums I hadn't heard in over 5 years. I definitely should listen to Turbulent Indigo more often than that, as I think it's a strong work.
Elsewhere, there's... well, not that much. You know how it is, December gets busy.
---------------------------
Right, I can finally tally up the albums for the whole year.
*presses filter options on spreadsheet*
115 regular albums, a couple of "best of" compilations, and one single (Saint Lo played to death in the latter part of the year).
Better than last year! A bit. And right on what looks to be the long-term average. I suspect anything much higher would require a specific focus and a move away from the classical music.
So... welcome to 2018.
Saturday 3 March 2018
Classical Music - November 2017
Bach, J.S. - Gottlob! Nun geht das Jahr zu Ende (Praise God! The year now draws to a close)
Bach, J.S. - Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen (He calls His sheep by name)
Barber
Dvorak
Franck - Violin Sonata in A
Haydn - Symphonies 52 and 64
Holmboe
Medtner - Skazki, opp. 42 and 48
Mozart - Piano Concerto No.7
Mozart - Piano Sonatas 3, 4 and 6
Nielsen - Symphony No.3, 'Sinfonia Espansiva'
Nielsen - Aftenstemning (Evening Mood)
Nørgård - Symphony No.6, 'At the End of the Day'
Pedersen (Fuzzy) - Seven Postcards from Ebeltoft and Vicinity
Prokofiev - Piano Sonatas 6, 7 and 8
Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.4
Rachmaninov - Symphonic Dances (2 piano version)
Schumann
Sibelius - Eight Songs to words by Josephson, op.57
Vivaldi - Violin Sonata in C minor, RV 5
The pattern of listening here is pretty much the same as previous months, slowly but surely working through the various "programmes" I had set for myself. There are some quirks, such as my sudden decision to give Liszt's Dante Symphony a spin on account of the vague memory that this was a Liszt work I liked. And that's true. But finding Liszt that I can love is a slightly more difficult matter.
Beethoven's 8th symphony is always a highlight of any Beethoven traversal. Medtner's skazki are becoming more and more sophisticated. Prokofiev's wartime piano sonatas are rightly regarded as some of his best.
But the most notable information, for me, in this list is that I reached Schumann's "year of song". In 1840 the piano composer suddenly became a lieder composer. Which is remarkable not simply because of the abrupt shift in focus, but because of the incredible quality of what he produced. While I admit there are still many lieder by famous names such as Schubert, Brahms and Wolf that I haven't heard, my own view is that Schumann is the very best lieder composer of all. And that view is primarily based on the output from this one intense burst of activity, from February 1840 through to January 1841.
The inspiration seems to be in large part a desire to express his love for his soon-to-be/new wife, Clara. Myrthen ended up being a wedding present (as befits the title, because myrtle wreaths were used as wedding decorations) and is all about love, but Schumann kept on composing songs after completing that first project. And we can all enjoy the results.
Bach, J.S. - Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen (He calls His sheep by name)
Barber
- First Essay for Orchestra
- Violin Concerto
- 4 Songs, op.13
- Symphony No.8
- The Ruins of Athens
- Violin Sonata No.5
- String Sextet No.1
- Piano Quartet No.1
- Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel
- Suite for Strings
- Phantasie Piano Quartet
- An Irish Melody: Londonderry Air (string quartet version)
- Miniatures for piano trio, sets 1 to 3
Dvorak
- Symphony No.5
- String Quartet No.8
- Piano Quartet No.1
- Piano Trio No.2
- Theme and Variations for piano
- Dumka for piano
- 2 Minuets for piano
Franck - Violin Sonata in A
Haydn - Symphonies 52 and 64
Holmboe
- Symphony No.12
- String Quartet No.7
- Notations
- Quartetto Medico
Medtner - Skazki, opp. 42 and 48
Mozart - Piano Concerto No.7
Mozart - Piano Sonatas 3, 4 and 6
Nielsen - Symphony No.3, 'Sinfonia Espansiva'
Nielsen - Aftenstemning (Evening Mood)
Nørgård - Symphony No.6, 'At the End of the Day'
Pedersen (Fuzzy) - Seven Postcards from Ebeltoft and Vicinity
Prokofiev - Piano Sonatas 6, 7 and 8
Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.4
Rachmaninov - Symphonic Dances (2 piano version)
Schumann
- Myrthen
- Liederkreis (Heine)
- 3 Romances, op.28
- Piano Sonata No.6
- 2 Preludes, op.27
- 3 Etudes, op.65
- 2 Impromptus, op.14
- Polonaise, op.21
- 9 Mazurkas, op.25
Sibelius - Eight Songs to words by Josephson, op.57
Vivaldi - Violin Sonata in C minor, RV 5
The pattern of listening here is pretty much the same as previous months, slowly but surely working through the various "programmes" I had set for myself. There are some quirks, such as my sudden decision to give Liszt's Dante Symphony a spin on account of the vague memory that this was a Liszt work I liked. And that's true. But finding Liszt that I can love is a slightly more difficult matter.
Beethoven's 8th symphony is always a highlight of any Beethoven traversal. Medtner's skazki are becoming more and more sophisticated. Prokofiev's wartime piano sonatas are rightly regarded as some of his best.
But the most notable information, for me, in this list is that I reached Schumann's "year of song". In 1840 the piano composer suddenly became a lieder composer. Which is remarkable not simply because of the abrupt shift in focus, but because of the incredible quality of what he produced. While I admit there are still many lieder by famous names such as Schubert, Brahms and Wolf that I haven't heard, my own view is that Schumann is the very best lieder composer of all. And that view is primarily based on the output from this one intense burst of activity, from February 1840 through to January 1841.
The inspiration seems to be in large part a desire to express his love for his soon-to-be/new wife, Clara. Myrthen ended up being a wedding present (as befits the title, because myrtle wreaths were used as wedding decorations) and is all about love, but Schumann kept on composing songs after completing that first project. And we can all enjoy the results.
Monday 29 January 2018
Popular Music - November 2017
Tori Amos - Night of Hunters
Tori Amos - Native Invader
Beyonce - Beyonce
Kate Bush - Never For Ever
Marc Cohn - The Rainy Season
Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
Bryan Duncan - Mercy
Peter Gabriel - So
Gotye - Making Mirrors
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Nik Kershaw - The Riddle
Nik Kershaw - Radio Musicola
Joni Mitchell - Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm
Agnes Obel - Aventine
Simply Red - Picture Book
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Thrice - The Alchemy Index
Early November was one of those times when I listened to quite a lot of pop music. The Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell comparison completely stopped in this period, and my focus was very much on established favourites. I was clearly out to enjoy myself rather than educate myself.
Which is fine. The purpose of the spreadsheets where I keep records of what I listen to, which led to this blog, is to stop myself from listening to the same things all the time, and I do set myself all these listening projects. But I also don't want to turn listening simply into a task with checklists.
Besides, quite a few of the albums on this list were things I had not listened to for over a year. In a couple of cases the gap between listens was several years. My collection is quite large enough for this to happen.
So here is the Beyonce album that made me a Beyonce fan, my favourite Kate Bush album, the Marc Cohn album that I've been in love with for a couple of decades, my favourite Crowded House, Bryan Duncan's masterpiece, the best EP in history disguised as a Peter Gabriel album, Elton John's best and biggest secret, and the best moments of Simply Red, Talk Talk and Thrice. That should be plenty to explore for those so inclined.
Tori Amos - Native Invader
Beyonce - Beyonce
Kate Bush - Never For Ever
Marc Cohn - The Rainy Season
Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
Bryan Duncan - Mercy
Peter Gabriel - So
Gotye - Making Mirrors
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Nik Kershaw - The Riddle
Nik Kershaw - Radio Musicola
Joni Mitchell - Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm
Agnes Obel - Aventine
Simply Red - Picture Book
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Thrice - The Alchemy Index
Early November was one of those times when I listened to quite a lot of pop music. The Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell comparison completely stopped in this period, and my focus was very much on established favourites. I was clearly out to enjoy myself rather than educate myself.
Which is fine. The purpose of the spreadsheets where I keep records of what I listen to, which led to this blog, is to stop myself from listening to the same things all the time, and I do set myself all these listening projects. But I also don't want to turn listening simply into a task with checklists.
Besides, quite a few of the albums on this list were things I had not listened to for over a year. In a couple of cases the gap between listens was several years. My collection is quite large enough for this to happen.
So here is the Beyonce album that made me a Beyonce fan, my favourite Kate Bush album, the Marc Cohn album that I've been in love with for a couple of decades, my favourite Crowded House, Bryan Duncan's masterpiece, the best EP in history disguised as a Peter Gabriel album, Elton John's best and biggest secret, and the best moments of Simply Red, Talk Talk and Thrice. That should be plenty to explore for those so inclined.
Friday 26 January 2018
Classical Music - October 2017
Bach, J.S.
Brahms - Serenade No.2
Bridge
Dvorak
Holmboe
Mozart - Piano Concerto No.8
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.1
Rachmaninov - Symphony No.3
Schumann
Snider - Penelope
Telemann - Violin Sonata in A from "Tafelmusik"
Villa-Lobos - Choros No.1
Villa-Lobos - Quintet in the form of a Choros
Vivaldi - Violin Sonata in D minor, RV 15
There are times when you realise a piece of music is obscure for good reasons. Beethoven's stage music provides an excellent example in King Stephen, a work that was apparently a great success when it premiered in Budapest, but that sounds pretty uninspiring when divorced from that very specific context. If you're not a 19th century nationalist Hungarian it's unlikely to be a favourite.
There's nothing particularly wrong with that. I mean, I've long held the view that different pieces of music have different functions and purposes, and it makes no sense to judge a piece of music as a failure if it doesn't meet criteria the composer was never trying to fulfil.
And then, as I keep looking at this list, Rachmaninov's 3rd symphony jumps out as a work I've never quite embraced (unlike almost every other later Rachmaninov work). I couldn't tell you why just at the moment, it being several months since my last listen and probably a few years since the one before that. I just don't like it as much as I would expect.
So why am I focusing on the things that I listened to and didn't enjoy? I don't know. It could be that I'm trying to create some variety in the blog. It could also be I'm generally grumpy at the time of writing. The world is an annoying place right now for several reasons, including the weather. Let's just leave it at that and move on.
- Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht (I wretched man, a servant to sin)
- Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid (Ah God, how much heartbreak) (BWV 58)
- Also hat Gott die Welt Geliebt (God so loved the world)
- Adagio for Strings
- 3 Songs, op.10
- Early unpublished songs
- Egmont overture and incidental music
- King Stephen
- Violin Sonatas 2 and 6
Brahms - Serenade No.2
Bridge
- Isabella
- Dance Rhapsody
- String Quartet No.1
- Phantasie Piano Trio
Dvorak
- Serenade for Strings
- String Quintet No.2
- String Quartet No.7
- Piano Trio No.1
Holmboe
- Symphonies 2 and 8
- Sinfonia in Memoriam
- Violin Sonata No.3
Mozart - Piano Concerto No.8
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.1
Rachmaninov - Symphony No.3
Schumann
- Arabeske
- Humoresque
- Piano Sonata No.2
- Nachtstücke
- 12 Etudes, op.8
- 4 Preludes, op.22
- Poème-Nocturne, op.61
Snider - Penelope
Telemann - Violin Sonata in A from "Tafelmusik"
Villa-Lobos - Choros No.1
Villa-Lobos - Quintet in the form of a Choros
Vivaldi - Violin Sonata in D minor, RV 15
There are times when you realise a piece of music is obscure for good reasons. Beethoven's stage music provides an excellent example in King Stephen, a work that was apparently a great success when it premiered in Budapest, but that sounds pretty uninspiring when divorced from that very specific context. If you're not a 19th century nationalist Hungarian it's unlikely to be a favourite.
There's nothing particularly wrong with that. I mean, I've long held the view that different pieces of music have different functions and purposes, and it makes no sense to judge a piece of music as a failure if it doesn't meet criteria the composer was never trying to fulfil.
And then, as I keep looking at this list, Rachmaninov's 3rd symphony jumps out as a work I've never quite embraced (unlike almost every other later Rachmaninov work). I couldn't tell you why just at the moment, it being several months since my last listen and probably a few years since the one before that. I just don't like it as much as I would expect.
So why am I focusing on the things that I listened to and didn't enjoy? I don't know. It could be that I'm trying to create some variety in the blog. It could also be I'm generally grumpy at the time of writing. The world is an annoying place right now for several reasons, including the weather. Let's just leave it at that and move on.
Tuesday 2 January 2018
Popular Music - October 2017
Tori Amos
Christine and the Queens - Christine and the Queens
Missy Higgins - The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Level 42 - Running in the Family
John Mayer - Battle Studies
Mike and the Mechanics - Mike and the Mechanics
Joni Mitchell
Megan Washington - There There
Megan Washington - Saint Lo (single)
The Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell face-off continued in October, though at a slower pace with only 4 pairings of albums. Both artists were, at this point in their careers, changing styles and becoming less popular than before.
While most Tori Amos albums get a hearing pretty frequently, it sometimes surprises me how long I haven't listened to something. Which I guess is one reason I keep proper records in the first place, but it was startling to discover that these particular Missy Higgins, John Mayer and Roisin Murphy albums were all last listened to in 2014. All of those albums seem familiar, as if I've heard them pretty recently. And apparently, this was the first time I'd listened to Mike and the Mechanics since I began keeping pop music data.
Not only does a lot of time elapse between listens, but sometimes a lot of time elapses before I discover music. Yes, it can take me years to buy an album, but it turns out that it's possible for me to miss the existence of music, even from artists I like a great deal.
And so it was that it took me almost a year to realise that Megan Washington (who has reverted back to calling herself just "Washington") had released a new song, Saint Lo.
And it's heavenly.
I thought her last album There There was a major breakthrough and one of the best pop albums I'd heard in a long time. Saint Lo is just one song, but it's possibly even better. Certainly, I became utterly obsessed with it once I found out about it. I bought it on iTunes soon after first hearing it, and played it to death over the next couple of days.
It's moody, it's sensual, and it has a heck of a groove.
I won't go on a rant about the stupidity of an official YouTube account engaging in geoblocking, but the video below might not work for everyone.
So here is a link to a version on Vimeo which is more likely to work for everyone. If you find it as addictive as I do, don't blame me. You have been warned.
- The Beekeeper
- American Doll Posse
- Abnormally Attracted to Sin
- Midwinter Graces
- Native Invader
Christine and the Queens - Christine and the Queens
Missy Higgins - The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Level 42 - Running in the Family
John Mayer - Battle Studies
Mike and the Mechanics - Mike and the Mechanics
Joni Mitchell
- Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
- Mingus
- Wild Things Run Fast
- Dog Eat Dog
Megan Washington - There There
Megan Washington - Saint Lo (single)
The Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell face-off continued in October, though at a slower pace with only 4 pairings of albums. Both artists were, at this point in their careers, changing styles and becoming less popular than before.
While most Tori Amos albums get a hearing pretty frequently, it sometimes surprises me how long I haven't listened to something. Which I guess is one reason I keep proper records in the first place, but it was startling to discover that these particular Missy Higgins, John Mayer and Roisin Murphy albums were all last listened to in 2014. All of those albums seem familiar, as if I've heard them pretty recently. And apparently, this was the first time I'd listened to Mike and the Mechanics since I began keeping pop music data.
Not only does a lot of time elapse between listens, but sometimes a lot of time elapses before I discover music. Yes, it can take me years to buy an album, but it turns out that it's possible for me to miss the existence of music, even from artists I like a great deal.
And so it was that it took me almost a year to realise that Megan Washington (who has reverted back to calling herself just "Washington") had released a new song, Saint Lo.
And it's heavenly.
I thought her last album There There was a major breakthrough and one of the best pop albums I'd heard in a long time. Saint Lo is just one song, but it's possibly even better. Certainly, I became utterly obsessed with it once I found out about it. I bought it on iTunes soon after first hearing it, and played it to death over the next couple of days.
It's moody, it's sensual, and it has a heck of a groove.
I won't go on a rant about the stupidity of an official YouTube account engaging in geoblocking, but the video below might not work for everyone.
So here is a link to a version on Vimeo which is more likely to work for everyone. If you find it as addictive as I do, don't blame me. You have been warned.
Monday 1 January 2018
Classical Music - September 2017
Bach, J.S. - Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht (False world, I do not trust you)
Bach, J.S. - Ich habe genug (I have enough) (version for bass)
Barber - Symphony No.1
Barber - Music for a scene from Shelley
Beethoven
Bridge
Dvorak
Haydn - Symphonies 43, 44, 45, 48 and 49
Medtner - Skazki, opp.26, 34 and 35
Mozart - Symphonies 25 and 28
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.2
Nielsen
Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Rachmaninov - Symphonic Dances
Schumann
Sibelius - 5 Pieces for violin and piano, op.81
Sibelius - Erloschen
Villa-Lobos - 12 Etudes for guitar
Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras No.8
This is one of those times when I look at the list and think, do I have anything I want to talk about?
It turns out the answer is, I want to talk about Haydn symphonies. It's taking a long time to work through the box of symphonies I bought in November 2016, but there's scarcely a disappointment in there. It's possible to argue there's a somewhat standard formula to Haydn's symphonies, but first of all Haydn practically invented that formula, and secondly there is a lot of invention and wit poured into that formula. So listening to each new work is always enjoyable.
And in September I was reaching the so-called Sturm and Drang period, where the symphonies are perhaps a touch more dramatic than before. Of the 5 symphonies listed here, 3 are in minor keys (though not all of them stay in the minor for long), which is as many as there were in 40+ symphonies before this. They're also larger in scale than before. So there's a great deal of interest in the music even after hearing a lot of Haydn over the previous months.
30 CDs of new Haydn is an awful lot to take on, but so far it's undoubtedly been worth it.
Bach, J.S. - Ich habe genug (I have enough) (version for bass)
Barber - Symphony No.1
Barber - Music for a scene from Shelley
Beethoven
- Coriolan Overture
- Scene from "Vestas Feuer"
- Original introduction to Act 2 of "Leonore"
- Violin Sonata No.9
Bridge
- Norse Legend (orchestral version)
- 2 Songs of Robert Bridges
- Adoration
- 3 Idylls for string quartet
Dvorak
- Symphony No.4
- String Quartet No.6
- Andante appassionato for string quartet
Haydn - Symphonies 43, 44, 45, 48 and 49
Medtner - Skazki, opp.26, 34 and 35
Mozart - Symphonies 25 and 28
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.2
Nielsen
- Symphony No.2, "The Four Temperaments"
- Helios Overture
- Suite from "Snefrid"
Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Rachmaninov - Symphonic Dances
Schumann
- Davidsbundlertanze
- Kinderszenen
- Kreisleriana
- Fantasy in C
- Violin Sonata No.1
- Piano Sonata No.5
- Allegro de Concert
- 2 Impromptus, op.12
Sibelius - 5 Pieces for violin and piano, op.81
Sibelius - Erloschen
Villa-Lobos - 12 Etudes for guitar
Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras No.8
This is one of those times when I look at the list and think, do I have anything I want to talk about?
It turns out the answer is, I want to talk about Haydn symphonies. It's taking a long time to work through the box of symphonies I bought in November 2016, but there's scarcely a disappointment in there. It's possible to argue there's a somewhat standard formula to Haydn's symphonies, but first of all Haydn practically invented that formula, and secondly there is a lot of invention and wit poured into that formula. So listening to each new work is always enjoyable.
And in September I was reaching the so-called Sturm and Drang period, where the symphonies are perhaps a touch more dramatic than before. Of the 5 symphonies listed here, 3 are in minor keys (though not all of them stay in the minor for long), which is as many as there were in 40+ symphonies before this. They're also larger in scale than before. So there's a great deal of interest in the music even after hearing a lot of Haydn over the previous months.
30 CDs of new Haydn is an awful lot to take on, but so far it's undoubtedly been worth it.
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