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.

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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

Sibelius - Arioso (piano version)
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.