Wednesday 12 September 2018

Classical Music - March 2018

Bach, J.S.
  • 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
Barber - Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Bartok - String Quartet No.3
Beethoven
  • Cello Sonata No.4
  • "Kakadu" Variations for piano trio
  • Germania (finale for "The Good News")
Brahms - Horn Trio
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
Dvorak
  • Czech Suite
  • String Quartet No.10
  • 2 Furiants for piano
Faure - Nocturne No.6
Haydn - Symphonies 53 and 54
Hindemith - Kammermusik Nos. 2 and 3
Holmboe
  • Viola Concerto
  • Concerto No.5 (for viola)
  • Sextet
Mozart
  • Piano Concerto No.10 (for 2 pianos)
  • Symphony No.32
  • Piano Sonatas 7 and 8
Nielsen - Pan and Syrinx
Nørgård - Symphony No.2
Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin
Schumann
  • Dichterliebe
  • Romanzen und Balladen, opp.45 and 49
  • 3 Duets, op.43
Scriabin
  • Piano Sonata No.2
  • 5 Preludes, op.15
  • Poeme, op.41
  • 4 Pieces, op.51
  • Vers la flamme
Shostakovich - Symphony No.9
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.

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