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.