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

• Symphony No.9
• String Quartet No.15
• Große Fugue for string quartet
• Bagatelles, op.126

Brahms - Piano Quartet No.3
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 

Faure

• Nocturnes 4, 5 and 7
• Barcarolle No.5
• Valse-Caprice No.3
• Impromptu No.6 (piano version)

Haydn - Symphonies 70 and 71
Holmboe - Symphony No.9
Mahler - Symphony No.1
Mozart

• Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in D 
• Horn Quintet
• Piano Sonata No.11

Nielsen - An Imaginary Journey to the Faroe Islands
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

Sibelius - Six Runeberg Songs, op.90

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.