- Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot (Break with the hungry your bread)
- Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen (God goes up with jubilation)
- Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden (See, I will send out many fishers)
- Academic Festival Overture
- Violin Sonata No.1
- Two Rhapsodies, op.79
- String Quartet No.2
- Berceuse in B flat (solo piano version)
- Pensée Fugitive
- Scherzettino in G minor
- Moderato in E minor
- 3 Poems for piano
- Arabesque
- 3 Improvisations for piano left-hand
- Miniature Pastorals, Set 3
- 3 Songs with Viola
- All Things that we Clasp and Cherish
- Love is a Rose
- Dear, When I Look into Thine Eyes
- Isobel
- O That It Were So!
- Strew No More Red Roses
- Where She Lies Asleep
- Love Went A-Riding
- Thy Hand In Mine
Debussy - Proses lyriques
Dvorak
- Piano Quintet No.2
- Cypresses for string quartet
- Psalm 149
- Two Little Pearls for piano
- Album Leaf in E flat
Mozart - String Quartet No.17, 'Hunt'
Nielsen
- String Quartet No.2
- Violin Sonata No.1
- Romance in D for violin and piano
- Romance (arranged for violin and piano)
- Two Fantasy Pieces for oboe and piano
- Symphonic Suite for piano
- Five Pieces for piano
- Humoresque Bagatelles
Schumann
- Three Romances for oboe and piano
- 3 Gesänge, op.95
- Lieder und Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister
- Requiem for Mignon
Shostakovich - Two Fables by Ivan Krylov
Shostakovich - Four Poems of Captain Lebyadkin
Sibelius
- Four Legends, op.22
- 10 Pieces for piano, op.58
- 3 Sonatinas, op.67
- The Maiden in the Tower
- Cantata for the Coronation of Nicholas II
- Serenad for baritone and orchestra
In summary: lots of new recordings of Bridge (not least because each piece is fairly short) and Nielsen, some new Debussy and Shostakovich. Mostly new Sibelius, though the Four Legends I've had for a while. Brahms and Dvorak chronologies that are still rolling along, and... after over 6 years I still haven't finished going through Bach's cantatas, so those are all first listens.
I don't want to mention anything specifically except to say that getting to know Debussy's songs is proving very rewarding. This is a side of the composer that should be better known.
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The total number of works in my collection listened to during 2018, large and small, was 525. That's slightly down on last year, but not particularly low on longer term trends.
Calculating the top 10 composers for the year throws up the following:
1. Bridge (67)
2. Dvorak (57)
3. Schumann (45)
4. Sibelius (43)
5. Scriabin (38)
6. Nielsen (28)
7.= Beethoven (26)
7.= Mozart (26)
9.= Bach (23)
9.= Haydn (23)
Bridge's top place is to a large extent due to counting lots of songs as single entries, because that's the way they are presented rather than in collections. Scriabin also scores highly from having a lot of very short opuses. The high numbers of Dvorak, Schumann and Sibelius works more genuinely represent very strong interest. These are now undoubtedly among the composers I most enjoy listening to.
Debussy just missed out on the list again, along with Brahms and Faure. It was an extremely lean year for Holmboe, with just 8 works. Chopin was listened to only once.
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This might be the point at which these monthly lists end. I haven't decided for certain, and the more obsessive side of my personality might refuse to let me finish when I'm still a couple of months behind...
This doesn't mean that I won't be keeping records of what I listen to. That's an exercise that I find valuable for my own purposes. But reporting on it for the blog can be a bit of a chore, not least because it means I have to make sure I have a clean break each month in my data (something that tends to be more effort for popular music, where I'm more likely to listen to something a number of times over a period of a week or two).
So I might try writing about particular things instead, discussing music that is getting my attention. Which actually might look a fair bit like the parts of the blog entries that have been below the lists.
It might make posts more frequent, or less frequent. I'm not sure. I haven't thought it through before now.
There are in truth only a handful of people who actually read entries on this blog (and if you do, thank you), so I doubt anyone besides me will be perturbed about changes. But I'm hoping any changes are for the better.
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