January 2014 - Classical Music

Bach, J.S.

• Herr, wie duwillt, so schick's mit mir (Lord, deal with me as you will)
• Es reisset euch ein schrecklich Ende (A dreadful end is being prepared for you)
• Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn (Praise, Jerusalem, the Lord)
• Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind (Behold, dear God, how my enemies)
• Mein liebster Jesus ist veloren (My dearest Jesus is lost)
• Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest (Much longed-for joyous feast)
• The Well-Tempered Clavier: preludes and fugues in D and G, Book I, and G sharp minor, Book II

Barber - Three Songs, op.45
Barber - Third Essay for Orchestra
Beethoven - Symphony No.9
Beethoven - 6 Bagatelles, op.126
Debussy - Two Arabesques
Delibes - Sylvia
Faure

• Barcarolle No.12
• Nocturne No.12
• Violin Sonata No.2
• Cello Sonata No.1 

Handel - Keyboard suites 1 and 4
Holmboe - Chamber Symphony No.2, 'Elegy'
Liszt -  Two Episodes from Lenau's 'Faust'
Mahler - Rückert Lieder
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Poulenc

• Pastourelle from L'Eventail de Jeanne (piano version)
• Two Novelettes
• Three pieces for piano
• Piece breve on the name of Albert Roussel
• Nocturnes
• Valse-Improvision on the name of Bach
• Improvisations 1 to 10 

Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.3
Rachmaninov - Liturgy of St John Chrysostom
Ravel - Ma mere l'Oye (Mother Goose)
Ravel - Menuet on the name of Haydn
Scarlatti, D. - Keyboard Sonatas - K. 87, 96, 146 and 520
Schubert - Schwanengesang
Schumann - Nachtstucke
Schumann - Liederkreis (to poems by Heine), op.24
Simpson - Symphonies 1 and 3
Vivaldi - Salve Regina in F
Vivaldi - Gaude mater Ecclesia (Rejoice, mother Church)

During the month I completed my survey of the works of Samuel Barber, of which there are surprisingly few. With just 4 CDs I have a substantial proportion of his output, and a decent chunk of one of those discs consists of early unpublished songs. It's consistently good music in my view, lyrical, and modern despite not following all the latest avant-garde trends. I find myself wondering, though, how he made a living. Did he get income from other sources besides composition? Did the success of the Adagio for Strings mean he wasn't under much pressure to create more works?

The Faure listening keeps going, and the work I want to make special mention of this time is the second Violin Sonata, which I hadn't heard for quite a while. Back in September 2012 I fell in love with the first sonata (this is how long my 'projects' can take!) and now I find that the second is every bit as wonderful. The opening movement is quite crazy in some ways, as the first half of it basically treats bar lines as things to be ignored. My ear frequently doesn't hear the beat where the printed music claims it to be.

Schubert's Schwanengesang (swan-song) is something I hadn't listened to for a very long time, and now I'm wondering why on earth not. I've already established that Schubert is one of those composers whose later music is, for me, the best, so it stands to reason that this collection of songs he wrote in the last year of his life would have relatively high value for me. And so it proved. There is some really lovely stuff here. For some reason a particular moment that happens twice in the song Am Meer (By the Sea) was something that struck me as particularly beautiful.

I think this might be the recording I have, which someone has helpfully combined with the score. The bit I love first appears around 1:18 and again about 3:13. 

 

October 2013 - Classical Music

Bach, J.S.

• Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft (Now is come salvation and strength)
• Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben (You shall love the Lord your God)
• Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens (Give to the Lord the glory due to his name)
• French Suite No.6

Barber

• Hermit Songs
• Melodies Passageres
• Souvenirs (solo piano version, 2 movements only)

Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.30
Bridge

• Phantasm
• Rebus
• Todessehnsucht (string orchestra version)
• A Royal Night of Variety

Delibes - Coppelia
Dvorak - Cello Concerto
Faure - La chanson d'Eve
Faure - Barcarolle No.8
Haydn - Piano Trio No.30
Hindemith - Kammermusik Nos. 2 and 3
Janacek - Glagolitic Mass
Liszt - From the Cradle to the Grave
Mahler - Piano Quartet movement
Mozart - Symphony No.39
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.16
Poulenc

• Sextet
• Elegie for horn and piano
• Improvisation No.15

Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.2
Ravel - Sonatine
Ravel - Miroirs
Scarlatti, D. - Keyboard sonatas - K.1, 27, 283, 284, 443
Schubert - Piano Sonata in E, D.157 (unfinished)
Schumann - Kreisleriana
Schumann - Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood)
Vivaldi

• Beatus vir in B flat
• Laudate pueri in C minor
• Laudate pueri in A

I'm continuing to revisit the Vivaldi sacred music that I originally bought in 2011, with a more systematic approach. The C minor version of Laudate pueri (Psalm 113 or 112, depending on which denomination's Bible you're using), was a particular highlight. That's mostly thanks to the singing of Susan Gritton on the version that I have, which is incredibly beautiful, particularly in a couple of the slow movements.

Someone has put the whole performance on Youtube. I've only put the second half in here, partly because it happens to start with one of the movements that I find especially magical - it's just over 2 minutes of utter bliss. If you want to hear the whole thing, I'm sure you can manage it!

Some excellent Samuel Barber works were on the October listening schedule. Melodies passageres (which I think are his only songs not in English) was improved from all my previous listens simply because this time I had access to a translation!  But I like the Hermit Songs even better. They are in turns visionary and humorous.

But the things I probably listened to most enthusiastically, and several times over, were the Ravel piano works.  In my chronological revisiting of Ravel, I've reached works that really mark him, for me, as one of the great composers for piano. Sonatine is a piece of great clarity and beauty, showing Ravel's liking for combining old and new styles.  Miroirs is... well, it's a masterpiece.  Five wonderful pieces full of atmosphere, character and amazing harmonies. He turns a piano into fluttering moths, bird calls, a rolling ocean, a Spanish guitar, and tolling bells - and it all works.

September 2013 - Classical Music

Bach, J.S.

• Ich hatter viel Bekümmernis (I had many afflictions) - 1723 version
• Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe (There is no health in my body)
• Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei (Behold and see, if there is any sorrow)
• Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget (Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us)
• Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele I (Praise the Lord, O my soul, No.1)
• Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and mouth and deed and life)

Barber

• Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
• Excursions
• Nuvoletta

Beethoven - Piano Sonatas 28 and 29
Beethoven - Cello Sonatas 4 and 5 
Brahms - Horn Trio
Bridge

• Enter Spring
• Oration
• Phantasm 

Dvorak

• Symphony No.9
• Cypresses for string quartet
• Songs my Mother Taught Me (transcribed for violin)

Faure

• Piano Quintet No.1
• Barcarolle No.7
• Impromptu No.4
• Le don silencieux
• Chanson
• Vocalise-etude 

Janacek - Říkadla (Nursery Rhymes) - choral version
Janacek - Suite for string orchestra
Liszt - Faust Symphony
Liszt - Anees de Pelerinage, Third Year
Mozart - Piano Sonata No.15
Poulenc

• Sonata for 2 pianos
• Sonata for piano, 4 hands
• Violin Sonata  

Rachmaninov

• Symphony No.1
• Suites 1 and 2 for 2 pianos
• Prelude in C sharp minor for piano

Ravel

• String Quartet
• Jeux d'eau
• Pavane pour une infante defunte (original piano version and orchestral version)

Schumann - Carnaval
Schumann - Symphonic Etudes
Vivaldi - Ascende laeta (Gladly climb) with Dixit Dominus, RV 595


My approach of listening to some composers chronologically seemed to be hitting some very rewarding moments in several cases this month.

Of all the magical things that Faure composed, his first piano quintet is one that holds an extremely special place for me.  It sometimes seems to be regarded as a difficult work - difficult for the composer, who took many years to complete it, and difficult for the listener because of it's somewhat withdrawn and reticent nature.  But it's exactly that reticence that makes me adore it.  This is not the music of big, grand tunes, but something inhabiting a deep inner world.

Beethoven is heading that way, too, as my listening reached the works that seem to be generally regarded as marking the start of his late style.  There's certainly a lot of inner depth here, although piano sonata no.29, the 'Hammerklavier' has its showy side too.

And then there's Bridge.  All three works I listened to this month are considered to be pretty major works from Bridge's later, more modern period.  Oration, which is essentially a cello concerto, is often considered the pick of the bunch, but while I did enjoy it I responded to it less than the other two.  I found Phantasm, essentially a piano concerto, to be particularly appealing.  It seems I may have a thing for single-movement piano and orchestra works from this period, as I've realised that Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini and Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand are nearly contemporaneous.  Rhapsody in Blue isn't that far off in chronology either.

I haven't been listening to Poulenc chronologically, but I'm continuing to notice a trend of appreciating some of the later works, and the Sonata for 2 pianos is probably the first larger-scale work I've listened to from that period, and also one of the best yet.  I'm definitely intending to explore this composer's later years more extensively once I've finished with the current set.

Elsewhere, from composers where I'm not focused on late works, Barber delivered a very nice surprise with the Excursions for piano.  I'm sure I've listened to these before, but probably in the midst of a lot of other pieces without the same sense of focus.  This time I thoroughly enjoyed the work, and was particularly taken with the second piece, 'in slow blues tempo'.

Hope you are too.