June 2014 - Classical Music

Bach, J.S.

• Sie werden euch in den Bann tun (I) (They will put you out of the synagogues)
• Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten (I) (If a man loves me, he will keep my words)
• Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut (Elevated flesh and blood)

Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra
Berwald - Piano Trio No.1 (2nd movement)
Brahms - Piano Trio No.2
Faure

• Violin Sonatas 1 and 2
• Cello Sonatas 1 and 2
• Piano Quartets 1 and 2
• Piano Quintets 1 and 2
• Piano Trio
• String Quartet
• Elegie for cello and piano
• Romance for cello and piano
• Papillon for cello and piano
• Sicilienne for cello and piano
• Serenade for cello and piano

Holmboe - Liber Canticorum, Book IV
Poulenc - Sonata for 2 pianos
Scarlatti, D. - Keyboard sonatas, K.11, 268, 386 and 387
Schumann - Piano Concerto
Schumann - Piano Trio No.1
Sibelius - The Swan of Tuonela
Strauss, R. - Don Quixote
Strauss, R. - Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life)
Tchaikovsky - Music from The Sleeping Beauty (two separate arrangements)
Vine - String Quartets 2 and 3

Yes, all the Faure kept coming out to play. At the start of the month it was still complete works. Later on it became movements on their own, and after that it ended up just being the 'slow' movements (some Adagios, but many of them Andantes) on their own.

And it was bliss.

But as well as that some normal service was resumed. There were some existing favourites, such as Poulenc's sonata (which was a highlight of my first run-through the box of Poulenc recordings I own), and Schumann's piano concerto which was one of the first concertos I took an immediate shine to.

There were also some new potential favourites. I've heard The Swan of Tuonela before, but I was paying a lot more attention this time and was very impressed. Sibelius is a master orchestrator. Every bit his equal, but in a different way, is Richard Strauss. Again, I'd heard both Don Quixote and Ein Heldenleben before, but this time I read a bit more programmatic information and was astounded at how vivid some parts of each of these works is.  In Don Quixote the episode with the sheep is brilliant and the use of a wind machine astounding. And the part of Ein Heldenleben that takes a swipe at music critics is downright funny.

June 2014 - Popular Music

Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines
Joni Mitchell - Clouds
Roisin Murphy - Overpowered
Pearl Jam - Vs
Radiohead - OK Computer

Fairly slim pickings here, really.  So let's talk about OK Computer. Partly because it seems I haven't talked about it specifically before, and partly because I was surprised how long it was since I had last listened to it.

In full, that is. I strongly suspect that this is one of those albums that's been on my player at work, and I've been interrupted, and I haven't gone back to it. That happens to me fairly frequently in general (more than I'd like, but, you know, they're not paying me to listen to music and if something comes up that requires me to speak to other human beings instead of just quietly work away at my desk, the music has to take second priority), but it's especially difficult when listening to a rich, dense album.

Let's face it, OK Computer has been talked about an enormous amount since it first came out in 1997. It's one of the more acclaimed albums in rock music history. I think that's not only because it's good, but because in some ways it was unexpected.

I don't have my figure on the pulse of current, up-to-date music in the way that music journalists supposedly do, so I can't tell you what music generally sounded like in 1997, and therefore I can't tell you whether OK Computer was unlike anything else on the market. I do sometimes get that impression from what's been written about it. It also was frequently praised for somehow tapping into the zeitgeist, or even being ahead of the curve: a 21st century album written before the 21st century began. Lyrically, there are hints of a high-speed, impersonal and isolating world that certainly do seem relevant to our age of technology.

What I can say for myself is that I'm fairly sure this album was unexpected from Radiohead. Their first album was that of a fairly average rock band, all set for one-hit wonder status. It's difficult to remember any song besides 'Creep' and it's difficult to muster up much interest in listening again - apparently, I haven't sat through Pablo Honey since I started this blog.

Their second album, The Bends, is a vast leap in quality. It's a fine record, but it's a fine record from a fairly straight-ahead rock band that sounds like it wants to fill arenas. Actually that's probably not entirely fair, as the album does have lots of nice touches that aren't completely straightforward, and point in the direction of later Radiohead if you already know what you're looking for.

But back in 1997, people didn't already know what later Radiohead sounded like. And what OK Computer sounded like was a vast collage of sounds. Layer upon distorted layer. 'Airbag' opens proceedings with processed drums, jangling guitars and something that sounds like sleigh bells. 'Paranoid Android' throws in a computerised voice and changes sound and pace multiple times. 'Subterranean Homesick Alien' features great washes of keyboard sound, and so it goes on.

There are times when it's quite difficult to work out what sort of instrument is used, as acoustic, electric and electronic contributions collide. 'Climbing Up The Walls' features the scariest string section you can imagine.

Every song contributes something a little different, and pretty well every song is a winner. My favourite, though, has always been 'Let Down'.  The melody line of the song is sheer genius, with steps constantly falling downwards even while each sequence manages to take the melody slightly higher than before. Each of the 3 verses has a different melodic shape, with the last of the 3 expanding gloriously into a kind of ecstasy. Somehow, a song with lyrics about the 'emptiest of feelings' and being 'crushed like a bug in the ground' ends up being one of the most achingly beautiful and uplifting things I've ever heard.

May 2014 - Classical Music

Dvorak - String Quartets 10 and 13
Faure

• Violin Sonatas 1 and 2
• Cello Sonatas 1 and 2
• Piano Quartets 1 and 2
• Piano Quintets 1 and 2
• Piano Trio
• String Quartet

It was a difficult month.

I stopped listening to classical music for a couple of weeks, roughly coinciding with the start of the month. And then the month got more difficult on a personal level, and I found myself anxiously searching for music that would both express my mood and change it.

And I grabbed for the chamber music of Gabriel Faure.

All 10 of his large-scale works ended up loaded onto my iPhone. There were times in the last 6 or 7 weeks when I listened to little else. I drowned myself in these masterpieces. I listened over and over again, hoping to grasp every note. In some cases I ended up listening while reading the score.

This was actually the first time I'd ever listened to the string quartet, which was Faure's last work, because I decided to save it for the end of my chronological journey through his compositions. That started in September 2012, by the way, so that's... 21 months of occasional listening to get to the end of his career. With 60+ years of music.

There are still more works to collect, choral music in particular. I still don't even own a copy of the Requiem which for many people seems to be the one work of Faure's that they do own! Aside from that there are a few violin works, a couple for harp, two operas and various incidental music (some of which I'm not even sure is recorded).

I suspect, though, that it will always be this chamber music that I'm drawn to, with its subtle interplay of lines, its constant evolution, its yearning, its passion. There are 34 movements here, and it's difficult to find a weak one anywhere. There's certainly enough quality to sustain many hours of listening.

May 2014 - Popular Music

Tori Amos

• Little Earthquakes
• Under the Pink
• From the choirgirl hotel
• Unrepentant Geraldines

Avicii - iTunes New Year's Eve Mix
Joe Cocker - The Essential Collection
Patty Griffin - American Kid
Jars of Clay - The Long Fall Back to Earth
Wendy Matthews - Ghosts
John Mayer - Battle Studies
Janelle Monae - Metropolis Suites II and III
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Over the Rhine - Ohio

Yes, a new Tori Amos album came out. Yes, I like it. A lot. Any surprises there?

Unrepentant Geraldines is warm, relaxed, confident, small-scale and intimate. It's entirely a family affair, with Amos and her husband performing all the instruments, and their daughter contributing one guest vocal. A highly impressive guest vocal, one might add.

Perhaps one of the most impressive things about the album is that it generally hides this relative lack of resources extremely well. It's true that there are far more solo piano songs on here than on previous albums, but in no way does it come across as "I'm doing solo piano because I haven't got any choice". For one thing, the solo piano songs are uncommonly good, with 'Weatherman' and 'Oysters' being among the very best tracks on the album.

In addition, the album is perfectly capable of sounding rich and full when that is called for. 'Wedding Day' certainly creates the illusion of a whole band playing.

That's about all I have to say about it at the moment. Like all Tori Amos albums, there's a sense that it'll take some time to really delve into all the nuances and know the album as much as I'd like to. That's a large part of why I enjoy her music so much.

Plus, I won't lie: right now I want to get a post or two out of the way here...

April 2014 - Classical Music

Bach, J.S.

• Du Hirte Israel, höre (Hear you shepherd of Israel)
• Wo gehest du hin? (Where are you going to?)
• Erwünschtes Freudenlicht (Awaited light of joy)
• Violin Partita No.2

Bartok - Piano Concerto No.2
Bartok - Violin Concerto No.2
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No.5
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.14, 1st movement
Brahms

• Double Concerto
• Clarinet Sonata No.2
• Piano Pieces, op.119

Dvorak - Piano Trios 3 and 4
Dvorak - Piano Quartet No.2
Faure

• Piano Trio in D minor
• Nocturne No.13
• L'horizon chimérique 

Holmboe - Liber Canticorum, Book III
Mozart - Symphony No.40
Mozart - Quintet for Piano and Winds
Poulenc

• Violin Sonata
• Theme varie
• Capriccio for 2 pianos
• L'Embarquement pour Cythère 

Rachmaninov

• Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
• Symphony No.3
• Symphonic Dances

Ravel

• Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
• Piano Concerto in G
• Violin Sonata No.2

Schubert - Piano Trio No.2
Schumann - Dichterliebe
Schumann - Der arme Peter
Sibelius - En Saga
Sibelius - Karelia Suite
Simpson - Symphony No.8
Strauss, R. - Also sprach Zarathustra
Strauss, R. - Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
Suk - Elegy in D flat (piano trio version)
Symanowski - Masques
Tchaikovsky - Pezzo capriccioso
Tchaikovsky - March from The Seasons
Vine - String Quartet No.3
Vivaldi

• Canta in prato, ride in monte (Sing in the meadow, smile on the mountain), RV 623
• In furore iustissimae irae (In wrath and most just anger)
• O qui caeli terraeque serenitas (You are the tranquility of heaven and earth)

Walton - String Quartet in A minor

There is some marvellous music here, but I find myself not really inclined to say much about it. I delayed this post partly in the hope of finding more to write, but various circumstances mean that hasn't happened.

The one thing perhaps most worth mentioning is the string quartet from Carl Vine, from a disc performed by the Goldner Quartet. This was a new purchase, of a CD that had been on my Christmas list. The desire for it was partly driven by this article, which includes the strongest recommendation imaginable from the composer himself.

And the third quartet is, in the hands of the Goldners, electrifying stuff.

Vine's name has always stuck in my mind since I first heard his first piano sonata, performed in the Sydney International Piano Competition. It's a great piece, and every now and then something would happen to remind me of it. I've heard little else of Vine's work, but that piano sonata was enough to consistently draw me back in curiosity.

But it's taken a decade or more for that curiosity to translate into a purchase. I haven't even listened to the rest of the disc yet, but it already seems a worthwhile purchase. I listened to the third quartet over and over again, across several days...and kept wanting to have another go. To be astonished at the sheer speed at which the outer sections flash by, to be gripped by the virtuosity, feeling that it was nevertheless musical virtuosity.

I'm only just getting a taste of who Vine is as a composer. It seems that he is quite intellectual in some ways, but it also seems to me that this is not an arid kind of intellectualism. There is force and passion.

I'm looking forward to hearing more.

April 2014 - Popular Music

Tori Amos

• Under the Pink
• Strange Little Girls
• Scarlet's Hidden Treasures
• Audience bootlegs - Lowell, MA 19 November 2002, Boston 12 April 2005

Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow
george - Unity
Patty Griffin - American Kid
Dave Matthews - Some Devil
Joni Mitchell - Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm
Nichole Nordeman - Woven & Spun
Pearl Jam - No Code

There is something about Patty Griffin that has made me approach her 2 albums released in 2013 very, very slowly.

It's not that the music only speaks to me when I'm in a certain mood, it's more that the music is potentially so powerful that I feel like I need to save it for a time when I'm wholly present. I don't want to do a Patty Griffin album the disrespect of listening casually and treating it like background music. Heck, I don't really like treating anything like background music, but it seems even more important with Patty because she is engaging in character studies. Studies of real characters, not fantastical creations. Stories you believe that someone's genuinely lived.

That's even more true of American Kid than usual, and it's difficult to avoid the thought that the person who has lived many of these stories is Patty's own deceased father. There are specific references to Boston and to fighting in the war that feel like part of a single autobiography, even when scattered across different songs (although I've discovered in the middle of writing this post that 'Get Ready Marie' is about her grandparents, not her father - but hey, that's still his family). And while she has inhabited male characters in songs before (more often than most female singers), it's even more prominent this time around.

It's an album that's both haunting and gutsy. It takes guts to start an album with a song about the end of life. 'Go Wherever You Wanna Go' celebrates death as a release from all the worries and hardships that life brings. And then it's followed up by a classic Griffin stomp called 'Don't Let Me Die in Florida'.

As for haunting, there are two songs prominently featuring Robert Plant that peaceful and ethereal, even though one of them, 'Ohio', depicts people on the run and ends with the thought that if the singer hasn't arrived by morning, it will be because (he's) dead.

It feels like the album doesn't really tread new thematic ground for Griffin. These are the same lost, lonely, tired people, holding onto their memories, that have inhabited quite a lot of her songs before. But I'm not sure that matters a lot when she delivers such beautiful justice and respect for these kinds of stories. Someone needs to remind us about thoroughly 'ordinary' people. It might as well be a woman with a soul-piercing voice.

March 2014 - Classical Music

Bach, J.S.

• Wer da gläubet und getauft wird (He that believes and is baptised)
• Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ (Hold in remembrance Jesus Christ)
• Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch (Verily, verily I say to you)

Bartok - Piano Concerto No.1
Beethoven - Piano Concertos 3 and 4
Beethoven - Violin Concerto 
Brahms - String Sextets 1 and 2
Brahms - Clarinet Sonata No.1
Bridge - 3 Idylls
Dvorak - Piano Trios 1 and 2
Dvorak - Piano Quartet No.1
Faure

• Piano Quintet No.2
• Cello Sonata No.2
• Barcarolle No.13
• C'est la paix

Haydn - String Quartets, op.64 nos. 4 and 5
Holmboe

• Symphonies 1 and 7
• Chamber Symphony No.3, 'Frieze'
• Sinfonia in Memoriam
• Sinfonias 1 and 4
• Monolith
• Tempo Variabile
• Liber Canticorum, Book II
• Preludes 1, 3 and 4 for chamber orchestra

Lekeu - Violin Sonata in G
Mahler - Symphony No.8
Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto
Mozart

• Oboe Quartet
• Horn Quintet
• Quintet movement for clarinet, basset horn, violin, viola and cello

Poulenc

• Sextet
• Improvisations 11 and 12
• Intermezzo in A flat
• Melancolie
• Française
• Bourrée au pavillon d'Auvergne

Rachmaninov

• Piano Concerto No.4
• Piano Sonata No.2
• Etudes-Tableaux, op.39
• Variations on a Theme by Corelli

Ravel

• La Valse
• Tzigane
• Berceuse on the name of Gabriel Faure

Schubert

• Piano Trio No.1
• Notturno for piano trio
• Piano trio movement in B flat

 Schumann

• Piano Quintet
• Piano Quartet
• Liederkreis (Eichendorff)
• 3 songs from Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling', op.37

Shostakovich

• Symphony No.10
• Piano Trio No.2
• Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok

Simpson - Symphonies 4 and 5
Simpson - Variations on a Theme by Nielsen
Strauss, R. - Don Juan
Strauss, R. - Death and Transfiguration
Szymanowski

• Metopes
• Fantasy in F minor
• Four etudes for piano, op.4

Tchaikovsky

• Violin Concerto
• Variations on a Rococo Theme
• Andante cantabile from string quartet no.1 (orchestral version)

Lots of new listening in here again, thanks to another set of purchases hot on the heels of the previous set. Beethoven, Brahms, Bridge, Dvorak, Lekeu, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert and Szymanowski are all solely represented by first listens, and there are quite a few other debuts for other composers too. Come to think of it, the Bach is all 'new' as well, it's just that it's months and months since I bought the cantatas. Lots and lots of cantatas...

The chamber music, though, is where I've been finding the greatest delights. The Brahms sextets are both wonderful pieces. I think I enjoyed the first most consistently, but the opening of the second is so extraordinary that I actually stopped what I was doing about 20 seconds in to check that I had chosen the right disc and track... and then had to start again because I'd lost my focus on the music. To my ears it sounded amazingly modern - and it's not even late Brahms, it's still reasonably early in his career.

Dvorak is, I think, one of the most consistently enjoyable composers, certainly in his chamber music. Memorable melodies are everywhere. I knew at least one of these pieces before from hearing it live, so I did know what to expect, but it's still a real pleasure to be able to listen to this music at will.

The most exciting new work of all, though, might have been Schubert's first piano trio. I didn't expect to say that. Even though I now recognise that I enjoy later Schubert a great deal, I still wouldn't usually rank him as a favourite composer.  But this trio was absolutely sublime. I suspect that's down to the performance by the Florestan Trio (who are in fact also responsible for the Dvorak and Shostakovich trios, and members contributed to several other recordings on this list), which is one of the most sparkling and lively performances I've ever come across.

Then I became acquainted with Beethoven's 4th piano concerto, which is probably the best classical concerto I've yet heard. And then this list includes a couple of favourite recordings from my existing library - Faure's 2nd piano quintet, and Vladimir Ashkenazy's electrifying performance of Rachmaninov's etudes-tableaux.

It was a pretty damn fine month of listening, with the exception of Mahler's 8th symphony which proved again to be a nearly interminable disappointment. Oh well. One should count one's blessings. And they are plentiful here.