Classical Music - April 2017

Bach, J.S. - Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden (Stay with us, for evening falls)
Bach, J.S. - Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (Delightful rest, beloved pleasure of the soul)
Barber

• A Hand of Bridge
• Vanessa: Intermezzo from Act III
• Mutations from Bach 

Beethoven - Symphony No.6
Beethoven - String Quartet No.10 
Brahms - Symphonies 1 to 4
Brahms - String Quartet No.1 
Bridge - String Quartet No.4
Debussy - Twelve Etudes
Dvorak

• Suite in A, 'American' (original piano version)
• Two Little Pearls
• Album Leaf in E flat 

Faure - 5 Melodies 'De Venise'
Faure - La bonne chanson 
Haydn - Symphonies 34, 35 and 38
Holmboe

• Sonatina for oboe and piano
• Trombone sonata
• Eco

Medtner - Three Hymns to Toil
Mozart - Piano Concertos 1 and 3
Nielsen - Symphony No.3
Nørgård - Symphonies 5 and 6
Rachmaninov - The Bells
Schubert - Schwanengesang
Schubert - Piano Sonatas in C minor and A, D.958 and 959
Schumann

• Violin Sonata No.1
• Nachtlied
• Märchenbilder for viola and piano 

Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No.1
Sibelius

• Symphonies 5 and 6
• 7 Songs of Runeberg, op.13
• Serenad 

Smetana - Blaník
Stravinsky

• The Firebird
• Petrushka
• Fireworks
• Scherzo Fantastique

Villa-Lobos - Choros 4 and 9
Villa-Lobos - Suite Populaire Brésilienne for guitar

While I was still working through some of the purchases from late last year (Barber, Bridge, Dvorak, Medtner, some Schumann, Villa-Lobos, the Haydn symphonies which aren't even close to finished), I went and bought a few more things on a trip at the tail end of March.

And so the discs with the Shostakovich cello concerto, the Sibelius songs and the Schumann violin sonata were all added to the already sizeable collection of music "needing" to be listened to. I also bought some Stravinsky, but rather than starting with my purchase of The Soldier's Tale I decided it was time to start on a chronological survey of all of Stravinsky's music.

The biggest focus for April, however, was on Brahms' 4 symphonies. Having heard them all over the previous months, and having revisited the first 3 in March, this was the month when I listened to them enough to really feel some familiarity. I ended up listening to all of them together in the space of a few days.

And everyone of them is a first-class work. If pressed I would probably nominate Symphony No.3 as my favourite at the moment, but I would quite happily re-hear any of them. Brahms has a reputation as a bit of a perfectionist who tried very hard to suppress any music he wasn't satisfied with. This means that the quality of the things he allowed to be published is remarkably consistent. But along with that, each of the 4 symphonies has a different character. Two in minor keys (one more dramatic, one more tragic), and two in major keys (one more pastoral, one more heroic). Together they form a fine set and help show why Brahms is considered one of the true greats of classical music.

Classical Music - November 2015

Andresen - Three Norwegian Dances
Bach, J.S. - Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Now come, saviour of the heathen) (BWV 62)
Bach, J.S. - Wohl dem, der sich auf seinem Gott (Happy is the man who on his God)
Beethoven - Violin Sonata No.10 (2 versions)
Brahms - Clarinet Trio
Chopin

• Waltz in A flat, op.42
• Waltz in E flat for Emile Gaillard ('Sostenuto')
• Mazurka in A minor for Emile Gaillard
• Mazurka in A minor for 'Notre Temps' 
• 3 Nouvelles Etudes
• Fugue in A minor 

Haydn - Symphonies 86, 90 and 93
Holmboe

• Cantata Profana 'Frieze'
• Omnia flumnia
• The Heron of Oblivion
• Elder Tree
• What the Beech Tree Sang

Janacek - String Quartet No.1, 'Kreutzer Sonata'
Nørgård - Images of Arresø
Schubert - Piano Quintet
Senstius - Fantasia in D minor
Schumann - Introduction and Allegro appassionato in G for piano and orchestra
Sibelius - Night Ride and Sunrise
Szymanowski - Masques
Vine - String Quartet No.5
Vivaldi - Vos aurae per montes (You breeze through the mountains)

The Brahms Clarinet Trio is one of those works that really connects with me. Who knows why. It's inward, withdrawn music, and something about the way it hesitatingly unfolds makes me respond in ways that bolder music wouldn't.

That this is true is evidenced by the fact that, unlike so many of the works listed in my classical music spreadsheet, which I created precisely because some works just melted into an undifferentiated blur, I can immediately hear bits of the Clarinet Trio when I think of it. I certainly don't know all the notes by heart, but I know the mood, what it evokes. And when that spreadsheet told me I hadn't actually listened to the piece for over 5 years(!), I still had a clear notion of what I would hear when I finally pressed play again in November.

I don't want to just listen to my existing favourites. A key part of my listening decisions is to avoid that. And yet, at the end of the day the reason I keep exploring is to find music like this. Music that, when I need it, I know I will enjoy. Music that moves me.