What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[silvestrione]

Void by Rebecca Saunders. Quite possibly music for Hallowe'en, though that's not why I put it on! Pure atmosphere, sound-pictures, thrilling and mysterious.

[AuntDaisy]

Mozart: Gran Partita & Haydn Notturno No. 8 - Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble, Trevor Pinnock
SMP's Breakfast prompted this.

[richardfinegold]

Mozart: Gran Partita & Haydn Notturno No. 8 - Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble, Trevor Pinnock
SMP's Breakfast prompted this.

Did Pinnock previously record the Gran Partita ?

[AuntDaisy]

Did Pinnock previously record the Gran Partita ?

I don't think so, it's not in the excellent Pinnock box. (Eagerly awaiting Vinteuil's next useful TP link )
BTW there's an interesting Gramophone article about the CD.

[smittims]

Les Beatitudes , the oratorio by Cesar Franck, in a 1974 Bavarian Radio recording conducted by Rafael Kubelik, and featuring such singers as Brigitte Fassbaender, Rene Kollo and Dietrich Fischer-Diekau.

I first heard this recording 50 years ago and it was my introduction to this work, which I've always found overwhelmingly beautiful and moving ( a friend called it 'boring'). I've herd other but none to equal this performance. It's on YouTube.

[Serial_Apologist]

Les Beatitudes , the oratorio by Cesar Franck, in a 1974 Bavarian Radio recording conducted by Rafael Kubelik, and featuring such singers as Brigitte Fassbaender, Rene Kollo and Dietrich Fischer-Diekau.

I first heard this recording 50 years ago and it was my introduction to this work, which I've always found overwhelmingly beautiful and moving ( a friend called it 'boring'). I've herd other but none to equal this performance. It's on YouTube.

One or two on this forum have surprised me by calling Franck's music boring or disagreeable. Those that do often praise Fauré, whose musical language and flormal preoccupations are not that dissimilar, and the influence on Debussy is there to hear, particularly in the String Quartet. I've never understood the dislike and don't think Franck's composer pupils would have either, although I've always thought the D minor symphony not among his best works.

[richardfinegold]

I don't think so, it's not in the excellent Pinnock box. (Eagerly awaiting Vinteuil's next useful TP link )
BTW there's an interesting Gramophone article about the CD.

Thanks for the link to the Gramophone article. Somehow my print subscription to Gramophone stopped but the digital continues for a few months and I have found myself not reading it.
I love Pinnock and don’t mean to disparage him but he has so many admittedly subjective decisions on the GP that as someone who has disliked to dogmatic HIPP practitioners it raises a chuckle. He fails to mention which cell phone Mozart uses in their conversations, btw. I thought WAM would be an Android type of guy.
I am surprised that Pinnock hadn’t previously recorded the GP.
Linn doesn’t stream on my streaming services so I suppose that I will have to get the CD

[HighlandDougie]

One or two on this forum have surprised me by calling Franck's music boring or disagreeable.

How could one forget FHG's withering dismissal of poor old César as, "dreary".

[oliver sudden]

I am surprised that Pinnock hadn’t previously recorded the GP.

Not so surprised here just because there isn’t anything for a keyboard player to do, and a conductor doing nothing else wouldn’t really be the historical thing (Hogwood and Bruggen notwithstanding…)

[Pulcinella]

Sampling what's available to stream so far of this Ravel box, due out next Friday, apparently.
Very impressed with the G major concerto: just started the Piano trio.
Complete works with piano.

Here is what purports to be the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravel-Complete-Works-François-Xavier-Poizat/dp/B0C57BNS9C/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JS8EX8J9XPSM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.45QhH6y-CpY4Db-BHgeXmA._jBPp2JIDR3eVPASZFCLyXV5WQyx6vC0-W1Wt6Si3F4&dib_tag=se&keywords=ravel+poizat&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1730554145&s=music&sprefix=ravel+%2Cpopular%2C180&sr=1-1

And here's what purports to be the Presto one:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9667077--ravel-the-complete-works-with-piano

[Ian Thumwood]

Back in the spring I read a book about female composers which explained in the chapter about Lili Boulanger how French composers in the second half of 19th century had difficulty countering the critical opinion in France that it could not match the levels of German composers. I had suspected this might have been the case but the upshot was that the French critical media of the time favoured Germanic approaches to music. My mother was a qualified piano teacher and I remember she once explained that French music was seen as being lighter than German classical music.

I cannot recall hearing much Franck and had conflated him a bit with Saint Saens who dont mind but still feel was not quite on a parr with Debussy or Faure. I have never read anything negative or particularly positive about Franck but I love a lot of later French music where you find successive generations have challenged their previous generations. I love so much of this music that I get annoyed when one school dismisses the other when so much 20th century classical music from France is masterful. I can see why Debussy was necessary but also appreciate why the music of Lea Six had to happen. Just bought a book about Messiaen and there are quotes in the book from Poulenc are negative about Messiaen too. In my opinion the 2 greatest French composers are Debussy and Messiaen but they are also 2 of the greatest composers of the last 130 years.

19th century French music does seem under appreciated but it is not all good even if a welcome break from the Romantic or gloomy German music of the time. It is not helped by the fact that the French establishment ensured that German composers were seen as being the epitome of 19th century . I am not surprised that Franck is over looked but there are others like Louise Ferranc who I think have gone under the radar. There are so many composers who were contemporary of Debussy like D' Indy and the one from Brittany who was a captain of a ship who have surprised me . Others like Cheminade, who I am more familiar with and really wanted to like , seem of their time.


On a similar point , I have been practising some Haydn on my piano and was surprised to learn in the accompanying notes that Schumann had dismissed his work. Not sure why but the criticism is misplaced in my opinion. His piano Sonatas are brilliant and I love the fact that the ideas have the same kind of focus as a jazz pianist like Paul Bley. They reflect the simplicity of the music of that era yet are really pleasing to listen to. I much prefer Haydn to Mozart or Beethoven. If Schumann could be so wrong about Haydn , I don't doubt the same mistakes about Francks music will exist. As for Faure , they take a bit of familiarity to truly appreciate bit. Along with Scriabin and early Syzmanowski, the music probably represents the ultimate evolution from Chopin.

[smittims]

Granville Bantock: Fifine at the Fair.
Cyril Scott: Cello Concerto
Havergal Brian : Third English Suite. all BBC recordings from about ten years ago.

These three composers would have known one another:indeed , two of them were close friends. I remember Scott and Brian still being alive in the early '70s. I'm surprised Scott's music has been so neglected since his vogue before 1914: it's colourful and very melodic. His Fourth Symphony, a late-ish work from 1951, is surprisingly passionate.

[Ian Thumwood]

Scott is an intriguing composer to consider. I first came across his work in a reorchestration of 'Lotus Land ' on the Kenny Burrell album 'Guitar forms.' All the arrangements are by Gil Evans and this was one of the most interesting tracks.

I had assumed that Scott was an American Composer like Ferde Grofe but was surprised to learn he was English. I have some sheet music by him that I was given but never tried to read it. I would be curious to see how it stands up.

[smittims]

Like many other earlier 20th-century composers, Cyril Scott wrote two kinds of music : short , light piano pieces and songs to make a living, and longer serious stuff which wouldn't be profitable. The latter tends to be forgotten or neglected, unless revived by enthusiasts. This applies also to , say, Francis Chagrin, William Alwyn, Ruth Gipps and Richard Rodney Bennett.

[richardfinegold]

Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra: Stereo Releases 1958-63. A 75 CD release. Apparently the orchestra averaged 15 releases a year during this period on Columbia.
I spent the afternoon at the Chicago Symphony with Beethoven and Napoleon and Mitsuko Uchida and Ricardo Muti . The behemoth arrived at Casa RFG during the concert so I only had time to listen to disc one, Respighi Roman Tryptich, recorded 1958. This was right in the Ormandy/Philly wheelhouse, and it’s excellent.
The concert was excellent too. The Eroica second half was the finest concert performance of that war horse that I remember hearing, with a searing Marcia Funebre.
The Emperor Concerto first half was also excellent. My only complaint was that at several intervals Muti turned to Mitsuko and appeared to be attempting to conduct her, even during the frequent mini cadenzas. She appeared to pay him no mind. I mean she isn’t some 20 year old wunderkind that he can lead by the nose. It must be an Italian Male Patriarchy thing