What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[Pulcinella]

We heard John-Eliot Gardiner conduct the fourth symphony with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague at the Rudolfinum a few years ago. What was really odd was he changed the position of the first and second violins so the layout was seconds, firsts, violas then ‘cellos! Absolutely no idea why.

I really enjoyed that work and have listened to George Whitehead’s recording with great pleasure but the others just leave me scratching my head.

That does seem a very odd layout!
I got to know his S4 from this recording, now coupled with PC4.
You need to search it out!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martinu-Symphony-Piano-Concerto-Ricercari/dp/B00008UVBR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DLRBWS603DKD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.h8BRxLi0uAKYFcN1mTpXPORO0cuCZGq12t0pItLSHpzd8V-5sPFatr_UpdfHdVi2.fN7lFNvBsV_MoRK5PwNYwIgBW0VzB-64cr4jRulzaK4&dib_tag=se&keywords=martinu+turnovsky&qid=1717246439&s=music&sprefix=Martinu+turn%2Cpopular%2C49&sr=1-1

[smittims]

Bernard Herrmann certainly admired Vaughan Williams and may have been a pupil. The Suite for Strings he extracted from his Psycho Music is alsoa bit VW-ish. He was a keen advocate of reviving the 1920 version of the London Symphony on account of some beautiful passages it contains

[pastoralguy]

That does seem a very odd layout!
I got to know his S4 from this recording, now coupled with PC4.
You need to search it out!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martinu-Sym...ar%2C49&sr=1-1

Neither the leader nor the leader of the seconds looked particularly happy with the arrangement!

Thanks. I’ll keep an eye out for that cd.

[Pulcinella]

Neither the leader nor the leader of the seconds looked particularly happy with the arrangement!

Thanks. I’ll keep an eye out for that cd.

I haven't got up to S4 in this hefty tome yet:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martinu-Symphony-Author-Michael-Apr-2010/dp/B00MK4DMGI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3920SDEHJPABT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ByeX_aoMlK6solC7uhCQMAu3Qac26NBylnBwFLmRz9ps6fGohnbGUP1Uy4Gs_tUkbrKsii7CWze0D1A_PdwWfsPfQbE8WT3-uGuBrHvDENY.ugw8u4SxtPfJbrhNf0jW3SEVuPznkByTXlBKiKzTFtk&dib_tag=se&keywords=Michael+crump&qid=1717249524&s=books&sprefix=michael+crump%2Cstripbooks%2C62&sr=1-1

But I can't imagine that there's any sort of antiphonal or sectional playing that would be enhanced by that sort of arrangement.
I'm a bit more encouraged to get the book down off the shelf again though.

[Stanfordian]

Meyerbeer – L'Africaine (Vasco da Gama)
Opera in 5 acts (1865)
Michael Spyres (Vasco da Gama), Claudia Mahnke (Sélika), Brian Mulligan (Nélusko),
Andreas Bauer Kanabas (Don Pédro), Thomas Faulkner (Don Diego),
Kirsten MacKinnon (Ines), Bianca Andrew (Anna), Michael McCown (Don Alvar)
Chor der Oper Frankfurt,
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester / Antonello Manacorda
Recorded Live 2018, Oper Frankfurt, Germany
Naxos new 3 CD set

[pastoralguy]

Mozart. Piano Concerto No.23 on A. K.488

Daniel Barenboim directing the English Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard.

[Hitch]

Bliss - Adam Zero
English Northen Philharmonia, cond. David Lloyd-Jones
Naxos

My first listen but not my last. Approach of Autumn is lovely.

[Pulcinella]

Bliss - Adam Zero
English Northen Philharmonia, cond. David Lloyd-Jones
Naxos

My first listen but not my last. Approach of Autumn is lovely.

You might like to investigate this cheap box set too, though sadly it doesn't include one of my favourite Bliss works, his Meditations on a theme of John Blow:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Composers-Arthur-Bliss/dp/B0056H0R3C/ref=sr_1_2?crid=36TH6C5AZMF1O&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wQQ CGvwAHYf7YumKnkiudReQlhpBxPnmK1n4iYsMK7H_AXVfv7mIT 1o3IqALw1DhsMIh4CyXSBDX1Lv51hNYUnNy0t441vDRP8rFCXp jmqh-EJg2yObLhTGKLbt6Ep8_yAiBvgIJeu-rrkPYhmETvUjYc8oHYynbKKaytOtVT3R0AX6dTqMqm4v1N1Tlr w6iAXE856x6h6DXUwHAPNrhVOhZE84QCHHZwVUreM1cS6w.aAP 8kylJK7gZl5_iVSRqPZeWNW1jenEbbcf_dhWwn0M&dib_tag=s e&keywords=arthur+bliss&qid=1717311178&s=music&s pr efix=Bliss+%2Cpopular%2C59&sr=1-2

Other recordings of the Meditations are available (including one on Naxos) but this is the EMI one that got left out of the box (only excerpts from Adam Zero: more on the CD that did get included!):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bliss-Checkmate-Adam-Meditations-Theme/dp/B00093IRVM/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3TW7RGBB5NS9Z&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.A8w cDgPkKPA-RkO5xmLXLfpmsZjMrp9M2zN5V9lth_IwtYCKsG9eCTMx2AyAZQ JKm_t0ko-WK2A-b_vPHt_Hrw.VWh_7iUUrJHfpgifW6Xb_TsnWogKiSvV4c2O_Cs RyH8&dib_tag=se&keywords=Bliss+adam+zero&qid=17173 11512&s=music&sprefix=bliss+adam+zero%2Cpopular%2C 56&sr=1-3

[smittims]

Yes, Adam Zero was another example of what I call 'Bliss' luck'. A successful premiere conducted by Constant Lambert and with Robert Helpmann in the title role it was all set to follow the success of Checkmate, until Helpmann had a leg injury,the remaining performances were cancelled and it wasn't revived. Thankfully, due to the work of enthusiasts,, Bliss' music has survived.

This mornig I heard, purely coincidentally (i.e. not a specific choice ) three works by what used to be called 'women composers' (LIzzie Lutyens told Russell Harty that if he described her as a 'woman composer' she would call him a homosexual interviewer). :

Out of the Mist : Lilian Elkington

Piano Concerto in D minor : Dorothy Howell.

Symphony no.2 : Grace Williams.

Of the three I have to say I think only the Williams is worth hearing more than once; indeed it is a fine work . The Howell concerto was just dull, hardly an advance, stylistically speaking , on Chopin, despite dating from almost a century later. The Elkington is interesting in that it was written at the age of 21 and she gave up composing on her marriage at the age of 26, making her a good candidate for these feminist programmes where they lament tthe oppression of 'The Patriarchy'. Yet it's no more than a competent student effort; I could hear nothing in it to suggest she would go on to be what people call a 'great' composer. She had aslo a career as a concert ianist, performing all the Beethoven concertos, so her abandonment of composition seems to have been her decision; many male musicians do some composition in their youth and then move on to other things. Incidentally her husband was a violinist called Arthur Kennedy, and I wondered if he was a member of the string-playing Kennedy dynasty (Laurie, John and Nigel).
.

[Stanfordian]

Mahler
Kindertotenlieder
Richard Strauss
Tod und Verklärung, Op. 24
Brigitte Fassbaender (mezzo-soprano)
Münchner Philharmoniker / Sergiu Celibidache
Recorded Live, 1979 (Strauss), 1983 (Mahler), Herkulessaal, Munich
MPHIL, CD

Schubert
Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat, D.898
Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat, D.929
Notturno in E flat, D.897
Sonatensatz, D.28
Frank Braley (piano), Renaud Capuçon (violin), Gautier Capuçon (cello)
Recorded 2006 MC2 Maison de la Culture de Grenoble
Virgin Classics, CD

[smittims]

I've just discovered an anthology of anonymous mediaeval music on Spotify played and sung by the Vienna Concentus Musicus directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, recorded for Vanguard and MHS, presumably before their Telefunken years .

Harnoncourt is so well-known for Bach and later composers that this was a surprise to me. Maybe this is how they started out. At any rate the quality of the performances is superb, better than the 'enthusiastic-amateur' approach which drew so much derision (cf. Professor Welch's madrigal group in 'Lucky Jim' ).

It's apparently a large box set reissued by Alto, that goes right through to the Brandenburgs ad the cello suites. Strongly recommended.

[Master Jacques]

Honegger
Complete String Quartets
Geneva Quartet
(Erato, rec. 1983)
Still the best recorded version of these three intense and deeply satisfying quartets, oddly underappreciated - like much of Honegger's output these days. The Geneva Quartet's intelligence, musicianly focus and application more than make up for their lack of 'virtuoso' sheen. Superlative listening.

[frankbridge]

C:Hubert H Parry

Symphony No 5
Blest Pair of Sirens
Symphonic Variations
Elegy for Brahms

London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus

Sir Adrian Boult

EMI CDM 565 107-2

his last recording and one of his best.

[Hitch]

Pulcinella Thank you for the links. I'm new to Bliss but it's always good to have another composer to explore.

smittims Thank you for the detail. Poor Bliss - might that be a case of nominative indeterminism?

Glass - String Quartets Nos. 2-5
Kronos Quartet
Nonesuch

Glass is a divisive composer but these works, ably performed by the KQ, contain enough melodic material and variety to satisfy. I find them very enjoyable. Recommended to anyone who wants to dip a toe in a pool of Glassy water.

[smittims]

Liszt: Mazeppa, the Berlin Philharmonic/Karajan, 1961 DG recording.

There's a quiet passage just before the final march , with rising sixths in the cellos, which would be ideal for a music quiz. It sounds remarkably similar to the Tristan prelude.