What are you listening to now?

[Chris]

Haydn: 4 songs for 3 voices, 9 songs for 4 voices, and 10 canons on The Ten Commandments

Also a CD called "Haydn and his English Friends" which contains English parish church music by Haydn and some of his English colleagues. Also here is Haydn's cantata with piano "'What art expresses". A very interesting CD.

[Quijote]

To Roehrer : have you checked out the Musica catalogue? Any concerts you think I should particularly attend?

[Quijote]

Here is the link for those interested.
www.festivalmusica.org/

[Quijote]

On re-listening to the Birtwistle concerto (I had been able to listen to its premiere performance) I have to say that it is an IMO wunderful piece, which -I hope- reaches a CD.

I think it is a good piece of music, it's interesting as Birtwistle succeeds in his goal to make the violinist audible throughout the piece (which unfortunately is too often not the case in violin concertos, and not only recent ones, if you'd like to listen to an excellent example of this: Szymanowski's 2nd concerto from 1935), it's lyrical, and keeps your attention.

There is one thing however which did escape my attention the first time I heard it: actually it exists nearly completely of music with a slow pulse, despite the quick and fast music played by the soloist or his discussion partners in the orchestra.

I have had finally the chance to hear this work thanks to the link provided by Megan. The comments that follow must be tempered by the fact that I have poor-quality computer headphones, but I think I can give a reasonable "first impression" of this work.

I think it also a "good piece of music", but I would hope its success does not rest solely on Birtwistle's stated goal of "making the solo violin heard".

That said, I have several negative comments to make, but again, please understand these are comments made "on the fly" as I listened to the piece via computer headphones.

Before the piece started, I foolishly listened to the brief interview with Sir Harry. It is always foolish to listen to what the artists think you should be hearing, as opposed to letting us make up our own minds. Anyway, 'Arry tells us, inter alia, that his compositional challenges were to make the violin heard (really not so hard if one scores correctly and has a competent conductor), to explore the technique of the violin, to treat this concerto not in the late 18th-19th century sense but rather in a Greek way with an antiphonal chorus (am I making all this up, or what?), and perhaps to convey the sense of composition as a form of "dreaming".
So far, so wonderful. I continue on the next post.

[Quijote]

OK, Sir Harry has spoken, but now I let my own brain and ears decide for me.
My first thought was this is excellent parody : it has all the gestures of the grand, Romantic violin concerto and I seriously questioned myself if I was hearing flavours of Holst, Elgar... But like Boulez in his critique of Schoenberg, the inventive material was there, but couched in rather banal terms.

It's probably easier if I now just list my first impressions point by point :

- impeccable intonation from the soloist;
- excellent scoring of instrumental timbres (especially harp and Glock / Xylo?);
- clever melodic "pick-ups" between soloist, flute, oboe ...;
- masterly orchestration in general;
- nice little "riffs" given to the brass (esp. trumpet) - is our 'Arry a brass player, then?
- very poignant use of the Cor anglais (and quite "British" in my view);
- good ending !!

[Quijote]

Above were the positive points. Now follows the negative. Next post. After a brief pause, if I may.

[Quijote]

So, let's take a look at Birtwistle's stated compostional aims : that of "exploring violin technique".
Oh really? I didn't hear anything new in terms of exploration, and was very disappointed in being mislead about that expectation. Berio did it years ago (not to mention others), and it is for that reason that I used the term "parody" above. As parody it works very well, but this concerto is no cutting-edge exploration of violin technique.
Another negative point : it seemed dated to me, and slightly reminiscent of Ligeti's "Musica Ricercata" (= "remembered music"). But by half-remembering we are perhaps dreaming. Or vice-versa.
I also felt that the orchestral scoring was much more inventive ("pushing the envelope") than the solo violin part.
So, these are my first impressions. I would need to give the work another couple of listenings (live ideally, or via good speakers + score to be extra sure), so I may well revise my opinion. That's what music is all about.
In any case, I hope I have made an honest attempt to reveal what can be at first hearing, rather than simply describe a sequence of sonic events.

[Quijote]

I will check for spelling later.

[Roehre]

Today:

Hurnik:
Concert overture Klicpera (1985)( R3: TtN)

Suk:
Fantasy for violin and orchestra op.24 (1902) (R3 : TtN)

De Victoria:
Vadam et circuibo Civitatem (p.1572)
Vadam et circuibo Civitatem (p.1572; arrangement Bovicelli 1594)

Van Ghizeghem:
De tous bien playne (chanson)

DesPrez:
De tous biens playne (a 4)
Missa De tous biens playne: Credo

Agricola (1446-1506):
De tous biens playne (a 3 instrumental)
De tous biens playne (a 4 instrumental)
De tous biens playne (a 4 vocal)
Gaudeamus omnes
D’ung aultre Amer
Virgo sub aetheris
Je n’ay Deuil
Se mieulx ne vient d’Amours
Salve Regina a 4
Fortuna desperata (a 6)

Busnois:
Fortuna desperata (chanson)

DesPrez:
Fortuna desperata (a 3)

Zimmermann:
Sonata for cello solo (1960)
Intercomunicazione per violoncello e pianoforte (1967)

[Roehre]

To Roehrer : have you checked out the Musica catalogue? Any concerts you think I should particularly attend?

Spoiled for choice (a "safe" rather conservative choice, but soit):

3 is fun (Mozart/Stravinsky/Benjamin/Berio)

8 the Ardittis

16 for the Mason and Eötvös

18 is revelatory, Charlie Chaplin as composer, and not a bad one on top of that

20 Ensemble Cairn (the re-creation of known pieces + Murail)

Der Ring des Nibelungen (unfortunately with the sung bits )

27 Schleiermacher, Cage, Schönberg (disguised as Reger), Ligeti

30 and 31 for those unknown Barraqué-pieces, which IIRC doubles approximately the works we knew of him (a repeat of what happened with Anton Webern in the late sixties and early seventies)

[Roehre]

OK, Sir Harry has spoken, but now I let my own brain and ears decide for me.

(...)

What do you think of this, my second impression?:

There is one thing however which did escape my attention the first time I heard it: actually it exists nearly completely of music with a slow pulse, despite the quick and fast music played by the soloist or his discussion partners in the orchestra

[Preston]

I listened to a large portion of the violin concerto y'all are referring to, and am listening to pieces of it now. Either I am wholly missing something or that is a musician who does not understand emotion in the slightest? Hopefully, I am missing something.

Problems I am having with the piece:

- as a whole, it utterly lacks feeling. not trying to sound rude, though i have no understanding how anyone could say this has good feeling or comfortable feeling at that - though, i my ears are open.
- it is too fast
- it is hard for me to find the slightest bit of comfort or pleasure from it. there are occasional points where it calms but not that many

The conclusion I have come to is that often times it is the simplest things that move us the most. This is neither a moving or enjoyable thing, imo. Perhaps because of its complexity?

Ah, just heard the end with the pizzicato as I finished typing?

So now, I have a question that means a lot to me. Would the people who listened to the Birstwistle violin concerto please listen to the piece below and let me know which you prefer and why? I am confused by this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96SxKk0zeek

[Peter]

Mendelssohn 3rd symphony.
Delius (various small orchestral works conducted by Beecham).

[Peter]

I listened to a large portion of the violin concerto y'all are referring to, and am listening to pieces of it now. Either I am wholly missing something or that is a musician who does not understand emotion in the slightest? Hopefully, I am missing something.

Problems I am having with the piece:

- as a whole, it utterly lacks feeling. not trying to sound rude, though i have no understanding how anyone could say this has good feeling or comfortable feeling at that - though, i my ears are open.
- it is too fast
- it is hard for me to find the slightest bit of comfort or pleasure from it. there are occasional points where it calms but not that many

The conclusion I have come to is that often times it is the simplest things that move us the most. This is neither a moving or enjoyable thing, imo. Perhaps because of its complexity?

Ah, just heard the end with the pizzicato as I finished typing?

So now, I have a question that means a lot to me. Would the people who listened to the Birstwistle violin concerto please listen to the piece below and let me know which you prefer and why? I am confused by this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96SxKk0zeek

Try this piece of Delius Preston which I think you will like - it has a very slow pulse and beautiful melody!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62T6SCMblD0

[Sorrano]

Today: Neruda's Horn Concerto in E Flat (it was nice to hear a horn concerto not by Mozart on this radio station!)