tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46491531606021155542024-03-18T06:12:09.524-07:00Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music ReviewModern classical and avant garde concert music of the 20th and 21st centuries forms the primary focus of this blog. It is hoped that through the discussions a picture will emerge of modern music, its heritage, and what it means for us.Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.comBlogger2438125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-10794022088490790832024-03-18T06:08:00.000-07:002024-03-18T06:11:12.326-07:00Plinio Fernandes, Bacheando, Works for Solo Classical Guitar<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibXZOec5Qzz52p0jls9ZybbMQem5u16Zmf3XpW9SmgXVSQVcfaKtkEwo_KGmNCcn3Xv-j8Gj_1_TTWc1VNYBhofR2Tk-4sKomGLAhbtpHYgnkbGC8cJWsp0HYKixbXVUDmlVQTPVW1TeA2dqVz1UQeAvDmmgZMMUoXBwVrWEWM6G4_5wnI5Rt2dwdIaGQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="261" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibXZOec5Qzz52p0jls9ZybbMQem5u16Zmf3XpW9SmgXVSQVcfaKtkEwo_KGmNCcn3Xv-j8Gj_1_TTWc1VNYBhofR2Tk-4sKomGLAhbtpHYgnkbGC8cJWsp0HYKixbXVUDmlVQTPVW1TeA2dqVz1UQeAvDmmgZMMUoXBwVrWEWM6G4_5wnI5Rt2dwdIaGQ" width="320" /></a></div>Brazilian born classical guitar virtuoso Plinio Fernandes returns with more sparkling fare for solo classical guitar, this time flourishing within the Bachian strain with works initially written for lute by Bach, followed by Paulinho Noguera's Bachianinha Nos 1 and 3 plus other gems by Assaf, Villa Lobos and Mario Albanese on the album <i>Bacheando </i>(Decca Gold B0038-493-02). The eleven works here presented are substantial, the performances do not distract with a lot of rubato so much as they move nicely forward with a kind of infectiously rocking presence.<p></p><p>It all does not attempt to overwhelm so much as it gives you a compact brilliance that speaks to our contemporary sensibilities. It convinces by staying close to the original spirit of the music and in so doing Fernandes distinguishes himself as one of the very best today.</p><p>Listen to a stream at <a href="https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k-F-aqCp9tUppdMyMuAGUsiHYSLnDoqQc">https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k-F-aqCp9tUppdMyMuAGUsiHYSLnDoqQc</a></p><p>Bravo, Plinio. A fine effort.</p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-35142167536209490952024-03-13T10:45:00.000-07:002024-03-13T18:55:57.930-07:00George Crumb, Music For Amplified Piano, (1979-2012), Yoshiko Shimizu, Celestial Mechanics, Zeitgeist, Otherworldly Resonances<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDYQh7qXvZtuEKbF4X6G9IWS2yPP9FwnmT25s0P0MPwgvRju9f_Am_xuUEmA12w8htd2HD3StjkeEi5hLvs9CCU_Qj7z-77kY4KeCTt3n-Oz53JAkcP-EGA327xV3pLGTGgDN2rAADh-LmMzlVagW4OlFwhsEh-Gyu_NTrZx3_mrsfbEh6PfGCC2CDa_dr" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="250" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDYQh7qXvZtuEKbF4X6G9IWS2yPP9FwnmT25s0P0MPwgvRju9f_Am_xuUEmA12w8htd2HD3StjkeEi5hLvs9CCU_Qj7z-77kY4KeCTt3n-Oz53JAkcP-EGA327xV3pLGTGgDN2rAADh-LmMzlVagW4OlFwhsEh-Gyu_NTrZx3_mrsfbEh6PfGCC2CDa_dr" width="240" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;">If you are like me you sometimes think of various lists of favorite artists and/or perhaps composers... like for example what about the more important and innovative High Modern composers for the piano, like Ives, OK, then perhaps Cage, Messaien, Stockhausen, and George Crumb? I suspect many aficionados would include Crumb, surely. His open, sometimes sparse, spooky style with sustains and various inside the piano trademarks, such as pluck, strum, slide, sustained echoes, then centering folk-like motives or High Modern tattoos on the piano keys, etc. have justly gained a lot of attention and appreciation over the years.</p><p style="text-align: left;">With Crumb it all started with various early works featuring piano voice and other instruments, leading to the various volumes of his celebrated Mikrokosmos. It all culminates in his last works, which happily are well represented in this new volume of Music for Amplified Piano (Kairos 0022012KAI) as beautifully realized by Yoshiko Shimizu.</p><p style="text-align: left;">So to begin we get Makrokosmos IV, or in other words Celestial Mechanics (1979/2021), the Cosmic Dances for Amplified Piano, Four and Six hands, then Zeitgeist (1988), and finally Otherworldly Resonances (2005), the final two for Two Amplified Pianos. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Yoshiko Shimizu heroically creates the immersive piano worlds for each piece with dramatic distinction and convincing thrust. It is an ideal hearing of these wonderful end works that fully deserve our repeated attention. Bravo. Highly recommended.</p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-69791233183628790292024-01-08T11:46:00.000-08:002024-01-08T11:46:23.279-08:00Alice Ping Ye Ho, Blaze, Christina Petrowska Quilico, Contemporary Works for Piano<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBSNTOGf_5VWeZrFq_mA9JPDbNL6lyi3huxob7bRLopbeGbIwu4cT1Xhjx5xbi82GyL5tx9LVSkSbttXavd-vDGferYN_W0iIO4GsTsjYt4-m-ajd_ut3rfKwJjH19yD2YErWwgkoAdSm_3YomN0GfENqsFdH_ZDu995Al9GsMt04f4x_5VR1d6yK-Ua8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBSNTOGf_5VWeZrFq_mA9JPDbNL6lyi3huxob7bRLopbeGbIwu4cT1Xhjx5xbi82GyL5tx9LVSkSbttXavd-vDGferYN_W0iIO4GsTsjYt4-m-ajd_ut3rfKwJjH19yD2YErWwgkoAdSm_3YomN0GfENqsFdH_ZDu995Al9GsMt04f4x_5VR1d6yK-Ua8" width="240" /></a></div><p></p><p>The state-of-the-art when it comes to Modern virtuoso music for the piano today can be had nicely in the recent album of piano works by Canadian-Chinese composer Alice Ping Yee Ho as played with insightful concentration by the formidable Christina Petrowska Quilico. This on <i>Blaze </i>(Centrediscs CMCCD 31323).</p><p>In all some eight compositions flow with dramatic High Modern intensity in the course of the program. It is a nice example of High Modernism today and how the more advanced sorts of musical contours thrive in dedicated hands. </p><p>"Erupting Skies" (2022) is doubtless the most sonically spectacular of the eight works, with bracingly elaborated interplay between the piano part and equally so the full bore counterpart of the electroacoustic construction, all pinned down by the central narrative of natural danger and eventual triumph.</p><p>Thanks to Ms, Quilico's finely granular, precision and poetic readings, all of these pieces come alive in the most enthralling ways as sprawling and highly absorbing masterworks that sacrifice nothing to easy listening sorts but instead carve each a twistingly elaborate excitement. Kudos to all concerned. This is a monumental breakthrough that all New Music aficionados should doubtless find as interesting as I have.</p><p>Hear samples and some insightful thoughts on the album <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4TamhwA4UM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4TamhwA4UM</a></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-67522918119277748862023-12-18T09:29:00.000-08:002023-12-18T09:29:35.238-08:00Susan Alcorn, Jose Lencastre, Hernani Faustino, Manifesto<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXAT8gATrIhO4VDMx7T0MLgDuE-F-ZFvjD45t-R8wwdO6tq1BcDiy2wi7XYflMIqBU3Mfq8rKMNV3DhciF8SHfmIzc45XDo7UzKw3T_CQCImk1YQbuxFoqlhhV5WR40xAX3MkRmeN3YBX7ZsU7Uc47-T2vrF4zYM6fH1Js-P2sNADRYAuSmqww8CjqOOY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="130" data-original-width="206" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXAT8gATrIhO4VDMx7T0MLgDuE-F-ZFvjD45t-R8wwdO6tq1BcDiy2wi7XYflMIqBU3Mfq8rKMNV3DhciF8SHfmIzc45XDo7UzKw3T_CQCImk1YQbuxFoqlhhV5WR40xAX3MkRmeN3YBX7ZsU7Uc47-T2vrF4zYM6fH1Js-P2sNADRYAuSmqww8CjqOOY" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Today we roll into the modified Space Age and that robotic vision of Hal in 2001 is closer to our experience than certainly it was when the movie was made. And the music we hear now, is that any closer to the swirls of mad blips, bloops and barongs that formed part of the score in 2001? Well sure and you might argue that most of 2001 was already present in some form in the culture for which it was made, maybe inevitably we are what we are when we make things. It just was not perhaps as central as the movie made it. So then Ligeti's avant work "Atmospheres" graces the score and of course it was made for initial hearing in a neutral concert venue situation. Well now that we are well past the "New Millennium" these days has our music taken a decisive turn into an all prevailing Space Age? Maybe not entirely as yet.</p><p>On the other hand the Modern in Modernism can be said to be a constant in New Music Avant circles. There are of course purely Electronic essays in the Modern Music world, there too are Orchestral and Chamber Classical related musics that can be readily heard out there. On the other end of the spectrum too there is the world of Avant Post-Classic Jazz as we hear it.</p><p>A very good example of the latter today we can contemplate on aa a new release from the Cleanfeed Label, an intrepid concern with a substantial monthly release schedule of more advanced Improvisation being played today, with natives from Europe especially Portugal but the rest of Europe very much as well as the East and the US West, sometimes a conglomeration of all, or two of the three or so possibilities. On today's release we have two regions well represented--for the USA steel pedal guitarist Susan Alcorn, a very-much-in-the-limelight artist these days, doing important work, and here also two fellow travelers from Europe involved in such heroic endeavors as well. So making the rest of the trio are Jose Lencastre on alto and tenor sax and Hernani Faustini on acoustic double bass.</p><p>Six probing and adventurous pieces make up the whole, all in a free improvisatory style so often a fixture of the Clean Feed way. Susan Alcorn has pioneered an avant style using the conventional steel pedal guitar and she is very much in her element here with the full spectrum of the instrument's note possibilities to vitiate advanced figures that glide like conventional playing of the instrument but then stand out with a good deal of imaginative note spinning and some advanced technique propelling us along as well.</p><p>Alcorn is given two especially well healed avant artists with Jose Lencastre wielding an aggressive and exciting stridency making a statement about the ethnicity and forward loving nastiness and then the all-over intensity of the stellar sorts of jazz dates that define where it all is as a modernism should go. Hernani Faustino does all the right things to help enflame and engulf caustic kindling.</p><p>Give a listen to the entire album at Bandcamp <a href="https://cleanfeedrecords.bandcamp.com/album/manifesto">https://cleanfeedrecords.bandcamp.com/album/manifesto</a></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-12744570765885039622023-12-18T05:32:00.000-08:002023-12-18T05:40:26.400-08:00Linda Catlin Smith, Dark Flower, The Thin Edge New Music Collective<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_09hiVlgEfgBWIiAZs2UHSa5yEzW5udPdLctVXw3PIOc5heqgVX7-Opfz6W39jPRJU6fuij_-CsfQvcn30EgN2NJzvlFDKIE6YtfELsXgdNH6f5mGa2Uijptyf4zv-o-WpHKksKU3N26FxgHPYWSb-JBz1rpZujMPQwH6odOcSABmVZ7rg2yzn1obPzs" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="148" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_09hiVlgEfgBWIiAZs2UHSa5yEzW5udPdLctVXw3PIOc5heqgVX7-Opfz6W39jPRJU6fuij_-CsfQvcn30EgN2NJzvlFDKIE6YtfELsXgdNH6f5mGa2Uijptyf4zv-o-WpHKksKU3N26FxgHPYWSb-JBz1rpZujMPQwH6odOcSABmVZ7rg2yzn1obPzs" width="240" /></a></div>Linda Catlin Smith is a composer getting attention in good ways with her work in recent years including especially her new album <i>Dark Flower </i>(Red Shift CD). The Thin Edge Music Collective commissioned the works and play them here with just the right (deep) level of understanding and participation. Six interrelated compositions follow a special, long form elevation of tone color and lyrical unfolding, from the larger chamber quintet of clarinet, violin, cello, piano, violin and percussion (wanderer), to dual cello, then cello, piano, violin and viola (dark flower) thereafter subtracting instruments until the finale, a solo piano presence of unbroken dramatic girth.<p></p><p>The music haunts in gripping ways that get you involved the more you listen. There is a logical unfolding that has some relation to Morton Feldman's Oriental-rug-like opening out, only somewhat less abstract. It is always convincing and poised. In the end Ms, Smith comes off nicely as a major New Music narrative voice. </p><p>As much as any New Music composer today Linda Catlin Smith here shows us a completely affirming sense of musical discourse, a natural elegance and inventiveness that flows with inevitable charm and poise, in the process creating a tone world that is very original and compelling. Highly recommended.</p><p>Stream the whole album at Bandcamp <a href="https://redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/dark-flower">https://redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/dark-flower</a></p><p><br /></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-75275689331302656272023-12-06T07:48:00.000-08:002023-12-06T14:59:36.951-08:00Gerald Cohen, Voyagers, New Music for String Quartet, Clarinet and Trombone<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5YfUoJES_YBPhlHt_nq_uCcqSWMATD9w_KWKLcRQf3Lqf0_U7KGqshbyNzr1MBGwofCy9JhCJO-6319XVOlreN9XcFfyouCua0pg9JknBdKmSMcYcpurifosaC4WwxIoGyk8GCRdBZ64BdkSo7aJl1MK47MrSx3pu5XLG6qNlFW6xsQIaAu5zPobO1xSM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="600" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5YfUoJES_YBPhlHt_nq_uCcqSWMATD9w_KWKLcRQf3Lqf0_U7KGqshbyNzr1MBGwofCy9JhCJO-6319XVOlreN9XcFfyouCua0pg9JknBdKmSMcYcpurifosaC4WwxIoGyk8GCRdBZ64BdkSo7aJl1MK47MrSx3pu5XLG6qNlFW6xsQIaAu5zPobO1xSM" width="320" /><span> </span></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Ah, great, somebody I've never heard of has works I've never heard," some reader I've never heard of either might be saying as s</span><span style="text-align: center;">he confronts this article. OK, so I ain't gonna get rich covering the super new and in fact in the internet focus on immediate and continuous readership, I might be consigning myself to a kind of internet Siberia? Nonetheless I cover things I listen to closely, critically and actually like so you have nothing to lose in the reading of this, I believe. Today I cover another you might not know about, though I might also cover something famous now and again. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">With the exception of a nicely wrought chamber offering of music for clarinet and chamber ensemble, entitled <i>Sea of Reeds,</i> that I<i> </i>covered on these pages on December 17, 2014, I've not delved into </span><span style="text-align: center;">much of the music of Gerald Cohen in my listening over time. But this recording of</span><span style="text-align: center;"> <i>Voyagers </i>(Innova 090) confirms my initial impression with a revelation, for his is a distinct and authentic voice in the New Music today. </span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;">The album brings to our ears three substantial works for string quartet, as is as performed by the Cassatt String Quartet on the "Playing for Our Lives" work, with the addition of the clarinet and bass clarinet of Narek Arutyunian on "Voyagers," and with the addition of the trombone of Colin Williams on "Preludes and De</span><span style="text-align: center;">bka."</span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;">None of these three works are especially Avant Garde in approach. Rather they dwell in a Modernity where there is a wide harmonic spectrum of possibility and a rugged tone color palette and also a healthy dose of the eclecticity of folk and ethnic elements, sometimes what sound like Semitic elements that injects a timeless quality to it all.</span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;">What matters in the end is the authentic and dedicated performativity of it all, the highly crafted and careful building of a particular work from the ground up with great care, skill, and eloquently inventive qualities.</span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;">Anyone who wants a good example of what is happening in the chamber realms of New Music would do well to check this one out. Take a listen and decide for yourself, but keep in mind that several listens will be necessary to hear these works as they actually reveal themselves. Check this link: </span><a href="https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lIIy5IuFPJelqOZJrKecpoiz6aU5wR2s4">https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lIIy5IuFPJelqOZJrKecpoiz6aU5wR2s4</a></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-12479049215759640052023-11-16T10:51:00.000-08:002023-11-16T14:49:06.446-08:00Stanley Grill, The Bridge<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDYDivVwzw-LQhhJzTBblNaAr7YJjdJiZc39UkYDq_2hUKQlJDk5k3W0pUslTS0YiEpfAHKcMVwfJfagF6CKnZ8OR2gPpEPa5-4Vr3XEcyMdjBFGYRovYZxs027qRE082ZD9a9rNy_vlgoaNVJNifsn5TngjT9qVN4JWXyYgzZS7LHUjRInQLmGKCr0Cg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDYDivVwzw-LQhhJzTBblNaAr7YJjdJiZc39UkYDq_2hUKQlJDk5k3W0pUslTS0YiEpfAHKcMVwfJfagF6CKnZ8OR2gPpEPa5-4Vr3XEcyMdjBFGYRovYZxs027qRE082ZD9a9rNy_vlgoaNVJNifsn5TngjT9qVN4JWXyYgzZS7LHUjRInQLmGKCr0Cg" width="240" /></a></div>US composer Stanley Grill takes inspiration from Hart Crane's epic poem on his recent World Premiere recorded orchestral work <i>The Bridge </i>(self released digital) featuring Brett Deubner on viola and the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice conducted by Marek Stilec.<p></p><p>This is a long flowing. multi-movement work which has musical roots in the tone-poem world of classic Americana of the most descriptively evocative orchestral works by the likes of Ives, Copland and a select few others, yet it has such roots without exposing them in obvious ways. Rather there is sincere lyrical attachment to the subject matter from the Hart Crane epic, which as the composer suggests uses the bridge idea as a unifier of disparate US cultural-geographical diversity. Slow moving and feelingfully encompassing from the matter-of-fact yet evocative dawn on the harbor to the murky quagmires of mythic Atlantis, but then tempo pacing and presumably flow of water steps up on The River and expands and flows again more slowly with advancing worlds of sorts, resuming and re-attaining stately passage through a landscape musi-scape of Indiana, the steady wind for Cutty Sark, and then Cape Hatteras and its special presence brings back the expectant mysticism and the tolling of a fateful bell.</p><p>National Wintergarden has an altered jazzy feel and gives you a good example how originally inventive Grill can be. It goes from there. Suffice to say each movement has a distinct character rolling through an overall feeling of immediacy as experienced in rhapsodic lyricism and descriptive poignancy. Grill is a gifted symphonic narrator here and the more you listen the more you grasp of it all. Enthusiastically recommended</p><p>Stream the work in full at the following link: <a href="https://stanleygrill.bandcamp.com/track/to-brooklyn-bridge">https://stanleygrill.bandcamp.com/track/to-brooklyn-bridge</a></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-23509799982049925382023-11-05T15:22:00.001-08:002023-11-05T15:22:20.610-08:00Marc Ponthus Plays Beethoven Hammerklavier sonata opus 106 and Stockhausen Klavierstuck X<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjg5DJ8jzKaRUCF9ehlDiH_xEt3Ia86MMaDcstXvys9Wg-N454klzxZiBkvvKsnqbkNkLY3BfhJuya7LB2CAnVxpeivBqTgeMCe3Y5DS0dLqkoc_XTln6A1PnPiRj17hvDPtFvKqbrwM3z3rE5sskB7Bs4owkTeC_Oa1qApReANLSubOGzfS7LMmwTYSnI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="350" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjg5DJ8jzKaRUCF9ehlDiH_xEt3Ia86MMaDcstXvys9Wg-N454klzxZiBkvvKsnqbkNkLY3BfhJuya7LB2CAnVxpeivBqTgeMCe3Y5DS0dLqkoc_XTln6A1PnPiRj17hvDPtFvKqbrwM3z3rE5sskB7Bs4owkTeC_Oa1qApReANLSubOGzfS7LMmwTYSnI" width="241" /></a></div>It is not precisely usual to experience an album sequence that pairs Beethoven with Stockhausen, excepting perhaps an old album of Stockhausen's that dealt with Beethoven themes on a 1970 Stockhausen recording marking the 200th birthday of the 19th century composer. But here we have the two together in a pairing by lucid and articulate pianist Marc Ponthus (Bridge 9584).<p></p><p>We get to hear Ponthus's take on Beethoven's long-formed Hammerklavier Sonata opus 106 and Stockhausen's monumentally expressive but somewhat more terse Klavierstuck X. In pure statistical terms, there are far fewer recordings out there of Kavierstuck X than there are of Hammerklavier op 106, so that doubtless we should be especially grateful for the Stockhausen if it be good. In truth, these are worthy versions of both. Happily the Beethoven is undeniably symphonic in its consistently surcharged and continuously dramatic thrust as interpreted by Ponthus.</p><p>The Stockhausen likewise hangs together in a continuous unity that gives it a readily communicative power and visceral accessibility it may not have quite as readily in some earlier versions.</p><p>Stream the album at the following links. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlbrhunWJ7k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlbrhunWJ7k</a> for the Stockhausen, then the Beethoven <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRT9zW0S-IA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRT9zW0S-IA</a> and follow the movement sequence from there in the You Tube listings.</p><p>An important pianistic event, a nice stocking stuffer.</p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-67393702547286537272023-11-01T14:39:00.000-07:002023-11-01T14:39:48.846-07:00Sonic Alchemy, YuEun Kim, Mina Gajic, Coleman Itzkof Play Arvo Part, Peteris Vasks, Mozart<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhR4xXkLCabVP4fIZwXrX5EqpXDDS35VY36vRmm0JAqZ5-nHjilfABTMze8ldejA_P06wuSeutSjIRgzhaON3ZEVq6bA_ZHFxe65Kq1q_0uT8As_SqhrcHVsgSHrQJxxQnTLxx1WkksT82FQpaLINII9XGujvy7EiGd19tczk6bRueE64GGSC1IzUxIe6M" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="720" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhR4xXkLCabVP4fIZwXrX5EqpXDDS35VY36vRmm0JAqZ5-nHjilfABTMze8ldejA_P06wuSeutSjIRgzhaON3ZEVq6bA_ZHFxe65Kq1q_0uT8As_SqhrcHVsgSHrQJxxQnTLxx1WkksT82FQpaLINII9XGujvy7EiGd19tczk6bRueE64GGSC1IzUxIe6M" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Sonic Alchemy</i> (Sono Luminus DSL92261) gathers together the considerable interpretive and sonically advanced gifts of violinist YuEun Kim, pianist Mina Gajic, and cellist Coleman Itzkoff for a rather magical program of chamber gems by Arvo Part, Peteris Vasks and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. When you have a trio of the musical sensitivity you hear readily on this album, of primary importance perhaps are the commonalities one might sense between the composers and works covered in the seven dramatic and lyrically probing works heard here.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In many ways the central section of this program gives you a kind of remarkable kismet between the Mozart's Fantasias, in C minor and D minor, and the Part "Mozart Adagio." All have the motion of Mozart Classicism and the exploratory lyricism we especially appreciate in Part, but perhaps do not always underscore in a Mozart movement but of nevertheless can be touchingly present.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As bookended there is much to appreciate even in that movement from the outer, melodically immediate yet exotic quality of the Vasks and the Part of whirring summer "Fratres" and then in the end the Vasks lyric pulsation of "Castle Interior" and Part's classic "Spiegel im Spiegel." In the end you might as I do revel in the superior expressive excellence of the ideal in many ways for these works, as heard here. Bravo.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Listen to a free stream of the entire album at this link: <a href="https://sonoluminuslabel.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-alchemy">https://sonoluminuslabel.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-alchemy</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-9169192012058819872023-10-27T10:57:00.000-07:002023-10-27T10:57:32.099-07:00Leonard Bernstein, Music for String Quartet, Aaron Copland, Elegies for Violin and Viola <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_paMjpIw7gzI_pD33cPoxzsNl3PcijnzyUAcK6OeUBOp-uaWkyISaJGYsuP44rkH0f2Zg2BJtKuyJeBSOjEOpFugXIKhGmfoc5T2qeXs5y9Ufu7vq0WhOO_mK3rESL6yu2-HYakspMDuR3MiYnPsb7muExx_KpJs3wIgwurRn0gC0mb3wQwNimEkFt-c" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_paMjpIw7gzI_pD33cPoxzsNl3PcijnzyUAcK6OeUBOp-uaWkyISaJGYsuP44rkH0f2Zg2BJtKuyJeBSOjEOpFugXIKhGmfoc5T2qeXs5y9Ufu7vq0WhOO_mK3rESL6yu2-HYakspMDuR3MiYnPsb7muExx_KpJs3wIgwurRn0gC0mb3wQwNimEkFt-c" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In music you might spend a lifetime with some composers and still not know some of the works. That is the case for me to date with Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland and their respective <i>Music for String Quartet </i>(1936) and <i>Elegies for Violin and Viola </i>(1932). The former by Bernstein is in its world premiere recording here, and the Copland in any event is not especially well known. I do not believe I've heard either previously. So here we have both (Navona NV6557), as played very capably by Lucia Lin, Natalie Rose Kress, Danny Kim, and Ronald Feldman. For the duo it is Kress and Kim.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What is amazing in part is how good the Bernstein is, considering we had to wait 77 years to hear it in recorded version. The Copland is also heartening in its probing Modernistic stance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Bernstein is very motile, dense, rhythmic and at times thick harmonically. The Copland makes a case for something somewhat more sparse but is equally serious in its contemporary ultra-musical stance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">All-in-all this is superior, no-nonsense art-for-art's sake and shows you the early brilliance present in both, wow!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="goog_533246708"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Stream a telling excerpt of the Bernstein: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URcGWPVKqj8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URcGWPVKqj8</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-76290262467815363812023-10-25T13:51:00.000-07:002023-10-25T13:51:01.883-07:00Justin Dello Joio, Oceans Apart, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Garrick Ohlsson, Alan Gilbert<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTyOOMvPeceAmsrlYKSfaB-KtSw3OUp6YMKuwf0N1i8u8xLbgBTKcticMDiN8kGJuKpaC4OVgHiZ8hkCNxGfB43VAOjV0yUPAlcwch3NEeKfQqI71a9NZsetmbOwNOQCJGFBQmwD7Qil7fU7b2GmhERN14d9WS1FmWjF1CswPe-EM_Df16wgguWZUixI0/s225/download.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="225" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTyOOMvPeceAmsrlYKSfaB-KtSw3OUp6YMKuwf0N1i8u8xLbgBTKcticMDiN8kGJuKpaC4OVgHiZ8hkCNxGfB43VAOjV0yUPAlcwch3NEeKfQqI71a9NZsetmbOwNOQCJGFBQmwD7Qil7fU7b2GmhERN14d9WS1FmWjF1CswPe-EM_Df16wgguWZUixI0/s1600/download.jpg" width="225" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span>You live your life day-to-day and for me anyway the new music I hear marks time as a constant and an inspiration to me. There is no different a situation today except perhaps the offering stands out aore captivating than the average. Namely Justin Dello Joio, son of Norman Dello Joio, and his title-bearing Concerto <i>Oceans Apart </i>(Bridge 9583) along with two chamber works that provide contrast--namely "Due Per Due" for cello and piano and "Blue and Gold Music" for brass quintet and organ. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;">The "Oceans Apart" Concerto runs for around 20 minutes of the 40 minute CD, but in terms of the emphasis it is much more the dominant work.It is a piece that commanded my immediate attention and kept on. It has the full force of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Alan Gilbert, with Garrick Ohlsson on piano, even with numerous replays. It is a stunningly dynamic and enthralling work, like an after-Scriabin modernity in the sensibility of the new Millennium.</p><p style="text-align: left;">"Due for Due" gives us piano and cello in an Expressionist firebrand of a score that keeps the momentum of the concerto. </p><p style="text-align: left;">"Blue and Gold Music in turn nicely parses out the brass and organ parts with some haunting music for the finale, At timesit all recalls earlier periods where the music was more widespread in the churches and cathedrals of Europe yet show a modern sensibility which connects it with today.</p><p style="text-align: left;">All in all we have a vibrant program that speaks to us with musical details worth you time. This one is a goodie. Stream the concerto in full <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW4l-CDNwB8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW4l-CDNwB8</a></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-39126184048143296232023-10-24T12:10:00.002-07:002023-10-24T12:10:53.594-07:00Vivian Fung, Insects & Machines, Quartets, Jasper String Quartet<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7q7WjsrTo2QMNEeYWyAj-SDjEvn9BIQxqpC2xYWbnrq4NXZ7UsHLPSM-oSIjzfmyh5upMYOP_uuONFHx62n0y_2gjoogV3luLzgHPfVUcvnJbzR0gExAfIrOLDkIBXqQQ5AYaluEqYg_YIqhREsY2cCHKb9W5cfcF7gJOUAPjLiKAkei_87w-58ScoMI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="2500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7q7WjsrTo2QMNEeYWyAj-SDjEvn9BIQxqpC2xYWbnrq4NXZ7UsHLPSM-oSIjzfmyh5upMYOP_uuONFHx62n0y_2gjoogV3luLzgHPfVUcvnJbzR0gExAfIrOLDkIBXqQQ5AYaluEqYg_YIqhREsY2cCHKb9W5cfcF7gJOUAPjLiKAkei_87w-58ScoMI" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Vivian Fung steps forward thanks to a rewarding new album covering her four string quartets on the recent CD <i>Insects & Machines </i>(Sono Luminus DSL-92270), played with a beautiful sense of color and SUBSTANCE by the Jasper String Quartet. These four quartets were written between 2001 and 2019, and show each a special sonarity and musical ethos.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Quartet says "Vivian's String Quartets Nos. 1-4 reflect a remarkable journey of absorbing, integrating and synthesizing a unique spectrum of influences into her compositional voice. Unwavering in all of the works is a fierce heart, instrumental fearlessness, and an amazing instinct for texture."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And the synergy between composer and quartet is palpable and deep to my mind. Each of the four quartets has its say in Modernist, Expressionist terms that convince, especially after a number of listens. There is a belonging to a rewarding set of aesthetic principals and an original, authentic sounding that one does not come across every day. Very recommended.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The composer's Asian heritage is never far from the consideration in her music. Quartet No.3 for example is in part based on Chinese folk themes. As you would expect of any good composer the influences are not the primary reason to hear the music.There is much more, in terms of what is actually done to those influences.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The fourth quartet has the title used on the overall album and is based on Ms. Fung's time spent in Cambodia and the singular insect buzz she found so fascinating there.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here listen to Jasper Quartet do Fung's First Quartet <a href="https://www.thestrad.com/video/jasper-quartet-performs-vivian-fungs-string-quartet-no1/17150.article">https://www.thestrad.com/video/jasper-quartet-performs-vivian-fungs-string-quartet-no1/17150.article</a></div><p></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-26666614460846734212023-10-18T14:37:00.001-07:002023-10-18T14:37:55.176-07:00Quinsin Nachoff, Stars and Constellations<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhk-PNMIwjrfGRM4f3m93lG1K1Lel88eKql6kWwmU8xJMMUUqhP3XdZBB7m5-0tOeeMSrwGEo8QNv79eNaPhnvE48ZD1kW4dejIxNS_4SNwPWS9VrnoWjEGsS9UUa0agwlVL3WvVu4sOkWOaj7M08KKRmkNWAwqGDSqICz00TN6WRi76X_-EFZCOBES6dI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhk-PNMIwjrfGRM4f3m93lG1K1Lel88eKql6kWwmU8xJMMUUqhP3XdZBB7m5-0tOeeMSrwGEo8QNv79eNaPhnvE48ZD1kW4dejIxNS_4SNwPWS9VrnoWjEGsS9UUa0agwlVL3WvVu4sOkWOaj7M08KKRmkNWAwqGDSqICz00TN6WRi76X_-EFZCOBES6dI" width="240" /></a></div>The so-called Third Stream of Jazz and Modern Jazz and Classical music has never really died in our lifetimes, it just has changed names in various ways. There is no shortage of inspired examples if one goes out of the way to seek them. A new one that is particularly absorbing and and welcome is Quinsin Nachoff and his album entitled <i>Stars and Constellations </i>(Adhyaropa Records AR00050).<p></p><p>The premiss is clear. Take a string quartet or two and pair them with Nachoff's tenor sax, Mark Helias on double bass and Dam Weiss on drums for Nachoff's compositions, which are invariably stimulating and appropriate in the Modern Jazz and Classical zone. The Bergamot Quartet and the second Quartet of The Rhythm Method join in on "Pendulum," the trio and first quartet on ?Stars and Constellation: Scorpio" and then "Sagittarius." </p><p>Written and improvised parts understandably and winningly hold forth throughout in ways that make an expressionist blend of the two with real eloquence and fire.</p><p>There is plenty of heat from Quinsin's tenor and the trio puts down a trail into invariably adventurous zones. This is some of the best such fusions I have heard in recent years. Bravo. Nachoff is the real thing!</p><p>Listen to a movement here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlNvnKIYDEQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlNvnKIYDEQ</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The premiss</p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-91158322567994858452023-10-17T11:15:00.000-07:002023-10-17T11:15:13.851-07:00Arvo Part, Odes of Repentance, Capella Romana, Alexander Lingas<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikQPGpBoCSmvEEFpZJzgNKbk63qR4wqwlYxsLyQocUVUZOG_D-y8upXqgFee1PkT_nP5R5PZ31w3N2WMQUOtdYy1Bu6bme5KfJB_C1bMCG6g1UBwfmk4FKatai_aQBJQzot-8oiAWryl4neSgKobtkc1Dv-QspAqpVlVW6RhghoRw-glgeCALjdZPKLdc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikQPGpBoCSmvEEFpZJzgNKbk63qR4wqwlYxsLyQocUVUZOG_D-y8upXqgFee1PkT_nP5R5PZ31w3N2WMQUOtdYy1Bu6bme5KfJB_C1bMCG6g1UBwfmk4FKatai_aQBJQzot-8oiAWryl4neSgKobtkc1Dv-QspAqpVlVW6RhghoRw-glgeCALjdZPKLdc" width="240" /></a></div>Estonian master composer Arvo Part is probably the world's most acclaimed choral composer among the living, and that for good reason. The Capella Romana present fresh versions of some of Part's most moving choral works, centered around <i>Odes of Repentance </i>(Capella Romana CR 428). <div><br /></div><div>So we have in all some 12 gems of expression that Arvo gives to us, remarkable music beyond either early or the Modern, in a way one of the first really important composer to work outside of Modern classical syntax with such extraordinary originality and a beyond quality that makes him a of a class of one in many ways.</div><div><br /></div><div>In choral music the passion of Part's a cappella Odes compares perhaps like no one else the kind of lamentations one still hears effectively in Gesualdo's later works.</div><div><br /></div><div>So we are treated to a moving litany (in its persistence, of course not in some tedious way) of rarified and heightened choral expression of the early in the late, superlatively so. This should make a perfect one disk epitome of Part's choral profundity for those who want a singular introduction, as well as a good one even for those who know most all of his output, for the Capella Romana have a kind of homogeneous perfection in how they address each of these beautiful works.<br /><p></p><p>Hear more on the music and excerpts at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjOARKI3k-g">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjOARKI3k-g</a></p></div>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-59592403511696625332023-10-16T11:28:00.000-07:002023-10-16T11:28:06.036-07:00Dan Flanagan, The Bow and the Brush, New Music for Solo Violin<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvP1rnn15hmk79mz1U9FMKPfDQad9h60Lexx24c3gjJDfTeGo9DVFRW7-JreW1GO39D-_FU9jMy1MBc2aw4_SHwyiwqA-qEdWE9iXYdrVWhYSAqEBo7w1ADvlHPSmNDJFfEL-I2LOL9-Hcs6dCsermk-yyJEsyCxZPg_25aeznNgJTmwjDLHx_ca4h-l8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="358" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvP1rnn15hmk79mz1U9FMKPfDQad9h60Lexx24c3gjJDfTeGo9DVFRW7-JreW1GO39D-_FU9jMy1MBc2aw4_SHwyiwqA-qEdWE9iXYdrVWhYSAqEBo7w1ADvlHPSmNDJFfEL-I2LOL9-Hcs6dCsermk-yyJEsyCxZPg_25aeznNgJTmwjDLHx_ca4h-l8" width="240" /></a></div>Solo violin music in the Contemporary Classical world has become something like what the solo saxophone offerings became in New Jazz beginning in the seventies, a kind of opening frontier and as such a qualisign of a sort of artistic sincerity, more or less. Well put that thought at the top of mind for violinist Dan Flanagan as he steps ahead with a 14-work anthology he has commissioned or composed for on the new CD <i>The Bow and the Brush </i>(MSP Classics xxxx). For the synasthesiastically oriented such as myself each work has a corresponding artwork to which it refers and re-registers in aural terms, if you will.<p></p><p>Of the 14 compositions and composers represented (13 composers with the violinist handling two himself) doubtless there are composers you might not know, but they all produce solo violin works without an overly prescriptive label; all are imaginative and require substantial facility. Some are more obviously tonal than not, most in fact, then there is adventure in the advanced quality of stops and figurations in the concentric depth you might expect from such thoroughly advanced fare, yet too a sometimes demonically fiddling quality that brings us nearer to earth.</p><p>So we hear works by Flanagan and then also Nathaniel Stookey, Jose Gonzalez Granero, Shinji Eshima, Linda Marcel, Cindy Cox, Evan Price, Libby Larsen, James Stephenson, Jessica Mays, Trevor Weston, Edmund Campion, Peter Josef.</p><p>It is all first rate fare and will give the violin lover a wealth of the best kind of new music, things that really are new!</p><p>Watch a full concert of Dan Flanagan and his Bow and Brush music in depth: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5WqLB5pH5k&t=588s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5WqLB5pH5k&t=588s</a></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-56158279156888238202023-10-16T10:29:00.002-07:002023-10-16T14:16:00.858-07:00Julia Werntz, Somebody Who Loves You Throws Me at You<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiz2T3frl_pZXxrmfeQhByRrryfnCXbfv3TYQbLafSdT-H7aTNSGTNjRylSjMKwG5ssO1PDRhHFVGSzWuSnyRLnM4gi0gdlIywGqSDvFgz-ESqv8eZ3zxPLpGTtYcqOSPhobfpM3gz5Vdff1Egl_2xzJKBhfrW7LRI-iHXETBSv1MV3pFEuJzClIv0-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiz2T3frl_pZXxrmfeQhByRrryfnCXbfv3TYQbLafSdT-H7aTNSGTNjRylSjMKwG5ssO1PDRhHFVGSzWuSnyRLnM4gi0gdlIywGqSDvFgz-ESqv8eZ3zxPLpGTtYcqOSPhobfpM3gz5Vdff1Egl_2xzJKBhfrW7LRI-iHXETBSv1MV3pFEuJzClIv0-" width="240" /></a></div>One way to avoid a strait and simple return to tonality is perhaps at times to carve a path through microtonality, so that if all goes right it expands our sense of what is available, stretches our ears and gives us a new proportional universe. The music of Boston-based composer Julia Werntz gives us a new and compelling set of chamber works in such a mode on her recent album <i>Somebody Who Loves You Throws Me at You </i>(New Focus Recordings 362). There is much to grow into, explore, and expand the musical with here, some five sets of works for everything from solo piano to violin and cello, through to soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet and viola, the Ludovico Ensemble, and finally two sopranos and mezzo-soprano. The music has a High Modern sense of syntax, sonic adventure and a complex set of parameters that keep you listening attentively for many go rounds if you give it half a chance.<p></p><div>The recordings are first-rate in musicianship and sound quality and every work is something deeply worked out and inspiring to get to know without fail. We've come quite a distance from Charles Ives' two-piano works in quarter tones, but then we can take heart in the human spirit that there has been good work in such a category from then to now. Julia Werntz surely is one of the best and I very much recommend you hear this. Give it a free stream on the BandCamp page devoted to the album. Click here: <a href="https://newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/someone-who-loves-you-throws-me-at-you">https://newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/someone-who-loves-you-throws-me-at-you</a></div>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-78379509458285339442023-10-16T09:37:00.000-07:002023-10-16T09:37:56.002-07:00Bach 6 with 4, Amit Peled, Mount Vernon Virtuosi Cello Gang<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjItaLOaS5JJL_WDkFD2dmYv8JM1HBW72tpkwpIU22o6iKYWp2FN6aRCzEjFvc18IGF6Vvcz9F8HdGQF9nDaOstNFtYFT8pofjA1maLHa8uJN055WbruBNcI8Pu-EVTL5Qrr7Mp6UnQBdJT8p-tVZjBhwak7pUxqat-nD1iV5r5wStMiBpynFI_laVmkMw" width="239" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When is Johann Sebastian Bach not Johann Sebastian Bach? One might answer, when he is arranged to sound somewhat differently than he himself customarily would call for? For example we have this recording at hand, with celloist Amit Peled leading the Mount Vernon Virtuosi Cello Gang doing Bach arrangements that turn Bach's solo cello "Suite No 6" into a newly arranged version for four cellos entitled <i>Bach 6 with 4</i> (CTM Classics).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It is an arrangement that revels in the extraordinarily melodic qualities of the Suite as written. What it does not do is turn it all into the sort of contrapuntal extravaganza that Bach might have fashioned had he been working in the four-part mode that the arrangement provides. It does have a little counterpoint, but mostly it is a thickening of the solo part. On listening you hear a marvelous extension of it all, not entirely Bachian in its new treatment, but wonderful music nonetheless. So of course we might welcome this as something rather excellent, wonderfully alive and wonderfully played. If it may not be according to Hoyle, so what? It is lovely! Sometimes it even sounds folksy, as almost a kind of village music, down-to-earth, lively and jaunty. And that is fun.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Peled talks about the project here <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1J0tCgTGfY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1J0tCgTGfY</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Check this one out and it will bring a smile I suspect. Nicely done.</div><p></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-36535748274216286272023-10-15T14:34:00.000-07:002023-10-15T14:34:18.311-07:00The King's Singers, Wonderland, A Capella Music by Ligeti, etc.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifYDdNs5CpdGkwn_OWkQic56cXX7LY_Ve_P7EVxYkwrSlKO8Cw0ypqhk1uvpPYeNaZ-Kkzwy0msDusiq5X5WqBGybmJiRiMud8pSXkvNjN8HwsCR58NgCu1FyKm9pJLvtRd3bKzpA4q-7ovclcWeFW5e-RtJQUm4sD2KO_JV4M-OAIXnVMerGealnHoao" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="316" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifYDdNs5CpdGkwn_OWkQic56cXX7LY_Ve_P7EVxYkwrSlKO8Cw0ypqhk1uvpPYeNaZ-Kkzwy0msDusiq5X5WqBGybmJiRiMud8pSXkvNjN8HwsCR58NgCu1FyKm9pJLvtRd3bKzpA4q-7ovclcWeFW5e-RtJQUm4sD2KO_JV4M-OAIXnVMerGealnHoao" width="240" /></a></div>The King's Singers are a choral institution. We have the good fortune to hear part of why that is and to hear them right now at a peak, performing music they have commissioned over the years that have a whimsical quality in a collection aptly entitled <i>Wonderland </i>(Signum Classics SIGCD739). The central six part Gyorgy Ligeti work <i>Nonsense Madrigals </i>forms a pivot point of this album as it also marks 100 years since Ligeti's birth, based on excerpts from Alice in Wonderland and children's poetry of a playful and imaginative nature. It is a testament to the group's musical precision, their remarkable tone control and focus.<p></p><p>Alternating are other wonderfully whimsical musical settings with a wonder of children's fantasy stories with music by Paul Patterson, Malcolm Williamson, Judith Bingham, Joe Hisaishi, Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, Ola Gjeilo, and Makiko Kinoshita. The "Musicians of Bremen" by Williamson is one of the brilliant heights of it all with a hilarious and sparkling gathering of elderly animals who go to Breman to join rhe musical scene they hope to find there!</p><p>All told this one is a joy and something to play repeatedly for the kids no doubt. It is a King's Singers triumph and a lot of fun! Nuanced and supremely well delivered. Do hear this one. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c09lAjk5In8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c09lAjk5In8</a> gives you a sample.</p><p><br /></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-77151979703641844102023-10-11T15:04:00.007-07:002023-10-11T18:47:03.864-07:00Jon Christopher Nelson, The Persistence of Time and Memory<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdHERbmgwUP9xyDc5oxWCPFdp5VkFYzeCDrS4q5e_YxFcpwOwnsiinBsRKim0pVAviJWzEzVL7S0drd2MAjgJC_TXt8iwGtQlBXqpEtCtdSa6G8LyWy3YQN301XMnvlIkwqYd_CgUdd-byU4-EM-qxtyKHzKQIXHuP9D8Wew2wKH9_pHciaX6jDbj9lhI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdHERbmgwUP9xyDc5oxWCPFdp5VkFYzeCDrS4q5e_YxFcpwOwnsiinBsRKim0pVAviJWzEzVL7S0drd2MAjgJC_TXt8iwGtQlBXqpEtCtdSa6G8LyWy3YQN301XMnvlIkwqYd_CgUdd-byU4-EM-qxtyKHzKQIXHuP9D8Wew2wKH9_pHciaX6jDbj9lhI" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jon Christopher Nelson's <i>The Persistence of Time and Memory </i>(Neuma 1840) has a landmark quality to it as an ambitious electronic and concrete landscape that thrives in its multi-movemented, lucidly articulated set of tone poems for a long-toned excellence of orchestral electronic sustain through six cosmic movements and then a concluding compliment, "When Left to His Own Devices."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It remains in high form throughout in ingenious ways, covering such bristlingly brainy conundrums as "And Time Unfolds Like A Flower," "Ripples in the Fabric of Space-Time" and etc. Each movement has concrete and electronic parameters that work well together and create a kind of musical space-time matrix that is as convincing as it is evocative and poetic.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It is one of the best such things I have heard in the last couple of years and it behooves you to sample it and see if it wins you over as it did me. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Stream something of this and get the idea: <a href="https://jonchristophernelson.bandcamp.com/track/the-persistence-of-time-and-memory-and-time-unfolds-like-a-flower">https://jonchristophernelson.bandcamp.com/track/the-persistence-of-time-and-memory-and-time-unfolds-like-a-flower</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-47224479077305068562023-10-05T12:00:00.000-07:002023-10-05T12:00:22.179-07:00Myths Contested, Washington Bach Consort Plays and Sings Bach and Trevor Weston<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTp7DEkB3RKYwv_x6CGa_E4btthemZ6trUFi-LnWYFbcO1NtjrapKNeoJ00cqB9WhGfZH15Wvz_M1szATCJj9pMC59KezSJ3nYxLpURwHjb5aqmRD7E1z3DiVbvHkmGdZUUfD39UHZFajS-_ThfUO9PEegK5W6hc-IqSVPedtKO75LWAY-70RiQjM-wtU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTp7DEkB3RKYwv_x6CGa_E4btthemZ6trUFi-LnWYFbcO1NtjrapKNeoJ00cqB9WhGfZH15Wvz_M1szATCJj9pMC59KezSJ3nYxLpURwHjb5aqmRD7E1z3DiVbvHkmGdZUUfD39UHZFajS-_ThfUO9PEegK5W6hc-IqSVPedtKO75LWAY-70RiQjM-wtU" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Of all the cantatas Johann Sebastian Bach wrote over his lifetime (many), his secular cantatas are not as prevalent and sometimes seem somewhat overlooked in the swim of things, partially because Bach's position as Cantor meant that cantatas were performed for potentially every Lutheran Sunday and holy day of his career as a part of the service for that day in the season, and too of course they still remain central as western Sacred Music beyond compare. That doesn't mean that the secular cantatas Bach wrote were in any way inferior, not at all if you listen from a concert perspective.<p></p><div>So we have a Secular Cantata that is new to me, <i>The Contest Between Phoebus and Pan, </i>as performed with care and authentic brio by the Washington Bach Consort. A few of the movements utilize music familiar to me from other cantatas but not in the main and at any rate it all comes off smashingly well.</div><div><br /></div><div>This on the new release <i>Myths Contested </i>(Acis 53742) which also contains a remarkable modern work by Trevor Weston, "A New Song" which shows the influence of Bach's Cantatas yet also makes of the format something new and contemporary.</div><div><br /></div><div>I find this music everything I might expect, authenticity, beautifully written music, a rare gem from Bach and some nicely turned modernity from Weston, to which i say bravo, bravo, bravo.</div><div><br /></div><div>Stream a movement from each work here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zdd-jJu4PM and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou7FE7JcU6A</div>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-41842269169162619412023-10-02T14:46:00.005-07:002023-10-03T06:15:54.275-07:00Amazonia, Villa-Lobos, Glass, Camilia Provenzale, Philharmonia Zurich, Simone Menezes<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiop9uW0f0dg7OT_dHJHI-AtM1iyjlOZO0eNdp4NFjXTxAf6njq0W1HrveYL-kPC-WkwymIEhiVSOhXVQmlW2kikPcgg0Kwv0BWbOpRCl3FM5Ik44oRhNef21MHjMDdrVEReu0vNL6go7eUuLDIEFSeQVnbh94TB4nActOHg-75LWBWj7a7hMYpNROQsFM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiop9uW0f0dg7OT_dHJHI-AtM1iyjlOZO0eNdp4NFjXTxAf6njq0W1HrveYL-kPC-WkwymIEhiVSOhXVQmlW2kikPcgg0Kwv0BWbOpRCl3FM5Ik44oRhNef21MHjMDdrVEReu0vNL6go7eUuLDIEFSeQVnbh94TB4nActOHg-75LWBWj7a7hMYpNROQsFM" width="240" /></a></div>Some time in the late '50s as Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos neared the end of his life he was commissioned to compose the orchestral soundtrack to the movie <i>Green Mansions</i>, the soundtrack to which was later released on LP as <i>Forest of the Amazon</i>. The movie was not a success and at this point it hardly matters for the music is something we can appreciate fully with or without the film. I found the full soundtrack many years ago in a used record store and have appreciated it ever since. The composer conducting the full LP version remains fixed in my mind as the version I most seek to hear, but there is the Suite version we can hear on the new CD <i>Amazonia </i>(Alpha-Classics CD) coupled with Phillip Glass's <i>Metamorphosis 1</i> from his <i>Aguas de Amazonia,</i> all by Simone Menezes conducting Philharmonia Zurich with soprano Camilio Provenzale on several of the Villa-Lobos movements. <p></p><p>This is Villa-Lobos-ian Brazilian Impressionist tone painting of the highest order, extraordinarily well orchestrated. and evocative of the lushly exotic Amazonian canopy as only perhaps Villa-Lobos understood it. I still think the old United Artist LP of the complete soundtrack is a killer but this version of the suite is quite nice and representative. </p><p>And then you get to hear the related Glass work, some ten minutes of Minimalist slanted Amazonian expression, so that is a definite plus.</p><p>Take a look at a brief video for a taste of the music <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smjXGM3OWKI&t=4s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smjXGM3OWKI&t=4s</a></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-14598161705816714432023-09-28T11:47:00.006-07:002023-09-28T11:47:57.852-07:00Poul Ruders, Piano Trio, Trio Con Brio Copenhagen<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguML47HmDEls7q0W30tHUj9k4oZWxZj4HDJo31UWuww9lBZs545jR78ecqgcRX8jPcqRM5kqGiQZoA_jMXApbrY2SPB3qPVkgsTnFgWeJfpPLHdy7kZqLlVQQ5GR8rrTFA3BCgpu6DX-FFKLfL7uRpjZ-NAYx5E_tid1_ZpDefIYFQ9izGUUfxzHLHAUs" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguML47HmDEls7q0W30tHUj9k4oZWxZj4HDJo31UWuww9lBZs545jR78ecqgcRX8jPcqRM5kqGiQZoA_jMXApbrY2SPB3qPVkgsTnFgWeJfpPLHdy7kZqLlVQQ5GR8rrTFA3BCgpu6DX-FFKLfL7uRpjZ-NAYx5E_tid1_ZpDefIYFQ9izGUUfxzHLHAUs" width="240" /></a></div>Danish composer Poul Ruders has gotten justly a fair amount of attention on these pages (type his name in the search box above). Today we have one of the most impressive compositions yet in the <i>Piano Trio</i> (OURS Digital) well played by Piano Trio Con Brio Copenhagen. In general terms the Piano Trio is a kind of sleeper of a chamber form. Look at the formidable Beethoven Piano Trios for an example of some major works overshadowed in part by the more iconic chamber formats, especially historically with the String Quartet, etc.<p></p><p>This Piano Trio is major league in its tremendously serious demeanor. It does not seek to be pleasing, to ingratiate so much as to reflect with insightful strength a life in the crosshairs and at the crossroads so to speak. It is more capital /M/ Modern than Post-ing in a beyond sense and therein lies its strength in many ways.</p><p>It has especially in the First Movement a sort of rhapsodic or Neo-Rhapsodic flair--not exactly Neo- Romantic in its more reflective feeling base, in the expression of the music. This comes to the fore in the this very dramatic opening section.</p><p>The Second Movement is quite mysterious and pushing an experiential envelope to a feelingful sort of Unanswered Question in the Ivesian sense, if you will pardon my interpretation.</p><p>The Third Movement has a slightly more urgent striving forward virtually like no other chamber work as far as the powerful vibes it gives off.</p><p>It is a major work that should be heard by anyone interested in New Music.</p><p>To hear a stream of the music please go over to the OUR Recordings site. <a href="https://www.ourrecordings.com/stream-music">https://www.ourrecordings.com/stream-music</a> </p><p><br /></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-12410336019432447602023-09-25T06:56:00.000-07:002023-09-25T06:56:11.510-07:00Sybarites, Collective Wisdom, New Chamber Music for Strings <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrtGMeNoUG_uyUMdIxTfxz4OwhSqU-Epi_MaEUV2o30WhQon8fgagURK2X2xKgKNo2b-WjDv4wooNGyHVlvKUW2wTR7CXNoAJubdRFytnH4U1v9cpoipaelzvGlQU51XD5bZKtBVaWd3ncuy9A2I7SqoTMre8d8C5RCjmnSZQ6fMztvbHp9nJEuVKw4w0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrtGMeNoUG_uyUMdIxTfxz4OwhSqU-Epi_MaEUV2o30WhQon8fgagURK2X2xKgKNo2b-WjDv4wooNGyHVlvKUW2wTR7CXNoAJubdRFytnH4U1v9cpoipaelzvGlQU51XD5bZKtBVaWd3ncuy9A2I7SqoTMre8d8C5RCjmnSZQ6fMztvbHp9nJEuVKw4w0" width="240" /></a></div>The more you listen to the newest of New Music, the more you apprehend and perhaps appreciate the gradual shift away from a High Modernist, and then too beyond a Minimalist overall stance. What takes its place even in the midst of a comingling tripartite style triumvirate? We hear the third style gate open consistently on the anthology of previous little known and unknown chamber string innovative works, that is on Sybarite's <i>Collective Wisdom</i> (Bright Shiny Things BSTC-0191).<p></p><p>In this surprisingly current offering we immerse the listening self in some nine infectiously wide ranging and dance suite like bundlings of some nine works on C<i>ollectiove Wisdom, </i>a blockbuster by the string sextet Sybarites, an outfit fashioned highly and also skillfully in this superlative offering. Each short work says something original and classically new, thanks to the composing prowess of the Punch Brothers and Paul Sanho Kim, Curtis and Elektra Stewart, Jessica Meyer, Komitas, Pedro Giraudo, Michael Gilbertson and Jackson Greenberg.</p><p>If you do not already know of course this is music not so much seeking to make harmonic advancement as the watch phrase goes so much as post folk-earthy sorts of emanations as pleasurable to the novice no doubt as to the acolyte and pro-appreciator alike.</p><p>Take a listen to the full stream of the album on Bandcamp. <a href="https://sybarite5.bandcamp.com/album/collective-wisdom">https://sybarite5.bandcamp.com/album/collective-wisdom</a></p><p><br /></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-29018419016456993052023-09-21T06:36:00.001-07:002023-09-21T07:31:26.398-07:00Robert Schumann, The Roots & the Flower, Organ Works, Op. 56 & 60, Jens E. Christensen, Organ<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEmwkC-yrbIYffFiY0GQntc59U01lgNueZ2ntWfaWLtGP0L85CQwm6tzD6oKBQLlWmtrNnZA8SX49b1BYtyWUfg90fK4UEmhZpLSXg6IbqqTPXuCZhzJKVCTGW1T_lYA7Din2XFQW8nKY10VeJ3bcJUItWxm15iIfDYr3e8Dvq5MN0amV1WOy4lqC2zTQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEmwkC-yrbIYffFiY0GQntc59U01lgNueZ2ntWfaWLtGP0L85CQwm6tzD6oKBQLlWmtrNnZA8SX49b1BYtyWUfg90fK4UEmhZpLSXg6IbqqTPXuCZhzJKVCTGW1T_lYA7Din2XFQW8nKY10VeJ3bcJUItWxm15iIfDYr3e8Dvq5MN0amV1WOy4lqC2zTQ" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Robert Schumann at this point in music history has a legacy that is of course ubiquitous and well established. He is unparalleled for the clarity of his piano style in the many now well loved solo tone poetic pieces for piano. Then too his Lieder is superb, and puts him at the very top of Romantic composers for such things, and then his Piano Concerto and<span> Sy</span>mphonies are justly among the most beloved today, a considerable body of work and a long prevailing fulcrum of the repertoire classics, as popular today as yesterday. In spite of all that we might see in contrast how his organ works might not have broken through to the cognoscenti in our times, or at least I have not been exposed much myself. Schumann familiarly as the old saw has it is not exactly an orchestrator of landmark character if we go by his symphonic reputation over time. However the symphonies are melodically and thematically seminal, perhaps less so as orchestrations, at least in terms of a Ravelian vibrancy say, though very much Schumann's own. And that different kind of vibrancy, of theme and even its descriptive character can be felt so plainly on the "Kinderszenen," the "Carnival," etc.</p><p>So what of the twelve organ works from this album we consider today? They are not models of sound color invention exactly. Nonetheless we get a happy chance to dive deeply into Robert Schumann the organ composer and what that means with the works from Op. 56 and 60 on the recent album <i> The Roots and the Flowers, </i>performed nicely by Jens E. Christensen<i> </i>(Our Recordings 6220676). Some of it now and then seems a tad murkey, not as transparent perhaps as one might ordinarily expect, yet supremely moody and Schumannesque in that way. And so there is a parallel at times perhaps with the very personal styles of his symphonies. Yet then we need to consider the subtitle to this offering, "Counterpoint in Bloom," for that is a special key to appreciating this music, Schumann's well developed sense of the contrapuntal muse as a key aspect of this organ music.</p><p>These some 12 works shine often via a contrapuntal flourish. It is part of Schuman's genius and indeed sets it apart as classic in its best moments.</p><p>The performances are not lacking in any way thanks to Jens E Christensen's prowess and enthusiastic warmth. There are some real gems here and otherwise generally solid and memorable music well constructed. Anyone a Schumann fan will jump at the chance to hear him in this mode, and you doubtless as I did feel the rewards of the adventure.. Organ aficionados with find it a fascinating listen as well!</p><p>Listen to a partial stream on Soundcloud <a href="https://soundcloud.com/our-recordings/6220675-schumann-the-roots-and-the-flower-counterpoint-in-bloom">https://soundcloud.com/our-recordings/6220675-schumann-the-roots-and-the-flower-counterpoint-in-bloom</a></p><p><br /></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649153160602115554.post-1549610845815062132023-09-14T08:01:00.000-07:002023-09-14T08:01:00.674-07:00Violeta Dinescu, Solo Violin Works, Irina Muresanu, Violin<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrZDLwpfso3sz7xNJEPSryesB6BG4SIDnUFGJL90cy1lrlQ-Vv0FXEtEuV6XvY-BI0snfK-grwheuaGGqycoIJO41RUMEkytBkWb1y1wBVYn4A1-s_Ft1x2aYhRNbSfHEZeusnL-xYMz0fyS33R8xA6IU7AaUkZuDH5PQWYz5j16dXDzvsB3km1YpG27o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrZDLwpfso3sz7xNJEPSryesB6BG4SIDnUFGJL90cy1lrlQ-Vv0FXEtEuV6XvY-BI0snfK-grwheuaGGqycoIJO41RUMEkytBkWb1y1wBVYn4A1-s_Ft1x2aYhRNbSfHEZeusnL-xYMz0fyS33R8xA6IU7AaUkZuDH5PQWYz5j16dXDzvsB3km1YpG27o" width="240" /></a></div><br /></span></div><p></p><p>Solo violin works (and other solo string pieces) have never been more popular to the serious New Music listener than now, if the large number of solo releases in the last decade is any indication. What once was treasured by violin master and her pupils now is sought out by any with advanced ears who would like to follow a string-strong master and a brilliant composer in tandem for excitement and contemplation alike. Today we have an especially important new pairing in Rumanian composer Violeta Dinescu's <i>Solo Violin Works </i>(Metier CD 77106) as played with great finesse by violinist Irina Muresanu.</p><p>You might venture to say that any people with composers whose musical culture includes fiddling probably have it in them to produce GREAT solo violin works. So Bartok-Hungary-Gypsy conflagrations of course. The music of Kodaly and Janacek, Dumitrescu (he comes to mind as a composter but anybody know any of his solo string works, I do not recall any), Russians, American folk fiddlers influencing, say Copland, Berio Black Black Black on his Folk Song work composed in 1964 after teaching in USA from 1960, and other things no doubt follow the pattern with degrees of folk fiddle rootedness one way or another. The viola "Sequenza" comes to mind also. Yet I stray a little from solo violin per se. Let us return to it.</p><p>So too then the composer Violetta Dinescu fits right in with a long series of solo violin works that as experienced here really take on a lengthy and effective post-fiddle narrative, and at that violinist Irina Muresanu has a great feel for the music at hand and interjects an intuitive feel for the violin in its local excellence. I talk about the recent CD <i>Solo Violin Works </i>(Metier Mex 77106).</p><p>There is a great deal of it and all of it has New Music/Folk influenced detail that anyone who is immersed in the new/old tradition will find an abundant wealth of musical experience to take seriously and abandon oneself within.</p><p>The music rolls along in profound ways with key centers yet extended and expanded in ways of the Modernish today with a clearly adventurous and inventive quality, so it goes well. Perhaps like when listening to a wise and sympathetic reading of Joyce's difficult <i>Finnegan's Wake</i>, you as it were recognize the "fiddling" in the flow of the syntactic sequence, here genuine English phrases and another in the middle of something quite other the English turns to a modern memory maze as it were and you go further gladly hearing it read sympathetically when otherwise you might despair to find it "meaningless" when surely it isn't. So bravo, I recommend you hear it all at least once. Go to the stream site below and tell me what you think. Then if you have a little time go back to You Tube and listen to a chapter or two of a live reading of the Wake as you follow along with the text there!</p><p> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC347FOP-kcCWuAKY-yzLw7g/about">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC347FOP-kcCWuAKY-yzLw7g/about</a></p>Grego Applegate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06188040049179872295noreply@blogger.com1