Dead-Composers Society

[AC Benus]

I thought I'd add something fun too - tonight, Ligeti's Concert Românesc:

 

Some lovely concertante writing in the Allegro vivace. Other parts of this piece remind me of the music for The Wizard of Oz – lots of 'swirling' going on in the strings

 

Thanks for posting; I enjoyed it.

Edited October 30, 2016 by AC Benus

[AC Benus]

With the death of the King of Thailand, I guess I can post this.

 

Interesting. I guess I shouldn't confess my lack of knowledge, but I did not know the recently-passed King of Thailand was a blues composer. The song is pretty good too; the performers sell it, that's for sure.

 

Thanks for expanding my musical exposure. I appreciate that     

[AC Benus]

Okay, apparently I'm feeling symphonic this weekend. Tonight I'm offering up William Walton's 1st Symphony, in B-flat minor. I've been a fan of Walton's music since I was introduced to it in my first year of university when our amazing choir director put the cantata Belshazzar's Feast on the concert docket for us in the winter semester. That's another amazing piece of music, especially if you are singing from inside it.

 

Anyway... there is a lot to be said about this piece (the symphony), but the first movement is my favourite. The 'false ending' in the last minute of the 1st movement is awesome. It's atmosphere just drenches you as the super-charged thrust of the movement redoubles in tension and pushes into the might of the final conclusion to the movement.

The development section of the first movement is nice, but I wish there was more interest paid to a well-differentiated second subject as well. As it stands, there seems to be a lot of the same motif repeated (and in the same tempo and key) in much of the first movement.

 

The false ending is just as spectacular as you describe. And as you probably already know, it's a technique Haydn was famous for, often starting the recapitulation melody halfway through the development section and fooling everyone. He had a lot of fun : )

 

Thanks for posting this. I will be back to listen to it a few more times.

[skinnydragon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGRqIGOAPcE

 

This is for skinnydragon. I've been listening to this performance for about a month now, and a little birdie told me Skinny likes Brahms for ear-cleaning purposes

 

 Enjoy (but don’t omit to listen to my other postings from today )

 

Thanks for this, AC. If I heard it on the radio, I'd have picked up on the fact Lenny was the conductor pretty quickly. He has an exuberant, over the top style that is uniquely his own. The acoustics of the recording have me a little confused. The miking sound engineers use in the Musikverein normally avoid the extreme reverb this one has. It almost sounds like one made by an audience member, except it isn't because of the camera work. But the sound is definitely not as rich as recordings of the VPO usually have. From his age and the orchestra members' haircuts, I assume this is from quite a while ago. btw it's a much better performance than the farewell four he made with the VPO prior to his death. However, all that being said, it has all the brightness and immediacy only a live performance can bring. So, thanks again for this. My mind is being cleansed as I type.

[AC Benus]

Thanks for this, AC. If I heard it on the radio, I'd have picked up on the fact Lenny was the conductor pretty quickly. He has an exuberant, over the top style that is uniquely his own. The acoustics of the recording have me a little confused. The miking sound engineers use in the Musikverein normally avoid the extreme reverb this one has. It almost sounds like one made by an audience member, except it isn't because of the camera work. But the sound is definitely not as rich as recordings of the VPO usually have. From his age and the orchestra members' haircuts, I assume this is from quite a while ago. btw it's a much better performance than the farewell four he made with the VPO prior to his death. However, all that being said, it has all the brightness and immediacy only a live performance can bring. So, thanks again for this. My mind is being cleansed as I type.

Awesome comments. There are lots of videos from the 80s made in the Musikverin. All the issues you raise I assume are do to the fact that the sound was recorded by the cameras. Many of the tapes on youtube of this type seem to be transferred from people's VCR, that could be it too.

 

It's nice to know this worked as a palate cleanser, and that you and Lenny were on a first name basis.   

[Drew Espinosa]

Interesting. I guess I shouldn't confess my lack of knowledge, but I did not know the recently-passed King of Thailand was a blues composer. The song is pretty good too; the performers sell it, that's for sure.

 

Thanks for expanding my musical exposure. I appreciate that     

I didn't know myself. But when the news broke of his death, some articles mentioned that he was a music lover and had even composed his own pieces. It was a pleasant surprise to learn these things about him.

[AC Benus]

Here's a composer you may not have heard before. Johann Schobert was a German active in Paris in the years of Mozart's childhood. He was a major influence on the young man's music.

 

Schobert died tragically at the age of 26. He, his wife and one child all succumbed after a mushroom hunt in the country proved delicious but deadly.

 

'Baroque' lovers will enjoy listening to this:

 

Johann Schobert Quatuors, trios, sonates Luciano Sgrizzi, Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZrXe9nWXig

[AC Benus]

Here's a composer you may not have heard before. Johann Schobert was a German active in Paris in the years of Mozart's childhood. He was a major influence on the young man's music.

 

Schobert died tragically at the age of 26. He, his wife and one child all succumbed after a mushroom hunt in the country proved delicious but deadly.

 

'Baroque' lovers will enjoy listening to this:

 

Johann Schobert Quatuors, trios, sonates Luciano Sgrizzi, Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZrXe9nWXig

Gosh, the trio that starts around min. 50:00 is such a beautiful thing...wow 

 

Schobert's chamber music reminds me more of Schubert than anybody else. 

Edited November 1, 2016 by AC Benus

[Parker Owens]

Gosh, the trio that starts around min. 50:00 is such a beautiful thing...wow 

 

Schobert's chamber music reminds me more of Schubert than anybody else. 

Wherever did you unearth Schobert? This link is wonderful; and it provides real evidence for those seeking transitions from the baroque to the classical periods.

[AC Benus]

Wherever did you unearth Schobert? This link is wonderful; and it provides real evidence for those seeking transitions from the baroque to the classical periods.

I first read about him in Alfred Einstein's seminal book about Mozart when I was a teenager. I'm not sure I found any music of his on CDs, when I was buying those (lol), but youtube had changed everything. Einstein praised the quality of Schobert's compositions, so I knew he was distinguished before ever hearing this very nice recording. The performers are having fun too; that always makes a recording so much better.

 

Thanks, Parker    

[AC Benus]

Wherever did you unearth Schobert? This link is wonderful; and it provides real evidence for those seeking transitions from the baroque to the classical periods.

Oh, and that's why I put 'Baroque' in quotations. Contemporary usage would have put Schobert's style as galant, but that's hardly a well-known reference today, so Baroque gives a closer idea than Classical.

 

'Mid-century' is also another term for music from about 1740 to 1770. 

Edited November 2, 2016 by AC Benus

[Parker Owens]

Whatever its label, it's lovely!

[AC Benus]

My thoughts and feelings in music concerning 2016, an annus horribilis when one considers the deaths, the tragedy of Pulse, and all the rest. I sadly have no hope for 2017 now, but still I wish this rotten year to be in its grave.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uonfSIsUKLc

 

No star is o'er the lake,

Its pale watch keeping,

The moon is half awake,

Through gray mist creeping,

The last red leaves fall round

The porch of roses,

The clock hath ceased to sound,

The long day closes.

 

Sit by the silent hearth In calm endeavour,

To count the sounds of mirth,

Now dumb for ever.

Heed not how hope believes

And fate disposes:

Shadow is round the eaves,

The long day closes.

 

The lighted windows dim

Are fading slowly.

The fire that was so trim

Now quivers lowly.

Go to the dreamless bed

Where grief reposes;

Thy book of toil is read,

The long day closes.  

 

Henry Fothergill Chorley    

Edited November 10, 2016 by AC Benus

[Parker Owens]

This has been a year to mirror the poem you posted, indeed. I can only hope for better. In the meantime, this fills me with sadness.

[Lux Apollo]

Alban Berg's Violin Concerto.

 

[Lux Apollo]

An odd little piano suite by Leonid Polovinkin (1894-1949).

 

[AC Benus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU3tLIANCHQ

 

See here

Edited November 14, 2016 by AC Benus

[Lux Apollo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU3tLIANCHQ

 

See here

 

Sigh, region locks hate me.

[AC Benus]

Sigh, region locks hate me.

It's Ken Mackintosh's "The Creep"

 

 

 

This is the Teddy Boys' anthem

Edited November 15, 2016 by AC Benus

[Parker Owens]

Not sure why this appeals today, but there it is...

 

[northie]

Playing, singing, listening, Gibbons ticks all the boxes and I love his writing.

[AC Benus]

Not sure why this appeals today, but there it is...

 

 

I'm always taken aback when 16th-17th century composers used dissonance; silly me thinks they wouldn't go there, but they did! And brilliantly.

 

Lovely piece that's new to me. Thanks for posting, Parker.

Edited November 17, 2016 by AC Benus

[AC Benus]

Alban Berg's Violin Concerto.

 

 

I've been listening to this. Can you tell me if Berg approached composition in a way analogous to the Dadaist movement in painting...?

 

A quote from here:

 

"...dada artists claimed their movement was a noisy alarm that woke modern art from its slumber."

 

Thanks

Edited November 17, 2016 by AC Benus

[AC Benus]

First, I'm posting this for the Scherzo, which begins at min. 23:10.

 

I know nothing about this composer. Just ran into him about a month ago. I've learned subsequently that Schmidt was Bruckner's main and final protégée.

 

This symphony is a bit of a mash-up. The first movement left me feeling a bit seasick. In fact the first time I had it on, I was in the kitchen cooking and joked with the dogs that they better get on their lifejackets, as it felt like we were floating down Wagner's turbulent Rhine in a rowboat. The second movement – at least to my ears – keeps this heavy Wagnerian strain going.

 

The third, the one I want you to listen to a few times, is like a breath of fresh air. Its opening theme is delightfully orchestrated, with the primary motif passing amongst strings and winds in contrapuntal ease. This is disturbed by a shift to the minor key – a predominance of the brasses and winds – in what I can only relate to Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre. It's a fascinating thing to hear.

 

But this is all swept away by a 'trio' of huge proportions in an entirely new vein, one that is languorous. This central section is gorgeous, and places one in Eastern settings, much like Rimsky Korsakov's Shahrzad, but with syncopations borrowed from the brand-new Ragtime. So interesting and wild.

 

By the time the charming scherzo reappears, the hearer has almost forgotten about it; it's like hearing from an old friend again.   

 

The fourth movement is not Wagnerian at all, but certainly grand. 

 

I listened to this symphony several times, and was pleased as punch to see the Wiki article single out the Scherzo for praise. It's an accomplished work of art, and lest you feel inclined to judge it too harshly, I'd ask you what you were doing at age 22, as Schmidt wrote his Symphony No. 1 at that tender period of his life.

 

I hope you give it a few listens and enjoy!

 

Franz Schmidt, Symphony No.1 (1899)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkBiI9P3U_M

Edited November 18, 2016 by AC Benus

[skinnydragon]

Il matrimonio segreto has the distinction of being the only opera ever encored in its entirety at the premiere.

 

After the first performance in 1792, the Austrian Emperor hesitated to let the night end. He ordered his dinner brought from the palace, arranged on stage for the actors to eat, and then commanded a repeat performance. It's a distinction not likely to repeated again.

 

Cimarosa's operatic style is organic; one theme blossoms effortless into another, and through key and tempo changes brings artistic naturalness to the stage.    

 

Here's a duetto from Act One: Signor, deh concedete – please listen…if you do not have a smile on your face by the end, I'd check your pulse

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFzdlMIPIaQ

 

Incidentally, the libretto is based on The Clandestine Marriage by David Garrick and George Coleman. 

 

EDIT: I just stumbled on this recording of the whole thing - nice lively opening

 

 

OMG what a fantastic and bright performance of the complete work! It sure kept me in the right frame of mind as I spent that over-three-hours desperately trying to catch up on reading and reviewing. I'm still way behind but at least in a more uplifted mood. Thanks AC.