Dead-Composers Society

[AC Benus]

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.  

Thanks for giving it a listen. I really appreciate it. Now listen to the scherzo I posted too. That's good music to get things done    

[Drew Espinosa]

Fritz Kreisler, Praeludium et Allegro in the style of Pugnani

 

 

Besides Vivaldi's Four Seasons, this is my favorite piece for violin.

[AC Benus]

Fritz Kreisler, Praeludium et Allegro in the style of Pugnani

 

Holy Mother of all WOWers!

 

I've just listened to this three times straight in a row. First off, omg…the restoration of the recording it utterly amazing. So flawless, so alive, so beyond-words amazing in the technical aspect. I can only hope all historical recording are given this type of new life in the 21st century. More and more will discover masters like Kreisler for themselves.

 

As for the performance itself, another miracle, I think. Kreisler's control is breathtaking – the delicate moment of hesitation at minute 1:16 is beyond the power of description – it simply must be heard to be believed.

 

Thank you for posting this, Drew. It's something I don’t think I would have checked out on my own.  

[Parker Owens]

Fritz Kreisler, Praeludium et Allegro in the style of Pugnani

 

 

Besides Vivaldi's Four Seasons, this is my favorite piece for violin.

An awesome addition to my Dead Composer's playlist! (My streaming account can't figure out the pattern ) Thanks for sharing this Drew - I am deeply in your debt.

[Drew Espinosa]

Holy Mother of all WOWers!

That was my reaction the first time I heard it years ago. There is a reason why Kreisler is considered one of the greatest violinists of the twentieth century, if not ever. Not only that, he was a superb composer (Prelude and Allegro can attest to that).

 

An awesome addition to my Dead Composer's playlist! (My streaming account can't figure out the pattern ) Thanks for sharing this Drew - I am deeply in your debt.

Maybe you can add another to your playlist:

 

This is another favorite of mine- Kreisler playing his own composition: Liebesleid

 

Hope you all enjoy it!

[Lux Apollo]

Two obscure little things for tonight, more piano love.

 

First, Piano Sonata No. 2 by the Latvian composer Volfgangs Darzins (1906-1962). I just stumbled upon this tonight, but it's really interesting and it reminds me of some of the harmonic worlds I was using when I first started composing music in back around 1999-2002. The recording quality here isn't that good, but I don't think you'd be able to find another recording out there of this. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

 

 

The second piece is something much gentler I present 'Poem' by the Georgian composer Otar Vasilis dze Taktakishvili (1924-1989):

 

 

[Lux Apollo]

More piano stuff tonight, but I'm gonna break the rules a tad. I thought the Montréalais composer Francois Morel had passed on, but he's still hanging in there at 90 years of age and still composing! I'd like to present his Deux études de sonorité (1954). I played the first one as a rep piece when I was 19, and wanted to work on the second one in my first year of my music degree, but my piano instructor had other things in mind. I switched to harpsichord full time the next year, so I've been sitting on it ever since... 

 

Anyway, I love these pieces. They do exactly what the title says, and do it with gusto. They are modern but melodic and with some touches of jazz harmonic flair thrown in here and there. I hope you find them as compelling as I do. I've chosen recordings by Valerie Tryon, a British-born Canadian pianist that teaches at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. I had the privilege of attending a masterclass with her when she came to visit my university for a recital and instructional sessions with the piano studios. She has quite the extensive traditional repertoire, but she's always made a point of promoting the works of Canadian composers.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by Lux Apollo

[Lux Apollo]

Something rather introspective tonight - Johann Kapsberger's Toccata Arpeggiata (1604). 

 

 

David Tayler, the performer writes this of the piece and performance:

 

Musicological Notes:

My reconstruction of the style of playing the lute in the first decade of the 17th century is based on a study of the many different musical genres from the time, including the keyboard and lute toccatas, the violin sonatas and the wide variety of vocal music, including the Littera Amorosa. Early keyboard and lute music reveals a dizzying array of arpeggiation patterns, with very few written-out works that use a relentless or uniform approach. Another feature of this early 17th century style is that the music almost always has contrasting sections, and this feature is present in both vocal and instrumental works. Chord patterns, arpeggios and melodic fragments are combined to form these sections, as well as provide small ritornellos. Echo, piano and forte effects, which were just starting to be used (Monteverdi, 1607) are added with gradations, within the small but present dynamic range of the lute. 

 

Literary influences for my interpretation center around the poetical forms in vogue 1600-1610, including the sonnet and especially the freer and rhythmically complex form of Gabriello Chiabrera: rhymes, lines, line breaks and rhyming pattern are woven into the musical fabric.

 

Perhaps such a style must have existed in order for later composers to imitate it; there are many ways to interpret Kapsberger, and I hope to see many more versions by my colleagues.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Lux Apollo

[Lux Apollo]

Feeling a little down and worn tonight, so maybe one of Rameau's greatest emotional airs is approrpiate - the beginning of act IV from Dardanus, 'Lieux funestes'. A tenor friend of mine cried a bit the first time he heard this when he came over curious about my collection of DVD and CD recordings of various Baroque operas. In this scene Dardanus has been locked away, torn from his love Iphise and doomed to die while her hand is given to his undeserving and unloved rival.

 

 

[Lux Apollo]

'Three Variations on Plum Blossom' is an ancient piece from the classical Chinese zither repertoire, originating in the 5th century Eastern Jin dynasty. This interpretation here is on the guzheng, a large Chinese box zither with movable bridges. The piece can often also be heard performed on the qin, a smaller but somewhat more intimidating 'scholarly' zither, and the pipa, a Chinese lute. I was trying to find a recording by Han Mei, a personal acquaintance who is both a master of the instrument and an ethnomusicologist of northwestern Chinese peoples and the Uighur peoples, but alas I could not find it. Oh well, this will have to do.

 

[Lux Apollo]

Astor Piazzola (1921-1992) was one of Argentina's most famous composers and bandoneon players. He is responsible for the evolution of the nuevo tango style, through his use of jazz/extended harmonies, counterpoint, . 'Oblivion' (1982), written as a piece of film music, may perhaps be one of his most famous compositions.

 

[AC Benus]

Listening to this brilliant ensemble right now

 

[Lux Apollo]

Arthur Rubinstein play's Saint-Saëns' 2nd Piano Concerto. Need more be said?

 

[Lux Apollo]

Maybe some more Saint-Saëns... how about the Oratorio de Noël?

 

[Drew Espinosa]

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (instrumental)

 

 

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (choral)

 

[Lux Apollo]

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (instrumental)

 

 

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (choral)

 

 

Nice. I really enjoyed the choral arrangement in particular. The arranger made some really interesting choices harmonically, melodically and contrapuntally while still staying close to the chant-roots of this piece. It's one of my favourites since I was a child - it was the one piece that I can remember that they always did as chant over a bourdon.

[Lux Apollo]

An renaissance advent sequence for y'all:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2016 by Lux Apollo

[AC Benus]

Here's a different Veni Veni for you boys to enjoy :0

 

Please make it to the Aleluia

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX1_4KZd3ZU

Edited December 24, 2016 by AC Benus

[AC Benus]

There's a whole genre of incidental music for Shakespeare's plays alone, from a few songs surviving from the original productions to modern staging.

 

An interesting one from the 1960s is Duke Ellington's settings for Timon of Athens.

 

I hope you give this small excerpt a listen.

 

https://youtu.be/sk1Wnipn7Kg?list=PLzE8-R9jex776ubLzaD_A8_Cbf9GLaipv

Edited December 23, 2016 by AC Benus

[Parker Owens]

This was an unexpected treat; thank you. It reminds me vaguely of Satie in a way, or what Satie might have felt like if he had lived later and moved West. Or maybe I have been listening too much to Vince Guaraldi.

[AC Benus]

This was an unexpected treat; thank you. It reminds me vaguely of Satie in a way, or what Satie might have felt like if he had lived later and moved West. Or maybe I have been listening too much to Vince Guraldi.

I love Guraldi. Maybe you can post some here  

[AC Benus]

A few tracks for this very special night from the 1992 album Messiah :A soulful Celebration.

 

Comfort Ye My People

 

[AC Benus]

Oh, Thou that Tellest Glad Tidings

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=kR0y7fDFRdk

[AC Benus]

Behold the Lamb of God

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=xLGYHeILshc

I Know that My Redeemer Liveth

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=e4o8yDjn0_g

[Lux Apollo]

Another not-dead one, but something y'all would appreciate anyway: