BaL 31.10.15 - Berg: Violin Concerto

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I vividly recall a fascinating analysis in The Concerto, a Penguin companion book to The Symphony (that's how I remember the books anyway). I've since unintentionally lost both wonderful books in an attic clear-out. Does anyone know if they're still available and who was responsible for them?

Yours for £2.81, DubJim:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0000CIC5G?keywords=penguin%2C%20the%20concerto&qid=1445598392&ref_=sr_1_2&s=books&sr=1-2

... there was a range of such Pelican books - Ralph Hill's Concerto and The Symphony (later replaced by a two-volume set edited by Robert Simpson); Arthur Jacobs' Choral Music; Denis Matthews' Keyboard Music; and Alec Robertson's Chamber Music.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It looks as if there are two Suk recordings available, both from Supraphon, both with the Czech Phil, but one with Ancerl ("coupled" with Mendelssohn and Bruch) the other with Neumann (coupled with Bartok#1). Is this correct, or has there been a labelling error and "they" are an "it"?

(And, if there are two versions, to which do people refer when they speak of "the Suk"?)

[visualnickmos]

...........while the piece is rehearsed and performed by soloist Leonidas Kavakos with conductor Andrew Davis and the BBC S.O. ......

I wonder if that was the actual recording that was issued on a BBC MM CD a few years ago? If so, it is rather good.....

[VodkaDilc]

Knowing that a fair number of those reading this would have been at school at the same time as me, I wonder how many others were shaken out of their musical complacency by studying this as an A Level set work in the 1960s. Perhaps they also found that the work was a closed book to their Oxbridge organist music teacher and had to rely on the invaluable Ralph Hill paperback book for analysis.

[Stanley Stewart]

I wonder if that was the actual recording that was issued on a BBC MM CD a few years ago? If so, it is rather good.....

Only a hunch, but it is probably the same complete recording used in the TV transmission; the early part uses rehearsal sequences, alongside location shooting, but each programme concludes will a full performance; a rich and resonant Belshazzar's Feast at Leeds Town Hall and, perhaps my favourite, a reminder of Britten's versatility setting poetry by Keats, Tennyson & Blake to music, his Serenade with Ian Bostridge as soloist and a touching memory of Colin Davis, conducting the strings of the BBC S.O - and dazzling shots of Aldeburgh and district leading to aerial shots of the church at Blythburgh, together with the sophistry of Michael Berkeley's presentation. A splendid series worth repeating. Rec BBC2,31st July '99.

[Pulcinella]

I wonder if that was the actual recording that was issued on a BBC MM CD a few years ago? If so, it is rather good.....

The performance details on the CD are as follows: Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall, 25 March 2000.

[Pulcinella]

Not my A-level set work (that was Brahms 2), so not sure when I was introduced to it: I remember hearing and following the score of the Lyric Suite in the sixth form, and imagine we heard the concerto too; our enterprising head of physics supplemented our regular music lessons with an introduction to C20 music.

As well as the BBC MM CD, I have Perlman/BSO/Ozawa, Grumiaux/Concertgebouw/Markevitch, Zehetmair/Philharmonia/Holliger, and Menuhin/BBCSO/Boulez (bought for the Bloch).

I have the Pelican books too!

Looking forward to this BaL.

PS: Missed some of this as an engineer came to investigate recent power trips (see comment on Fireworks thread). Discovered another version in the big Boulez box that that Fireworks CD came from: Zuckerman/LSO/Boulez; don't know if it got a mention.

[VodkaDilc]

I like the Zehetmair recording, but I've also got one by Daniel Hope with Paul Watkins and the BBCSO. I can't see that mentioned in the list; perhaps it's been deleted.

(I've just checked and it's the 1996 Revised Version. It also appears to be no longer available separately, but just as part of the Hope Complete Recordings, so perhaps it's not included in the BAL.)

[DublinJimbo]

Yours for £2.81, DubJim:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0000CIC5G?keywords=penguin%2C%20the%20concerto&qid=1445598392&ref_=sr_1_2&s=books&sr=1-2

... there was a range of such Pelican books - Ralph Hill's Concerto and The Symphony (later replaced by a two-volume set edited by Robert Simpson); Arthur Jacobs' Choral Music; Denis Matthews' Keyboard Music; and Alec Robertson's Chamber Music.

Thanks for finding that.

… perhaps they also found that the work was a closed book to their Oxbridge organist music teacher and had to rely on the invaluable Ralph Hill paperback book for analysis.

I've done a bit of follow-up research on the internet since my original message and now find that Ralph Hill acted as editor for the book(s). The actual Berg essay was written by
Mosco Carner (and my goodness but it was good).

[VodkaDilc]

Thanks for finding that.



I've done a bit of follow-up research on the internet since my original message and now find that Ralph Hill acted as editor for the book(s). The actual Berg essay was written by
Mosco Carner (and my goodness but it was good).

I think it was by far the longest chapter in the book. (if I'd got the energy to go downstairs, I could check. I still refer to the book quite often.) It was certainly more use than anything Mr ***** at ********* Grammar School could tell me. (Random number of asterisks, in case anyone is checking. Anyway he was very much on the ball with harmony and any music before about 1920.)

[richardfinegold]

Only need to be able to count to twelve for this music!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Only need to be able to count to twelve for this music!

What do you mean "only"?! That means taking a shoe and sock off!

[Beef Oven!]

What do you mean "only"?! That means taking a shoe and sock off!

You can forget quantum physics, then!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

You can forget quantum physics, then!

I'm not so certain about that.


(Shoestring Theory?)

[Barbirollians]

It looks as if there are two Suk recordings available, both from Supraphon, both with the Czech Phil, but one with Ancerl ("coupled" with Mendelssohn and Bruch) the other with Neumann (coupled with Bartok#1). Is this correct, or has there been a labelling error and "they" are an "it"?

(And, if there are two versions, to which do people refer when they speak of "the Suk"?)

Ancerl