New releases

[Dave2002]

Re the "where is everyone" thread - I gave up mentioning new releases here because all the contributors seem to buy or investigate are - large boxsets of re-releases! ...So it goes, etc... but it's a pity in a brilliant year for the new, Contemporary and unexpected....

Sorry, I'm guilty in that respect. Firstly, I do pass on what information I'm given, which often is about boxed sets, and secondly there is usually a very (I do mean very) significant price differential between the costs of CDs in the box sets and single, or individually boxed or paired CDs, even allowing for duplication etc. Perhaps companies are not placing so much emphasis on marketing new CDs now. How many of us are going to, or can afford to, spend £10 or more each few weeks on new CD releases?

I did mention Gluck's Clemenza di Tito though, which I meant to buy, but haven't yet. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gluck-La-Cle...=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

[PJPJ]

A new release, not a repackaging for the umpteenth time........



This concludes CPO's survey of all of Panufnik's works for orchestra. CPO has done a good deal to bring works to disc by those who are sometimes described as neglected composers. Surely there are one or two masterpieces hidden away in these eight volumes? Sinfonia sacra?

[Bryn]

Pierre Monteux: The Complete RCA Album Collection - 40 discs. Significantly over-priced at the moment when set against comparable recent boxes. Still, it is not released until 01/12 so plenty of time for the price to come down.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MAPMAF...=I1568AUIVIO3L

Strange that of the amazon sites I have checked, only the uk one includes it as yet. No mention on .it, .es, .de, .fr or even .com.

[DublinJimbo]

This concludes CPO's survey of all of Panufnik's works for orchestra. CPO has done a good deal to bring works to disc by those who are sometimes described as neglected composers. Surely there are one or two masterpieces hidden away in these eight volumes? Sinfonia sacra?

CPO certainly deserve praise for their adventurous releases, this series among them. If they'd include the booklet with downloads, I'd be a lot happier.

[PJPJ]

CPO certainly deserve praise for their adventurous releases, this series among them. If they'd include the booklet with downloads, I'd be a lot happier.

Some suppliers are better than others, but the situation is far from satisfactory especially when the music is not familiar. Considering the cost of some downloads, it's a shoddy service, so I won't buy them. On the other hand, some, like Hyperion, Chandos, Resonus and Toccata allow you to download booklets without buying the music, which may a good way of reeling in more customers!

[jayne lee wilson]

A new release, not a repackaging for the umpteenth time........



This concludes CPO's survey of all of Panufnik's works for orchestra. CPO has done a good deal to bring works to disc by those who are sometimes described as neglected composers. Surely there are one or two masterpieces hidden away in these eight volumes? Sinfonia sacra?

Ooh, how long have you got? Curse be my busy day but - Sinfonia Mistica (No.6) and Sinfonia di Sfere (No.5) are well into that category for me. The 6th may puzzle you, but just you wait for the end...
They are on two of the best in the series, Vols 3 and 7, all four works on each are outstanding and very well-recorded (and the CPO CDs have Panufnik's own, very extensive notes).
To be honest, the performance of the Sacra was just a shade disappointing (the Berlin KO just aren't tight enough) alongside AP's own, or Kazimierz Kord on Accord - but then the Sacra never lacked for good recordings, it's just nearly everything else!
Perhaps the most immediately lyrical and attractive CPO issue is Vol.2 with Nos 1 and 4, sunny and serene... but it's a great series, with that one reservation in the best-known work! Toughest for me? No.9...

[PJPJ]

Toughest for me? No.9...

Me too - I must give it some concentrated listening for it surely will make sense at some stage.

Panufnik's own recording of the Sacra is indispensable, though I don't know Kord's, and is an inexpensive addition to the CPO series. I do remember hearing it for the time as a very young person and being knocked sideways by it (similarly, around the same time, Hovhaness' St Vartan) the raw and visceral excitement leaving me quite breathless. Ah, those early moments of discovery.

I must confess the concertos on this forthcoming release will all be new to me. I've been very impressed by all of the recordings and broadcasts (some on TTN) I've heard by Lukasz Borowicz - he seems to me to be a very able musician.

[PJPJ]

I must confess the concertos on this forthcoming release will all be new to me. I've been very impressed by all of the recordings and broadcasts (some on TTN) I've heard by Lukasz Borowicz - he seems to me to be a very able musician.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04d4l7w

[johnb]

Thanks for bringing this Panufnik series to our attention. It is always exciting to listen to a composer whose music you don't know and I confess I've heard very little of his music

I'm just wondering which to get first.

[PJPJ]

This new release has had several glowing reviews. Have any forum members listened yet?

[mathias broucek]

Thanks for bringing this Panufnik series to our attention. It is always exciting to listen to a composer whose music you don't know and I confess I've heard very little of his music

I'm just wondering which to get first.

The Sacra is accessible and widely available

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Sacra is accessible and widely available

Indeed - possibly his best work (and certainly my favourite). This concert video (which cuts out about ten minutes from the middle of the work) might whet the interest of anyone new to the composer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJvDSGOIuAY

[jayne lee wilson]

Thanks for bringing this Panufnik series to our attention. It is always exciting to listen to a composer whose music you don't know and I confess I've heard very little of his music

I'm just wondering which to get first.

Gun to my head, I'd go for Volume 7 with the Sinfonia di Sfere, No.5. His most achieved marriage of fiendishly complex geometry and emotional intensity. The sparse, bleakly impressive Bassoon Concerto, and the neo-minimalist, haunting Landscape are the c/w.
Ideally get Volume 2 as well, with Nos. 1 & 4, they offer a complete contrast, folk and dance-based but always very quirkily original, with much rhythmic fascination. Dreamily lovely serenity in No.4. If those two do nothing for you then...

Yes, the Sacra is his most public knock-you-for-six, but has always been some way short of my favourite... he's truest to himself going darker and deeper (5 & 6, Bassoon Concerto etc) or the earlier fresher creations...

On Vol 3 with the 6th Sinfonia Mistica, there's an unexpected gem: Hommage a Chopin, 5 Pieces for Flute and strings. Gorgeous.
I discovered Panufnik thanks to a BBCSO concert which included No.5 in the early 90s. Precious MA-90 cassette. Since then my affinity has only deepened...

[johnb]

Many thanks for the suggestions.

<Goes off mumbling to himself about why on earth he needs to spend yet more money on even more CDs.>

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Sinfonia di Sfere is (almost complete) also on youTube - not the CPO disc, but enough to give you a good idea about the Music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFORqYGxMbk