What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Stanfordian]

Daniil Trifonov – ‘Silver Age’
Stravinsky
Serenade in A for piano
The Firebird Suite for piano arr. Guido Agosti
Three Movements for piano from Petrushka
Prokofiev
Sarcasms for piano, Op. 17
Piano Sonata No. 8 in B flat major, Op. 84
Gavotte from Three Pieces for piano from Cinderella, Op. 95
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
Scriabin
Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
Mariinsky Orchestra / Valery Gergiev
Recorded 2019, Concert Hall, Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia (concertos);
Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
Deutsche Grammophon, 2 CD

This is masterful playing from Trifonov. Still resonating in the memory from 2018, I attended an outstanding concert with Trifonov playing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Daniele Gatti at Kulturpalast, Dresden.

[Stanfordian]

Ruth Gipps, Symphony no.1, from yesterday's Afternoon Concert.

I think her symphonies are well-worth hearing and they certainly don't deserve the oblivion from which they've been rescued. But for me, that's as far as it goes. People sometimes go over the top about revived music. She's no Monteverdi, no Havergal Brian.

Hello smittims,

I have recently been playing the Gipps Symphony No. 3; a work I find impressive. I feel Gipps communicates much better with the listener than Brian.

[oliver sudden]

Zen-like calm has descended on the cottage: I have put on the first disc of the three that gives us the complete Koechlin 'Chant de Nectaire'. 96 pieces in three books of 32 each which are a reflection of the musings of the mystic philosopher-flautist Nectaire in Anatole France's 'La Révolte des Anges'.....'De toutes les définition de l'homme, la plus mauvaise me paraît celle qui en fait un animal raisonable'. (Of all the ways of defining man, the worst is the one that makes him out to be a rational animal)
Nicola Woodward is the solo flautist in this 'Everest' of the solo flute repertoire, magically caught in the Catholic Cathedral, Clifton Bristol.

That sounds extremely tempting! I knew he has quite a few clarinet solos including a largeish book of ‘Monodies’ but of course nothing of that scope. And of course there are some wonderful orchestral things.

And there is always the exciting question of how to pronounce his surname! Answered here by a distant relative: https://youtu.be/7wbq6lh5ehg?feature=shared

[Roger Webb]

That sounds extremely tempting! I knew he has quite a few clarinet solos including a largeish book of ‘Monodies’ but of course nothing of that scope. And of course there are some wonderful orchestral things.

And there is always the exciting question of how to pronounce his surname! Answered here by a distant relative: https://youtu.be/7wbq6lh5ehg?feature=shared

That's fascinating! I'd never seen that....or been able to pronounce it properly, it seems - I'd previously used Kershlan (roughly).

While we are at it, how about Ginastera? BBC presenters to a man (or woman) always try and pronounce it as if it is Spanish: Hinastera. Although in an interview I distinctly remember him wishing that people would pronounce his name in the Catalan way, as in Gin and Tonic, the 'G' more as in the J in Jacques in French. BTW Ginastera in Catalan means 'broom'.... not the popular sweeping implement, but the yellow flowering shrub!

[richardfinegold]

I listened to Bernstein/NYP 1961 in Bartok CfO and MFSP&C. Somehow I had never heard these two recordings, a favorite performer in one of my most cherished music. There is an energy in both that I found invigorating. The timpani in MFSPC seems to have a sly humor that Solti and Reiner miss

[oliver sudden]

That's fascinating! I'd never seen that....or been able to pronounce it properly, it seems - I'd previously used Kershlan (roughly).

While we are at it, how about Ginastera? BBC presenters to a man (or woman) always try and pronounce it as if it is Spanish: Hinastera. Although in an interview I distinctly remember him wishing that people would pronounce his name in the Catalan way, as in Gin and Tonic, the 'G' more as in the J in Jacques in French. BTW Ginastera in Catalan means 'broom'.... not the popular sweeping implement, but the yellow flowering shrub!

I had previously thought Keushlin (attempting a French spelling there) or maybe even Köchlin (German style). But apparently the family pronounce their Germanic name according to French rules… œ not as in œuvre but as in œnologie, ch hard because a consonant follows. That those rules also apply for a noted Bollywood actress would perhaps have surprised old Charles.

Robert(o) Gerhard is another one…

[smittims]

Yes, I'd have to agree with you there,Stanfordian. The difference was in their natures. Gipps was profoundly a 'people -person' , passionately in stimulating an interest in music among all sorts of people ; she was , for instance, deeply involved in youth orchestras. Brian , on the other hand , was. except among his few chosen friends, shy and unsociable. The neglect his music suffered for so long was partly due to this. He could be tactless (perhaps from naivety) , offending people such as Sir Henry Wood , a mistake for a British composer wanting his works performed in those days!

[smittims]

Indeed, oliver. And there's Jean Francaix, whom the BBC used to pronounce 'Fransex'. And what about 'the Dream of Jerontius', as some still say?

[Roger Webb]

........ That those rules also apply for a noted Bollywood actress would perhaps have surprised old Charles.

Delighted would be more like it! Did you know of his obsession with Hollywood (if not Bollywood) actresses? I'm just listening now to his 'Epitaph de Jean Harlow' Op.164. but his real affaire de coeur was with Lillian Harvey. So taken with her was he that he re-wrote music for many of her films, which exist now in piano form. When he finally visited Hollywood he was so nervous about meeting her that he sent his wife instead!

[vinteuil]

And there's Jean Francaix, whom the BBC used to pronounce 'Fransex'...

.
...the Jean Françaix case is a bit tricky, bicoz the man himself changed his mind.
From the BBC Pronunciation Unit (and thanks to French Frank for having obtained it) the following may help -

"Our notes about this pronunciation state that one of Jean Françaix's childhood friends told a BBC radio announcer that she had never heard anything but fraa(ng)-SAY (-aa(ng) as in Fr. blanc; -ay as in day; stressed syllable is shown in upper case) used with reference to Jean Françaix. The use of this pronunciation was also confirmed by one of Jean Françaix's pupils who was present at the time.

However, in 1945, his father is said to have told a BBC Music Department staff member that the pronunciation ought to be fraa(ng)-SECKS (this was confirmed by Jean Françaix at a concert in London in 1951) but that most people pronounced the family's surname as fraa(ng)-SAY, even in musical circles in France.

BBC Pronunciation Unit policy with regard to people's names is to recommend the pronunciation the individual prefers, wherever it is possible to establish this. In 1982, in view of the continuing debate surrounding the proper pronunciation, the Pronunciation Unit wrote to Jean Françaix to try to establish his own pronunciation preference. In his response that same year, we understand that he indicated that the pronunciation should be given as fraa(ng)-SAY. We have been recommending fraa(ng)-SAY ever since we received the written response from the composer. However, our database entry also includes a subsidiary note to broadcasters about evidence for the pronunciation fraa(ng)-SECKS."

[Roger Webb]

Poulank? Poulonk?

[oliver sudden]

Poulank? Poulonk?

I’ve always said Plank rather than Plonk although I’ve forgotten where that came from. I have a DVD or two at home with some interviews so I’ll check when I get a chance if there’s any evidence there, although I’m sure someone else will be quicker.

[oliver sudden]

Delighted would be more like it!

L’un n’exclut pas l’autre !

I have the Seven Stars Symphony on LP at home and it’s not about the Pléïades… alas the twins make LP listening a bit of a logistical challenge though.

[Pulcinella]

Released today:

• Falla: Concerto for Harpsichord & Chamber Ensemble
• Falla: El retablo de Maese Pedro
• Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite

Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado, Benjamin Alard (hpsch)

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9556016--stravinsky-pulcinella-suite-falla-el-retablo-de-maese-pedro-harpsichord-concerto#related

[Roger Webb]

While we're at it, why does Georgia Mann insist on Arleen Augér as Augair?This perhaps wouldn't matter so much had not Augér stated publicly that she was fed up with radio announcers mispronouncing her name, to which end she asked her record company (I think Telarc) to put the 'e' acute on her record sleeves in future. Augér's father was Canadian and she was proud of her French-Canadian heritage.

Bewilderingly, Georgia M always mispronounces hiver (winter) as hivay, not hivair.