What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Richard Barrett]

This thread was de facto devoted to 'classical' music anyway, really, before that was added to its title.

I notice that some, like Bryn, take the opportunity to post classical music from other places like India.

De facto was fine with me! Anyway I shouldn't come back here and immediately start complaining. It's more a general point really. If such a normative label isn't there, nobody has to argue about what it does and doesn't cover, and oxymoronic formulations like "contemporary classical" might not raise their ugly heads!

There are a few later pieces by Hindemith that I quite like actually, but at the same time they annoy me, in that the composer of all those colourful and original pieces of the 1920s that concentrate the edginess of Weimar culture so powerfully gave way to a rather drily systematised approach with much of the vitality drained out of the music. Once he found his system (as expressed in his theoretical book Unterweisung im Tonsatz) he remade himself in its image, while beforehand he just followed where his imagination led. (I would say a similar thing about Schoenberg in fact.)

edit: thanks Jayne, well there are a few positive aspects to staying in the same place for much longer than I'm used to, and I haven't lost all my means of survival so I don't have that to worry about as well, but when you've devoted your life to something that usually relies on having a certain number of people relatively closely packed into a room it does bring on a weird sort of self-questioning to be sure.

[BBMmk2]

This thread was de facto devoted to 'classical' music anyway, really, before that was added to its title.

I notice that some, like Bryn, take the opportunity to post classical music from other places like India.

A member posted a recording by UB40, which back then I thought, for a thread, mainly devoted to classical music, I thought looked out of place, which is the reason for the change in title. Music is music, whatever genre, but in this case it’s good to have an individual genre.

[richardfinegold]

With the advent of streaming, and the requirement of listeners to find their music and the creation of “Genres” it can be pretty amusing to see what gets classified where. For example, finding Hank Williams “I’m so Lonely I Could Die” under Classical because it’s a “Classic” Country and Western song.
The names of the Genres also get interesting as apparently there are a lot more Catagories for Pop Music than I ever realized. “Techno Pop Prog Rock by all Girl Wiccan Bands”, etc

[teamsaint]

Hindemith
String Quartet No.3 Op.22; No.4 Op.32.
Kocian Quartet. Praga CDs.

Hindemith
String Quartet No.4 Op.22; No.5 Op.32.
Amar Quartet. Naxos CDs.

The contrasts are quite consistent here: the Amar have a more beautiful sound, often slower tempi, thoughtful, probing - but the rhythms are all there. They often leave you feeling this music couldn't be better played. Subtlety, warmth, light touch... effortless yet not understated.

The Kocian are quicker, more intense, a tighter often frenetic rhythmic attack: a leaner, spikier, darker tone and livelier acoustic, a sound world evocative of a shattered, ashen post-war European weltanschauung, expressionist, sardonic and second-viennese.The Amar set is very seductive; in the classic Op.22, one sits back, dazed in admiration. Is there nothing they can't do?
But the Kocian are essential listening too, and in the same Op.22 (the peak of the cycle, surely) I felt the musical experience was that bit deeper, more involving.

(Good to see you again Richard.... are you having a good crisis?)

Annoyingly, Apple and Spotty only seem to have the first 2 discs of the Kocian cycle. So I'm making do with the Danish, Melos ( 3 and 5 on Spotty) and of course the Amar

[Bryn]

Hindemith
String Quartet No.3 Op.22; No.4 Op.32.
Kocian Quartet. Praga CDs.

Hindemith
String Quartet No.4 Op.22; No.5 Op.32.
Amar Quartet. Naxos CDs.

The contrasts are quite consistent here: the Amar have a more beautiful sound, often slower tempi, thoughtful, probing - but the rhythms are all there. They often leave you feeling this music couldn't be better played. Subtlety, warmth, light touch... effortless yet not understated.

The Kocian are quicker, more intense, a tighter often frenetic rhythmic attack: a leaner, spikier, darker tone and livelier acoustic, a sound world evocative of a shattered, ashen post-war European weltanschauung, expressionist, sardonic and second-viennese.The Amar set is very seductive; in the classic Op.22, one sits back, dazed in admiration. Is there nothing they can't do?
But the Kocian are essential listening too, and in the same Op.22 (the peak of the cycle, surely) I felt the musical experience was that bit deeper, more involving.

(Good to see you again Richard.... are you having a good crisis?)

Any comments to make re the Danish Quartet on CPO?

[BBMmk2]

With the advent of streaming, and the requirement of listeners to find their music and the creation of “Genres” it can be pretty amusing to see what gets classified where. For example, finding Hank Williams “I’m so Lonely I Could Die” under Classical because it’s a “Classic” Country and Western song.
The names of the Genres also get interesting as apparently there are a lot more Catagories for Pop Music than I ever realized. “Techno Pop Prog Rock by all Girl Wiccan Bands”, etc

Just goes to show!

With this hot weather, I though a slight connection might be necessary!

French Orchestral Works
Sinfonia of London
John Wilson.

Ravel
Daphnis et Chloé
BBC SSO
Donald Runnicles

Albert Roussel
Bacchus et Ariane, Op.43
Le Festin de l’araignée
BBC PO
Yan Pascal Tortelier

[Richard Barrett]

“Techno Pop Prog Rock by all Girl Wiccan Bands”, etc

Every few days seemingly I come across some supposed genre that I've never heard of before and have to scuttle off to find out what it is. Get this (from Wikipedia): "Vaporwave originated on the Internet in the early 2010s as an ironic variant of chillwave and as a derivation of the work of hypnagogic pop artists such as Ariel Pink and James Ferraro, who were also characterized by the invocation of retro popular culture. It was one of many Internet microgenres to emerge in this era, alongside witch house, seapunk, shitgaze, cloud rap, and others." As for the many subgenres of ("heavy") metal, there must be hundreds, the distinctions between them a great deal more subtle than the music, to the casual observer.

Otherwise I note that the Bezos empire advertises a 5 CD box set entitled UB40 - Classic Album Collection.

[Stanfordian]

Sabine Devieilhe – ‘Mirages’
Opera arias and songs – Messager, Debussy, Delibes, Delage, Stravinsky, Thomas, Berlioz, Massenet & Koechlin
Sabine Devieilhe (soprano)
Les Siècles / François-Xavier Roth
with guests Marianne Crebassa (mezzo-soprano), Jodie Devos (soprano) & Alexandre Tharaud (piano)
Recorded 2017 Les salles de répétition de la Philharmonie de Paris
Erato

Cras
Piano Quintet
String Quartet
Alain Jacquon (piano)
Quatuor Louvigny
Recorded 2001, Conservatoire Luxembourg
Timpani

[vinteuil]

.

Every few days seemingly I come across some supposed genre that I've never heard of before and have to scuttle off to find out what it is. Get this (from Wikipedia): "Vaporwave originated on the Internet in the early 2010s as an ironic variant of chillwave and as a derivation of the work of hypnagogic pop artists such as Ariel Pink and James Ferraro, who were also characterized by the invocation of retro popular culture. It was one of many Internet microgenres to emerge in this era, alongside witch house, seapunk, shitgaze, cloud rap, and others." As for the many subgenres of ("heavy") metal, there must be hundreds, the distinctions between them a great deal more subtle than the music, to the casual observer.

Otherwise I note that the Bezos empire advertises a 5 CD box set entitled UB40 - Classic Album Collection.

. a delight. This is why the forum is still a joy to visit




.

[silvestrione]

Every few days seemingly I come across some supposed genre that I've never heard of before and have to scuttle off to find out what it is. Get this (from Wikipedia): "Vaporwave originated on the Internet in the early 2010s as an ironic variant of chillwave and as a derivation of the work of hypnagogic pop artists such as Ariel Pink and James Ferraro, who were also characterized by the invocation of retro popular culture. It was one of many Internet microgenres to emerge in this era, alongside witch house, seapunk, shitgaze, cloud rap, and others." As for the many subgenres of ("heavy") metal, there must be hundreds, the distinctions between them a great deal more subtle than the music, to the casual observer.

Otherwise I note that the Bezos empire advertises a 5 CD box set entitled UB40 - Classic Album Collection.

At least one can savour the inventive use of language, too!

[pastoralguy]

Vivaldi and Piazzolla. The Four Seasons.

The new recording from Arabella Steinbacher with the Münchener Kammerorchester on the Pentatone label. It's been a LONG time since I've bought a new recording of the Vivaldi but I really like Ms. Steinbacher's playing. The Piazzolla I can take or leave but it's pleasant enough.

The only problem is that the two composers are played alternately so the CD player has to be programmed. No great hardship!

[Bryn]

Howard Skempton and Michael Chant: String Quartets, three by each (Eusebius String Quartet with Daniel Bates (oboe) http://www.cornelius-cardew-concerts...bius_flyer.pdf.

[jayne lee wilson]

Any comments to make re the Danish Quartet on CPO?

The only cycle I haven't heard.....for some years the Kocians seemed to meet my every need given that, despite good moments, the Juilliards often seem ill at ease here, lacking flow, a little awkward or over-emphatic etc........

And the Czech group's qualities are shining through once again, even against the marvellous Amars... after hearing the latter's Op.22 I though it couldn't be better done, the equal of Hollywood etc - but then...

***

(...just started on -

Hindemith Kammermusiken 1-7 Ensemble Modern/Stenz...

[teamsaint]

The only cycle I haven't heard.....for some years the Kocians seemed to meet my every need given that, despite good moments, the Juilliards often seem ill at ease here, lacking flow, a little awkward or over-emphatic etc........

And the Czech group's qualities are shining through once again, even against the marvellous Amars... after hearing the latter's Op.22 I though it couldn't be better done, the equal of Hollywood etc - but then...

***

(...just started on -

Hindemith Kammermusiken 1-7 Ensemble Modern/Stenz...

Anybody know why the markings in the 7th Quartet are in English ?

[jayne lee wilson]

Anybody know why the markings in the 7th Quartet are in English ?

The 6th and 7th were both composed in the USA and premiered in Washington (1943/46) by the Budapest Quartet. So I guess that must be why the titling is in English for them.
You certainly need a German Dictionary for the others.... but what does "viertel" mean in the musical contexts...?

E.g OP.22 (i)..."Fugato: sehr langsame Viertel" ....
or "Mäßig schnelle Viertel" for Op.22/(iv)....

My Collins just gives "quarter" for "viertel"..... & googling around didn't help much...