YouTube: the thread for interesting video links

[heliocentric]

YouTube Discoveries

Have a listen to this (there's no video, which is fine by me) - Die Tränen des Gletschers (1998) by Rolf Riehm (not to be confused with Wolfgang Rihm), one of the most original orchestral pieces I've heard for a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsroLhkZ3aA

[edashtav]

A striking piece, helio - reminds me a little of G. Barry. The vertical space is as important, or more vital, that the linear drive. Perhaps, that reflects Riehm's early interest in Bruckner.

I thought the chamber piece: Lenz in Moskau was fascinating. You'll find it at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oidsw...ayer_embedded#!

Riehm talking about his orchestral piece [Stephen] Hawking is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lnm8OcCRJA&feature=related

(There's an on-screen translation)

I see that Nicolas Hodges, with orchestra, has recorded a CD for Wergo.

For Riehm addicts, a Symposium has been arranged later this year in Germany - I suppose that's because he'll have reached 75.

Why is he not played in GB as frequently as his "e-free" compatriot, Wolfgang Rihm ? (Too left leaning?)

[heliocentric]

That's interesting, ed, I hadn't thought of Barry as a comparison but I have some considerable catching up to do with his work.

As for Riehm not being performed often in the UK, of course there are hundreds of similar cases (some of them British, indeed).

[edashtav]

As for Riehm not being performed often in the UK, of course there are hundreds of similar cases (some of them British, indeed).

Yes, indeed... but, perhaps, the specific point I should have made is that whilst Rihm is almost a frequent visitor to our programmes, I've never encountered Riehm until I received your nudge, and, at first hearing, he sounds the more cogent of the two.

[heliocentric]

at first hearing, he sounds the more cogent of the two.

I would agree with that. I find Rihm's music too often arbitrary and bombastic, whereas Riehm seems to be exploring something much more interesting, and in a different way with each project.

[edashtav]

I would agree with that. I find Rihm's music too often arbitrary and bombastic, whereas Riehm seems to be exploring something much more interesting, and in a different way with each project.

something much more interesting, and in a different way with each project.

That's well observed, helio, and , maybe, that variety, that vaunting ambition makes Riehm more intractable, & less easy to programme. With Rihm , you know what's your buying without having to read the score: it's printed on the can.

[heliocentric]

To keep the ball rolling: I mentioned this on the Boulez thread, but here's Bruno Maderna's 1966 piece Stele per Diotima, from the CD (which I recommend) conducted by Arturo Tamayo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNx7Bw3cJE0

An astonishing piece I think.

[Serial_Apologist]

To keep the ball rolling: I mentioned this on the Boulez thread, but here's Bruno Maderna's 1966 piece Stele per Diotima, from the CD (which I recommend) conducted by Arturo Tamayo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNx7Bw3cJE0

An astonishing piece I think.

I read about Maderna before hearing any of his music, and remember being put off by a statement to the effect that, of the triumvirate of Italian avant-gardists Nono, Berio and Maderna, he had gone furtherest in extending serial principles to paramenters other than just pitch. Then I heard "Quadrivium" - which is like a concerto for orchestra which builds gradually, and initially hesitantly, to a massive climax featuring gongs, bells and then tuned percussion, wrapped in dense string clustered sound which slowly ebbs to a peaceful, etherial close. Possibly it was a Proms broadcast, anyway I found myself totally blown away by its power. Well worth the listen, if you've got a spare half hour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLV5DUu1zqw&feature=related

There's an absolute feast of Maderna and other stuff on that site. A terrible tragedy that he was for him to have been taken from us so young. We should be grateful that music from that period has been performed again, and that someone has gone to the trouble of putting it on youtube.

As to the Riehm pieces, on first impressions I would associate its sound world more with early Xenakis than Barry, though clearly from the interview the composer's approach and inspirations are quite different.

[amateur51]

Well I'd not heard of Die Tränen des Gletschers (1998) by Rolf Riehm until today and a fascinating discovery it has been - many thanks heliocentric

[edashtav]

I read about Maderna before hearing any of his music, and remember being put off by a statement to the effect that, of the triumvirate of Italian avant-gardists Nono, Berio and Maderna, he had gone furtherest in extending serial principles to paramenters other than just pitch. Then I heard "Quadrivium" - which is like a concerto for orchestra which builds gradually, and initially hesitantly, to a massive climax featuring gongs, bells and then tuned percussion, wrapped in dense string clustered sound which slowly ebbs to a peaceful, etherial close. Possibly it was a Proms broadcast, anyway I found myself totally blown away by its power. Well worth the listen, if you've got a spare half hour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLV5DUu1zqw&feature=related

There's an absolute feast of Maderna and other stuff on that site. A terrible tragedy that he was for him to have been taken from us so young. We should be grateful that music from that period has been performed again, and that someone has gone to the trouble of putting it on youtube.

As to the Riehm pieces, on first impressions I would associate its sound world more with early Xenakis than Barry, though clearly from the interview the composer's approach and inspirations are quite different.

I'm with you in admiring Maderna - like wine he improved with age. I like your invocation of early Xenakis - you've got a good ear & memory.

[JohnSkelton]

The Tamayo / Frankfurt Maderna CDs are one of the finest current recording projects, for me. I realise I've never heard the opera Satyricon, though there was an Auvidis-Montaigne recording. Any thoughts? Thanks for Die Tränen des Gletschers .

[JohnSkelton]

Hans-Joachim Hespos, Santur http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbGwUGMB8js

[Bryn]

The Tamayo / Frankfurt Maderna CDs are one of the finest current recording projects, for me. I realise I've never heard the opera Satyricon, though there was an Auvidis-Montaigne recording. Any thoughts? Thanks for Die Tränen des Gletschers .

Indeed there was a "Used: Very Good" copy of the Auvidis-Montaigne CD available for a fiver (plus £1.26 p&p) via the amazon.co.uk until a few minutes ago.

[Sydney Grew]

"Death in Venice" by Lord Britten, dating as it does from 1973, is much more recent than the Maderna. I discovered on "you-tube" - the quality of which has certainly been improving lately - a complete video performance from Glyndebourne:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9D72Im753s

Its duration is two hours seventeen minutes and forty-two seconds; and the file size 532,212,199 bytes.

[heliocentric]

Time for me to catch up on that Maderna CD series before it disappears again...

Hans-Joachim Hespos, Santur http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbGwUGMB8js

Excellent, thanks. Now there's another highly individual composer whose work is almost totally ignored (even in his home country, in fact). It's a shame that there's so little Hespos on YouTube, especially since so many of his pieces have such a strong visual element.

Here's dschen for saxophone and strings from 1968, which makes clear Hespos' strong connection to free jazz and like a lot of his music has an expressive urgency about it which sometimes explodes into incoherence, like the sonic analogue of a Francis Bacon painting. (I'm not using "incoherence" as a negative attribute here by the way!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7KohhhUHNQ

And while I'm here, another composer I've recently and belatedly "discovered" (basically through the work of numerous younger composers who've been influenced by his music) is Horacio Vaggione, whose work is principally in the area of electroacoustic music. Quite a few of his pieces appear on YouTube; here is Taleas from 2004, for bass recorder and electronics, using the square-cross-section Paetzold bass recorder which is quite popular with composers these days:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kPalhKwxbw