|
pim_derks
|
 |
« on: 20:27:15, 16-03-2008 » |
|
I just listened to Jón Leifs's Iceland Cantata on The Choir and I found it a very intriguing piece.
I already have one disc with works by this composer, played by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä: Geysir, Trilogia Piccola, Loftr Overture, Cosolation, etc.
It's a disc I don't listen to very often but when I do listen to it I'm always impressed by the music.
What do we think of Leifs's music and are there pieces by him that I shouldn't miss?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
|
|
|
|
marbleflugel
|
|
« Reply #1 on: 20:39:01, 16-03-2008 » |
|
Symphony 10 is from the bit I heard amazingly intense-sort of Sibelius on acid, Bergman territory. I need to get hold of this. Good to know Leifs made it on to The Choir, bypassing the suspected anodyne tendencies of Aled Jones
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
'...A celebrity is someone who didn't get the attention they needed as an adult'
Arnold Brown
|
|
|
|
Bryn
|
|
« Reply #2 on: 00:42:11, 17-03-2008 » |
|
You have me at a disadvantage. What is Symphony 10, and how does it relate to Leifs?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
marbleflugel
|
|
« Reply #3 on: 00:56:44, 17-03-2008 » |
|
I'm sorry if I was a bit convoluted there. My memory is of an article on him in Tempo mag some years ago and hearing a bit of his tenth by happy coincidence. The author there considered this piece a pivotal peak in his output. All I have apart from that is a vague memory of intense and driven harmonies and a hell of a percussion section driving through them.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
'...A celebrity is someone who didn't get the attention they needed as an adult'
Arnold Brown
|
|
|
|
Bryn
|
|
« Reply #4 on: 01:13:03, 17-03-2008 » |
|
No, sorry marbleflugel, the only symphony by Leifs I know of is the Saga Symphony, Opus 26. If there are nine others I would love to know more. I went on a mad Leifs CD collecting spree a couple or so years ado, and got all the BIS issues, etc., I could find. Thats eight BIS CDs and a couple of others. Only the one symphony though.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Bryn
|
|
« Reply #5 on: 01:49:12, 17-03-2008 » |
|
Damn you marbleflugel. You got me searching out new Leifs recordings. Just order ed the SACD of Edda Part I, and the CD of Hafis, which somehow escaped my attention, or was temporarily unavailable a couple of years ago. There's still the piano music CD to get. But the price is not yet quite attractive enough for me.  |
|
|
|
« Last Edit: 09:20:07, 30-03-2008 by Bryn »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
marbleflugel
|
|
« Reply #6 on: 04:10:57, 17-03-2008 » |
|
Bryn, I'm in the same boat-guys like Leifs that I've been meaning to search out for ages, I shall have to go a-hunting too methinks. I wonder how this full-blooded style works in piano music for example?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
'...A celebrity is someone who didn't get the attention they needed as an adult'
Arnold Brown
|
|
|
|
Bryn
|
|
« Reply #7 on: 08:26:05, 17-03-2008 » |
|
Bryn, I'm in the same boat-guys like Leifs that I've been meaning to search out for ages, I shall have to go a-hunting too methinks. I wonder how this full-blooded style works in piano music for example?
I will be finding out soon. I caved in and ordered via Amazon Marketplace. I am also going legit on this, of which I previously only had a CD-R, due to difficulty in finding it. Although the recording of Hekla is without the optional chorus, it has a fair amount of historic interest, with building workers working outside the recording venue, a cinema, being asked to take a break so that the noise they were making did not interfere with the music. If you know Hekla, you will see the funny side of that, as did the building workers. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
autoharp
|
|
« Reply #8 on: 16:24:51, 17-03-2008 » |
|
Bryn, I'm in the same boat-guys like Leifs that I've been meaning to search out for ages, I shall have to go a-hunting too methinks. I wonder how this full-blooded style works in piano music for example?
Most of his piano pieces are earlyish apart from one late work. Attractive, Though the orchestral works are more rewarding. And the string quartets! |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
pim_derks
|
|
« Reply #9 on: 20:32:44, 17-03-2008 » |
|
I didn't know that Paul Zukofsky was also a conductor, Bryn. And autoharp: I didn't know that Leifs wrote string quartets. There's a lot more to explore here!  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh, dear: I know see that this is Mr Derks's message no. 1000 on this message board! |
|
|
|
« Last Edit: 21:29:46, 17-03-2008 by pim_derks »
|
Logged
|
"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
|
|
|
|
Bryn
|
|
« Reply #10 on: 21:02:34, 17-03-2008 » |
|
I didn't know that Paul Zukofsky was also a conductor ...
He has done a fair bit of conducting, mainly, I think, in Iceland. His 1991 Leifs CD, was IIRC, the first to present Hekla to the listening public. It is not exactly well filled, in terms of duration, but it opened many an ear, I think. If you are interested in getting it, I think the Amazon Marketplace your best bet. You will find the Yggdrasil Quartets 1994 CD of the three string quartets there, too. That runs to over 75 minutes. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
pim_derks
|
|
« Reply #11 on: 21:35:03, 17-03-2008 » |
|
Thank you, Bryn. I guess conducting Leifs in Iceland doesn't make a musician very famous. I like Zukofsky's recording of William Schuman's Violin Concerto: it's electrifying! |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
|
|
|
|
Turfan Fragment
|
|
« Reply #12 on: 01:20:01, 18-03-2008 » |
|
When I looked up Jón Leifs in my University Library Catalog, he didn't appear under Leifs, Jón. He only appeared under the heading Jón Leifs. What's that all about? Is Jón not his first name?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
time_is_now
|
|
« Reply #13 on: 01:50:08, 18-03-2008 » |
|
I like Zukofsky's recording of William Schuman's Violin Concerto: it's electrifying!
 |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
|
|
|
|
Turfan Fragment
|
|
« Reply #14 on: 02:58:34, 18-03-2008 » |
|
Zukofsky's rendition of Cheap Imitation is also extremely beautiful.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
