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opilec
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« Reply #2460 on: 11:00:55, 23-03-2008 » |
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Spinning earlier was this, which I was very pleased to find in my local record store, as it's far too long since I've listened to any of Mâche's music:
I've never seen that one, opilec. What are those pieces like? I find Mâche a bit mixed - some of the stuff he does with sampled sounds seems rather "anecdotal" and heavy-handed to me, but there are some extremely memorable things, like a piece for ensemble and tape called Kassandra which has if I remember correctly crumhorns turning into a swarm of bees at one point. I don't think it has ever come out on CD though. Actually it's the one work with sampling that I found most striking: L'Estuaire du temps (1993), which features waves and snippets of words in different languages. Of the others, I found Braises (1995) least engaging: the jazzy neoclassicism didn't do much for me, though it's certainly characterful. But 20th-century harpsichord writing can so often sound uncomfortably anachronistic. The oldest work on the CD is Andromède (1979, recording from 1980) for three pianos, double choir and orchestra. It's good, but didn't quite gel for me as L'Estuaire did. Only a couple of spins so far, though, so need to give these pieces a bit more time. I didn't move on from the Gagaku I was spinning earlier, but listened to all three CDs of that music I have in the collection. Followed by the Dunedin Consort's Matthäus-Passion. Hm. I'm still very impressed by this but the German pronunciation is a bit suspect here and there. I've listened to part 1 of that Matthew Passion a few times now and like it a lot. Like you, I noticed a couple of oddities in the German: is it suspect or does Butt know something about 18th-century German that we don't?  Need to give part 2 a spin again. The work certainly seems to unfold more naturally than on the McCreesh recording, even though I like that too. |
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pim_derks
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« Reply #2461 on: 11:03:35, 23-03-2008 » |
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In the 1990s, an acquaintance of mine organised a performance of Lemniscaat by the pianist Kees Wieringa, in Schiedam Central Station (then called Schiedam - Rotterdam West). The performance went on for hours and hours, it was terribly cold (it was winter) and around midnight a homeless man came into the station with a blanket. He was very angry because he wanted to sleep in the station, as he usually did, but the music kept him awake.  Erm ... what does the laugh smiley mean? I thought it was a funny anecdote.  |
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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Morticia
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« Reply #2462 on: 11:25:15, 23-03-2008 » |
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I was just searching around for any YouTube footage of Heinz Holliger playing his own music and didn't find any, but I did find this, which I recommend you all watch and enjoy at your earliest opportunity. Gosh, that was amazing! I've never seen a theremin in action before. It was like seeing someone weave music out of thin air. Really liked the piece as a whole. Thanks Richard. |
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richard barrett
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« Reply #2463 on: 11:26:01, 23-03-2008 » |
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Actually it's the one work with sampling that I found most striking: L'Estuaire du temps (1993), which features waves and snippets of words in different languages. Of the others, I found Braises (1995) least engaging: the jazzy neoclassicism didn't do much for me, though it's certainly characterful. But 20th-century harpsichord writing can so often sound uncomfortably anachronistic. The oldest work on the CD is Andromède (1979, recording from 1980) for three pianos, double choir and orchestra. It's good, but didn't quite gel for me as L'Estuaire did. Only a couple of spins so far, though, so need to give these pieces a bit more time. I shall certainly give it a try then. I find Mâche always worth hearing, he's one of those composers who seems to have been more or less completely ignored in the UK (actually he has this in common with most modern French composers who were never interested in following Boulez). On the other hand he is lucky anough to have a summer house on a Greek island which was designed for him by Iannis Xenakis. I noticed a couple of oddities in the German: is it suspect or does Butt know something about 18th-century German that we don't? I'm sure he does, but to me there's just something a bit careful about the the pronunciation, which isn't surprising given that there isn't a single native speaker in the cast. Listening to it again today, though, I think this problem is more than offset by all the good things about this performance. I didn't have a chance to listen to the McCreesh all the way thtough, but had the impression that the singing style on it was a kind of halfway house between what the singers would have done in a "traditional" larger-scale performance of the work and its "new" more intimate setting, while Butt's singers take full advantage of the lightness of touch allowed by the transparency of the instrumental textures. |
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richard barrett
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« Reply #2464 on: 11:30:14, 23-03-2008 » |
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I was just searching around for any YouTube footage of Heinz Holliger playing his own music and didn't find any, but I did find this, which I recommend you all watch and enjoy at your earliest opportunity. Gosh, that was amazing! I've never seen a theremin in action before. It was like seeing someone weave music out of thin air. Really liked the piece as a whole. Thanks Richard. That's certainly the best theremin playing I've ever seen, and (even more unusually) in a piece with some musical interest of its own, as opposed to the party tricks you usually see. The player is called Carolina Eyck and she has also composed music for the instrument (including a concerto) which I'd be rather interested to hear. |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #2465 on: 12:27:36, 23-03-2008 » |
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #2466 on: 13:49:31, 23-03-2008 » |
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I do hope you're going to send a copy to John!  Spinning here...  What lovely music, especially the Phantasy Quintet. |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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pim_derks
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« Reply #2467 on: 13:54:38, 23-03-2008 » |
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Carlina Eyck started playing the theremin at the age of eight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4n1i4PfbrAI remember a very interesting documentary about Theremin but I don't know if it's available on DVD. I don't know many classical pieces written for the theremin. The ondes martenot was more popular by composers, I think. Paul Hindemith wrote a few pieces for the trautonium. |
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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brassbandmaestro
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« Reply #2468 on: 14:30:23, 23-03-2008 » |
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Black Dyke band & HM Royal Marines Band combined!! Windows of the World and Gaeforce(Peter Graham)
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #2469 on: 19:19:58, 23-03-2008 » |
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Thanks to Ollie's recommendation over on the snatch thread...  And I'm delighted to report how wonderful it is - both the music and the playing. Cheers, Mr S! |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #2470 on: 19:45:47, 23-03-2008 » |
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I noticed a couple of oddities in the German: is it suspect or does Butt know something about 18th-century German that we don't? I'm sure he does, but to me there's just something a bit careful about the the pronunciation, which isn't surprising given that there isn't a single native speaker in the cast. There are indeed quite a few oddities in the German here and there. I notice a German coach is credited but I'd be surprised if said oddities are a result of reconstruction. Some of them aren't so much 'careful' as simply wrong, I'm afraid - the difference between front and back 'ch' is fairly basic really. (Having said that I'm informed by people who should know that Anglophone German is generally of a higher standard than Germanophone English  - most likely simply because German-language works are simply far more central to the repertoire.) I'm afraid I'm not convinced by the new St Matthew - the vocal approach and balance simply don't seem right to me in general. Oh well. |
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richard barrett
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« Reply #2471 on: 20:30:24, 23-03-2008 » |
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the difference between front and back 'ch' is fairly basic really Indeed. I was more troubled by some English-sounding diphthongs though. What was it about the vocal approach and balance which didn't seem right to you? |
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #2472 on: 21:00:49, 23-03-2008 » |
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To me the voices are much too prominent, especially in the opening and closing choruses. That for me makes the voices sound plainer than they otherwise would have and stops them blending. I don't feel that the individual voices should be audible in the closing chorus for example (or for that matter at Ich bin Gottes Sohn). Part of the point of consort performance for me is the tipping of the balance a little back towards the instrumental lines and that doesn't happen here. I want more chamber music I'm afraid.
For me the main soloists sound anachronistic. Mulroy's vibrato and portamento are out of place to me and Brook reminds me of John Tomlinson from time to time. I hasten to add that I'm a huge admirer of John Tomlinson and would probably at least listen to a St Matthew with him on it but I doubt that it would be in this kind of context. Oddly enough Dermota and Fischer-Dieskau on the Furtwängler recording are often much more restrained. What I'm looking for in this piece is something much less operatic than I suspect exists in the catalogue as yet - it's a Lutheran church service not an opera and the version in my head is a much plainer narration of the story, a bit closer to how the Schütz Historie work, for example. That would involve the Evangelist not adding too much what's already in the part, which I think would be more effective in highlighting his biggest moments such as O Schmerz! and Und siehe da, der Vorhang im Tempel... - I don't see why und er neigte das Haupt und verschied* would be any less dramatic if it were performed without being milked.
What I do very much like is the use of a harpsichord in Choir II. That sets off that choir's arias very effectively. There's also some wonderful instrumental playing especially in the obbligati.
* - oops, of course I meant und Jesus schriee abermal laut und verschied. The other one is what he sings in the St John. Thank you for not all rushing to mock me.
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« Last Edit: 22:55:08, 23-03-2008 by oliver sudden »
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richard barrett
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« Reply #2473 on: 21:30:26, 23-03-2008 » |
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Hm. Well I suppose I might have preferred it without quite such emphatic performances from the two principal singers... it's a Lutheran church service not an opera It isn't, though, a run-of-the-mill Lutheran church service, but a "special occasion" with the purpose of rendering the Passion and its meaning clearly and powerfully to the community, and as such for me it also has something of the aspect of the older tradition of the passion play. Anyway I don't really think there's much that's "operatic" about the pacing of the whole structure in this performance, nor, thinking about it, do I think one can assume that the music Schütz wrote for Dresden seventy years earlier would necessarily imply much of a "plainer" approach, given that Schütz's audience might well have had a more immediate knowledge of opera than Bach's did (and indeed Schütz himself wrote or at least adapted an opera and therefore presumably had a hand in "producing" it as well). As for the balance, all the singers are clearly standing in front of the instrumental ensemble, as they wouldn't be in a "choral" performance, which necessarily means the individual voices in the chorus movements are more upfront than we're accustomed to hearing. I can't see that there's any way out of that, without putting the singers behind the instruments and tipping the balance too far towards the latter, and I don't hear the singers getting an artificial boost of any kind: the balance sounds quite natural to me, a bit close overall, but that isn't unusual in Linn recordings. Anyway, it will do very well for me for the time being, though I'm still waiting for something to have the same effect as Max van Egmond's "Mache dich, mein Herze, rein" from the older of the two Harnoncourt recordings. |
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« Last Edit: 21:58:33, 23-03-2008 by richard barrett »
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Bryn
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« Reply #2474 on: 21:38:14, 23-03-2008 » |
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I was just searching around for any YouTube footage of Heinz Holliger playing his own music and didn't find any, but I did find this, which I recommend you all watch and enjoy at your earliest opportunity. Gosh, that was amazing! I've never seen a theremin in action before. It was like seeing someone weave music out of thin air. Really liked the piece as a whole. Thanks Richard. That's certainly the best theremin playing I've ever seen, and (even more unusually) in a piece with some musical interest of its own, as opposed to the party tricks you usually see. The player is called Carolina Eyck and she has also composed music for the instrument (including a concerto) which I'd be rather interested to hear. , or is it to be Eighth of April, (the same site gives both dates for the DVD's release), eh? |
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