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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #3675 on: 18:56:11, 20-09-2008 » |
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A most attractive acquisition from the Hyperion label: CDA67625
Benjamin Britten: Piano Concerto, Op 13 (1938, revised 1945)
Young Apollo (1939)
Diversions for piano (left hand) and orchestra, Op 21 (1940)
Steven Osborne, piano
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov, conductor
Six pages of well-defined liner notes from Robert Matthew-Walker (2008) outline how the three compositions which form Britten's music for solo piano and orchestra constitute a unique, yet still little explored, part of his output. Over and above the creative skill and technical mastery which they exhibit stand their expressive quality - qualities which, as time passes, assume greater significance.
As originally conceived, the three works were initially written within a period of two and a half years, from February 1938 to August 1940 - and during a period where he was also living in different continents.
I have an alternative recording of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with Sviatoslav Richter as soloist and the Hyperion recording also includes the original version of the third movement from 1938. It will be interesting to see how Steven Osborne interprets the 13 Diversions. The liner notes cover how the repertoire of left-hand piano concertos in the 20th century came about through the courage of a determined Viennese musician, Paul Wittgenstein (brother of the philosopher). Having lost his right arm on the Russian front during WW1, he commissioned a Concerto from the blind composer Josef Labor. The success of this work led to 3 groups of similar commissions from other composers. The first group included E W Korngold, Richard Strauss, Bohuslav Martinu and Franz Schmidt. The second group, commissioned in 1930, included Ravel & Prokofiev. The last group, from 1940-45, (by which time Wittgenstein had settled in the USA) included two British composers, Britten and Norman Demuth. Wittgenstein premiered all these works, except for Martinu's Concertino and Prokofiev's 4th Concerto - he returned the score of the latter to the composer with the comment, 'Thank you for the concerto, but I do not understand a single note and I shall not play it.'
Britten had been warned in advance of the pianist's bearing but, although discussions were not without friction, once he set to work, between July/October 1940, it became a subject of fascination and interest for him. The premiere took place in January 1942 with Wittgenstein and the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy.
The CD is good value from hmv.online for £8 99 (incl postage).
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time_is_now
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« Reply #3676 on: 22:56:01, 21-09-2008 » |
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I completely agree about those two Mode records. But I think I still prefer Lokale Musik. I would hope that the new recording of Ländler-Topographien is a bit less shaky than the one on the LP set.
How many parts does Ländler-Topographien actually contain, and how big a part of Lokale Musik is it? I have Ländler-Topographien Teil 3 (8'06") and Teil 4 (3'09") on one of those BMG Musik in Deutschland CDs, but that's all I've ever heard of Lokale Musik. I like them very much indeed. hh, last I heard the mode recording of the complete Lokale Musik was definitely on their schedule, but that was a couple of years ago and I don't know if a release date or even a recording date had been scheduled. I had a list of mode's forthcoming releases somewhere, I'll try and dig it out some time this week. |
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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
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Bryn
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« Reply #3677 on: 13:42:20, 22-09-2008 » |
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Well, now spinning, in the sense of ripping to audio DVD, is Feldman's "for philip guston" (the 4 CD Wergo set - Breuer/Engler/Schrammel). Wergo have been very helpful in that they have put the fades-outs and fade-ins on their own tracks, so making a DVD version is just a matter of omitting the fades when compiling in Audio DVD Creator. I am looking forward to hearing how this recording compares to that by the California EAR Unit, on Bridge, (apart from the California EAR performance being 8.5% faster, that is).
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Turfan Fragment
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« Reply #3678 on: 15:51:52, 22-09-2008 » |
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I am perfectly happy with the hatART version of For Philip Guston. What do members think of that? Blum and Vigeland and Williams are wonderfully concentrated.
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Bryn
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« Reply #3679 on: 16:20:55, 22-09-2008 » |
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I am perfectly happy with the hatART version of For Philip Guston. What do members think of that? Blum and Vigeland and Williams are wonderfully concentrated.
Never heard that recording, and with it's current asking price, I am unlikely hear by buying it.  Oh, a click on the wink will link. |
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Turfan Fragment
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« Reply #3680 on: 16:56:54, 22-09-2008 » |
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I am perfectly happy with the hatART version of For Philip Guston. What do members think of that? Blum and Vigeland and Williams are wonderfully concentrated.
Never heard that recording, and with it's current asking price, I am unlikely hear by buying it. Egad! Well, send me a PM. Now spinning: a shuffle thru iTunes of some Kaki King, Victor Wooten, and the Charlie Hunter Trio. Does anyone know what this genre is called? I am unfamiliar, yet intrigued, with it. |
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George Garnett
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« Reply #3681 on: 11:10:12, 23-09-2008 » |
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Now spinning. Fibich: Tommo and the Wood Nymph
Rather lovely, though what exactly they are doing isn't clear.
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #3682 on: 11:13:03, 23-09-2008 » |
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Does anybody on here actually listen to R3 except me?  It's easier for me to switch the radio on whilst I'm dashing about than to choose a cd, put it on, then change it. I really must make more effort. I've got some beautiful music which is very rarely played these days. |
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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thompson1780
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« Reply #3683 on: 11:24:42, 23-09-2008 » |
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Now spinning. Fibich: Tommo and the Wood Nymph
Rather lovely, though what exactly they are doing isn't clear.
It's my secret. Tommo PS I'll let you know later. |
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
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brassbandmaestro
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« Reply #3684 on: 09:06:44, 24-09-2008 » |
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Does anybody on here actually listen to R3 except me? It's easier for me to switch the radio on whilst I'm dashing about than to choose a cd, put it on, then change it. I really must make more effort. I've got some beautiful music which is very rarely played these days. I am Milly. Rob Cowan's Breakfast Show. Yesterday and today been playing the following: Having a bit of a brass band fest at the moment. Cory Band, Robert Childs: "Heritage". Sonata for Organ in G, Op.28(Elgar/R Childs); Symphonic Poem, The Battle Song(Havergal Brian); Tydfil Overture(Joseph Parry arr Simon Wright) Symphony for brass(Oskar Bohne arr Stephen Roberts). Some of these pieces are quite old, like the J Parry one. I thin k was writtenfor the first formation of the brass band. Grimethorpe Colliery Band, "Brass from the Masters Vol.2". Overture for Brass Band, Henry V(VW)*; Fantasy for bb, op.114(Sir Malcolm Arnold); Rhapsody for Brass(Dean Goffin); *A Kensington Concerto(Eric Ball); A Moorside Suite(Holst); *Comedy Overture, The Frogs(of Aristophones), (Bantock arr. Frank Wright); *Diversions on a Bass Theme(George Lloyd). Conducted by Garry Cutt, & *Major Peter Parkes. Kapitol Brass(havn't got the spelling wrong. Highlights from the Besson National BB Championships 2004. HM Royal Marines and Black Dyke Band. Lt Col Chirs Davies and Dr Nicholas J Childs. Includes a very good performance of "...all the flowers of the mountain" by Michael Ball. What a combination! Royal Marines and Black Dyke Band! |
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Ruby2
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« Reply #3685 on: 13:09:43, 25-09-2008 » |
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Well I started off listening to a CD a friend sent me last night of a band called Aerogramme but have somehow migrated to Jane Eaglen singing R Strauss's 4 last songs (I have no real idea what triggered that). I got this recording from the library since it was there but I have no idea how it compares to other interpretations. Any views, better-informed people?  [Footnote: think I've just figured out why our library would have this version in particular: Jane Eaglen was born April 4, 1960 in Lincoln, England, |
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« Last Edit: 14:58:21, 25-09-2008 by Ruby2 »
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"Two wrongs don't make a right. But three rights do make a left." - Rohan Candappa
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #3686 on: 13:12:28, 25-09-2008 » |
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Never heard that recording, and with its current asking price, I am unlikely hear by buying it.
£400.61
+ £1.24 shipping Now if they had just asked for £400 that would have been fine. As far as I'm concerned they blew it by going for the extra 61p and not throwing in an envelope and a stamp. |
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #3687 on: 14:00:36, 25-09-2008 » |
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Jane Eaglen was born April 4, 1960 in Lincoln, England, Ahem! All the best people..... |
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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Ruby2
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« Reply #3688 on: 14:01:18, 25-09-2008 » |
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Jane Eaglen was born April 4, 1960 in Lincoln, England, Ahem! All the best people.....  |
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"Two wrongs don't make a right. But three rights do make a left." - Rohan Candappa
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brassbandmaestro
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« Reply #3689 on: 14:42:14, 25-09-2008 » |
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Brahms Symphony No.4(VPO/Carlos Kleiber) I noticed this korning what a large number of cds I have of Brahms's music!
Bliss Cello Concerto(Raphael Wallfisch, Ulster O, Handley)
William Walton Viola and Violin Conerti(Nigel Kennedy, RPO/Previn)
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