mr. still is from my home state of arkansas.

naxos has a recording of some of his music performed by the ft. smith symphony orchestra, also from arkansas.

dj

Listening to excerpts from Die Lustige Witwe by Franz Lehar.

Beethoven: Symphonies 3&8
Osmo Vänskä/Minnesota Orchestra

This is still my favorite recording of the 3rd, but now I'm beginning to see slight cracks in the structure; now I'm turning my interest a bit more toward Paavo Järvi's ongoing Beethoven cycle.

Egad, the Finns and Estonians are taking the music world by storm...

World Violist wrote:

Egad, the Finns and Estonians are taking the music world by storm...

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It really is amazing just how many first class conductors Finland has produced. Jorma Panula may have had something to do with it. He has been called 'The maestro of the maestros'. Just to name a few of his pupils : Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vanska, Mikko Franck and Sakari Oramo--the list just goes on...kp

kullervopete wrote:

World Violist wrote: Egad, the Finns and Estonians are taking the music world by storm... Only registered users can see links on this forum! Register or Login on forum! It really is amazing just how many first class conductors Finland has produced. Jorma Panula may have had something to do with it. He has been called 'The maestro of the maestros'. Just to name a few of his pupils : Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vanska, Mikko Franck and Sakari Oramo--the list just goes on...kp

Not only the great conductors, but others also. Since Sibelius there have been several composers from Finland who are arguably the greatest living composers.

Also, leaving the realm of the purely classical, the cello metal band Apocalyptica (which I believe consists of graduates of the Sibelius Academy) has made quite the name for themselves across the world.

...and don't forget the Leningrad Cowboys...
Music - films - pubs

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Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
Barenboim/BPO

After having heard the fourth symphony so much, this symphony is really quite amazing. Really intense first movement, a scherzo whose repetitions don't really get as old as in the fourth, one of the most sublime adagios I've yet heard, and a very powerful finale.

What I find so interesting is the sheer difference between the 4th and the 8th: while his fourth is pretty completely optimistic the whole way through, the eighth seems to me a much more deep, brooding, existential meditation. For all its (considerable) length, it's riveting about the whole way through.

I don't think I've read Sibelius' views on Bruckner yet... or have I? I'm not so sure anymore. Does anybody know how Sibelius felt toward Bruckner's music?

Sibelius very much admired Bruckner, especially in the composer's early years.

One often says there are Bruckner-influenced passages in the 1st, and some also would mention Kullervo here. I can definitely hear it in the sforzando brass that Sibbe is known for, which seems to have a particular kinship with the music of Bruckner.

Andrew B wrote:

...and don't forget the Leningrad Cowboys... Music - films - pubs Only registered users can see links on this forum! Register or Login on forum! Only registered users can see links on this forum! Register or Login on forum!

"Do you have rock n' roll? Can I buy it?"

Tapkaara wrote:

Sibelius very much admired Bruckner, especially in the composer's early years. One often says there are Bruckner-influenced passages in the 1st, and some also would mention Kullervo here. I can definitely hear it in the sforzando brass that Sibbe is known for, which seems to have a particular kinship with the music of Bruckner.

I'm beginning to think that any of Sibelius' admirations for other composers could have added to the end of the statement "especially when he was younger." or whatever. He grew ever more independent, though one gets the feeling he never totally rejected any one composer either.

Yes, becoming more familiar with Bruckner's idiom I can definitely hear a few Brucknerianisms scattered about in the 1st sym. and Kullervo. Very integrated into the texture, though. One doesn't really see it sticking out like a sore thumb by any means.

I applaud you for getting into Bruckner, by the way. I simply cannot. Very difficult composer, in my opinion.

World Violist wrote:

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 Barenboim/BPO What I find so interesting is the sheer difference between the 4th and the 8th: while his fourth is pretty completely optimistic the whole way through, the eighth seems to me a much more deep, brooding, existential meditation. For all its (considerable) length, it's riveting about the whole way through.

Thats quite an interesting response to Bruckner as he has been accused of writing the same symphony nine times! My own favourites are No's 7 and 9.
I would certainly echo Tapkaara on Sibelius's affinity with Bruckner but I believe that his love for Bruckners music remained with him all his life--as did his love for Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Interestingly Tchaikovsky became less important for Sibelius later in life. Sibelius's remark 'There is much of that man in me' did begin to fade somewhat. Even in Tapiola I can discern something Brucknerian, I'm thinking of those eerie exchanges between upper strings and cellos and basses in the central part. No doubt about it Sibelius thought highly of Bruckner.--kp

kullervopete wrote:

World Violist wrote: Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 Barenboim/BPO What I find so interesting is the sheer difference between the 4th and the 8th: while his fourth is pretty completely optimistic the whole way through, the eighth seems to me a much more deep, brooding, existential meditation. For all its (considerable) length, it's riveting about the whole way through. Thats quite an interesting response to Bruckner as he has been accused of writing the same symphony nine times! My own favourites are No's 7 and 9. I would certainly echo Tapkaara on Sibelius's affinity with Bruckner but I believe that his love for Bruckners music remained with him all his life--as did his love for Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Interestingly Tchaikovsky became less important for Sibelius later in life. Sibelius's remark 'There is much of that man in me' did begin to fade somewhat. Even in Tapiola I can discern something Brucknerian, I'm thinking of those eerie exchanges between upper strings and cellos and basses in the central part. No doubt about it Sibelius thought highly of Bruckner.--kp

So far (I've listened to symphonies 4, 8, and 9; looking for a 7th today) I don't see particularly how the claim is justified about Bruckner rewriting the same symphony seven times. Of course, some symphonies use the same or similar motifs (notable being the duplet-triplet juxtaposition I've heard throughout the three I've heard), and they use pretty similar orchestration technique, and in the ones I've heard there is always that thunderous, terrifying climax that collapses into nothing. But I wouldn't go so far as to say he rewrote the same symphony 9 times; rather, that he was looking at one single idea, and capturing it from nine different angles, each time trying to make it more perfect than the last time. And while it is quite the difference, I can see those who listen to a lot of Mahler and Sibelius being content to say that Bruckner rewrote the same thing nine times, as Mahler and Sibelius have possibly the most diverse "mainstream" symphonies of any composer who ever lived.

Now you mention it, I can really see Sibelius' orchestration even more availing itself of some of Bruckner's techniques. In Tapiola I'm often now reminded of the coda of Bruckner's 4th, especially in the use of the strings; measured tremolo, steadily rising, and so on. And with Pohjola's Daughter there is another great similarity, the brass with their fanfares and whatnot over an ostinato in the strings, which also reminds me of Brahms' first symphony...

World Violist wrote:

Now you mention it, I can really see Sibelius' orchestration even more availing itself of some of Bruckner's techniques. In Tapiola I'm often now reminded of the coda of Bruckner's 4th, especially in the use of the strings; measured tremolo, steadily rising, and so on. And with Pohjola's Daughter there is another great similarity, the brass with their fanfares and whatnot over an ostinato in the strings, which also reminds me of Brahms' first symphony...

When you listen to Bruckner 7 watch out for the brass during the first movement and I am sure that 'Nightride and Sunrise' will spring to mind. I'm thinking of those rich E flat major chords on the brass as the suns rays permeate the heavens.--kp

I was out tonight, and I looked for a Bruckner 7th, but they had literally one CD of Bruckner which did not interest me. So instead I got this and am listening to it now:



Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
Bernstein/NYPO (DG)

I very much like this so far.

I've not heard that recording, but I absolutely ADORE Bernstein/NYP doing the 5th of Tchaikovsky. Have you heard it, Violist? Check it out...it is AWESOME. Passion, passion, passion.

Tapkaara wrote:

I've not heard that recording, but I absolutely ADORE Bernstein/NYP doing the 5th of Tchaikovsky. Have you heard it, Violist? Check it out...it is AWESOME. Passion, passion, passion.

You either love Bernstein or hate him, I'm certainly of the former. I still think that L B's 1960's NYP cycle of the Sibelius symphonies was pretty darn good.

To get back to Bruckner, although I enjoy many of his symphonies and as we have discussed similarities can be found with Sibelius with regard to certain aspects of orchestration there is a deep chasm between the two composers with regard to time-scale and large symphonic structures. To quote Tovey: 'The symphonies and other large scale orchestral works of Sibelius would, if they had no other merits, command the attention of every lover of music who is interested in the problem which baffled Bruckner and eluded Liszt: the problem of achieving the vast movement of Wagnerian music-drama in purely instrumental music'.
Bruckner to me has magnificent introductions that build up to 'another introduction'....and yet another one. Sibelius is somehow all in one full sweep. Take the opening of Sibelius 6 with that tranquil flowing polyphony, this suggests a time scale on the scale of Bruckner, but by a subtle change of movement a more active vision supplants the former. I think this mastery of movement, the ability to complete in a relatively short time frame music that grows organicly and logically is one of Sibelius's greatest achievements in extended composition.--kp

Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105; Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121; Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor, WoO 2
Carolin Widmann, violin; Dénes Várjon, piano
ECM NEW SERIES
This is my long-delayed introduction to these works, and if the performances found on this 2008 release from the now-venerable ECM label are an indication, it's a wonder why these haven't been more popular or widely propagated in the vast Schumann discography. There has seemingly been a spate of new recordings released in the past decade, so perhaps the situation is being rectified. All three sonatas were composed within a brief three-year period (1851-3) late in the emotionally troubled composer's life. Sonata No. 3 actually consists partially of two movements originally supplied by Schumann as part of a conglomerate work for violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim and whose remaining two movements were supplied by Brahms and the young Albert Dietrich. Schumann later appended two additional movements to his original two, but apparently the completed No. 3 was never published until the 1950s!

Without getting into specific descriptions, the aggregate vibe across the three works is surprisingly affirmatory with a wonderfully varied, formally uncontained, yet thoroughly exhilarating Romantic expression that's unmistakably Schumannesque! The performances by Widmann and Várjon are exemplary in their balance and barely controlled exuberance while projecting a most satisfying emotional ebb and flow. The recording is intimate -- close enough to hear Widmann's breath and Várjon's coaxing of the piano pedals -- but not so dry as to not allow for a marvelously complementing aural warmth. Probably the most ear-catching moments are heard in the beautiful Leise, einfach third movement of the Sonata No. 2, introduced by the most ghostly soft pizzicato plucking (so soft and subtle that one might imagine the notes were generated by barely rendered col legno bow hits!) followed by its meltingly disarming melody. This is one beautiful recording which I've been playing at least twice daily since I first unwrapped it!

One of the things characteristic of this Widmann/Várjon recording, which may either be a virtue or fault depending on one's sensibility, is its seeming uniformity; i.e., not swaying too far tempo-wise from an overall agreeable median across its entire 70+ minutes. Having sampled the competing Faust/Avenhaus recording on CPO, I can say that some of the latter's fast movements are noticeably headlong, perhaps providing more overt variance in tempo from movement to movement, if that's what the listener desires.

Brahms: Violin Concerto, Double Concerto
Bernstein/VPO; Kremer, Maisky

I very much like this disc; two of my favorite concerti period. Kremer and Maisky are both very sensitive to line and such in these recordings, and neither are close-miked! Bernstein's accompaniment is just icing on the cake, and what icing it is! It is glorious in and of itself. The tempi aren't all that slow either, although considering the only other "Double" Concerto recording I've ever really listened to is Heifetz/Piatigorsky... the tempi are a bit broad to my ear on this one. But it is passionately musical the whole way through.