tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post8927979721215393847..comments2024-03-26T15:57:13.443+00:00Comments on On An Overgrown Path: How classical music became a pseudo-eventUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-35462921894633281312016-07-12T21:21:14.601+01:002016-07-12T21:21:14.601+01:00Regarding "imperfect" works, I am a devo...Regarding "imperfect" works, I am a devote of Schumann, and everything he wrote after about 1845 seems to be categorised as imperfect, yet there are many gems in there for performers who can mine them. Schwartzkopf famously decline to sing the Mary Stuart songs: that was her problem, not ours. Graemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11007306140530173428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-60644714817041149952016-07-01T11:22:21.780+01:002016-07-01T11:22:21.780+01:00With regard to short symphonies, I am surprised th...With regard to short symphonies, I am surprised that nobody has mentioned Milhaud's 5 Symphonies for Small Orchestra, which range from around 4 to 6 minutes each in Rozhdestvensky's recording.<br /><br />Of course these are not to be confused with the 11 'proper' symphonies which Milhaud produced later in his career.Ian Patonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16907983572818748436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-74288401876038620622016-06-30T19:45:24.270+01:002016-06-30T19:45:24.270+01:00By complete coincidence, I was listening to the Sc...By complete coincidence, I was listening to the Schwertsik symphony today- it's an absolutely cracking (and VERY short) piece. He's the sort of composer that makes one shake one's head in despair at the lack of vision of so many concert planners. The music is substantial and attractive, original, melodically compelling, harmonically sly, fun to play and thought provoking. It has wit and pathos. And yet it's not well known at all. There are some very good CDs out there- the OEHMS disc which includes the Schrumpf Symphony is wonderful, and there's a great Chandos disc which includes his Nachtmusiken, which I'm proud to say we gave the US premiere of at Colorado MahlerFest in May.Kenneth Woodshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05610184781070467803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-17349411871423989832016-06-30T18:31:02.793+01:002016-06-30T18:31:02.793+01:00No doubt that Havergal Brian has been, shall we sa...No doubt that Havergal Brian has been, shall we say, "hyped" up, but in spite of all of this, bear in mind that many of Brian's symphonies have yet to be heard in this country. I should note that Bernard Herrmann was the first American conductor to perform anything of Brian's, and that was his Doctor Merryheart Overture with the CBS Symphony in the mid-1930s when Brian was practically unknown in this country. I'm sure Herrmann was familiar with some of the early symphonies, especially when he made frequent visits to England in the 1930s and 1940s, which I feel inspired, in part, his scores to the movies "Mysterious Island" and parts of "The Battle of Neretva".<br /><br />That said, it would be nice if an enterprising conductor took on Brian's early symphonies, such as the epic Third with its two concertante pianos, the gargantuan fourth symphony that was inspired, in part, by Brahms' rarely-heard Triumphlied, the dark and beautiful fifth symphony for baritone and orchestra whose setting of Lord Alfred Douglas' "Wine of Summer" is very moving, the dramatic and tempestuous one-movement "Sinfonia Tragica", and the passionate and thrilling seventh symphony, his most approachable large-scale symphony, apart from his boisterous twenty-fifth symphony that is part of the wave of the later symphonies he composed in his eighties and early nineties.<br /><br />Ditto the cello concerto and the Concerto for Orchestra, as well as his operas "The Cenci" and his own take on "Turandot," which I am sure is far and away different not only from Puccini's, but also Busoni's version as well. I doubt if we'll ever see "The Tigers" get mounted, but if any American orchestra or conductor wants to make a name for him/herself, they should program the "Gothic," not because it's a curiosity piece, but because they truly believe in the work's power and magnitude, structural deficiencies aside. That the press and everyone else wants to hype it up is bad enough, but a committed performance from all forces that are martialed together to bring it to the public will negate the over-excitement of the press, because it is the commitment to the music that will, in the end, win the audience over to Brian's vision.Kevin Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11168548308074459074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-79856619635138314862016-06-29T19:40:39.627+01:002016-06-29T19:40:39.627+01:00Kurt Schwertsik - http://www.boosey.com/composer/K...Kurt Schwertsik - http://www.boosey.com/composer/Kurt+SchwertsikPliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-83343949445695811082016-06-29T19:29:20.073+01:002016-06-29T19:29:20.073+01:00For "Schwerstik" read "Schwertsik.&...For "Schwerstik" read "Schwertsik."Alex Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08023216757229249122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-61952694095923951392016-06-29T19:26:51.235+01:002016-06-29T19:26:51.235+01:00Apologies, I overlooked that qualifier! Though I b...Apologies, I overlooked that qualifier! Though I believe that Schwerstik would qualify as "established." To what degree the Schrimpf-Symphonie is verifiably symphonic I cannot say; I have not heard it.Alex Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08023216757229249122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-53424217172561775902016-06-29T17:37:26.159+01:002016-06-29T17:37:26.159+01:00Alex, thanks for the compliment.
I deliberately a...Alex, thanks for the compliment.<br /><br />I deliberately asked 'what is the shortest symphony by an <i>established</i> composer' as a quick Google search had thrown up that Michael Wolters piece and some others that exist on the margins of the definition of a symphony. Cue perhaps for a useful debate about what is an established composer and what is a symphony. Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-15195760059316508282016-06-29T17:30:04.380+01:002016-06-29T17:30:04.380+01:00Excellent post, Bob! There are, in fact, symphonie...Excellent post, Bob! There are, in fact, symphonies shorter than the Brevis or the Webern. Kurt Schwerstik's Schrimpf-Symphonie is 5-6 minutes long, and Michael Wolters's Spring Symphony: The Joy of Life lasts sixteen seconds, according to the composer's website.Alex Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08023216757229249122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-35032893580768361402016-06-29T17:10:34.084+01:002016-06-29T17:10:34.084+01:00Very thought-provoking! As far as the shortest sym...Very thought-provoking! As far as the shortest symphony is concerned, may I venture Anton Webern's Symphony Op.21? Robert Craft's Naxos recording runs for 10:03, but, no doubt, there is something shorter than that!<br /><br />Neglected composers have, I think, often been neglected for good reason. Perhaps their music has suffered from the vagaries of fashion, but often, to my ears, that's because the music simply isn't very good. In my exploration of "neglected Romantic masterpieces" from the likes of Heinrich von Herzogenberg, Albert Dietrich, Weingartner, Ferdinand Ries, etc. I have often found the music quite pleasant whilst listening to it, but I can't recall much of it an hour or two later unlike with, say, Brahms. Now you may say that's because of familiarity, and I kind of agree and, of course, subjectivities such as "taste" certainly play their part.<br /><br />On the other hand, we are subjected to marketing of "niche" and "in the know" music by labels which only compounds the elitist side to "Classical Music".<br /><br />Take me, for example, I just can't get on very well with Stravinsky and Britten, whatever the piece, and I feel like a bit of an idiot because of that response. On the other hand, there are a few "neglected" composers, like Frank Bridge, Edmund Rubbra, Arthur Honegger, William Wordsworth that I respond to very well but you don't hear them on the radio very often! I think where "challenges" arise we get a muted or even negative response. There was much more to Gustav Holst than "The Planets"; when did we last get to hear "A Choral Symphony" or "The Hymn of Jesus" excepting on recordings?<br /><br />And don't get me started on the hermetic world of chamber music!<br /><br />Interesting and you have provoked (much) further thought from me.<br /><br />Best,MarkAMeldonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09635592193850567632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-37164144596012431872016-06-29T17:01:16.432+01:002016-06-29T17:01:16.432+01:00On Facebook Michael Rice comments:
'Couldn...On Facebook Michael Rice comments:<br /><br />'Couldn't agree with you more about the LSSO, after hearing them play in the 1970s.'<br /><br />I was going to say that it is very pleasing that this article is receiving such a large readership despite not mentioning the EU referendum. But perhaps it is receiving such a large readership because it does not mention the referendum. Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-25866028142277674442016-06-29T16:49:20.764+01:002016-06-29T16:49:20.764+01:00Thanks Ken.
'Roger Wright does not claim the ...Thanks Ken.<br /><br />'Roger Wright does not claim the Gothic is a masterpiece, but he is eager for the present generation of music-lovers to experience it. He recalls hearing Ole Schmidt's performance, with the London Symphony Orchestra, at the Albert Hall in 1980. "It was a bit ramshackle," he says. "I want to hear a really good live performance and feel the impact it makes."'<br /><br />https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jul/13/gothic-symphony-havergal-brian-promsPliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-20176976134538779552016-06-29T16:29:01.627+01:002016-06-29T16:29:01.627+01:00Great post!
I was at the Gothic premiere- I found...Great post!<br /><br />I was at the Gothic premiere- I found the piece a very fascinating failure. It was certainly one of the most interesting, memorable and thought-provoking Proms I've been to. It certainly sparked a lot of conversation and the blog post I wrote post concert was one of the most popular I've ever done.<br /><br />http://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2011/07/18/havergal-brian-gothic-symphony-at-the-proms/<br /><br />Interestingly, I'm told Roger Wright disliked the piece and didn't want to do it but felt he had to.<br /><br />I'm glad to have heard it, even if I don't like it<br /><br />Ken<br /><br /><br /><br />Kenneth Woodshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05610184781070467803noreply@blogger.com