The Classical Music Thread
- This topic has 61 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 1 week, 5 days ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Thanks for the tip! Yes, I realize he’s not “top of the pops” for classical music buffs, but I’ve always been fascinated by him because of his extreme productivity. There’s an interesting quote, from Händel, where he supposedly said that “Telemann can sit down at a desk and write an eight-voice composition as easily as one could write a letter”.
With that big a catalogue, I’m sure not everything is of the highest quality, but I’m guessing there’s at least some.
Opposite of Telemann, Paul Dukas is a composer after my own heart. He wrote like 13 pieces, never repeated a genre, and destroyed anything he felt wasn’t up to snuff. He left us with some delightful nuggets. I even like his opera.
Dukas is great. I only own one CD of his, the RCA Red Seal album with Leonard Slatkin and Orchestral National de France, including SYMPHONIE EN UT, LE PÉRI and obviously L’APPRENTI SORCIER, from 1996. And I feel like that’s pretty much a representative collection. I have more trouble with vocal classical music.
In HMV, maybe ten years ago, I noticed a Naxos disc of someone called Mieczysław Weinberg, whose Symphony no 12 is subtitled “In memorium D.Shostakovich”, which at any point since the late seventies would have raised my eyebrows.
Being Naxos, it was cheap enough to take a risk on, so I bought it and listened to it in the car, expecting a load of Shostakovich quotations. There were hardly any obvious ones; a chord here, a hint there. But the noise it made was (heh) music to my ears.
In no time at all, I’d bought every Naxos Weinberg disc I could find – symphonies, concertos, string quartets, sonatas. Some of the chamber music hasn’t properly landed with me yet, but the majority of it is fantastic. Some favourites:
Cello concerto – a beautiful klezmer-inflected first movement with three energetic following movements, written for and premiered by Rostropovich.
Third Symphony – If you’re a fan of Sibelius, this will be a revelation, fresh air and mountains, quite unlike most Soviet-era works.
Violin concerto – opens with a frantically urgent first movement, and the rest of it is close in intensity but more introspective.
Eighth Symphony “Polish Flowers” – a song cycle, which normally wouldn’t appeal that much, but this is so melodic and dramatic that I find it thoroughly haunting. It’s dedicated to the young Polish victims of Nazi atrocities.
Several of the Naxos discs have short fillers, all of which are enjoyable.
Weinberg was a friend of Shostakovich, not a pupil, and the two “competed” from the 50s through to Shostakovich’s death, demo-ing their symphonies and string quartets to each other. Sadly, Weinberg (also sometimes spelled Vaynberg) doesn’t feature in many musical encyclopaedias. There isn’t a single work of his in the 2026 proms programme, for instance, and he’s never on Classic FM, which is a shame because he deserves to be more widely known.
Thanks for the recommendations, TG! I think I’ve mostly heard of Weinberg via you, to be honest (although I’ve taken note whenever the name has been mentioned elsewhere…he was the answer of a classical quiz show question in Denmark a few years ago, and I immediately thought of you!). From what you describe, the Third Symphony sounds like a good starting point. Of course, Naxos aren’t the cheap CDs they once were, but most of these should be available for streaming, I guess.
I think I’ve mostly heard of Weinberg via you, to be honest (although I’ve taken note whenever the name has been mentioned elsewhere…he was the answer of a classical quiz show question in Denmark a few years ago, and I immediately thought of you!)
That’s very sweet 😉 !
Here’s another favourite, Violin and Piano sonata no 5. A deceptively simple basic melody which keeps burrowing into your soul…
Anyone else just kinda, not into Sibelius? I feel like I’m the only one.
I drift in and out of the mood to deal with all composers. In the end, I neither like nor dislike most. But I did discover Sibelius some years ago, after being sceptical of Finlandia for a long time. His symphonies are brilliant, quite unique, and very beautiful — in spite of the bitter scorn that was poured onto him by contemporaries like Schoenberg with his 12 tone vanity project.
At the moment, I am rediscovering the brilliance of Casella, a little known Italian composer, who wrote 3 wonderful symphonies in a sort of Mahlerian style.
Schoenberg with his 12 tone vanity project.
But I love Schoenberg’s 12 tone vanity project lol. Also Berg, but I’m a little cool on Webern.
I can appreciate the Second Viennese School academically (once in a while), but I’ve never been able to have any kind of emotional connection.
But I did discover Sibelius some years ago, after being sceptical of Finlandia for a long time. His symphonies are brilliant, quite unique, and very beautiful
I quite enjoy his nationalistic works and tone poems but I needn’t ever hear them again. On the other hand, his symphonies and the violin concerto are required listening and I work through them all in order every so often. The fifth is my very favourite, followed by the second. The finale of the fifth is stunning and rarely fails to raise the hair on the back of my neck.
Some time in the 1990s we found ourselves sitting next to a very old Finnish lady at the Royal Albert Halls proms for a Sibelius-based concert. We got talking to her, and she said she’d known Sibelius when she was young. I asked her why he wrote very little for the last thirty years of his life and she got a twinkle in her eye and with her hand she made an unmistakable drinking motion.
… and when I think about Sibelius, my mind usually turns to Carl Nielsen, who wrote just one symphony fewer than his better-known Scandinavian colleague. I mentioned attending the Proms concerts; there was a time when we had seen every Proms performance of the Nielsen third symphony they ever put on.
In other words, we saw its Proms debut (only took them 80-odd years!) and again when they played it a few years later. I don’t know often it’s been played since.
Each symphony has its own character, with probably more variation than Sibelius but still evoking in most cases the wide-open vistas and forests of his homeland. The sixth throws in many nods to 1920s modernity.
In addition, he wrote concertos for violin, flute and clarinet, all of which are worth your time, plus a very punchy wind quintet. Another great composer mostly overlooked by Classic FM and other mainstream media.
I like Sibelius just fine, but I’ve always found Nielsen overrated. There’s something simplistic and transparent about his work, I don’t know. It’s not bad, it’s just not very sophisticated somehow. This became clear again when I watched the Danish classical music quiz show on TV, and of course they had to program in a lot of Nielsen pieces there.
But I guess if I sat down to systematically explore Nielsen’s work, I’d find some good pieces in there. I suppose that “instant likeability” in his music is what made him such a revered composer.
(…but compared to our own Edvard Grieg, he pales).
I don’t know much of Grieg apart from the towering piano concerto, Peer Gynt, the Holberg Suite and that wedding day piano piece. Looking at his works I’m surprised to see a symphony (and sketches for a second one) which I’d like to hunt out. Otherwise, I’m not a huge fan of songs and solo piano works.
Really a big Grieg supporter, Thor? Or is it like me saying, yeah, Elgar could beat up Smetana any day of the week!
Yes, TG, I’m a big Grieg supporter, even when I (perhaps unsuccessfully) try to separate myself from my Norwegian bias. But Eirik Myhr, who occasionally posts here, is an even bigger fan. Wish he were here to chime in.
Elgar vs. Smetana would be a battle of the facial hair. Elgar has the biggest moustache.
The Norwegian public broadcaster aired a live marathon performance of all of Grieg’s opuses a few years ago. Most of the episodes are still available, with no region restrictions.
I know the “hits” of Grieg as anyone probably but have to explore more on him. Same for Sibelius or Nielsen whose symphonies are on a list to explore. I do know Nielsen’s ALADDIN Suite which sounds like a classic film score.
Chiming in!
I should print an «Ask me about Grieg» button.
Seriously, Grieg is fantastic. One of my favourite composers, in addition to Ravel, Fauré and Bach.
Forget about the Symphony in C minor. It is an earlier work and not something he was proud of. Actually, he hid it in an envelope on which he wrote «MÅ ALDRIG OPFØRES!» (must never be performed!).
Most people have only heard the «hits». The Peer Gynt Suites is NOT the complete score for Peer Gynt. Grieg wrote a 90 minute fantastic complete score for Peer Gynt, it’s like a lost film score from the 1870s. Listen to the complete recording with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Ole Kristian Ruud – the best recording there is.
Or how about this funeral march for Rikard Nordraak? SO dramatic. So beautiful.
(This is the best recording, with Scottish National Symphony Orchestra and Bjarte Engeset)Believe it or not, that is still an early work. Later in his life, Grieg would move increasingly away from romanticism and actually pave the way for impressionism, inspiring the likes of Debussy and Ravel, with pieces like NOTTURNO:
Or how about the extremely experimental BELL RINGING (Grieg composed this in 1890!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knElw3POoYI&pp=ygUeZ3JpZWcgYmVsbCByaW5naW5nIGJlcmdlbiBydXVkOr have you ever heard a more haunting, a more beautiful piano piece than this?
I could go on.
Just to shed some more light on how important this particular composer is to me…
Behold! My still growing Edvard Grieg collection of CDs, books, scores, and a few LPs 😀Fantastic! But not complete yet, I take it? (I notice in the background that the picture was taken during winter, so maybe there have been additions since).
I first discovered Gabriela Ortiz, a contemporary Mexican composer, at a violin concerto performed by MAria Duenas in Los Angeles at the Disney Concert Hall, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Ortiz writes dense, difficult music that takes time to appreciate, but these two releases capture some marvellous colours and drama — and an amazing talent.
Fantastic! But not complete yet, I take it?
With classical music, you can’t really ever have a «complete» collection, as there are impossibly many different recordings of each work, throughout all of recorded music history. A few of his works I have maybe 10 different recordings of, while some others maybe 2 or 3. But I think I have *at least* one recording of every work he ever published, yes. And usually one or two preferred recordings of each. 🙂 So the CDs above are the ones I actually WANT to have. I have even hidden away some inferior releases that I have no interest in re-listening to.
Regarding books about Grieg, I have all the major biographies, collections of letters etc. I lack some of the more obscure book releases, but whenever I come over something I don’t have, I buy it. But I don’t buy every CD I find of every work, as there is really no point in owning another sub-standard recording of the Peer Gynt suites, for instance. 🙂 As long as I have my preferred versions of each work, I’m happy.
But I think I have *at least* one recording of every work he ever published, yes.
Yes, that’s what I mean, as we discussed in the “do you have a complete collection?” thread. One representative release of every single composition. That’s how I define it, anyway (in relation to my John Williams completism, for example). So that’s pretty impressive. Can I ask — what would something like that red box cost?
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.