Latvian music

[Latvian]

Does Medins' 3rd fall as flat for you as it does for me by comparison?  Just none of the lilt and flow,
the thematic buoyancy and seamlessness of its predecessor.  I find it tedious and aimless and unmemorable even though pretty much in the same mold.  OK - not that bad.  But very disappointing after that lovable 2nd.

Well, this certainly confirms that beauty is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder!  My reaction is rather the opposite of Greg's. While I don't dislike Medins' 2nd, and find much in it quite lovely, I don't hold it in anywhere near the esteem I do the 3rd. For me, the 3rd is far more memorable and satisfying than the 2nd. I find the first movement in particular just utterly gorgeous and utterly "Latvian." Maybe it evokes a more culturally-induced response in me, due to my Latvian background? I don't know, but I love the work!

Don't feel badly, Greg -- I'm sure there are plenty of works we each love and the other dislikes!

[JimL]

I like what I've heard of the 3rd so far.  Can we get the movement titles?

[Greg K]

Does Medins' 3rd fall as flat for you as it does for me by comparison?  Just none of the lilt and flow,
the thematic buoyancy and seamlessness of its predecessor.  I find it tedious and aimless and unmemorable even though pretty much in the same mold.  OK - not that bad.  But very disappointing after that lovable 2nd.

Well, this certainly confirms that beauty is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder!  My reaction is rather the opposite of Greg's. While I don't dislike Medins' 2nd, and find much in it quite lovely, I don't hold it in anywhere near the esteem I do the 3rd. For me, the 3rd is far more memorable and satisfying than the 2nd. I find the first movement in particular just utterly gorgeous and utterly "Latvian." Maybe it evokes a more culturally-induced response in me, due to my Latvian background? I don't know, but I love the work!

I'll be darned!  Coming from Mr. Latvian himself here this does leave me slightly embarassed (and self-questioning, - not a bad state to be in).  I have played through No.3 over and over again wanting so very much the magic of No.2 to be repeated, - but it has not happened.

i await the comparative evals of a few more non-Latvians to measure how valid your culturalist argument on my behalf might truly be .

[Greg K]

Don't feel badly, Greg -- I'm sure there are plenty of works we each love and the other dislikes!

GIven my recollection of our long ago history together on the "old forum" this might be the one and only .

[Dundonnell]

Thank you for this discussion of the symphonies of Jazeps Medins......not because his two symphonies are really entirely my sort of music(they are certainly pleasant and attractive but I rather prefer Ivanovs, Skulte and Kalnins )....but because in looking up Medins I suddenly realised that the earlier downloads of four orchestral pieces were by his younger brother Janis Medins.

Jazeps was born in 1877 and Janis in 1890 and I had, inadvertently, conflated the two

[malito]

Jazeps Medins 3rd:
I Allegro moderato (13:46)
II Moderato (6:28)
III Lento sotenuto (7:44)
IV Allegro moderato ma resoluto (7:04)

Malito

[JimL]

Thanks!   I only heard the beginning of the 3rd, but it sounded like an altogether more extroverted work than the somewhat more subdued 2nd.  I'll run it through the splitter tomorrow.  I'm starting to burn CDs with little concert programs (Overture, Concerto, Symphony) on them.  That way I can feed spoonfuls of unsungs to the masses through my car windows at signals and stop signs!

[Mark Thomas]

I'm sure that they'll thank you for sharing!

[Latvian]

That way I can feed spoonfuls of unsungs to the masses through my car windows at signals and stop signs!

Bravo! The masses are sorely in need of an antidote to rap!

[Latvian]

looking up Medins I suddenly realised that the earlier downloads of four orchestral pieces were by his younger brother Janis Medins. Jazeps was born in 1877 and Janis in 1890 and I had, inadvertently, conflated the two

Actually, there is also a third Medins brother, Jekabs, who lived from 1885 to 1971, who was also a respected composer.

Hmmm, three brothers, named John, Jacob, and Joseph... Perhaps the inspiration for all the "J" names on the series "19 Kids and Counting"?

[Latvian]

Regarding Jazeps Medins' 2nd and 3rd Symphonies, here are a few comments from Latvian musicologist Ludvigs Karklins' book Symphonic Works in Latvian Music (Liesma, Riga, 1973) [in my translation from the original Latvian]:

Symphony No. 2 in A major "In Springtime" (1937). The composer states: Spring, awakened from winter's bleakness by a by bright sunbeam, spreads over hills and valleys, forests and fields, singing its songs of happiness (movt. I), peace and beauty (movt. II), and light and victory (movt. IV). Apparently the work was also played subsequently at a Soviet composers' congress in Moscow, and Aram Khachaturian wrote very highly of it.

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major (1941). The composer states: With this work I mark fifty years of music-making. Karklins writes that the composer may have intended it to be autobiographical, though it had no specific program as did the 2nd Symphony. He describes the first movement as lyrically restrained and the fourth movement as one of militant alarm. Overall, Karklins rates the work highly (though no more so than the 2nd).

For me, the "restrained lyricism" of the first movement of the 3rd is one of its more attractive qualities, giving the work an air of bittersweet melancholy, somewhat in the vein of the first movement of Franz Schmidt's 3rd Symphony. Both works have a movingly autumnal feel. It may also be worth noting that from what I've gathered from other sources, Jazeps Medins battled with debilitating depression in the 1920s and 1930s, affecting his ability to work, so the 2nd Symphony may have been part of his recovery, somewhat in the same way the the 2nd Piano Concerto helped Rachmaninoff get over the devastating results of his 1st Symphony.

[cjvinthechair]

Thank you for this discussion of the symphonies of Jazeps Medins......not because his two symphonies are really entirely my sort of music(they are certainly pleasant and attractive but I rather prefer Ivanovs, Skulte and Kalnins )....but because in looking up Medins I suddenly realised that the earlier downloads of four orchestral pieces were by his younger brother Janis Medins.

Jazeps was born in 1877 and Janis in 1890 and I had, inadvertently, conflated the two

Thank you - I assumed Janis was 'the one', but in fact it's a 'holy' trinity !

[JimL]

I just listened to the 2nd and 3rd Symphonies of Jaszips Medins over the last couple of days.  Frankly, I love 'em both.  That "Andante sostenuto" indication of the finale of the 2nd pretty definitely refers to just the opening of the movement, which is an introduction.  The main body of the movement is definitely an Allegro.  Anybody have access to a score?

[semloh]

Atsushi - thank you for the aptly named Romantic symphony of Barisons - 1939 but oddly and splendidly fin-de-siecle in style - it should certainly satisfy the "foolish old, romantics" among us!
After the excruciating experience of listening to Messiaen's Sept Hakai (the second time in 25 years, and just as painful!) it comes as sweet balm to my ears!!
A real delight. 

[Alan Howe]

Let me add my thanks for the upload of Barisons' 2nd Symphony too - I had downloaded it but have only just got round to listening to it. It's a wonderfully old-fashioned piece for 1939, but I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed such a lovely wallow for ages. Splendid, stirring stuff!