Topics

A new CD with two trios that have been recorded a fair number of times- the 2nd trio of Joaquín Turina, and the Trio on Irish Melodies of Frank Martin- and a trio that may be a premiere recording? (the B-flat minor trio of Pancho Vladigerov) - was just issued on Friday from a recording session (or sessions) in October 2021. The Vladigerov, at least, I've checked is within our site's orbit

Does anyone know of any plans to record Ropartz' miscellaneous orchestral works (Carnaval, for instance)?

Due for issue on January 27th is a several disc recording called Walckiers, l'iconoclaste containing about 4.5 hours of Eugène Walckiers' chamber music. See this description ; many but not all of these works exist in score and/or parts on IMSLP. I intend at least to see if I can hear some of this on Amazon Music- I've been intrigued by the music as I've seen it.

Apparently there's a series of recordings of Franz Schmidt's music for piano left hand on Ad vitam records. No.10, with two of his quintets (the G major for piano left-hand and quartet, the B-flat for clarinet, piano, and string trio, first of two), was released on the thirteenth of this month. I know the G major especially well from an issue of Wührer's piano (2-hands)-and strings arrangement (plus Bruckner's string quintet) on London Decca CD awhile back (Vienna Philharmonia Quintet) - very typical Franz Schmidt , with a finale that looks forward to the scherzo-like section of his 4th symphony (though without quite as many call-backs to earlier material).

This looks interesting - cello sonatas, some well-known (Britten, Delius), or at least a few times recorded (Smyth), one fairly new to recording (Cecil Armstrong Gibbs' sonata in E minor, Op.132, composed 12 January 1951 - knowing Gibbs' music, very likely to be inside our remit).

He was a student of Felix Draeseke, and I was just looking at his string quartet published in 1912. If it had been published 2 years later I would not have been surprised by the Andante marcia funebre that interrupts the progress of the first movement and which begins with what looks like an almost-quote from Draeseke's op.6?... (but as it is it's from the year before Draeseke died, not after, so that's a bit odd.)

Is anyone familiar with this work?

SWR2 Musikstücke der Woche last month broadcast a July performance of Mel Bonis' piano quartet op.69 (published 1905), SWR link. Enjoy I hope.

I don't have the time right this moment to write up a full biography and worklist (though something like those are available elsewhere) and am mostly opening up this new thread to start considering the question whether he's Romantic enough for here anyway.
Part of the problem is, not enough of his serious music's been recorded; if you look at his recorded output, his 7-odd symphonies (published 1818-1826) and, I think, 2 viola concertos (published ca.1819 and 1828) are both missing, and mostly you'll find recordings of potpourris, chamber music with clarinet --

(mixing potpourris and possibly more serious quintets, from earlier and later periods of his life- I do see that his later works tend on the whole, his symphonies and a few other works that cover at least his early and middle periods aside, to be much more potpourri-oriented. So on the clarinet disc, " Introduktion, Thema und Variationen op. 190 über eine Schweizer Lied für Klarinette und Klavier"; the earlier wind quintet is Op.40 No.3; Op.198 is again a potpourri; etc.

Going by the worklist at IMSLP, the known published works after his Op.178 string quartet (published ca.1828 by Schott) are all dances, opera potpourris, nocturnes, waltzes, etc. And that's the known works Opp.179-334, though the table has some gaps needing filling in. So his works from Beethoven's death on seem to be mostly of lighter character (I assume; I realize I am judging all these works by their cover, which I should long since have learned not to do). ...

I'm curious about that string quartet, and about the symphonies, concertos and overtures and other works of "prima facie" interest  which were published during Beethoven's lifetime or so, but I haven't necessarily given a good reason to look into him or even to stream the existing recordings of his music, let alone put energy into converting the possibly more serious available works from parts into score (which I may still do, to give people a better idea whether to have a look at them, perhaps.)

Edit: whoever's been uploading these works to IMSLP has not been updating the worklist; a few pages unaccounted for is one thing, _200_ is another. I have work to do (aside from the work at my new paid job) apparently.

A new recording of Karl Weigl's 1906 string sextet, as orchestrated by him as a Rhapsody for string orchestra, is among jpc's list of cpo's new releases (coupled with the piano concerto in F minor of 1931 performed by Oliver Triendl, and the 1916 "3 Songs" with orchestra. See JPC.)

I think I was aware that the quartet had a change in violists in the mid-1920s. I was not aware that (violist) Louis Bailly sued the quartet, claiming conspiracy to oust him...

While looking through text settings by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and being reminded of Radclyffe Hall (some of whose texts he set), I find out that she not only wrote poetry and (sometimes controversial) novels, but also songs and piano pieces herself (some of them possibly only held by the British Library). Nothing necessarily "major"- though I haven't done a serious search and might be wrong about that- I should say I've only found a few songs and a brief piano work _so far_ - but I'd be intrigued to know if anyone's familiar with her music?

Didn't see this mentioned, and quartet no.3 may be the only one of his quartets to be at all known by anyone at all (because there's another commercial recording, and - another?? - recording that airs on Euroclassic Notturno from time to time), but volume 3 of cpo's set of the complete works for string quartet by Henri Marteau, with his 3rd string quartet in C major (Op.17) and 8 lieder (op.10) for soprano and string quartet, is expected out 7 October.

The interesting conductor Jörg Faerber- who mostly concentrated on music before (and after!*) our orbit, but I see may have made recording premieres of a few works inside it too?** - died yesterday.

* Tcherepnin, Hartmann...
** Or at least early recordings of Sinding's piano concerto, and I believe the first recording of Stavenhagen's only piano concerto. Works by Danzi and Krommer, too, if we stretch a little.

Already recorded by Dutton, but there's an upcoming recording coupled with the once-very rare Lalo sonata and de la Tombelle's sonata for a third (expected September 23.)

A cello disc collection CD expected on Hyperion in November according to Presto contains what may be a new recording of Luise LeBeau's cello sonata.

This Finnish baritone, possibly best known for recordings of more recent/modern music but who also contributed to recordings of Humperdinck (Königskinder) and Aarre Merikanto (Juha), died Tuesday aged 100.

A search shows nothing mentioned on this topic in the two months since announcements- weird. There's a performance of Smyth's the Wreckers set for 24 July (and her Mass later on), and some other works (Webern, Prokofiev) more of interest to me... 

A new disc with chamber works by Karol de Kontski (1813-67, piano trio in D), Ignacy Dobrzynski (1807-67, duo op.47 for clarinet and piano), and Jozsef Krogulski (1815-42, piano quartet op.2 in D) is expected out 26 August or sooner on Dux.

Rachmaninov and his world. One of the programs includes what I assume will be the US premiere of Myaskovsky's violin sonata.

Died recently, I believe last Wednesday. Did a fine, to my ears, job of conducting Bax and Moeran among others.