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Messages - LateRomantic75

#31
Composers & Music / Re: Unsung piano trios
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 01:01
However, my favorite unsung piano trio is Novak's Trio quasi una ballatta, a grippingly powerful, even tragic work filled with wistful melodic yearning. It sure packs a lot of action into its 16-minute duration!
#32
Composers & Music / Re: Unsung piano trios
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 00:56
In my view, Raff's Piano Trio no. 1 is one of his finest works and a pinnacle of romantic chamber music. It's a highly charged, urgent work with some beautiful and geniunely memorable melodic writing. His fourth work in the genre is a sunnier affair, but it boasts a slow movement of great gravitas.

No discussion of unsung piano trios could be complete without mention of Arensky's two, which are passionate, energetic works that draw upon Slavic as well as Germanic sources.

#33
Composers & Music / Re: Music for Harp and String Quartet
Wednesday 29 January 2014, 00:43
Kudos for mentioning that! I haven't heard his Harp Quintet, but Golubev's rather Rachmaninoffian PCs are very much to my liking.
#34
Composers & Music / Music for Harp and String Quartet
Tuesday 28 January 2014, 20:13
A quick search of IMSLP reveals the following:

Bax: Harp Quintet. Unquestionably the most well-known work for this combination. It's full of the "Celtic twilight" that makes Bax's music so unmistakably magical.

Cras: Harp Quintet. A shimmeringly atmospheric work evocative of the sea. It is remarkable for its extensive use of exotic modes.

Desire-Emile Ingelbrecht: Harp Quintet. It hasn't been recorded, but judging by what little I've heard of Ingelbrecht's music, it should be impressionistic in style.

E.T.A. Hoffmann: Harp Quintet in C minor. A late classical/early romantic work which has been recorded by CPO. I haven't heard it, though.

Andre Caplet: Conte fantastique. This minor masterwork, based on Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, also exists in a version for harp and string orchestra. It has been recorded in both guises.

Tchaikovsky: Adagio molto in E-flat major. This student work has been recorded once (on Regis), but I haven't heard it.

Liszt: Am Grabe Richard Wagners. Composed in the last year of his life, this little work has been recorded once (on Oehms), but, again, I haven't heard it.

Marcel Samuel-Rousseau (1882-1955): Variations pastorales sur un vieux noel. This work has been recorded in its original guise for solo harp, but not in its incarnation for harp and string quartet (by Marcel Tournier).

Anything else of interest in this field?
#35
Composers & Music / Re: Upcoming Sgambati
Tuesday 28 January 2014, 18:48
Wow! I must hear it, then! Thanks for the links :)
#36
Composers & Music / Re: Great Unsung Tone Poems
Tuesday 28 January 2014, 03:53
Ever since reading this article, I have longed to hear Benjamin Dale's tone poem The Flowing Tide: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Jun02/Dale_flowing_tide.htm

Some others that I don't think have been mentioned:

G.W. Chadwick: Aphrodite. This is not the Brahmsian/Dvorakian Chadwick of the Second and Third Symphonies. This is a bold, impressionistic work which shows Chadwick was aware of current trends.

Jan Levoslav Bella: Fate and the Ideal (only on YT). This dramatic, Tchaikovskian work makes one wish Bella had written more orchestral works.

Adolf Wiklund: Summer Night and Sunrise. This is the epitome of Scandinavian late-romanticism-no surprises here.

Sir John Blackwood McEwen: Where the Wild Thyme Blows. A hauntingly atmospheric work that evokes the rugged Scottish coast.

Hans Grimm: The Way of Love and Death (only on YT). A beautiful work which, rather surprisingly, bears the influence of Impressionism.

William Lloyd Webber: Aurora. The father of the much more famous Andrew left behind a small output, and his most major work is this warmly romantic tone poem.

Ludomir Rozycki: Anhelli, Boleslaw Smialy, and King Cophetua (only on YT). Those who know Rozycki's hyper-romantic PCs will know what to expect here.

Eugeniusz Morawski: Nevermore. Morawski captures the morbid atmosphere of Poe's The Raven vividly in this work. What a terrible shame the majority of his output was lost during the bombing of Warsaw during WWII!
#37
Composers & Music / Re: Great Unsung Tone Poems
Tuesday 28 January 2014, 02:49
Indeed, Christmas Eve is one of Bax's most underrated works. It is made all the more gloriously transcendent by its prominent organ part.

I was listening to Atterberg's Alven the other day. There are two aspects of it I find quite interesting:

1. Ironically, the harps are not utilized during The Waterfall section (at least to my ears), yet they have a prominent role elsewhere in the work.
2. As I had mentioned before, the jarringly modernistic section that is The Harbor proves that Atterberg wasn't just a hopelessly old-fashioned romantic and that he kept up with the musical trends of the times. More likely than not, he was mocking rather than respectfully emulating the sounds of the modernists in this section.
#38
Composers & Music / Re: Le Flem Piano Quintet...
Monday 27 January 2014, 23:51
Also worthy of mention is the Piano Quintet of Lucien Durosoir (1878-1955), a rather individual work characterized by contrasts of violent anger and delicate beauty. It can be found on this CD: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JIQECS/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_ufV5sb0FP3PTC

I also highly recommend the discs of Durosoir's string quartets and violin/piano music on the same label. It's strangely compelling stuff.
#39
Composers & Music / Re: Great Unsung Tone Poems
Monday 27 January 2014, 22:43
Oddly enough, Sibelius' tone poems (with the exception of Finlandia) are not programmed with much regularity here in the US. But, then again, not much is :(...
#40
Composers & Music / Re: Upcoming Sgambati
Monday 27 January 2014, 20:31
If the Second Symphony is on or close to the level of the fantastic First, I'd love to hear it! Sgambati's synthesis of German and Italian influences is so compelling and enjoyable. Great job promoting his music! :)
#41
Composers & Music / Re: Le Flem Piano Quintet...
Monday 27 January 2014, 20:26
Ah yes, the Witkowski. It's a very fine work in the Franckian mould, with moments of tempestuous drama contrasting with moments of sunny lyricism. The finale, marked alla zingara, is ecstatically thrilling. I'd very much like to hear Witkowski's two symphonies!
#42
Composers & Music / Re: Great Unsung Tone Poems
Monday 27 January 2014, 11:57
Oops, forgot to include Bax in that honorable company...
#43
Composers & Music / Re: Great Unsung Tone Poems
Monday 27 January 2014, 11:33
Indeed, they are, along with Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Karlowicz, among the greatest "tone poets" IMHO. (Never cared much for R. Strauss' music.)
#44
Very pleasant listening-thanks for the link! But it's nothing I'm dying to see commercially recorded...
#45
Yes, I plan on giving that one a spin soon.