Messages

Amphissa, I wouldn't like to call Ravel's Bolero 'repetitive' at all, and certainly not 'minimalist'. To be sure, it has repetitive elements, but in  minimalist music the orchestration is usually paired down as well (look at Reich, for instance) and you coulnd't really say that of the Bolero. I've always been amazed of the immediate effect the Boléro can have, but the repetitive elements are just part of a powerful mix.

In general, I much appreciate many works by Nyman, Wim Mertens (now there's someone in need of recognition), Reich (the really minimal stuff) and Glass (particularly his film scores). The Pärt/Gorécki school I have some trouble with, mostly because of its heavy, unrelenting seriousness which only has a short gap to clear towards pretentiousness. Kancheli may be the exception: his scores generally are a bit more diverse, which makes them so much easier to enjoy.

Although clearly I disagree with Amphissa on the merits of the Górecki, I do agree entirely with the sentiments of his third paragraph. Well said. We should all enjoy what we enjoy.

I think that is a sine qua non for everyone here, and it ought to be. Still, we wouldn't be here if we weren't quite opinionated as well 

By the way, if you want to explore some different Gorécki, give the Requiem Für Eine Polka for Piano and 13 Instruments a whirl. Great piece, and in its own way as deep as the Third Symphony.

Amphissa, I think that that 'fashion' is something of a backlash after Gorecki's 3rd got promoted into star status by ClassicFM and others (also in the Netherlands/Germany).

It's like a Dan Brown novel: lots of people buy it on the strenghth or reputation or recommendation, and then discover that they're rather disappointed. It's bound to happen.

For me, the problem with Gorecki's 3rd (and some of his other works) is the leaded seriousness of them. If you wish to really communicate any sort of meaningful emotion, you need to put things into perspective, 'lighten the load' from time to time. Gorecki never does that. I understand and appreciate his reasoning, but that doesn't necessarily make it a worthwile musical experience.

I think Saint-Saens 1st has a better opening than the 5th, IMO...

As for Lalo, the "old Vox CD", a 2CD set of French piano concerti, is well worth acquiring even with the less-than-great sound. All sorts of unsung goodies on it.

You can still download it from eMusic, even:

http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Various-French-Piano-Concertos-MP3-Download/11244060.html

Without the notes, but they weren't much to begin with...

I now have the first two issues in the new Naxos set. For the First Symphony, I think I prefer La Vecchia's account over that of d'Avalos, but not by much at all.

As for the Second Symphony, IMHO nothing beats Bakels' account with the Malaysian Symphony on BIS for sheet commitment and passion.

For the completist, the La Vecchia discs have a few fillers that I haven't seen elsewhere.

When I'm restricting myself to 'grand gestures', these spring to mind:

Atterberg Piano Concerto
Bortkiewicz #1 (great crescendo) and #2
Grieg (of course)
Rued Langgaard, Fra Arild
Martucci
Pabst
Palmgren #1 (very delicate)
Pfitzner (!)
Rautavaara #1
Scharwenka #1
Robert Schumann
Stanford #2
Stenhammar #2
Tchaikovsky #2

Orff, I certainly didn't intend to 'cheese' you off. But the point is that although I'm grateful for every work that is lifted from oblivion, doing it properly dramatically increases the chances of it remaining 'lifted'. The two recent recordings of the Jadassohn Piano Concerto are a good case in point: it was only after listening to the superior Hyperion rendition that I began to realise what an enjoyable piece it was.

And it is exactly my appreciation of Bendix' symphonies that makes me wish they would receive better treatment. The Arte Nova set of Gernsheim symphonies blew me over not merely because of their compositional quality, but also because they enjoyed such committed performances.

[Evening 1: Bruckner's Boudoir]

OK, let's suppose...

... I just got off the phone with Warren Buffett, who's in urgent need for a tax write-off for some dodgy funds. He doesn't expect any revenue, just wants to lose money, which I'm obligingly going to arrange with this programme:

Evening 1: Bruckner's Boudoir
- Ignaz Bungert, Torquato Tasso Overture
- Bruckner Symphony No. 'oo'
- Ignaz Dorn, Labyrinth-Bilder oder Traum und Erwachen: Characteristische Symphonie

Evening 2: Danish Delights
- Paul von Klenau, Jahrmarkt bei London (Bank Holiday - Souvenir of "Hampstead Heath")
- Siegfried Langgaard, Piano Concerto No. 1
- Johan Hartmann, Symphony No. 1 in E, Op. 48
- Rued Langgaard, Music of the Spheres (as an encore)

Evening 3: Dutch Courage
- Wouter Hutschenruyter, Sr., Iwan & Pauleska, a Polish Romance
- Cornelis Dopper, Ciaconna Gotica (uncut version)
- Samuel de Lange, Viola Concerto
- Johannes Verhulst, Symphony in E, Op. 40

Evening 4: Bohemian Bravery
- Vilém Blodek, Symphony
- Bohuslav Martinu, Piano Concerto No. 3
- Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Schlemihl

Evening 5: Till Eulenspiegel
Hugo Rüter, Eulenspiegel, Overture
Jan van Gilse, Tijl (opera; concertante performance)

Evening 6: Polish Panache
Gregorz Fitelberg, Song of the Falcon
Henryk Melcer-Szczawinski, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor
Xaver Scharwenka, Symphony in C
Emil Mlynarski, Symphony in F major Op.14 'Polonia' (as encore)

Evening 7: Belgian Bonbons
Peter Benoit, The Pacification of Ghent - 4. The Duke of Alva's Entrance in Brussels
Arthur Meulemans, Pliny's Fountain
Arthur de Greef, Piano Concerto No. 2
Jef van Hoof, Symphony No. 2 in A flat major
Paul Gilson, La Mer

Evening 8: French Flaneurs
Paul Dukas, Goetz de Berlichingen, overture after J.W. von Goethe
Darius Milhaud, Le Carnaval d'Aix for 2 pianos and orchestra
Joseph Guy Ropartz, Symphony No. 3

Evening 9: Russian Evolution
Nikolai Miaskovsky, Lyric Concertino in G major
Eduard Napravník, Concerto Symphonique
Sergej Taneyev, Symphony No. 4
Reinhold Glière, Hymn to a Great City (as encore)

Evening 10: German Gründlichkeit
Miloslaw Koennemann, Der Fremersberg, Overture
Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf, Piano Concerto
Johann Abert, Symphony No. 4, "Columbus"
Felix Draeseke, Symphony No. 3 (as encore)
P.D.Q. Bach, Four Next-to-last Songs (as second encore)
Wilhelm Furtwängler, Symphony No. 2 (as third encore to round off an evening of truly Teutonic proportions)

Evening 11: British Bravado
Frederic Cliffe, Violin Concerto
Hubert Parry, Symphony No. 3
John Herbert Foulds, A World Requiem

I'd say that appreciation of the music doesn't exclude being slightly cheesed off with the quality of the present recording -  I know that for me it didn't in the case of the Bendix symphonies.

Other suggestions: Von Klenau 1, Martucci 2, Braga Santos 1

That sort of speculation, Jim, is unfounded and - frankly - pointless. Let's leave the conspiracy theories to others lest we appear paranoid. After all, there's plenty of them elsewhere on the web.

Unfortunately in this day and age, you're never quite safe on the internet. As someone who contributes to about half a dozen web sites, I can testify to the fact that malware is just about anywhere. And if it isn't malware or other forms of piracy, it's script kiddies trying to compensate for the problems of puberty by leaving their names all over the place (all of it under the guise of 'testing security', of course).

I'm thanking my deity of choice that Mark chose to set up the Raff.org site in something as undynamic (but safe!) as HTML, instead of one of the CMSes that are in general use nowadays. Although they're great pieces of software to work with, because of their genericness (sp?) their flaws are also general knowledge - and several people are busily exploiting them.

This problem is really eating away at the Web - and if something as harmless as Raff.org is infected, you can imagine what sort of attack more high-profile sites must be under.

This is good news indeed. For although I appreciate Seipenbusch et al.'s efforts, the sixth more than any of them could really do with a more fleshed out view. The current recording always gives me the feeling that there is much more to be had from this music.

Great to see we're there again - even if means I've been relegated to 'new' status...