Topics

Mark, since we already have a lot of topics, is it useful to add an index on alphabetical order for both "Composers and Music" and "New recordings"? I'm thinking of an index for (1) composers (who have a topic of their own) and (2) other subjects.
I know, it's for me as a member easily asked, but it means quite a lot of work for you as the Administrator...

Vol. 3 of Martin Jones's beautifully played Czerny sonatas has been released. See here
My personal opinion is that Czerny's piano sonatas (and nocturnes) are written in a much more Romantic style (and higher musical level) than most of his classical oriented and less inspiring orchestral works (symphonies & concertos).

In another topic Rheinberger's gorgeous piano sonatas opp. 47, 99 & 135 played by Pompa-Baldi on Centaur were praised highly.
More piano music (all of Rheinberger's solo piano output?) will be released soon in a 10 CD Box, see here

Finally I bought the Cello Concertos opp. 8&30 by Victor Herbert, the Irish-born, German-raised American composer. The First is a nice concerto, according to the booklet notes premiered in 1885 and performed again in 1975. The Second (1894) even entered the standard repertoire (until when?) and should have had a strong influence on Dvořák's Cello Concerto (1894-95, premiered in 1896).
Cellist Lynn Harrell has noted a number of similarities between the two concertos, and these are undoubtedly true, but after listening a few times to Herbert's Second I must say that there is a very huge gap in melodic level and thematic development between the two. The Dvořák is so much more majestic.

Herbert composed a lot of music and there are a few other works available on CD. I'm not yet stimulated to explore more of Herbert's music, but I'm wondering what other members think of his concertos and other musical output.

If members like warm, melodious, late romantic piano trios, I can very heartily recommend the recordings by the Storioni Trio (Vol. 1 & 2). What a wonderful  music, and so beautifully played. The Trio No. 6 in C minor, in 1907 awarded the first prize in the Concours International de la Société Musicale in Paris, has a Brahmsian grandeur, but the other trios are also absolutely gorgeous stuff. BTW, I see that the English translation of the booklet notes is done by Alan Howe. Is that you, Alan, or another Doppelgänger?

There is more of Röntgen's chamber music available to explore, but these trios are a good start, if you like the genre. Audio samples are given by jpc, see here and here.

.... this music can really make you feel happy again.

Classical music, not seldom described as serious music, can be neutral, or can make you feel gloomy and sad. But there is also a lot of music that can make you feel good, especially when you are in a sombre mood.

I'm wondering what your 'cheer-me-up' music is. A song, an aria, a symphony, some piano or chamber music, a certain movement, whatever.

My examples are:
Raff, Suite for Piano and Orchestra op. 200, Gavotte und Musette
Gänsbacher, Symphony in D major, especially the Allegro con spirito in the first movement.

Impossible to stay in a depressed mood.

For those who are not familiar yet with this lovely chamber music, this could turn out to be a beginning of a lifelong love...

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Joachim-Raff-Violinsonaten-Vol-3/hnum/2559050

and

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Joachim-Raff-Violinsonaten-Vol-4/hnum/5821718

These days I'm discovering Glazunov's orchestral music. I thought it was a pity that he couldn't finish his 9th and only composed a single movement. In fact, he left it in 1910 in piano score, and it was the conductor Gavriil Yudin who orchestrated the movement in 1947-48. Glazunov could have finished his 9th, but obviously he didn't want to.
I wasn't aware of the fact that Glazunov stopped composing at two-thirds into his life. Serebrier discussed this in the booklet notes. He thinks that Glazunov, who composed in a late Romantic style, found himself out of place (like Sibelius). In the early 20th century concert music changed drastically. Perhaps Glazunov thought his music had become old fashioned. I believe Serebrier's thoughts makes sense.

There must be other composers who stopped composing long before the ends of their lives. Any other examples? And what could be, or is the reason why? How about Cliffe?

In the thread "Kurt Atterberg"  the Nordic or Scandinavian sound has been mentioned a few times. The Swedish Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (P.-B.) is another example of a composer who knew how to translate the beautiful, lonely, silent and impressive Nordic landscape, in particular the Swedish mountains, into music.

P.-B. was a feared music critic (during 1896-1930), who knew how to make enemies amongst his contemporary fellow Swedish composers. So one might expect that his own compositions must be of quite a high level. I wonder if that is a fact. I've been listening to the 5 CD cpo box of his 5 symphonies, violin concerto and some other orchestral pieces and it is my listening experience that his output varies in quality (BTW, I'm not familiar yet with his other music, like his famous piano miniatures).
Of his symphonies I like his 3rd and 5th, but have difficulties with his 4th. His VC is a nice piece, but I'm not overwhelmed. So far I recognize 3 pieces which are absolutely wonderful (and makes the CD set worth having):
1. Romance for violin and orchestra in D minor. Very moving and I think his most beautiful orchestral piece.
2. Tranquillo, the 3rd movement of his Lapland Symphony (No. 3). Such a serene painting of the Nordic landscape.
3. The Pine Forest, the 5th part of his Suite "I somras" (Last Summer), which is also a subtle presentation of the Nordic nature.

Back to Atterberg. Born 20 years after P.-B. I think Atterberg's music is much more fascinating. But is it fair to compare both composers?

I'm interested in what members think of P.-B.

One of my latest purchases is Liszt's Complete Piano Music Box (BTW what an achievement by Leslie Howard) and as a result I'm rather occupied with Liszt over the past weeks. This sunny Sunday morning I've listened under ideal conditions (completely undisturbed) to the Faust Symphony (Boston SO, Bernstein), a work I haven't listened to for quite some years.
After listening it left me completely quiet for ten minutes. I was dumbfounded, overwhelmed. This is serious, emotional music with a great depth. The music gave me an almost esoteric musical listening experience.

Liszt is everything but unsung. I wonder whether there are unsung composers who wrote a piece of romantic music that has a similar great impact. It could be a symphony (or a series of symphonies to show the development), a symphonic poem, a concerto, an opera, chamber music, a piano sonata, whatever.
Personally I'm thinking of Die Tageszeiten by Raff and his Symphonies 1 & 5, although the effect (on me) is not as strong as Liszt's Faust Symphony. Cliffe's gorgeous VC, Czerny's majestic Piano Sonata No. 6 op. 124, Draeseke's Cello Sonata op. 51, Henselt's Studies opp. 2&5, Noskowski's impressive First, Röntgen's PC op. 18, all Rubinstein's Piano Sonatas, just to name some works that leave me stunned.

Do you have examples of music that gives you memorable listening experiences?

Mark, what a wonderful news on New Year's Day! Helene Raff's autobiography published in a translation by Alan. I haven't hesitated for a second and ordered the book.
Thank you both very much for your efforts. I'm sure it's a must-buy for all Raffians!

Today I heard his Adagio for String Orchestra, op. 3. I cannot even say it's a beautiful piece, but it's definitely very sombre. There are quite a number of CD's with chamber music available, including his beloved sonata for violin and piano in G major, and for New Year's Day another release is announced by jpc, please view here

What is your opinion of the music from this Belgian composer, who died so suddenly one day after his 24th birthday, at the top of his fame, due to typhoid fever after eating a sorbet.

A very healthy, prosperous, musical and smashing 2011 to all of you!'
Peter

What is your personal memorable musical event of the year? Attending a CD recording? Listening to an opera in a concert hall? The first listening of a totally unknown musical gem? A new discovered unsung composer? Playing an instrument together with friends for an audience? A meeting with a very renown singer or soloist?
It's probably a lesser interesting topic, but nevertheless, please let eachother know.

My personal event this year is visiting the house of Chopin's birth in Żelazowa Wola, and listening to a piano concert given in the room where Chopin was born. Unforgettable.

Recently I wanted something new and started to discover symphonic works of Weingartner. I bought the Symphonies 1-6 and the VC (all on cpo). I've noticed that Weingartner has been discussed in some topics, but not in detail (maybe in the old forum?).

I'm very interested in the opinions of members.

Yesterday, the 12th of November, Górecki died in Katowice at age of 76. He owed his international fame to his 3rd Symphony, 'A distant echo of God's word'.

This week is the Amsterdam Cello Biënnale 2010. One of the works played is the Cello Concerto No. 4 in E minor, op. 7, from the German cellist and composer Bernhard Heinrich Romberg (1767-1841).
This concerto is performed by Christophe Coin and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen. It will be broadcast next Tuesday the 16th at approx. 20:00 hours European time on Radio 4, the Dutch classical radio station.

I have never heard anything by Romberg. Is it classical or perhaps very early Romantic, like most of Hummel's output? I don't even know whether Romberg's cello concertos are released on CD. A provocative question asked at the Cello Biënnale is why did Beethoven never wrote a cello concerto? Is this because Romberg already was so successful with his own cello concertos?

Has anyone ever heard anything composed by Bernhard Romberg?

This German/Dutch composer has a website www.juliusrontgen.nl which is unfortunately (not for me...) in Dutch. If you go to 'Discografie' (Discography), and then to the red horizontal bar 'Soloconcerten' (Solo Concertos), you will see that 3 (out of 7) Piano Concertos are available on CD. No. 2 in D major, op. 18 and 'Two Piano Concertos (1929-1930)'. These could be No. 5 in E major (1929) or No. 6 in E minor (1929) and No. 7 in C major (1930) and are performed by Folke Nauta at the piano and the Orchestra of the East (het Orkest van het Oosten) under Jurjen Hempel. This CD (or these CD's) is (are) obtainable per e-mail through the Family Society Julius Röntgen. Obviously it's not a commercial recording. I don't have it yet, but will try to get a copy.

Another disc with Röntgen's Piano Concertos No. 2 (op. 18) and No. 4 (in F major, 1906) is (or will be) released by cpo, see here

Does anybody aleady have any of these CD's? If so, what is your opinion?

Any comments on the CD with the 3 Cello Concertos? And the only recorded Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor by Rachin Wenk-Wolff?

I have just listened to Reinecke's Symphony No. 2. And again, that is to say the first minute. Just out of curiosity. I wondered what does this first minute to me? Well, the opening minute of this specific symphony is so intriguing, it triggers me to listen to the whole work, because it fascinates me and makes me wonder what else is to come. Does the whole symphony meets the expectations I have after listening to that first minute?

I think that the question is more interesting for symphonies that are new to you, or symphonies you haven't listen to for quite some time (I haven't listened to Reinecke's 2nd for at least a year, and when I listened to the work again, I didn't remember anything at all so it sounded as a new work to me).

Of course there are examples of symphonies which doesn't give the listener a captivating intro, but turns out to be a wonderful work after all.

Do you have an example of such an unsung Romantic symphony (not a whole list, please) with an opening that intrigues you so much that you eagerly want to listen to the whole work?

Could this be an addition to the other available performances like the Banowetz?

Recently Vol. 4 of Ries' PCs has been released by Naxos. See Piano Concertos

Also Vol. 3 of Ries' Piano Sonatas by Susan Kagan is available on Naxos since some time, see Piano Sonatas