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Messages - Theodore S.

#16
Composers & Music / Re: A Myaskovsky Clarinet Concerto?
Thursday 08 February 2024, 00:52
This is indeed a strange mystery! I'm having a look around on the internet, and now I have to wonder if anything but the fact it's a 3-movement concerto for clarinet and strings is correct, like the credited musicians. At the very least, it's very probably not by Nikolai Myaskovsky.

I did see that the conductor Vladimir Ponkin is online and has social media (his own website and a VK account) - perhaps he'd be able to help solve this mystery, considering part of it is under his own name, after all.
#17
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Wednesday 24 January 2024, 12:12J.B. Priestley took great delight in Moszkowski's music, as he made clear in an ess

"If I pass him by, who will praise Moritz Moszkowski? The musical scholars and critics are eternally busy - and quite right too - with their Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and Brahms. Little Moritz has no place among the great. No music of his will ever disturb or challenge the soul. Neither I nor anybody else has ever come away from a composition of his, reeling and enraptured. His symphony, his opera, his concerto and concert studies are forgotten, and, although stranger things have happened, it is unlikely that any of them will be rediscovered and reviewed. In his day he had his triumphs, but now every garland has been dust these many years. Yet here and now, ignoring the giants who are always willing to take another bow, I crook my finger and, to the astonishment of the company, cry "Maestro Moszkowski, forward!" For has he not given me delight, hours and hours of it, glittering like the Carnival at Nice and yet as innocent as a baby's birthday? And all those who, like me, have pounded away at his "From Foreign Parts" and his Spanish Dance duets, should join me in this place, clapping the hands that still seem to ache from his "Bolero", and shouting "Bravo, Moritz Moszkowski, Bravo!"

- J. B. Priestley, chapter seventy-nine from "Delight".

I have much to be thankful for in both Moszkowski and Priestley, two brilliant artists in their crafts, both of whom one would wish they could listen to and read more of, though in their own times both were heralded as among the modern greats. Priestley, for his wondrous spiritual writings of time, the soul, and social justice; and Moszkowski, for his tuneful and colorful works for the orchestra, piano, and chamber ensembles. I am very happy to see that Moszkowski's Symphony will finally receive a proper recording, and for just this once, I believe we can happily prove the great Priestley wrong!

By the way, I'll also be keeping an eye out for a recording of his Piano Quintet - that piece seems like it should be very interesting...
#18
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Music by Evgeny Svetlanov
Sunday 21 January 2024, 09:56
There is one other piece by Svetlanov for which I don't know if it has been recorded - "Родние Поля" ("Rodniye Polya"), or "Native Fields", a 5-movement cantata for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra written in 1949. So far, the only part of the cantata which has definitely been recorded is the orchestral prelude called "Рассвет в Поле" ("Rassvet v Polye"), or "Dawn in the Field", which has a score video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOZx1XCKRcA. It's a gorgeous prelude, one of my favorite pieces by Svetlanov, so I think it can be safely assumed the rest of the piece is probably also very beautiful; a couple Russian articles suggest it had a successful premiere.

The complete orchestral and vocal manuscripts for the cantata can be found on the online archive of the Glinka Museum of Music.
#19
Quote from: tuatara442442 on Saturday 20 January 2024, 02:00Delicious and the score doesn't seem too difficult or exhausting to read. Makes me want to try out some passages myself :)


I hope you enjoy playing it!

Quote from: Elgar4Ever on Thursday 18 January 2024, 23:34I look forward to hearing this recording. I am familiar with the lovely 1913 Piano Trio in D Major so the solo piano music by Cadman sounds quite enticing. I wonder what his 'Indianist' compositions sound like?

The Piano Trio is a really lovely piece :) He also wrote a number of pieces on Indian melodies, and the movements available on YouTube of his Thunderbird Suite for piano are gorgeous, especially "Before the Sunrise".
#20
Good afternoon everyone,

Today I wanted to share a recording I made a few years ago of a piece already (partially) posted on this forum, the Piano Sonata in A major Op. 58 by Charles Wakefield Cadman. Prior to playing it, I hadn't known that the 2nd movement had already been recorded twice (including by the composer himself, as this forum has shown), but I am not aware of any other performances of the whole sonata besides my own. Here is Bartje Bartmans' score video of my performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea0u3xAOP6U
Also the playlist with the original videos from my channel (separate movements): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLic1pNbbwq3gTYz5qmeFwX5ZzE_X4Z8xZ

Ever since recording the Sonata, I have taken an interest in Cadman's music, he really does have a unique style of his own, and I think his music is really beautiful. Generally, it seems most of his substantial pieces have been recorded, though I wonder about his "Aurora Borealis" fantasy for piano and orchestra...

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy :)
#21
It's a beautiful piece, very passionate and inspired, and I'm very glad this piece managed to get performed. Why on earth must it take 90 years for such pieces to get performed? What a world of difference the general perception of classical music would be if more pieces like this were played, and with frequency at that! If only more performances like this happened with American romantic composers...
#22
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Music by Evgeny Svetlanov
Tuesday 16 January 2024, 17:43
Martin, that would be absolutely wonderful! I really hope the project can take off, especially with the sonata. I actually found a PDF online of the violin sonata, in case anyone wants it (full score and violin part): https://thecellist.ru/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/svetlanov-e.-sonata-for-violin-and-piano.pdf

Also, since you were thinking of doing all the violin pieces, these's one other piece that's also similarly obscure in terms of recordings, the Waltz in D major: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14qZicgZ4n6zYNXlggza2gDiBJ-31lMw3/view?usp=drive_link. Supposedly this piece was also recorded by Grach and Svetlanov, but that recording also seems out of reach.
#23
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Music by Evgeny Svetlanov
Monday 15 January 2024, 17:59
That's me, yes.
#25
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Music by Evgeny Svetlanov
Monday 15 January 2024, 01:43
Hello again,

I couldn't tell you where the performance of the Wind Quintet came from, beside an upload of the same recording on "classic-online.ru", and it's possible that this is the only recording this group ever made (considering I can't find any other performance by this group online). It seems more likely to me that recording wasn't from an LP, but a live concert - I think the description on that video refers to this LP: https://www.discogs.com/release/12187273-%D0%95-%D0%A1%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%AE-%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA-%D0%A4-%D0%A8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%82-%D0%9A%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%82-%D0%94%D1%83%D1%85%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%85-%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82

You're in luck regarding that recording of the Russian Variations for gusli-duo and folk orchestra, it's available here: https://poiskm.me/show/%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80-%D0%B4%D0%BB%D1%8F-%D0%B4%D1%83%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%B3%D1%83%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B9; other performances of that arrangement exist on YouTube (as well as the original harp-and-orchestra arrangement).

I've also been looking for that Violin Sonata recording with Eduard Grach and Svetlanov for a long time, but for now I have absolutely no idea where to find it - I've even checked the Russian State Library's online catalogue, and it isn't listed there. The only things I can suggest are:
1.) - write to the Svetlanov Foundation about it;
2.) - check other Russian/Ex-Soviet libraries' online catalogues;
3.) - ask Eduard Grach, as he's still living (if you're in a position to contact him);
4.) - try the Melodiya Label. If it does actually exist somewhere as an LP, my guess is that it probably was recorded by Melodiya - maybe they have some information about it (though I imagine it would have to be one of their most obscure recordings, if they did in fact record it).
Otherwise, regarding the Violin Sonata, there is a video from a school performance of the 1st movement posted not long ago. Sometimes I wonder if the Grach/Svetlanov LP even exists considering there is almost no public information about it, but then again Svetlanov's music in general is quite rare to find.

Here is the Romantic Ballade: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DOi7a49AfA1huQkNz9T1asS7UavneARG/view?usp=drive_link
#27
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Music by Evgeny Svetlanov
Wednesday 10 January 2024, 21:55
Sorry, that was from before - I've made new links using Google Drive, and now the hyperlinks work.
Here is the Alexandrov post: https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,9319.0.html.

#28
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Music by Evgeny Svetlanov
Wednesday 10 January 2024, 21:05
Quote from: Tapiola on Wednesday 10 January 2024, 20:17
Quote from: Theodore S. on Wednesday 10 January 2024, 15:33(P.S. - for some reason, clinking the hyperlinks of the recordings doesn't seem to work, I don't know why.)

You need to allow others to download it, you can do it by sharing it on the options when clicking right button on the file.

I spoke to the administrator, Mark Thomas, about the recordings before posting them, and we agreed it would be better (at least for this channel) that these would be non-downloadable files, for potential copyright reasons. However, if the administrator/moderators think it would be alright to do so, I might post the downloadable versions in the "Downloads" channel.
#29
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Music by Evgeny Svetlanov
Wednesday 10 January 2024, 20:14
Thanks, I think I fixed it.
#30
Recordings & Broadcasts / Anatoly Alexandrov (1888-1982)
Wednesday 10 January 2024, 15:46
This is the second post I wanted to make, following the post dedicated to the music of Evgeny Svetlanov. This one is about the music of Anatoly Alexandrov, one of the longest-lived composers in Russian history, and in my view on of the last true romantic composers (born 1888, died 1982). The recording I want to share here is his String Quartet no. 4 in C major, Op. 80 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X2LbdsuVtTRmpVW6O2O2bJXs4S6SY7PN/view?usp=sharing), performed here by the Borodin Quartet. Until now, the only part of this piece available to be heard online was from a documentary about Alexandrov (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsTp1sPSMUg&t=1470s), beginning at 20:03.

I have no idea whether or not his other 4 string quartets have been recorded - I only recently found out that this quartet had been recorded at all, sources regarding his discography are hard to find. His numerous piano sonatas have been recorded by a number of pianists, but some other pieces, like his  opera/ballet "Levsha" (which has been recorded on vinyl), are very difficult to find.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece!

Best,
Theodore