I've played clips from this superb cd before on other threads,but, what the hell, it's great music,imo.Seth Horvitz, "Eight Studies For Automatic Piano".Music for Yamaha Disklavier.
I've played clips from this superb cd before on other threads,but, what the hell, it's great music,imo.Seth Horvitz, "Eight Studies For Automatic Piano".Music for Yamaha Disklavier.
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
Cesar Franck - Psyche
That Seth Horvitz thing is pretty interesting....not usually a fan of "abstract sciencey ideas applied to music" but that's pretty fun to listen to. I love Conlon Nancarrow's player piano works...they're fun listens.
"And this is the chorus.....or perhaps it's a bridge...."
I think this composer would fit right up my alley, beautifully orchestrated melodies and atmsophere.Originally Posted by Reid
"Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. ". Ludwig van Beethoven
I just discovered Psyche, but Franck's best known orchestral work is the symphony in D minor. There's are numerous recordings. He was an organist, so there are some fine organ and piano works, as well as chamber music. A good introduction is the 2-fer set on Philips, The Best of Cesar Franck. https://www.amazon.com/Best-C%C3%A9s...f+cesar+franck
There's a good recording of the complete Psyche on Chandos.
https://www.amazon.com/Cesar-Franck-...+franck+psyche
You might enjoy Chausson as well. Another French romantic. This Double Decca set includes his best known works.
https://www.amazon.com/Symphony-Pian...words=chausson
Franck's Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman) is by far my favorite symphonic poem.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
Chausson was a Franck's pupil, another interesting finding for me too, based on what I checked out he was very influenced by Franck's style. I found indeed pretty enjoyable both the symphonic poems presented here - interesting melodic subjects, densely atmospheric and stunning harmonic approach. Thanks for the links and suggestions!
"Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. ". Ludwig van Beethoven
His Sonatas for Violin and Piano might also be among his original late Romantic era works too, the next from him I'll check out asap.
Last edited by Rick Robson; 12-22-2016 at 05:48 PM.
"Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. ". Ludwig van Beethoven
Joep Franssens - Harmony of the Spheres
Joep Franssens is a Dutch composer. He studied piano in Groningen, and composition in the Hague and Rotterdam with Louis Andriessen and Klaas de Vries respectively. He is representative of the post-serial generation of Dutch composers who use tonal means and an accessible idiom without neo-Romantic features, even if the pathos-laden, highly emotional nature of his music appears to contradict this endeavour. In his works, which consist of chamber music and choral and orchestral works, Franssens aims at a synthesis of monumentality and euphony and is initially guided by J.S. Bach and the Ligeti of Lontano and Atmosphères. Later a trend towards radical austerity becomes apparent under the influence of American minimalist music, East European mysticism (e.g. Pärt) and the symphonic pop music of the 1970s, culminating in the static diatonicism of the ensemble work Dwaallicht (1989) and the serene counterpoint of Sanctus for orchestra (1996, rev. 1999). The instrumentation increasingly shows a preference for warm, luxuriant colours.
I think there's only one, which I have on the Philips compilation. And he wrote one string quartet.
Always felt his cello sonata was the real masterpiece -
Jacqueline du Pre & Daniel Barenboim
Parts 1 & 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XwCFE2aHbE
Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctaRO6Gj98o
Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj_9OvG9pj4
BTW we're talking about Cesar Franck here - in case you don't feel like going back thru the posts.
Reid - you are my hero brother! You are speaking my language here! Ravel is a top 10 composer all day long, every day. LOVE LOVE him. The first track on cardboard amanda is called "Gaspard de la Fruit" in honor of Ravel. Some folks never pick up on that. Gaspard might be my favorite European solo piano piece - just an amazing journey.
NP:
Piano Works:
Valses nobles et sentimentales-Argerich
Miroirs-Aimard
Gaspard de la nuit-Pogorelich
I am cheating in my Canterbury binge right now by also doing a Debussy binge sort of side-by-side. Don't tell the Canterbury nerds
Debussy:
Nocturnes
Preludes Books I and II
Images
Etudes
Jeux
Printemps
Dances for Harp and Orchestra (and the first movement of this sounds like The Sea Nymphs - I shit you not. Well, actually vice-versa).
Children's Corner
Suite bergamasque
La Damoiselle elue
the list goes and on and on......
Both Ravel and Debussy are DEITIES.
It doesnt get any better than Ravel and especially Debussy !
Truer words were never spoken.
I am utterly addicted to Images Books I and II at the moment. I own Aimard's contemporary approach, but have been appreciating the classic Michangeli from 1972 (or thereabouts) on DG. The sonics are not an A+, but the reading is gorgeous. I think I am going to order the new(ish) reading of Hamelin's Images on the UK Hyperion label. Anybody have that by any chance? It got rave reviews, and I cannot get enough Debussy piano works/recordings. Another GREAT but lesser known recording is Georges Pludermacher on the Harmonia Mundi France label. I have only heard it on Spot - holy shit that crescendo in the first movement!
I have several albums with Debussy
My first crush was on LP's with an old interpreter named Noel Lee, I still think he is one of the best .
I have a box with 7 Cd's that I listen to a lot:
Debussy - Ravel Complete Piano Music
Piano: Gordon Fergus Thompson (Debussy) and Paul Crossley (Ravel).
Brillant Classics recorded 1989.
Excellent played and good sound too.
The estimated Walter Gieseking is famous for his interpretations of Debussy, I think he is damn awfull - avoid him by all means.
I have Crossley's Debussy set on Sony, which I like alot. And I just got an amazing set by the long dead French pianist, Marcelle Meyer. 17 CDs for around 21 bucks. She plays Chabrier, Debussy, Ravel, Scarlatti, Bach, Rameau, Couperin, and a few others. And there are some four hands pieces wih Poulenc at the piano.
I go back and forth between the two - I think Debussy for the large orchestral works and Ravel for the chamber works - at the moment - that will change as soon as I hear anything more ravishing than this:
^ Glad you posted this, its my favorite Ravel's piece.
Love this piece as well.
Great stuff.
Allow me to humbly recommend the Paul Jacobs recording (Nonesuch) of the Preludes Book I and II. Its not only one of my favorite works for piano by any composer (along with Ives Concord and Ligeti Etudes), but the recording itself might be my favorite engineered piano recording. It can be had for fairly cheap used on Clamazon. Here is the (older and better) LP cover:
0075597303124_p0_v1_s272x272.jpg
Here is the uglier CD cover (that I own):
41x6fxZ6lFL.jpg
I love The Sunken Cathedral. I first heard it by Jackson Berkey ages ago.
Been getting into this recently.
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
^^^
Thanks, Walt! I hadn't heard of Shchedrin before. Will explore some of his other works.
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