75 years Donaueschingen Festival 1921-1996

If you are a fan of contemporary classical music, you might be interested in the playlist 75 Jahre Donaueschinger Musiktage 1921-1996, which contains 12 CDs of recordings from the oldest music festival dedicated to new music. The Donaueschingen Festival, founded in 1921, has been a platform for promoting unknown and controversial talent and experimenting with new forms of expression. The CD box covers 75 years of musical history, from the early 20th century to the late 1990s, featuring works by composers such as Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schönberg, Wolfgang Rhim and many, many others… 

For many years, this box has been out of production, but luckily is still available on Spotify and other platforms (for other platforms, like  Tidal and qobuz, click here). The tracklist is quite extensive, so if you want to search the Composers and performers check this Discogs list. Strange enough, the year the work was composed is not on Discogs, but you can read it in the title of the Spotify metadata. 

I hope you will join me on this musical journey and discover some of the gems of the Donaueschingen Festival! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/4CCNxU0PAoLsPgSW67WcNa?si=YcsVHIZ8SoKYEo2ZVY9kfw

(HTTP link)

Colorful compositions: Szymanowski, Schönberg, Gubaidulina

Here is a “sort of virtual concert” with works where sound color occupies an important place. 

Szymanowski’s World War one violin concerto is perfumed with fragrant instrumentation, rhapsodic in form and has, in my opinion, one of the most hypnotic endings of any concerto I’ve ever heard.

Arnold Schönberg’s 5 orchestral pieces from 1909 are the starting point of
“Klangfarbenmelodie”, the technique of separating a melody over several instruments. 

Although presented as a single piece, Gubaidulina’s 2nd violinconcerto is divided into five episodes. In each of them the high register, symbolizing the sky and the low register, symbolizing hell with instruments like trombones, tubas - including three Wagnerian tubas - and double bassoons, oppose each other. In this struggle between light and shadow, with the orchestra playing the role of fate, “divine unity" is symbolized by unison, achieved in the transition from the fourth to the fifth episode. 

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

Violin concerto no 1 op 35 (1916)

Rosanne Philippens , violin, 

Nationaal Jeugd Orkest 

Xian Zhang, conductor

(Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam, live, september 2014)

Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951)

Fünf Orchesterstücke op 16 (1909)

City of Birmingham Orchestra

Simon Rattle, conductor

(Warwick Arts Centre, England, 1987)

Sofia Gubaidulina (born 1931)

Violin concerto no 2 “in tempus praesens” (2006-7)

Simone Lamsma, violin

Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Reinbert De Leeuw, conductor

(Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, live, oktober 2011)

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/45fGoXPb07Znx5JRw8Hq5p?

si=JuIyx3PmSWa6ZwXx8JU85A

(web player link)

Lost Generation composers from the Netherlands (1944-1967)

The joy of Spotify, finding, at random, a CD you heard on the radio many years ago and now can re-listen. Dutch “lost generation” composers, too modern for the pre- WW2 audience, too “not avant-garde” for the post-WW2 audience.  Hendrik Andriessen (1892-1983) is the father of better known composer Louis Andriessen. Henk Badings (1907-1987) was, although never a serialist, also a pioneer on electronic music. Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985) was a student of Paul Juon and Curt Sachs, was for 30 years piano teacher at the Royal conservatory in the Hague and composition teacher in Amsterdam. Marius Flothuis (1914-2001) was, besides composer, also a world famous musicologist and from 1955 to 1974 artistic leader of the Concertgebouworchestra, Amsterdam. Hope you will enjoy it! 

“nicked” the tracklist from the Discogs website.

Concerto Per Organo E Orchestra (1950)

Composed By – Hendrik Andriessen

Organ – François-Henri Houbart

1 I Introductie En Passacaglia

2 II Toccata

Concert Voor Harp En Klein Symphonieorkest (1967)

Composed By – Henk Badings

Harp – Ellen Versney

3 I Lento

4 II Grave

5 II Presto

Scherzo Per Orchestra, Opus 38 (1957)

Composed By – Léon Orthel (so not Flothuis, as is stated on the Spotify playlist!)

6 Scherzo Per Orchestra, Opus 38 (1957)

Concert Voor Fluit En Orkest, Opus 19 (1944)

Composed By – Marius Flothuis

Flute – Raymond Delnoye

7 I Introduzione, Tango E Walzer

8 II Rondo

9 III Variazioni

Het Brabants Orkest

Marc Soustrot, conductor

Recorded 1999

https://open.spotify.com/album/29pLh50MkuaxZA3aJcEBGX

(Webplayer link)

Innovative classical music programming

Now here is some imaginative programming…!!! The string quartets of 19th century Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 20th century Sergei Prokofiev and 21st century Gabriel Prokofiev are combined on these three CD’s (of one big spotify playlist, to stay in 21st century terms ;-). The latter, Gabriel Prokofiev, is the grandson of Sergei Prokofiev, if you were asking… Performances by the Ruysdael quartet (who studied two years at the Berliner Hochschule with the Alban Berg quartet and did masterclasses with the Amadeus Quartett, Hagen Quartett and Quatuor Mosaïques) are exemplary. 

The Strad was very positive about the first disc and all music writes about the third:

The Ruysdael Quartet approaches each of these compositions with an admirable level of intensity and commitment to detail. Their blended sound quality is especially enjoyable, with each instrument taking turns coming to the foreground at different points in the music. Overall tone of the quartet is dark and powerful, brilliantly balanced, and possessing an enviable palate of colors. Rhythmic precision, which is absolutely necessary for these works, is present in abundance. Virtually all other technical aspects of the performance are exceptional, save for some curious difficulties in intonation between first and second violins when playing in octaves. The majority of the playing, however, is at an extremely high level and coupled with the thoughtful programming and informative liner notes makes for a highly worthwhile disc.

And after hearing the playlist I wonder why these CD’s went by so unnoticed, actually. Anyway, here the are ad I hope you will enjoy them on Spotify!

Track 01-04 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Quartet no. 1 op. 11 (1871)

Track 05-07 Sergei Prokofiev — Quartet no. 1 op. 50 (1930)

Track 08-11 Gabriel Prokofiev — Quartet no. 1 (2003)

Track 12-15 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky— Quartet no. 2 op. 22 (1874)

Track 16-18 Sergei Prokofiev — Quartet no. 2 op. 92 (1941)

Track 19-22 Gabriel Prokofiev — Quartet no. 2 (2006)

Track 23-26 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Quartet no. 3 op. 30 (1875)

Track 27-30 Sergei Prokofiev — Sonata for 2 violins op. 56 (1932)

Track 31-35 Gabriel Prokofiev — Quartet nr. 3 (2010)

Ruysdael Quartet

Emi Ohi Resnick, violin

Joris Van Rijn, violin

Gijs Kramer, viola

Jeroen Den Herder, cello

Recorded between 2008 and 2010

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6qpU7Yq4L3NodfPByvaNHF?si=34a63f21bb6d4b9f

(Webplayer link)

Sergei and Gabriel Prokofiev

Gustav Mahler Symphony no 14 (1950) “Quickening” Spotify

"When the 89-year-old Gustav Mahler attended a performance of Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony, the old man was moved by the energy and spirit of the young French symphonic composer. Mahler's own 11th, were 12th and 13th symphony, in retrospect, an artistic disappointment, despite the approval and popularity that these backward-looking works gained. Mahler was so inspired by Messiaen that he, having virtually nothing composed for twenty years, picked up his pen once more and wrote his 14th symphony. Mahler reverted hereby to his 10th symphony, which he, after having recovered from serious heart problems, premiered in 1911. The dissonant chord stacks and slender treatment of the opening movement, were combined with the rhythm and lyricism he had heard at the Turangalîla. Mahler already had worked with children's choirs (3rd) and Latin texts (8th) in his symphonies and also in his 14th symphony those were used to give the serenity that he wanted to express in the late 1940’s.

Where the 10th symphony is a cry of despair to the world, the 14th Symphony is a conclusion of a new beginning. Mahler nicknamed his 14th symphony “Quickening". The title,” Mahler explained, “refers explicitly to the instant of conception, ‘the quickening of seed that will become ripe grain’ – or the moment that a woman first feels her baby kick.” Eventually Gustav Mahler wrote with his 14th symphony a worthy farewell to a series of symphonies which gave him a seat of honor between the 20th century composers.”

Ok, just dream on with me ;-)

But this is what came in to my mind when I first heard Quickening by the Scottisch composer James MacMillan. Mahler who already could hear Messiaen…

Gustav Mahler (1860-1951)

Symphony no 10 (1911) 

Bournemouth symphony orchestra

Simon Rattle, conductor

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1991)

Turangalîla symphony (1946-48)

Peter Donohoe, Piano

Tristan Murail, Ondes Martenot

City of Birmingham orchestra

Simon Rattle, conductor

Gustav Mahler (1860-1951)

Symphony no 14 (1950) “Quickening”

(James MacMillan, b 1959, Quickening (1998))

Hilliard Ensemble

City of Birmingham orchestra

James MacMillan, conductor

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/4JRbuxDmlu4ztW4rvijjKe (Webplayer link)

Music from and about Boston on Spotify

Good opportunity to hear some music about and from Boston! First, a piece about Boston from the Russian, sorry American composer Vernon Duke. Then, music „from” Boston in the form of the Boston Modern orchestra Project. They play Alan Hovhaness pastoral Saxophone concerto and Arthur Berger’s Gorecki like Prelude Aria & Waltz. Except that Gorecki was 12 years old at the time Berger wrote this... Further, a nice pie(r)ce by David Lang called *Pierced* and finally „the other” Boston orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the Charismatic Benjamin Zander playing Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

-Vernon Duke, Hommage to Boston (1945). Scott Dunn, Piano

-Alan Hovhaness, Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Strings Op.344 (1980) 

Boston Modern Orchestra Project - Kenneth Radnofsky, soprano saxophone

-Arthur Berger, Prelude Aria & Waltz (1945). Boston Modern orchestra Project, Gil Rose

-David Lang, Pierced! (2008) - Boston Modern orchestra Project, Gil Rose

-Igor Stravinski, Petruska (1911) - Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Benjamin Zander.

http://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/5oXWhw10lHV6In3ttdy9fO

(one hour- thirty minutes Red-Hot-sounds!) 

Adult Contemporary Music on Spotify

Why on earth is there a “+16” sticker on this CD with Post Soviet Piano compositions? Is this dangerous, violent modern music not suited for kids or adolescents? Or does the +16 stand for something different… The review of this cd in music web international does not give a clue for this but emphasis on the same merits that attracted me in these recordings as well: what an interesting variety of players and, for me, unknown works! It was also on Spotify so you can explore this CD as well. Note that the recently “hyped” pianist Lukas Geniuas also performs at this record! 

Kirill Volkov (b.1943)

-Sonata No.5 (2010) 

Irina Bogdanova, piano

Tatiana Chudova (b.1944)

-Sonata (1996) 

Nikita Mndoyants, piano

Tolib Shakhidi (b. 1946)

-Picture itude; 'Sufi and Buddha' (2002) 

-Playing Backgammon (2008) 

Ekaterina Mechetina, piano

Yuri Vorontsov (b. 1952)

-Sirius (2005)

Fyodor Amirov, piano

Alexei Sergunin (b. 1988)

-Origami (2012)

Lukas Geniuas, piano

Alexei Sysoyev (b. 1972)

-Antiphases (2009)

Yuri Favorin, piano

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/4n6MrUNIaSgTh3r0DGDlHe

(Spotify Webplayer link)

Odradek records on Spotify

It’s always a joy to look in new or old issues of the “gramophone” magazine. Beside the excellent reviews, the magazine (older copies certainly ;-) can be an inspring Spotify-guide. Not only the reviews, but also the advertisements, which led me to discoveries like the Liszt etudes by Jerome Rose and the fine Baroque-on-piano recordings by Jill Crossland. A while ago, my eye fell on an ad for a classical music label “… by artists with the odd sounding name “Odradek”. It certainly gives some weird associations in my native language (Dutch), but it prompted me to go to Spotify and type in “ label:odradek “ in the search bar (hint, that gives you search result by label). 

From the recordings found there , I would like to share two with your; a very original piano-transcription disc by the Japanese pianist Aki Kuroda and a very fine Schönberg piano works disc by Italian pianist Pina Napolitano. Explore them and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did…!

Aki Kuroda plays piano transcriptions:

-Gustav Mahler, arranged Yoichi Sugiyama (born 1969)

“Super-Adagietto. Intermezzo XIII” 

(Paraphrase on adagietto of Mahler’s 5th symphony)

-Igor Stravinsky, arranged by by Guido Agosti in 1928

Three movements form L'oiseau de feu 

I. Danse infernal du roi Kastcheï

II. Berceuse

III. Finale

-Claude Debussy, arranged by Leonard Borwick 

Prélude à L'après-midi d'un faune, L. 86

-Arnold Schonberg, arranged by Eduard steuermann in 1921

Kammersymphonie No. 1 in E major, Op. 9: complete

Pina Napolitano plays Arnold Schönberg piano works

-Drei Klavierstücke op. 11 (1909)  

-Sechs kleine Klavierstücke op. 19 (1911) 

-Fünf Klavierstücke op. 23 (1923)

-Suite für Klavier op. 25 (1923)

-Klavierstück op. 33a (1931)

-Klavierstück op. 33b (1931)

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/5u9igHRPDU1icdJYcO1aPc

Hin damit - Paul Hindemith on Spotify

Hin damit! (Away with it) was a word pun that composer Paul Hindemith haters (prominent NAZI leaders systematically!) used against the music he composed. Hindemith has a reputation for composing dry and academic works, but as I tried some of the compositions in this fine list from Classical Net  http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/hindemith.php

the lyrical and soft side of Hindemith also became evident to me. 

But just start with the wonderful Viola sonata from 1919, what a fine and alluring work this is! 

Jane Atkins is a convincing advocate for this work.

Hope you will enjoy the playlist!

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

-Viola Sonata, Op. 11, No. 4:

Jane Atkins, Viola

Pamela Lidiard, piano

Rec 1991

-Symphony Mathis Der Maler

Berliner Philharmoniker,

Herbert von Karajan,

Conductor

Rec 1961

-Trauermusik 

Geraldine Walther, viola

San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Herbert Blomstedt

rec 1987

 -Here! coffin that slowly passes, from:

 When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd (Requiem for those we love), for mezzo-soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra

Stephen Salters, Baritone

De Munt symphony orchestra,

Marc Soustrot, conductor

rec 1996 during the 1996 Queen Elisabeth competition

-Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber

New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Leonard Bernstein

Rec 1967

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/77JFlOqhnBdl4gQlt5z4z2

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