Speculum Musicae

On this CD:

1. Commedia for chamber orchestra
Composed by Susan Blaustein
Performed by Speculum Musicae
Conducted by Donald Palma

2. Imaginary Dances for chamber orchestra
Composed by David Rakowski
Performed by Speculum Musicae
Conducted by Donald Palma

3. Charrette for chamber orchestra
Composed by Allen Anderson
Performed by Speculum Musicae
Conducted by Donald Palma

4. Chamber Concerto
Composed by Sheree Clement
Performed by Speculum Musicae
Conducted by Donald Palma

Speculum Musicae, Music, Allen Anderson, Susan Blaustein, Sheree Clement, David Rakowski, Donald Palma, Speculum Musicae, Classical, Classical Artists, Concerto, Music for Chamber Orchestra, Orchestral

The Music of Elliott Carter, Vol. 1: Vocal Works (1975-1981)
Average customer rating:

One of the most important collections of modern vocal music.

The Music of Elliott Carter, Vol. 1: Vocal Works (1975-1981)

Manufacturer: Bridge
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by Carter | Carter, Elliott | ( C ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Elliott Carter: The Complete music for Piano

The Music of Elliott Carter Vol. 7; Boston Concerto, Cello Concerto, ASKO Concerto, Dialogues

The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Four

The Music of Elliott Carter, Vol. 6

The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Five - Nine Compositions (1994-2002)

ASIN: B000003GI9
Release Date: 1993-02-19

Tracks:

Dust of Snow
The Rose Family
The Line Gang
Anaphora
Argument
Sandpiper
Insomnia
View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress
O Breath
Syringa
Dolphin
La Ignota
Harriet
Dies Irae
Careless Night
In Genesis

Amazon.com essential recording

This reading of In Sleep, In Thunder has tenor Jon Garrison singing Carter's musical setting of six Robert Lowell poems. Speculum Musicae grasps the piece's broad-based low-end sweeps expertly, flanging when Garrison's voice seems to unlock and bellow. The music shudders as the tenor considers Lowell's lines, emphasizing the conflicted poetics with interjections that interrupt each other shatteringly. While the Lowell poems allow Carter a fairly costly emotional investigation of personality and conflict, A Mirror on Which to Dwell peeks in on the development of sonic characters, again taken on with snappy know-it-allness of musical directions this side of World War II. The music chases itself, with woodwind blurts shadowing fast-moving string slashes and percussive piano washes, all occasionally wafting into dusty quiet--a recessive sonic area that works wonderfully in relation to Elizabeth Bishop's texts. Very little in these pieces resolves itself, and the music's sum effect is a multiplicity of tonal characters that create their own space, all the while in uneasy proximity to the other spaces. With the Three Poems of Robert Frost (composed in 1942) moving with Patrick Mason's baritone bellow and Syringa sung by mezzo-soprano Katherine Ciesinski (texts by John Ashberry), the palette of tonal ranges and dynamic changes is extremely wide on this set. --Andrew Bartlett

Album Description

Between 1975 and 1981, Elliot Carter produced his remarkable vocal trilogy: A Mirror on Which to Dwell, Syringa, and In Sleep, in Thunder. Bridge's CD marks the first integral recording of the three works, and also includes the premiere recording of Carter's 1980 orchestration, Three Poems of Robert Frost. These recordings were made under the composer's supervision, and feature Speculum Musicae, with whom Carter has worked closely during the past twenty years.

Customer Reviews:

One of the most important collections of modern vocal music........1999-07-04

I like Andrew Bartlett's descriptions of "In Sleep, In Thunder" and "Mirror on Which to Dwell." As with every other musical form Carter has chosen to work in, the vocal works are among the most important in their genre for the second half-century. Bartlett doesn't talk much about "Syringa," though. In fact, it's the most original and striking work of the disc. Imagine a sort of film with a narrator calmly telling us the story of Orpheus in sort of hip modern jargon, but superimposed on the real thing--Orpheus passionately declaiming or agonizingly wailing, and all the while a little chamber orchestra is making wickedly flickering music. Everything happens simultaneously, as if we were in two or three worlds, eons apart, at the same time. This is Carter's chamber opera (in the sense that Kurtag's great "Samuel Becket: What is the Word" can be thought of as an opera), and until his new opera (composed last year at the age of 89)is released on disc, it's all we've got for a Carter opera.

The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Five - Nine Compositions (1994-2002)

Average customer rating:

Carter continues to impress
Fantastic from the first piece
Vive le Carter!

The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Five - Nine Compositions (1994-2002)

Manufacturer: Bridge
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Duets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Four
The Music of Elliott Carter, Vol. 6
The Music of Elliott Carter Vol. 7; Boston Concerto, Cello Concerto, ASKO Concerto, Dialogues
Elliott Carter: The Complete music for Piano
The Music of Elliott Carter, Vol. 1: Vocal Works (1975-1981)

ASIN: B00009OLTI
Release Date: 2002-06-01

Tracks:

Steep Steps
Two Diversions
Two Diversions
Oboe Quartet
Figment No. 2 (Remembering Mr. Ives)
Au Quai
Of Challenge and of Love
Of Challenge and of Love
Of Challenge and of Love
Of Challenge and of Love
Of Challenge and of Love
Figment No. 1
Retrouvailles
Hiyoku

Album Description

Steep Steps* (2001) Virgil Blackwell, bass clarinet; Two Diversions (1999) Charles Rosen, piano; Oboe Quartet* (2001) Speculum Musicae; Figment No. 2 "Remembering Mr. Ives"* (2001) Fred Sherry, cello; Au Quai* (2002) Maureen Gallagher, viola, Peter Kolkay, bassoon; Of Challenge and of Love (1994) Tony Arnold, soprano; Jacob Greenberg, piano; Figment No. 1 (1994) Fred Sherry, cello; Retrouvailles (2000) Charles Rosen, piano; Hiyoku* (2001) Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima, clarinets

*Premiere recording

Volume Five of Bridge's ongoing Elliott Carter series contains five premiere recordings, including Carter's bracing Oboe Quartet of 2001. Performed by many of the leading Carter advocates of our time, this recording is a must for those interested in keeping up with the undimmed imagination and constant creative impulse of this American master, now well into his tenth decade. Also featured on this CD is a new recording of Carter's song cycle Of Challenge and of Love, performed by the brilliant young American soprano Tony Arnold, the recent first prize winner of the Gaudeamus International competition for interpreters of contemporary music. Rounding out this CD are a series of instrumental miniatures played by dedicatees Virgil Blackwell, Charles Neidich, Ayako Oshima and Fred Sherry. In addition, the pianist Charles Rosen adds on to his earlier (almost) "Complete Piano Music of Carter" CD (BRIDGE 9090) with the Two Diversions, and Retrouvailles.

Volume one: BRIDGE 9014
Volume two: BRIDGE 9044
Volume three: BRIDGE 9090 (Grammy nomination)
Volume four: BRIDGE 9111 (Grammy nomination)

Customer Reviews:

Carter continues to impress.......2006-06-27

This disc, containing seven short works and two longer ones dating from Carter's late eighties and early nineties, continues Bridge's invaluable series of recordings of works by this modern American master. As with all Bridge's recordings, the performers are almost always musicians with a long history of performing Carter's music (here including the group Speculum Musicae, the cellist Fred Sherry and the pianist Charles Rosen), and this certainly helps to give the performances an authoritative air.

The disc starts with a bang--Carter's bass clarinet solo Steep Steps (so titled because of the importance of leaps of a twelfth in the composition). This is a vigorous and highly enjoyable work that provides an ideal disc opener. More dry are the Two Diversions, two pieces for the advanced piano student. These two works complement each other well; the first simpler, the second rhythmically complex.

The Oboe Quartet is one of Carter's more important recent scores. Written in a single multi-section movement, it alternates between tutti passages and duets for pairs of instruments, and demonstrates (as does much of Carter's recent music) that a strictly atonal style need not reduce a composer's capacity for lyricism. If I'm not sure that Speculum Musicae's performance here quite matches the intensity of Holliger and friends on ECM, this is still a fine reading of a significant work.

The disc then returns to a couple of miniatures. Figment No 2 for solo cello is one of a series of works in which Carter pays homage to musical figures important to him when he was younger, and though there are no obvious stylistic references to Ives, the work does include fragmentary quotations and hints of hymnic writing. Au Quai, by contrast, is a tribute to a composer and conductor who has done so much for Carter's own music--Oliver Knussen, on his 50th birthday. Written for the unusual combination of viola and bassoon, this is a delightful, charming miniature with a wonderfully sense of timing.

Returning to major works, once again, Of Challenge and of Love is one of Carter's many recent song cycles (though the only mature work of his for voice and piano). A setting of five poems by John Hollander, this builds to an expressive climax in the lengthy fourth poem, Quatrains from Harp Lake, before the almost anticlimactic close, End of a Chapter. Having only heard this work though Lucy Shelton's premiere recording on Koch, I found much more warmth in it in this reading, with the fine Tony Arnold the soprano soloist, though I don't think it will ever rank amongst my favourite late Carter works.

The disc ends with three more miniatures. Figment No 1 for solo cello is one of Carter's finest short works, ranging over the whole expressive gamut despite being based entirely on one short idea. Retrouvailles is a brief and comparatively simple (for Carter, at least) study for piano, written for Pierre Boulez's 75th birthday, while Hiyoku, a duet for two clarinets, effectively explores the contrast between the two instruments playing similar and different material.

This is another impressive release in Bridge's Carter series. Lovers of the composer's music will not hesitate to snap it up.

Fantastic from the first piece.......2006-01-22

Carter lets the bass clarinet show off every bit of its range in Steep Steps, from soulful low bass lines, through a smoky lower-midrange area, to an almost sax-like upper register.

All the cellos pieces are great, and the oboe quartet? The other reviewer nailed it; it's like the oboe is playing the lead violin line.

Vive le Carter!.......2003-07-07

The fifth offering in Bridge's indispensible series of the music of Elliott Carter contains nine compositions written from 1994 to 2002, when the composer, incredibly, was between the ages of 85 and 93. There are the usual short gems for various instruments that Carter has made a specialty in recent years. The disk begins with the fascinating "Steep Steps" for solo bass clarinet, an instrument Carter has exploited to great effect in his Piano Concerto and Triple Duo. Fred Sherry delivers a haunting rendition of "Figment No. 2" for solo cello. Subtitled "Remembering Mr. Ives" (Carter first met Ives as a teenager), the piece conveys a nostalgia rare in Carter's work, with short phrases evoking, though not quoting, the kind of hymns Ives used in his music. The Two Diversions for Piano are more transparent than some of Carter's other piano pieces, and rightfully so, since they were written for the Millenium Piano Book for pianists of intermediate skills. Charles Rosen, a long-time Carter champion, provides tender and beautiful readings. Soprano Tony Arnold's rendition of the song cycle "Of Challenge and of Love" seems softer and less forced than Lucy Shelton's premiere recording, which is all to the good, but for me the highlight of the disk is the Oboe Quartet, a major 14-minute work that shows Carter at the top of his instrumental game. Despite its unrepentant modernist idiom, this composition has a classical elegance, a romantic sensuousness, and a Baroque richness of counterpoint that doesn't showcase the soloist as much as make him a first among equals. It is as though the composer had written a new string quartet with the oboe subbing for the first violin. I could not wish for a better performance.
More!

The Music of Mario Davidovsky, Vol. 3; Synchronisms Nos 5, 6, 9, Duo Capriccioso, Quartetto, Chacona

Average customer rating:

The Music of Mario Davidovsky, Vol. 3; Synchronisms Nos 5, 6, 9, Duo Capriccioso, Quartetto, Chacona

Manufacturer: Bridge Records, Inc.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Flashbacks: Music by Mario Davidovsky
Mario Davidovsky: 3 Cycles on Biblical Texts
Salvos: Chamber Music of Mario Davidovsky
Pioneers of Electronic Music
Milton Babbitt: Philomel

ASIN: B000ASAT4Y
Release Date: 2005-09-01

Tracks:

Synchronisms No. 5
Duo Capriccioso
Synchronisms No. 6
Quartetto
Synchronisms No. 9
Chacona

Product Description

This CD presents six new recordings of Mario Davidovsky compositions spanning a period of nearly thirty-five years, performed by some of his leading champions. Featured are three of DavidovskyÂ’s Â“SynchronismsÂ” pieces for instruments and electronic sounds. This series of path-breaking works (including the Pulitzer Prize-winning No. 6 for piano and electronics) incorporates some of the Argentine-born DavidovskyÂ’s best known compositions. The Synchronisms series presents the listener with brilliantly imagined Â‘sonic-spacesÂ’ that combine extreme instrumental virtuosity with an accompanying pre-recorded track that utilizes both electronic and concrete sounds. The music that Davidovsky offers is notable for its highly musical interweaving of materials from radically differing sound sources. In addition to the Synchronisms pieces, three chamber works round out this collection. Duo Capriccioso, heard in its first recording, is a whimsical dialogue between violin and piano. Quartetto contrasts delicate unison writing with ferociously biting tuttis; and Chacona is a granitic masterpiece of heroic virtuosity. CD annotator Eric Chasalow writes that Â“Davidovsky was already a composer of great accomplishment when Aaron Copland brought him from Argentina to Tanglewood in 1959. There, Milton Babbitt recognized the young composerÂ’s potential and made the crucial suggestion that he travel to New York City.Â” Davidovsky eventually became director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, where he came into contact with Edgard Varèse and many other leading musicians of the day. Chasalow calls Davidovsky Â“one of the truly original musical voices to have emerged from post war America....with this music we are drawn into a world that is highly coherent, elegant and compelling.Â” These Mario Davidovsky recordings are also available on Bridge: Volume One: Flashbacks (1995); Festino (1994); Romancero (1983); Quartetto No. 2 (1996); Synchronisms No. 10 (1992); String Trio (1982) BRIDGE 9097 Volume Two: Shulamit's Dream (1993); Scenes from Shir ha-Shirim (1975); Biblical Songs (1990) BRIDGE 9112

Wolpe: Quintet with Voice; Piece in 3 Parts; Suite im Hexachord

Average customer rating:

Wolpe: Quintet with Voice; Piece in 3 Parts; Suite im Hexachord

Manufacturer: Bridge
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Duets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000003GJ1
Release Date: 1995-02-13

Tracks:

Ste Im Hexachord: 1. Sostenuto - Stephen Taylor/Allen Blustine
Ste Im Hexachord: 2. Pastorale - Stephen Taylor/Allen Blustine
Ste Im Hexachord: 3. Fuge - Stephen Taylor/Allen Blustine
Ste Im Hexachord: 4. Adagio - Stephen Taylor/Allen Blustine
Provence - Hilda Morley
Qnt: 1. Of Festive Grace - Speculum Musicae/William Purvis
Qnt: 2. Here, The Sun Violet - Speculum Musicae/William Purvis
Qnt: 3. Vars - Speculum Musicae/William Purvis
Piece In Three Parts: 1. 1/4nt= 100 - The Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center/Oliver Knussen
Piece In Three Parts: 2. 1/4nt= 74 - The Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center/Oliver Knussen
Piece In Three Parts: 3. 1/4nt= 132 - The Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center/Oliver Knussen

Album Description

This new release celebrates the explosively visceral sound world of Stefan Wolpe (1902-1972). Regarded by specialists as among the elite of mid-century modernists, Wolpe's compositions of the 50's and 60's can be heard as developing in sound many of the ideas championed on canvas by New York's Abstract Expressionists.

This disc includes the premiere recordings of two late Wolpe scores - Quintet with Voice (1957) and Piece in 3 Parts for Piano and 16 Instruments (1961); as well as Wolpe's early Suite im Hexachord (1936.

Tracks:

Shard
Luimen
Tempo e Tempi
Tempo e Tempi
Tempo e Tempi
Tempo e Tempi
Tempo e Tempi
Tempo e Tempi
Tempo e Tempi
Tempo e Tempi
Eight Pieces for Four Timpani
Eight Pieces for Four Timpani
Eight Pieces for Four Timpani
Eight Pieces for Four Timpani
Eight Pieces for Four Timpani
Eight Pieces for Four Timpani
Eight Pieces for Four Timpani
Eight Pieces for Four Timpani

Amazon.com

Volume Four of Bridge's outstanding Elliott Carter series features one of his masterpieces, Eight Pieces for Four Timpani, along with fascinating recent shorter works. Virtuoso guitarist David Starobin makes the most of "Shard," which packs more harmonic and rhythmic variety into its kaleidoscopic two and a half minutes than many much longer works. "Shard" reappears within the longer Luimen, a delicately colored piece that exploits its unusual instrumentation--trumpet and trombone joining the plucked instruments guitar, mandolin, harp, and vibraphone. Tempo e Tempi is a cycle of eight songs to poems by Italian poets for soprano and a quartet of winds and strings, fascinating in its rhythmic complexity and coloristic subtleties. Soprano Susan Narucki is the flawless high-flying soprano, coaxing lovely melodies from Carter's uncompromising writing. The timpani piece is bound to be a favorite of anyone with a taste for percussion instruments or with the curiosity to discover how much variety and nuance can be derived from the instrument. It's brilliantly performed here by Daniel Druckman. Bridge's first-class sonics and informative booklet notes add to the attraction of a must-have CD for Carterites and anyone interested in contemporary music. --Dan Davis

Album Description

With this release Bridge continues its award winning series devoted to the music of Elliot Carter. This volume contain the premiere recordings of two recent Carter scores- the highly inventive Luimen and the stunning song style on Italian poetry, Tempo e Tempi. Performing on this CD are members of Speculum Musicae- the ensemble that has been most closely associated with Carter's music during the past 30 years. The disc opens with Shard, performed by the work's dedicatee, guitarist David Starobin. Shard is the second solo guitar work Carter has composed for Starobin, and is a brief, but highly volatile opener. Shard in its entirety was incorporated into Carter's next work- the shimmering Luimen. Speculum's performance of Luimen shows all the traits that have made Carter's recent music so intriguing- great rhythmic freedom and superb control of form in combination with high spirits and good humor. Tempo e Tempi is a set of eight songs based on poems by Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo, and Giuseppe Ungaretti. Called by annotator Malcolm McDonald, "one of the most beautiful song-cycles of recent times," Susan Narucki's radiant performance captures these songs to perfection. Finishing this program is Eight Pieces for Four Timpani in its first complete performance on CD. It is performed by Speculum and New York Philharmonic percussion virtuoso Daniel Druckman, son of the late, great American composer Jacob Druckman.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous late Carter--shame it's only half the disc.......2003-11-28

The American modernist composer Elliott Carter, shortly to celebrate his 95th birthday, has been a remarkably fertile figure over the last ten years--indeed the 1990s were his most prolific decade--and shows no sign of letting up. This disc collects three works from 1997 and 1999 and couples them with a rather less interesting earlier piece.

1997's Shard, for solo guitar, is a wide-ranging whimsical two and a half minutes with a delightful ending, and it is perhaps no surprisng that Carter should have gone on from it to incorporate it wholesale in a larger work, the ten-minute sextet Luimen, for the unusual ensemble of trumpet, trombone, harp, mandolin, guitar and vibraphone. This is a truly delightful piece, with a wonderfully lighthearted weightless atmosphere that mirrors the very best sides of the classical-era divertimenti.

Tempo e tempi (1999) is a cycle of eight songs for soprano, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello, based on poems by Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo and Guiseppe Ungaretti. Once again, this music is imbued with the lightness common to much of Carter's music since the Allegro scorrevole that concluded his Symphonia. The solo line is a wonderful fount of atonal melody, the accompaniment delicate, restrained and always to the point.

Less recommendable is the older piece, Carter's Eight Pieces for Timpani. In concert performance, percussionists ususally select only two or three of these pieces, and it's easy to see why. The task of writing 25 minutes of good music for timpani is one that would probably defeat any composer, and I find Carter--despite his exceptional talents--is unequal to the task.

Nonetheless, this disc is well worth hearing for the half hour of recent music on it. It strikes me that Carter's recent works have come closer to evoking the spirit and feel of the classical era than any of the self-consciously retro composers of our day. His technique, harmony and melody may have nothing whatsoever to do with Haydn and Mozart, but his recent music's expressiveness has everything to do with it. Long may he continue.

Speculum Musicae Performs Music By Emerging Composers - David Sanford: Chamber Concerto No. 3 (1992) / Morris Rosenzweig: Delta, the Perfect King - Chamber Concerto for Horn (1989) / Eric Moe: Kicking and Screaming (1994)
Average customer rating:

Great new music, first rate performances

Speculum Musicae Performs Music By Emerging Composers - David Sanford: Chamber Concerto No. 3 (1992) / Morris Rosenzweig: Delta, the Perfect King - Chamber Concerto for Horn (1989) / Eric Moe: Kicking and Screaming (1994)
Donald Palma , Morris Rosenzweig , William Purvis , David Carroll , Donald MacCourt , Eric Bartlett , Allen Blustine , David Krakauer , Dennis Smylie , Michael Willens , Stephen Taylor , Jayn Rosenfeld , Susan Palma , Susan Palma Nidel , Eric Moe , David Sanford , Speculum Musicae , Aleck Karis (piano) , and William Purvis (french horn)
Manufacturer: Composers Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
French Horn | Brass | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
Piano | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
Clarinet | Reeds & Winds | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000005TXK
Release Date: 1996-02-20

Tracks:

Chamber Concerto No.3 - I
Chamber Concerto No.3 - II
Chamber Concerto No.3 - III
Chamber Concerto No.3 - IV
Delta, The Perfect King - Chamber Concerto For Horn
Kicking And Screaming - I - With Great Energy And Sweep
Kicking And Screaming - II - Andante
Kicking And Screaming - III - Extremely Incisive And Energetic

Customer Reviews:

Great new music, first rate performances.......2003-09-01

Speculum Musicae is an ensemble didicated to performance of contemporary music. It was founded by Don Palma, bassist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Speculum's members include Stephen Taylor, Allen Blustine, Curtis Macomber, Bill Purvis, Susan Nidel, Jayn Rosenfeld, Carol Zeavin, Eric Bartlett, and others, all affiliated with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In essence, Speculum Musicae IS The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra playing contemporary music. These performances are all first rate.

Sanford was associated with Princeton University, and composed for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Rosenzweig conducts the Chamber Players of the League-ISCM New York, and has been commissioned by the Emerson Quartet, Speculum, and others. Eric Moe founded Earplay and is affiliated with the Univ. of Pittsburg.

Tracks:

Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Psalmodies
Etude and Ricercare
Etude and Ricercare
Chaconne
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)
Paganini Variations (Guitar Concerto No. 2)

Album Description

This disc compiles 4 award-winning recordings of works that Danish composer Poul Ruders has written for the guitarist, David Starobin. "Psalmodies" is an eleven movement `concerto-concert suite' that begins that ends with movements for solo guitar, and displays a wide range of emotions-from introspective to circus-like. Starobin and Speculum Musicae's performance was named a Fanfare 'Best of Year'. "Etude and Ricercare" is a sober 13 minute essay in pure polyphony. Originally on BRIDGE 9057, the recording was a Gramophone "Editor's Choice". "Chaconne" is a short meditative solo that was originally on Starobin's "Newdance". Newdance won the 2000 "Indie" for "Best Solo CD of the Year" and a Grammy nomination for "Best Solo Performance". "Paganini Variations" (originally released on BRIDGE 9122) is a high-spirited concerto based on Paganini's famous 24th Caprice. Given a 10-10 (highest rating) by ClassicsToday.com, critic David Hurwitz wrote: "Poul Ruders' music is expressionistic in the best sense of the term: exciting, extreme, violent, hallucinatory, and often strikingly beautiful-it grabs you by the throat and never lets go. How guitarist David Starobin gets all of those notes under his fingers is anyone's guess, but manage it he does. It's an amazingly virtuosic display of supreme musicianship."

The Music of Stephen Jaffe, Vol. 2: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra; Chamber Concerto "Singing Figures" for Oboe and Five Instruments

Average customer rating:

The Music of Stephen Jaffe, Vol. 2: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra; Chamber Concerto "Singing Figures" for Oboe and Five Instruments

Manufacturer: Bridge Records, Inc.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Stephen Jaffe: The Rhythm of the Running Plough

ASIN: B0001D36UW
Release Date: 2004-01-25

Tracks:

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra - Passage
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra - Variations
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra - Allegro vivo
Chamber Concerto "Singing Figures" - Dance Prelude
Chamber Concerto "Singing Figures" - Water Music
Chamber Concerto "Singing Figures" - Finale

Album Description

Born in 1954, Stephen Jaffe is an important emerging American composer. This release coincides with the National Symphony Orchestra's world premiere performance in January 2004 of Jaffe's new "Cello Concerto", and brings to the catalog two major Jaffe scores from the 1990s--the thirty-five minute "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra" and the more compact 20 minute "Chamber Concerto" for oboe and ensemble. Jaffe's music is truly "American" in that it reflects a pioneering spirit--a voice that resembles none of the "isms" that populate our present day musical landscape. Composed for a large orchestra, Jaffe's violin concerto begins with a simple diatonic melody which is soon transformed and developed. The language of this work ranges from the most simple and direct melodies to very dense clouds of sound in which the violin soloist is temporarily enveloped. Violinist, Gregory Fulkerson and the Odense Symphony Orchestra (Denmark) give a heroic account of this major work. As sprawling and dramatic as Jaffe's violin concerto is in language and size, his chamber concerto offers a more reduced presentation of equally beguiling materials. This light and airy composition inhabits a world that is not so far removed from an 18th century divertimento, with even its colorful instrumentation (strings, piano, harpsichord and celesta) suggesting older models. Jaffe's vivid and complex rhythmic materials, however, are anything but "ancient," and Speculum Musicae with solo oboist Stephen Taylor give this work a sparkling performance.

Average customer rating:

Contemporary Music at its Finest
So much to talk about!

Lee Hyla: We Speak Etruscan

Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Trans

ASIN: B0000030JB
Release Date: 1996-02-29

Tracks:

Pre-Pulse Suspended
String Quartet No. 2: I
String Quartet No. 2: II
String Quartet No. 2: III
We Speak Etruscan
String Quartet No. 3
Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra No. 2: I
Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra No. 2: II
Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra No. 2: III
Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra No. 2: IV

Customer Reviews:

Contemporary Music at its Finest.......2006-09-15

The reviewer who characterized "We Speak Etruscan" as "honks and crashes" needs to be taken out and honked. (You know who you are. Meet me outside.) This piece, and every other piece on this album is a five-star gem.

I will be honest; I am not a great fan of contemporary American music. Frankly, I like to hum along to my (mostly dead) composers, usually as I am doing something else. But when you listen to Hyla's music, it is not only highly unlikely that you will sing along, you really can't do anything else. The changes in mood, texture and (yes!) harmony are completely captivating. The best way to understand it is not with your mind, however, but with your body. Hyla's music is a visceral experience which will take you places you've never gone before.

The first piece on the album, Pre-Pulse Suspended, characterizes Hyla's approach to music. It starts with a quick plunge into a bath of cold water which will leave you breathless. After a few minutes, Hyla relents and gives you a warm lyrical current to float on. (It's delicious, but don't get too comfortable.) This is typical of Hyla - rapid, almost overwhelming shifts of mood and texture, which very few composers can pull off without descending into chaos. In spite of the extreme contrasts inherent in all of the pieces on this album (witness the heartbreakingly ethereal opening of the String Quartet No. 3 as it evolves inexorably into nailbiting tension) - Hyla is never chaotic. He is the master of control. He will make you hold your breath one minute, sigh the next, and laugh a minute later. (Both the title piece and the piano concerto have a slapstick Marx Brothers element that really hits you in the funny bone.)

For lovers of contemporary music, just sit back and enjoy the ride. But if this is your first experience with contemporary composers, let Hyla introduce you to a new form of travel. You won't come back the same.

So much to talk about!.......2005-09-10

I really am not sure where to start with this CD. First, I guess would be to try to locate Hyla within the contemporary classical scene. Good luck. He is not really welded to atonality nor to a romantic neo-tonal approach. He is certainly not a minimalist or a serialist.
This 1996 release sounds like it could have been written in the 90s, the 50s or the early parts of the twentieth century. Mostly I think Hyla is an iconoclast. He is a melodicist but an unpredicatble one. Sometimes his music seems complex, even choatic but it also always seems very carefully structured. Every note by every instrument is carefully placed. A million things may be happening but you can hear every single one of them.
Hyla loves certain sounds and sound qualities. He has formed a life-long relationship with bass clarinetist Tim Smith who is simply great throughout this CD. The opening of Pre-Pulse Suspended is Smith in duet with a violin. The sound is all about grainyness. This duet section is mined for material through out the rest of the piece. This is truely an amazing piece. The rhythmic structure is jagged, aggressive and enormously vital. This may become one of my favorite contemporary classical pieces. And one that I will play for open-eared friends who ask me what there is in this genre of music that I love.
The string quartets seem more traditional as if they could have been written at any point in the twentieth century. Hyla seems to eschew the use of much extended technique on the strings which adds to their traditional sound. But they are very rich in the interplay and in the odd development of the themes. I like them very much.
And finally I want to mention the title piece. What a treat. Tim Smith on the bass clarinet and Tim Berne on the baritone sax. We are not just talking about gritty grainy sound but gritty grainy sound with bottom. The rhythmic drive of this piece is delightful. Very jazzy but somehow obviously not. Third stream at its best.
I suppose that in the end it doesn't really matter where Hyla belongs on the musical map. He seems to listen to any and all American musics. He seems to have mastered most compositional approaches. And he then seems to write down whatever comes into his head. In a very ordered, clear and engrossing manner.
I love this guy. Regardless of what you think about how I am trying to express why you should listen to Hyla please do give this CD a listen. I guarantee you will not hear anything more original anytime soon.

Average customer rating:

Keeps Growing On Me
Okay

Notturno: Music by Donald Martino

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Music of Mario Davidovsky, Vol. 3; Synchronisms Nos 5, 6, 9, Duo Capriccioso, Quartetto, Chacona
Elliott Carter: Piano Concerto; Concerto for Orchestra; Concerto for Orchestra; Three Occasions

ASIN: B0000049OZ
Release Date: 1995-11-20

Tracks:

Notturno: Liberamente
Notturno: Molto Lento
Notturno: Allegrettino
Pianississimo: Pianississimo - Introduction - Allegro Presto - Adagio Molto - Allegro - Coda -
Triple Concerto: Tempo Libero
Triple Concerto: Larghetto
Triple Concerto: Agitato

Customer Reviews:

Keeps Growing On Me.......2003-06-09

I agree with the above up to a point. I bought this as a 33rpm vinyl record in the 80s when I was trying to understand what attracted me to Webern. I don't know enough about music to appreciate the logic of the sounds, as I would if I was listening to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, or even Stravinsky, but I keep on listening to it again and again. The Triple Concerto keeps me going on my NordicTrack listening to just the winds or the strings or the percussion. Whatever the compositional technique is I'm listening to it now day after day for weeks. The attarction of it sent me over to the Notturno, which at first I couldn't listen to at all, and now I find beautiful. I hear his String Quartet is beautiful too. I've just got to find out what's going on here!

Okay.......2000-04-17

I am not a fan of contemporary atonal music. It sounds random and arbitrary to me, at least by itself. It can make awesome background music.

This CD is more or less standard contemporary atonal music, and is okay at what it does. The written commentary accompanying the CD illustrates how little I understand contemporary music. I could not get how Notturno was "a drama played out by the personas of the self," or how, in Pianississimo, the "bravura of 19th Century Romanticism is wedded to the more intricate and evanescent sounds of our own time."

Something about the Triple Concerto made me want to come back and listen to it over and over again. It was interesting to hear the contrasts of the three different clarinet soloists (soprano clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet). I had never heard a contrabass clarinet before; its seismic rumble dominated the low tones, while the soprano clarinet dominated the high tones. The bass clarinet, for some reason, seemed reticent by comparison.

I think that all three pieces work best when the listener is busy doing something, such as schoolwork or housework, with the music hovering in the background, only semi-consciously heard. If one tried to focus one's attention on the music itself, I think he would be bored out of his mind.

Music Track:

Music Track

music track

Recommended Music:

Shy That Way [Import]

Scottish String Quartets

Stravinsky: Petrushka; Symphonies of Wind Instruments; Fanfare for a New Theatre; Octet

Music: Bruckner: Symphony 9

All the Things You Said...

This Is Acid Jazz: Back to Basics

The Secret Garden (1991 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Romantic Moments, Vol. 8: Bach

Teddy Boy Anthems

Schubert: Opera Arias

Sylvia [Original recording remastered] [Import]

Sax Across America

Si Dios Me Lleva Con El

Mu Compilation

Kickin' It Up