CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL : KELOGG, CRUMB, WEBERN, JL ADAMS
Wednesday, 18. July 2007, 12:25:24
EIGHTH BLACKBIRD
BEGININGS (2004)
320 KBPS
Daniel Kellogg's Divinum Mysterium belongs to the seemingly endless series of trendy contemporary works on spiritual themes, a school most visibly represented by composers as diverse as Olivier Messiaen, Arvo Pärt, James MacMillan, and the execrable John Tavener. Kellogg's piece purports to describe the divine act of creation through movements with titles such as "Beginnings", "The Spirit of God Moved Upon the Face of the Waters", "Light", and "Rejoicing". The work begins with a prelude consisting of the hymn Of the Father's Love Begotten (sung by Chanticleer), and its tune appears in all of the movements, effectively integrated into the discourse of each section and unifying the highly varied range of moods and materials that Kellogg deploys.
It's interesting to note that George Crumb's Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for three masked players on electric flute, electric cello, and electric piano sounds at once more primal than Kellogg's work and more modern, with a typically astonishing variety of sounds produced by its trio of performers. Crumb places greater emphasis on the theatrical element in live performance, but the central variations sound no more like the prehistoric periods after which they are named (Paleozoic, Mesozoic, etc.) than Kellogg's music sounds like the spirit of God moving on the face of the waters. It's simply good music, as hauntingly evocative and timeless as it sounded when it was composed in 1971--and like its companion, the members of Eighth Blackbird play it with a confidence and virtuosity that silences criticism. Indeed, as with this group's first disc for Cedille, it would be difficult to imagine a more perfect combination of idiomatic interpretation and technical precision placed in the service of interesting and worthy new music.
Divinum Mysterium (Daniel Kelogg)
1. Prelude
2. I. Beginnings
3. II. The Spirit of God Moved Upon the Face of ...
4. III. Light
5. IV. Rest
6. V. Rejoicing
Vox Balaenae (George Crumb)
7. Vocalise (... for the Beginning of the World...)
8. Sea Theme
9. Archeozoic
10. Proterozoic
11. Palelozoic
12. Mesozoic
13. Cenozoic
14. Sea-Nocturne (...for the End of the World...)
LINK
ANTON WEBERN
TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS ENSEMBLE - PHILARMONIC ORCHESTRA
ROBERT CRAFT
SYMPHONY-SIX PIECES-CONCERTO FOR NINE INSTRUMENTS (2005)
320 KBPS
Robert Craft's advocacy on behalf of Anton Webern dates back to his "complete" pioneering 1954 cycle for Columbia Masterworks. Since that time, of course, musicians have absorbed these scores with increasing refinement and accuracy. The same can be said in regard to recording engineers and digital technology. These are all good reasons for Craft to embark on a brand new Webern cycle.
The 11 opus-numbered pieces included in this first volume represent an ideal sampling of chamber, solo, vocal, and orchestral work to attract listeners who want to get to know the composer's concise and extremely concentrated "pocket music" style. Best of all, the performances are all we could wish for.
Craft elicits impressive clarity and delicacy from the Philharmonia Orchestra in the two-movement Op. 21 Symphony and in the Six Pieces Op. 6 (even the super-soft tam-tam strokes in the latter's fourth piece make themselves felt) while imparting a welcome conversational sensibility to the Concerto for Nine Instruments' mosaic-like scoring. Both violinist Jesse Mills and cellist Fred Sherry prove more eloquent foils to their respective, expressionistically aggressive DG Boulez/Webern edition counterparts in Op. 7 and Op. 11.
Much as I admire DG soprano Christiane Oelze's frightening accuracy and tonal evenness in the Op. 16, 17, and 18 song groups, Jennifer Welch-Babidge manipulates her smaller voice to more playful effect, abetted by her like-minded instrumental collaborators. Christopher Oldfather's limpid, direct account of the Op. 27 Variations merits special mention, even in the face of Piotr Anderszewski's extraordinarily detailed reference version (Virgin Classics). Lastly, Craft's booklet notes match the intelligence and insight of his music making. May subsequent volumes of the Naxos Robert Craft Webern Edition share this one's sonic and interpretive distinctions.
Symphony, Op. 21
1. Ruhig, Schreitend
2. Variationen
Five Cannons on Latin Texts from the Roman Breviary
3. Christus Factus Est
4. Dormi Jesu
5. Crux Fidelis
6. Asperges Me
7. Crucem Tuam Adoramus
Drei Volkstexte
8. Armer Sunder, Du
9. Heiland, Unsre Missetaten
10. Liebste Jungfrau, Wir Sind Dein
Three Songs for soprano, piccolo clarinet and guitar
11. Schatzerl Klein
12. Erlosung
13. Ave, Regina Coelorum
Trio for violin, viola and cello
14. Sehr Langsam
15. Sehr Getragen Und Ausdrucksvoll
Quartet Op. 22
16. Sehr Massig
17. Sehr Schwungvoll
Variatons for piano Op. 27
18. Sehr Massig
19. Sehr Schnell
20. Ruhig Fliessend
Six pieces for large orchestra Op. 6
21. Langsam
22. Bewegt
23. Massig
24. Sehr Massig
25. Sehr Langsam
26. Langsam
Four pieces for violin and piano Op. 7
27. Sehr Langsam
28. Rasch
29. Sehr Langsam
30. Bewegt
Three pieces for cello and piano Op. 11
31. Massig
32. Sehr Bewegt
33. Ausserst Ruhig
Concerto for nine instruments Op. 24
34. Etwas Lebhaft
35. Sehr Langsam
36. Sehr Rasch
Deutsche Tänze
37. I
38. II
39. III
40. IV
41. V
42. VI
LINK
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS
THE APOLLO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA - JOANN FALLETTA
CLOUDS OF FORGETTING CLOUDS OF UNKNOWING (1997)
320 KBPS
Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing is a work of musical contemplation, an attempt to consecrate a small time and space for extraordinary listening. The work is titled after The Cloud of Unknowing, a fourteenth-century mystical Christian text, which has much in common with the teachings of contemplative traditions throughout the world. The essence of the contemplative experience is voluntary surrender, purposeful immersion in the fullness of a presence far larger than ourselves. To find communion, we must lose perspective. What, after all, is perspective but a way of removing ourselves from experience?
In Western music, melody and harmony are equivalents of figure and ground. Together, they constitute a kind of musical perspective, which evolved parallel to that of Renaissance painting. In the musical textures of Clouds, I hoped to lose perspective. Surrendering the idea of self-expression, I placed my faith in the instruments themselves, and in a few elementally simple sonorities and gestures. My aspiration here was not so much to compose a piece of music, as it was to evoke a wholeness of music, a sounding presence somehow equivalent to that of a vast landscape. Still, perhaps unavoidably for me, this music has a certain starkness, reminiscent of the light, atmosphere, and land forms of the Arctic.
—John Luther Adams
Clouds is a chromatic exploration of the tempered scale—a sort of Well-Tempered Clavier for seventeen-piece chamber orchestra. It is, in the main, quiet, reflective, contemplative music of a fierce beauty and spiritual depth that calls to mind Morton Feldman.
1. Minor Seconds, Rising
2. Clouds Of Mixed Seconds
3. Major Seconds, Rising
4. Clouds Of Seconds And Thirds
5. Diminished Bells
6. Clouds Of Mixed Thirds
7. Forgotten Triads
8. Lost Chorales
9. Clouds Of Perfect Fourths
10. Turbulent Changes
11. Clouds Of Perfect Fifths
12. Chorales Return
13. Triads, Remembered
14. Clouds Of Mixed Sixths
15. ...And Bells, Again...
16. Clouds Of Sixths And Sevenths
17. Minor Sevenths, Rising
18. Clouds Of Mixed Sevenths
19. Major Sevenths, Rising
LINK
password: MOODSWINGSmusic
Well, lemme be the first one to post compliments. Found ur link on Pax Diero Hirusalaam blog (or something like that).Soon, came to be in love for ur music selections. Greetings, from the little mosquito.
By anonymous user, # 18. July 2007, 13:04:08
Excellent!!
By anonymous user, # 19. July 2007, 23:50:38
Craft hasn't changed his wooden direction since he started directing Stravinsky back in the 60's.
Turn to Boulez or others for a non-wooden direction of Webern, please.
By anonymous user, # 21. July 2007, 06:13:20
And, thank you for the Webern! Your taste in music is similar to mine. Great blog!
Alban Berg - Igor Stravinsky - Violin Concertos
Itzhak Perlman - Seiji Ozawa - Boston Symphony Orchestra
Amazon.com essential recording
Berg's Violin Concerto is atonal--yes, it's the "A" word, but you shouldn't let that keep you from getting to know this modern masterpiece; it's actually very listener-friendly. The music tells a story. The first movement is a character sketch of the young, flirtatious Manon Gropius, daughter of Alma Mahler and architect Walter Gropius. She died tragically of meningitis, and the second movement depicts the horrifying onset of her illness, her death, and her transfiguring apotheosis. Dedicated "to the memory of an angel," it's one of the most heartfelt and moving tributes imaginable. Stravinsky's much more abstract Violin Concerto is about being a violin concerto. Both works, modern classics, are exceptionally well played and recorded by Itzhak Perlman and Seiji Ozawa. Regarding Berg, this was a landmark recording of Perlman's both in his career as a performer and in the history of the work itself. For Perlman, generally perceived as a heart-on-sleeve traditionalist of the "old school," this venture into musical modernism confounded his detractors while at the same time introducing many new listeners to a work that, though difficult, has since come to be regarded as one of the touchstones of the Romantic concerto repertoire. Stravinsky's concerto is less controversial though no less well-played. In sum, these performances are landmarks in the Perlman discography. --David Hurwitz
Violin Concerto
Composed by Alban Berg
Performed by Boston Symphony Orchestra
with Itzhak Perlman
Conducted by Seiji Ozawa
http://rapidshare.com/files/30071958/Perlman_Ozawa_-_1979_-_Berg_-_Violin_Concerto__1-2_.rar
File-Size: 57.32 MbViolin Concerto in D major
Composed by Igor Stravinsky
Performed by Boston Symphony Orchestra
with Itzhak Perlman
Conducted by Seiji Ozawa
http://rapidshare.com/files/30081913/Perlman_Ozawa_-_1979_-_Stravinsky_-_Violin_Concerto__3-6_.rar
File-Size: 48.42 Mb
By anonymous user, # 21. July 2007, 06:18:06
I'll check those asap.
By STEFANfromPARIS, # 21. July 2007, 06:20:07
Sorry I forgot the Stravinsky/Berg is 320.
By anonymous user, # 21. July 2007, 06:42:03
good work dudes
By anonymous user, # 12. August 2007, 18:59:51
Something is wrong with Webern - file seems to be too small (96MB at RS, but selecting the files in the archive gives 185MB) ???
Great collection, regards !
By anonymous user, # 4. April 2008, 10:34:39
By STEFANfromPARIS, # 4. April 2008, 11:17:31
I have the similar problem with that pack (Webern). Winrar reports CRC errors and after decompression (ignoring the errors) some files are of zero weight and others do not play ...
Best
By anonymous user, # 8. April 2008, 14:38:32
By STEFANfromPARIS, # 8. April 2008, 15:55:02