What are you listening to? November 2022

[Ojai Sam]

Eastman Wind Ensemble (Frederick Fennell, cond.) - Ruffles and Flourishes (1958) / The Spirit of '76 (1959))

When PolyGram rereleased the "Mercury Living Presence" series on CD, they wisely paired these two closely related albums.

Back in the day, any self-respecting audiophile had albums like this to show off their equipment. Woofers and tweeters get a good workout with all the flutes and drums, while the horns try to keep up with the massed brass.

From "Yankee Doodle" to "Reveille" to "The President's March", it's all here. Patriotism was still in fashion, shortly before the trauma of the 60's changed everything.

 

[Nickyboy]

Benjamin Frith - D. Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas Vol. 5 (comp. 1740, rec. 2002)

Naxos took an interesting approach to the younger Scarlatti's 555 sonatas. Instead of having one artist power through all of them, they recruited 26 different people with diverse styles. Frith plays his batch on a modern piano. Since I'm not a dogmatic period instrument advocate, it works very well for me. The piano obviously allows for greater nuance than the harpsichord and Frith uses that to his advantage in showcasing these subtle, melodic works.

Naxos has a definite style of cover they like to put out. That is a variation on others I have. Minus the smoking Mt. Vesuvius looming over his home town of Naples.

 

[axolotl]

Cedar Avenue ~ Someday Soon (2009)

 

[axolotl]

Emmylou Harris ~ All I Intended to Be (2008)



I was listening to this for the first time while working. I wasn't paying that much attention, but simply loving the music, the voice, and the vocal harmonies.

Jim (my tenant) mentioned something about Kern River, and I asked him what he said. He said that there was some lyrics about Kern River.

So it is. Merle Haggard's "Kern River" is on here, and then I noticed something familiar about the male vocal harmonies. Sure enough, Mike Auldridge and John Starling (of The Seldom Scene) are on here, as well.

I'll be listening to this one again, very soon.

 

[axolotl]

Gene Ess ~ Sandbox and Sanctum - Song Cycle for Quartet (2005)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Elizabeth Laurence, BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra (Pierre Boulez, cond.) - Boulez: Le Visage Nuptial / Le Soleil Des Eaux / Figures, Doubles, Prismes (1990)

This is certainly fascinating, if challenging, music., Wiki tells us:

Le Visage nuptial (The Nuptial Face) is a secular cantata for soprano, contralto, choir of women and orchestra by Pierre Boulez. Originally composed in 1946–47 on a poem by René Char for two voices, two ondes Martenot, piano and percussion, the work, revised in 1951–52 in a version for voices and orchestra, was premiered on 4 December 1957 in Cologne conducted by the composer. The score was further revised in 1989, removing the quarter tones present in the second and fifth parts of the 1951–52 version, while revising the orchestration.

It is the 1989 version that Boulez committed to record here. Ethereal, almost spooky female voices waft over, under and through equally spacy orchestral textures.

Note to self: find some ondes Martenot music. It has been utilized by everyone from Olivier Messiaen to Daft Punk. How could I have missed it before now?

 

[axolotl]

Note to self: find some ondes Martenot music. It has been utilized by everyone from Olivier Messiaen to Daft Punk. How could I have missed it before now?

Hey, don't feel too bad.

I had to learn about it from a guy named Sam who lives in some place called Ojai.

Spoiler

...who is a dear, respected, and admired friend, so nobody better say anything bad about him or where he resides.

 

[Nickyboy]

It's pretty cool.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Squirrel Bait - Skag Heaven (1987)



Early hardcore band.

 

[axolotl]

It's pretty cool.

I will have to listen to more of this when my dog isn't present.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Marcel Dupre - At St. -Sulpice Vol. 4: Bach (1959)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna State Opera Choir (Claudio Abbado, cond.) - Schubert: Mass In E Flat Major (1988)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Saturday morning classical listening:
Franz Schubert - Symphonies No. 2 and 4 (Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Sir Neville Mariner)
Leonard Bernstein - Serenade. (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Hilary Hahn)

 

[axolotl]

Last evening's fare

Norman Dello Joio: Meditation on Ecclesiastes
Alan Hovhaness: Psalm and Fugue for String Orchestra; Shepherd of Israel
Arnold Rosner: Responses, Hosanna, and Fugue



Upon first listen, I was fine with the Dello Joio, but essentially biding my time until the Hovhaness started. I was captivated by the works by Hovhaness and Rosner.

So, for now, I adopt the following review on Amazon:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, beautiful music by Hovhaness and Rosner.
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2015

Alan Hovhaness is my favorite 20th century composer, and that is the reason I bought the record. Hovhaness has written not only great works, but also very beautiful ones. Shepherd of Israel is unusually beautiful, even by Hovhaness' standards. The cantorial singing adds to the beauty of the work. And the beauty of the work is also enhanced by the fact that he calls for the performers to depart from equal temperament tuning in order to improve the resolution of some of the harmony. The Psalm and Fugue are also very beautiful. One of Hovhaness' strongest points is that he has written some of the best and greatest counterpoint since Bach.

The Rosner work is also very beautiful and its harmonic similarities to Hovhaness should not be surprising in light of the fact that Rosner wrote his doctoral dissertation on the music of Hovhaness. I would conjecture that people who like Hovhaness are also likely to like Rosner and vice versa. That makes the inclusion of this work at this location especially appropriate.

The Dello Joio work, even though it is not atonal or highly dissonant, is abstract and cold and lacks the beauty and warmth of the other works. Perhaps the reason he won the Pulitzer Prize is that in it not being atonal or highly dissonant, it was a lot better than the music most other composers were writing at that time. I find it quite boring. The great strengths of the Hovhaness and Rosner works entitle the record to 5 stars, even though I would give the Dello Joio work only two stars, or perhaps three if I feel generous.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Edrix Puzzle - Coming Of The Moon Dogs (2022)



May be of interest to @axolotl.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Pierre Hantai - Bach: Variations Goldberg (2004)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Saturday morning classical listening:
Franz Schubert - Symphonies No. 2 and 4 (Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Sir Neville Mariner)
Leonard Bernstein - Serenade. (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Hilary Hahn)

View attachment 8784View attachment 8785

I’ve become quite the Hilary Hahn fan of late.

 

[axolotl]

I’ve become quite the Hilary Hahn fan of late.

Okay there, Hilary Hahn fahnboi!

By the way, there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Halle Orchestra (John Barbirolli, cond.) - Many Happy Returns, Sir John (1969)

Evelyn was John's wife and, by sheer coincidence, became first oboist of his orchestra at the same time his prior marriage was imploding.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

I’ve become quite the Hilary Hahn fan of late.

She’ll be performing with the symphony here in Baton Rouge in the spring - I plan on seeing her