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Day 63. Mahler.

Monday, March 29th, 2010

I grabbed my front row stack of Mahler for tonight (then diving back into the Bach set). I like Mahler quite a bit (not love, but really like) but I mostly came to this appreciation through performing his work. I have had the chance perform the 1st, and read parts of the 2nd and 5th. I had a great time playing Mahler, and now when I listen to his music I tend to think about that point of view. He really could write well for the different parts of the orchestra. So conscious of color and dynamic! Even when playing in such a huge orchestra, playing Mahler often felt more like playing chamber music. Every part seemed to have such significance, and there is a sense of counterpoint in much of his music that seems to stand out to me. One motivation for getting back into double bass would be the hope to play Mahler again (I would love to perform ‘Das Lied on der Erde’).

So – while I love to think about performing Mahler, I don’t get much chance to listen to him. Usually I feel the need to find time to listen to a piece uninterrupted, and with Mahler that is just a little more difficult. I can’t imagine listening to the beginning of the 9th and not getting to the end of it. I think it would throw off my day. I also love how differently conductors seem to treat his work. I feel like there is a good amount of space in his scores for interpretation, and love comparing different approaches. As a result, I have many different complete Mahler recordings, though none of them are making it onto my drive tonight. I think I have explained before that I have all my CDs in two layers on my shelves. In an ideal world (and at one point) I figured out a way to have the back layer line up with the front layer (so layer two of Mahler would more or less correspond with layer one) but after our move to Tacoma this never really happened again. The front layer tends to be the recordings I would go for more often, and in the Mahler section there were recordings of the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth symphonies, and Song of the Earth. And this isn’t to slight the others (in fact, I think the 7th is my favorite) but I have a huge chunk of other Mahler recordings in box sets in the second layer – and they are easy enough to access. But as I started ripping the discs tonight, I remembered one of the great reasons for doing this project in the first place: I won’t have to get up in the middle of a two disc set anymore to change discs. Now a good chunk of my Mahler discs are spread across two discs, so I am now really looking forward to getting to the rest of the discs. So I think that tomorrow night I may need to move one of the Mahler sets to the ‘front layer’ in hopes that Mira will see that there is another box-set to reach for.

The recordings tonight are all pretty fine ones though. Rafael Kubelik doing the first, Herbert Blomstedt and San Francisco doing the second (what a GREAT recording!), Andre Previn and Elly Ameling on number four, Karajan on 5, 6 and 9 (and what a great recording of the 9th… the first minute is simply stunning) and Otto Klemperer with Christa Ludwig and Fritz Wunderlich on ‘Das Lied on der Erde’. I haven’t heard the Klemperer recording in some time and I love how Christa Ludwig sounds on the recording. I listened to the recent Michael Tilson Thomas recording a few weeks ago with Stuart Skelton and Thomas Hampson performing the vocal parts. The Tilson Thomas is a fine recording, but Christa Ludwig’s mezzo-soprano voice is just perfect on ‘Der Abschied’. Really looking forward to hearing this recording again.

Tags: Gustav Mahler
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Day 60. Bach, The Clash and Cat Stevens.

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

I ripped both of the Cat Stevens greatest hits tonight as well as the ‘Clash on Broadway’ box set. A few weeks back I heard ‘If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out’ at Joe Bar cafe in Capital Hill, which of course made me think about ‘Harold & Maude’. Such a beautiful movie, and I think that as a result, I tend to associate rather ‘live life’ feelings with hearing Cat Stevens. He’s also someone that I know both Tamiko and I associate with our early childhoods. What surprised me a little tonight though was that I only had these two collections on CD. After a little looking around I realized that ‘Teaser And The Firecat’ and ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ are on vinyl. One of the things that sounds a little strange about the CDs is that this is music I really got to know on my dad’s record player (and I think I can even hear where the cracks and pops are supposed to be in ‘Moonshadow’). I don’t have any specific memories about Cat Stevens though… they all seem more distant and fuzzy to me. The almost seem like they are someone else’s memories in some ways (maybe because we are supposed to, at 35, be different people then we were at 5). But his music has been in my subconscious for probably most if not my whole life, and I tend to associate that feeling of being young (though not necessarily childish) with his music.

My Clash discs are definitely on the front part of my CD shelf, but it was the box-set that got picked for tonight. ‘Clash On Braodway’ is a great collection… and seeing this set is one of my first memories of working at the Tower in Roseville. We had a very small box-set section (for two reasons – first that box-sets weren’t a huge item yet, and second because we were a small store) and I remember seeing this set on the shelf, prominently facing out (one copy) the first week I was working there. Well – the first week I was working in the record store (new employees generally started out in the video side). It had come out just in time for Christmas and I was hoping to buy the set. But money was short. So I figured I would wait for a couple weeks. Then it sold. Then it came back in and I was broke again. Then I got some money for my birthday, and when I went to pick it up, it had sold again… and I think this went on in one way or another for close to two years. I finally got it in ’93 (I am pretty sure I got it for myself for high school graduation… but definitely had it for the summer). And I’m pretty sure the discs rotated through my old 77 Corolla until I moved to Berkeley. One bit of irony – ‘Police on My Back’ had just finished one night coming home from Tower on Watt (a couple nights before I moved to Berkeley). ‘The Magnificent Seven’ was on and I get pulled over for the light being out on my rear license plate. I am given a warning, and don’t think much more about it (what are the odds of getting pulled over again for this?). Well, two nights later (two nights before I move to Berkeley) I get pulled over again… same cop! And she remembers me! “Are you going to get that thing fixed?” she asked.

“I get paid tomorrow!”

“OK – just make sure you fix it” and all I get is another warning. I figure I’ll take care of it on my lunch break at work the next day and plan on walking over to an auto-parts store around the corner from Tower. I get to work (listening to The Clash again) and park… then have a few minutes before work is supposed to start, so I decide I’ll go get the light. I turn the ignition and hear a terrible crunch. I look under the car, and my starter is sitting on the ground. So I wind up walking to the auto parts store, get a light AND a starter, then fix both in the parking lot during my lunch break. I got the car fixed, but decided at that point that there would be no more Clash in the car until I got to the Bay Area with the car in one piece.

I also continued the Bach box today. Was able to finish ‘Volume 2’, the works for keyboard. Nice performance of the Goldberg Variations and I also listened to the Partitas. All good so far. I also started Volume 3 (the first part of the cantatas).

‘Where Do The Children Play?” was just playing on my computer and Tamiko just told me her memory of the song. In first or second grade she had an advanced reading class and they were given the lyrics to read and figure out. Another kid memory.

Will Celia or Mira hear Cat Stevens in elementary school? We’ll see… Tamiko and I just finished registering Celia for kindergarten… I wonder what songs she’ll hear.

Tags: Cat Stevens, J.S. Bach, The Clash
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Day 59. J.S. Bach and Robert Johnson.

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Two more box-sets tonight. Mira pointed to my complete Bach (the Brilliant Classics 155 disc set) and I figured why not… I need to start it at some point, and I figure I’ll get a few discs of that done a night for the next few weeks. Of course – there are some usual mid-level expectations that come along with a set of 155 discs… they can’t all be amazing. And with Bach in particular I can be very picky. I got the set though because (when I bought it at $99) I was able to find what would be at least a hundred dollars worth of performances that I would want. Andrew Manze and La Stravaganza performing the Orchestral Suites for instance, and Jaap Ter Linden’s cello suites. Once I found these, I thought ‘hey – and I’ll have all the cantatas finally’ and this for some reason appealed to me so I picked it up. What surprised me was that I haven’t come across a disappointing disc yet (though I have only listened to maybe 30 of them). And there are some really nice touches in the set… a number of the harpsichord concertos have been reconstructed into violin concertos (there is ample evidence that these pieces existed in this way). Overall they aren’t top-notch performances (though a few have been), but none are mediocre so far. Now that I am ripping them, I look forward to going through more of them. I am a Bach fanatic after all… so I think this will be fun. I’m going to see if I get through the Orchestral / Chamber Music part of the set tonight, but that may be a tall order.

The other box-set is the complete Robert Johnson recordings. After hefting the Bach box the Robert Johnson set is nice and light. And though his complete recordings barely fills two discs, it is pretty amazing how influential the music on these two discs are. And they are amazing – mostly recorded on a portable field recording kit in a hotel room, there is something intense and sad about these recordings and the story behind the man making them. Any serious collector of music probably already has these discs or has at least heard them… and I guess all I can say is that if you haven’t then find them, take a couple hours out of your life and listen them. You’ll be amazed how much is familiar, yet so different and haunting at the same time.

Tags: J.S. Bach, Robert Johnson
Posted in Classical, Folk / Blues / Country, Mira | No Comments »

Day 58. Violent Femmes, Beethoven.

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

“Add It Up’ has got to be one of the best angry young man songs ever written. It is one of the few songs on the first Violent Femmes albums that has Gordon Gano playing some electric guitar, but it is still amazing how loud parts of this song are with just guitar, acoustic bass guitar and a single snare drum. I’m ripping four Violent Femmes CDs tonight, the first album, ‘Hallowed Ground’ (with some of the darkest music I think the Femmes ever made, plus some of the most out there – with some heavy thanks to John Zorn and his Horns of Dilemma), ‘Why Do Birds Sing’ and the ‘Add It Up’ compilation from ’93. I have a couple others in the back shelves of the book cases, but I’ll have to dig for those. The first album is – I really don’t know how to put it – every whiny teenage loser kids album of anthems? It certainly was there for me during my low points. What amazes me is how fun it is to listen to now since it makes me think ‘phew! I’m not there anymore’. And I get the sense that this is probably the case for the band as well. ‘Hallowed Ground’ is a solid album as well, but the Violent Femmes really were one of those bands who did their best and brightest on the first record. (Pink Martini, from last night, I think is also in that camp). And while ‘Blister In The Sun’ gets it’s fair share of radio play on ‘alternative’ stations still, ‘American Music’ from ten years later is really their big hit (though really no where near their best song… just more accessible I guess).

I got to see the Violent Femmes once at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and what a show that was. The group came to the stage THROUGH the middle of the audience playing snare drum, a trombone and a cymbals… hopped on stage and rocked out a great show. I’m still amazed how much these three guys were able to do together as a band (though at this point Victor DeLorenzo had been replaced on drum(s)… what a strange audition that must have been – ‘So, can you play a snare drum?’ ‘Sure’ ‘OK! You’re hired!’). Brian Ritchie played some pretty mean marimbas on ‘Gone Daddy Gone’ and it seemed like all three of them were picking up instruments here and there as needed. They looked like they were having lots of fun (to say the least). And opening that show was Carmaig DeForrest and his ‘Death Groove Love Party’… Carmaig only put out a handful of discs that were probably only available around shows in SF, but they sure were fun. Hmm… may need to rip that one in the next day or two.

There is something poetic though about how I wound up ripping the Violent Femmes tonight. Before bed, Celia came downstairs to pick out tonight’s rips and pulled out a couple of blank CD cases (because they were a pretty red), then she saw the first Violent Femmes record and said ‘Daddy! There’s a little girl on that one!’. So – Violent Femmes it was, because my daughter saw the little girl on the cover. The Violent Femmes – part of the soundtrack to my breakup with Tamiko (which, if it had stuck, would have meant no Celia in this world… WAAAHHHH!!!!). And it’s not like I can put it on for her tomorrow and say ‘Celia – here is the music with the girl on the cover!’… how do I explain ‘Kiss Off’? She’ll recognize that the man singing is counting, but why does he forget what 8 is for? Or ‘Gone Daddy Gone’ when one of her biggest fears is that I might leave in the middle of the night? (This as a result of a poorly planned trip on my part where I had to leave for the airport one time at 3am). No – I think Celia will just have to live in mystery of this disc for a bit of time.

I am beginning to suspect that part of my romanticization / longing for Berkeley must partly be a result of the strong, vivid memories that were formed there. Memories so strong and clear that I am actually surprised by them… am I still capable of these strong memories of what seem to be simple, small everyday details? I mean – I can still form them when the moment calls for it. I can still remember how both of our girls felt the first time they were in my arms for instance. But the memories that I am talking about are more about these moments that are NOT earth shattering life changing moments, but I can still recall the temperature in the air and the quality of the sound in a specific space. I described some of this a few days ago regarding Charlie Parker, and tonight is another one… this time around it is the first time I heard Beethoven’s String Trio, Op. 9 movement IV. Of course I didn’t know what it was (I was still acquiring mostly basic knowledge of classical repertoire) but I was walking (quickly) between the Tower in Berkeley to get to orchestra rehearsal. And as I walked past Henry’s on Durant, the little cafe at the street level (in the picture above, at the left edge of the frame) had the radio on over a couple of crappy in-ceiling speakers. And that is where I heard it… the last movement is fast and virtuosic and I stopped in my tracks and snuck a seat on the sidewalk. It was an early fall day, still warm with a little bite of cold in the air as the fog was getting ready to roll up to the Berkeley hills, the sun was about to set and there was a great golden color coming up the street, and I just sat there for about four minutes listening to the music hoping it was the radio and I could find out what it was. I was half expecting that if it WAS the radio someone would come up and ask if I was going to buy anything while the piece was named and I would miss it… but no. It ended and it was the Rostropovich / Anne Sophie Mutter recording of the Beethoven trio. It was Beethoven! So ‘classical’! I was so surprised (I really was expecting Haydn or Mozart or someone I hadn’t heard of before) since most of the Beethoven I knew up to this point were the moodier ‘hits’. Then I got up and headed off to orchestra rehearsal (Berlioz – ‘Symphonie Fantastique’) and found a recording the next day (as well as the score in the library).

Isn’t that a great story? I was able to walk down the street, hear classical music, sit down for a few minutes, listen and find out what it was in amazing surroundings! And like I said – I can still feel what that whole moment was like…

Tags: Beethoven, Violent Femmes
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Day 56. Mark-Almond, Liszt and more Vivaldi.

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Just a short post tonight. I plowed through the rest of my Vivaldi discs, grabbed Michelle Campanella’s recording of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, and Mark-Almond’s Greatest Hits (no, not Soft Cell, but the British duo that played with John Mayall at one point). Of course, I can’t help but think of Looney Tunes when I listen to the Liszt (though there is SO much amazing music in this set of 19 pieces that it is also hard not to become completely engrossed in the piano writing), and I can’t help but think about being a really small kid in a dark rental house in Ohio when I hear the Mark-Almond. I put it on the other day because I had ‘The City’ stuck in my head for some reason, and Tamiko shot me a look that I interpreted as ‘why in the world are we listening to this 1970s old sad bastard music?’. When I said ‘hmm… are you wondering why we are listening to this 1970 old sad bastard music?’ she said – ‘yeah … I’m want you to hear something else) at which point I quickly took off Mark-Almond so she could play me her faves off a new mix discs she got from Bryn. Tamiko was right. BUT – I did put it on today while I had a little time alone, and I forgot how great some of that song is. There is also a cover of Billy Joel’s ‘New York State of Mind’ on it that doesn’t conjure up the stadium sized crowds that would cheer when Billy Joel would sing it, but more a run down slummy tenement in pre-Koch New York that is gritty and great. What a wonderful cover (even if listening to it may be depressing).

On the software front, still not sure what to replace Simplify Media with. So sad. DOT.TUNES really seems to have its CPU problems. I tested it at Origin 23 this afternoon, and running the laptop on battery power I saw the CPU spike and the ‘remaining time’ shrink to about an hour on full battery. Well – that just won’t do. And it is really too bad, since the interface in iTunes is EXACTLY what I would want. It mimics the playlist layout exactly (something the Simplify Media, for some reason, couldn’t seem to do). Hopefully more on this front later in the week.

Tags: Antonio Vivaldi, Liszt, Mark-Almond
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Day 55. Stravinsky (happy Spring everyone).

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

In honor of the first day of spring, I usually listen to Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’. A little cliche, but it also makes sure I get some Stravinsky in on a yearly basis. Well this year was a little different since I decided I would copy the 22 CD Stravinsky performs Stravinsky box set that Tamiko got me a couple years ago for Christmas. I remember my conductor at UC Berkeley (David Milnes) saying that Stravinsky conducting didn’t provide the best performances of his works. And I pretty much agree, but they aren’t bad either. Some are quite fun (Petrushka especially!). There is often this misconception that simply because a composer is performing one of their works, that it must be somehow definitive. The thing is, just because someone composes doesn’t mean they should be conducting theirs, or anyone else’s works. Conductors spend their lives shaping / creating other people’s music, and just like any creative pursuit, the creator doesn’t always see the big picture. And – like any other skill conducting is one that takes years / decades to learn. So – why would we expect a composer who may not have much conducting experience to be able to conduct there work? Much less something as a difficult as ‘Rite of Spring’?

So – couple quick Stravinsky stories. First – I had Music History with one of THE Stravinsky scholars, Richard Taruskin. He just finished his HUGE two volume book on Stravinsky’s works through the opera Mavra. He told the class that he had sent it off… and that it had been the focus of his work for 12 years. ‘I guess I just go and die now’, he says. Then after a beat: “Beethoven!”. The second actually took place around a performance of ‘Rite of Spring’. We played that, the Mass and ‘Symphony of Psalms’ for a concert program one semester (amazing concert). The first night was ok – but the second night hit and hit hard. It was amazing. We finished the ‘Rite of Spring’ to a full house, and for about 5 seconds, there wasn’t any applause. It was the most amazing sound I have ever heard. A hall full of people after one of the most intense performances I had ever heard – then silence. When the applause started, it was thunderous. What a moment.

I am 16 CDs through the 22 CD set right now, but I have also been trying out a new streaming app (and thanks to Eric Flesher for testing it with me). Looks like ‘SimplifyMedia’ is selling out. They pulled the app and sharing for the most part. Quite disappointing. So I began the search again tonight and found DOT.TUNES. So far, it seems OK. Eric got connected, and I seem to be able to connect as well. A little buggy though. Crashed once for me and once for Eric. And – it is Mac only (which won’t do for my PC friends). And when the host computer is streaming, the CPU jumps to 100%. I imagine it will get a bit warm as a result. So – this may not be the solution, but for now it will work.

Tags: DOT.TUNES, SimplifyMedia, Stravinsky
Posted in Classical, Tamiko | 2 Comments »

Day 53. Vivaldi

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Tonight was my own pick and it led to a wiki-pedia like branching of discovery. I wanted to hear a disc of Vivaldi concertos I have (somewhere – never found it tonight!) of cellist Anner Bylsma playing a number of cello concertos (as well as some other string concertos thrown in as well). There are two of these discs on Sony classics, and the first one (the missing one, the out of print one that I can’t even find an mp3 download for now … dammit!) has a SMOKING performance of the a minor RV 418 concerto. It was the recording that made me love Anner Bylsma as a cellist and made me seek out anything with him on it (and I don’t think I was ever really disappointed). Anyways – I dug out all the Vivaldi I could find (with about half of it stacked in the ‘second layer’ on the book shelves). But in the process of doing that I also found…

– A 4 disc set of Raphael Wallfisch playing the ‘complete’ Vivaldi cello concertos

– Idil Birit’s complete Chopin on Naxos (a great set)

– 3 complete Mahler cycles (??? – indeed!)

and a plethora (si jefe, a plethora) of historical recordings:

– A literal handful of the Toscanini double disc remasters on BMG (that are going to be on tap next I believe)

– Both volumes of historical recordings featuring Isaac Stern (one of my favorite Sibelius violin concerto recordings included

– Early Wilhelm Kempff recordings re-issued on DG in a box a few years back

So I have some fun times ahead. I haven’t really looked through that second layer in some time, so it was almost like digging through a bin at a record store. There is a LOT there I forgot I had.

Anyways, if anyone out there by any chance has my ‘Vivaldi: Concertos for Strings’ with Anner Bylsma and Tafelmusik, please let me know. It is missed.

As for what I am ripping now though, I am mostly through with the cello concertos (and I’m listening to a slightly tamer RV 418 at the moment) and enjoying them quite a bit. Stravinsky’s dismissal of Vivaldi’s work as ‘the same concerto 400 times’ is a bit harsh. As far as string writing goes, the solo parts are often stunningly virtuosic. And while the ritornello form is used to exhausting ends, there was a reason for this. It works quite well, and gives an elegant balance to the whole orchestra and the soloist(s). What is especially interesting to me as well is that, as a form, it doesn’t have the boxiness that the later classical period seemed to develop with phrasing. Sections are not evenly paced (4 measures, another 4 measures, followed by another 4 measures etc. etc.). The tutti sections often cut off early or abbreviate their appearance, or sometimes extend and modulate to unexpected places. In this respect, the form that Vivaldi explored so deeply is quite conversational. Both sides get to speak (especially in the outer movements) and while the tutti sections are louder and more forceful, it is the solo parts that have an intricate mastery. Vivaldi’s solo writing can be quite virtuosic, and at other times his operatic tendencies come through (especially in the slower movements). While Stravinsky may have scoffed at Vivaldi’s work (and part of me would be surprised if there isn’t more to that quote then what is usually said), I can say that it looks like I will be ripping a good 80 of these concertos in the next night or two… and I am pretty sure I will have a good time listening to all of them. And after that I still have the ‘Stabat Mater’ to listen to again (what a great piece).

Tags: Antonio Vivaldi
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Day 51. Haydn. LOTS of Haydn. And Schubert.

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

It has been a tumultuous couple of days on one hand, simply busy on the other. Last night was simply hectic, and today we had my parents over for their anniversary. Ripping CDs has been a low priority as a result, so I transferred more purchases (mp3 downloads) from the past year or so from my main laptop onto the server computer. After ripping all the Mozart symphonies the other day (and already having all the Beethoven symphonies on that computer) I decided today was a good day to round out the Classical periods heavy hitting symphonists. So the 45-CD Antal Dorati complete Haydn symphonies and the Goodman / Hanover Band Schubert symphonies are on deck for tonight.

I don’t know why, but I am always so surprised how much I like Haydn when I listen to him. And the Dorati recordings are lots of fun. First of all, they are complete and this is no small task. 104 numbered symphonies, a few lettered ones and all sorts of works that basically are symphonies (just not in name). It is one thing to have 104 orchestral works under your wing (as Dorati does here) but this of course was not all Dorati did. During the 50s and 60s, his Mercury Living Presence recordings (especially the Bartok recordings) are just fabulous. He recorded an amazing amount of music well. And to take on a project the size of the Haydn symphonies is nothing short of impressive.

Papa Haydn’s most significant achievement, in my opinion, was his formalizing of the structures and forms that would occupy most of the Viennese Classical period. And the symphonies are a large part of that (though in the String Quartets you can see these ideas grow and solidify). He had what any composer today would call a pretty cool gig… writing music for a prince with a house orchestra. The prince also played Baryton (a COOL instrument) so he also wrote a huge body of work for that instrument. His music had rhetoric, from the contrasting ideas that exhibit tension then harmony in the sonata-allegro form to the ‘Farewell’ symphony that he wrote to tell the prince that the musicians needed a vacation. But what surprised me most about Haydn when I listen to him is that you really can hear how his approach to motive and development would find its greatest continuation in the music of Beethoven. Haydn wrote 104 symphonies, and as Beethoven’s career closes out the Classical period he finishes 9 that really define and develop the form into the Romantic tradition.

Schubert is the other side of this coin in my mind. He picks up where Mozart left off and does a similar kind of expansion of form with the similar kinds of melodic gifts that Mozart had. The Goodman recordings are on period instruments and use an orchestra appropriate to Schubert’s time. Like Beethoven, Schubert’s work tends to be overly romanticized as well and the Goodman recordings do a great job placing Schubert within the Classical tradition. The recordings have a lightness to them at times, and more detail comes out from the winds (having a smaller proportion to the strings then most modern orchestras). The ‘Unfinished’ benefits particularly well. The second movement is light and airy at times, dramatic at others. These contrasts are shaped even better when the period instruments are used.

With the Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert discs all on the computer now there are over 75 discs of classical symphonies. As the rest of the discs of this repertoire are eventually ripped (multiple Beethoven recordings, another Schubert set as well as quite a few individual recordings of Haydn and Mozart symphonies) I think there will be over 100 discs represented. Until tonight, I don’t think I realized what a huge proportion of my recordings represented the Classical Symphony.

Tags: Franz Joseph Haydn, Schubert
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Day 50. Mozart. Lots of Mozart.

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Tonight I continued ripping Christopher Hogwood’s and Jaap Schroder’s Academy of Ancient Music recordings of the complete Mozart Symphonies (plus 27 other symphonic works). 27 other works. Plus an alternate version of the 40th symphony and works that MAY have been written by Mozart (but listed even in the liner notes as doubtful). It is 19 discs. The research that Hogwood went into for these recordings is also very deep, trying to match the orchestral forces to the ones that would have performed these symphonies during Mozart’s life time. If he could have, I imagine Hogwood would have found a way to decipher out of the background noise of every day life echoes that still vibrate in the air from these performances to discover if there were mistakes made at first performances so they could be recreated here, for us, the modern listener.

Before I bought this set (which was released as a budget box in the 90s) I remember reading a Penguin review that gave these recordings much of the credit for the early music ‘authentic’ recording movement. The idea was to find instruments and figure out the performance practices that were happening during the time when a work was composed and try to recreate it so we could hear what the composer would have heard. Of course, this is really impossible. Even when written down, music is ephemeral. Even with digital recordings, there are so many variables in playback systems that the same disc can sound different in two different homes – when it comes down to it every device or performance will make the air vibrate in a different way. So why try to recreate the moment when something was performed?

By the 50s, it would not be unheard of to have Mahler sized orchestras performing the works of Mozart. These were modern interpretations and it is interesting to hear recordings of these performances. They do play Mozart, but they also tell us about how Mozart was expected to be heard. When I was taking my music history classes at UC Berkeley with Richard Taruskin, he has us read one of his articles that talked about the early music movement, and about how the movement, like any other performance practice is a reflection of its time. I don’t think he was rejecting the idea that performance practice shouldn’t be studied, but that we shouldn’t think of the performances as what the composer would have heard. We should think of them as what we want to think Mozart would have heard, but that these are modern performances with modern scholarship. The performances of any other time were just as informed, and reflected the ideas of their time. And from the 70s on, part of this thinking was ‘perhaps we don’t need to turn things way up to hear them better’. In fact what I hear in these performances (and in the Bach one-per-part performances I ripped a couple weeks ago) is a sense of clarity. With a different balance between winds and strings, musical lines that may be buried with larger orchestra forces may appear. With these Mozart recordings, I remember being surprised how much more contrapuntal Mozart’s writing seemed to be (and the use of continuo in later symphonies link the performance tradition more to the Baroque then I was used to). And also how much lighter. When you hear Mozart on fortepiano for instance, the bass strings are weaker and the sound thinner. But his orchestration (in his piano and orchestral writing) find ways around these limitations. Octave doublings bring a different force to the lines in these recordings then many modern, larger recordings. These moments pop out of the texture much more brilliantly. I like these ‘modern’ performances… of course, they are 30 years old now. And I haven’t purchased a disc of Mozart symphonies for probably close to ten years… maybe I should see if there is anything new-ish on eMusic just to see where things have been going lately.

(and by the way – just finished disc 13 / 19… I hope these finish up tonight!)

Tags: Mozart
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Day 49. Kaija Saariaho.

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

I have started to rip the complete Mozart Symphonies by Christoper Hogwood, but that is 19 discs and I know that will continue into tomorrow. But I also pulled most of my Kaija Saariaho collection tonight as well. I’m not positive, but she might be the first living composer I have put onto the computer so far… partly because so much of my music by living composers is downloaded (since finding actual discs these days of this music is next to impossible) and partly because while I appreciate a good deal of it, liking it enough to have in the front layer of CDs of things is a different story. I know where Steve Reich is when I need his music for something (my own reference or for a class) but I don’t think I am just going to throw him on for an evening of listening. Kaija Saariaho is a different story though. Her symphonic works can be hit or miss in my opinion, but her chamber music can be beautiful and thrilling.

Dawn Upshaw’s performance of ‘Lonh’ is wonderful. The electronics part is wonderful. The vocal writing is wonderful. It is also so many things that most contemporary music with electronics is not – a dynamic piece that is composed on more then a single idea. Most of her work actually exhibits a large degree of dynamic change and structure that is more then the usual brick of noodling around a single concept that so much contemporary music often gets caught up in. If you have been to an ICMC or SEAMUS conference, I am sure you know exactly what I mean. The computer part in ‘Lonh’ is also not just a ‘background’ for the vocal part, but an equal partner in the piece. Again – this is something that she does particularly well. Her works for cello and electronics (‘Pres’ and ‘Petals’) are both dramatic works that grow better on repeated listening. In some ways, she is also very classical. Her work tends to be experimental while at the same time giving great credit to her listeners time, attention and memory. Her works don’t need to be studied from the score to be appreciated or enjoyed, yet they are challenging and dramatic.

As I began to work more and more with pieces and live electronics, she is someone that I think I have learned quite a bit from. And her finished pieces (and the precision she is able to create with her electronics processing) reminds me that I have LOTS of work to do still in my own learning. When I was looking at some of her works, I came across her catalog on the chesternovello.com site, and noticed something that I hadn’t really seen before (but have seen quite a bit of since): she also has downloadable versions of the computer parts for her pieces available for anyone to download. For example, after I heard ‘Lonh’ I was able to find the electronics here: http://www.chesternovello.com/documents/additional/lonh.htm. I couldn’t believe how valuable a resource something like this was, and on top of that what a great source of documentation for the work. The question of ‘what is the score’ is often a difficult one to answer when it comes to live electronics. The code / patch that makes the piece work is an important part of the score actually, and to see it freely available is a wonderful learning opportunity for young composers. I certainly don’t hold myself in her league at this point, but as I developed more and more pieces (as well as the software to run them), the idea of posting my code for anyone else to look at was something I came to believe in. Maybe someday someone will get something useful from one of my pieces as well, and as technology changes (and the computer as an instrument starts to make its way out of the stone age) perhaps some of the stuff I do now will influence what things will become. In many ways, computer music is currently at a stage of development like that of western classical music was when early notation was beginning to be used. As works were written down and disseminated a huge amount of musical development began (rhythm, polyphony, etc.) simply because others could study and build on it. It is exciting to be around at a similar time again.

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Archive for the ‘Classical’ Category

Day 63. Mahler.

Day 60. Bach, The Clash and Cat Stevens.

Day 59. J.S. Bach and Robert Johnson.

Day 58. Violent Femmes, Beethoven.

Day 56. Mark-Almond, Liszt and more Vivaldi.

Day 55. Stravinsky (happy Spring everyone).

Day 53. Vivaldi

Day 51. Haydn. LOTS of Haydn. And Schubert.

Day 50. Mozart. Lots of Mozart.

Day 49. Kaija Saariaho.

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