Alban Berg Altenberg Lieder (1912) . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Elliott Carter March, from "Eight Pieces for Timpani" (1950) . . . it's our BANG, CLANG and BEAT - New Music for Percussion for the week.
Gustav Holst Terzetto (1925) . . . it's one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS for the week.
Elliott Bark Reminiscence (2006) . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.
Showing posts with label Berg. Alban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Berg. Alban. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
A world view was incorporated into the compositions of Somerville, Massachusetts-born Alan Hovhaness. While much of his music reflects his Armenian heritage, Hovhaness also utilized elements of Indian ragas, Japanese gugaku music and natural sounds. His mystical/contemplative gift can be heard in his lament for solo viola Chahagir (1945), which some say was the Armenian-American composer's homage to the Holocaust. Hear a performance of Hovhaness' Chahagir by violist Julia Rebekka Adler . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
Hubert Culot (MusicWeb International) writes about the Chandos Records release Luigi Dallapiccola: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2, "Dallapiccola's music may not be easy but is ultimately richly rewarding on repeated hearings, especially when helped by committed and carefully prepared readings such as these. The recording and the production of this release are up to Chandos’s best standards. This is one of the finest discs to have come my way recently; and, before ending up in my list of Recordings of the Year, it will be my Record of the Month". Read the full review and hear excerpts from this recording . . . it's this week's FEATURED RECORDINGS.
Alban Berg's Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, op. 5 (1913) are the composer's only true miniatures. Berg's former teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, roundly criticized Berg (and possibly these particular works), attempting to discourage Berg from composing songs and small-scale works, and encouraging him toward extended instrumental composition. Critics have noted the irony in Schoenberg's attack on Berg in light of the fact that Berg's Four Pieces were strongly influenced by Schoenberg's own set of miniatures, the Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19 (1911). Berg's fellow Schoenberg pupil, Anton Webern, also wrote a number of miniatures, and indeed his music became best-known for its concise expressivity, its cool character, angular melodies, and pointillistic texture. In contrast, Berg's miniatures — and indeed, his music in general — are decidedly more Romantic in gesture, texture, and timbre. The Four Pieces are very brief and complex; Berg abandons motivic connections in favor of deep structural relationships beneath a perpetually moving surface. As with most of Berg's early works, there is a preponderance of quartal and whole-tone harmonies; like the String Quartet, Op. 3 (1910), the Four Pieces undergo constant changes in tempi, dynamics, and articulation according to Berg's intricate instructions (which sometimes change from beat to beat). The first and last of the Four Pieces are the longest, flanking a slow second piece and a scherzo (AllMusicGuide). Hear a performance of Berg's Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano . . . one of this week's PYTHEAS EARFULS.
Hubert Culot (MusicWeb International) writes about the Chandos Records release Luigi Dallapiccola: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2, "Dallapiccola's music may not be easy but is ultimately richly rewarding on repeated hearings, especially when helped by committed and carefully prepared readings such as these. The recording and the production of this release are up to Chandos’s best standards. This is one of the finest discs to have come my way recently; and, before ending up in my list of Recordings of the Year, it will be my Record of the Month". Read the full review and hear excerpts from this recording . . . it's this week's FEATURED RECORDINGS.
Alban Berg's Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, op. 5 (1913) are the composer's only true miniatures. Berg's former teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, roundly criticized Berg (and possibly these particular works), attempting to discourage Berg from composing songs and small-scale works, and encouraging him toward extended instrumental composition. Critics have noted the irony in Schoenberg's attack on Berg in light of the fact that Berg's Four Pieces were strongly influenced by Schoenberg's own set of miniatures, the Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19 (1911). Berg's fellow Schoenberg pupil, Anton Webern, also wrote a number of miniatures, and indeed his music became best-known for its concise expressivity, its cool character, angular melodies, and pointillistic texture. In contrast, Berg's miniatures — and indeed, his music in general — are decidedly more Romantic in gesture, texture, and timbre. The Four Pieces are very brief and complex; Berg abandons motivic connections in favor of deep structural relationships beneath a perpetually moving surface. As with most of Berg's early works, there is a preponderance of quartal and whole-tone harmonies; like the String Quartet, Op. 3 (1910), the Four Pieces undergo constant changes in tempi, dynamics, and articulation according to Berg's intricate instructions (which sometimes change from beat to beat). The first and last of the Four Pieces are the longest, flanking a slow second piece and a scherzo (AllMusicGuide). Hear a performance of Berg's Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano . . . one of this week's PYTHEAS EARFULS.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
"Alban Berg’s opera, Wozzeck, first performed in 1925, is a work of such enormous musical complexity that few people can hope to understand it all, even after repeated listenings. Like those enormous Gothic cathedrals that command our respect and awe, Wozzeck contains lovingly crafted details that will forever remain beyond our ken. Even conductors who pore over the music repeatedly discover new things each time they open the covers of the score ..." [note thanks to David Gregson @ Opera West]. Take in a part of this monumental work - one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.
The New Music Connects project enabled three young Irish composers to compose a new string quartet by collaborating with an ensemble in a number of workshops. The composers selected to participate in the project were EdBennett, Rob Canning and David Flynn. The new works were performed by the Con Tempo quartet at two concerts in Galway and Dublin in December 2007. Read, see and hear all about it at this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC WEBSITE . . .
The Pytheas Center's DANSES PYTHEUSES, bringing you New Music for Dance, this week features Relief, a 2006 dance piece - choreography by Erin Tisdale, music by David Morneau.
The flute was French composer Albert Roussel's favorite instrument, and he composed a number of chamber works featuring it (Serenade for Flute, Strings and Harp; Trio for Flute, Viola and Cello; Andante and Scherzo for Flute and Piano; and Joueurs de flute, four pieces for flute and piano). FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES this week brings us a fine performance by flutist Bruce Tabb and pianist Nathalie Fortin of Roussel's Joueurs de flute, "Flute Players". The four movements are fashioned after famous flute players of literature: Pan, the shepherd-god, known for playing the pan-pipes; Tityre, one of the shepherds in Virgil's Bucolica; Krishna, the Hindu god, who played the flute in his youth; and M.de la Pejaudie, the hero of the novel La Pecheresse by Henri de Regnier. ENJOY!
... and just a jaw dropping WOW! for Philippe Quint's performance of John Corigliano's The Red Violin Caprice (1999).
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
The New Music Connects project enabled three young Irish composers to compose a new string quartet by collaborating with an ensemble in a number of workshops. The composers selected to participate in the project were EdBennett, Rob Canning and David Flynn. The new works were performed by the Con Tempo quartet at two concerts in Galway and Dublin in December 2007. Read, see and hear all about it at this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC WEBSITE . . .
The Pytheas Center's DANSES PYTHEUSES, bringing you New Music for Dance, this week features Relief, a 2006 dance piece - choreography by Erin Tisdale, music by David Morneau.
The flute was French composer Albert Roussel's favorite instrument, and he composed a number of chamber works featuring it (Serenade for Flute, Strings and Harp; Trio for Flute, Viola and Cello; Andante and Scherzo for Flute and Piano; and Joueurs de flute, four pieces for flute and piano). FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES this week brings us a fine performance by flutist Bruce Tabb and pianist Nathalie Fortin of Roussel's Joueurs de flute, "Flute Players". The four movements are fashioned after famous flute players of literature: Pan, the shepherd-god, known for playing the pan-pipes; Tityre, one of the shepherds in Virgil's Bucolica; Krishna, the Hindu god, who played the flute in his youth; and M.de la Pejaudie, the hero of the novel La Pecheresse by Henri de Regnier. ENJOY!
... and just a jaw dropping WOW! for Philippe Quint's performance of John Corigliano's The Red Violin Caprice (1999).
Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
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