Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #70)

Now listening to "Emmanuelle Bertrand - le Violoncelle Romantique" accompanied by Pascal Amoyel on piano on Harmonia Mundi.

• Alkan - Sonata for piano and cello Op. 47
• Saint-Saens - Sonata for cello and piano No. 1
• Liszt - (premier) Elegie
  
  

 

Thank you for the hint! I wasn't aware of such a Nielsen box...

 

The Schubert Spring continues...

 

-----------------------------------
Love his playing.

 

I like those as well, and I don't rely very much on ClassicsToday. Just trying learn a bit more about a conductor I'll probably hear live more next season than any other.

 

I'm probably around 30, my overall favorite performance of the work.

 

Starting the day with Hogwood, the Academy and Vivaldi - some twofer compilation courtesy of Spotify.

 

After a number of attempts (including two full cycles and a number of individual recordings) I have come to the conclusion that Bruckner is not, and will not become a passion of mine. I can listen to and enjoy Symphonies 4, 7, 8 and 9, but even on a good day I really can't get more than lukewarm about the others. Give me Brahms and Mahler.

I actually hate giving up on a composer, but at some point I just need to say, "Life is short - and Bruckner rather long."

Edit - I actually like the choral music more.

 

It took me a while, but Bruckner is now one of my favourite late Romantic composers; his symphonies 7 and 8 are the ones I listen to the most, but I also appreciate 4, 5, 6 and 9. Strange as it may sound, his music got me into Mahler and later Shostakovich.

Brahms has always been a favourite of mine.

 

Litton is responsible for two of my favorite Mahler recordings:

 

Bruckner has never clicked with me, but I'm not ready to give up yet.

 

Here's no.4

 

While I do enjoy his music, his constant "stop/go" technique can become frustrating, as he often stops just when things get interesting! I suppose he's trying to build tension, but it does it a little old after a while.

 

Some conductors apply a "stop-and-go" style when it comes to Bruckner (Jochum comes to mind). It's not something I care for; I prefer a more "fluent" conducting style.

 

I mean the music comes to abrupt halts--those are written in the score!

 

But that's what makes Bruckner special... and then the pauses make the musical structures clearer, which is very important when it comes to large scale works. It organizes the music into clearly identifiable 'blocks' and makes it sound more 'logical' and organized than say Mahler, where it sometimes seem to meander without purpose in his symphonies.

 

Yes, I know what you meant, I was just referring to the "stop-and-go" style of conductors like Eugen Jochum when they conduct Bruckner: when the music gets louder, the tempo is sped up, when it gets quieter the tempo is slowed down. Not my cup of tea.

 

I hate when they do that... The loud parts usually work much better when they are slower.

 

Plus his cadences repeat and are too similar among his symphonies. I like a couple of his symphonies but that is where it ends for me. His 4th is one of my favorite symphonies.

 

Bruckner? 3-9. Start and stop? That would be the 5th. And the 8th. And parts of the 9th. And that's what he intended, so don't blame Jochum. All of Bruckner's music is woozy and mystical, a Wanderfogel's visionary excursion through the Alps. You either like this sort of thing or you don't. I just love it.

 

I didn't blame Jochum for what Bruckner composed; this is what I meant when I was talking about Jochum's "stop-and-go" style of conducting Bruckner:

And no, I don't like the naive and mystical way some conductors (again, like Jochum) are interpreting Bruckner, "Wandervogel" or not. As I said it's just not my cup of tea.

 

Now playing CD6 - At the Carnegie Hall, Haydn and Schumann from the following box for a first listen ...

 

Now playing CD29 - Symphonies Nos 71 & 73 from the following box for a first listen ...

 

So how is the cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand?

 

I like to experiment with classical music and find new things to listen to. I've never heard any of these works before so I can't say how she plays them in comparison to anyone else but I enjoyed her performances, which are well recorded.