geiginni wrote:

capnreverb wrote:....ill get to xenakis, ligeti, boulez, lutotawski, penderecki, lazaroff, foss, and berio some time. if some one else (dylan?) want's to get into these guys first go ahead.

Please do!

It's going to be Pierre Boulez's 80th birthday this month! Something on him would be appropriate. Next week there will be a performance of Boulez, Rituel; Stravinsky, Piano Concerto; Boulez, Piano Sonata No. 1; Messiaen, Sept haïkaï; and then a Gagaku Enseble will perform. It should be fantastic.

Also, any recommendations on 19th century quartets that don't bore you. I think you had mentioned Dvorak's "American" (Op. 97???). I'm also looking for recommendations within Shostokovich's quartets....where to start?

Any recommendations on wind quartets/quintets/sextets/octets? I really like the Penderecki Sextet. Also doesn't need to be limited to the 20th century stuff.

Thanks Capn'. I appreciate your knowledge and advice...

As for my boy Shostakovitch, 8 is the starting point. That (rightfully so) is considered his masterpiece. I would work my way up and down from that. However, when you start getting to the last couple, they get more and more down/bleak/depressing. Its like sad, sadder, really sad, saddest. His viola sonata is heart wrenchingly good and his trio is a must have. The piano quintet is nice too.

As for the 19th century.
I mentioned before the Verdi quartet. It is top notch.
The Bruckner quintet is grand.
The Mendelssohn octet is amazing. Not someone i would generally recommend, but it's near perfect. And he wrote it when he was 16!!!!
Borodin String Quartets are fine.
An amzing 19th century chamber piece is Glazunov's quintet. Top notch.
The sole quartets by Elgar and Sibelius are fine (early 20th c., but 19th in feel and place).

A piece that I am not that fond of, but a lot of folks i respect really seem to have a hard on for is Brahms string sexet.

As for wind quintets, I have some, but I'll have to go through them to offer a valid opinion.

Capnreverb,

I had a question for you. Have you at all heard The Flux Quartet's versions of Morton Feldman's compositions? The name right now escapes me but I ask only cause I saw it used at my local record store and it piqued my curiosity, and I thought you might've heard it. By the way thanks for the varied recommendations from this thread, keep on keeping on.

-Jeremy

Primo.

oucheh wrote:Capnreverb,

I had a question for you. Have you at all heard The Flux Quartet's versions of Morton Feldman's compositions? The name right now escapes me but I ask only cause I saw it used at my local record store and it piqued my curiosity, and I thought you might've heard it. By the way thanks for the varied recommendations from this thread, keep on keeping on.

-Jeremy

Have not heard those versions.

Feldmans later sq's are very interesting, but take a bit of patience, and can be quite long. I own the early ones and they are good, but not life changing. If you like his and cages take on minimilism, go for it. Its not for everyone.


Also, I forgot to mention an obvious fav of mine from the 19th century. I really like Paganini. His violen concertos are over the top, and gave fucks like malmsteen and vai the idea they could do it to, but are fuckin' cool. You can get em' cheap and they are a lot of fun. Not serious stuff, but just rockin'. I really think his chamber music is quite good, and is worth seeking out. Very melodic and well crafted. He is often overlooked as a composer due to his rock cred devil reputation etc., but it holds up quite well. It's not going to change your world, but it's great sunday morning kind of stuff and always sounds good cranked on the car stereo when going for a long ride.

I have not explored the Concertos yet. I have Paganini's 24 Caprices complete on LP, which I really, really enjoy from time to time.

BTW, thanks for the recommendations on the Shostokovich. I will make use of them. Also, do you have a recommendation for the Dvorak "American" quartet? I was going to go for the Naxos release - have you heard it?

Thanks again! I look forward to more broadening of my horizons...

-Geiginni

I am really glad for this thread. I have done a lot of research on the Elliott Cater string quartets, and while yes, they are dense and academic, I have found them actually very pleasing.
I have been waiting for Leo Brouwer to come into the discussion. He wrote primarily for the guitar, and not so much for the other strings, but I cannot recommend him highly enough to anyone interested in classical music. He is a cuban guitarist/composer who wrote some of the most wonderful music of the repertory. El Decameron Negro is a wonderful piece, written for Sharon Isbin, who also recorded it, as well as a version by John Williams on his The Black Decameron release. Brouwer's 20 studies are some of the most exciting studies written for the guitar. They are easy to get under the hands for players at most any level and are extremely satisfying and rewarding to play. They are at times wickedly dissonant, and at others wonderfully meditative. Elogio de la Danza is another great longer piece that uses tactful percussion and was written with Stravinsky in mind. I fell in love with his music as a guitar student, and I can say that though I had never heard anything remotely like it for the guitar, it was like it was the music I always had wished I could hear for the instrument. I felt the same way about John Fahey when I heard him. Naxos has a number of CDs of his music, most notably those by Antigoni Goni, and Ricardo Cobo, one of the best interpreters of Brouwer's music I have heard. I would almost go as far as to refund people's money if they hated it, but I am not a rich man.

In case anyone is interested in hearing a bit more about Boulez and his music and career as a conductor, those in the Chicago area can check out 98.7 WFMT. There are programs on him on Monday nights, and can check it out here
http://wfmt.com/boulez/

Alfred Schnittke (1934 - a few years ago) - Well, he's one of the modern heavyweights. He's the most important modern Russian composer to follow Shostakovitch and Stravinsky. Beautifully disonent, with a good sense of humour. He's not afraid to take on historical sacred cows and cross referances a lot of others past musics. His quartets are good but his titan of chamber music is his piano quintet. Written as a homage to his mother when she died, this is one of the most beatifully depressing works out there. The way he uses disonence and sound shrapnel is about perfect. There is one part where the strings sound like a swarm of bees attacking a sparce piano. Jawdroppingly mighty. And the end, lets just says it's perfect- the most wonderfully simple piano melody drifts out into the silence.

Last night I heard Schnittke's quartet #2 at New England Conservatory here in Boston. It was truly amazing. Are there any recordings of this that you recommend? I saw that Kronos Quartet has done them all, but I don't really like what I've heard of them.

thanks for all this information.
-Amos

amos wrote:

Alfred Schnittke (1934 - a few years ago) - Well, he's one of the modern heavyweights. He's the most important modern Russian composer to follow Shostakovitch and Stravinsky. Beautifully disonent, with a good sense of humour. He's not afraid to take on historical sacred cows and cross referances a lot of others past musics. His quartets are good but his titan of chamber music is his piano quintet. Written as a homage to his mother when she died, this is one of the most beatifully depressing works out there. The way he uses disonence and sound shrapnel is about perfect. There is one part where the strings sound like a swarm of bees attacking a sparce piano. Jawdroppingly mighty. And the end, lets just says it's perfect- the most wonderfully simple piano melody drifts out into the silence.

Last night I heard Schnittke's quartet #2 at New England Conservatory here in Boston. It was truly amazing. Are there any recordings of this that you recommend? I saw that Kronos Quartet has done them all, but I don't really like what I've heard of them.

thanks for all this information.
-Amos

the kronos stuff is never bad, there are just often times better renditions of said piece.

The piano quintet mentioned above is a must have. i can burn it for you.

If any of you would like, you can send me a PM and i will burn you cdr's of a lot of this kind of music for free. just give me some time and i will send you stuff if you are genuinely intersted. i have some cool stuff, unfortunatly, a lot of it's on wax, so i cant burn that, but some stuff i do have on cd.

your pal in the great "work"
-wietlispach

Can you recommend a recording of Schoenberg's string quartets?

I would also like a good version of the string trio, which I once was completely awed by in performance.

I think that Arditti has done them (and would expect it to be excellent), but have not yet found a copy.

thanks
-Amos