What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XI)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 31 December 2014
On the cusp of 2015, we start a new thread...
Anyway, links:
Volume X: https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...-be-interested-vol-x
Volume IX: https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...16#22826037054683416
Volume VIII: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...nt/12970396056050819
Volume VII: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...6878604287751/page/1
Volume VI: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878604097229
Volume V: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605140495
Volume IV: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605795042
Volume III: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878607309474
Volume II: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878606245043
Volume I: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878607464290
A Century of Russian Colours: Camille Thomas (cello), Beatrice Berrut (piano)
Sergei Rachmaninov: Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, op 19
Dmitry Kabalevsky: Sonata in B flat major for Cello and Piano, op. 71
Lera Auerbach: Seven Preludes from 24 Preludes for Cello and Piano, op. 47
I just love the music on the recording. So varied and different from beginning to end. This recording has also pushed me out of my shell with all the usual and given me motivation to get serious about Lera Auerbach (which didn't start just with this recording). By serious, I mean it is time to stop listening and get to work. I am patiently waiting for my Sikorski score of the 24 Preludes for Cello and Piano, op. 47 to arrive. This is a modern day composer that I can honestly say that many of her works I like (and a lot too).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...re=player_detailpage
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Also, in addition to the above, I just happened to come across a very nicely played Rachmaninov Cello Sonata with Karel Bredenhorst & Sofja Gülbadamova. It appears to be a student graduation (degree) performance/recital and it is absolutely beautifully done. If you love this sonata (as I do) and have 30 minutes to devote to this, please have a listen. One can never get the real power of music through a recording or a youtube video but if you have a connection to the music you will be able to see (or rather hear) what is going on here and what these two musicians are capable of showing us with the music - the meaning, the flow, the push and pull, the subtle yet so important timing. These two don't really look at each other (which is very important to occasionally do) but this is from the fact that they have worked together for some time on this and they know each other so well. I don't look at my partner that much either because I can feel and sense what she is doing or going to do somehow as well. Whether that is from her movement (that I can just sense in periphery) or her breathing etc.
This music is all about a partnership of course. If one fails or is weak the other is brought down too. The cello in Rachmaninov's Cello sonata (and all cello sonatas) is really the best replication of the human voice. It represent the utterances and cries of our inner voice. What string players spend their whole life on learning is how to play in tune and then learning how to produce a beautiful sound. In essence, the main role is to play a one note melody. This in itself is very difficult.
To compliment this in chamber music is the piano who is responsible for both melody and harmony. My hat goes off for this pianist here for a different kind of difficulty. Whether she is responding to the cello or the cello is responding to her, they demonstrate very well how to rise and fall very naturally. As a listener, you can close your eyes and be taken along very naturally with the music but you should realize that this is certainly not natural from a musical interpretation point of view. Some play very straight (the literal view of the score) and some do things with the score and add a human element to the outcome. Metronomes are good for many things. Typically, you start practicing with a metronome to be sure to learn the piece correctly but after this initial learning period you should throw it away and let an unspoken intelligence take over (speed up here, slow down here etc.). If this is done with taste and sincerity you have a performance like this to experience.
I lastly want to just comment again on how wonderful this performance is to me. This cellist has a very good ear and sense of what is needed at the right time. The pianist though for me is simply a remarkable hero here. Yes, all the focus is on the cellist and not taking away from him but this sonata is extremely difficult for the pianist. She not once shows this and that is incredible. This is Rachmaninov after all. The piece does not happen until the pianist gets a handle on the piano part and this pianist is in superb control either directing the action or at times the cello takes the lead admirably supporting the music in the background. But it is a brut of a piano part.
The listener doesn't really need to know this as when you play like this it doesn't matter. The outcome just seems so simple when done right yet this is (in my opinion) often overlooked how difficult this music is. It is so easy to criticize when something falls short - someone hits a wrong note or misses once, memory lapse, they should do this or do that etc. but people don't realize just have bloody hard it is. It is neurosurgery. These musicians devote their whole lives to this and shoot for perfection but have to live with the results of the moment everyday.
Unfortunately, the first movement is cut short and ends abruptly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...t=PL30CA8DC143AAEB2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...t=PL30CA8DC143AAEB2E
Some very pleasant trio jazz...
Today is my lucky day and an unforgettable day of discovery for me.
What am I listening to: Sofja Gülbadamov (pianist)
Why: Because I hear music from this pianist. Obviously, it matches what I expect and need from music and intuitively, everything I have heard from her this morning has really moved me. I can't imagine hearing anything from her that would turn me off. She is so different from many of the front runners of the music world in this way. Instantaneously recognizable to me as what I seek and long for for an entire life she has in spades. First, she is intelligent and understands what she is playing - it isn't just playing notes. She goes beyond and what she gives is something spiritual or something beyond what words can only try to convey. In an interview, she rightly refers to Schubert's G-flat major impromptu as a prayer and then goes further to regard it as a portrait of herself. She plays it as such too. I think she plays only for herself (she is genuine) and understands that maybe in an audience (or the world) there is only a small percent of listeners who actually get it and are enriched as a result. Her touch is remarkable. This is the touch / tone I want. Generally, it is soft, bell-like, rich tone (the opposite of ugly). Simply remarkable.
I like and respect all musicians and need a nice balance of everyone who bring their ideas to the table. This is how I learn and grow. Only ever so often do I get the opportunity to find what I am looking for as in this case. The world is full of entertainers and showmen. In the end, I don't need that. I only need purity and pure music.
I will spend a considerable amount of my future going through her Brahms, Schubert, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Dohnanyi etc. and being exalted.
Chilling out with:
Excellent record with some nice bass playing to start off with...
Work less for me with orchestra..
....just give me the trio....
Today is my lucky day and an unforgettable day of discovery for me.
What am I listening to: Sofja Gülbadamov (pianist)
Why: Because I hear music from this pianist. Obviously, it matches what I expect and need from music and intuitively, everything I have heard from her this morning has really moved me. I can't imagine hearing anything from her that would turn me off. She is so different from many of the front runners of the music world in this way. Instantaneously recognizable to me as what I seek and long for for an entire life she has in spades. First, she is intelligent and understands what she is playing - it isn't just playing notes. She goes beyond and what she gives is something spiritual or something beyond what words can only try to convey. In an interview, she rightly refers to Schubert's G-flat major impromptu as a prayer and then goes further to regard it as a portrait of herself. She plays it as such too. I think she plays only for herself (she is genuine) and understands that maybe in an audience (or the world) there is only a small percent of listeners who actually get it and are enriched as a result. Her touch is remarkable. This is the touch / tone I want. Generally, it is soft, bell-like, rich tone (the opposite of ugly). Simply remarkable.
I like and respect all musicians and need a nice balance of everyone who bring their ideas to the table. This is how I learn and grow. Only ever so often do I get the opportunity to find what I am looking for as in this case. The world is full of entertainers and showmen. In the end, I don't need that. I only need purity and pure music.
I will spend a considerable amount of my future going through her Brahms, Schubert, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Dohnanyi etc. and being exalted.
Triggered by an enthusiastic write up. Another masterfull recording of cello and piano...
(2003)
Playing this to break me out of my lethargy as much as anything else.
I believe the only white band to ever record on Motown:
Teaching myself the opening riff on "I Just Want To Celebrate" along with it.
Todays listening.
Both on Vinyl.
First listen of this newly purchased CD which I ordered following a plug on here, joerand I think.
First track is the classic Born to be Wild but I enjoying the rest too. Reproduction quality is better than I expected too. Only downside is due to my clumsiness I broken the CD case getting the cellophane off - an advantage that vinyl and streaming has over CD. 
Prompted by Stevee-S's earlier playing of a couple of Family albums. I should dig mine out more often. No mistaking Roger Chapman's vocals.
