Favourite albums of 2012

Now that it is January 2013 a post about my favourite music of 2012 is probably appropriate. In a couple days I'll write about my favourite concerts, but for now I want to highlight two CDs that were released in 2012 that were definitely the highlight of my musical year. Both involved Esa-Pekka Salonen; one CD is his "Out of Nowhere" with the Violin Concerto and Nyx, and the other is his premiere recording of Shostakovich's Orango as well as Symphony No.4.

I wrote about Salonen's Violin Concerto here, and I hope you've all listened to and loved the piece. The CD recording is actually spot on as well, never too clean and it's just very dynamic. Leila Josefowicz is a star in her own right and of course her playing is stunning. In that earlier post I lamented about Nyx not being on youtube, but now it is! It's fast growing to be my favourite Salonen piece, so listen and enjoy:



The Shostakovich CD by Salonen is something else altogether. Orango is an unfinished opera by Shostakovich of which 30 minutes survives(he and the librettists decided it wasn't a good idea to continue with in their current political climate). Some of the music will be very familiar to Shostakovich-lovers, however, as he re-used quite a bit of it for his ballet The Bolt (and rightly so, it's fantastic music). However, there's still lots that was never played or released before and it's such an honour to be around for its rediscovery.

In 2004 Olga Digonskaya, a Russian musicologist, found the piano score of Orango in a museum in Moscow. Because of her research we now know that it was commisioned by the Bolshoi Theatre in 1932, and that Alexei Tolstoy and Alexander Starchakov were to write the libretto. Tolstoy and Shostakovich together decided to make it "an uproariously irreverent squib, a satirical farce taking potshots at all kinds of aspects of contemporary culture" (CD liner notes by Gerard McBurney). The story tells of some sort of weird experiment of breeding a cross between men and apes to produce a hybrid (named Orango). This hybrid then becomes a successful soldier, a wheeler-dealer and a press-baron (quite a career!). Only the prologue survives both in word and music, as all involved decided to abandon the project. It's raucous piece, with probably the loudest percussion I've ever heard (and that includes Varèse), it's full of irony and humour but there's darkness in the music as well. All in all, it's an absolutely amazing work and it's sad that there are only 30 minutes left, though that's certainly better than nothing. There's nothing on youtube with the music, but here's Esa-Pekka talking about Orango:



Salonen and the LA Philharmonic's recording of Shostakovich Symphony No.4 has very much reaffirmed my belief that Salonen understands Shostakovich. Or perhaps I should say, he understands Shostakovich in the same way I understand him. The performance is absolutely and entirely spot on. There's not one thing I can say that I'd like to see differently (and this is usually the case with Shostakovich recordings, especially the Fourth of which I have too many so there's usually something I disagree with). Even though I will probably forever be loyal to Rostropovich and especially Kondrashin's recordings, Salonen comes really really close to my favourites. The recording is crystal clear but still has enough depth (which you definitely need in the Fourth). So if you're in the mood to buy some music; get these albums!

Esa-Pekka Salonen - Violin Concerto.

Do you all know that I love Esa-Pekka Salonen? Because I love Esa-Pekka Salonen (his name is great too). He's my favourite contemporary composer by far (sorry Adès) and also one of my favourite conductors. His music is absolutely phenomenal and I think it's a crime his pieces aren't performed more often. Thankfully there are some good recordings, and earlier this year his Grawmeyer-awardwinning Violin Concerto was released.

A couple of weeks ago I finally purchased the CD and I love the piece SO much. Also on the CD is a recording Nyx, another amazing orchestral piece. But seeing as I can't find that one on youtube (you should seriously find it on spotify or something though, it's up there with Foreign Bodies and Gambit as far as I'm concerned), here's the Violin Concerto, with Esa-Pekka conducting, Leila Josefowicz playing the solo part (the concerto was written for her) and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France doing everything else (they have an awesome drummer):


Movements 1 'Mirage', 2 'Pulse I' and 3 Pulse II.


Movement 4 'Adieu'.



Other YPGTCM posts on Esa-Pekka Salonen: Foreign Bodies once, and Foreign Bodies again.

James MacMillan - Violin Concerto

Some things need no explanation. Here's Vadim Repin playing James MacMillan's violin concerto with the Radio Kamer Filharmonie and the composer conducting. It's all kinds of amazing (but too short as it's only a preview, the whole concert will be on Dutch tv soon!). You can read my review of the concert here if you like. I basically sat there grinning throughout most of the concerto because it is so my cup of tea.



p.s. Vadim Repin still looks a bit like Vincent d'Onofrio, RIGHT?!

Philip Glass - Violin Concerto No.2 "American Four Seasons"

A little while ago I went to a concert by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Robert McDuffie in Middelburg. On the program was Shaker Loops by John Adams, Variations for Strings by Tristan Keuris and as the absolute highlight Violin Concerto No.2 "American Four Seasons" by Philip Glass. I already knew quite a bit of Philip Glass (though mainly his piano music) and our trip to Middelburg was mainly inspired by John Adams (who my mum loves) and of course with a healthy curiosity towards the Glass concerto. And boy oh boy was it something else. On bachtrack I wrote:

There are some classical concerts that really portray the absolute essence of what music is all about. If we’re lucky we experience one of these a year, but they’re very hard to come by because these experiences require something very specific. The Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Robert McDuffie’s performance of Philip Glass’ violin concerto The American Four Seasons at the Zeeuwse Concertzaal was one of these concerts. All the ingredients were there: the music, intense enjoyment and passion from the musicians, a modesty in playing and performing that allowed for no hoopla but only music.

And this still accurately portrays my feelings about this performance. The Adams and Keuris pieces were good as well but the Glass concerto really tugged at my heart strings and the performance was fantastic. The Amsterdam Sinfonietta brought their own idiosyncratic oomph to help the music along, and Robert McDuffie is incredible so this will definitely be a concert I'll remember for a long time. And of course, now it's time for all of you to listen to the American Four Seasons:


Philip Glass - Violin Concerto No.2 (American Four Seasons) - Movement 4
Played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Marin Alsop, violin solo by Robert McDuffie.

Philip Glass (1937-) is one of the great American minimalist composers. He's written a whole bunch of soundtracks (such as The Truman Show, The Hours, The Illusionist, Notes on a Scandal and Cassandra's Dream) and some absolutely fantastic piano music, but has also profiled himself as an incredible symphonic writers, with both opera and other music (including 10 symphonies). Glass is probably one of the most well-known composers of the last decades, and he's influenced everyone from David Bowie to Nico Muhly.

Violin Concerto No.2 "American Four Seasons was written in 2009, specifically for Robert McDuffie. It's obviously inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons, though in contrast to that work Glass has not specified which of the four main movements depicts which season. In between the movements Glass has inserted small solo pieces for the violin, which is what the concerto also starts with. It's a rhythm-driven work with some insanely beautiful violin parts. Hope you enjoy!

Béla Bartók - Violin Concerto No.2

For me Bartók's Second Violin Concerto is one of the most moving and exciting pieces of music ever. Bartók had an incredible knack for writing string pieces that make you want to bawl your eyes out (though also making you smile and bop your head) and this one is no different. It also has wonderful loud moments and the typical (Hungarian-style) rhythms that you so often hear in Bartók.


Béla Bartók - Violin Concerto No.2: Mvt 1 Allegro non troppo.
Played by György Pauk, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Antoni Wit.

The Violin Concerto No.2 was written in 1937-38 for Zoltán Székely and was premiered in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (there's a recording of it available here. Apparently Székely had quite a lot of influence on the writing of the score, he insisted that it consist of three movement and not just be variations on a theme (which is what Bartók originally wanted) and he made suggestions about adding/changing some notes. Bartók had originally written the ending as purely orchestral, but Székely disagreed and wanting a part for the violin as well. Both versions are available and still played, the one I'm posting here is with the violin-ending. The other two movements I haven't posted above can be heard on youtube: II Andante tranquillo and III Allegro molto.

Other YPGTCM posts on Béla Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin.

Musicians: Sergey Khachatryan

Sometimes musicians make a lot of noise while playing music. You have quite a few conductors that sort of grunt (like Jaap van Zweden and Semyon Bychkov) and musicians that seem to involuntarily make some sort of noise (Pieter Wispelwey is the first that comes to mind). Last night I went to De Doelen in Rotterdam to see the always amazing Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra play works by Stravinsky (Petrushka), Shostakovich (First Violin Concerto) and R. Strauss (Till Eulenspiegel). The Shostakovich work was played by Sergey Khachatryan. And Khachatryan sniffed quite a lot, rather loudly. You would think that these kind of sounds are irritating, and sometimes they are, but this time it seemed so incredibly unimportant after a few minutes. Because I have never seen or heard anyone play as beautifully as Khachatryan, even though he's only 25 years old.

Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto is already an intense and moving piece, after Bartók's Second Violin Concerto it's probably my favourite in the genre, it has everything, from rhythmical, catchy bits, to sounds that make you want to cry your eyes out. The DSCH motif also makes it's appearance in the second movement, which always makes me happy. The problem for me is that when I love a work, like this violin concerto, I will listen to it over and over again and know every single note. So when you go see a live performance, there's a definite possibility of being dissapointed, because I have a certain version in my head. Fortunately, I've not often been dissapointed, and sometimes I've even been completely blown away because a performer or orchestra plays the work even better than what I thought it should be like. And this was certainly the case yesterday.

Sergey Khachatryan (b. 1985) is an Armenian violinist and when he was 15 he actually won first prize at the International Sibelius Violin Competition, being the youngest prize winner ever. There's always a lot of young violinists about that can play everything perfectly, but I think it's quite rare for someone so young to be able to put so much emotion and idiosyncracy into playing. Not only can he play the loud and fast bits with conviction, there is also such nuance and beauty when he plays slower movements. Fortunately for me and you, there are two videos on youtube of him playing Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto. Enjoy: