A long-standing interest of mine is exploring symphonies by composers i’ve never heard of.
An interest that you’ll be well aware I share from previous discussions! Here’s another for you (another that I’m amazed I’ve never mentioned during the course of said discussions), all to chillingly relevant to the current state of geopolitics…
[…] [In] Symphony No. 8 “Sinfonia concertata” …, the first movement practically pits everyone against everyone else, the instruments all seeming to vie for attention during the opening couple of minutes. Whereupon the real antagonist steps up, blasts from the organ getting the orchestra riled up and triggering a highly rhythmic response. Though titled ‘Chorale’, the middle movement is highly unconventional, a fact established at its outset in a wonderfully weird assemblage of low drones, high clusters, remote wind filigree, discreet organ chords and a genuinely bizarre unstable muted trombone idea that sounds like a cross between a lament and drunken rambling. […] There’s a lot to get excited about in this music, and these superb performances … make a strong case for Tālivaldis Ķeniņš becoming a much more familiar name in the history of the symphony.” [reviewed in May] […]
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An interest that you’ll be well aware I share from previous discussions! Here’s another for you (another that I’m amazed I’ve never mentioned during the course of said discussions), all to chillingly relevant to the current state of geopolitics…
Thanks Chris! Never heard of that piece or that composer, so…
[…] [In] Symphony No. 8 “Sinfonia concertata” …, the first movement practically pits everyone against everyone else, the instruments all seeming to vie for attention during the opening couple of minutes. Whereupon the real antagonist steps up, blasts from the organ getting the orchestra riled up and triggering a highly rhythmic response. Though titled ‘Chorale’, the middle movement is highly unconventional, a fact established at its outset in a wonderfully weird assemblage of low drones, high clusters, remote wind filigree, discreet organ chords and a genuinely bizarre unstable muted trombone idea that sounds like a cross between a lament and drunken rambling. […] There’s a lot to get excited about in this music, and these superb performances … make a strong case for Tālivaldis Ķeniņš becoming a much more familiar name in the history of the symphony.” [reviewed in May] […]