Present-ed Music
Two CDs received by moi, ich, ik, me over the brief but very pleasant (and already being missed) Christmas excursion to Maine are:
Which got stuck on my ultra-selective Amazon public wishlist so it must be something that was particularly attention grabbing when it got all aural up in my ears. It hasn’t had any listening time yet due to not being available on the CDDB — the database which mp3 ripping software uses to work out the names of tracks (which, incidentally is how the Hatto scandal was detected). I’m extra lazy when not officially at work, so couldn’t be bothered to spend the five minutes required to type in the track names. The Naxos info for this recording is here.
The other CD I got is (was?):
This was on the hitlist due to: 1) me wanting to own every available Shostakovich opus, but also 1++) me especially being fond of the late (post about Op. 100) pieces. Until now these had been unfamiliar. After a couple of listens all of these pieces sound WONDERFUL. The main event, Op. 119, is a 30 minute cantata-ey type piece in the style of his symphony No. 13. Very, very similar, in fact - but since I flippin’ love Op. 113 that’s not necessarily a negative thing at all. Op. 131 “October” is a vibrant little nationalistic number commemorating one of the revolutions, it reminds me of the driving 2nd movement of the 11th symphony. The 3rd piece on the CD, op. 42 ‘Five Fragments” are a set of five precursors to the desk-drawered and schizophrenic 4th symphony. Some of the fragments survived the transition basically intact, others I can’t place so well. All are interesting, but short. The Naxos CD info is here.
More thoughts as they get processed! Anyone else get anything interesting for xmas?
December 27th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
[...] have reported on the treasures they received on the Big Day, so, in aid of not being left in the dust by her fellow [...]