Webern: Songs with orchestra

Day 304

Webern: Songs with orchestra

Four songs op 13

Six songs op 14

Five sacred songs op 15

Five canons op 16

Three traditional rhymes op 17

Three songs op 18

Heather Harper (op 13-14)

Halina Lukomska

Instrumental ensemble

Pierre Boulez

I’m reasonably familiar with most of Webern’s orchestral and instrumental music but the songs are largely an unknown quantity - I have almost certainly one or two of them before but I have never explored them. These songs all date from the years 1914-1924 when Webern seems to have gone though some sort of artistic crisis and was able to compose very little. Although the list here of songs looks quite extensive each of these sets has only a few songs and nearly all of the songs are very short in duration - several less than a minute long. So there is probably only 30 mins or so concentrated listening here.

This music is now over 100 years old but I still find it extremely challenging to listen to. There are a few moments of near lyricism but otherwise this is tough and abrasive music which gives very little for the listener to relate to. Following these pieces with the score allows some sense of how the music is constructed - you can see some of the canonic passages work even if you can’t always hear it. But it would idle to pretend that this is anything but tough repertoire. The vocal writing is instrumental in style and I can’t imagine that can be satisfying to sing.

So a tough listen - I can’t imagine that I will be returning to these songs again.

Berg: Der Wein

Day 303

Berg: Der Wein

Anne Sofie Von Otter

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Claudio Abbado 

I discovered the music of Berg when I was still at school. I remember having an LP of the violin concerto and also of the double concerto and the three orchestral pieces. Since then I have heard most of his music and seen both of his operas but this composition had passed me by. It is a one-off concert aria written as a commission in 1930.

It is rather a curious piece. It starts off in a very serious mood with some knotty expressionist music typical of what we find in much of Wozzeck. But then there are moments of parody and near jazz. The solo part is difficult but still is obviously vocal music rather - Berg doesn’t treat the voice as just another instrument. I suspect that Der Wein will always be on the fringes of the repertory and I imagine it is a difficult piece to programme. It is not quite long enough to be a main feature of a concert yet is hardly suitable as an ‘extra’ after a more extended solo piece. But I am pleased to have heard it - I think that now I have heard all of the published music of Berg - for such an important figure there really is not that much to go at. 

Feldman: Piano and Orchestra

Day 302

Morton Feldman: Piano and Orchestra

Alan Feinberg

New World Symphony

Michael Tilson Thomas

Morton Feldman is another of those rather scary American academic composers. In his case he has a reputation for writing impossibly long music - his string quartet lasts anything between five and six hours. So I approached this music with some trepidation. But I needn’t have worried. This was a rather hauntingly beautiful piece of quietly undulating orchestral textures.  All sorts of interesting colours were revealed during the 30 minutes or so that the piece lasted. The only jarring moments with the occasional very loud short phrases or single chord which distrusted the gentleness of the musical dialogue. I can see why he included these but I think that on balance the peice would have been better without them.  As I say it was otherwise quite haunting.  So another example of music which was nothing like what I expected. But that it one of the points of this project - to explore parts of the repertoire that I hadn’t previously ventured into.  I still don’t think however that I am ready for a six-hour string quartet.

Stockhausen: Kontakte

Day 301

Stockhausen: Kontakte

Ensemble Musikfabrik

In my student days Stockhausen was one of the leading - perhaps the leading figure in European avant- garde music. His standing has rather declined since then, particularly when compared with Boulez, partly I think because he developed megalomaniac tendencies and became interested in all sorts of fringe movements and ideas.

I remember attending a live performance of Stimmung which, despite a few laugh out loud moments at the absurdity of the text was a really compelling experience. I also remember hearing recordings of Gruppen and some of the piano pieces - overall I must have heard a fair amount of his music as a student. I think that I might have heard an extract from Kontakte before but I am sure I never heard the whole thing.

Kontakte is one of the landmark pieces in integrating electronic sounds with live music. The performers were were a pianist, who also has to play some percussion, and a percussionist who has to play a multitude of instruments, including gongs, tam-tams, wooden drums, xylophones and cymbals. The sound world Stockhausen conjours up is astonishing. I don’t know precisely how the electronics work - I didn’t have access to a score - but they were an integral part of the texture and added much of real interest. There were a few times when the effects jarred or sounded comic, but these were rare. Equally there were a few moments of fairly random ‘bashing’ of the percussion instruments, which sounded out of place, but for the most part the peice was gentle and introspective.

There is about half an hour of music here and the problem is trying to discern any shape of structure to the music. Without any rhythmic pulse or sense of harmonic direction there is nothing to give an overall feel for where the music is going or where it is going to end. The piece could have been over in 15 mins or go for for two hours. That to me is one of the real problems with music of this nature. The individual sound world can be fascinating and compelling but there is, at least to me, no sense of the wider whole. 

Still is it extraordinary to think that this music is now more than 60 years old. It still sounds fresh and new.

Babbitt: String Quartet no 2

Day 300

Milton Babbitt: String quartet no 2 

Unknown performer

Milton Babbitt is one of those rather formidable academic American serialists who seem to have dominated music in the US in the late 20th century. I can’t recall ever having heard any of his music before.

I had expected to find this completely unapproachable but in fact I did find quite a lot to appreciate here. The style is largely post-Webern but it had a rhythmic vitality that I don’t associate with that composer. Babbitt ability to create a dialogue based on a two note phrase brings an energy to the quartet. Unexpectedly I was occasional reminded of Tippett in a couple of places. So I was pleased to have sampled this music though I don’t suppose I will be returning to it any time soon.

Ferneyhough: String quartet no 3

Day 299

Ferneyhough: String quartet no 3

Arditti String quartet

Ferneyhough’s music has the reputation of being some of the most complex and knotty music ever written. In particular his rhythms are quite extraordinary - the notation almost belies belief. Almost every bar has cross rhythms and mathematically intricate subdivisions. How on earth anybody can play this music is a mystery though there are plenty of groups who are willing to take on the challenge.

I can’t say that this is was easy to listen to - at times the very high loud violin writing grated on the ear. But there was still much that was fascinating in the score - his ear for sonorities is astonishing. I don’t suppose that I would ever willingly sit down and listen to the entire series of quartets but I am glad that I dipped my toes into this music.

Xenakis: Three choral pieces

Day 298

Xenakis: Three choral pieces

A Colone

Nuits

Knephas

New London Choir

James Wood

After a couple of weeks catching up with some gaps in my coverage of earlier music I want to turn to some late 20th and early 21st century music - particularly some of the more challenging and difficult composers.

We did study a bit of Xenakis at university. I remember the lecturer talking about his use of Stochastic techniques - I didn’t understand it at the time and I don’t think that I do now!. We also had some performances of his music. I recall the cellist (I think is was Rohan de Saram) attacking his instrument with such vigour in Nomas Alpha that is seemed that the cello would disintegrate at any moment.

I don’t think that I have heard any Xenakis since to I came to these three choral pieces with an open mind. A Colone is an austere ritualistic piece for voices with trumpet trombone and double bass. It very much belonged to the world of late Stravinsky. But the other two pieces were anything but restrained. Xenakis uses the voices instrumentally and makes extraordinary demands on the singers - how they managed to sing this music is beyond my comprehension. Some of it was pretty hard to take but there were some moments here which were fascinating and which made a real impact. There was a real musical intelligence behind this wild and anarchic sounding music.