Friday, September 26, 2014

Walter Piston - Symphony No.6 - Concertino for Piano & Chamber Orchestra - Concerto for Orchestra - Concerto for String Quartet, Wind Instruments & Percussion

This post is by request (for Piston in general) and it's a fantastic, rare disc on Citadel with varying works. I almost forgot how much I like Piston's music! Been a long while since I spent some quality time with him :)


The range covered on the CD is wide. It takes in two works from the 1930s, adds the 1950s symphony (surely the disc's raison d'etre) and concludes with a work from his very last year. The Symphony is in four movements of which the second and fourth are very short. In the early 1960s the Soviets seem to have taken to recording foreign orchestral works. They recorded the Alan Bush and Rawsthorne Second Symphonies and are also reputed to have done Roy Harris's Fifth Symphony. The Piston Symphony was written for the 75th anniversary of the Boston SO as also was the Martinu Fifth Symphony (the two were coupled together on an LP and toured together during the mid-1950s).
The Sixth does not have the direct access to lyricism which you find in the Second or Fourth Symphonies. The work dazzles with refinement (harp and strings in first movement) and with virtuosic scampering figures (I thought of Walton's Britten Variations). The masterly adagio sereno opens with a prominent sombre cello lament leading to the searing starlight of the strings and then rising to a brassy statement of contorted and impassioned grandeur. The concluding allegro energico is a hailstorm of brightness - recalling some of the propulsive energy of the second symphony's finale.
The Piano Concertino is neo-classical with the piano constantly in Stravinskian spate apart from in the middle section where a cello solo looks forward to the same instrument's work in the adagio of the sixth symphony. The Concerto for Orchestra sounds very much like a concerto grosso unwittingly summoning up echoes of the Bach Double Violin Concerto and the De Falla Harpsichord Concerto. In the central movement the orchestra crows, slides and slews over the scenery after a commanding Hary Janos type 'sneeze'. The finale is memorable for a colloquy for the deep resinous brass and a gaunt drizzle of a fugue. The single movement quartet concerto is clean and clear, busy and brusque, dissonantly chattering - letting up only for a solo violin serenade in the central section.
Enjoy.

1. Sym No.6: Fluendo Expressivo - Moscow RSO/Alexander Gauk
2. Sym No.6: Scherzo: Leggerissimo Vivace - Moscow RSO/Alexander Gauk
3. Sym No.6: Adagio Sereno - Moscow RSO/Alexander Gauk
4. Sym No.6: Allegro Energico - Moscow RSO/Alexander Gauk

5. Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra: In One Movt - Marjorie Mitchell

6. Concerto Orch: Allegro Moderato Ma Energico - Polish Nat Radio Orch/William Strickland
7. Concerto Orch: Allegro Vivace - Polish Nat Radio Orch/William Strickland
8. Concerto Orch: Adagio-Allegro Moderato - Polish Nat Radio Orch/William Strickland

9. Concerto for String Qt, Winds, and Percussion: In One Movt: Confuoco-Lento-Allegro Energico -Emerston Str Qt

Piston_Sym_No.6_Concertino_Concertos_Tz.zip

http://www35.zippyshare.com/v/84174027/file.html

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Tzadik,and Symphony nr.8,the last of composer?,mucha gracias from las Pampas.Tapirman.

Willy zur Macht said...

Thanks pal, you only have good and rare stuff

Anonymous said...

Hi TZ!

Which Martinu works you like beyond the ones you already shared here? I have quite a few his discs downloaded in the past and wonder if you may suggest some other good works of his.

Thanks!

Piterets

Tzadik said...

Hi Tapirman. I know I have Piston's 8th on First Edition with the Louisville Orchestra. I will add it for you, whenever I can find it.

Tzadik said...

Halo Willy and you are welcome, thanks for commenting. Regards

Tzadik said...

Hi Piterets

Man that's a hard question I love tons of Martinu :)
Clearly there's the obvious (symphonies, piano concertos etc.). The Rhapsody-Concerto is amazing but I assume you already have it, there's several fine versions. I enjoy his Cello concertos from time to time. One rare work I really like is "The Butterfly That Stamped", a ballet in 1 act. It's an odd exotic work. The Czech Rhapsodie is good, I like the four Cantatas
(Opening of the Wells etc.) , Suite Concertante, the ballet Spalicek, Concerto for 2 Orchestras, Julietta, Serenades for Chamber Orch, Sextet forPiano/Woodwinds, The Greek Passion, The Frescos of Piero della Francesca (orch.), Rhythmic Etudes for Orch., the Concerto for 2 Pianos, Concerto Grosso for 2 Pianos and chamber orch, Czech Dances for 2 pianos, the Nonet, the Cello Sonatas, (too much chamber music to list- some was great, and some not so, he wrote so much).
*I can email you a comprehensive list, I love a sh*tload more ;)

Tzadik said...

Piterets what Martinu do you love, and also what works are you looking for?

Anonymous said...

Thanks, TZ!

I like Martinu's piano concertos, the disc you shared with sinfoniettas, some chamber works (from NAXOS disc). Most works leave good impression, and invite repeated listenings, but did not have a 'wow' factor for me... I have to listen more to his music, I guess, in recent days I was listening to a haphazard mix of Jazz, Malcolm Arnold, Martinu, Kats-Chernin etc.

Now, Tabakova's music is excellent and I go back to her again and again. She's in my iPod too ( and thht means something :)

Piterets

Anonymous said...

havent heard the sixth symphony. thankyou very mucho indeed for pleasing me

very cool neoclassical style. ojalá tenga por ahí the rest of the symphonies, or the string quartets, or the piano quintet, or the flute sonata, or Tunbridge Fair, or Psalm or Prayer of David, none of wich i havea heard,but i have seen warmly recommended

Thank you again, man!

Hernàn

Tzadik said...

Piterets yes the Tabakova disc is a knock-out, the music as attractive as she seems to be ;) I like Arnold, and like with many composers I had a "Malcolm Arnold phase" where I went on a real buying spree, happily his music is worth it. -What Jazz are you playing? My favorites are Pharoah Sanders (his more experimental, earlier works), Lee Morgan, Hilton Ruiz, The Duke, John Campbell (John Campbell trio especially), Oscar Peterson....and a lot more. Tz

Tzadik said...

Hola Hernàn. You are welcome, great that you enjoyed it! I have most of Piston's works, and I wil post more when I can, and can find my discs. Tz

Anonymous said...

I typically prefer Jazz that has a chamber music quality to it, if you know what I mean.

So, recently I was listening to:

Arve Henriksen - Nature of Connections (2014)
Magico - Carta de Amor w/ E. Gismonti
Makan - Afterglow
Lars DAnielsson - Pasadoble
Paolo Fresu - Mistico MEditerraneo
Bollani - Joy in spite of Everything
Iyer - Mutations
some chamber-like works by John Zorn
Edward Vesala - Satu
Kvernberg, Ola and The Trondheim Soloists - The Mechanical Fair (2014)
Wyrostek, Marcin & Coloriage - Marcin Wyrostek & Coloriage (2011)
Eivind Aarset Quartet
recent ECM discs: Jean-Louis Matinier/Marco Ambrosini: Inventio and Dino Saluzzi Group: El Valle de la Infancia

Piterets

Tzadik said...

Piterets I like everything that you mentioned; I really just listed the jazz that "got me into" jazz years ago, although I still love early Pharoah Sanders. I love Zorn's Tzadik label, have countless amounts of the recordings. I especially cherish Zorn's Masada projects but I like almost everthing on the label, from NY-based Klezmer ensembles to Japanese Noise, and so on!

jack tar said...

Thank you so much for this fascinating music!

Can you provide a complete, correct list of performers and tracks?

(The orchestra and conductor are missing for tracks 5 and 9, and the quartet is (presumably) the Emerson quartet.)

Tzadik said...

Hi Jack you are very welcome. Sure, I can post the details, sometimes I don't only because I don't have a scanner; I scanned some of my collection years ago, but only 10% or so. Regards

Tzadik said...

Hope this helps

Symphony No. 6 (1955) 25.34
Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra (1937) 12.34
Concerto for Orchestra (1933) 12.48
Concerto for String Quartet, Wind Instruments and Percussion (1976) 10.00
Moscow Radio SO/Alexander Gauk (rec 1962)
Marjorie Mitchell (piano) Göteborg SO/William Strickland (rec 1963)
Polish National Radio Orchestra/William Strickland (rec 1969)
Emerson Quartet/Juilliard Orchestra/Sixten Ehrling (rec May 1978)
all stereo recordings ADD CITADEL CTD 88134 [61.55]

1. Sym No.6: Fluendo Expressivo - Moscow RSO/Alexander Gauk
2. Sym No.6: Scherzo: Leggerissimo Vivace - Moscow RSO/Alexander Gauk
3. Sym No.6: Adagio Sereno - Moscow RSO/Alexander Gauk
4. Sym No.6: Allegro Energico - Moscow RSO/Alexander Gauk
5. Concertino: In One Movt - Marjorie Mitchell
6. Con: Allegro Moderato Ma Energico - Polish Nat Radio Orch/William Strickland
7. Con: Allegro Vivace - Polish Nat Radio Orch/William Strickland
8. Con: Adagio-Allegro Moderato - Polish Nat Radio Orch/William Strickland
9. Con: In One Movt: Confuoco-Lento-Allegro Energico - Emerston Str Qt

Tzadik said...

Hmm I just realized other than the recording dates the other info is the same as what I already posted..

jack tar said...

Tzadik, thank you for your kind reply, and forgive me for not noticing that you'd posted all that.
But thanks also for the recording dates!

Tzadik said...

Hey jack no problem, and if the recording dates helped then that's great! I will post more Piston when I can, my collection is complicated as it's in different places due to the size of it!