Vasks, Varèse and Vanhal (Random Reviews from the Overflow Room)
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- Опубліковано 4 вер 2023
- A genuine (living) modern master, an avant-garde icon, and a lesser figure from the classical period all figure in this episode of Random Reviews from the Overflow Room.
I cannot thank you enough for the info on Vasks. I've been immersing myself for a couple of days and couldn't be happier. I've given the second half of the 20th century short shrift. Have to change that.
I was also happy to see that the Abravanel performance of Amériques made it onto Idagio, along with some other bits and pieces of other performances collected by Praga Digitals (never heard of them). The Vanguard album you showed is on Qobuz. Either way, I agree that both the work and Abravanel's interpretation are well worth hearing.
Couldn't stop laughing as Finster snaked her way through that top shelf. I shouldn't do that. This is classical music connoisseurship after all. Serious stuff.
The BIS recording of the Vasks violin concerto, with Vadim Gluzman as the soloist, has an interesting coupling: the Vasks piano quartet. You don't get orchestral works mixed with chamber works much, but it works well here. The glowing, transparent vibe of the violin concerto is kind of chamber-like. The piano quartet is wonderful, with a bit of a folk touch but also that mystic, otherworldly feel that Vasks excels at. It is another piece that has been recorded multiple times despite Vasks lack of name recognition. It is a substantial work at 38 minutes, longer than the violin concerto!
Discovered I had the Vasks "Message" disc -- had it for about 30 years -- and I recalled playing it once and filing it away. I guess I wasn't ready for it at the time, because a resurrection replay proved astonishing! So much so that I ordered DISTANT LIGHT and IN EVENING LIGHT and will be giving them the old trial spin soon! Thanks for this series! Without it, that treasure would still be sitting on the shelf!
Maybe Dave has it in the closer-to-hand collection, but Vasks' Cello Concerto No. 2 ("Presence"), written for and recorded by Sol Gabetta with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta (Sony), is, along with "Distant Light," my go-to Vasks. Although it's all-strings, "Presence" is as colorful, turbulent and atmospheric as works for full, big orchestra, and its writing for solo cello is a clinic in (post?)modern expressivity. Great piece, and a compelling introduction to this composer. Plus, anything with Candida Thompson's Amsterdam Sinfonietta is worth hearing just for string-ensemble mastery.
Yep! Vasks has such scope of vision! I've got the plantlife art releases, had em for decades. Great to see them in the light of day and discussed by someone like you, Dave!
Some may disagree, but for me, Vasks's Distant Light may the best violin concerto composed in the last 30 years. The music has all the fine qualities that Mr. Hurwitz mentions. Scott Varland
"He was one of those nice Czech members of the Nice Czech Classical School." Nice.
Even if Vanhal was a second rate composer (vs first rate - Haydn and Mozart), his music is very enjoyable. I have a few CDs of his symphonies. Good stuff.
So glad you have the Varese recording with The Utah Symphony Orchestra in your collection. I have my copy here and AMERIQUES is amazing. Had this on LP and was quick to grab it when it was issued on CD. Vanguard has a winner with this one. Always admired Varese. Just like Frank Zappa, who almost worshipped Varese, they both stuck to their guns and didn't let anyone or anything get in their way of their compositions. THANKS DAVE !!!
Regarding Vaughan Williams. I noted the number of 5th symphonies you had and figured there must be something good about it. So I listed to a few recordings....and it was thourghly enjoyable. I will save it next to Job. Thank you for the collection talks.
Apart from RVW’s 1st symphony I like all of his symphonies. My Adrian Boult box set is a pearler
Any discs of Matthijs Vermeulen's music in the Overflow Room?
There's some in a box somewhere.
I have only two Vasks discs: The Wergo release of music for violin and orchestra with Alina Pogostkina/Sinfonietta Rīga/Juha Kangas (awesome release!) and the Naxos release of flute music. I have more Vanhal, some half dozen discs, mostly on Naxos. Very nice music just like Dittersdorf! Varèse has remained unexplored for me. There is just so much music out there (I listen to a lot of music outside classical music too!). I almost get anxiety thinking about it, but I try to take it easy and explore music with a pace that feels comfortable.
Hi. I tried Vasks and maybe should try again, but felt that he was a very good composer, but felt that there was nothing so exciting there that I’d become a “fan.”
Les Percussions de Strasbourg, oh yes there needs to be a box, there was, it has gone. Varese, Xenakis, the Cage constructions in metal (very exciting), Messiaen etc, such great work. We need it back.
Vanhal. You know I’ve never heard anything by him I didn’t like. Very much an unfortunately overlooked composer given his timing, but his piano concertos (Staier and others have don’t them) for example are really really excellent.
I don't think you reviewed the other recording of Vasks' Distant Light on BIS with Vadim Gluzman, which came out a few years ago. Gluzman has the same sort of edgier/"not nice" tone as Kremer, but the performance is less rushed and this gives the music more space to breathe. Of the recordings I have (which are several!) it's my favorite. What makes the Gluzman disc stand out is the Piano Quartet, which is absolutely marvelous, and possibly just edges out Schnittke's Piano Quintet as my favorite chamber work for piano and strings.
Heard Gluzman play the Vasks last night in Basingstoke. I'm a convert now.
Don't know Vasks -- of course I've heard of him, but I haven't heard much of his work, if at all -- and the same for Vanhal -- but Varese! Ah, I do like my Varese now and again! That AMERIQUES was my first encounter with the work -- on vinyl it was backed with Milhaud (L'HOMME ET SON DESIR) and Honegger (PACIFIC 231), also my introduction to those pieces. And I'm a big Rautavaara fan, so if Vasks is much like that, yah, need to give it a shot.
Until I become responsible for buying their birthday presents, haters' hates are irrelevant to me. On a related note, a friend recently asked about a film she didn't know. I gave a superficial description of it and she said, "You're not selling it." I said, "I don't need to. I'm not a merchant."