MomsMobley

Though I always liked him, I've become a huge admirer of Bohuslav Martinu, who did great work in all forms from solo piano to opera. His piano trios, string quartets, piano quartet etc should give great pleasure, elightenment. There's tendency to underrate Martinu because of near baroque fecundity but having heard nearly everything available, there's very little I'd want to do without. The Suprahon label especially is full of wonders, though Hogwood cond. violin concertante series on Hyperion is also excellent, likewise lots of Chandos discs etc. Don't miss Ernst Bloch's quintets either-- much more to suggest, of course...

The BIS series is tremendous, I agree Ligeti, though the CPO and other stray recordings, like the DG Baltimore 7th also valuable. You might get kick out of this excerpt from liner notes of Swedish Caprice recording of Concerto for Strings No. 1 "... the largely self-taught composer uses rhythms and sounds that could belong to Stravinsky's "La Sacre du Printemp (which in 1949 had never been performed in Sweden). Likewise, he anticipates the compact sound sounding clusters that Ligeti and Penderecki were to develop into a stylistic device in the 1960s. But the difference is important. Pettersson uses these dense sound-effects as a rhythmic and dynamic relish, whereas Ligeti fashions them into the substance that bears up his practically static world of sound." -- Leif Aare, 1977

lest we forget... from http://www.tv.com/shows/the-cosby-show/theo-and-the-joint-6811/ THEO AND THE JOINT, season 1, episode 17, airdate 7 February 1985 I'd seen interviews with AB where he recalls this less than pleasantly but I admit, I'd not thought to look it up before. Impossible, of course, it was a "coincidence."

LK, I blew off Pettersson at first myself, generally wanting more harmonic advernture in my modernism but once that need/preference passed... I was initially turned on by the three concertos for string orchestra (1949-1957), then the sonatas for two violins-- and the 2nd vc above (which is Haendel/Blomstedt btw) & the symphonies. i sing this in the shower lately also-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCA-vPcQyU certainly-- to use 'pop' repertoire examples-- all Sibelians and most who listen to/enjoy 1960s/70s Shosty would find Pettersson at least interesting.

I am a fan.

Gergiev is not a fraud, perhaps overrecords, nearly always valuable in the Russians (& Mussorgsky, of course, and more Prokofiev than most realize deserve multiple recordings/performances), when I can afford them, I like to get sports massage with his Shostakovich "The Nose" as soundtrack, pound pound pound, stroke stroke stroke... aiiiieeee! Worst you can say about VG is same as other jet setter/stars cf. warhorses though VG illuminates the odd corner also... dig the Toradze/Gerg Prok pcs & Scriabin also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1rLbO6RcCg

i credit your deadpan perversity here SW & I say that as someone w/ DOZENS of hours of Knappertsbusch at hand, lotsa Wagner, natch, some Bruckner... but I wouldn't recommend his AB be anyone's first or second or likely even third recording of a given work... what's next, Kabasta & Abdendroth? For $1-3 a pop, Tintner is worthwhile, sometimes better, that reminds me of Celibidache & Asahaina but, speaking of perversity, though Celi has that in spades & sometimes sounds "scrumptious" in so doing, I'd hold off now. best integrale that also fuels love/hate though most never saw it & few will be able to find it today is the mostly Eichorn (with some by Martin Sieghart (whose Schmidt 4 on Chesky is "fucking delectable" according to Virgil Thomson) box with Bruckner Orch Linz on Japanese Camerata. Obv. I mostly prefer individual issues in all the sym but the box economy will out.

Resist both. I'm not anti-Solti but the Bruckner set is largely charmless & in fact, most Bruckner 'integrales' are lacking so fear not, your missing little. Gunter Wand/Kolner Rundfunk is mostly excellent, however, $20 Can-- http://www.amazon.ca/Bruckner-Symphonies-Nos-Classical-Masters/dp/B0042U2HLY Also, more expensive but worth more than Karajan, Barenboim, either Jochum combined is Skrowaczewski-- http://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-11-Symphonies-12-CDs/dp/B00005K36Y Haitink Bruckner is pretty good, skip Furtwangler for now, Tintner cond. Naxos are worth grabbing, etc. re: the Vienna sarcophagus, there are some good recordings in their but for 140 bones & a chintz package (what, it doesn't include a locket with John Culshaw's pubic hairs?!?!), it seems an inefficient use of $$$, space, attention. if someone had NO classical music in their home, there are worse introductions, sure, but for the Serious Listening Artist... pass. You can get the same rep cheaper elsewhere & explore great swaths of repertoire Decca/Vienna was too lame to even consider recording.

Ah, but Moms that sly old foxy grandma never suggested one compare any of those works; she simply posted them because youtube clips were easily available. Comparison with Hindemith is a larger one in terms of eagerness to compose works highlighting disparate intstruments etc. Aho is far more ambitious & prolific a symphonist than Hindemith but if someone wants to draw a big circle around Hindemith's concertos, Villa-Lobos' Choros & Bachianas & symphonies (which I rate high, for the most part, but though I can sing you Bruckner movements from memory, I'm NOT in the slightest hung up on Austro-German/Nielsen/Sibelian 'symphonic development'; a symphony is like a novel, it can be proceed in any way, be shaped like almost anything, even a mandala) etc etc... That's the context Aho is operating in (with Shostakovich, Schnittke, likely Vagn Holmboe and Allen Pettersen also). I was a teenage Hindemithian btw and know his music very very well, including nearly all the largely interesting-to-excellent repertoire that's often ignored, not infrequently derided.

turd obliteration from an unexpected source-- http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/coltranes-free-jazz-awesome

Aho does what he wants = familiarity, fluency with all major 20th c. 'modernist' streams, as well as the harmonically & texturally adventurous 'romantic' streams preceding, so he was widest possible pallette to techniques/sounds to work with. Plus, like say Hindemith (but more colorful) and Martinu (but less balletic, folkloric) and Villa-Lobos, he clearly enjoys writing for all manner of instruments, ensembles. Aho is often fun but never patronizing or merely 'clever' like so many neo-minimal/pop referent saps. Larry Kart, I'm surprised you didn't enjoy Symphony #7, not that it's "like" them in formally but for anyone who digs Villa-Lobos, Koechlin, Messiaen...

VASTLY more than a cult, for those with an interest he's among handful of greatest living composers of symphonies, concertos +++, brilliant inheritor of all worthy 20th streams, his assimilation of which can irritate cornball neo-tonalists & academic ersatz modernist both but like any artist of great merit, he does what he likes. in profligacy, invention one might compare him to Villa-Lobos, with dashses of Buxtehude, Telemann, Ravel & a far more colorful Hindemith; Messiaen in the sauna with Sibelius; Schoenberg playing ping pong with George Gershwin; Shostakovich before Zdanov etc. Recent, awesome, with the possibility of thrilling lots of people who likely don't know it exists http://yle.fi/radio/yleradio1/ohjelmat/uudetlevyt/theremin_haastaa_konserttomestari_ahon/7434157

Have ya'll heard the Bang Sirone Ensemble side on Silkheart with Gayle (on alto & tenor) and Tyshawn Sorey on tubs? VERY interesting, not least to hear Charles hangs, enlivens in idioms the reductionists imply he couldn't. Can't find any youtube clips but it's an excellent date. Gayle & Papa Joe together would have been a terrific multi-instrumental meeting, actually, unfortunate never happened, parallel worlds etc, though obviously Mat & William Parker played together often. Thing about Gayle also that should be emphasized is he's been back for 25 years now with a pretty diverse discography-- the solo sides as powerful in their ways as the trios/quartets etc... ... And as the beginnings of this thread indicates, it's entirely possible some folks who wrote off early Gayle as one dimensional scorcher (he wasn't but I understand the impression) would come around to his various other guises, "Streets" included (whose character, whether one indulges him or not, is utterly fascinating to consider, like where did Charles get that idea-- let alone the gumption to make it 'jazz' (& not 'jazz') theater?)

Lee, only making 'comparison' because for people with interest, Mats is generally well-praised w/o qualification or smirks; he's rarely my bag but OK, he fills his roles, the duo with Brotzmann is bracing when you want a brace etc. The frequent patronizing of Gayle + pigeonholing as mere hard blower is taxonomically incorrect &/or reflective of some other issues on part of the 'listening artist' (I use the term very loosely in some cases). Check out the solo live in Moscow 2003, "No Bill" for some his most exceptional piano playing. Now if someone wants to argue Gayle sucks or is tiresome on ALL his instruments, all contexts... that'd be an odd take but at least a consistent, synoptic one.

^^^^ Ah, a 'sophisticate'! Almost suggested Godowsky/Chopin but that seems unlikely, if not impossible. We'll get to the possible/probable Scriabin influence anon.

I think there's A LOT more to those Gayle sessions than first appears-- and I had a similar reaction at first; the received summary of early Gayle and some of his statements contributed to trying pigeonhole Gayle as some mere blowtorch, which is far far FAR from the case. There are Gayle piano outings, btw, that definitely betray some classical training-- maybe as a kid, maybe more-- who knows, but there are passages that suggest he's thinking of Chopin in addition to Cecil. The Bruckner comparison made earlier remains apt, btw, despite differences between symphonic composition and trio improv (forget 'graphic score' gimmicky, even if some people do occasionally do it well, cf. Brotzmann "Alarm" (but very rarely the Chicago Tentet etc, who's cacophony alternating w/ small groupings is predictable & often trite.) Michael Wimberly is no slouch btw-- http://www.drummagazine.com/hand-drum/post/michael-wimberly-master-of-global-grooves/ nor Vattel Cherry-- http://www.activebass.com/ar450--Vattel-Cherry Not pointing fingers but that people pay lip service to say Mats Gustaffson and can there yet be Charles Gayle skeptics is uttterly laughable (unless there are extra musical considerations involved, i.e. dragged about Charles' evangelism). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld4Nrjh9Sek

Kim Fowley does the intro, Chuck makes nice with the hippies, LET ME HEAR YOU SAY PEACE!!

with... Christian McBride et al with... Marc Ribot, other clips have Gayle on bass, Marc on electric & acoustic except you can't see Gayle, just edge of bull fiddle now & then