Used Bin Troll Tweets U.

Ethelbert Nevin

[November 2016.]

“Seascapes.” Bedrich SMETANA: Am Seegestade (1861). Sergei BORTKIEWICZ: Caprices de la mer (1908). Eugène GUILLAUME: At the Sea (1921). Alec ROWLEY: Moonlight at Sea (1926). Emil von SAUER: Flammes de mer (1899). Felix BLUMENFELD: Sur mer (1889). Mario CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: Alghe (1919). Ernest BLOCH: Poems of the Sea (1923). Marcelle de MANZIARLY: Impressions de mer (1922). Arthur FARWELL: Marine, Op. 104, No. 2 (1937). Leo SOWERBY: The Shining Big Sea-Water (1922). Cyril SCOTT: Sea-Marge (1914). Theodor LESHETIZKY: Jeu des Ondes, Op. 40, No. 1 (1891). Alec TEMPLETON: Skye Variations (1948). Janice Weber (pno). Sono Luminus DSL-92188 (1 CD) (http://www.sonoluminus.com/).

Batten down the hatches! Here is a sparkling, often virtuosic collection of Romantic and early-Modern sea pieces rarely sighted on land. YES.

“Red Rain.” Huang RUO: Four Fragments (2006)¹; Red Rain (2012)²; Shifting Shades (2008)³; Tree Without Wind (2004)⁴; Three Pieces for Piano (1998-2005)⁵; Wind Blows… (2007)⁶. Soo Bae¹, Arash Armini⁶ (vlc), Emanuele Arciuli², Stephen Buck^3,4,5, Huang Ruo⁶ (pno). Innova 895 (1 CD) (http://www.innova.mu/).

Perhaps Ruo has something to say, but the extended techniques (paper, bottles) gave out several decades ago and aren’t helping his cause. NO.

Cyril SCOTT: Piano Concerto No. 1 (1913-14)*; Symphony No. 4 (1951-52); Early One Morning (1930-31; rev. 1962)*. Howard Shelley* (pno), BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins (cond.). Chandos CHAN 10376 (1 CD) (http://www.chandos.net/).

Alongside two Impressionistic concerted piano items, welcome the premiere of the Fourth, anachronistic, but tart with pungent modes. MAYBE.

Gustav MAHLER: Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” (1888-94; arr. Bruno WALTER, 1898). Maasa Nakazawa, Suhrud Athavale (pno). Naxos 8.573350 (1 CD) (http://www.naxos.com/).

An understated, sensitive four-hand piano realization of Resurrection. All the details and favorite bits are here, albeit briskly paced. YES.

“Soweto Stomp.” Malcolm GOLDSTEIN: Configurations in Darkness (1995); Scuttling a space of time, slowly (2014); In Search of Tone Roads #2 (For Charles Ives) (2013); Broken Canons (2011); Two Silences (2003/2013); Soweto Stomp (1985). The Ratchet Orchestra, Malcolm Goldstein (vln, cond.). mode 291 (1 CD) (http://www.moderecords.com/).

A rich spectrum of improvisation and close listening, results as contemporary as anything else fully scripted. The nod to Ives is apt. MAYBE.

Charles IVES: Symphony No. 3, “The Camp Meeting” (1908-10); Symphony No. 4 (1912-18; rev. 1924-26); The Unanswered Question (1906; rev. 1934); Central Park in the Dark (1906; rev. 1909). Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot (cond.). Seattle Symphony Music SSM1009 (1 CD) (http://www.seattlesymphony.org/).

A clutch of essential Ives for large forces, but whether it’s balance or interpretation, these versions all lack subtlety and brilliance. NO.