Your Discovery of the Year

[Alan Howe]

Nominations, please! But please note, only one per person - plus reasons (very important)!

My nomination for 2012: Julius Beliczay Symphony in D minor, Op.45 (Pannon Classic).

Reasons: This is a large-scale Major Symphonic Statement. Its idiom is a cross between the classicism of Brahms and the New German School - perhaps the nearest symphony in feel is Dvorak 7, although one can discern echoes of Beethoven 9 in the first movement and the motto theme of the opening is perhaps downstream from Volkmann 1.
But it's the intense memorability of the music that really strikes one; there's the pent-up tension of the first movement, the relaxed, intermezzo-like mood of the second movement, the songful melancholy of the slow movement with its agonised climax (think Schubert 9) and the joyous release and excitement of the finale with its glorious coda, brass intoning in good, Wagnerian fashion.

A reissue of this (excellent) recording is surely a must...

[eschiss1]

If I may comment on that- having seen a work (possibly the accompanying serenade?) in score by Beliczay @ IMSLP and notes to the LP or CD of the symphony online (probably the CD, if it was available at the time I was looking) (if I remember) - I'm now even more intrigued and will try to hear that. Thanks! (I think there's (hopefully is, not was) a 2nd symphony in MS but have no idea if it will surface...)
(Ah, rereading I see that this isn't a Fanfare want list sort of thing (which I also do like) of subjectively-best CDs issued in the last year, and that the CD still hasn't been reissued. Was confused. And will think about my answer, after the good fortune of encountering so _much_ striking, good, new to me music in the last year, much though not all of it because of this forum.)

[mbhaub]

My discovery is not a musical opus, but rather a conductor whose name I'm known for decades, but somehow I never heard any recordings, until now thanks to EMI. And that's Carl Schuricht. I've heard a lot of Beethoven in my time and own many sets of the symphonies. But his EMI set is just astonishing! Does any orchestra anywhere have such colorful winds anymore? But the real excitement was the conducting: thrilling, unmannered, spot on perfect. There's not a dog in the nine. The 3rd is a knockout. Schuricht is certainly and unsung conductor who had a broad repertoire - both familiar and not. The bonus of the Bruckner symphonies (in more modern sound) was icing on an already marvelous cake. Too bad Schuricht didn't reocrd a lot more.

[mattbrown]

Marie Jaell's Piano Concertos 1 and 2

Sheer joy to listen to throughout both, piano well balanced with orchestra, interesting development, strong endings, everything I could want in a rich romantic piano concerto, and there are two of them!!

[semloh]

Alan requested that we keep to one composition per person, but as a new contributor, I think we can stretch a point for you, Matt, and accept the two concertos.

I think your reaction is well justified.

I am still trying to narrow down my own list of discoveries to a single piece, and I am finding it very difficult indeed!

[eschiss1]

*sticks head in again (while still deciding ) - I didn't see "composition", just "discovery" - the difference in answer-scope could be considerable.

[mjkFendrich]

I didn't see "composition", just "discovery" - the difference in answer-scope could be considerable.

In order to illustrate this distinction, I am now going to give this vote for my discovery of the year:

   it has been this UC forum - albeit in its previous incarnation!

(In its current state the downloadable content is almost negligeable for me - the discussions have some Raff here,
some Rufinatscha there, but an overall refreshing momentum and variety has gone since. I know, there are still
exceptions to this simplified impressions, so I'll keep my forum membership. And I don't want to reopen this kind
of discussion again, pardon :-)

I've been able to find recordings of so much music here which I couldn't find elsewhere.
Thank you all for your great contributions!

[Alan Howe]

it has been this UC forum - albeit in its previous incarnation!...And I don't want to reopen this kind of discussion again, pardon :-) I've been able to find recordings of so much music here which I couldn't find elsewhere. Thank you all for your great contributions!

Thanks for your thanks - I think!

Of course, from our point of view the return of UC to its roots has actually saved UC from closure and the debate has been much more palatable. And no more lists and catalogues which were impossible to keep tabs on...

I'm glad you have retained your membership and trust that there will something of interest to you from time to time at UC.

[Mark Thomas]

Despite 2012 being a very good year for "new to me" music, including several Raff discoveries in Tra Nguyen's piano series for Grand Piano, my recorded discovery of the year is a very recent one: the broadcast performance of Massenet's opera Le Mage, which aired only a few weeks ago. I have loved Massenet's sometimes-perfumed, sometimes-Wagnerian music since I bought the Sutherland/Bonynge LP set of Esclarmonde decades ago and it has remained my favourite amongst his operas, closely followed by the very different pair of Thaïs and Werther. When I discovered decades ago that between Esclarmonde and those two he had written another large-scale opera, Le Mage, I was desperate to hear it but, although almost every one of his operas eventually became available, Le Mage seemed destined to go unrecorded and unheard.

Most of us have unsung "Holy Grails" and, inevitably, attaining them sometimes brings with it disappointment. I can certainly think of several of mine which fell well below my expectations. Not so this piece. It's sound world resembles those of Esclarmonde and Thaïs in many aspects (a huge bonus in itself), and his lyrical evocation of the exotic setting is just as full-blooded. The piece is written on an epic scale, including an 18 minute ballet in the fourth act, it has many spine-tinglingly grand choral moments, the orchestra has a strong presence throughout, and it has both meltingly intimate scenes and fiery dramatic confrontations. The work's finale is as dramatic and exciting as one could wish for. Throughout Massenet's wonderful melodic gift is to the fore. I'm not sure how well it would work in the theatre but as a listening experience for me it joins my trio of Massenet favourites as a worthy fourth in a string of incredibly enjoyable and satisfying operas. I'm still getting to know it properly, still getting more pleasure each time I listen to it but, for me, whatever the reverse of disappointment is, this was it.

Alan, I hope, will forgive me taking a leaf out of Martin's book and nominating a conducting discovery: Donald Runnicles. We were in Philadelphia for the first time recently and took the opportunity to go to a Philadelphia Orchestra concert in the Kimmel Center. If I'm honest I wasn't too excited by the programme: Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 (Lars Vogt the soloist), followed by "bleeding chunks" from Wagner's Ring. Unlike the Boston Symphony, which I've heard several times in recent years and has usually disappointed, the Philadelphia Orchestra isn't resting on its laurels. The sound was absolutely fabulous, but it was Runnicles' conducting of the Wagner highlights which impressed me most. Although I was a bit sniffy about hearing "bleeding chunks" in concert, I was utterly unprepared for the power and splendour of the orchestra's sound and the majestic integrity of Runnicles' interpretation. He began with the Ride of the Valkyries, then we had Forest Murmurs and finally, run together seamlessly and incorporating substantial passages not usually heard in such purely orchestral excerpts: Dawn, Siegfried's Journey Down the Rhine, Siegfried's Funeral Music and the end of Götterdämmerung. I have never, ever, been so utterly absorbed by music in a concert hall like that. Energised one minute, desolate the next, at the end I was completely drained by the power of Wagner's music, music which I thought I knew really well. Drained or no, like everyone else in that hall I jumped to my feet and cheered, something which this undemonstrative Englishmen doesn't do lightly. Runnicles is apparently a famed Wagnerian and has held a string of prestigious opera house and concert orchestra directorships. He has recorded hardly at all, though, so I just hadn't heard of him.

[Alan Howe]

As I wrote to you privately, Mark, Runnicles is one of our unsung conducting heroes. His recording of Tristan is fabulous.

BTW my conductor discovery of the year is Rene Leibowitz: his set of the Beethoven symphonies recorded with Beecham's RPO in 1961 shows that HIP is actually old hat - except that Leibowitz allows the RPO strings some vibrato!!!

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Has the "refreshing momentum and variety" of UC disappeared, as mjkFendrich suggests?

Not at all for me. Before the reins were tightened and the forum given a sharper and clearer focus I despaired that UC was fast becoming a shambles. True, the site positively throbbed as new postings came cascading in. But many of them took the form of mere lists of, for example, the orchestral works of Piotr Zak (Lilliput 2008-) and with no regard at all to his instrumental, chamber or choral works and - and this is the crucial bit - absolutely no discussion of these works. We come to the site surely to widen our knowledge and understanding of the works of unsung composers, test our own views, hunches and prejudices - and not to wade through innumerable shopping lists. Mere lists are for me a simple mug's game. We also got treated to supposedly authoritative statements promising enlightenment, but in fact which were nothing but thinly disguised bits of plagiarised text from elsewhere.

I was glad that all this got trimmed out, even though I regret the loss of a couple of previous contributors whose postings bristled with intelligence, knowledge and occasional good humour.

What remains is a site that often enables me to feel I've sailed into a safe harbour from the desolate seas outside. For years in my own private reading I've come across names like, for example, Algernon Ashton, Woldemar Bargiel, Frederic Cliffe, Albert Dietrich, Joseph Eybler, Eduard Franck, Theodore Gouvy, Henri Herz (and that's just one name plucked at random from each letter of the alphabet up to H) and have wondered if maybe I'm a quite solitary figure wanting to know more about them. And then on discovering the UC site a couple of years ago I've felt as if I've suddenly entered a crowded roomful of people busily talking about these names.

It is a quite wonderful feeling being here - so a heartfelt thank you to you all (and plentiful seasonal greetings!)

[Peter1953]

My nomination is the Piano Quintet in D flat major, op. 5 by the Dutch composer Dirk Schäfer (NM Classics, 1994).

I like the intimacy and warmth of chamber music. Schäfers Piano Quintet (1901) offers everything what I like about full-blooded romantic chamber music. It's all about powerful, energetic and well-developed themes in the faster movements, but also the striking tenderness of the adagio. The sparkling main theme of the 3rd movement is altered with a slow, delicate passage. Schäfer shows his craftmanship in the fascinating dialogue between the string instruments and the piano. To my ears wonderful music and it has become one of my favourites in this genre.

[jerfilm]

The Piano Concerto in d by George Frederick Boyle that was posted right here on the UC Forum.  I had begun to think that Mrs. Beach's and MacDowell's 0Concertos were about the only significant American piano concertos written during the Romantic Period.   Wrong.   Boyle's concerto may not be quite up to MacDowell, but if not, he runs a pretty close second.....

Incidentally, Alan, I've looked high and low for the Beliczay Symphony - sadly without success.  Now I feel even worse......

Jerry

[Alan Howe]

Re the Beliczay: I was extremely fortunate to pick up a second-hand copy via Amazon.com from a very helpful US seller. It seems there are no more copies around. Let's hope it is soon re-issued.

[mbhaub]

BTW my conductor discovery of the year is Rene Leibowitz: his set of the Beethoven symphonies recorded with Beecham's RPO in 1961 shows that HIP is actually old hat - except that Leibowitz allows the RPO strings some vibrato!!!

Amen to that! That set I've known for 50 years - first on LP, now mercifully on CD. Leibowitz the composer is not so pleasant - but what a conductor he turned out to be!