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Messages - Wheesht

#1
My interest in Puchat was sparked by the entry on him in "Deutsche Tonkünstler und Musiker in Wort und Bild" by Friedrich Jansa from 1911. Call me obsessive, but I am currently going through that tome systematically – whenever time allows, and I hope to throw new names at folk here soonish... 
#2
I have emailed the project team to ask if there is any news. I'll report here once I have had a reply.
#3
The Symphonic Poem "Leben und Ideal" by the Silesian composer Max Puchat is available from MPH – Musikproduktion Hoeflich. The detailed description and the biographical notes, in German and then in English, make me curious. Wonder if there will ever be a recording? 
#4
Quote from: semloh on Wednesday 19 February 2025, 10:12BTW, Hristić's Four Orchestral Suites from the ballet Ohridska Legenda (The Legend of Ohrid) appear on CPO.
The album of the complete (I think) ballet score came out on CD in 2015, and is available on Youtube and on various streaming platforms.
I find myself returning to it regularly – it has a cinematic aspect to it that I find rather attractive.
#5
For anyone on the lookout for photographs of German composers: I have bought a copy of "Deutsche Tonkünstler und Musiker in Wort und Bild" by Friedrich Jansa, second edition, 1911.
This contains a large number of short biographies of composers and musicians, many of which come with a photograph.
I am happy to scan the relevant entry for anyone who is looking for a composer who is listed in the book and has an entry with a portrait.
#6
Composers & Music / Re: Robert Gound/Gund
Monday 03 March 2025, 14:13
Do go ahead and add what you like of that information to IMSLP. The booklet notes were written by the violinist's wife, I think, who states that the sonata was composed in 1905 and performed by Arnold Rosé in Vienna in 1911.
#7
Composers & Music / Re: Robert Gound/Gund
Monday 03 March 2025, 13:09
The CD contains just the sonata, in a recording from 2005: Simon Loosli, violin and Jacques Pasquier, piano. It comes with a minimal booklet.
The total playing time is 27 minutes and 21 seconds.
The movements have the following timings:

1. Mässig bewegt 8:37
2. Sehr munter 5:40
3. Langsam 5:27
4. Lebhaft bewegt 7:37
#8
Composers & Music / Re: Robert Gound/Gund
Sunday 02 March 2025, 03:41
As one of these libraries is (almost) within walking distance from me so that I can easily go and investigate some time soon – and report back.
#9
Composers & Music / Re: Cicely Foster 1903-2001
Saturday 22 February 2025, 13:19
Just over three years ago I was in touch with Cicely Foster's family and received eight brief scores from them. I do not read music and so cannot offer any opinion on her style. However, I could make these scores available in a shared folder so that a more knowledgeable member could determine whether or not her music is fit for discussion here. 
#10
Recordings & Broadcasts / Blodek – V studni (In the Well)
Wednesday 19 February 2025, 08:43
From Europa Disc's weekly column 'The Spin Doctor':

QuoteFor many years (before the post-war 'discovery' of Janáček), Czech opera was known to international audiences almost exclusively through Smetana's comic opera The Bartered Bride. To native Czechs, however, one work came close to rivalling The Bartered Bride in popularity: the one-act comedy In the Well (V studni) by Vilém Blodek (1834–1874). A Prague native, Blodek started studying at the city's Conservatory even before he reached his teens: piano, and later flute and composition. His early career was as a music teacher in Galicia, before returning to Prague as a choir director. The only preparation he had for opera (apart from In the Well, his only other work in the genre was the historical comedy Zítek, left incomplete at his early death) was as a composer of incidental music for Prague's Czech and German theatres.

The libretti for both Blodek's operas were written by Karel Sabina, who was also responsible for The Bartered Bride. But In the Well is a rather different kettle of fish from Smetana's famous work. Based on a Slovene folk legend also common to neighbouring Slav lands, its compact dimensions are coupled with a musical style that has more in common with 19th-century German opera than any folk-influenced Czech style. Its small cast and modest forces made it ideal for amateur performance in provincial theatres, which was a significant readon for its huge popularity.

A 1981 Supraphon recording conducted by Jan Štych, with veteran bass Karel Berman in the comic role of the elderly farmer, will be familiar to many collectors. But the newly reissued 1959 recording by Prague National Theatre forces under František Škvor, only the second complete opera to be recorded by the state-owned record manufacturer Gramofonové závody using pioneering stereo technology, has only ever been issued previously in mono on vinyl. (It was preceded by Jaroslav Krombholc's recording of Janáček's Káťa Kabanová, and followed by Zdeněk Chalabala's still critically acclaimed account of The Bartered Bride.) Now at last this neglected gem gets the chance to shine in stereo, and Jan Lžičař has done a marvellous job of remastering from the original tapes.

The cast of just four soloists is headed by the lovely soprano of Milada Šubrtová as the young maiden Lidunka, with contralto Štěpánka Štěpánová as the wise Veruna, the ringing, honeyed and distinctly Czech tenor of Ivo Žídek as Lidunka's sweetheart Vojtěch, and bass Zdeněk Kroupa as the hapless elderly widower Janek. This was the first Czech opera to be 'through-composed' (i.e. without any punctuating dialogue, though still retaining traditional 'numbers'), and although there is little genuinely Czech flavour to the music itself, the entertaining score contains many delights, not least a scene-setting intermezzo depicting moonrise on Midsummer Eve, and some jolly choruses. Škvor conducts a sparkling account of this compact opera, which will be a welcome treat for lovers of Czech opera.


Blodek - V studni (In the Well) SU43412
#11
The Serbian Composers channel on Youtube looks potentially interesting, for example with works by Stevan Hristić 1885-1958:

Oratorio: Vaskrsenje (Resurrection)

Simfonijska fantazija (Symphonic fantasy)

Rapsodija za klavir i orkestar (Rhapsody for piano and orchestra)

#12
Composers & Music / Re: Alfonso Rendano (1853-1931)
Monday 17 February 2025, 13:56
The manuscript of the piano concerto was (re)discovered recently, and there is now a recording on Youtube, from September 2024:
Giovanni Alvino, piano
RTSH Symphony Orchestra, Tirana
conducted by Leonardo Quadrini.
This is available on the pianist's own channel or also here.
#13
This link should work  :)
#14
In reply to Maury, I would argue that, without having read the biography by Jens Cornelius, it is moot to speculate whether or not this is a 'normal academic music biography' - nor should the apparent lack of an academic affiliation automatically be held against the author. A biography as a (more or less detailed) description of someone's life does not necessarily, in the case at issue here, have to include a detailed analysis of the works of that person.
It may well be that the number of sources available or restrictions on the part of the publishers resulted in the biography being a mere 137 pages long.
And yes, I am aware that some members of this forum would argue that it is the music alone that counts and that biographical aspects are of secondary importance at best. 
#15
Quote from: Maury on Sunday 22 December 2024, 01:10but I know nothing about Jens Cornelius. He seems to have written a book about Ludolf Nielsen. too
I had never heard the name Jens Cornelius before either, but his website shows that he is a long-established Danish musicologist and author of several books. I look forward to delving into what promises to be a lot of interesting material.