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Messages - Crescendo

#1
Oh joy, what great news! Thank you so very much!!

For some reason I only found out now (Wasn't there supposed to be an automated topic update notification?) anyway...

Thanks again! And still - If someone is interested in reading the English translation, I have a scan - just PM me.
#2
Terrific! - Thank you so much for your effort, Adriano!
#3
I made a scan (PDF) of the poem.
If anybody could help me find it in electronic text form and in the corresponding original in Russian I would be most grateful.

Unfortunately, this forum does not support attachments - If you are interested, please PM me with an email address and I will send it to you!
#4
Quote from: Christopher on Wednesday 20 August 2014, 10:13
If you can post up the text that you have in English I can have a look.  Is the title also Mysterium?

I would have to scan the text first - It is too much to type. I don't think it has a distinguished title. It is the "Prefatory Action" to the "Mysterium". It was translated into English by George Reavey. It is also noted that the poem in its final form is still unfinished.
I'll see about scanning it and attaching it here in another post.
#5
With great interest I have read the Dover edition of "Scriabin - A Biography" by Fabion Bowers. In it I came across the poem that Scriabin wrote as a basis to his "Mysterium". Of course, it is an English translation. However, I would like to have the Russian original version maybe alongside with the English translation in electronic form, so I can show it to a friend. So far I did not find anything at all when I searched the internet. Since I do not speak Russian I can not effectively search the web for the Russian version either. Hard to believe that nobody has posted any of Scriabin's poetry anywhere.

Can any of you help perhaps? I'd be very grateful.
#6
Composers & Music / Re: Will it ever change?
Friday 16 May 2014, 18:46
Certainly I wish there was more - much more - "unsung" music in today's concert programming. But I also think that there has never been a better time to enjoy music. What has been issued on CD until today is wonderful. Of course there will be always more to feed ever hungry curiosity. And that is a good thing, keeps it going. New discoveries are always waiting for those who seek.

What can we do as mere audience?
- Support the artists by buying their CDs and get the best sound system we can afford for transcendent living room concerts.
- Educate and spread enthusiasm to be curious and adventurous.
- Another idea would be to extend this forum into a Facebook page/group. I think this place is wonderful and is filled with valuable information. It is so worth to gain more potential readers. Posting there and have it appear in our newsfeed would be nice. I certainly would enjoy it.
#7
Composers & Music / Re: Most Memorable Unsung Tune.
Wednesday 17 July 2013, 05:30
If I may mention Suk as well... I would add the main theme from 'Pohadka', in the first movement of the fairy-tale suite. This melody, sung by the violin is most sublime and has stayed in my head instantly and now for many years. To me this should be played in concerts alongside the famous 'Moldova' from 'Ma Vlast' by Smetana. To me it totally holds up the latter, hands down.
#8
There is good news on the availability -

Amazon has it now as MP3 download for anyone who wants to skip the inflated Import CD price.
http://www.amazon.com/Symphony-No-1-Hiroshima/dp/B00CYW02FK/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1370302217&sr=1-1&keywords=hiroshima

BTW. For me this is one of the greatest discoveries this year so far. Something "contemporary" that goes full force with the orchestra in such a post-romantic sense is a rarity these days (Really, who else does it?). Not to mention that this is absolutely deep, profound and captivating music. Beautiful, how the end turns into something positive, one might even feel a sense of forgiveness. The whole thing is a treat for the soul.
#9
My personal stance on disharmony ( and reaching to atonality) is that it needs to be in service of the emotion that want to be expressed by the music.
Often - as with the 2nd Viennese school - this seems to be not always the case anymore and it feels like it happens more in service of achieving goals that have more to do with construction, mathematics or other ideas that come from more from pure headspace than the heart.
To me music is still something for the heart and soul first, regardless of its complexities for which we are also invited to let our mind be stimulated, which I welcome as well. But in my opinion in the end it is the soul that wants to be spoken to. And the key to that is emotion, and for that the musical language must be able to be understood to a certain degree at least. At the same time I understand that each of us have different thresholds, different levels at which we do and do not understand the musical language of a given piece. Therefore I would not want to generalize my opinion.
That being said I do think that much has been done in the 20th century to empty out the concert halls...
#10
I would suggest Atterberg.
#11
There seem to be a few orchestral ones. Besides Rimsky-Korsakov there is also Glazunov with the Suite "The Kremlin" Op. 30 which is very nice.
I usually don't listen to opera, but maybe I should check out these Mussorgsky cues.

However, I can hardly believe that there is nothing more for choir and orchestra like the Taneyev. Maybe among the sovjet nationalistic works?
#12
Grechaninov is a nice lead, I am checking this out.

All Night Vigil - Yes, those are beautiful. But they are a capella. I was looking more for some sort of choral symphony (or cantata) that includes Russian Orthodox chants within as well as dramatic orchestration. Taneyev really sparked some desire here with John of Damascus...
#13
Recently I came across Taneyev's John of Damascus Op.1 which struck my by its sheer beauty.
The special thing here is that it is a symphonic piece with chorus - drawing largely from russian orthodox chant.

Now I am wondering what else is out there in this vein?
I am looking for romantic/post romantic orchestral works with choir that work in russian orthodox chant in one way or another.
Any further recommendations?
#14
Composers & Music / Re: Ernst Boehe
Sunday 06 November 2011, 00:27
just discovered these 2 cpo discs and from my view i want to recommend this whole-heartedly for anyone who loves opulent late-romantic music. ok - as mentioned above, there may not be a lot of memorable melodies in here, but i think this is more about texture and emotion. utterly satisfying. it is definitely worth more attention and thus justifying the bumping of an aging thread that seemed to have ended a bit soon  :-)
#15
Quote from: britishcomposer on Wednesday 27 July 2011, 22:15
I see the symphonic poems 'Barbarossa' and 'Wieland der Schmied' have not yet been released?! I thought cpo had brought them out, too...

"Wieland der Schmied" is available as MP3 on Amazon with Leon Botstein. It is not quite as strong as the "Natursymphonie" but still very enjoyable.