George Crumb Orchestral Music (repost)

For all the agony as to the status of classical music in the modern musical landscape, the three 20th century string quartets on this fine French release can be said to have entered the repertory, with a reach that extends far beyond the U.S. They go quite well together, which is the first point in favor of France's Quatuor Diotima here; both Steve Reich's Different Trains, for string quartet and tape, and George Crumb's Black Angels for electric quartet feature an artificially enhanced string quartet, and even Samuel Barber elected to "enhance" his String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11, by orchestrating its central movement and making it into the famous Adagio for strings. Highly recommended.

In this their third volume of orchestral works of Antheil, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic present a collection of scores spanning the whole of Antheil’s compositional life. Written in the early 1920s, the First Symphony is full of Antheil’s enthusiasm for the mechanical, and takes strong leads from the prevailing sound of the jazz era as well as a nostalgic look back to its predecessor, ragtime. His ballet score Capital of the World dates from the mid-1950s, and was based on a short story by Hemingway.

The most comprehensive edition devoted to Gioacchino Rossini marking his 150th anniversary. Born in 1792, Rossini was the most popular opera composer of his time. Although he retired from the Opera scene in 1829, he continued to compose in other genres, including sacred music, piano and chamber works. He did gather his late works under the ironic title Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age), which veils a true collection of masterworks.

George Crumb - Makrokosmos III & IV - Bojan Gorisek (1997) {Audiophile Classics APC101301-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 191 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 8 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1997 Audiophile Classics | APC 101.301-2
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Avant-Garde / Piano

Volume III: A collection of five pieces completed in 1974 and titled Music for a Summer Evening forms the third volume of Makrokosmos. It departs considerably from the previous two. Commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation for Swarthmore College, the work is scored for two amplified pianos and percussion (two players), contains fewer pieces, and does not associate any of the pieces with Zodiac signs.

George Crumb - Makrokosmos I & II (1972-73) for amplified piano - Margaret Leng Tan (2004) {Mode 142 Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (deezer.com) -> 236 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 156 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2004 Mode Records | Mode 142
Classical / Contemporary Classical

Makrokosmos I and II for amplified piano (1972-1973) are vintage works by George Crumb, composed during the highly productive period that yielded his mystical Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death; Ancient Voices of Children; and Black Angels – an impressive output that had a tremendous influence on the experimental music of the 1970s. This 2004 recording of Crumb's 24 fantasy pieces on the Zodiac may seem a bit of a trip down memory lane, insofar as comparisons with the historic Nonesuch and Columbia Odyssey LPs are inevitable; and it is apparent now how widely Crumb's original techniques infiltrated the piano music of his contemporaries.

Having received all major recording industry prizes of the world many times, as well as the Siemens Special Prize, the Buxtehude Prize of the City of Lübeck and the Special Prize of North-Rhine Westphalia, Goebel has still remained the leading outsider in the area of “Early Music” – always looking for new acoustic worlds, shocking new ways of interpreting standard repertoire and uncomfortable programs far off the beaten track of “top-40 classic programming”. Reinhard Goebel began studying violin at the age of 12. He became interested exclusively in “Early Music” at a young age, but was forced to proceed through a classic- modern program of study by the German conservatory system.