Bis

Alfred Schnittke - Gogol Suite & Labyrinths (1992) {BIS Schnittke Edition, BIS-557} (Item #13)
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© 1992 Grammofon AB BIS | BIS-CD-557
Classical / Contemporary Classical / 20th Century

Schnittke's Gogol Suite (1976) is a collection of eight very short movements lasting between one and eight minutes. They're quirky and fun. Essentially, they're experiments in collage techniques and they take their sources from Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Schnittke's own temperament. (They will remind you of some of Shostakovich's writing for The Bolt and The Gadfly.) Labyrinths (1971) is a five-part ballet score for a ballet that never emerged. One can hardly see this as a ballet. Parts of it suggest Japanese No theatre, other parts stand on their own, nightmarish as they are. Unusual music.

Alfred Schnittke - Concerto Grosso No. 3 & Other Works (1991) {BIS Schnittke Edition, BIS-537} (Item #12)
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© 1991 Grammofon AB BIS | BIS-CD-537
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Concerto

Schittke's Concerto Grosso No. 3 was commissioned by the East German Radio in 1985 and on the occasion of five composers having notable anniversaries in a year ending with the number 85: Heinrich Schütz, who was born in 1585; Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti, who were all born in 1685; and Alban Berg, who was born in 1885. This concerto was completed just before the onset of a series of strokes that affected him greatly for the rest of his creative life, marked by his Concerto for Three (1994).

Double Trio de Clarinettes - Itineraire Bis (2013) {Between The Lines BTLCHR 71231}
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© 2013 Between The Lines | BTLCHR 71231
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Modern Creative / Clarinet

Prominent European purveyors of jazz clarinet fare—The Clarinet Trio and Le Trio De Clarinettes—align for a joint mission on this set that covers a wide spectrum of applications, ideas and surprises. They induce the sounds of nature and render highly melodic song forms while including doses of humor amid punchy motifs and hordes of delicate contrasts. At times the sextet operates within quiet and hauntingly introspective settings and launches circular ostinatos, used for sounding boards and assorted improvisational activities.

Hindemith - Violin Concerto & Sonatas - Frank Peter Zimmermann (2013) {BIS-2024}
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© 2013 BIS Records | BIS-202
Classical / Early 20th Century / Chamber Music / Concerto

The music of Paul Hindemith can't be called crowd-pleasing. Even the overtly radical works of Schoenberg and Webern carried well-defined innovations that listeners might be excited by or reject, but with Hindemith there's always the sense that he is experimenting with the solution to a new problem each time out. Of course, this can just as easily be a stimulating challenge as a problem, and this collection of works for a single instrument from across Hindemith's career provides a good way into his music.

Alfred Schnittke - 3 Concertos - New Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, Lev Markiz (1987) {BIS Schnittke Edition, BIS-CD-377} (Item #1)
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© 1987 Grammofon AB BIS | BIS-CD-377
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Concerto

Schnittke as we know is a very unique composer. "all composers are unique". Well some more so than others, and some MUCH more so unique than others. Schnittke, like Pettersson stand out as the 2 greatest late 20th century composers and 2 of the greatest ever in the past 300 yrs.

Alfred Schnittke - Concerto Grosso No. 4 (Symphony No. 5) - GSO, Neeme Järvi (1988) {BIS Schnittke Edition, BIS-427} (Item #2}
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© 1988 Grammofon AB BIS | BIS-CD-427
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Concerto / Symphony

Alfred Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5 was commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam for its centenary. Riccardo Chailly led the orchestra in its premiere performance on November 10th, 1988. However, Neemi Jarvi led the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra of Sweden in this, the work's first recording, in December 1988, released on BIS in 1989.

Alfred Schnittke - Faust Cantata and other works - Malmö Symphony Orchestra (1989) {BIS Schnittke Edition, BIS-437} (Item #3)
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© 1989 Grammofon AB BIS | BIS-CD-437
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Choral / Orchestral

If you were ever faced with having to own one–and only one–Alfred Schnittke CD, this would be an excellent choice. A collection with Seid Nüchtern und Wachet (better known as the Faust Cantata) as its anchor, this set also features inspired performances of the large, pulsing Ritual as well as a pair of additional large orchestral works: (K)ein Sommernachtstaum and Passacaglia. These are sprawling things, each invoking styles by the seeming dozens in blasts of energy. Schnittke's is a music of embarrassing riches, a palette he intentionally overfills in a self-consciously postmodern pastiche that speaks to the twin 20th-century Russian traditions of (in music) rich orchestration and (in politics) political repression. So it is that the Faust Cantata can weave between c. 16th-century texts and a very familiar liturgical choral style and a gut-busting set of solos that drive the piece to a frenzy.

Alfred Schnittke - In Memoriam and Viola Concerto (1989) {BIS Schnittke Edition, BIS-447} (Item #4)
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© 1989 Grammofon AB BIS | BIS-CD-447
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Orchestral

In Memoriam is the orchestral version of the Quintet with piano. It was G. Rozhdestvenski who asked Schnittke for an orchestration, the density of the expression being rich enough to support such a transfer (in this, I cannot help but think of the orchestrations of certain Shostakovich quartets by Barshai, the two composers sometimes having common traits). The piano part will be shared between winds and percussion. The strings would suffer little arrangement. The overall transcription remains literal, the instrumentation rich and colorful. This work, whose origin is the death of the composer's mother, is marked by great sadness and continuous darkness. The 5 movements are linked fairly quickly, the first and last are both moderato.

Alfred Schnittke - Symphony No.3 - Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Eri Klas (1990) {BIS Schnittke Edition, BIS-477} (Item #6)
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© 1990 Grammofon AB BIS | BIS-CD-477
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Symphony

Schnitke' s Third Symphony is possibly his most daring and ambitious musical project. The impressive orchestral mass' employment, the exploratory character of every one of its four movements and the overwhelming perspective that hovers it, make of this work hard to label it.

Alfred Schnittke - Symphony No. 4 & Requiem (1990) {BIS Schnittke Edition, BIS-497} (Item #7)
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© 1990 Grammofon AB BIS | BIS-CD-497
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Symphony

Two large scale Schnittke works featuring choir. The Symphony No. 4 is brittle, frequently dissonant and abstract, but not wholly inaccessible; not a piece to immediately grab at a listener. While demanding, the work has sections of alien beauty, such as before and after the entrance of "Ave Maria". Unfortunately the entire piece is relegated to a single track on the CD. The Requiem is more immediately approachable. Eerie and gothic, I'm surprised that it hasn't shown up in a soundtrack. The rock drumming near the end seems a little shocking but is surprisingly effective without seeming a pandering fusion piece.