Smell of Sound: A Classical Music Blog

#236 The Smell of Tragedy

2011-08-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Eminent in its sadness, this is a high class tragedy. The one overflowing the body, paralyzing the muscles, stopping the breath. The air is getting thicker, darker. Suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, this is it.

Barenboim is bathing in the grief, building the vibes, concentrating the blood. The final bangs are astounding.

Composer: Robert Schumann
Work: Symphony No 3, IV. Feierlich
Recording: Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim

#235 The Smell of Inner Peace

2011-08-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is Nachtmusik, so there's no surprise it's peaceful and hushed. Apart from that, it also shines the inner light: Combining childhood memories and fatalism, with a few creaks, it's getting you into the mood.

The fanfare for introduction (and its repetitions during the movement) are so beautifully shaped! I haven't been a big fan of Mahler 7 but this one speaks to me.

Composer: Gustav Mahler
Work: Symphony No 7, II. Nachtmusik I – Allegro moderato
Recording: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda

#234 The Smell of Victory

2011-08-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's pretty straightforward and literal: winning and nothing else. No second meanings, just transparent message: Triumph! Triumph!

Böhme debuted in this role in 1930. The recording is from 1959, yet he sings here very openly and civilly.

Composer: Carl Maria von Weber
Work: Der Freischütz, "Schweig, schweig, damit dich niemand warnt!"
Recording: Kurt Böhme, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum

#233 The Smell of Boiling Water

2011-08-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

The smell is instant: The tiny bubbles catching the surface of a casserole, intensifying, capturing and gaining control of the water.

Singer plays vividly, mastering the tone in a way that makes you think you should learn how to play the clarinet, too. A Far Cry Orchestra (without a conductor) merges with Singer in a brilliant and very organic manner.

Composer: Robert Aldridge
Work: Clarinet Concerto, I. Fast and light
Recording: David Singer, A Far Cry Orchestra

#232 The Smell of Crudeness

2011-08-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's raw and crude and ill music, no doubt. So wild, furious, and choleric. how it bites and claws, how it kills.

Gardiner with ORR is mysterious here. Jut the bells themselves would be enough but he goes very much beyond that. The timpani! The whispering strings at 8'29''! This is sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, in its original form.

Composer: Hector Berlioz
Work: Symphonie fantastique, IV. Songe d'une nuit de sabbat
Recording: Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, John Eliot Gardiner

#231 The Smell of Hovering

2011-08-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

The music bridles, calms down, and assails again. Flexible, fluid, suggestive, like a piece of cloth hovering in the water.

The orchestra sound is very colorful and attentive. A fine, loving recording.

Composer: Béla Bartók
Work: The Miraculous Mandarin, III. Second seduction game: the young student
Recording: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop

#230 The Smell of Snow Paperweight

2011-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

I smell how artificial and distorted this music is. It's like behind a thick round glass, always kind of out of focus, and never real. All the dramas are just a comedy, fights between plastic figures: and snow, snow everywhere.

Pešek's reading is precise, and maybe a little bit distant, keeping it–despite the orchestration–on the colder side.

Composer: Josef Suk
Work: A Fairy Tale, II. Playing at Swans and Peacocks
Recording: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Libor Pešek

#229 The Smell of Stone

2011-08-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a stone, waiting to be sculpted. Strong, massive, proud–yet ready to be chopped, shaped, animated. Eruptive, sharp and dangerous.

This is very romantic and very Russian recording. Mic too close to strings, full brass, all sounds too edged and overexcited, and Anosov is bending tempi deliberately: listen to the total chaos at 0'15'' or 8'53''. Unacceptable, yes. Lovely, indeed.

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Work: Symphony No 9, IV. Allegro con fuoco
Recording: USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Nikolai Anosov

#228 The Smell of Work

2011-08-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dense, layered, harmonized–that's for sure. But mostly, it smells of oil, grease, reek. Maybe it's about the way how the chorus is integrated to the orchestra sound. There's music, and there's real work, happening somewhere, out of our sight; something robust is being done, so we can listen to the poem by John Donne: Though I speed not, I cannot miss.

This is the first, and maybe the best recording of Harmonium. Exciting, fresh, vivid recording.

Composer: John Adams
Work: Harmonium, Part 1: Negative Love
Recording: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Edo de Waart

#227 The Smell of Evening Beach

2011-08-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

The rush is gone. It's just lovers, and sunset, and small waves, and wind, cold a little bit. The life is pulsing, irregularly. And when the melody in the ninth minute unwinds, it's all coming into blossom.

Steinbacher and Kulek can bring pretty casual sound, it's like an improvisation, random ideas, here and now.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Sonata for piano and violin No 1, I. Vivace ma non troppo
Recording: Arabella Steinbacher, Robert Kulek

#226 The Smell of Proportion

2011-08-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

This piece of music lives in an empty space. There's no landscape, nothing natural. It's void, black stage without dimensions. And there are layers of cloth there, and there's wind, and there's an acolyte.

It's paired with Mahler on the disc, and that's what's giving it its smell. No broad style, no grand sweeps. Proportional exhaustion from meekness.

Composer: Hans Henze
Work: Sebastian im Traum, I.
Recording: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons

#225 The Smell of Imperative

2011-08-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

What a change of mood at 0'28''! We're getting into something so serious, big, and imperative. The smell is drying up but it's still there, in these tiny piano lines, till the end.

Ott is perfect in this concerto, very lisztian, precise, musically brilliant and technically marvelous.

Composer: Franz Liszt
Work: Piano Concerto No 1, III. Allegro marziale animato
Recording: Alice Sara Ott, Münchner Philharmoniker, Thomas Hengelbrock

#224 The Smell of Accelerated Film

2011-08-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Swarming–people are everywhere, moving chaotically at first sight, but actually in a very organized way. There's no time to take a deep breath, not even at that almost pause at 1'03''.

Young Perlman is shining, and so is BSO. The final tones are so disburden you want to live the relief again and again.

Composer: Leonard Bernstein
Work: Serenade after Plato's "Symposium", III. Eryximachus (Presto)
Recording: Itzak Perlman, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa

#223 The Smell of Delicacy

2011-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

The waltz might be mighty, yet there's a delicacy in it. Swirling, it keeps its old-school tenderness. It hardly belongs to our world today, we have different means now.

Knappertsbusch is inseparable from his Wagner, and here, in a light piece, he's direct and engaging.

Composer: Carl Maria Weber (orch. by Hector Berlioz)
Work: Invitation to the Dance
Recording: Berliner Philharmoniker, Hans Knappertsbusch

#222 The Smell of War

2011-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Alarming, elemental music: This. Is. War. Uncontrollable currents, bursting dams, yet it all holds together, trembling and excited.

Gergiev with Mariinsky gives high voltage to the symphony. This is a machinery marching, making war, living war, winning war.

Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Work: Symphony No 10, II. Allegro
Recording: Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev

#221 The Smell of Craving

2011-08-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's desirous, calling for attention and love, and very craving. The main theme returns resiliently, secure and self-esteemed. Sturdy and intelligent.

Polekh, who asked Glière to write a horn concerto, his own cadenzas, and the composer himself conducting, do we need more? A historical performance.

Composer: Reinhold Glière
Work: Horn Concerto, I. Allegro
Recording: Valeri Polekh, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra,

#220 The Smell of Clove

2011-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

It smells of distance and adventure. Very bold, melodic, alive. It's a ship, full of spice, yet maneuvering like a frigate.

Capuçon is building great waves of melodic lines–urgent, calling, restless. Wonderful sound.

Composer: Victor Herbert
Work: Cello Concerto No 2, I. Allegro impetuoso
Recording: Gautier Capuçon, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi

#219 The Smell of Celestial Blue

2011-08-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

The landscape of this song unwinds slowly, heavenly, and it never stops. There's no place to stop, no borders, it shines in all directions.

Upshaw is walking in the landscape. Dignified, humble. Always, always...

Composer: Kaija Saariaho
Work: Château de l'âme, II. A la terre
Recording: Dawn Upshaw, Schoenberg Choir, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen

#218 The Smell of Market St

2011-08-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure about ionization but this is definitely the smell and the sound of Market St, San Francisco. All the stir and rush, sirens, rhythms, it's all there.

The music actually is somehow charging, ionizing. But inside–it's creating a positive feedback. It eats itself, and gets stronger so.

Composer: Edgard Varèse
Work: Ionisation
Recording: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez

#217 The Smell of Motion

2011-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Wind mills, trains, big wheels: It's the revolving motion that characterizes this movement. It's presto, yet the motion is not fast: it's bigger than life, very regular, continuous, unmatched.

Stern is iconic here. His playing works magnificently with NYP. A very pleasant recording.

Composer: Samuel Barber
Work: Violin Concerto, III. Presto in moto
Recording: Isaac Stern, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein

#216 The Smell of Larkiness

2011-08-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

The piano is like raindrops, drumming on the rooftops–but somehow lonely: a raindrop here, another one there. The song is sophisticated, enamored, and hopeless.

Royal balances the two: love and despair. It's a wish that cannot be fulfilled; she knows it, and yet she can be larky about it.

Composer: Hugo Wolf
Work: O wär dein Haus
Recording: Kate Royal, Malcolm Martineau

#215 The Smell of Glair

2011-08-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Smell the glair, damp and dragged. This can be Golden Gate Park in the dark, too. Nooks and corners, unexpected encounters, folding layers of anxiety and excitement.

Ozawa builds it carefully and splendidly, with intensity and thrill.

Composer: Charles Ives
Work: Central Park In The Dark
Recording: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa

#214 The Smell of Spring

2011-08-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

This piece of music is smiling, provoking to smile. All the echoing and repeats are organic, somehow rural and enjoyable. Very green and very sunny.

Northern Sinfonia has a wonderful sound, compact and bright, yet nicely subtle. Zehetmair is attentive and savvy.

Composer: Franz Schubert
Work: Symphony No 6, I. Adagio – Allegro
Recording: Thomas Zehetmair, Northern Sinfonia

#213 The Smell of Suffering

2011-08-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

The beginning, that's real pain. I wonder if somewhere else a composer was so successful in translating his suffering to music. However, there's also a fight, a majestic sound keeping us up, filling us with hope.

Buchbinder and Harnoncourt in what might be the best recording of this concerto ever (yet not your typical Brahms). Highly spirited, infiltrating and completing each other.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Piano Concerto No 1, I. Maestoso
Recording: Rudolf Buchbinder, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

#212 The Smell of Grace

2011-07-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Whatever you did, it's forgotten now, and forgiven. The music is full of grace: not blaming, flowing, accepting, understanding.

Laiter is singing somehow uninterestedly: because it does not matter anymore, because the past has no value.

Composer: Kurt Weill
Work: Das Berliner Requiem, Marterl: Andante moderato
Recording: Alexandre Laiter, Choeur de La Chapelle Royalle, Ensemble Musique Oblique, Philippe Herreweghe

#211 The Smell of Hell

2011-07-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I might be oversensitive but this music smells of something very diabolic. Even the muted moments are somehow broken and always corrupted by big, yelling areas of music. Always nervous, shrieking, never stable.

The finale is unbearable, the percussions are killing. Shostakovich on steroids.

Composer: Elie Siegmeister
Work: Symphony No 3, I. Moderato, pesante; Allegro ritmico
Recording: The Oslo Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Elie Siegmeister

#210 The Smell of Attack

2011-07-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

This music goes straightly to its point. Intention and destination are clear; no time to wait, no time to explain. It attacks you completely, subjugates you, violates you.

Mutter is able to achieve almost agonizing sound when you cannot breathe anymore. BPO is second to none.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Violin concerto, III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace – Poco più presto
Recording: Anne-Sophie Mutter, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan

#209 The Smell of Another World

2011-07-28T07:00:00.001-07:00

The most simple is the most impressive: Listen to the music at 1'21''. Ta-ta! Ta-ta! The harpsichord is not penetrating the orchestral sound. It's totally different, not from this world.

The orchestra is sloping, attacking, slowing down, and the harpsichord just does not get it. The solo in the fifth minute is so painfully lonely.

Composer: Francis Poulenc
Work: Concert Champêtre, II. Andante
Recording: Mahan Esfahani, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Martyn Brabbins

#208 The Smell of Nerves

2011-07-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

The first calling, that's a fanfare before a crippled waltz, before a ball of monsters. A ball taking place in a head of somebody exhausted, enervate.

Volodos jumps from creepy playing to high-toned dignity, changes tempi. He's luring us away from the sane world.

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov
Work: Morceaux de fantaisie No 5, Serenade
Recording: Arcadi Volodos

#207 The Smell of Tense

2011-07-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

This song never ends but it's not a stream, it's not a spinning wheel. It's more elastic, tense, and strung. The smell is somehow honey-sweet and honey-fluid.

Hampson keeps the tense constantly, his voice is vehement and insistent.

Composer: Robert Schumann
Work: Diechterliebe, "Aus meinen Tränen sprießen"
Recording: Thomas Hampson, Geoffrey Parsons

#206 The Smell of Disease

2011-07-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

A very peaceful motif starts to spread like cancer. The dark tones at 1'49'' are so ill and omnious. Decorum of the beginning is returning: for the last times, with these dark tones, in an unlikely symbiosis.

Kovacevich is soft and thoughtful. Not so sparkling, not ornamental, not playful.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Work: Piano Sonata No 22, I. In tempo di menuetto
Recording: Stephen Kovacevich

#205 The Smell of Two Monologues

2011-07-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is the first CD I bought after arriving to San Francisco. British opera kept me connected to Europe. Sorcerer, die, is about a total misunderstanding. It's not a dialogue, we have two monologues here, two persons not listening. Listen to the beginning: Sorcerer, die! – Caliban, why? How pregnant.

Smell the music itself. How it goes up, how quickly it is reversed. How the motifs are different for Caliban and for Prospero. How they merge into something taunting. How it gets basilisk touch.

Composer: Thomas Adès
Work: The Tempest, "Sorcerer, die"
Recording: Ian Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside, The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Thomas Adès

#204 The Smell of Eagerness

2011-07-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

The waves are rolling, the flow is rushing, and it's all very impatient and eager. I want this and this and all! The low tones at 0'54'' are crying: mine, mine, mine! The central part is very strong, calmly strong, unshakable. After that, sharpness dims. Eagerness, however, nervously stays.

Buchbinder has a special way how to send tones to a listener. It's so natural and elegant at once. Very impressive.

Composer: Frédéric Chopin
Work: Impromptu No 4
Recording: Rudolf Buchbinder

#203 The Smell of Despair

2011-07-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Des Grieux is totally despair. The images of his past are hunting him: It's hard to forget about Manon. His determination is switching to submission, just to win the battle again.

What I like most at Alagna's singing, is how he's able to express his determination. The first fuyez! are not real, he's in two minds. But then, he returns to God. The decision has been made, nobody can convince him back: Fuyez! Loin de moi!

Composer: Jules Massenet
Work: Manon, "Je suis seul!... Ah, fuyez"
Recording: Roberto Alagna, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Richard Armstrong

#202 The Smell of Missing

2011-07-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dignified grief. Something's missing, and it will never come back. What is it? Why so sad? You smell the words and actions that cannot be taken back. Regret.

Haveron, of Brodsky Quartet, of BBC Symphony Orchestra, shines. His tone bends the walls, keeping a special beauty, urge, unrepeatability.

Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Work: Violin Concerto, I. Moderato nobile
Recording: Andrew Haveron, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek

#201 The Smell of Officer

2011-07-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

The very beginning, that's Austria. The calling of mountains, amazing peaceful landscapes. But it turns to Vienna soon, and the machinery keeps going.

This is not a typical performance–it's not shining, not playful, no curlicues. It's more stubborn, more military. Walter is direct, calmed, he does not showboat. It seems correct somehow.

Composer: Johann Strauss II
Work: An der schönen, blauben Donau
Recording: Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra

#200 The Smell of Hiding

2011-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Everybody is hiding something here: Amneris, Aida, Radames, and even orchestra. It's a play in play, full of affectation, graduated. Will it hold together? The storm at the end brings perishable relief, not for long.

The singers here do not want to push too much, it's the orchestra sound that starts to incite. They just want to keep pace with it. Nothing really happens, yet the tragedy just arrived. Not wanted, just unavoidable.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Work: Aida, "Vieni, o diletta, appressati"
Recording: Elena Obraztsova, Katia Ricciarelli, Plácido Domingo, Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado

#199 The Smell of Flush

2011-07-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Smell the hesitation and passion in the first tone–how it does not know where to go, whether to continue. It's a young love at its best: to love and to be loved in return with all the flushes and intoxications.

Čechová had to be in love when she played it. You get the sense of a week body being dragged back and forth by unknown forces. It's so dedicated, so painful, so beautiful.

Composer: Bedřich Smetana
Work: Louisen Polka
Recording: Jitka Čechová

#162 The Smell of Aging

2011-06-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Moving continuously, never stopping, never resting but not growing, not building anything: mining, going under surface and beyond. It dissects us, our surroundings, leaving us sad, empty, awaiting. The effect is hollow, the experience is the aging.

Bělohlávek delivers rich, spontaneous performance. Strings soften the shades, wood instruments are so crushing, rapacious.

II. Poco allegro inquieto e poco rubato by Bělohlávek, BBCSO on Grooveshark

Composer: Josef Suk
Work: Ripening, II. Poco allegro inquieto e poco rubato
Recording: Jiří Bělohlávek, BBC Symphony Orchestra

#161 The Smell of Provocation

2011-06-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sunny, excited, sexy piece of music. It's a call for play, for acting out. Smile and dance!

Kunzel's reading is an unsurprising classics. Playful and intensive even in the middle calm passage.

Composer: George Gershwin
Work: Cuban Overture
Recording: Cincinnati Pop Orchestra, Erich Kunzel

#160 The Smell of Stubbornness

2011-06-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

The introduction to A Hero's Life is heavy and stubborn. It's a statement: unforgiving, accountable, exclamatory. It's not heroic; it's standing on its own terms.

Haitink is broad and generous. In CSO, we're getting a not-all-orchestras-are-equal sound.

Composer: Richard Strauss
Work: Ein Heldenleben, I. Der Held
Recording: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink

#159 The Smell of Klezmer

2011-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

One may need to hear Uri Caine first to recognize how Jewish this symphony is. It's marvelous how this is pushed a little bit, that is being pulled against it timing... And then, at 5'23'', all the small nets are torn apart with one grand shift. The real trauermarsch starts at 7'46'', when nothing is left and nothing–despite all the attempts–can be built.

Dudamel is very soft and flexible in this recording. Listen to the wheel at 1'09'' and again at 3'01'', how it starts turning. Fresh, subtle account, and very sad. The sorrow of the last minute is unbearable.

Composer: Gustav Mahler
Work: Symphony No 5, I. Trauermarsch
Recording: Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, Gustavo Dudamel

#158 The Smell of Melting

2011-06-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Light and grace of Spain! I can't do it often but today is the day. The layers of voices are interlaced and superimposed, and melted together, and layered again, till alleluia.

JEG and his Monteverdi Choir is so special, unbeatable. Very touching, sublime. They're not just singing, it's somehow more inner.

Composer: Tomás Luis de Victoria
Work: O lux et decus Hispaniae
Recording: The Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner

#157 The Smell of Traffic

2011-06-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Unmistakeable klaxon sound, traffic, bustle... welcome to Paris! And then such a luminous cooling down and my favorite part at 7'27'': walking on the sly, and the melody that takes you onward.

Bernstein is having a good time here. Switching moods, balancing classical and jazz, fun and sentiment, excitement and homesickness, he pretty much sets the standard.

Composer: George Gershwin
Work: An American in Paris
Recording: New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein

#156 The Smell of Sunshine

2011-06-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

This wedding march is so gentle, so fragile. It is full of hope and expectation but the feelings are mixed–death is near. Sun is rising but for how long?

Bělohlávek works magically with dynamics, and wonderfully balances the sound of orchestra and chorus.

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Work: Rusalka, "Květiny bílé po cestě"
Recording: Mischa Schelomianski, Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek

#155 The Smell of Sewer

2011-06-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Go weak at the knees. Be a puppet, let the music swing you. Enjoy the moment where cello pretends it's a jazzy bass. Subject to the rhythms.

It's a dance that does not require any progression. And it smells wet and dirty. Gutter on your shoes squelches when you're dancing on a street, under the only street light that's still on...

Composer: Jan Novák
Work: Capriccio for cello and small orchestra, III. Allegro
Recording: Jiří Bárta, Prague Philharmonia, Jakub Hrůša

#154 The Smell of Rage

2011-06-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

It starts so decently, and it ends so perversely. Fully controlled, beautifully shaped, subtle jazzy. Then, the tired instruments are all game, funny and cheerful. The game, however, does not end well. The final march is full of rage, full of hate, full of fester.

Petrenko builds the emotions finely, carefully, and clearly, keeping the move from the very beginning and never letting it go.

Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Work: Symphony No 10, IV. Andante – Allegro
Recording: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko

#153 The Smell of Stairway

2011-06-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

This composition runs on and up, it's a stairway, sometimes massive, sometimes steep but still grand. You have to run the stairs–there are spots where you can breathe out but in these moments, hunting memories are coming to your head: go, go!

Argerich on her debut recital album is marvelous. She unstoppable, raved. But don't think about it as about a romantic aberrance–this is well structured, totally controlled performance. Very Brahms, very Argerich.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Rhapsody No 1
Recording: Martha Argerich

#152 The Smell of Ants

2011-06-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

It smells of noise, systematic, strategic noise. Ants in rows, exploring new paths. Communication signals. Shapes and contours.

How mechanical is it? How creative? How self-organized...

Composer: Alwin Nikolais
Work: Electronic Dance Music: Frail Demons: Dance 1
Recording: Maro Ajemian

#151 The Smell of Bitter Waves

2011-05-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Big shapes, big areas. Grand harmonies. It's really chorus-like orchestral sound. The waves are coming from and disappearing to nowhere. It is calm and it is bitter.

Sharp string echoes, and the smell is returning again and again, pulsing bitterness. Forget about Beethoven: At 10'37'', this is the fate knocking on the door, this is the tempest. After that, sky is clear. All conflicts are gone.

Composer: Arvo Pärt
Work: Symphony No 4, II. Affannoso
Recording: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen

#150 The Smell of Fraction

2011-05-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

How dancing and playful it is. But the movement is also every fractional, the numbers are splattering from it. Orchestra is suppressed, almost like muted, the sound is very unified.

Zimmermann's playing is full of joy and energy. Sometimes it seems like the music is calling for help, exhaused, violin unnerved. But it's all numbers, small fractions in a landscape of beauty.

Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Work: Violin Concerto, IV. Capriccio
Recording: Frank Peter Zimmermann, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Gianluigi Gelmetti

#149 The Smell of Quiver

2011-05-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Very humble touch with a great upheaval–this is big and very moving. Humility and submission mixed with high expectations.

A famous, well-known aria but always fresh with young Price. Listen to her and you just want a better destiny for Madama Butterfly.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Work: Madama Butterfly, "Un bel di vedremo"
Recording: Leontyne Price, Rome Opera Orchestra, Oliviero de Fabritiis

#148 The Smell of Nobleness

2011-05-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

A classy composition and a classy recording. Very noble and aristocratic. It somehow shifts from romanticism to decadence.

I don't understand Tortelier's Bach but his approach to Schumann totally suits me.

Composer: Robert Schumann
Work: Cello Concerto, III. Sehr lebhaft
Recording: Paul Tortelier, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati

#147 The Smell of Caprice

2011-05-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

First, there's innocence. Then, duality and attack. Exhaustion of love. Humpiness of anger. Attempts of reaching out. Mockery, humiliation. So many caprices in one movement!

This recording has a firm and solid leading from both the conductor and the soloist. Across all the moods, there's constant inner shining in it.

Composer: Béla Bartók
Work: Violin Concerto No 2, II. Andante tranquillo
Recording: André Gertler, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ančerl

#146 The Smell of Prison

2011-05-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Every music bar is like a steel bar. One after another, a killing number of bars; depressing, lethal air. A tunnel without the light. Omnivorous greyness.

Alsop is civil, she does not exaggerate. A lively account with a fine sound.

Composer: Roy Harris
Work: Symphony No 6, II. Conflict
Recording: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop

#145 The Smell of Honey

2011-05-25T07:00:00.001-07:00

This piece is somehow sweet and dangerous. Its viscosity, its smoothness with little crystals, is so charming. The final disappearance is like the last drop of honey that almost drops and then backs off to the spoon.

Kremer and Maisenberg deliver a focused, sharp performance with wonderful dynamic levels.

Composer: Franz Schubert
Work: Rondo Brillant D895, I. Andante
Recording: Gidon Kremer, Oleg Maisenberg

#144 The Smell of Comedy

2011-05-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Now that's a cunning vixen! That's a way how to get married! And all the animals are concurring: Wanna get married? No problem, here you are, let's celebrate!

The music is so funny and so joyful. It's capturing a happy part of vixen's life, ending the second act.

Composer: Leoš Janáček
Work: The Cunning Little Vixen, "Kdybyste věděli, co já viděla"
Recording: Helena Tattermuschová, Eva Zikmundová, Jaroslava Procházková, Jaroslava Dobrá, Prague National Chorus and Orchestra, Bohumil Gregor

#143 The Smell of Damping

2011-05-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Not the moon on the cloudy sky but a damping haze is here. Low-key melancholy of tones, still the same, a mood caught in a split of second and expanded to four minutes. No tears, just catatonia.

This is not a typical Moonlight sonata, and maybe it's a recording you would not like. Gould goes for faster tempo and left hand emphasis. He deliberately keeps the magic down–no place for romantism.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Work: Piano Sonata No 14, I. Adagio sostenuto
Recording: Glenn Gloud

#142 The Smell of Forest

2011-05-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

This picture is so vivid: green forest, and an animal running so quickly we have difficulties to trace it. It's not a hunt, this is a run for pleasure, and everything is so lively and in harmony. We try to second, to run–we're clumsy but the music is urging us, and we achieve unimaginable.

Young Maazel is a devil, constantly pushing and inspiring. This is a famous recording.

Composer: Franz Schubert
Work: Symphony No 4, IV. Allegro
Recording: Berliner Philharmoniker, Lorin Maazel

#141 The Smell of Bigger Than Life

2011-05-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's a mix of pride and emotion with several moments that get you very high (2'33'' or 4'22''). The beginning is so sweet, a preparation for a shot of pathos. And the finale, oh my, what an orchestration!

Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra were already introduced here, mostly in Schumann. Their Brahms is big, too. Lovely tempo, very consistent, solid sound. Faithful.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Academic Festival Overture
Recording: Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell

#140 The Smell of Failure

2011-05-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is a fight and the fight is lost. It's not a fair fight, and you are fighting not only the others but yourself as well. It's violent, bloody, and you will die.

Orchestral sound is rich, with excellent solos. Petrenko focuses on details and exposes all the micro rhythms and drama.

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Manfred Symphony, IV. Allegro con fuoco
Recording: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko

#139 The Smell of Bread and Butter

2011-05-19T07:00:00.001-07:00

I can smell a slice of bread in front of me. The music is spreading soft butter on it, the knife goes forth and back in flowing moves.

Karajan goes for fast tempo and shine. The recording is energizing and joyful.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Hungarian Dance No 5
Recording: Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan

#138 The Smell of Obligation

2011-05-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Emotions do not count. You have to go on. Death, victory–you are obliged to listen to the drum. The wheel is turning no matter what. Feind, Feind, Feind!

I've heard Hampson singing Des Knaben Wunderhorn several years ago. He was great and he's still great. Believable, flexible, with intrinsic authority. Here with a chamber orchestra, he's even more convincing. And when the orchestra is rattling bones (4'55''), it forces you to stand up and follow the drum. Trallali, Mr Mahler!

Composer: Gustav Mahler
Work: Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Revelge
Recording: Thomas Hampson, Wiener Virtuosen

#137 The Smell of Snowflake

2011-05-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Coming from monotone heavy sky, just one and only, a snowflake. Dancing in wind, going up and down, waiting for a sun beam to shine on it–to be sparkling, to be beautiful. And then, second, third... the air is full of them and they're all the same and they're all uninteresting.

Matsuev makes the lovely music sing. Soft, romantic touch... one can get intoxicated very easily.

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: The Seasons, V. May - White Nights
Recording: Denis Matsuev

#136 The Smell of Command

2011-05-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is an order. The violin is in charge, dictating its conditions. It's strong, stiff, insisting.

Ehnes keeps the written rigidity and does not add one into the sound. He forms a round, sad, and very clear tone. Listen to it and you're down and lonely.

Composer: Niccolò Paganini
Work: Caprice No 3
Recording: James Ehnes

#135 The Smell of Chandelier

2011-05-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's an old one. Big, crystal, dusty. Vanished elegance–still there, waiting. Maybe gaspy, willing to join the party that's over for centuries.

Kovacevich's tone is elegant and sad. No parody here–respect and piety.

Composer: Frédérick Chopin
Work: Waltz No 1
Recording: Stephen Kovacevich

#134 The Smell of Starting Again

2011-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

The music starts in a relaxed, serene way. A little structure is build, a little love is given (the movement is called Two in Love), and there's a foreign element: something's happening (1'25''). Maybe something wrong, outrageous. Could we start again please? We can (2'12''): and nothing wrong will happen this time.

Mácal and CPO deliver very warm, rustic performance with a good drive. The sound is rich and solid.

Composer: Vítězslav Novák
Work: Slovak Suite, III. Two in Love
Recording: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Zdeněk Mácal

#133 The Smell of Pretended Innocence

2011-05-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's like if it's acted: Foot pace, big moon, hot night. Sounds are coming from a lake nearby. Children playing soldiers. Go to bed, now! Do not interrupt this magical moment, do not ruin this innocent night...

Boulez has a great sense of feeling for this kind of music. In his reading, all makes sense. He respects the music.

Composer: Karol Szymanowski
Work: Symphony No 3, II. Allegretto tranquillo
Recording: Volkhard Steude, Wiener Philharmoniker, Pierre Boulez

#132 The Smell of Expectation

2011-05-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Das Wandern! What a goal without a goal, what a call! It's a plain text but together with the melody we have a masterpiece here. Very joyful, dancing and yet with a subtle sad tone.

Wunderlich is setting the picture so vividly I want to go walking right now. To get walking, fall in love and be romantic.

Composer: Franz Schubert
Work: Die Schöne Müllerin, I. Das Wandern
Recording: Fritz Wunderlich, Hubert Giesen

#131 The Smell of Not Dark Yet

2011-05-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

This symphony shines and fights against darkness. So open and strong, it's singing: Fear not! Not dark yet and it's not getting there.

Neumann finely balances the sound of this atypically orchestrated piece. Both the singing and the organ playing point to heaven.

Composer: Miloslav Kabeláč
Work: Symphony No 8, V. 3
Recording: Jana Jonášová, Václav Rabas, Prague Percussion Instruments Ensemble, Prague Philharmonic Chorus, Václav Neumann

#130 The Smell of Melancholy

2011-05-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

What a magical beginning! Soft piano and microscopic violin sounds, trying to grow, to be bigger. But there's no joy in being bigger. In full blossom, the mood is pushing again and again the same melancholy button.

Argerich and Kremer are masters. You can hardly believe it's just music. There has to be more: true magic.

Composer: Robert Schumann
Work: Violin Sonata No 2, III. Leise, einfach
Recording: Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer

#129 The Smell of Family

2011-05-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

Network of people. Graduated loves and hates, invisible bonds. Strong feelings everywhere. And Bruckner is floating around and putting these emotions to his music.

Jochum brings old-school ordinality and concept to massive Bruckner. Suddenly, there's not only architecture but connections, common sense. Very vital.

Composer: Anton Bruckner
Work: Symphony No 5, I. Introduction: Adagio–Allegro
Recording: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eugen Jochum

#128 The Smell of Diamond

2011-05-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

A very gentle melody, fragile and innocent. But the piano keys are hurting, the strokes are sharp. Many angles, different lights.

What Gieseking is achieving here is marvelous. He is the music he's playing, he himself is a gentle diamond.

Composer: Claude Debussy
Work: Préludes, VIII. ...La fille aux cheveux de lin
Recording: Walter Gieseking

#127 The Smell of Bent Steel

2011-05-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

The first sounds are detached yet not cold. It's steel that wants to be in the game. We follow the arches, and then there's a swing. Dancing with steel...

I feel no need to introduce Pavel Haas Quartet. Just go and get their CD. They are the top.

Composer: Pavel Haas
Work: String Quartet No 2, II. Coach, Coachman and Horse (Andante)
Recording: Pavel Haas Quartet

#126 The Smell of Endless Return

2011-05-06T07:00:00.001-07:00

No matter what: there's always a return. She can be exalted, she can be mad–she's always back. It's a painful, hurting way back. There's anger and wrath and fury, and they all subject to enigmatic love.

For von Otter, this is a one-off performance. Orchestra sound is suppressed, not important; everything is in the voice.

Composer: Kurt Weill
Work: Happy End, Surabaya-Johnny
Recording: Anne Sofie von Otter, NDR-Sinfonieorchester, John Eliot Gardiner

#125 The Smell of Dripping Water

2011-05-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Drip, drip, drip... and the level goes up. Drip, drip, drip... nowhere to go, the music explodes. Drip, drip–and the next one is not coming, tension and expectation. And then: drip! Another explosion!

Chung and Solti are ideal pair for Bartók. Expressive, emotional recording.

Composer: Béla Bartók
Work: Violin Concerto No 2, I. Allegro non troppo
Recording: Kyung Wha Chung, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti

#124 The Smell of Flirting

2011-05-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

This waltz is promising and tentative. There's a classy elegance and abstractness. It's really touching only at the end (at 6'20'') and then it runs away.

Hickox is a great reader of Bridge. No caricatures, yet a bit of extemporaneousness belonging to the beginning of the twentieth century.

Composer: Frank Bridge
Work: Valse intermezzo à cordes
Recording: BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox

#123 The Smell of Passion

2011-05-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

If there's a smell of passion, it is found in this cello concerto. Love, death, home sickness, everything's here. Eruptive, bold melodies; soft and fragile moments (horns at 7'23''). All combined to a perpetual stream of passion.

Talich's recording of the concerto is the best one ever. Young Rostropovich has no limits. Absolutely legendary.

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Work: Cello Concerto, I. Allegro
Recording: Mstislav Rostropovich, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Václav Talich

#122 The Smell of Ocean

2011-05-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is monumental. Ocean is opening in front of you. Infinite waters, infinite skies. Majestic, with no story, no action: It just exists. Entireness and beauty and sun.

Philadelphia Orchestra has a well balanced sound. Ormandy can control the climax, keeping the orchestra wonderfully in a bolero-like trajectory.

Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Work: The Pines of Rome, IV. The Pines of The Appian Way
Recording: Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy

#121 The Smell of Gold

2011-05-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's not only about the spinning wheel itself. Gold jets from the music all the time: golden fields, a nobleman in gold. Dvořák is building his musical narrative around it.

BPO has a solid sound and Rattle's reading is soft but not passionate. It's a horror without absorption.

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Work: The Golden Spinning-Wheel
Recording: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle

#120 The Smell of Walking with Child

2011-04-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Child goes first: happy, jumping, running forward, turning, acting like a soldier, like a fairy, like a lion tamer. You're walking with a hero, trying to understand where the energy and fantasy comes from.

Mullova plays boldly, accenting the dancing rhythm. The sound harmony between her and the orchestra is exemplary.

Composer: Sergei Prokofiev
Work: Violin Concerto No 2, III. Allegro, ben marcato
Recording: Viktoria Mullova, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, André Previn

#119 The Smell of Dominance

2011-04-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Figaro, pretending he's obliging and ready to please, shows his prevalence here. It's an accepted challenge: Oh, you would like to dance (read: sleep with my wife)? My pleasure! But be prepared, my dear, because I'm the cat and you're the mouse in this game.

D'Arcangelo is a great Figaro (and Leporello). He's combining satire and menace into an amusing mix. All for fun!

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Work: The Marriage of Figaro, "Se vuol ballare, signor Contino"
Recording: Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

#118 The Smell of Cats

2011-04-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Elegant, silent, soft. You want to dance into the music. There's no fight, it just wins from the first tone. Lean, blue, seductive. Purring. Claws.

Klee and music is a wonderful combination. And Dorati serves the jazzy music well; he and the Minneapolis orchestra also premiered the composition. If you're not familiar with Klee's works, now is the time.

Composer: Gunther Schuller
Work: Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee, III. Little Blue Devil
Recording: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati.

#117 The Smell of Figure Skating

2011-04-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

One leg, the other. Slow, elegant movements. Turn around, skate backward. Jump! Another! And two more! This piece of music is so instructional, you can rewrite every bar to skating terminology: spin here, toe jump there, speed up, extend arms.

Lewis is kind of strict, lathe-like. Merely dancing, more constructing. Maybe geometry is the word.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Work: Piano Sonata No 10, III. Scherzo: Allegro assai
Recording: Paul Lewis

#116 The Smell of Tempest

2011-04-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Tempest itself, that would be too simple. Here's the full game plan, board finely being built for the match. Even the peaceful intermezzo is well structured, some higher plans on mind. And then–the rage: everything works, all figures move at once. Attack, attack! The air is clear.

Martinů wrote this piece for Firkušný, what better recommendation would you get? He is a master of the keyboard.

Composer: Bohuslav Martinů
Work: Fantasy and Toccata, II. Toccata
Recording: Rudolf Firkušný

#115 The Smell of Falling

2011-04-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

It starts in very airy mood, like a dragonfly above a lake. But the main theme exposes our mistake: It's not a flight, it's a free fall. Yes, there's wind dragging us away but inevitably we're still falling down.

Helfgott is trying to hide here. I don't know what he's trying to say, it's too organic, too compact. There are some inclinations to happiness, to flying. Stop analyzing it–Helfgott is preluding, after all.

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov
Work: Prelude No 12, Op. 32
Recording: David Helfgott

#114 The Smell of Everlasting Sleep

2011-04-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

There's no hope in the music, no hope in the words. Painful, victimizing love. In this aria, Federico invokes peaceful sleep but he wants to be punished, he wants to suffer. The only imaginable sleep would be death.

Alagna has a strong voice, sometimes too strong for me, so I've tried to find something soft in his 1995 recital. His voice is sad and beautiful, his passion is self-consuming. You don't need to know the whole opera to guess he'll kill himself soon.

Composer: Francesco Cilea
Work: L'Arlesiana, "Ela solita storia del pastore..."
Recording: Roberto Alagna, The London Philharmonic, Richard Armstrong

#113 The Smell of England

2011-04-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Rejoice, O English hearts, rejoice! What's more English than Britten's Spring Symphony? Both layered and simple, gentle and noble.

When Robbin joins Ainsley at 1'11'', the words are like the olympic flame. And then the growing and the explosion at 1'35''... for this grass should be ever green. And so, my friends, I cease.

Composer: Benjamin Britten
Work: Spring Symphony, Part IV Finale: "London, to thee I do present"
Recording: Alison Hagley, Catherine Robbin, John Mark Ainsley, The Boy and Girl Choristers of Salisbury Cathedral, The Monteverdi Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, John Eliot Gardiner

#112 The Smell of Stasis

2011-04-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Take in your breath (as in the recording) and hold it. There are only four instruments in this movement. First and second violins are responsible for the indifferent wheel of noise. Principal violin plays protracted sad and craving tune that's muted by viola, hung in the space, not going anywhere, just repeating its two knocks in every bar. These two notes are not evil, just completely detached and timeless.

Beyer and Gli Incogniti go crude here. There are really only four instruments, no real orchestra. In many other recordings, viola part is buried under the mass of violins, resulting in nice and boring music. However, Vivaldi wanted viola to be played very strong and ripped (molto forte e strappato), like a crying dog. Paralyzing.

Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
Work: Violin Concerto No 1, II. Largo
Recording: Amandine Beyer, Gli Incogniti

#111 The Smell of Romantic Love

2011-04-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

The two voices, piano and violin, are so bedazzled here, so in love. They are walking together, holding hands, complementing sentences. Opiate infatuation of the first weeks.

The sound is soft and rounded. No thorns, even the rise at 5'14'' is so amorous. At the end, the music tells us: go, leave the lovers alone.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Work: Violin Sonata No 5, II. Adagio molto espressivo
Recording: Oleg Kagaan, Sviatoslav Richter

#110 The Smell of Cutting

2011-04-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

I smell meat and a sharp knife. With every note, there comes a cut: a short one, a robust one, a shallow one, a bold one. In higher tones, it's more piercing. The whole cycle is only seven minutes long.

I smell Vermont-like melancholy. Is the end of winter really spring? Or is there something in-between, something like void and knife? Frazin's music does not give answers (actually there is an inkling of peace at 0'34''). All attempts (like the one at 1'08'') end in hollowness again and again.

Composer: Howard Frazin
Work: Music For The End Of Winter, 5. Music For The End Of Winter
Recording: Kate Boyd

#109 The Smell of Evil

2011-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

There's no intention to be nice: it's supposed to be pagan, brusque. But this recording goes further. It's not devastating in the sound volume but it's so cold, mean, and bitchy.

Philharmonia Orchestra is bloodthirsty but the veins are empty. Pure rage is yet controlled by Markevich. Spring? Chilliness peeps through.

Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Work: The Rite of Spring, I. Adoration of the Earth
Recording: Philharmonia Orchestra, Igor Markevich (1959)

#108 The Smell of Pouring

2011-04-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's easy to talk about folksy settings and square dances. What else do you want to smell here? I smell reunion in progress–small streams in a forrest, coming together, forming something bigger, of a higher call. They unite and continue in their way down, gurgling: smiling, sunny, festive.

You need to say Bernstein when you say Copland. A wonderful account, hearty and hilarious. Spring's in the air.

Composer: Aaron Copland
Work: Appalachian Spring Suite, 4. Fast
Recording: New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein

#107 The Smell of Oppression

2011-04-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

There's a great strength pushing from the very first moment. These confirmatory chords at 0'11'', the prance at 0'20'', the shift at 0'26'', the punches starting from 0'34''. The hidden stress afterwards, leading to Allegro molto vivace at 2'10''. Here's dreadful oppression, tension of forces. Listen how it comes back at 7'25''.

Gardiner is an apostle of such strains. His reading of the symphony allows it to grow within you, for you to reach, to understand your limits. Spring walk with me.

Composer: Robert Schumann
Work: Symphony No 1, I. Andante un poco maestoso
Recording: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner

#106 The Smell of Sunrise

2011-04-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

This piece is charged with positive energy. Everything goes up, everything grows and shines. Truly a magical world. Moreover, it's wonderfully recorded, so you can really follow different musical flows and be astonished how they intertwist and merge together.

This recording is from 1972 but there's still a touch of young Bernstein: swift tempos, fire, spontaneity. Is it even possible that strings can smile like that?

Composer: Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Nutcracker Suite, 1. Miniature Overture
Recording: New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein

#105 The Smell of Hypnosis

2011-04-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Time is moving. Bemused, dreamy, circular ticking. Haze is disappearing (1'58'') and the main message grows stronger and denser (5'20''). There's no finale: The way is not over.

Originally scored for organ, this is a version for 14 string players and percussion–not so phlegmatic but yet airy and very spinal. A fine work.

Composer: Arvo Pärt
Work: Mein Weg
Recording: Talinn Chamber Orchestra, Tonu Kaljuste

#104 The Smell of Dead Child

2011-04-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

From the very first moment, here comes an irreversible tragedy of splendid power. The total passing of father and son, non-acceptance turned to non-existence. Primary narrative, sonorous, deafening.

Anne Sofie von Otter is magnificent in four different roles. She augments the predestination: The winner is known.

Composer: Franz Schubert, arr. Hector Berlioz
Work: Erlkönig
Recording: Anne Sofie von Otter, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado

#103 The Smell of Contemplation

2011-04-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

Quiet, rest. This piece of music wants nothing more. It's a funeral music but it's not sad music. It's healing, reuniting. Touching.

This 1974 recording is from The Otto Klemperer Memorial Concert in London. Kubelík keeps very slow tempo, so you can feel how the music is interlaced. The intervals in the beginning are dazing.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Work: Masonic Funeral Music
Recording: New Philharmonia Orchestra, Rafael Kubelík

#102 The Smell of Double Attack

2011-04-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

It is not resting; attacking from two sides and on two levels: with a permanent high blatant voice and with a nervous detonative strong exclamations. They want something, they're bothersome, anxious, and–in a sense–calculated, mathematical. The end is so frustrating: an unfinished story, an accusation sublimed into nothing.

Yuja Wang is a true virtuoso here. She plays casually as it's not a big deal to be precise and fast. The composition is all along over and the smell is still staying in the head.

Composer: György Ligeti
Work: Étude No 4
Recording: Yuja Wang

#101 The Smell of Cheating

2011-04-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

It starts like a game: The music invites you and eludes. It's sweet and allure but it tugs away at the last moment. This is cheating, false pretending: I don't know you, go away! Here's the art of musical seduction–are you game?

The quartet was premiered in Boston and I got the CD from Boston. But it was tough to make it to the special Boston Week and Pavel Haas Quartet fell short. Maybe it's their first failure ever.

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Work: String Quartet No 13, I. Allegro moderato
Recording: Pavel Haas Quartet