#213 The Smell of Suffering

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

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

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

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

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