I got into classical music deeply in 2015 and deeper still in 2016, largely in response to the times. By “the times”, I mean the descent of Western civilization into a bleak and miserable oblivion. There was simply no way for me to tune out the sound of the plummet, and it’s only gotten louder and more gnashing. Classical music, which requires concentration to appreciate, was my solution to that problem – the sound of the descent, not the descent itself – and it still is. I do this blog that has no readers and the radio show, which has few listeners (and heartfelt thanks to all who do!), purely to share what I think is an effective strategy for coping with this shitstorm with anyone out there who might be receptive. This blog and the show are messages in bottles, effectively – almost but not quite pointless.
That said, this year was a hard one, both personally (which is not worth sharing, beyond the September 6 show dedicated to my mom) and on the macro level.
On the personal level, one of very few highlights of 2021 was getting to see some live music again. While visiting family in Seattle, I got to see, first, the Danish String Quartet at the University of Washington, and then the Seattle Symphony under Ludovic Morlot doing Shostakovich’s 11th (my favorite of his instrumental symphonies and one that is seldom programmed) in the acoustic marvel of Benaroya Hall, pictured above. Both shows were brilliant and served to remind me how much I rely on live music for my mental well-being. I did not need the reminders, but I did need the shows.
On that macro level, 2021 seemed at the time, and still seems in retrospect, not so much a year as a lonely buoy we could hang onto for a while. We’re still lost at sea, with no boat within a hundred miles and no sense where the nearest shore may be, but at least we didn’t drown this year. (I am using “we” collectively and in the most abstract sense. Many people did drown, of course, but they are dead and not, as a result, part of any “we” that I know of.)
And it seems we’re being asked to prepare for an utterly miserable 2022. Which is why it seems appropriate to begin this look back at 2021 with Rued Langaard’s “Music at the Abyss”, in an arrangement for chamber orchestra that represented one of my favorite new releases from 2021.
So 2021 was, in the macro, a soul-sapper. As far as OM goes, that manifested in several forms. For example, a resolution back in January was to air all 16 of Allan Pettersson’s symphonies over the course of 2021; I think I got in three. I could not muster the energy to do more than a couple blog posts.
Also, my composer-of-the-month agenda faltered – six months had no composer programs (though February had two). Nevertheless, and as always, the featured composers this year are all people I feel rewarded to have met (in most cases) or gotten to know better. They were:
– Jon Leifs, the father of Icelandic earthquake music (March 7 )
– the etherial Russian birdsong devotee Ekaterina Kozhevnikova (Feb. 14)
– the criminally underrated Russian Alexander Tcherepnin (June 16)
– Claude Vivier, Canuck author of entertaining avant-garde music (June 28)
– the Azerbaijani hippie and Parajanov collaborator Javanshir Guliyev (July 26)
– Karl Rathaus, another unlucky victim of historical circumstance (Nov. 8)
– Osvaldas Balakauskas, fun-loving Lithuanian serialist (Dec. 20)
Likewise the region-of-the-month itinerary had too many gaps. That said, those I did do were all packed with great music, as usual:
– Azerbaijan (Feb. 28)
– Kazakhstan (March 21)
– Ukraine (April 4)
– Canada (June 7)
– Estonia (July 5)
– Moldova & Belarus (July 19)
– Transylvania (Aug. 2)
– Georgia (Oct. 4)
– Lithuania (November/December)
All of these shows can be heard, in improved form, here:
https://www.mixcloud.com/deafmix3/stream/
So, on to the mixtape. In past years I’ve done two at year’s end – one of new releases and one of stuff that I discovered NOT on new releases. This year’s is a hybrid. The new releases are the tracks with record jackets on the playlist below. But there were a couple dozen new releases I would rate as excellent, if not essential. I did a bunch of shows of new releases in the autumn of 2021, and those can be heard on Mixcloud as well. That said, here are some of my favorite things from 2021.
0:00:00
Rued Langaard (Denmark, 1893-1952): Music of the Abyss
(transcribed for chamber orchestra by Allan Gravgaard Madsen)
I. Inflessibile mostruoso – Maestoso rigoglioso
Esbjerg Ensemble
Langaard – Music of the Abyss (Dacapo, 2021)
0:07:34
Olivier Messiaen (France, 1908-1992): Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus: No. 1, Regard du Père
Joanna MacGregor
Messiaen – Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus (Collins)
0:15:39
Valentin Silvestrov (Ukraine, 1937- ): White, a Solitary Sail
Sergey Yakovenko (baritone) w/ Ilya Scheps (p)
Silvestrov – Silent Songs (ECM New Series)
0:20:00
Victoria Poleva (Ukraine, 1962- ): Molenie Teploe for soprano and female choir (2007)
Oksana Nikitjuk (soprano) w/ the Girls Chamber Choir orf Kiev (?)
0:24:11
Claude Vivier (Canada, 1948-1983): Glaubst du an de Unsterblichkeit der Steele?
for voices, narrator, 3 synthesizers and two percussion
Johan Leysen (narrator) & Susan Narucki (sop) w/
Reinbert de Leeuw: Asko Schoenberg Ensemble
0:32:45
Alexander Tcherepnin (Russia/U.S., 1899-1977): Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 26 (1923)
Noriko Ogawa w/ Lan Shui: Singapore SO
Tcherepnin Piano Concertos 2 & 4, etc. (BIS, 2003)
0:50:51
Javanshir Guliyev (Azerbaijan, 1950- ): String Quartet No. 2 (1983)
Azerbaijani State String Quartet
1:06:47
Thomas Larcher (Austria, 1962- ): Die Nacht der Verlorenen; No. 1. Alles verloren
Hannu Lintu: Finnish Radio SO
Larcher – Symphony No. 2 & Die Nacht der Verlorenen (Ondine, 2021)
1:13:31
Herman Galynin (USSR, 1922-1962): Piano Trio in D minor (1948)
Borodin Trio (Rostislav Dubinsky (v), Luba Edlina (p) & Yuli Turovsky (c))
1:32:53
Paul Arma (Hungary/France, 1905-1987): Violin Sonata; I. Lento
Judith Ingolfsson (v) & Vladimir Stoupel (p)
Rathaus Tiessen & Arma Sonatas for Violin & Piano (Oehms Classics, 2021)
2:03:28
Beyza Yagzin
Ulvi Cemal Erkin (1906-1972): Duyuslar (Impressions); No. 2. Küçük çoban (The Little Shepherd)
To Anatolia – Selections from the Turkish Five (Bridge, 2021)
2:04:58
Rued Langaard (Denmark, 1893-1952): Music of the Abyss
II. Frenetico, quasi rondo
2:11:03
Ekaterina Kozhevnikova (Russia, 1954- ): Farewell for string orchestra, flute & harpsichord
Konstantin Krimets: unknown orchestra
Concentration Camp 