Sunday, November 25, 2018

Malevich: Self-Portrait / Worker (1933)


Kazimir Malevich. Self-Portrait (1933)



Kazimir Malevich: Worker (1933)



From: "La radicalité de Malévitch"; http://www.vania-marcade.com/la-radicalite-de-malevitch/ :

"Perhaps the most astounding, the most moving work, marked by tragedy, is the 1933 Self-portrait in the Russian National Museum. The basic structure of this painting is the iconographic archetype of the Mother of God Hodighitria, that is to say the Theotokos making a gesture of the hand towards her Son towards the Way; It is "Hodighitria", the one that shows the Way, The Way. Well, Malévitch took this form to represent himself. There is no futuristic irony, which the artist was also fond of. Just this serious humor that characterizes him throughout his work. He has naturally identified himself with the One who shows the Way, and has fittingly appropriated this metaphorical model: and the Way, the path to which Malevich points and which is obviously not represented; how are we not to think that it is the objectless world toward which he has worked and which is symbolized by a black square within a square, the signature of several works of that time. The distance of the thumb from the other fingers gives the outline of a square. The structure is geometric (the white triangles of the collar, black of the upper garment, contrast with the rhythm of the green stripes). The alternation of green and red is a constant of the Malevichian range.

Malevich represented himself as a man of the Renaissance, a reformer. The tragedy and the greatness of this self-portrait comes from this gesture which designates Absence. This image that Malevich left us at the end of his life summarizes all that Malevich was aware of having brought to the history of painting, with a more acute feeling of misunderstanding, loneliness, dereliction, feeling also that man is reduced to a gesture. This is evident in the Worker [1933] which is actually a "maternity" ["mother and child"] from which the child is absent.

This thought of Absence is that of Suprematism, which recognized the world emptied of objects as the manifestation of true reality. In post-suprematism, the absence of true reality emerges in a desperately tragic expression. True reality is designated but from now on it escapes man."

Jean-Claude Marcadé









Malevich: God is Not Cast Down. Art, Factory and Church (1922)









Sunday, November 18, 2018

Carl Nielsen - Helios Overture / March from the incidental music for the play “Moderen” / Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 / Little Suite for String Orchestra

Carl Nielsen (1965-1931)



Helios Overture, Op. 17 (1903)








March from the incidental music 
for the play “Moderen” (1914)







Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra / Thomas Jensen

(78 rpm transfers; Odeon, recorded 1942)



Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 7 (1892)







I. Allegro orgoglioso



II. Andante



III. Allegro comodo


IV. Allegro con fuoco


Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra / Thomas Jensen

(LP transfers; Decca, 1952)



Symphony No. 2, Op. 16 “The Four Temperaments” (1901-02)









I. Allegro collerico



II. Andante comodo e flammatico




III. Andante malincolico


IV. Allegro sanguineo


Little Suite for String Orchestra, Op. 1 (1888)



1. Prelude: Andante con moto
2. Intermezzo: Allegro moderato
3. Finale: Andante con moto – Allegro con brio – Più mosso


Tivoli Concert Hall Symphony Orchestra / Carl Garaguly

(LP transfers; Vox, 1964)



Notes appear below







Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 & 7 / Belshazzar's Feast - Serge Koussevitsky & Robert Kajanus / Lemminkäinen Suite - Eugene Ormandy



Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39





I. Andante ma non troppo



II. Andante (ma non troppo lento)



III. Scherzo (Allegro ma non troppo)



IV. Finale (quasi una Fantasia)


Karelia Suite, Op. 11





Alla marcia


Symphony Orchestra / Robert Kajanus

(78 rpm transfers; Columbia, recorded May 1930)



Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43







I. Allegretto




II. Tempo - andante ma rubato




(performed without break)

III. Vivacissimo - Largo e suave
IV. Finale: Allegro moderato


Boston Symphony Orchestra / Serge Koussevitsky

(78 rpm transfers; HMV; recorded 1935 by Victor)


Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52






I. Allegro moderato




II. Andantino con moto, quasi allegretto




III. Moderato - Allegro ma non tanto


London Symphony Orchestra / Robert Kajanus

(78 rpm transfers; HMV, recorded June 1932)





Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82






I. Tempo molto moderato - Largamente - Allegro moderato



II. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto




III. Allegro molto - Largamente assai





The Maiden with the Roses
from "Swanwhite", Op. 54






The Maiden with the Roses
from "Swanwhite", Op. 54


Boston Symphony Orchestra / Serge Koussevitsky

(78 rpm transfers; HMV; recorded 1936 by Victor)



Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105






Adagio - Un pochett meno adagio - Vivacissimo -
Adagio - Allegro molto moderato - Vivace - Presto -
Adagio - Largamente

BBC Symphony Orchestra / Serge Koussevitsky

(78 rpm transfers; HMV, live recording, 1933)




Belshazzar's Feast - Suite, Op. 51





I. Oriental Procession

2. Solitude
3. Night Music
4. Khadra's Dance 

London Symphony Orchestra / Robert Kajanus


(78 rpm transfers; recorded June 1932)

______________


Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22









1. Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of Saari



2. The Swan of Tuonela



3. Lemminkäinen in Tuonela



4. Lemminkäinen's Homecoming


Philadelphia Orchestra / Eugene Ormandy

(Columbia, issued 1953)

(LP transfers)









Friday, November 16, 2018

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E flat (original edition,1874)





Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Symphony No. 4 in E flat
(original edition, 1874)

First Performance and Recording



I. Allegro



II. Andante quasi allegretto



III. Sehr schnell - Trio.
In gleichem Tempo



IV. Allegro moderato


Munich Philharmonic Orchestra / Kurt Wöss

(Recorded live, September 20, 1975;
International Bruckner Festival;
Brucknerhaus, Linz, Austria)









Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E flat major "Romantic"




Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Symphony No. 4 in E flat major "Romantic"

(Robert Haas edition, Leipzig, 1944)




I. Bewegt, nicht zu schnell


II. Andante quasi Allegretto


III. Scherzo. Bewegt


IV. Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell


Vienna Symphony Orchestra / Otto Klemperer


(LP transfers; Vox, 1959; recorded between 19 and 23 May, 1951)

_________________


Few symphonies have been recorded as frequently as Bruckner's most popular work as incorporated by this advanced reworking of his original 1874 conception. But this particular recording – found in junk store during the 1970's (and which has gone through many editions since it was first issued) – is the only one which continues to occupy this listener's attention (outside, perhaps, of two recordings of Bruckner's original conception – one of which appears above in its first performance and recording  and which, on the other hand, is a completely different work from the reworked version).