WEEK OF 080630: SCHUMANN // BRAHMS // ILYAS AHMED
Schumann: Symphonic Etudes (Op. 13)
Wow, this solo piano set of etudes (studies) is nice, and mostly frantic. I think I'll be returning to this one, and greatly recommend it. It's actually a set of variations, but there isn't anything overtly academic to my ears, as some sets of variations tend to be. It is really more evocative. Whenever I listen to Schumann, I can't help but think "this man threw himself off a bridge". That really puts this strangled music in perspective. It's similar to how "emo" relates to the rest of rock and roll. I listened to the version by Pollini, which includes the posthumous variations. I don't really understand the "etude" form and how it's different from some of the other categories of solo piano music.
Brahms: Tragic Overture (Op. 81)
I listened to two different versions, and it really mattered. Unfortunately I don't know who conducted either of them, but one lasts 11:55, the other 13:26, thus one is fast and the other is slow. I much preferred the fast one, as the slow one made it sound too pretty, and not "tragic" at all!!!
Ilyas Ahmed: The Vertigo of Dawn
It's been a while since I listened to guitar spacy music, including Ilyas Ahmed. Sounds like crooning prayers for the suffocation of the future skies, to me. Love his stuff, and the percussion that has come aboard for a song reminds me a lot of early Six Organs of Admittance.