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Geoffrey Douglas Madge - Kaikhosru Sorabji: Opus Clavicembalisticum (1983) Remastered 1999, 5CD Box Set

Posted By: Designol
Geoffrey Douglas Madge - Kaikhosru Sorabji: Opus Clavicembalisticum (1983) Remastered 1999, 5CD Box Set

Geoffrey Douglas Madge - Kaikhosru Sorabji: Opus Clavicembalisticum (1983)
Remastered 1999, 5CD Box Set
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 949 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 552 Mb | Scans ~ 72 Mb
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1062/1064 | Time: 03:59:13

A work with a name like this can only be unusual. The opus in question is a three-part solo piano epic, lasting a shade under four hours and of a complexity to match. Combine an all-night raga sequence with Bach's Art of Fugue and you're getting close. Is it worth the listen? Yes, if you want to give your heart and mind–not just your brain–a real workout. For all his outsize demands, Sorabji was a front-rank pianist, who understood technique as a physical end to spiritual means. There are stretches of manic complexity here, but also passages of real poetry: try the lengthy "Interludium primum" which opens Part 2, or many of the 81(!) variations which follow the magisterial "Passacaglia" in Part 3. It's music which cries out for transcendental virtuosity, and Geoffrey Douglas Madge gives it just that. He gave four performances over six years and this Chicago one from 1983 assumed mythic status among those who heard it. Remastered for CD release, it is awe-inspiring in its grasp of what's gone into this music: the audience clearly living it with the pianist every step of the way. Hear it for yourself, then why not run the marathon or climb Everest for relaxation?

Geoffrey Douglas Madge - Skalkottas: The Maiden of Death, Piano Concerto No. 1, Ouverture Concertante (1999)

Posted By: tirexiss
Geoffrey Douglas Madge - Skalkottas: The Maiden of Death, Piano Concerto No. 1, Ouverture Concertante (1999)

Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Nikos Christodoulou, Iceland Symphony Orchestra - Skalkottas: The Maiden of Death, Piano Concerto No. 1, Ouverture Concertante (1999)
WEB | FLAC (tracks) - 237 MB | 55:41
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS

This CD is a good one with which to approach Nikos Skalkottas (1904-49) if his music is unfamiliar to you and you prefer orchestral to instrumental music. Unless you are totally allergic to serial music I would also recommend playing the three works in reverse order for an exciting plunge into the deep end! The Ouverture Concertante from the mid-1940s is in Skalkottas's most developed serial method, but there really is no need to bother about that. It is brilliant and exuberant, with solo winds, cello, timpani featured, and a group of four solo violins.

Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Orkest de Volharding, Jussi Jaatinen - The Minimalists (2009)

Posted By: tirexiss
Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Orkest de Volharding, Jussi Jaatinen - The Minimalists (2009)

Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Orkest de Volharding, Jussi Jaatinen - The Minimalists (2009)
WEB | FLAC (tracks) - 679 MB | 02:14:56
Genre: Classical | Label: Mode Records

Orkest de Volharding is one of the longest established European new music ensembles, created in 1972 by composers Louis Andriessen and Willem Breuker to perform one work, Andriessen's piece De Volharding. Its sister ensemble, Hoketus, has long fallen by the wayside, but Orkest de Volharding (literally the Perseverance Orchestra) presses on in a prodigious outpouring of concerts and recordings. They remain little known in the United States, despite having recorded works of Andriessen, Julia Wolfe, and Michael Torke for major labels distributed in America.