Poulenc: Stabat Mater

1. how you come across to it:
It's a frequent piece on my iPod.

2. why this piece?
Many are familiar with the somber yet graceful melody. Detailing the piece will reveal that Poulenc has put a lot of intriguing orchestrations to the music. Despite the fact that the orchestra is occassionally heavy and pompous, Poulenc masterfully manages the instruments into a weaving and colourful support. This is illustrious.

I think that's why I like this more than the Gloria. I think many would agree.

3. (and...)

On my iPod there's a Naxos version conducted by Michel Piquemal. This is pleasant.

Mussorgsky (orch. Julian Yu): Pictures at an Exhibition

1. how you come across to it:
Forgot. Probably from the publisher's page or somebody told me.

2. why this piece?
Got the score, and finally the CD from my friend. After initial listen, I played it again a few more times.

3. (and...)
After piano and numerous thundering orchestral versions, Julian Yu put the piece successfully in a fairy-tale-like miniature, with a Chinese stamp here and there (by fusing the theme of 早天雷 into his arrangement). A delight.

Paul Schoenfield (b. 1947): Café Music for Piano Trio (1986)

1. how you come across to it:
I first heard two movements of it at an MIT concert last year when I page-turned for a trio playing this piece.

2. why this piece?
My friends and myself attempted to read this last night.

3. (and...)
We found it too difficult to sight-read it even after dividing the piano part between two pianists!

A rendition of the first movement by the Triple Helix Trio can be heard here:
http://www.triplehelixpianotrio.org/music.html

A nice performance of the first movement by the Lincoln Trio:

Nobuo Uematsu: One Winged Angel, from the Final Fantasy VII series

1. how you come across to it:
After a talk with my dear colleague, I suddenly got an impulse to dig out Nobuo Uematsu's music to listen. He is long regarded as a master in game music. However, one could only listen to the music and realise how masterful one could be in writing music for something "just for fun." This is, seriously, a piece of art.

2. why this piece?
Uematsu wrote nearly all the music for the RPG series Final Fantasy. One Winged Angel is written originally for Playstation and the composer opted for MIDI output. The composer has put this seemingly "limited technology" into full use, not only creating complex music but also employing vocal to the One Winged Angel. This is now considered influential.

3. (and...)
These musicians seriously performed the piece.



Also the lyrics: the text is allegedly from Carmina Burana. So it's in Latin.

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again (from The Phantom of the Opera)

1. how you come across to it:
In a midnight, I told my friend I suddenly think of the song "All I Ask of You" (though Andrew Lloyd Webber's music is NEVER my cup of te.... what make me think of the song is the wonderful lyrics by Charles Hart), then my friend said, "Oh, I prefer Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again". Then I find a youtube recording immediately. Yes, the song is haunting.
2. why this piece?
Today chatted with that friend again and I made a joke that "I don't look like your father!" (Sorry, it's difficult to tell you the complete context of the joke), at night I listen to this song again.
3. (and...)
To me, the lyrics is more attractive then music....
"Help me say goodbye", never imagine such a simple sentence can have such heartbreaking impact....

Nam June Paik: Solo for Violin (1962)

Piazzolla: Le Grand Tango for Cello and Piano

1. how you come across to it:
My cellist introduced this piece to me.

2. why this piece?
We have been working on this for her upcoming recital (in less than a month!).

3. (and...)
I am somewhat embarassed to say that before playing this I haven't even listened to any piece by Piazzolla, though I am also pleasantly surprised to find this first encounter with the founder of nuevo tango so enjoyable to listen to, and also, to work with. The opening may give one an impression that this piece is all about strong accents and intricate rhythmic patterns, though gradually, listener-friendly and lyrical themes are introduced one after another. The 3+3+2 rhythm, characteristic of the milonga style, repeats itself stubbornly throughout most of the piece, but somehow one doesn't find this rhythmic regularity dull or bothersome. As in many other Piazzolla, this tango is, no doubt, sensuously passionate, even flirtatious. But on repeated hearings, one finds, deep underneath, a certain melancholy, the kind lamenting the passing of an age, or the death of a hero. This is really the most personal and unique tribute to the great cellist Rostropovich, who originally commissioned this piece.

Here are two very different (but equally good) renditions of this piece. I like the first better.

I. (part 1 only):


II. (parts 1 and 2):


II. (part 3):


Finally, this is a very theatrical 4-hand rendition of the Libertango. Enjoy!

Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1

1. how you come across to it:
The first time I hear it is preparing for the RTHK TV score-cuing. That's a late discovery for anybody serious in music. That's me. I've repeated the music in office and that was annoying to the level that I got complain from my colleagues. They are serious music lovers and are bothered by that high-tension music and brutally repeating motif.

2. why this piece?
I can't stand but to play this again when I was trying to review another cello item. This is irrepressible.

3. (and...)
Maybe except Han-na and Rostropovich, all others could be trashed.

Silvestrov: Silent Songs

1. how you come across to it:
The CD has been with me at the moment once it is available on the market. But sometime in 2007 when I attempted to survey all the Silvestrov pieces, I dig up my still mint copy of it and listened the entire song cycle. I was stunned, and gradually I switched off all the lights to listen to it again. Eventually in 2008 I listened to the entire cycle a few times, and on 1 Jan 2009 I picked it up again, and it was my first piece that I listened in 2009.

2. why this piece?
Almost the entire set require the Baritone soloist sung in sotto voce, and pianist una corda. The whole thing comes like a noctural whisper from a chain of laments. Without any loud passages, one felt totally alone and with one's spirit immensed in this 2 hour song cycle.


3. (and...)
This little film used Song No. 5 of the cycle - "Farewell, o world, o earth". May mail you lyrics if interested.

Schnittke: String Trio

1. how you come across to it:
Actually this is the original version of what Bashmet later arranged as Trio Sonata for strings.

2. why this piece?
Strangely, what I have been listening since 2009 are all in minor keys. Just acquired an out-of-print recording played by Kremer-Bashmet-Rostropovich trio which I longed for. Immensely intense playing. No matter in the original chamber form or version for strings, both are highly recommended. Schnittke makes all densely dissonant chords sound like a sharp knife piercing on salted skin. Tonal passages no longer bring resolution, but just prelude to another storm of dissonances. The ending is no ending.

3. (and...)
Once again, DO NOT listen to this when one is extremely pressed, or depressed.