Topic: What are you listening to?

[erato]

No 17. Don't know if I'm completely convinced by the tempi in the 3rd mvt.

[vandermolen]

Don't quite know what to make of this, which I received today, second-hand from Amazon. It goes on forever but is also impressive in a kind of relentless Brucknerian way.  Certainly it makes me want to listen again. I liked the opening very much and the last movement, which I am listening to seems to have great slumbering power.

[Antoine Marchand]

Beethoven - The Symphonies
The Academy of Ancient Music
Christopher Hogwood

Now playing CD 4: Overture "Coriolan", Symphony No. 7 & Symphony No. 8.

Dedicated to the HIP Resistance, especially that beautiful 7th. 

[bhodges]

Schönberg: Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16 (Gielen/Netherlands Radio Philharmonic) - Very fine version!  (On YouTube, apparently from the DVD of Gielen rehearsing this, along with Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments)

--Bruce

[Harry]

Beethoven - The Symphonies
The Academy of Ancient Music
Christopher Hogwood

Now playing CD 4: Overture "Coriolan", Symphony No. 7 & Symphony No. 8.

Dedicated to the HIP Resistance, especially that beautiful 7th. 

The box has its good sides and less good sides, its a mixed blessing. I find the Gardiner set to be more to the point in terms of rhythms, and phrasing, and of impressing more the character of Beethoven in the force that Gardiner hammers out. Better orchestra too me thinks. The seventh is alas a disappointment I might add.
And I would urgently advise you to make your acquaintance with David Zinman, he might surprise you, nay he will surprise you. Not HIP I know, but for me that is, dare I say it, the best Beethoven cycle around.   

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Carter
Dialogues
Nicolas Hodges, pf
London Sinfonietta
Olllie Knussen

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Carter
Boston Concerto
BBC Symphony
Ollie Knussen

[jlaurson]

Would he be interested in a score for cello ensemble in four parts?

Well, I didn't do the pitch for you--and he doesn't play in a cello ensemble (though chamber ensemble and string q4t are in), but we did talk for over half the interview about contemporary music. The why, when, how, where...

[Keemun]

Adams
The Chairman Dances - Foxtrot for Orchestra
Simon Rattle
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

[Antoine Marchand]

The box has its good sides and less good sides, its a mixed blessing. I find the Gardiner set to be more to the point in terms of rhythms, and phrasing, and of impressing more the character of Beethoven in the force that Gardiner hammers out. Better orchestra too me thinks. The seventh is alas a disappointment I might add.
And I would urgently advise you to make your acquaintance with David Zinman, he might surprise you, nay he will surprise you. Not HIP I know, but for me that is, dare I say it, the best Beethoven cycle around.   

Several times I have considered to purchase that Zinman set, but I am not completely convinced about its tempi, although your recommendation is a strong point in its favor.

The problem is that, as you can see, I prefer certain kind of Beethoven more classical than Romantic; even a little bit British like is performed by Hogwood and his orchestra: airier and more balanced than in other performances, without extreme or harsh remarks. If you prefer a Beethoven more civilian than military. But maybe all of this is not possible without to betray in a certain degree the Beethoven's personality, as you suggest. 

[Barak]

Don't quite know what to make of this, which I received today, second-hand from Amazon. It goes on forever but is also impressive in a kind of relentless Brucknerian way.  Certainly it makes me want to listen again. I liked the opening very much and the last movement, which I am listening to seems to have great slumbering power.

Jeffrey, is that a backhanded compliment or a genuine insult?

...................................................................................................

Beethoven: 8th symphony. WP, Abbado (Decca, 1968). A surprise hit for me. I haven't heard that work so well played and so deftly characterized as here. Recorded sound is splendidly natural.

[Conor71]

This is becoming one of my favourite Beethoven PS's  :
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 In Bb Major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier"

[listener]

RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF / KORSAKOV    The Golden Cockerel /  Le Coq d'or
live recording, with lots of stage sounds and a very audible prompter.
The stage directions make the work appear to be unperformable, but that's why there are artistic directors.   About 120 min.  in 3 acts plus short (front of curtain) prologue and epilogue.

[vandermolen]

Jeffrey, is that a backhanded compliment or a genuine insult?

...................................................................................................

Beethoven: 8th symphony. WP, Abbado (Decca, 1968). A surprise hit for me. I haven't heard that work so well played and so deftly characterized as here. Recorded sound is splendidly natural.

Backhanded compliment I think Andre 

Actually, I rather like this work and want to play it again. I certainly made more of this Orfeo CD that I did of the DGG LP which I took out of the record library decades ago.

Do you know/like this work? I suspect it's a must for someone like yourself with 347 recordings of Bruckner's 8th Symphony 

[Wanderer]

Beguiling in every aspect. Good morning, everyone! 

[Harry]

Antonio Vivaldi.
Mandolin concertos.
Bonifacio Bianchi & Alessandro Pitrelli, Mandolins.
Piero Toso Violin.
Giuliano Carmignola Violin per eco in lontano.
I solisti Veneti, Claudio Scimone.
Recordings from 1970-1976-1980 on the label Earato (Bonsai Series.)

I found this recording in a derelict place on my attic, and would never have found it, for the fact that I renovated this part of the house a few months ago. Its long OOP, and I did not expect much of it, hence I probably discarded it a long time ago. But. Its in my player now, and apart from the really slow tempi, and romanticized playing, the music is actually very nice to listen at. I can imagine this music going with a Nicholas Spark film, when his idea of deep passion emerges from his book,.
Piero Toso is a very able violinist, as is the now famous Giuliano Carmignola who's contribution to this disc is from 1980.
Well recorded. No image alas.

[Harry]

Several times I have considered to purchase that Zinman set, but I am not completely convinced about its tempi, although your recommendation is a strong point in its favor.

The problem is that, as you can see, I prefer certain kind of Beethoven more classical than Romantic; even a little bit British like is performed by Hogwood and his orchestra: airier and more balanced than in other performances, without extreme or harsh remarks. If you prefer a Beethoven more civilian than military. But maybe all of this is not possible without to betray in a certain degree the Beethoven's personality, as you suggest. 

But to feel the adrenaline bubbling through your veins, like Beethoven must have felt while composing, is worth the very modest investment. Just once in your life, step out of the already downtrodden paths, and wander into excitement pur sang, well that must have its rewards, if only for your blood pressure. Zinman is the man to do that, with his downsized orchestra and authentic phrasing and dynamics. Go, live dangerously.   

[Harry]

Les Italiens a la Cour de France.
CD 15.
Antonio Sacchini. "Edipe a Colone".
Niccolo Piccinni, "Didon".
Roberta Invernizzi, Soprano.
Cappella della Pieta de Turchini, Antonio Florio.

Thoroughly entertaining, well sung and played. A somewhat noisy live recording, but that doesn't distract from the sheer fun of this recording. Invernizzi moments are almost all wonderful, but sometimes she is a little of the mark.

[Harry]

Beguiling in every aspect. Good morning, everyone! 

Good morning Tasos, that one looks really nice.

[Florestan]

Violin Concerto No. 23 in G major