Your Favourite Purchases & Musical Discoveries of 2023

Started by DavidW, December 09, 2023, 10:58:18 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Symphonic Addict

Too many discoveries to post, so I'll go with the highlights:

- A big bunch of Julius Röntgen's chamber music
- Georges Auric's Phèdre
- Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher
- Vadim Salmanov's string quartets
- Reinhold Glière's The Red Poppy
- Alexandre Tansman's string quartets
- Felix Weingartner's Violin Concerto
- Robert Kahn's chamber music
- Karel Husa's two symphonies
- Karl Weigl's string quartets
- Some symphonies by David Matthews
- Carl Vine's string quartets
- Samuel Barber's Vanessa
- Catharinus Elling's chamber music
- Anton Arensky's Suites for two pianos
- Andrzej Panufnik's orchestral works apart from the symphonies
- Constant Lambert's Romeo and Juliet
- Boris Blacher's piano concertos
- The recording of Korngold's Symphony in F-sharp played by Kempe and the Münchner Philharmoniker
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Papy Oli

Stand out entries of my 2023:

Composers: Telemann, Schutz, Handel (and J.S. Bach for his Organ works)
Voices: Maria Callas in Madame Butterfly, Cheryl Studer in Strauss' Four Last songs
Conductors: Pinnock (Bach, Handel), Kempe (His Strauss set), Karajan (Parsifal, Berg/Webern/Schonberg).
Individual performers: Sergio Azzolini (bassoon), Dennis Brain (horn), Andres Segovia (Guitar), Andre Isoir (organ), Frans Bruggen (as a flute/recorder player).
Ensemble: Quartetto Italiano, Musica Antiqua Koln, La Risonanza, London Baroque

Favourites purchases of the year:






A decent listening year!

Works in progress to carry into 2024:

Mozart String quartets (Qt Italiano), Quintets (Grumiaux), Piano Concertos (Perahia)
Beethoven String Quartets (Vegh, Gewandhaus, Takacs, Italiano, Prazak, etc...)
Wagner – Ring (Karajan), to resume.
Delving properly into Berg, Webern, Schonberg

Olivier

aukhawk

#22
For me, I have enjoyed, mostly via streaming, several new-to-me versions of familiar music, each of which have brought some added appreciation of the music.  These discoveries have been mostly prompted by remarks on this and other forums.

Most recently - Charles Munch conducting Honegger Symphony No.2 - I thought he found something I hadn't heard before in this familiar music - something more than Karajan, for example..

Most notably - the meltingly gorgeous music of Josquin, as delivered by the Vocal ensemble Cappella and Tetsuro Hanai.  Quite addictive.
Also, Josquin as delivered by Graindelavoix was new to me, and a bit startling.

Staying with earlier music, I was very pleased to hear the completion of the Marais project (Book 5) by  L'Acheron and Francois Joubert-Caillet

Bach's tired old Brandenburgs were freshemed up nicely by Debretzeni and JEG, following on from their stellar recordings of the Violin Concertos a couple of years earlier.

New to me but probably not to anyone else -
Dvorak's symphony cycle recorded by Neumann (in the early '80s I think).
Ives 'Holidays' Symphony (Bernstein)
Bartok - high-rez downloads of the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, from Paavo Jarvi, Charles Mackerrass and Susanna Malkii - all absolutely outstanding versions of one of my favourite pieces of music.
Shostakovich String Quartets by Quatuor Danel
I must also mention Minaar playing the Preludes & Fugues Op.87, althhough that was a late 2022 acquisition, but one I am very pleased with.
Glass - a new String Quartet, No.8, recorded by Brooklyn Rider.
Also I listened to a new recording of the 20 Piano Etudes, by Maciej Ganski.  The playing is quite interesting - he takes No.4 very fast indeed, No.7 exceptionally slow, and so it goes on - but sadly I found the piano tone (or maybe the recording of it) rather hard to listen to.  Batagov is still the one to beat in this music, at least until Olafsson records the full set.

Mapman

Early this year, I enjoyed discovering Glazunov's Symphonies.



I also enjoyed Hans Huber's wonderful 2nd Symphony. I've tried a couple of his other symphonies since then, and haven't been quite as impressed.



Andreas Romberg is another composer I heard for the first time this year. I especially like his Quartet Op. 2/2.



I'd heard a few Myaskovsky symphonies before, but his 27th was the first to show me that he was a great composer.



Bernstein's Chichester Psalms



More recently, I enjoyed discovering the Brahms Violin Sonatas through this box:



Coleridge-Taylor's Ballade is another major discovery for me this year.



And, of course, the Festetics Haydn box.


mouseyhairedlabrat

Loved Clara Schumann's Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann and Pieces Fugitives for Piano (particularly the scherzo)! I first listened to these works on "Clara Schumann - Konstanze Eickhorst – Piano Works" (CPO – 999 132-2, Europe, 1992).


Brian

Looks like my listening log denotes 654 listens this year to pieces of music I had never heard before! Of those, some that stand out memorably:

- my listen through the complete works of Kalevi Aho
- various orchestral works by Anna Clyne
- Henry Cowell in general
- the Hyperion disc of piano quintets by d'Erlanger and Dunhill
- Stewart Goodyear's piano concerto Callaloo
- Hummel piano sonatas played by Stephen Hough (hat tip to @amw)
- Malipiero's "Ricercari per undici istrumenti"
- Jan Novak in general (hat tip to @Daverz)
- Sven-David Sandstrom's piano concerto
- my first-ever listen to Vaughan Williams #8, a live performance by Boston/Munch posted on YouTube (hat tip to @Irons)

Favorite purchases of 2023:
- the Vaughan Williams, Prokofiev, and Frank Peter Zimmermann big boxes from Warner
- the updated Emerson Quartet big box from DG and Blomstedt big box from Decca
- the reissued Scott Joplin complete rags with Dick Hyman

Favorite new releases of 2023:
- Antheil: Violin sonatas. Tianwa Yang, Nicholas Rimmer (Naxos)
- Farrenc: The symphonies. Insula, Laurence Equilbey (Erato)
- Howells, Delius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams: Music for strings. John Wilson (Chandos)
- Liszt: Consolations etc. Saskia Giorgini (PentaTone)
- Martinu / Rautavaara: Piano Concertos Nos. 3. Olli Mustonen (BIS)
- Olli Mustonen conducting his own symphonies (Ondine)
- Tchaikovsky / Schulhoff. Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony (Reference)
- Wigmore Soloists playing octets by Ferguson, Bliss, and Holloway (BIS)

(Have not heard the apparently classic Liszt by Yunchan Lim or the new Vanska Mahler 8.)

Favorite listening experiences of 2023:
- a live performance by the Dallas Symphony of Gabriela Ortiz's timpani-heavy thriller "Antropolis", with Marin Alsop
- a live performance by the DSO of Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra, with Karina Canellakis
- a live performance by the DSO of Akutagawa's string orchestra piece Triptyque, with Yutaka Sado
- a live encore by pianist Alessandro Taverna of Friedrich Gulda's etude "Play Piano Play," No. 6 ("as fast as possible")
- my first listen to Casella's Concerto for Orchestra (Chandos recording) was absolutely gobsmacking, a real "find a masterpiece written just for you" moment
- starting to crack Carlos Chavez's brilliant Violin Concerto on second and third listens
- driving in the car playing Kubelik's DG studio recording of Mahler 4 really loud after a small glass of wine

(Mentioned previously by others in this thread: Chavez Violin Concerto, Farrenc symphonies, Martinu/Rautavaara Mustonen.)

kyjo

Quote from: Brian on December 31, 2023, 05:37:04 PMLooks like my listening log denotes 654 listens this year to pieces of music I had never heard before! Of those, some that stand out memorably:

- my listen through the complete works of Kalevi Aho
- various orchestral works by Anna Clyne
- Henry Cowell in general
- the Hyperion disc of piano quintets by d'Erlanger and Dunhill
- Stewart Goodyear's piano concerto Callaloo
- Hummel piano sonatas played by Stephen Hough (hat tip to @amw)
- Malipiero's "Ricercari per undici istrumenti"
- Jan Novak in general (hat tip to @Daverz)
- Sven-David Sandstrom's piano concerto
- my first-ever listen to Vaughan Williams #8, a live performance by Boston/Munch posted on YouTube (hat tip to @Irons)

Favorite purchases of 2023:
- the Vaughan Williams, Prokofiev, and Frank Peter Zimmermann big boxes from Warner
- the updated Emerson Quartet big box from DG and Blomstedt big box from Decca
- the reissued Scott Joplin complete rags with Dick Hyman

Favorite new releases of 2023:
- Antheil: Violin sonatas. Tianwa Yang, Nicholas Rimmer (Naxos)
- Farrenc: The symphonies. Insula, Laurence Equilbey (Erato)
- Howells, Delius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams: Music for strings. John Wilson (Chandos)
- Liszt: Consolations etc. Saskia Giorgini (PentaTone)
- Martinu / Rautavaara: Piano Concertos Nos. 3. Olli Mustonen (BIS)
- Olli Mustonen conducting his own symphonies (Ondine)
- Tchaikovsky / Schulhoff. Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony (Reference)
- Wigmore Soloists playing octets by Ferguson, Bliss, and Holloway (BIS)

(Have not heard the apparently classic Liszt by Yunchan Lim or the new Vanska Mahler 8.)

Favorite listening experiences of 2023:
- a live performance by the Dallas Symphony of Gabriela Ortiz's timpani-heavy thriller "Antropolis", with Marin Alsop
- a live performance by the DSO of Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra, with Karina Canellakis
- a live performance by the DSO of Akutagawa's string orchestra piece Triptyque, with Yutaka Sado
- a live encore by pianist Alessandro Taverna of Friedrich Gulda's etude "Play Piano Play," No. 6 ("as fast as possible")
- my first listen to Casella's Concerto for Orchestra (Chandos recording) was absolutely gobsmacking, a real "find a masterpiece written just for you" moment
- starting to crack Carlos Chavez's brilliant Violin Concerto on second and third listens
- driving in the car playing Kubelik's DG studio recording of Mahler 4 really loud after a small glass of wine

(Mentioned previously by others in this thread: Chavez Violin Concerto, Farrenc symphonies, Martinu/Rautavaara Mustonen.)

You have excellent taste, my friend! ;)
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Ian

First post here  8)

My favourite purchase of 2023 was the John Neschling - Orchestre Philharmonique Royale de Liège Respighi box.




My discovery of 2023 are some works by Vagn Holmboe. His Chamber symphonies in particular.

Favourite concert in 2023. Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante, Ravel's Ma Mère l'Oie and Pavane pour une infante défunte performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique Royale de Liège conducted by Gergely Madaras.

Brian

Welcome to the board, Ian! You will find a thriving Holmboe community here  8)

foxandpeng

Quote from: Ian on January 12, 2024, 04:15:30 PMFirst post here  8)


My discovery of 2023 are some works by Vagn Holmboe. His Chamber symphonies in particular.


Fan of Holmboe? You'll settle in here fine 🙂

Welcome!
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Ian

Quote from: foxandpeng on January 13, 2024, 03:54:58 PMFan of Holmboe? You'll settle in here fine 🙂

Welcome!

Thank you. :)

Yes I like the Chamber Symphonies a lot. I since got the BIS release of his Symphonies 1, 3 and 10 and find it tremendous. I searched for the box set but the only one I found for sale was exorbitantly priced.

I'll soon post in the introductions thread with more of my likes and preferences.

foxandpeng

Quote from: Ian on January 14, 2024, 04:58:05 AMThank you. :)

Yes I like the Chamber Symphonies a lot. I since got the BIS release of his Symphonies 1, 3 and 10 and find it tremendous. I searched for the box set but the only one I found for sale was exorbitantly priced.

I'll soon post in the introductions thread with more of my likes and preferences.


I must admit to streaming everything nowadays, but in the past I've owned enormous amounts of Holmboe physical releases on both BIS and Dacapo. He has been one of my top 5 favourite composers for years.

Look forward to reading about your listening 😁
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy