Sid's Music Spot

Started by Sid, September 01, 2010, 08:23:27 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Sid

A friend & I have weekly music nights, when we get together & listen to eachother's recordings.

I thought I'd post these here for discussion & observations by members. Feel free to discuss these recordings or composers.

Often, our listening is based on concerts we will be going to in future (works or composers played at those concerts). But sometimes we just listen to what takes our fancy.

My friend has many cd's he collected in the '80's and '90's. Many of these are out of print gems. Most of my collection has been purchased since 2008. We also listen to some cd's borrowed from the local library, as well as recordings from the radio. I'm more into the more recent stuff, he's more into the earlier stuff, but we listen to composers from all eras (as well as a bit of jazz and rock).

My recordings are labelled (S), my friend's (F), the library's (L) and others (O).

I have records going back until the beginning of the year, but it would be laborious to put all that up, so I have decided to start from August this year.

Sid

7th August, 2010

Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker, Act 1 (F)



Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 (F)



Ives: Charles Rutladge (song) (S)



Widor: Symphony No. 1 for solo organ (S)


Sid

14th August, 2010

Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker, Act 2 (F)



Beethoven: Minuet in G for cello & piano (S)



Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 (L)



Carter: Gra for solo clarinet (S)



Tchaikovsky
: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty - Ballet Suites (L)

(No image available - Philadelphia/Ormandy on Sony)


Sid

#3
21st August, 2010

Chopin: "Heroic" Polonaise (F)



Chopin: Ballades 3-4; Polonaises 5-6 (L)



Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (Adagietto) (S)
Royal Philharmonic/Frank Shipway



Chausson: Poeme de l'amour et de la mer (S)



Wagner: Prelude to Lohengrin (S)



Carter: Three Occasions for Orchestra (S)


Sid

#4
28th August, 2010

Chopin: "Heroic" Polonaise; Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise; Variations Brilliantes on a Theme from Ludovic by Halevy; Mazurkas Op. 6; Contredanse; Tarantelle (F)



Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit (L)



Haydn: Symphony No. 103 "Drumroll" (O)

(No image: London Classical Players/Norrington - radio recording)

Schumann: Cello Concerto (S)



Cage: Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (S)




Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (Adagietto) (S)
Royal Philharmonic/Frank Shipway




Sid

#5
11 September, 2010

We missed a music night last week, but my friend and I got together again last Saturday. He really enjoyed Balakirev's Islamey, which he hadn't heard before. We listened to a lot of Chopin and Ravel, and read about their lives, as we went to a piano recital together the following day.We were looking forward to seeing Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, but they changed the program and the Valses Nobles et Sentimentales was played (interesting to hear that lighter work as well). A great weekend all up. We included the Mozart and Schumann as we will be seeing these live in the second half of September...

Chopin: "Heroic" Polonaise (F)



Chopin: Ballade No. 4; "Heroic" Polonaise (L)



Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit (L)



Mozart: Clarinet Quintet (S)



Schumann: Cello Concerto (S)



Balakirev: Islamey (solo piano version)
Prokofiev: Suggestion Diabolique (S)






Mirror Image

Does anybody notice that Sid is the only one who posts in this thread?

Bulldog

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 15, 2010, 06:16:43 PM
Does anybody notice that Sid is the only one who posts in this thread?

The only reason I haven't posted here is that I'm not familar with any of these recordings except for the Chopin played by Frager which I have not listened to in recent years.

Sid

Well, anyone is welcome to post, especially if they are familiar with some of the recordings or artists. I am just putting these things out there for people to comment on. Some of the recordings were issued in the 1980's and out of print (like Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker conducted by Previn), so I understand it's difficult to comment. But it's also a way for people here to become familiar with some of the music my friend & I like to listen to (there's a wide variety) - and hopefully it makes them understand where I'm coming form (& at) regarding classical music...


knight66

It looks like a really nice idea and makes for a pleasant evening. No one round here I could do this with, even on an occasional basis.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Sid

Yes, I think I am lucky to have met this friend five years ago. It was a tough time in both of our lives, and we kind of met by chance. Anyway, once we got to know eachother on a deeper level, we found we both had this passion for classical music. So about two years ago we started meeting for music nights. We began to enjoy these so much, that we made them weekly rather than just an irregular thing as initially. We also go to a number of concerts per month together. I think that we are both pretty eclectic listeners but he likes the older stuff more and I tend to concentrate on the newer stuff (last 100 years or so). I have been able to access and listen to many things from his collection, many discoveries, especially in the solo piano realm and opera. I hope that we can go on like this for many years to come, these nights are a highlight of my week. Especially after a heavy week, it's good to relax with some great music and friendly company...

Mirror Image

#11
Yeah, I wish I knew some people around me that liked classical as much as I do. I would start a club!  Everybody who loves classical music is accepted into the club, unless, they mention they liked Satie's music, then it's out the door they go!  >:D :D

Sid

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 16, 2010, 08:48:58 PM
Yeah, I wish I knew some people around me that liked classical as much as I do. I would start a club!  Everybody who loves classical music is accepted into the club, unless, they mention they liked Satie's music, then it's out the door they go!  >:D :D

Funny that you mention that, because my friend understands that I have some limitations - I don't want to hear everything in his collection. Eg. I absolutely detest Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony, & have told him I don't want to hear his (or any!) recording of it. I can stomach an occassional exposure to some other warhorses (like Vivaldi's Four Seasons or Beethoven's 5th Symphony), but I can't stand the Saint-Saens (although his other works are ok). But by being a bit flexible & accomodating I have extended my range - I never thought I liked Chopin that much, but the friend's recording of the waltzes played by Cyprien Katsaris was like a revelation to me. He's brought along quite a few good recordings like that, too numerous to mention. So yeah, we all have our limitations, but this has also encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone - his complete recordings of Handel's Messiah and Wagner's Tannhauser have been two other things that I wouldn't have accessed without knowing him...

Mirror Image

Quote from: Sid on September 16, 2010, 09:03:35 PM
Funny that you mention that, because my friend understands that I have some limitations - I don't want to hear everything in his collection. Eg. I absolutely detest Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony, & have told him I don't want to hear his (or any!) recording of it. I can stomach an occassional exposure to some other warhorses (like Vivaldi's Four Seasons or Beethoven's 5th Symphony), but I can't stand the Saint-Saens (although his other works are ok). But by being a bit flexible & accomodating I have extended my range - I never thought I liked Chopin that much, but the friend's recording of the waltzes played by Cyprien Katsaris was like a revelation to me. He's brought along quite a few good recordings like that, too numerous to mention. So yeah, we all have our limitations, but this has also encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone - his complete recordings of Handel's Messiah and Wagner's Tannhauser have been two other things that I wouldn't have accessed without knowing him...

I would like to actually hear Wagner's Ring cycle at some point. Even though you know I'm not a big opera fan, but I would like to at least hear these works.

Sid

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 16, 2010, 09:06:59 PM

I would like to actually hear Wagner's Ring cycle at some point. Even though you know I'm not a big opera fan, but I would like to at least hear these works.

Me too, opera is the one genre that I have been less into than the others - although my mother had a strong preference for it, and I can remember listening to things like Verdi's Aida & Rossini's Barber of Seville when I was growing up. She mainly likes the Italian stuff. & my father preferred keyboard works, which I'm also now getting into now that I am more mature (before I found them a bit boring).

The good thing about hearing Wagner's Tannhauser in full is that you can pick up how he takes certain themes & ideas through the whole three or so hours. It's really cohesive and holistic, something you don't get from just listening to highlights. But I must admit that I find Wagner a bit heavy going, and we listened to the complete opera spread over a period of three music nights (one per disc - it's on three cd's). If I hear it in one go, it all sounds the same to me, but if it is more spread out (into seperate listens), then it tends to make more sense.

In coming weeks, I think we will concentrate a bit on songs and the piano. The friend has a classic recording of Emil Gilels playing Beethoven's Hammerklavier, which I really want to hear, since I haven't heard much of his playing. There's a lot to discover yet, so far we have only scratched the surface (in the past two years!)...

Mirror Image

#15
Quote from: Sid on September 16, 2010, 09:19:08 PM
Me too, opera is the one genre that I have been less into than the others - although my mother had a strong preference for it, and I can remember listening to things like Verdi's Aida & Rossini's Barber of Seville when I was growing up. She mainly likes the Italian stuff. & my father preferred keyboard works, which I'm also now getting into now that I am more mature (before I found them a bit boring).

The good thing about hearing Wagner's Tannhauser in full is that you can pick up how he takes certain themes & ideas through the whole three or so hours. It's really cohesive and holistic, something you don't get from just listening to highlights. But I must admit that I find Wagner a bit heavy going, and we listened to the complete opera spread over a period of three music nights (one per disc - it's on three cd's). If I hear it in one go, it all sounds the same to me, but if it is more spread out (into seperate listens), then it tends to make more sense.

In coming weeks, I think we will concentrate a bit on songs and the piano. The friend has a classic recording of Emil Gilels playing Beethoven's Hammerklavier, which I really want to hear, since I haven't heard much of his playing. There's a lot to discover yet, so far we have only scratched the surface (in the past two years!)...

Hmmm....interesting. Yes, I would not take a Wagner opera all in one setting. That would be too much for me, but if you spread it out, like you did, then I can see where the possible enjoyment would come from.

By the way, those connecting motifs that appear in the operas are called leitmotifs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitmotif

Sid

Saturday 2.10.10

I meant to post this earlier, but the server problems prevented me from doing so. This particular night (& in the coming weeks) the friend & I concentrated on art songs by some of the major composers & also some of the works of Saint-Saens, Mozart & Ligeti which will be seeing live during this month. All of the songs will be in a song recital as well as the Carnival of the Animals, Eine kleine Nachtmusik and the Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet in another concert (both here in Sydney).

We also got into recordings of pianist Maurizio Pollini, my friend's Schubert late piano sonatas and my own C20th cd - we will be listening to these complete over the next few weeks.


Sid

Schubert - Shepherd on the Rock (Friend's cd)



Britten - A Charm of Lullabies (Local library)



Mahler - Ruckertlieder (Local library)



Mahler - "Um Mitternacht" from Ruckertlieder (My collection)



Schubert - Piano Sonata D. 959 op. posth (Friend's cd)



Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No. 7 "Stalingrad" (My collection)



Saint-Saens - Carnival of the Animals (My collection)



Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Friend's)



Ligeti - Ramifications, version for string orchestra (My coll.)


Sid

Saturday 9.10.10

We basically focused on similar stuff to last week, getting ready for the song recital and chamber concert. So we listened to these again:

Schubert - Shepherd on the Rock (Battle)
Britten - A Charm of Lullabies (Kozena)
Schubert - Piano Sonata D. 959 op. posth. (Pollini) - this is not in any concert, we are just listening to it for some variety. I needed a second listen to get my head around this work, next week we will listen to another Schubert sonata played by Pollini.
Saint- Saens - Carnival of the Animals (Beatrice Lillie, narrator)

But we also listened to some different recordings/works:

Mahler - Ruckert Lieder (Library)



Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Berlin Philharmonic/Bohm (My LP)
(No image available)

Stravinsky - Three Movements from Petrushka for piano
Webern - Variations for piano (My coll.)



Ligeti - Etude No. 6 (Book 1) "Autumn in Warsaw"



Sid

#19
Saturday 16.10.10

Some of the things we listened to together that we hadn't before were:

Schubert: Piano Sonata in C minor D.958 op. posth. (Friend's collection) - Funnily enough, I found this sonata (in a minor key) to be lighter and less darker than the one we listened to previously (D.959, which is in a major key).


Liszt: Sposalizio & Petrarch Sonnet 104 (from Italian Year from Years of Pilgramage)
Stephanie McCallum, piano
ABC Classics


Debussy: Arabesque No. 1
Peter Schmalfuss, piano
Vienna Master Classics/PILZ
(No image) (Two above my collection)

I put on the Debussy after the Liszt's Sposalizio to compare the two pieces. Both have this descending phrase which to my ears sounds very similar. My friend agreed, there was similarity in that and also the subtlety and even poetry of these pieces.

Saint-Saens: Valse-Caprice (Wedding Cake) & Allegro Appassionato (both for piano & orchestra) (from library) - These works were written at the same time as the Carnival of the Animals, which the friend and I will see live next week. There is a sense of fun here, especially in the Valse-Caprice - written as a wedding present for a lady friend - and we also felt that Chopin might have been an influence.


Grieg: Holberg Suite (Friend's collection)


We also listened to Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock, Mahler's Ruckert-lieder, Britten's A Charm of Lullabies and Ligeti's Etude VI (Recordings above in earlier posts)