What are you listening to now?

[Marc]

Max Bruch, String Quintet in A minor.



https://www.amazon.com/Bruch-String-Octet-Quintets/dp/B01MSAX5ZI/?tag=goodmusicguideco

I needed somethin' else.

[Todd]

From the behemoth box.  Said box now lists for $1500 on the MP.  I should have bought two or three boxes which I could now sell at a steep "discount".

[Turner]

Juris Karlsons (Latvia): 2nd Piano Concerto (1983), Piano Quartet etc. / Magi / Ritonis LP ca 1990

Better than expected, it seems. To me, the Piano Concerto isn´t just another neoclassical exercise, it has some traits a bit like Schnittke´s Concerto for Piano & Strings for example, but it is less martial, with a good sense of flight. Very well played.

[Spineur]

A Schubert piano evening

with the new Lucas Debargue CD

[asin]B074MVMLFQ[/asin]

and an old favorite

[San Antone]

Right now, the second movement to the Piano Concerto in G - exquisite.

[SymphonicAddict]

Stanford: Stabat Mater




Falla: El Amor Brujo

[André]

The estonian composer Veljo Tormis devoted a lot of his activity to unearthing, resurrecting and otherwise displaying the folkloric roots of many finno-ugric ethnic and linguistic groups. Hence the title of this collection (the composer's doing, not some random sampling from the performers).

At first I thought « boy, this is gonna be long », but soon the diversity of textures, rythms and melodic appeal achieved by the composer won me over. A once in a while outing maybe, but quite refreshing.

[Sergeant Rock]

Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There's always laughter and good red wine.
At least I've always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!

Not true. My Catholic friends in school didn't get wine for communion only the wafers (the wine, blood of Christ, was reserved for the priests). Whereas I, a Lutheran, age 13, got a shot of red every Sunday 

Sarge

[cilgwyn]

I hope Koth recorded that in her pre-billygoat days. I have a recording of her doing Exultate jubilate, apparently late in her career, in which the vibrato is so bad she sounds exactly like a goat.

BTW, as a baritone I believe you can never have too many men's numbers.
The sopranos get all the attention no matter what 

Now you mention it! I was just surprised at how very pretty Erika Köth's voice sounded in those brief excerpts from Millöcker's Die Dubarry!! Only about a week ago I was thinking what a quavery little voice she had in Jochum's recording of Die Entführung aus dem Serail. I seem to recall,the term 'Nanny goat' did,indeed,spring to mind!! I have been putting some cd's in a pile here,with a view to freeing up a little more room. Erika Köth's contribution did strike as one good reason to dispense with that recording. But then it does include Fritz Wunderlich!! As to the recording of Lortzing's Zar und Zimmermann. I think it was the pleasure of hearing her sing those excerpts from Die Dubarry,and the relief of hearing a female actually singing a solo that made me look at her contribution more kindly,this time around. (Although,I think she might just be a little less quavery,than in the Mozart recording?!! ) On the other hand. Now you mention it! Maybe,Erika Köth's contribution is one very good reason to enjoy the sheer plethora of male contributions in Lortzing's delightful opera!!

[Kontrapunctus]

I found a clean copy of one of my favorite LPs that I stupidly replaced with a CD during the great LP purge in the mid 90s. That blunder is costing a fortune to repair! I think Pogorelich is unmatched in the Ravel, and only Sviatoslav Richter challenges him in the Prokofiev. Great sound for an early 80s digital recording.

[André]

Mathijs Vermeulen's music strikingly announces the modernism of Varèse. To my ears, there's a good deal of Ives, too. Of course Vermeulen could not have known either composer's music: that of Ives was still unplayed at the time and Varèse had not written anything yet when symphony no 2 « Prélude à la nouvelle journée » was composed. Finished in 1920 but premiered only in 1956, it is a disconcerting assemblage of conflicting rythms and textures. The effect is both confusing and exhilarating. The Concertgebouworkest is under Eduard van Beinum. Live, 1956.

Symphony no 4 « Les victoires » was written in 1942, at the nadir of european civilization in the 20th century (any victory was then a mere figment of the imagination). It features a prominent ostinato in low winds and percussion that doggedly pounds away while the winds and later, the strings execute seemingly absurd figures and arabesques. The ostinato comes and goes. A true « war symphony », it's a powerful work that is mesmerizing and disturbing at the same time. In this live performance, The Hague Philharmonic is conducted by XXth century music specialist Ernest Bour (03.10.1981)

Ferdinand Leitner conducts The Hague Philharmonic in symphony no 3 « Thrène et Péan » (11.02.1977). Written in 1921-22, this too is a tough nut to crack, although its mood is not as anguished as no 2 or as numbing and somber as no 3. It could be described as a « symphony of shadows », especially in the first part (thrène being a kind of funeral procession). The paean part produces some forceful rejoicing, but it is certainly not cheerful stuff. I was reminded of symphonies 2 and 3 and the opera Lady Macbeth by Shostakovich (yet to come of course).

Vermeulen's music went unplayed or badly played for most of his life. Then, when van Beinum took over Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra, it started to be played quite regularly (Mengelberg curtly dismissed the composer's first symphony in 1918 and never looked back). It has to be said that, by the late fifties/sixties, the composer's modernisms weren't too shocking for ensembles and audiences that had started to be exposed to late Stravinsky, Varèse, Ives, Prokofiev (symphonies 2 and 3), Shostakovich and Honegger. Vermeulen could without boasting claim « I was there first ».

[HIPster]

A first listen to some excellent Haydn:

[asin]B06XNZ18B1[/asin]

Purchased the earlier edition of this Denon recording.

Sound is excellent. 

[Mahlerian]

Well, I should probably listen to something that ties into today....


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Babbitt: Whirled Series, for saxophone and piano
Marshall Taylor, Charles Abramovic
[asin]B000EBEGZU[/asin]

[Todd]

The Op 22 sonata fares best of all among the sonatas in this set.  The Presto passionato is fine as a stand alone chunk.  The Six Concert Etudes after Paganini Caprices fare well, but are not Schumann's most inspired works, nor is the Op 118/2 sonata, though it's pleasant enough. 

[Mirror Image]

Well, I should probably listen to something that ties into today....


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...


...


Babbitt: Whirled Series, for saxophone and piano
Marshall Taylor, Charles Abramovic
[asin]B000EBEGZU[/asin]

Atonality lives! It lives!!!!

Now playing Shostakovich's 5th from this new acquisition:

[LKB]

Harry Blackitt: Look at them, bloody Catholics, filling the bloody world up with bloody people they can't afford to bloody feed.
Mrs. Blackitt: What are we dear?
Harry Blackitt: Protestant, and fiercely proud of it.

Sarge

I'm sorry, but I'll have to sell you all off for scientific experiments...

Cheers,

LKB

[kyjo]

Now playing Shostakovich's 5th from this new acquisition:

What do you think of that new recording from my hometown band, John? I haven't heard it yet.

[Mirror Image]

What do you think of that new recording from my hometown band, John? I haven't heard it yet.

It's still early in the reading, but it sounds absolutely first-rate so far. Honeck has done great things with the Pittsburgh SO. There's a certain finesse in his phrasing that's attractive and the climatic moments have tremendous power.

[André]

This:



The British press nicknamed Crespin « the French cannon ». This was recorded in the blooming acoustics of Kingsway Hall in 1963. The big voice was in perfect shape, with stunning floated pianissimo high notes and death-defying, armchair-grabbing moments in the Amelia aria (Morro, ma prima in grazia, Desdemona's scene and aria and Gioconda's Suicidio!. The only problem with this recital disc is the ordering of the arias. I would have placed them in exact reverse order for optimal effect. I'll do that next time. Playing, conducting and recording are simply stunning. A killer of a disc.

Followed by this (I like contrasts  ):



Disc 8. The major offering here is the set of 12 pieces op 65. Amazing variety of expression and feeling. Very challenging stuff in a sense: Reger is at his most intense in these concentrated, powerful pieces. The whole thing is composed as a 12 movement, hour long kaleidoscopic symphony. Assorted short chorale preludes complete this very full disc.

[kyjo]

It's still early in the reading, but it sounds absolutely first-rate so far. Honeck has done great things with the Pittsburgh SO. There's a certain finesse in his phrasing that's attractive and the climatic moments have tremendous power.

Great to hear! Agreed - he has really transformed them into a world-class orchestra.