What are you listening to now?

[Octave]

Re: Mitzi Meyerson:

Agree.
Not surprised a devotee of Zen likes it.

Mitzi Meyerson's other interests include photography (she has presented several exhibitions in Germany and England), social work (she volunteers in a birth clinic as a doula), sumo wrestling, and her beautiful Persian cat, Yofi.

They do not say "watching" or "competing", so I'm going to guess....

[amw]

After writing a far-too-long mini-essay on Sibelius I've decided to have another listen to Symphony No. 4, haven't listened to the whole thing in a while.

[Brahmsian]

Happy Friday! 

Shostakovich

Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54

Barshai
WDR Sinfonieorchester

[asin]B00005UW2B[/asin]

[Octave]

Happy Friday! 

Shostakovich

Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54

Barshai
WDR Sinfonieorchester

[asin]B00005UW2B[/asin]

Smokin, smokin, smokin!

But if this is your idea of a happy Friday....

[mahler10th]

Debussy
La Mer
Deneve
RSNO
LIVE

Good day all.  It is pishing with rain here in the West of Scotland, so I have put this on (and very good it is) in case I have to swim my way out of my wee hoose later today.   


Debussy with a cigarette in his gob.

[Brahmsian]

Smokin, smokin, smokin!

But if this is your idea of a happy Friday....

Shostakovich's music is very inspiring for me.  So yes!

I could play the 8th Symphony and 8th String quartet for a bleaker perspective. 

[North Star]

Good day all!

Shostakovich's music is very inspiring for me.  So yes!

I could play the 8th Symphony and 8th String quartet for a bleaker perspective. 

Agreed! Heck, I think I could enjoy the 14th Symphony on a happy Saturday 

Debussy - La Mer - Deneve - RSNO - LIVE

Good day all.  It is pishing with rain here in the West of Scotland, so I have put this on (and very good it is) in case I have to swim my way out of my wee hoose later today.   


Debussy with a cigarette in his gob.

Good day, John! Nice to see you enjoying some Debussy, let's hope you won't have to swim

Thread duty / First-listen Friday

Copland
Our Town
Copland & LSO
[asin]B0000026GF[/asin]

[North Star]

First-listen Friday

Copland
The Red Pony Suite
Copland & LSO
[asin]B0000026GF[/asin]

[prémont]

French Suite 4, Bradley Brookshire

I think this a seriously good interpretation.

Mostly BB  is tough. angular, even manic. It's like someone trying to say something urgently and intensely. But, in a touch of genius, he lightens up slightly,  softens a little, in the Sarabande, a brief lingering caress in the middle of all the action. It reminds me of the Reconciliation Scene in Strauss's Elektra.

In the fast music this is close to my ideal, more unbuttoned dyonysian duende is hard to imagine. The minuet is astonishing, unforgettable.

Small cell articulation, more striking than Leonhardt even, helps give the feeling of nervous urgency. Counterpoint - you always feel that all the voices are singing from the same hymn sheet.

Unfortunately I do not know this recording, which is hard and expensive to get hold of in my country.
But tough, angular, even manic and nervous urgency are not words I associate with the French suites.

[Que]

Unfortunately I do not know this recording, which is hard and expensive to get hold of in my country.
But tough, angular, even manic and nervous urgency are not words I associate with the French suites.

[asin]B00005LNG5[/asin]

See the link.  What I find a bit peculiar is the, for this repertoire, unusual large amount of reviews, which seem almost without exception raving...

I mean, it doesn't sound like a bad performance at all, but in comparison to Baumont (Warner), Curtis (Warner/teldec) and Van Asperen (Aeolus)?

Q

[Willow Pattern]

Bliss: Things To Come

I've been listening to Bliss the last couple of days. I like him and have been enjoying playing selections from the box-set. I got the String Quartet disc a couple of days ago . All the works on the disc are pretty nice - I especially enjoyed the un-numbered String Quartet as it was quite folky - not a lot like the Composers mature sound but a good early work.

[Karl Henning]

First-listen Friday

Copland
The Red Pony Suite
Copland & LSO

G'day, Karlo!

Copland
Appalachian Spring [Suite]
St Luke's Chamber Ensemble
Dennis Russell Davies

[amw]

That electroacoustic thread reminded me that a good deal more of the modernist music I love than I normally suspect incorporates electronics—including ... auf ... III by Mark Andre which I'm listening to now before bed.

[asin]B002UZCJH0[/asin]

For something so gestural and pointillistic on the surface, it's an incredibly dramatic, engaging work, I'm tempted to make comparisons to Barraqué or Xenakis though the music is otherwise very different.

Good night, all.

[North Star]

G'day, Karlo!

Copland
Appalachian Spring [Suite]
St Luke's Chamber Ensemble
Dennis Russell Davies

Good day, Karl!

Continuing with the Copland:
El Salón México
Danzón Cubano
Three Latin American Sketches
Lincoln Portrait
Billy the Kid
Copland
[asin]B0000026GF[/asin]
[asin]B0000026GH[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

G'day, Karlo!

Copland
Appalachian Spring [Suite]
St Luke's Chamber Ensemble
Dennis Russell Davies

I know I listed Billy the Kid in the Favorite Ten Ballets thread (nor do I repent me of that, Billy strikes me as an arguably underappreciated Copland score).  But whenever I listen to a good performance of Appalachian Spring, I just don't feel that better music is humanly possible . . . .

[Mandryka]

Not more peculiar than someone whose French Suites references are Baumont and Van Asperen finding raving "reviews" peculiar. You need to listen to more French Suites. I'd suggest you get Moroney and Leonhardt. There are too many reviews and so-called reviewers around.

Moroney and Leonhardt are very good choices - and Curtis is certainly not at all bad. Another excellent one, I want to push it, is Suzuki. This is noble, strong, stylish and imaginative. Stunnng natural ornamentation (in the Sarabande of BWV 815 I gasped.)



Those reviews on amazon for BB are fun, I hadn't seen them before.

[Karl Henning]

Copland
Appalachian Spring [sort of complete, but big band]
SFSO
MTT

[asin]B0007INY3K[/asin]

[Harry]

Not more peculiar than someone whose French Suites references are Baumont and Van Asperen finding raving "reviews" peculiar. You need to listen to more French Suites. I'd suggest you get Moroney and Leonhardt. [There are too many reviews and so-called reviewers around. ]

Yes, and one of these reviewers stated not to long ago, "That apart from the polonaises on Nikita Magaloff's Chopin box" the rest was not worth considering". Too many so called reviewers indeed! 

[Mandryka]

That would be my fifth after Gilbert and Hewitt...

I just can't find Gilbert's anywhere at a price I'm willing to pay, I'm dying to hear it, and I haven't heard Hewitt's CD  - though I heard her play one of them (816) in London once. It was a good concert.

[Karl Henning]

Hat-tip to Annie:

"Il prete rosso"
Concerto in C for Vn solo, 2 Vc & strings, RV 561
Ensemble Explorations

[asin]B00AANRD0C[/asin]