What are you listening to now?

[Daverz]

F.J. Haydn (1732-1809):  Tr. 1-3, Trumpet Concerto [snip]

The Dokshitzer/Barshai recording is, quite simply, the greatest performance of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto I have ever heard.  It swings.  It is played with enthusiasm, verve, and elan.  One has a sense of a group  of musicians, especially soloist and conductor, having a really good time.

Noted.  I'll seek it out.

Arnold Rosner (1945-2013)

A very fine composer.  My introduction was his Symphony No. 5 on Naxos.  There have been some recent releases of his music on the Toccata label:

[asin]B01ET5CQO4[/asin][asin]B071P7RMF3[/asin]

[Daverz]

Playing a new purchase (and first foray into Brahms) ~

[asin]B001DCQJ4A[/asin]

What a coinkadink.  Just before clicking on "What are you listening to now", I started playing the Nelsons recording of Symphony No. 1 (24/96 FLAC from the BSO online store.)

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My new favorite recording of this work.

[Florestan]

No. 5

[SurprisedByBeauty]

#morninglistening to #Dvorak on @NaxosRecords w/@TempestTrio

http://a-fwd.to/5S9e0D3


Struck me as a mediocre reading, actually... Certainly not out-of-the-box impressive.

[Florestan]

[SurprisedByBeauty]

To me, he distorts the work, drains it of impact, and makes the orchestra sound like the work of another (significantly worse) composer.  The phrasing is wrong.  The timbral balances are wrong.  The pacing is wrong.  The emphasis is wrong.  He makes me hate my favorite symphony like no one else can.  Every time I take another look to see if I was mistaken I come away disliking it more.

Sounds like Solti's 8th and me.

Incidentally, I feel more like Sarge about the Herbie-6th:

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No.6, H.v.Karajan / BPh DG

Karajan's DG recording of the Sixth is his third-to-last Mahler recording and, along with the second Ninth, his best. Mahler was a composer to whom Karajan found only late in life... and 'the later, the better' fully applies to his Mahler recordings (the two to follow were the very special accounts of the Ninth) and this one could be in a category of its own. The approach to sound that he drilled into the Berlin Philharmonic, the insistence on absolute perfection (at least whenever in the recording studio), that polish, that well-oiled machine... it all works towards a truly spectacular Mahler experience. Surely on the clean side of the raw-genteel divide, it is probably the most propulsive of the "drool-free" versions. It is a little short on any particular Mahler-flavor but it more than makes up for that with its numerous other qualities.

Mahler Survey, Symphony Six, Part 3

I'm looking forward to hearing the new Zander Sixth... I've always had a big soft spot for his one on Telarc, to the point of probably overrating it.

[The One]

[Harry]

Started my listening day with this CD.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2018/01/franconian-organ-music-from-17th-and.html?spref=tw

[Karl Henning]

Arnold Rosner (1945-2013):  Tr. 1-2, Sextet for Strings, Op. 47 (1970, rev. 1997) "Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland" (Now come, Saviour of the Heathens) (24'53)--Sestetto Agosto (Paul Vanderwerf, David Katz, violins, Terri Van Valkinburg, Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, violas, Peter Szczepanek, Julie Zumsteg, cellos)  |Tr.  3-8, Besos sin cuento (Kisses Without Number), 6 Spanish Songs, Op. 86 (25'50)--Pinotage (Julia Bently, voice, Janice McDonald, flute, Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, viola, Alison Attar, harp)  |Tr. 9-11, Sonata for Trombone & Piano, Op. 106 (17'08)--Gregory Erickson, trombone, Angelina Tallaj, piano.   TT: 63'19.  Rec. 15-16 AUG 1999 (Tr. 1-2), 12 JUN 2000 (Tr. 3-8), 1 DEC 2000 (Tr. 9-11), Northminster Presbyterian Church, Evanston, IL (Tr. 1-8), Patrych Sound Studios, Bronx, NY (Tr. 9-11).--Albany Records CD, Vol III in a series of CDs of Arnold Rosner's chamber music.

All of these works are strong, emotive, attention-grabbing works. 

"Nunn komm' der Heiden Heiland" is a hymn written by Martin Luther in 1524 after a piece by St. Ambrose.  Per Wikipedia, "The chorale was used as the prominent hymn for the first Sunday of Advent for centuries. It was used widely in organ settings by Protestant baroque composers, most notably Johann Sebastian Bach: he set it as the opening chorale prelude BWV 599 of Orgelbüchlein; and three times—as BWV 659 (one of his best known organ compositions), BWV 660 and BWV 661—in his Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes. Bach used the hymn in his chorale cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62 (1724) and in the opening chorale fantasia of his earlier cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, BWV 61 (1714). Max Reger composed a chorale prelude as No. 29 of his 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67 in 1902."  But in the liner notes, Rosner says he was influenced more by a setting by the mid-baroque composer Praetorius than by Bach.  He also states that the revision he did in 1997 involved mostly the connective passages between movements rather than the main body of the work itself.

Rosner came to The Six Spanish Songs by a circuitous route.  At first, he was interested in Sephardic poetry, but found that most of that that had survived had survived because it had already been set to music, so he abandoned that idea.  But then he became interrested in Renaissance Spanish poetry, and found that much of it had not been set to music, so that is where he began.  The two outer songs are the most complex.  "No. 1 is in 5/8 meter and No. 6 is  something of a rondo, where the "A" occur on different tonics each time.  Movements 2 & 5 are more pensive slow movements, # 2 has a coda in 11/8 meter; No. 5 uses a drone, the middle movements are the true scherzi; No. 3 is a duet for voice and flute, No. 4 adds a tambourine."

Rosner decided in the 1990's that he wanted to write sonatas or concerti for all the orchestral instruments.  He had already come close and decided to fill in the gaps.  In this, he was consciously imitative of Nielsen and Hindemith.  The Trombone sonata is "big-boned," he says, requiring a pianist who is co-equal with the trombonist, not a mere accompanist.  "The first movement is largely in three-strand counterpoint and may suggest the quality of "ars antiqua" or even "organum" counterpoint; many of the harmonies are fifths, and there are some noticeable on-beat dissonances.  The second is in a three part song design, but is in 7/8 meter throughout.  The third movement is the most difficult to play, and has its share of gritty complexity, but is in fact the most traditional example of classical sonata form I have ever used, replete with a clear contrast between the two main themes, and all the 'correct' tonal relationships."  Texts of the Spanish songs with English translations are included in the liner notes.

Thanks for this.  Further investigation of Rosner has been on my back burner for a while, thanks to this wonderful recording of his Fifth Symphony:

[Harry]

  New acquisition-First listen.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2018/01/nova-mvsices-organic-tabvlatvra-organ.html?spref=tw

[Mirror Image]

In The Mists, JW 8/22:

[Mirror Image]

Janáček's Violin Sonata:

[Karl Henning]

"Wolferl"
String Quartet in F, K.590
Pražák Quartet

[North Star]

G'day, Karl!

Fauré
Cello Sonatas
Paul Tortelier & Eric Heidsieck
[asin]B0040UEIA4[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Cheers, Karlo!

[Todd]

Haskell Small's take.  Small has a few unique traits here.  First, like Mompou, he's a composer-pianist, and has recorded not only this disc, but some Bach, as well as his own music.  Second, he uses a Blüthner.  Third, he takes a long time to play the work, clocking in at about 74'.  Right from the opening Angelico movement, which is drawn out and makes expert use of silences between notes, Small takes his time.  Small also holds some notes and chords seemingly as long as possible.  His closely recorded Blüthner brings a different sound, with quicker decays up top and a more relaxed sound in the middle and lower registers.  In the Lento - molto cantabile of the first book, the repeated bass note opening sounds appreciably different, less full but more tonally diverse, adding a little something extra.  The following Semplice and Lento both have more cutting upper register playing while managing to keep things simple and sparse.  In the second book, the Tranquilo - tres calme piece starts out that way, but the amplified by the close recording, nearly erupts into something more biting before quickly fading away.  The following Severo - serieux very much lives up to its designation, with the added bass texture again adding to the allure of the playing.  The Lento - plaintif in the same book is tense and searching, but it almost sounds generic and aimless, but I mean that in a good way; it's musical wandering.  In the Luminoso of the third book, Small pedals expertly to create a more beautiful sound, accentuating Mompou's harmonic invention.  In the final book, Small's playing becomes sort of rarified, or transcendent, but it is also personal, and less austere and abstract than some prior versions.  Too, as in the first Lento molto of the book, he displays an almost incredibly soft touch with some notes, playing pianissimo as quiet as anything I've heard from Yamane or Gorus. 

Small pulls off something of a unique feat here.  Even though his version is longer than normal, and even though Small uses pauses and silences and sustained notes expertly, his version ends up feeling shorter than prior versions.  This work is not especially high on excitement in a standard piano music sort of way, but Small's expressiveness and attention to the minutest of details captivates.  This was an afterthought recording that I almost didn't buy, but it turns out to be masterful.

[Pap]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v3X-kLnSrw
Most beautiful trumpet sound in the world and impressive intimate sound stage.

[Harry]

New acquisition. First listen.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2018/01/riisager-knudage-1897-1974-symphonic.html?spref=tw

[Biffo]

Holst: Symphony in F major, Op 8 'The Cotswolds' ; A Walt Whitman Overture, Op 7; A Hampshire Suite, Op 28, No 2 - Douglas Bostock conducting the Munich Symphony Orchestra

[Karl Henning]

"Papa"
String Quartet in C Op.76 № 3 « Emperor » H.III/77
Pražák Quartet