What are you listening to now?

[SurprisedByBeauty]

#morninglistening to #prokofjev's #ViolinConcertos w/@chamborcheurope, @nezetseguin & @lisabatiashvili on @dgclassics

: http://a-fwd.to/5bXLet7

+ some very effective transcriptions for #violin & Orch. of #prokofjew favorite bits. Zany performances that jump off the page.

[aligreto]

Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 131 Quartetto Italiano





This is a magnificent, noble and captivating performance and interpretation.

[aligreto]

Vivaldi:





Concerto for Alto Recorder, 2 Violins & B. c. RV 108
Sonata a due for Alto Recorder, Bassoon & B. c. RV 86

As a one time recorder player who never reached the high standards of these performances one can only admire the competency and musicianship of musicians such as these.

[vandermolen]

I will, I promise 

Excellent! Also VC 2 - one of the greatest ever written I think (Andre agrees  ) and symphs 6 and 8 as well. My friend likes 4 also.

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams Symphony No.9 E minor, Haitink conducting the LPO




Sarge

One of my favourite symphonies - like a monolith. I have always found it deeply moving, especially those massive chords at the end and those harps. Reminds me of those great Mark Rothko chapel paintings in the Tate Gallery in London.

[André]

The Bruckner is very good, if a bit militaristic. The Mozart is bludgeoned by the conductor's approach. It's not a great work, but it has its moments, as other conductors have proved. Markevitch is both vivacious and smiling, and has better soloists. He gets my vote.

[André]

Excellent! Also VC 2 - one of the greatest ever written I think (Andre agrees  ) and symphs 6 and 8 as well. My friend likes 4 also.

+ 1 

[Kontrapunctus]

Excellent playing and sound. (Disc 1)

[André]

If you find this disc at a decent price, buy it. The performance is fantastic and the sound superb.

If you have the Kondrashin Moscow Phil performance, don't buy the above disc. According to cognoscenti, they're one and the same. This pseudo-Ivanov 1962 performance is actually the 1975 Kondrashin in disguise. Amazon reviewers discuss the matther in the comments section:


https://www.amazon.com/Shostakovich-Symphony-leningrad-Ussr-2013-09-24/dp/B01KBHSWNI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

I have two recordings of Ivanov. A great conductor, but he never recorded in a studio AFAIK. The discs I have are live concerts and in pretty shoddy sound. The Alto disc above is superbly engineered.

[Kontrapunctus]

Suites 3-5.

[SymphonicAddict]

Symphonies 1 & 2



These works have nothing to envy to those ones by Haydn or Mozart. Quite engaging on my view. In fact, they are much better than the Spohr's ones.

[SymphonicAddict]

Piano trio 2



What a nice surprise has been this charming piano trio to my ears! The whole work is ravishing. I'm especially delighted by the 2nd movement (Berceuse - Barcarolla). Just beautiful and poetic.

[Daverz]

If you find this disc at a decent price, buy it. The performance is fantastic and the sound superb.

If you have the Kondrashin Moscow Phil performance,

A bizarre misattribution from Alto.

Except for the nice tunes in the first movement, I've never learned to care for No. 7.

I have the Kondrashin in the green Korean box with the magnetic clasp.



Supposedly the newer Melodiya box has better sound, but I can't bring myself to buy it all over again.

[André]

After the Ivanov/Kondrashin, I decided to listen to Bernstein's Chicago recording of the 7th:



It is AFAIK the only version that neccessitates a second disc by virtue (?) of the conductor's extremely broad tempi in the first 3 movements. He takes 85 minutes, 10 more than in his 1962 NYPO version and 13 more than Ivanov/Kondrashin.

I wish I could find a justification for his tasteless trudge through the first movement (32 minutes). The big central march is made to sound like a nightmarish Boléro, of all things. It swings with the elegance of a 600 pound gorilla. The effect is not helped by the sirupy legato of the Chicago strings.

There is suitable angst and plenty of emoting in the central movements, but my attention wandered. The finale is taken at a reasonable clip, with Bernstein accelerating for the big coda. It doesn't feel exultant or triumphant, although Bernstein brings to the fore the timpani in the closing bars, much like in the coda of the 5th symphony. No, it sounds like it's ready to exterminate the Enemy. Mightily impressive, but the wrong feeling. The Chicago brass is having a field day.

I've listened to this much ballyhooed version every 3-4 years since I bought it 15 years ago. It never failed to disappoint. This time, the intimations of the Ravel Boléro in I had me cracking a smile. Bernstein's NYPO 5th (in Tokyo) is my benchmark performance. I will explore his previous version of the Leningrad. Amazon comments suggest it's much better than this misguided Chicago performance.

[RebLem]

On Wednesday, 11 APR 2018, I listened to 3 CDs.


1)  D Shostakovich (1906-75): Tr. 1-5.  Symphony 13 in B Flat Minor, Op. 113 (1962) "Babi Yar" (59'39)--Vasily Petrenko, cond., Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orch. and Mens Voices from the RLPO Choir & Huddersfield Choral Society, Alexander Vinogradov, bass solo.  Rec. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 27-29 SEP 2013.  CD 10 of the 11 CD NAXOS cycle of the Shostakovich Symphonies by these forces.

As most of you who will choose to read this already know, this symphony was based on the poem "Babi Yar" by Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and a complete text in  both a Latin alphabet version of Russian with English translation are included in the excellent accompanying booklet.  The article on this symphony in that booklet begins about 40% down the first column on page 28 and continues to page 37, where it occupies a little more than a half page.  Exclusive of the text, the article explaining the symphony goes from p 28-30.  So it is quite detailed, and scholarly.  NAXOS did not stint on this.  Kudos to them!
Petrenko writes,
"...[This work] has an interesting relationship with Schoenberg's 'A Survivor from Warsaw,' ...I believe he knew the work.  The end if very painful: in the poem 'Career,' the poet says I'm fulfilling my caeer by not doing it.  The less attention you gave to the formal, public part of your career, the better you will be remembered.  That's why  the final waltz leads us up to the stratosphere.  He had confidence that when he died, he would be remembered; he knew he had not wasted his life."
For those totally uninitiated, who may be reading this without knowing what I am talking about, please read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar


2)  Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971):  |Tr, 1-3.  Symphony in Three Movements (1945) (22'23)  |Tr. 4-7.  Symphony in C (1840) (28'10)  |Tr. 8-10.  Symphony of Psalms (1930, rev. 1948) (21'08)--Georg Solti, cond., Chicago Symphony Orch. & Chorus (in Tr. 8-10), Duain Wolfe, Chorus dir., Glenn Ellyn Children's Chorus, Emily Elsworth, Chorus dir.--rec. Orchestra Hall, Chicago, 2 NOV 1993 (Tr. 1-3), 14-29 MAR 1997 (Tr. 4-10).

Solti died 5 SEP 1997, less than 5 full months after the last of these recordings.  I checked his discography, thinking these might be his very last recordings, but they were not.  I think he may have had a premonition of his death, because two of the works he recorded after this were his Shostakovich Symphony 15 and Moussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death.  For three of his last four recordings, he went back to his Hungarian roots and recorded works of Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly, and Leo Weiner, but his very  last recording was a live Mahler 5 with the Zurich Tonhalle Orch.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Solti_discography
At any rate, with this CD, we have three of Stravinsky's four symphonies.  HIs first was a work in E Flat Major, which was his Op. 1--his very  first published work, from 1907. 
The Symphony in Three Movements was composed on a commsion from the NYPO, and is the first major work he wrote after emigrating to the US.  Although he rarely acknowledged any outside influence on his work, he called this his "war symphony," a response to the events of WWII.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_in_Three_Movements
Although Stravinsky wrote most of the Symphony C in Europe, it was premiered by the Chicago Symphony 7 NOV 1940, and was his response to the deaths first of his daughter in Nov. 1938, and then his wife in MAR 1939, both of tuberculosis, and his own infection by the disease, and then the death of his mother in June 1939.  It has not been frequently recorded by others, and when  it is, it is usually done with the other two works on this program included.
The Symphony of Psalms is performed in Latin.  The corresponding English versions are from 29: 12-13, 40: 1-3, and the entirety of Psalm 150.  It should be noted that Stravinsky was always interested in religion, but became more religious as he got older.  He was a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, but this is the earliest work on the CD, from 1930, written on commission from Serge Koussevitzky for the 50th Anniversary of the Boston symphony.  He had in mind a purely  orchestral work, but Stravinsky insisted on the choral symphony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_of_Psalms

3)  W.A. Mozart (1756-91):  |Tr. 1-4.  Symphony 35 in D Major, K. 385 "Haffner" (16'53)  |Tr. 5-7.  Symphony 38 in D Major, K. 504 "Prague" (23'05)  |Tr. 8-11.  Symphony 40 in G Minor, K. 550 (23'23)  |Tr. 12.  Die Zauberflote, K. 620: Dies Bildnes ist bezaubernd schoen (4'15)  |Tr. 13.  Aria for soprano & orch., K. 419 "No, no, che non sei capace" (8'53)  |Tr. 14.  La Nozze di Figaro, K. 492: Porgi amor, qualche ristoro (4'18)--Carl Schuricht, cond., RSO, Stuttgart, Fritz Wunderlich, tenor (Tr. 12), Ruth-Margret Puetz, soprano (Tr. 13), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano (Tr. 14).  Live recordings marked with *.  Re, 4 JUN 1956* Ludwigsburg (Tr. 1-7), 19 MAY 1961* Schwetzinger Festspiele (Tr. 8-11).  3 other recording dates, all from APR 1959 are listed, but without track attribution.  The middle one, from 9 APR*  is listed as being in Stuttgart Liederhalle, the other two, from 6 APR & 12 APR, are listed as having been done at Stuttgart Sendesaal Villa Berg, but are not listed as live recordings.  A hanssler classic CD.

The first thing to note is that the last three track listings do not correspond to what is actually on the CD.  To begin with, they are all approximately 4'20.  None of them is 8'53.  Secondly, The K. 419 (Ruth-Margret Puetz, sop.) is on Tr. 12, the K. 492 (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, sop) is on Tr. 13, and the k. 620 (Fritz Wunderlich, tenor) is on Track 14.  I have no idea how they got this screwed up.  Hanssler classic is usually very careful about this sort of thing, but in this case, they were going to concert tapes made by the orchestra, not  doing their own original recordings.  That circumstance probably has something to do with it. 

Carl Schuricht was a great conductor.  I already have his set of the Beethoven Symphonies coupled with three Bruckner symphonies, and they are among the best available with the notable exception  of the Beethoven Ninth, which is not up to his usual standard.
These recordings are excellent and stylish.  I can't quite figure out why the Nazis allowed him to conduct in Germany.  To begin with, he went to music school on a Felix Mendelssohn scholarship, and he was especially known for conducting Mendelssohn and Mahler before the Nazis came to power.  He could no longer do that in Germany, but he continued to conduct Mahler outside Germany, even while continuing to work in Germany.  On 5 OCT 1939, during the period of what the Brits called "The Phony War," and the Germans called "Der Sitzkrieg," he conducted Das Lied von der Erde with the Concergebouw in Amsterdam, and a woman heckler interrupted him with a shout of "'Deutschland uber Alles,' Herr Schurcht!"  But he continued to conduct in Germany until  October, 1944, when he got word that he was about to be arrested.  He fled, like so many others of the intelligensia, to Switzerland, where he waited out the last few months of the war. 
Above gleaned, and reworded in some instances, from Wikipedia,, except for Paragraph 1, which is entirely my own.

[Mirror Image]

Debussy
Études
Jacobs

[Daverz]

Bacewicz, Violin Concerto No. 1.  Giving Ms Kurkowicz a rest.  Krzysztof Bakowski is also very good.



This disc is a sort of Grazyna's Greatist Hits compilation.

[Mirror Image]

Beethoven
Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68
Szell
Cleveland

[GioCar]

Beginning with:



and then ending with:

[Que]

Morning listening (continuation):

[asin]B001AZU0CW[/asin]
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