What are you listening to now?

[cilgwyn]

Some Pizzetti stuff:



Rondò Veneziano
Colourful, melodious and magnificently scored.




String quartet Nr. 1
Now, this is lovely! I saw somewhere it reminds of the Dvorák rustic airs. I have to agree with that statement.


And last but not least:

Canti della stagione alta
My absolute favorite work by Pizzetti. One of the loveliest scores I know, just intoxicatingly beautiful.

Waay! At last! Someone else who loves that piece! I thought I was the only one?!!! I remember a Gramophone critic giving it a really horrible review!!

[cilgwyn]

I'm beginning to wonder if this might be my favourite Arnold symphony?!! I didn't collect this until last,because of some of the controversy surrounding it,and I had some idea it could be very gloomy! After all that,I really like it. It's almost,wholly,introspective nature really appeals to me. It curls into the corners of your mind (as they say!) like no other Arnold symphony. In some ways I think it's the one Arnold symphony that gets anywhere near approaching the best of VW's symphonies. Not quite;but I'm very impressed,though. Far from a failure,I think Arnold's final symphony was a fine farewell to the form. Thank goodness he didn't end with No 8 (the weakest of the set,imho!). A pity he couldn't have been as philosophical as Havergal Brian;but people handle things in different ways. Allot of people would envy some of his achievements.

[Florestan]

https://www.youtube.com/v/vRhDAl8FH5I

[aligreto]

Vivaldi: Four Seasons [Marriner]





I have always liked Marriner's interpretations of Vivaldi with its joy and sunshine. The music making here has good drive and forward momentum in each of the outer movements, positively sweeping along in places, with languid and atmospheric slow movements.

[cilgwyn]

Arrived here today! A bit out of season I know..........

[Florestan]

In a sense, York Bowen might indeed be called an English Rachmaninoff: like the Russian's, his music is oftenly frowned upon by the cognoscenti for its unabashed tonality, impenitent Romanticism and supposed sentimentality --- and like the Russian's, it will forever remain popular with the great unwashed for whom a good tune caressing the soul is still worth more than a hundred experiments in coordinating music with acoustics.   

[Mandryka]

In a sense, York Bowen might indeed be called an English Rachmaninoff: like the Russian's, his music is oftenly frowned upon by the cognoscenti for its unabashed tonality, impenitent Romanticism and supposed sentimentality --- and like the Russian's, it will forever remain popular with the great unwashed for whom a good tune caressing the soul is still worth more than a hundred experiments in coordinating music with acoustics.   

I didn't know it was popular with anyone, let alone the great unwashed.

[Mandryka]

https://www.youtube.com/v/vRhDAl8FH5I

Unbelievable the way he plays the first movement cadenza.

[aligreto]

Nystroem: Symphony No. 4 [Andersson]





This is a first listen to this work for me and I really liked what I have heard. I like the musical language, the orchestration, the driving forward momentum of the music along with its inherent drama, tension and tone.

[aligreto]

Arrived here today! A bit out of season I know..........

Enjoy it 

It puts me in mind of a character in a film I watched recently who explained to someone that, when as a child she could not sleep, her mother would sing Christmas carols to her. This worked for the particular character. Worth bearing in mind for future reference - just in case.   

[Florestan]

Unbelievable the way he plays the first movement cadenza.

Unbelievably good or unbelievably bad?

[Karl Henning]

I didn't know it was popular with anyone, let alone the great unwashed.

I am also doubtful that tonal, frankly Romantic and on the sentimental side, like Rachmaninoff quite maps onto art of the stature of Rachmaninoff's.

[Florestan]

I am also doubtful that tonal, frankly Romantic and on the sentimental side, like Rachmaninoff quite maps onto art of the stature of Rachmaninoff's.

I didn't say that nor implied it.

[Mandryka]

Unbelievably good or unbelievably bad?

I enjoyed hearing it very much, except for one thing -- I don't like it when he plays very loud, it could just be the sound quality.

[Traverso]

Bach

CD 1

[Florestan]

I enjoyed hearing it very much, except for one thing -- I don't like it when he plays very loud, it could just be the sound quality.

Thanks for clarifying.

[Madiel]

.[asin]B0009ML2L0[/asin]

[Mandryka]

Weinberger plays BWV 771 (CU3), Grauhof Treutmann (CD13) Astonishing! He pulls out all the stops. Not for the faint hearted, it is powerful! I can't imagine what this sounds like on Harry's Avalons!

Fortunately for my blood pressure the music which immediately follows is a bit more pastoral, though the fact that you know what he can do when he wants to keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I like Weinberger's CU3 - both this recording of the pedaliter chorales and the smaller chorales, which are on a G Silberman organ, CD11.

[Harry]

Weinberger plays BWV 771 (CU3), Grauhof Treutmann (CD13) Astonishing! He pulls out all the stops. Not for the faint hearted, it is powerful! I can't imagine what this sounds like on Harry's Avalons!

Fortunately for my blood pressure the music which immediately follows is a bit more pastoral, though the fact that you know what he can do when he wants to keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I like Weinberger's CU3 - both this recording of the pedaliter chorales and the smaller chorales, which are on a G Silberman organ, CD11.

I can promise you, eyes closed, it is as if you are in the church.
I have a powerful Pass Labs amplifier, and he has no problem at all, giving a very realistic picture.

[kyjo]

I'm beginning to wonder if this might be my favourite Arnold symphony?!! I didn't collect this until last,because of some of the controversy surrounding it,and I had some idea it could be very gloomy! After all that,I really like it. It's almost,wholly,introspective nature really appeals to me. It curls into the corners of your mind (as they say!) like no other Arnold symphony. In some ways I think it's the one Arnold symphony that gets anywhere near approaching the best of VW's symphonies. Not quite;but I'm very impressed,though. Far from a failure,I think Arnold's final symphony was a fine farewell to the form. Thank goodness he didn't end with No 8 (the weakest of the set,imho!). A pity he couldn't have been as philosophical as Havergal Brian;but people handle things in different ways. Allot of people would envy some of his achievements.

Arnold's 9th is indeed a fine work and I think the devastatingly poignant, bleak fourth movement achieves masterpiece status. The first two movements are often strangely understated and pared-down, while the third movement is a typically Arnoldian boisterous scherzo. I still consider the 5th to be his finest symphony (its sense of dramatic narrative is unequaled in his output), but the 9th is certainly a fitting farewell to the form, especially that last movement.