What are you listening to now?

[Mirror Image]

Symphony No. 8

[vandermolen]

Symphony No. 8

What are these works like John? I don't know either of them. I like Schnittke's Piano Quintet.

[André]

[vandermolen]

Like the Boult it combines two great works which is very appealing. You must let us know what you think.

[Mirror Image]

What are these works like John? I don't know either of them. I like Schnittke's Piano Quintet.

Very difficult to describe the music, but Symphony No. 8 is a bleak work from Schnittke's late period. The music is a bit enigmatic and tough to decipher, but the general jest of what I believe Schnittke is getting at musically in this symphony is that there is rhyme and reason to all things and that whatever struggles or hardships we encounter there will be light awaiting us.

[Cato]

I need to revisit Prokofiev's symphonies. I remember the 2nd, 5th, and 6th really being the strongest. What's your take on them?

Allow me to recommend the Third Symphony!  The old Leinsdorf/Boston Symphony recording on RCA is a barn-burner!

[vandermolen]

Very difficult to describe the music, but Symphony No. 8 is a bleak work from Schnittke's late period. The music is a bit enigmatic and tough to decipher, but the general jest of what I believe Schnittke is getting at musically in this symphony is that there is rhyme and reason to all things and that whatever struggles or hardships we encounter there will be light awaiting us.

Thanks John. That is indeed very helpful.

[vandermolen]

Allow me to recommend the Third Symphony!  The old Leinsdorf/Boston Symphony recording on RCA is a barn-burner!

+1

[André]

+ 2 for the Leinsdorf recording !

[Mirror Image]

Allow me to recommend the Third Symphony!  The old Leinsdorf/Boston Symphony recording on RCA is a barn-burner!

I've got that performance (somewhere), I'll have to check it out. Kudos, Cato.

[Mirror Image]

Thanks John. That is indeed very helpful.

Glad I could be of some help, Jeffrey.

[André]

Like the Boult it combines two great works which is very appealing. You must let us know what you think.

The jury is still out  . Mostly favourable, but I must give it more exposure. I haven't internalized it yet, although I grasp the intent and the means.

A moot technical point about this particular disc: the volume level has to be turned for the moeranesque skies to clear up. For the first few minutes it sounded kind of greyish. Then it came into better focus  .

[André]

Coming to an end right now:



Two more Didos to swallow tonight (Emmanelle Haïm and Currentzis).

[North Star]

First listen
Honegger
Symphony No. 4 'Deliciæ Basiliensis' (1946)
Czech Philharmonic
Baudo
[asin]B000003574[/asin]

[vandermolen]

First listen
Honegger
Symphony No. 4 'Deliciæ Basiliensis' (1946)
Czech Philharmonic
Baudo
[asin]B000003574[/asin]

Symphony 4 is an underrated work. I like it very much. Baudo is excellent and so is Ansermet.

[North Star]

Symphony 4 is an underrated work. I like it very much. Baudo is excellent and so is Ansermet.

I liked it quite well, too, Jeffrey.

Thread-duty - first listen
Charles Avison
Concertos No. 6 in D major and No. 5 in d minor, Done From the Lessons of Domenico Scarlatti
Cafe Zimmermann
[asin]B00007B9P0[/asin]
from
[asin]B07HSRY4TN[/asin]

[Todd]

Disc one, concertos 4 and 5.  Forty-something Backhaus was quite the keyboard wizard.  These concertos are swift and lithe, with Backhaus dashing off some passages with an effortlessness his older self could not muster.  Transfers are good, and if one misses modern dynamics, one gets old school portamento, so call it a draw.  Superb.

[Mirror Image]

Listening to one of Debussy's mélodies has turned into a mélodie-a-thon from this box:

Veronique Dietschy, soprano
Phillippe Cassard, piano

[Draško]

The 4ths.

[Todd]

Disc 3.  The concertos.  Very well done old school takes.