What are you listening to now?

[Que]

This morning a return to an old favourite:

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Q

[Traverso]

Bach

[San Antone]

What a curious work for the "Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century"...

I enjoyed the performance/recording despite the nomenclature.   

[Harry]

CD VI.

[Christo]

I recall that I attended the world premiere of Viatore, 2001, in Rotterdam, at my 40th Birthday. There was a Vasks festival going on there for almost a week, with the composer present; but this was the highlight. 

[Traverso]

Straight from the Heart

The Chansonnier Cordiforme

[Madiel]

Holmboe, Sinfonia III



This is my favourite of the individual Sinfonias.

[Madiel]

Debussy, Le Printemps

Figured I might as well make use of the lousy CD-R that Amazon sent me (see the Purchases thread) while I wait for responses from 3 other sellers about whether they have something genuine.



Turns out that the white border around the picture is a warning. 

PS The poetry appears to be lousy in the way of Prix de Rome texts, but the music is charming.

[Madiel]

More Debussy, starting on the last volume in the Hyperion songs series.



The early songs (which are the majority) continue to be charming as you could wish.

[Karl Henning]

I enjoyed the performance/recording despite the nomenclature.   

Which is what matters.

One of the recordings of the Brahms which I especially like is the Gardiner, so I do get that it's a good fit.

[Karl Henning]

Hovhaness
Mysterious Mountain &c.
Royal Liverpool Phil
Schwarz

[Karl Henning]

And, heavy hitters performing a curiously early work:

Hovhaness
Cello Concerto, Op. 17 (1936)
Janos Starker, vc
Seattle Symphony
DRD

[Karl Henning]

And, heavy hitters performing a curiously early work:

Hovhaness
Cello Concerto, Op. 17 (1936)
Janos Starker, vc
Seattle Symphony
DRD

Paired with:
Symphony # 22, Op. 236 City of Light (1971)
Seattle Symphony
The composer conducting
Recorded 19 March 1999

One of my favorite Hovhaness discs, actually.

[Biffo]

Vaughan Williams: The House of Life - Kitty Whately mezzo-soprano with William Vann piano - from the new album The Song of Love. More RVW rarities from Albion Records. This is the first complete recording of HoL by a female singer. The first performance in 1904 was sung by Edith Clegg contralto, since then only male singers have recorded the complete cycle. The rest of the works, shared with Roderick Williams, are first recordings.

[Traverso]

Praetorius

[Harry]

CD VII & VIII

[Cato]

Today the Second and Third Symphonies by Sibelius from this famous set:

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Also:

A friend made me a copy of the Requiem by Vyacheslav Artyomov. It seems to have been recorded only once, but upon looking its availability on disc I found it under 5 different guises. The performance is with the Moscow Philharmonic under Dimitri Kitaenko. There's half a dozen soloists, and I didn't compare all the back covers to spot any difference between all the releases, so it's possible that Kitaenko and the Moscow Phil recorded the work more than once.

In any case, I have to say that, contrary to my previous experience with this composer, I found much to sustain the interest. Musicweb's Rob Barnett wrote a useful and insightful review here: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Nov/Artyomov_requiem_DDA25173.htm

I re-listened to part of this work this morning: yes, it is interesting, intriguing, and (at times) meditative: I recalled being not too enthusiastic about certain parts, and so I want to (I must) re-listen to them.

[Traverso]

 Dowland

Second book of Songs

[aligreto]

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben [Reiner]





There is very good story telling in this version. The music is presented with both great power and passion. It is dramatic and always very engaging and exciting. The strings reign supreme here.

[aligreto]

Stravinsky: Petrouchka [Haitink]