What are you listening to now?

[Lisztianwagner]

On spotify:

Edward Elgar
The Dream of Gerontius

Simon Rattle/CBSO

[mahler10th]

Now:

Listening to The Song of the High Hills. Masterful performance.

Do you know what John, I've had enough of this!     Almost every post you make has Delius in it somewhere, and I am starting to wonder what I'm missing.  Pretty much all I know by him is the standard Orchestral works, and even then, I don't know them very well at all...(with the exception of 'On hearing the first cuckoo...')  So it is with some horror that I inform you that I am now going to listen up with some Delius, because you can't be nuts about him just because he's good and you like him.  Anyone who posts as much listening and comment about a composer must have found something worth discovering.  I even see you have, on accassion, been posting posts almost to yourself on the Delius thread, such is your need to communicate whatever it is you've found!     So I'll give him a shot over the next couple of weeks and post what I am listening to and what I think from time to time as I seek the Delian pearl of great price.   

[Mirror Image]

Do you know what John, I've had enough of this!     Almost every post you make has Delius in it somewhere, and I am starting to wonder what I'm missing.  Pretty much all I know by him is the standard Orchestral works, and even then, I don't know them very well at all...(with the exception of 'On hearing the first cuckoo...')  So it is with some horror that I inform you that I am now going to listen up with some Delius, because you can't be nuts about him just because he's good and you like him.  Anyone who posts as much listening and comment about a composer must have found something worth discovering.  I even see you have, on accassion, been posting posts almost to yourself on the Delius thread, such is your need to communicate whatever it is you've found!     So I'll give him a shot over the next couple of weeks and post what I am listening to and what I think from time to time as I seek the Delian pearl of great price.   

HA! Well this is great news, John! I don't expect you to get Delius on first hearing. He's a composer that I've had to listen to over and over again but his style of composition had me hooked from the very beginning. Sadness, the beauty of nature, haunting memories, and on many occasions just a zest for life all permeate so much of this man's music. I think Delius was beyond merely good, he was a genius and a visionary composer. There are a good number of Delians out there that recognize what he's done for music and the innovations he made aren't discussed because of the sour political climate so much classical music existed in and still does.

Happy listening my friend. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

P.S. If you need any recommendations, then please don't hesitate to shoot me a message. I'll be more than happy to help you in your Delian journey.

[Opus106]

Do you know what John, I've had enough of this!     Almost every post you make has Delius in it somewhere, and I am starting to wonder what I'm missing.  Pretty much all I know by him is the standard Orchestral works, and even then, I don't know them very well at all...(with the exception of 'On hearing the first cuckoo...')  So it is with some horror that I inform you that I am now going to listen up with some Delius, because you can't be nuts about him just because he's good and you like him.  Anyone who posts as much listening and comment about a composer must have found something worth discovering.  I even see you have, on accassion, been posting posts almost to yourself on the Delius thread, such is your need to communicate whatever it is you've found!     So I'll give him a shot over the next couple of weeks and post what I am listening to and what I think from time to time as I seek the Delian pearl of great price.   

Well, you are not so unlike John..., uh, John. I keep remembering, every time I'm away from a source, to listen to Atterberg just to find out what all the fuss is about. I would correct that now if I were not listening to the second half of Haydn's symphony No. 51.

[mahler10th]

I keep remembering, every time I'm away from a source, to listen to Atterberg just to find out what all the fuss is about.

Don't you mean "I keep forgetting, every time I'm away from a source, to listen to Atterberg..."

Thread Duty:  On YouTube, Great Piano Concertos - Clifford Curzon plays Delius Concerto in C minor, Live 1981 - BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir John Pritchard

[Opus106]

Disclaimer: I have not listened to many recordings/performances of Mahler's symphonies.

Listening to Bernstein's first take on Sony of the 5th. Is it just me or the trumpet completely out of tune, or something? (I'm assuming that this isn't a mislabelled recording of an amateur orchestra!)

[Opus106]

Don't you mean "I keep forgetting, every time I'm away from a source, to listen to Atterberg..."

No! I forget when I'm watching cute kittehz on YouTube. And make mental notes when I on the road travelling to and from computers connected to the Internet.

[Mirror Image]

Thread Duty:  On YouTube, Great Piano Concertos - Clifford Curzon plays Delius Concerto in C minor, Live 1981 - BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir John Pritchard

I have not head that recording, John, but I doubt the audio quality will be kind to the music. Here is a great performance with pianist Philip Fowke with Norman Del Mar (a great Delian) conducting the Royal Philharmonic.

Part 1 -

http://www.youtube.com/v/RubafY-0usk

Part 2 -

http://www.youtube.com/v/geBSLQ3qSx4

[Brian]

Mirror John, do you keep a listening log? I'd be curious to see how many times per year, or say in the past month, you listen to Delius.

[Mirror Image]

Mirror John, do you keep a listening log? I'd be curious to see how many times per year, or say in the past month, you listen to Delius.

No, Brian, I don't. I would be quite interested in doing this at some point. I think the last listening log I made was when I went through a Mahler craze last year. That was quite fun actually. Delius has been probably 95% of my listening since late January.

This said, I have had Delius phases every year since 2009 when I started to seriously listen to classical music.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to The Spirit of England. A fine work and performance.

[Papy Oli]

Good evening all 

It was such a blast first time round, that I am having another run through the below D :

A 1st listen for RSM :

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.1 and No.2 (Bernstein NYPO)

[Mirror Image]

Here are the real-time notes I made whilst listening to the Delius Piano Concerto...twice (two different performances) - this might also be a fair reflection of what goes on in me when listening to music and might be cross referenced  to the 'Classical Music and emotions' thread.

First Hearing:  Halfway between pure romanticism and thoughtful impressionism.   

Second Hearing: Richly conversational piano with two voices, one a beautiful and thoughtful feminine voice and the other a less heard masculine voice, which is always argumentative. Sometimes it argues almost like two pianos rather than one.  There's some fantastically inventive 'musical' use of the Horn.  Moments of pure joy erupt, but they are gone all to quickly, consumed by some bickering which never gets resolved.  It then becomes introspective, considering all that has gone before, it (the piano) really is thinking about things here, like wondering how it can get over its own wonder, sometimes finding the answer in totally unfulfilled rapture.  But wait, just hold it right there, there is some major emphasis going on, something in the rapture after all, and here it is!!!  ...wow...  but the rapture goes, and we're left with uncertain memories of it ever existing.  But they're real memories, and they re-awaken to dance before our eyes! We ourselves are woke up at the end by a near Royal flourish, and for 5 seconds after this we are trying to recover our jaws from where they've dropped to below our knees... 

I like this.   

Some interesting notes, John! I would really love if we could possibly take this discussion to the Delius thread. It pays to listen to Delius more than once like some listeners tend to do. You first have to be attracted to the overall sound of his music and then once you accept it, a whole world of discovery awaits you.

[bhodges]

Yesterday I created a playlist lasting about 6 hours containing these recordings, listened to in random order:

C.P.E. Bach: Keyboard Concertos; Miklos Spanyi
Stravinsky: Agon; Robert Craft
Krzysztof Meyer: String Quartets; Wieniawski String Quartet
Imogen Heap: Speak For Yourself
Salvatore Sccarino: Macbeth; Evan Christ, Nova Vocal Ensemble

Today I removed the CPE Bach and Scarrino and put in these:

Haydn: Keyboard Sonatas; Beghin, Brautigam
Delius: American Masterpieces; Bo Holten, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra
Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos; Leif Ove Andsnes

I am finding this a nice way to listen.

Very imaginative, and yes, listening like that can create interesting comparisons and contexts. Nice seeing the Sciarrino Macbeth listed - saw it staged here some ten years ago but haven't heard a note of it since. (Loved it, by the way.) And I had to look up that wild card, Imogen Heap, whom I'd never heard of. Quite a program!

--Bruce

[Lisztianwagner]

Richard Strauss
Don Juan

[asin]B000001GQT[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Eventyr. Love this work and the performance is great.

[jlaurson]

Earlier:

R. Vaughan Williams
A Sea Symphony (No.1)
B.Haitink / LPO
EMI
German link - UK link

Now:

R. Vaughan Williams
Complete Piano Concertos & Symphonies
Göteborg SO / N.Järvi
EMI
German link - UK link
Great (well: splendid) music, good to so-so performances. Symphony No.1 live with the Goeteborg SO under N.Jaervi, and some unfortunate brass mishaps are caught on tape. Not so bad as to turn one off, at all... but one wants more, also.

[madaboutmahler]

Good evening all!!

RSMM
[asin]B000LMPE08[/asin]

The 5th symphony. Absolutely adore this piece, so brilliant and uplifting! Fantastic performance too!

[Fafner]

Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra / Ein Heldenleben
Chicago SO, Fritz Reiner

[asin]B0002TKFQI[/asin]

[Papy Oli]

Earlier on :

Rachmaninov PC 1 - Rudy / St Petersburg / Jansons

[asin]B000EPE6VA[/asin]

now :

Chopin PC 1 - Zimmerman / Polish Festival orch.

[asin]B00002DE0S[/asin]