What are you listening to now?

[Sergeant Rock]

Mozart Symphonies 39 & 40, Harnoncourt conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Europe




Sarge

[Wanderer]

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[Mookalafalas]

Family is in bed. I'm playing this again through headphones and at pretty good volume. 
   WOW.
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[North Star]

Family is in bed. I'm playing this again through headphones and at pretty good volume. 
   WOW.

Great stuff, for sure.

[Mirror Image]

First listen to the Lemminkainen Suite, of which The Swan of Tuonela is the only bit I already know.

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I've been eyeballing this recording, orfeo. Let me know what you think of the performance when get time. I have several recordings of the full Lemminkainen Suite but one more couldn't hurt.

[Lisztianwagner]

Pyotr Il'ych Tchaikovsky
Symphony No.3

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[Mirror Image]

It is great to have Dan the Man back with us again!

[Mirror Image]

Pyotr Il'ych Tchaikovsky
Symphony No.3

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My favorite Tchaikovsky cycle. Everything is top-notch in Jansons' cycle.

[Brian]

Started the morning with the Schubert Blind Listening Game. Now, Alexander Melnikov playing Shosty's Second Piano Concerto. Later, it will be the Alexander String Quartet's recordings of Brahms with various friends.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 "The Inextinguishable" w/ Bernstein conducting the NY Philharmonic. I couldn't find a decent image for this Royal Edition issue.

[Brian]

Now:

Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 "The Inextinguishable" w/ Bernstein conducting the NY Philharmonic. I couldn't find a decent image for this Royal Edition issue.

I'm thinking about having a comparison shootout between Bernstein/NYPO and the new Gilbert/NYPO. One of my MusicWeb colleagues said the new Gilbert was too intense and thrilling for him, which makes me think I gotta hear it. (That, and he had the same critique of Petrenko's Shostakovich, which is further evidence that the new Gilbert recording must be awesome.)

[Sadko]

A radio programme commemorating Roberto Szidon's anniversary (21 September 1941 in Porto Alegre -  21 December 2011 in Düsseldorf) made me pick this:

Luís de Freitas Branco

Violin sonatas 1 & 2

Tibor Varga
Roberto Szidon

[SonicMan46]

Vivaldi, Antonio - Concerti per archi II w/ Alessandrini & Concerto Italiano - MP3 purchase burned to CD-R to supplement the first volume that came w/ the 6-CD box set - Dave

 

[Madiel]

I've been eyeballing this recording, orfeo. Let me know what you think of the performance when get time. I have several recordings of the full Lemminkainen Suite but one more couldn't hurt.

Well, see, for everything besides the Swan I don't have anything to compare it to, but it's certainly working for me. I got distracted/delayed, but right now I'm listening to Lemminkainen in Tuonela for the first time in my life and it's gripping.

And I did listen to The Wood-Nymph a couple of weeks ago, and found the first half of it to be one of the most amazing things I've heard. But it's impossible for me to know how much of that's down to the particular performance. It's a bit of an episodic piece, that one, and I've seen commentary that the first half is generally considered the best section.

I'm really not that much use to someone who already has multiple Lemminkainens. All I can tell you is that I'm enjoying my first. In some ways you'd be more helpful to me than the other way around, but basically I selected this disc after seeing several very strong reviews, and I've not heard anything that would make me say the reviews led me astray.

The recording has nice detail, which you'd expect from a hybrid SACD.

[Mirror Image]

I'm thinking about having a comparison shootout between Bernstein/NYPO and the new Gilbert/NYPO. One of my MusicWeb colleagues said the new Gilbert was too intense and thrilling for him, which makes me think I gotta hear it. (That, and he had the same critique of Petrenko's Shostakovich, which is further evidence that the new Gilbert recording must be awesome.)

Adjectives such as 'intense' and 'thrilling' are my kind of adjectives when describing a performance. Petrenko's Shostakovich is outstanding of course. I'll join you in this comparison shootout once I've received this new Gilbert recording.

[Mirror Image]

Well, see, for everything besides the Swan I don't have anything to compare it to, but it's certainly working for me. I got distracted/delayed, but right now I'm listening to Lemminkainen in Tuonela for the first time in my life and it's gripping.

And I did listen to The Wood-Nymph a couple of weeks ago, and found the first half of it to be one of the most amazing things I've heard. But it's impossible for me to know how much of that's down to the particular performance. It's a bit of an episodic piece, that one, and I've seen commentary that the first half is generally considered the best section.

I'm really not that much use to someone who already has multiple Lemminkainens. All I can tell you is that I'm enjoying my first. In some ways you'd be more helpful to me than the other way around, but basically I selected this disc after seeing several very strong reviews, and I've not heard anything that would make me say the reviews led me astray.

The recording has nice detail, which you'd expect from a hybrid SACD.

Ah, okay. Thanks for your feedback. I can't believe this is the first time you've heard any of this music. Wow, how long have you been listening to classical, orfeo?

[kishnevi]

Wildly unhistorical Verdi from his earlier period.  Joan dies heroically in battle, falls in love with the king, etc.
Live concert (nonstaged) recording,  and the sonics are shrill and tinny, which hurts the orchestra and chorus are thin and tinny,  and Netrebko is rendered ultra shrill.  Even Baritone Domingo comes out shrill at times.
Musically it is a good example of the stand up and sing to a strong beat so it is hard to do wrong.  Only the sonics are bad. Fortunately I paid only $15 for this at B/N after coupons, etc.  And I do not have another recording of this opera.So I am not sad. But anyone paying Amazon prices be warned.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Would not have sought this out (Rutter, typically, is just too sweet for my taste) but saw this at Goodwill and with nothing to lose picked it up.  A woman in line behind me at check-out exclaimed what a bargain it was, "How lucky you are!"  What I was, was skeptical.  But she was right.  It took me by surprise - how remarkable the performers are.  That said, it is derivative (part of the fun is id-ing the influences, Britten, Fauré among others), but it's nonetheless a moving work. 

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[Que]

Listening to these sets in selected sonatas in a A-B comparison.

 

Q

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Symphony No. 1. Thunderous performance from Previn/LSO.