What are you listening to now?

[Night Vision]

Langgaard: Symphony No. 1
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3

A couple of high calorie offerings

[Sadko]

CD 2 of:

Rameau

Harpsichord works

Jory Vinikour

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[Papy Oli]

Good morning all.

Continuing where I left it last night, onto Nielsen No.5.

Nielsen - Symphony No.3 & No.5
Bernstein / NYPO

[Wanderer]

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Some exquisite Badura-Skoda Beethoven for this first really chilly morning of the season: opp.57, 78, 79 & 81a.

Edit: Continuing with opp.90, 101 & 106.

[Que]

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Q

[Que]

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These motets by Alessandro Melani (1639 -1703) were a hugely pleasant surprise.

I got it on recommendation of the buyers (I forgot who, but thanks!  ) of the Magnificat box set, that includes it:

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Q

[Que]

 

Q

[Night Vision]

Tchaikovsky: SQ No. 3
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 (x2)

[EigenUser]

I apologize if my remarks were offensive to you, Nate. When I said 'mess,' I was trying to be clever, but I see it backfired (as usual). I'll be honest here and say no composer is off limits. If I want to criticize Messiaen, I'll do it and this was the venue for that, but also I felt that being honest with you about how I felt about his music was better than giving you a reason to continue to recommend works of his for me to listen to, which I would ignore. Disagreements do happen, Nate. I mean we're dealing with things that are completely subjective. Criticism is a part of listening to music and I'm learning as I hope you and everyone else is learning, that we shouldn't take things personally if someone criticizes a composer we admire.

Again, fair enough! Apology accepted.

I think that a good analogy of you with Messiaen is me with cheese. I dislike cheese of all forms and I actually can't even eat something with cheese without spitting it out. I've been like for my whole life and I'm almost positive I won't change. Would I bet my life that I won't like cheese for the rest of my life? No way! Who knows? Maybe I'll have some culinary epiphany five years from now and won't be able to get enough of it. But, I highly doubt it.

The one odd exception is grated Parmesan in olive oil for dipping bread in Italian restaurants (we'll call this your L'Ascension ).

I think this would have been a more effective example if not for the fact that the post in question was in response not simply to your praise of minimalists, but to your claim that minimalists proved to people that "not all modern music had to be awful." [Apologies if I have misremembered the exact wording).  Had the response been to a simple praising of minimalists, I'd agree that it was out of line; however, your post was so needlessly provocative (and frankly insulting to those of us who enjoy  non-minimalist contemporary compostion) that it pretty much demanded such a response, IMO. 

As to "It's OK to hate music, and it's OK to say so," I guess I'll just repeat what I said before--it seems to me incumbent upon us to express such viewpoints with considered diplomacy.  Why would one not want to?  I don't understand the need for people to be so scathing in their expressions of negative judgments.  For example, my least favorite classical styles tend to be ones that seem to be favorites of yours (minimalism and 18th century classicism); however, I would normally be extra careful about expressing negative opinions about them (and certainly never imply that the music itself is at fault for my lack of full appreciation), both out of respect for those who feel differently, and out of the consideration that I may well change my mind about them as my tastes grow and develop (so why say something now that I'll almost surely regret having said later)? 

+1, totally agree

[Sadko]

Would I bet my life that I won't like cheese for the rest of my life? No way! Who knows? Maybe I'll have some culinary epiphany five years from now and won't be able to get enough of it. But, I highly doubt it.

One never knows, a relative of mine changed her mind about cheese only in her old age

[The new erato]

Never too late to get cheesy!

[ritter]

I dislike cheese of all forms and I actually can't even eat something with cheese without spitting it out. I've been like for my whole life and I'm almost positive I won't change.

That makes two of us  (my exception being molten cheese, such as on pizza)...

I see you purchased the score for Trois petites Liturgies....I really must give this work another opportunity, but the last time I listened to it, I could find no redeeming features. 

Then again, Et exspecto... yesterday I found very, very impressive, and varied (but dispensing of the bombast and sentimentality that, IMHO, diminish the value of, e.g. Turangalila). A superb work!

Regards,

[Night Vision]

I bought this set over a year ago and have barely listened to it so lets give it a shot - currently playing the Gadfly Suite and its pretty good :

[EigenUser]

One never knows, a relative of mine changed her mind about cheese only in her old age

Never too late to get cheesy!

Awwww, thanks for the support, guys!

That makes two of us  (my exception being molten cheese, such as on pizza)...

I see you purchased the score for Trois petites Liturgies....I really must give this work another opportunity, but the last time I listened to it, I could find no redeeming features. 

Then again, Et exspecto... yesterday I found very, very impressive, and varied (but dispensing of the bombast and sentimentality that, IMHO, diminish the value of, e.g. Turangalila). A superb work!

Regards,

Trois Petites Liturgies is one that I like very much and I found a copy of the score for only(?!) $39 with free shipping. I listen to the third movement the most often (yes, I usually listen to them separately ). It reminds me a lot of the Turangalila-Symphonie, so it makes sense why someone might not like it who doesn't like the TS. While I initially was put off by the chanting in the third movement when I first heard it, now I find it, well, enchanting.

Since Messiaen's works are so long (yes, I do think that they can be too long), I have found it best to approach them by listening to movements at a time. I would never recommend a person new to a work to listen to it through the first time, though I'm sure many here will disagree.

[springrite]

I bought this set over a year ago and have barely listened to it so lets give it a shot - currently playing the Gadfly Suite and its pretty good :

I remember watching Gadfly (the Soviet movie) and loved the music. I assume it's this work by Shostakovich?

[Night Vision]

I remember watching Gadfly (the Soviet movie) and loved the music. I assume it's this work by Shostakovich?

I believe so Springrite - the score for the film is performed as a suite in my box-set. Listening to the 3rd movement now and it sounds really happy (so not really your typical Shostakovich music)!

[Mandryka]

Ketil Haugsand plays solo keyboard music by Rameau, just released on spotify, I'm listening to it for the first time. I could sense that Haugsand was going through a good patch from his recording of Bach's English Suites, and this new one confirms my judgement I think. What Haugsand has become is a master of baroque voicing - and he understands how to juxtapose the voices to make and resolve tensions. This is worth hearing for that reason, if you hear Rameau's music as something lyrical and simple, like a Schubert song, you may be in for an uncomfortable time if you hear these performances.

[Madiel]

Wow.

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I'm listening to the Krakowiak Rondo (op.14) for the first time in my life, via Spotify. This is a GREAT piece!

[Sadko]

Ketil Haugsand plays solo keyboard music by Rameau, just released on spotify, I'm listening to it for the first time. I could sense that Haugsand was going through a good patch from his recording of Bach's English Suites, and this new one confirms my judgement I think. What Haugsand has become is a master of baroque voicing - and he understands how to juxtapose the voices to make and resolve tensions. This is worth hearing for that reason, if you hear Rameau's music as something lyrical and simple, like a Schubert song, you may be in for an uncomfortable time if you hear these performances.

nice cover :-)

[Mandryka]

nice cover :-)

I agree.

I'll add another thing which will either attract or repel people from this new recording. It is very intense and very serious. Straight up my alley.