What are you listening to now?

[Ken B]

Debussy, Images
Ravel, Mother Goose
NYPO, Bernstein, big box

[EigenUser]

Debussy, Images
Ravel, Mother Goose
NYPO, Bernstein, big box

Other than the Gigues, Debussy's orchestral Images never really struck me. Ravel's Ma Mere L'Oye, on the other hand...

Currently, Simeon Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato, Section 74 (anytime someone tells me that there is something that gets stuck in my head, I have to hear it). Beautiful!
http://www.youtube.com/v/pFbT87unaq0

[Wakefield]

Catharine Crozier Plays Great Organ Works of Cesar Franck
Recorded on the Great Marcussen Pipe Organ in Wiedermann Hall, Wichita State University, Kansas



Superb recording.

[Ken B]

Other than the Gigues, Debussy's orchestral Images never really struck me. Ravel's Ma Mere L'Oye, on the other hand...

Currently, Simeon Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato, Section 74 (anytime someone tells me that there is something that gets stuck in my head, I have to hear it). Beautiful!
http://www.youtube.com/v/pFbT87unaq0

Yes, the Debussy is dull. I guess that means its a good performance. The Ravel has nice bits.

Has your soul been saved? Have you found minimalism at last? 

It,s a wonderful  piece. Try his other multi piano stuff. Wonderful.

[Wanderer]

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[Moonfish]

Elgar:
Symphony No 1 (1976 version)
In the South (1970)
Elegy

London PO/Boult

from:
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Brahms: Piano Concerto No 2             Zimerman/Wiener Philharmoniker/Bernstein

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Weiss: Lute Sonatas Vol 8                 Barto

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[amw]

Maazel/Berlin or Boulez/Vienna or Paita (for a really wild ride).

Chailly/Concertgebouw - Swifter than most, fits on one CD, beautifully played
Boulez/Vienna - Who would have thought that Mr. Cerebral would do such a riveting version? I wouldn't have. (And I'm a Boulez fan.)

Ok that's two nods to Rolling Stone. His turn now:



edit: I hate to sound like a stereotype. But this just isn't visceral enough, somehow. Boulez, cold and unemotional, ner ner ner. He's not really, it's great conducting all around, everything building towards the inevitability of the final cadence... but perhaps that's just not what I'm looking for out of Bruckner right now?

Pros:
- Orchestra can play quietly. Definite advantage over USSR Ministry of Culture SO.
- Orchestra is much more secure. The Wagner Tubas are badly out of tune at a few key moments, but that's the worst of it.
- Excellent architectural sense as described above. Things are happening, dooms are foretold. Perhaps less Star Wars, more Lord of the Rings, with 'drums in the deep' and the Balrog carrying Gandalf to a fiery demise (NB. I have only read the first book of Lord of the Rings) and so forth.
- Last 8 minutes or so of the adagio are pretty great

Cons:
- Scherzo is low energy, not menacing enough & seems to take forever to end. Thumbs down.
- Harps not prominent enough
- That's actually it

+/-
- Very 'doom and gloom', apocalyptic sort of feeling. Maybe that's just the piece. (I notice it's occasionally been referred to as the 'Apocalyptic'...)
- The last three notes are really, really slow. The motive has been "deeeeeeee... daraDUM" throughout the piece, stretching it out that much completely removes its identity.
- In general... I don't know. In the final coda for instance, Boulez plays the leap onto the F major chord as an inevitability, a classical vi-IV-I plagal cadence. I much prefer that chord being a moment of ultimate uncertainty, a leap into the unknown where the orchestra seems to lose faith and stall for a moment, before the trumpets push past it with a grinding dissonance into the triumphal concluding C major. I want F major to sound as though it comes completely by surprise. Maybe Boulez will eventually win me over to his conception, I don't know. His recording certainly has enough good qualities. But for the moment, I'm not convinced.

[Que]

Morning listening:

 

Q

[EigenUser]

Yes, the Debussy is dull. I guess that means its a good performance. The Ravel has nice bits.

Has your soul been saved? Have you found minimalism at last? 

It,s a wonderful  piece. Try his other multi piano stuff. Wonderful.

I'm intrigued to do so... I only heard that 10 minute clip yesterday, but I really liked it. It reminds me of Reich's Music for 18 Musicians (a good thing!).

Here's a screenshot I took yesterday as I was closing apps on my iPhone at the gym. I think that now is the time to post it. Cheers to Monkey Greg for recommending the Nyman as running music a few months ago. And cheers to me for the Boulez (Notations for orchestra, II. Vif, strident) .


About the Ravel Ma Mere L'Oye -- I played it in orchestra a few years ago. We also did the Prelude and Danse du Rouet et Scene from the complete ballet. I had already known the string quartet, but that was when my love of Ravel's music really started.

Currently, Ligeti's Piano Concerto. Speaking of minimalism, there are clear influences of it in here.
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[amw]

I'm intrigued to do so... I only heard that 10 minute clip yesterday, but I really liked it.

The whole thing is of variable duration (generally 1-4 hours; you can pick whichever suits your schedule) and various versions can also be found on youtube. You have no excuse now.

[North Star]

It has been a long time loyal companion, in a previous guise. And a perfect base to complement with individual recordings.
The recordings are a bit older, mostly from the 1970s, but I don't mind and they sound good for their age. It might also be a relative disadvantage considering that the sound quality of the recordings of the main competing set by the Capuchon brothers et al is reportedly its main drawback....

Anyway, the fact that I am planning to replace my current bulky set by this slim box, might be telling. I would recommend the augmented Trio Wanderer for the piano quartets.

Q

Thanks, I'll probably get the set later this year.

[Que]

Just the Missa l'homme armé for comparison:

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Q

[TheGSMoeller]

Here's a screenshot I took yesterday as I was closing apps on my iPhone at the gym. I think that now is the time to post it. Cheers to Monkey Greg for recommending the Nyman as running music a few months ago. And cheers to me for the Boulez (Notations for orchestra, II. Vif, strident) .

Are you running full speed by the end of the Nyman? 
Glad to hear the piece is working out for you, Nate. 

[RebLem]

Since my last report, I have listened to the following:

CD 2 of the 4 CD set of the Haydn London Symphonies on deutsche harmonia mundi by Sigiswald Kuijken and Le Petite Bande.  Sym. 94 in G Major "Surprise" (23:11), rec. 1992   |   Sym. 101 in D Major "The Clock" (28:16), rec. 1994   |   Sym. 102 in B Flat Major (24:04), rec. 1995.

CD 8 of 10 in the Paul Lewis cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas on harmonia mundi--# 5 in C Minor, Op. 10/1 (19:55)   |   # 6 in F Major, Op. 10/2 (14:20)   |   # 7 in D Major, Op. 10/3 (25:15).  Rec. APR 2007.

Schubert-Denisov: Lazarus, religious drama in 3 acts, D. 689.(130:42)--Helmuth Rilling, cond., Bach-Collegium, Stuttgart, and Gachinger Kantorei Stuttgart--Soloists: Maria--Sibylla Rubens, soprano; Martha--Camilla Nylund, soprano; Jemina: Simone Nold, soprano: Lazarus: Scot Weir, tenor: Nathanael: Kurt Azesberger, tenor: Ein Jungling: Christian Voigt, tenor: Simon: Matthias Goerne, bass-- Text by August Hermann Niemeyer.  Rec. 22-26 JAN 1996

Mahler: Sym 8 "Symphony of a Thousand"--Pierre Boulez, cond. Staatskapelle Berlin, Chor der Deutschen Staatoper Berlin, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Aurelius Sangerknaben CALW; Twyla Robinson, Sop. I (Magna Peccatrix); Erin Wall, Sop. II (Una poenitentium): Adriane Queiroz, Sop. III (Mater gloriosa); Michelle DeYoung, Contralto I (Mulier Samaritana); Simone Schroeder, Contralto II (Maria Aegyptiaca): Johan Botha, Tenor (Doctor Marianus): Hanno Mueller-Brachmann, Baritone (Pater ecstaticus): Robert Holl, Bass (Pater profundus).  DGG

IMNSHO, the Kuijken set of the London Symphonies stands out as the preferred set.  This is the one to have if your are having only one. 

Lewis is a wonderful young British pianist who is one of the hot items in the classical world these days.  Although  these are early sonatas, his tenth published work, in fact, these already sound like the Beethoven all of us are familiar with: the awkward, peasant gait of the music, the sudden explosions of sound, the sophisticated variations.

Schubert began writing Lazarus in 1820 and worked on it most of the year, off and on, but then put it aside, unfinished.  He had the whole work outlined, but he did not orchestrate the third act at all, and only part of the second act.  It was completed by the Russian composer Edison Denisov (1929-1996) at Helmuth Rilling's request.  He built the third act out of whole cloth, with only the text to guide him, and he also completed much of the second act as well.  So, although it  just says Schubert on the CD, I think it is more appropriate to say it is by Schubert-Denisov. 

This Lazarus is a wonderful work and a fine recording.  The singing is superb; The piece is through-composed, with no spoken dialogue as in Beethoven's Fidelio.  The singers are wonderful, esp. Sibylla Rubens, whom I remember from Rilling's recordings of the Bach cantatas.  Rubens sang on many of them, and she is in just as fine voice here as there.  The only criticism I have is that there is some "zilching," and occasional sound that sound like scratching on the CD.  It could probably be cleaned up by sound technicians on a future release, but it is regrettable to find it here.  It seems to me mostly absent on CD 2, however.

Boulez's Mahler 8 is a superb performance, full of life and vigor.  The only criticisms I have is that the soloists don't seem prominent enough, and Robert Holl seems to have a somewhat underpowered bass voice.

[Sergeant Rock]

Bruckner Symphony No.8 C minor, Paita conducting his hired guns




Sarge

[Que]

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Q

[Moonfish]

Gieseking playing Mendelssohn:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7BFGi80d91A

[Sergeant Rock]

Bruckner Symphony No.8 C minor, Gielen conducting the SWR SO Baden-Baden




Sarge

[André]

Excellent review, amw. I have always been of two minds on that Boulez B 8. An uncomfortable feeling, something that never gets properly resolved.

[Sergeant Rock]

Cons:
- Scherzo is low energy, not menacing enough & seems to take forever to end. Thumbs down.

Should that Scherzo be menacing? Years ago I read a review that said the Scherzo was like the Engine of Heaven (so going on "forever" seems fitting  )  Menacing is more a characteristic of the Ninth's Scherzo, the Eighth's evil twin, the Engine of Hell    In any case, if you want to hear it high energy, listen to Paita's performance. Check your mail.

Sarge