What are you listening to now?

[Philo]

Bach's Ascension Oratorio followed by Weber's Grand duo Concertante followed by Berlioz's Grande Symphonie funebre et triomphale

[Moonfish]

Sviatoslav Richter at Carnegie Hall
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos 22 & 23
Encores:
Schubert: Impromptu D899
Schumann: Aufschwung op 12.2
Chopin: Etudes  op 10.1, 10.12

It is only January, but I am starting to think that this could be one of the best boxes of 2015!   



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[Henk]

Finishing this one:

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[SonicMan46]

Bach, CPE - Solo Keyboard Works w/ Schornsheim on tangent piano (new acquisition for a re-listen) & Chaplin on piano.

Just have about a dozen discs of these solo works (and more of the concertos) - amazing HOW MUCH of this music CPE wrote - Spanyi is up to 29 volumes w/ a new release below (from the BIS website) & up to 20 volumes of the KB concertos - perhaps a box in the near future, but does one want that many?   Dave

 

[North Star]

Stravinsky
Ebony Concerto
Dumbarton Oaks
8 Instrumental Miniatures for 15 players
Concertino for String Quartet
Three Pieces for Clarinet solo
Élégie for solo viola (in memoriam Alphonse Onnou)
Ensemble InterContemporain
Boulez
[asin]B002XDFOGM[/asin]

[Philo]

Barber's Piano Sonata followed by Ives's Concord Sonata followed by Pizzetti's Piano Sonata

[Karl Henning]

Élégie for solo viola (in memoriam Alphonse Onou)

Now, why have I been thinking that it was in memoriam Natalie Koussevitzky?

[mahler10th]

This is a fine disc, by all the Gods!  The sooner I visit Finland the better!

[asin]B0000262IW[/asin]

[Moonfish]

de Victoria:
Missa Gaudeamus
Magnificat octavi toni
Vidi aquam
Missa Ave maris stella

Ensemble Plus Ultra/Noone

Serene tranquility!

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[RebLem]

Since my last report, I have been listening to the following:

CD1 of a 5 CD set of the complete Shostakovich string quartets performed by the Manderling Quartet on the audite label.

Tr. 1-4......String Quartet 1 in C Major, Op. 49 (14:42)
Tr. 5-8......String Quartet 2 in A Major, Op. 68 (33:43)
Tr. 9-12....String Quartet 4 in D Major, Op. 83 (29:29)

Many think the Manderling Quartet has done a better job with the Shostakovich Quartets than any other ensemble, and this first CD in the set begins to make a powerful case for that assertion.  The first two quartets seem, as Shosty often does, unrelievedly morose, but the fourth quartet begins to change the mood a bit from disabling sadness to stirring alarm.  The first movement of the fourth quartet here is particularly memorable.


Volume 6 of the 11 CD set of Shostakovich Symphonies by Oleg Caetani and the Coro e Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, both recorded @ the Auditorium di Milano, May, 2006.

Sym. 13 in B Flat Minor, Op. 113 "Babi Yar" (1962)--Pavel Kudinov, bass.
Caetani and his orchestra and chorus are in fine form here, as are the engineers (mostly).  What disappoints in this performance is the bass, Pavel Kudinov.  I can't quite decide whether he has a weak voice, or whether the miking of his contribution was inadequate, but his voice seems to have no particular character or distinguishing marks.  Although Haitink's set is my second least interesting set, his performance of this symphony is extraordinary, mostly because of the contribution of his bass, Marius Rintzler.

[North Star]

Now, why have I been thinking that it was in memoriam Natalie Koussevitzky?

I don't know.
"Composed in 1944 on a commission from Germain Prevost, then the violist of the ProArte Quartet, Elegie for Solo Viola was intended to be a memorial to the quartet's first violinist, Alphonse Onnou, who had died in 1940."

[Karl Henning]

Thanks!  Let me see if I can find a reason for my error.  (I may not, of course  )

[Karl Henning]

Nope, just bad information that we've only now dislodged.  For which, I thank thee!

[North Star]

Nope, just bad information that we've only now dislodged.  For which, I thank thee!

Your welcome. I did have the name typed with one 'n' too few in the surname though, probably my own typo. I'm sure I picked the title from the box (which I don't have at hand at present).

Thread duty - First-Listen Thursday
Rued Langgaard
String Quartet no. 1 (1914-15, rev. '36)
Nightingale String Quartet
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[ritter]

Before delving into my new Suzuki / Bach cantatas box, I've listened to this other recent arrival:



I hadn't listened to this version of Dallapiccola's very effective one-acter for more than 25 years, as it had never been transferred to CD. Vocally, it is quite good, but the highlight is Dorati's bringing out all the riches of Dallapiccola's orchestration. Highly recommended. 

[Karl Henning]

For a week I've listened to this in part each day:

Mompou
Música callada
Herbert Henck



I am a slow time warming to this take.

[North Star]

For a week I've listened to this in part each day:

Mompou
Música callada
Herbert Henck

I am a slow time warming to this take.

How is it in comparison with the other recordings (the Naxos one & the composer himself, IIRC) you know, Karl?

Thread duty
Langgaard
Rosengaardspiel, BVN 153 (1918)
Nightingales (on Spotify)
https://www.youtube.com/v/6hcSSoztaO0

[Philo]

Alfred Schnittke's Piano Sonatas 2 and 3 (No. 1 is one of my favorite ever.)

[Karl Henning]

How is it in comparison with the other recordings (the Naxos one & the composer himself, IIRC) you know, Karl?

I prefer both of those, Karlo.  I am resisting saying simply that I dislike Henck here . . . it's starting to make a kind of sense, but the composer himself and Jordi Maso both play the music more naturally (surely no surprise in the case of the composer    ).

[Fagotterdämmerung]

 https://www.youtube.com/v/BF7_D51vpmw

I had this playing a non-classical type overhearing it was really fascinated by it. It's rare for me to get a compliment on the music I have on.