What are you listening to now?

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande. I don't think I've heard this work better performed than here with HvK and Berliners.

[Karl Henning]

A first listen!

Brahms
Triumphlied, Op.55

[Abuelo Igor]

Listening to Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande. I don't think I've heard this work better performed than here with HvK and Berliners.

Maybe because Herbie doesn't feel the need to make it sound cool, detached and under control, as seems to be the rule with most "modern music" specialists just because it's by Schoenberg.

[Mirror Image]

Maybe because Herbie doesn't feel the need to make it sound cool, detached and under control, as seems to be the rule with most "modern music" specialists just because it's by Schoenberg.

Could very well be the case. I do recall enjoying a performance by Eschenbach and the Houston SO as well, which was somewhat similar to HvK's.

[Karl Henning]

Another first listen!

Brahms
Begräbnisgesang, Op.13

[listener]

That's never happened before - I have all three of those disks! What you say about the Sor, applies, for me, to all three.  Best sampled in tasty portions and not gorged upon.

I don't try to be different, I just am.   If luck comes in threes I'll pick up a lottery ticket this afternoon.
For now:  arias by HANDEL, BACH, SCARLATTI for Soprano and Trumpet
John Wallace, trumpet   Helen Field, soprano    Philharmonia Orch.    Simon Wright, cond.

[Obradovic]

Now:



Great work and performance.

... and poetry by Viktor Rydberg

[Brian]

Another version of the Symphony "No. 10" arr. by Newbould is on a cd I have with Mackerras. You might enjoy that one as well.

For Symphony "No. 7" the only recording I've heard that I like (there are several) is Marriner's. [It's just not that great a symphony though, easy to see why he got bored with it after the superlative introduction]

You're right: "No. 7" is just not that great; a lot of the time it sounds like Schubert, but a lot of it also sounds like Spohr, Ries, and all those less distinctive guys. The introduction's definitely the best part.

I think I have heard the Newbould "No. 10" before and liked it better than this version. Differences aren't major, but Newbould's orchestration was maybe more Schuberty and ear-catching.

Now, since I just found out there are TWO Ivan Fischer Schubert 8/9s, I'm listening to the earlier one:

[toledobass]

Boulez conducting Chicago with Van Dam in Mahler: 3 Ruckert.  A live recording from the Chicago Symphony Tribute to Pierre Boulez release.


A

[Brian]

Now, since I just found out there are TWO Ivan Fischer Schubert 8/9s, I'm listening to the earlier one:

The later (Channel) one is way better.

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - Dunedin Consort / John Butt....

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Is this my favorite recording of Sibelius's Sixth?  Dunno, jury's still out but it's sure in the running.  Maazel brings to it a crystalline quality that seems absolutely perfect; the Second here? Not so much!

[Ken B]

Is this my favorite recording of Sibelius's Sixth?  Dunno, jury's still out but it's sure in the running.  Maazel brings to it a crystalline quality that seems absolutely perfect; the Second here? Not so much!

Welcome back fiery one.
But please don't tell me you have been immersed in Delius!

[Mirror Image]

Speaking of Delius...

Now:



Listening to the Cello Concerto. Wonderful work and performance.

[André]

Delius: A Mass of Life. A quintessentially English composer writing his magnum opus in German. No wonder it has had a hard time establishing a foothold in the concert repertory. Then English won't program it because it is so difficult to learn in German - not to mention the incredibly vast repertoire of great choral works already written in English - and the Germans won,t bother since it's by Delius - of First Cuckoo fame. 

[Mirror Image]

Delius: A Mass of Life. A quintessentially English composer writing his magnum opus in German. No wonder it has had a hard time establishing a foothold in the concert repertory. Then English won't program it because it is so difficult to learn in German - not to mention the incredibly vast repertoire of great choral works already written in English - and the Germans won,t bother since it's by Delius - of First Cuckoo fame. 

A Mass of Life is top-notch for sure, but I wouldn't call it his 'magnum opus.' I don't really consider Delius an English composer. He was born in England, yes, that's a fact, but it's also a fact that Delius didn't have that great of an opinion of the country and certainly not the music. One problem is Delius didn't really have a country he could call his home unless we consider he spent most of his life in France. It's strange to think about really. I also don't think Delius' music is particularly English in sound but it does contain some of that pastoral sound but American, French, German, and the Scandinavians certainly factor into this overall sound-world as well.

[San Antone]

Songs of Gace Brulé, one of the French trouvères whose music dates from the 12th century.  This group is okay, I wish they performed with less vibrato, but recordings of this music are not so numerous to be picky.

Some info from Grove:

The great popularity enjoyed by Gace derives more from the fact that he satisfied admirably the conventions of his time than from particular originality of situation, imagery, or structure. The poet followed faithfully, and seldom strayed from, the paths laid by earlier troubadours. Among the many chansons attributed to Gace, only three, L'autrier estoie, Quant bone dame and Quant voi l'aube, do not begin with the rhyme scheme ABAB. Of the remainder, ten continue this pairing of rhymes still further; the rest are built in the standard pattern of two equal pedes and contrasting cauda. The continuation of the paired rhyme scheme in Quant voi la flor botoner is deceptive in that the musical structure would seem to indicate that the work was conceived in terms of pedes of four lines each. Most poems consist of either five or six strophes. Usually there are seven or eight verses per strophe, although there may be as many as 11 and as few as six. The largest single group of works is composed of isometric, decasyllabic strophes, while others intermingle decasyllables with shorter verses. Isometric heptasyllabic and octosyllabic verses are also fairly frequent. In the few more complex poems, Gace employed three or four different line lengths.

[HIPster]

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - Dunedin Consort / John Butt....

Hi aligreto - would love to read your thoughts on this set.  Thanks!   

Thread duty ~
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Golly, this is really great!

[TheGSMoeller]

The 4th, Op. 47 (Original 1930 Version)

Most times I feel that Prokofiev should have just left the 4th in its original form. I know the revised has the grand coda that seems to echo DSCH's 5th or 7th ending, but I really like the abrupt ending of the Prokofiev's 1930 version.

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[Mookalafalas]

Finally going through the Hogwood box in a serious way. Never even heard of Geminiani before.  Fun, energetic, elegant.  No surprises, but never a dull moment.

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