What are you listening to now?

[North Star]

Oscar Peterson
Things Ain't What They Used to Be
Back Home in Indiana
George Gershwin
I Loves You Porgy

Steven Osborne
http://areena.yle.fi/1-3388784

[André]

This is the first time I prefer a JEG version to one of its competitors (make that two: Mackerras and Preston)  . The work is Handel's gigantic Concerto for chorus and the occasional soloist, aka Israel in Egypt.

..........................................................................



Maybe some day the recitant part will be replaced by an instrumental transcription (viola ?). It would be nice to be rid of the hopelessly passé Giraud poems. OTOH it's nice to hear its campy declamation from time to (distant) time. So, there it is, and a good interpretation at that.

I don't like Webern's music. Any of it. Therefore I never lose an occasion to listen to it when it crosses my path (as on this disc).

[André]

EMI's recordings for Karajan in the seventies seem to be the acme of the art of capturing a huge orchestra in transparent, spacious sound. That the Meister was at his most self-indulgent at the time is of course a coincidence, therefore for many these recordings are a curate's egg. To be noted: James Galway's solo flute playing in the first movement. Priceless.

This is one of the best of the lot. Amplitude of sound and conception seem to go hand in hand with immense concentration in execution. Karajan's later DG recording with the WP is slightly more fragile, less certain of its tranquil possession of the musical truth. Many prefer it for its more human conception and less insolent execution.

[Sergeant Rock]

Arnold Symphony No.8, Gamba conducting the BBC Phil




Sarge

[Karl Henning]

I don't like Webern's music. Any of it. Therefore I never lose an occasion to listen to it when it crosses my path (as on this disc).

And on the positive side:  It never lasts terribly long! 

[Karl Henning]

Maybe some day the recitant part will be replaced by an instrumental transcription (viola ?). It would be nice to be rid of the hopelessly passé Giraud poems. OTOH it's nice to hear its campy declamation from time to (distant) time. So, there it is, and a good interpretation at that.

Not surprisingly, much can depend upon the recitrix.  I don't know this Jane Manning/Rattle performance, but Anja Silja is marvelously musical in the Op.21.

[aligreto]

Arvo Part:

De Profundis
Es sang vor langen Jahren
Summa

all from this very fine CD....

[listener]

Oboe Concertos by R. STRAUSS and B. MARTINŮ, L'Horloge de Fiore by FRANÇAIX
John Anderson, oboe     Philharmonica Orch.   Simon Wright, cond.
lovely disc!
REGER: Mozart Variations    HINDEMITH: Weber Variations
Bavarian Radio S.O.    Colin Davis, cond.

[Todd]

[aligreto]

Dvorak: The Golden Spinning Wheel [Chalabala]....

[Drasko]

https://www.youtube.com/v/cwr46veZW3Q

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Five Variants of Dives & Lazarus
Jacques Orchestra / David Willcocks

[Todd]

Starting in on Pizarro's Rach with disc four (volume two, disc two), given over to the Op 3 Morceaux de Fantaisie and Op 23 Preludes.  Pizarro's playing is laid back and contemplative, not to say languid, much of the time.  This brings out a different feel in the music, and has its charms.  Op 3/2 is the least thunderous, showy version I've heard, and still works. 

Sound is odd/poor for a modern recording.  Comparatively bass heavy and rich, it sounds as though that is accomplished by suppressing higher frequencies in post-production - or there was a problem with the microphones.  The sound is opaque, and occasionally muffled yet flinty, and sounds compressed. 

[Mirror Image]

https://www.youtube.com/v/cwr46veZW3Q

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Five Variants of Dives & Lazarus
Jacques Orchestra / David Willcocks

Coincidently, I was just listening to this, but only from this recording:



Now playing:



A new acquisition. Listening to Er Huang. Absolutely breathtaking.

[Todd]

Disc 4. 

[Kontrapunctus]

This 7-disc set arrived today. I started with the Fantasy in C Op.17. Nice, very nice.

[Que]

Morning listening:



reissue: http://www.amazon.com/Bruhns-Deutsche-Kantaten-Cantus-Colln/dp/B0063JALD8

Q

[Harry]

New acquisition. First listen. From the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, Volume 4. A excellent follow up of the previous 3 volumes.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/04/bull-john-1562-3-1628-works-for.html?spref=tw

[Harry]

New acquisition. First listen. Absolute choral bliss.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/04/carolus-maximus-music-in-life-of.html?spref=tw

[NikF]

Schmitt: Psalm 47 - Martinon/Guiot/O.R.T.F.

[Mookalafalas]

Played the first 9 discs of this:

[asin]B010RQBBIQ[/asin]

Wowed as I was, got the taste for something more old school.  Loaded up a bunch from this:

[asin]B00LTQ5EVY[/asin]