What are you listening to now?

[Karl Henning]

More Liszt:

http://www.youtube.com/v/VaMT44YCfb0

[(poco) Sforzando]

5000! 

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Orchestral Suites Nos. 3 & 4 [Dart]....

[aligreto]

Nope, it's not lush mush. I highly recommend this Atterberg symphony set. If you can get a good deal on it, I'd jump on it.

OK, great. Thank you for that.

[The new erato]

OK, great. Thank you for that.

Currently at 30 Euros at jpc.de.

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3....

[aligreto]

Currently at 30 Euros at jpc.de.

Thank you 

[Mandryka]

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3....

That's the one where he inserts a movement from a violin concerto.

[Karl Henning]

And the miraculous f minor Ballade:

http://www.youtube.com/v/qd53eF_V_ZE

[Karl Henning]

So I could not resist:

http://www.youtube.com/v/mJ9o6PPSL88

[king ubu]

Only just starting out listening (and after getting the final missing volumes of the concerto series, got the four missing solo volumes today - these 51 volumes are stacking up high indeed!), but enjoying it tremendously so far!

[Karl Henning]

Mennin
Symphony № 7, « Variation-Symphony » (1963)
Seattle Symphony
Schwarz

[asin]B0085AXTFK[/asin]

[André]

I'm experiencing a small Bruckner renaissance at the moment:

[asin]B000002S1I[/asin]
I quite forgot about the existence of  this recording on my shelves.... And it has been been a long time...judging from the dated issue from 1999. It has been reissued since the at least two times.

Anyway, I am enjoying the performance. Though I'm not sure if the slightly sweet and woolly sound of the New Philharmonia Orvhestra is entirely to my liking - I miss the translucent sound of the BRSO and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.... Klemperer doesn't dilly dally and I definitely like that, yet he is surprisingly mellow and rounded.
His approach sounds kind of Mahlerian to me...
A very nice, fascinating performance indeed, but I don't think it me it would represent the ultimate in Bruckner.

Q

Currently listening to the Stein WP recording.

About 5 years ago, I went to a Bruckner 6th concert with a friend, Myung-Wun-Chung conducting the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra. His comment was that Chung conducted the 6th as if it was Nielsen !

I'll never get to understand his POV (we met only once since - for another Bruckner concert) and my knowledge of Nielsen (let alone any musical connection between Bruckner and Nielsen) is just not on the same level.

I know 3 different Klemperer performances: 2 on EMI (BRSO and Philharmonia Orchestra) and another one, contemporaneous but wildly different, with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. All three are spectacularly unlike any other.

I prefer the ones that have no negatives (orchestral playing, interpretional indifference or crude engineering). From that bunch I choose those that have a strong profile, a positive character (this is A Major after all!) and a personality that stands above the crowd:

- Keilberth with the mighty Berliner Philharmoniker (Teldec). A Siegfried-like interpretation.
- Bongartz, also in Berlin, but east of the Wall (Berlin Classics). Gruff, unyielding, beautifully played.
- Leitner  with the cultured, noble SWF, Baden-Baden orchestra (+ you get the best Hartmann 6 there is on disc)
- Stein WP on Decca. Elegant, powerful but never exaggerated.

I listen with almost equal relish to Kegel RSO Leipzig, the 2 Klemperer EMI, Rögner (Berlin RSO),  the other Leitner (in Basel), Jochum in Munich (BRSO), Wand in Cologne and, when in the mood for a gentler, kinder take on the work, Lopez-Cobos' glowing Cincinnati recording (possibly the opposite of Kegel's dark, turbulent, mighty way).

The 6th is possibly the most open of the corpus to a wide spectum of interpretive ways and visions.

Edit copy & paste in Bruckner Abbey.

[aligreto]

Wonderful concertos from Joseph Arnold Gross and Michael Haydn....

[aligreto]

Finishing off this exciting new find with Nykken, a symphonic painting for orchestra....

[kishnevi]

From the Brilliant Handel Edition



Sounding much more 19th century than 18th century.

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 BWV 1052....

[André]

I had not heard this opera in the last four decades (a Supraphon production). I'm confused: both the Prelude and conclusion seem to be vastly different. The latter especially. I recall a great 'liberty' chorus fro the prisoners as the last number. I'll have to check this out. A rare occurence of a modern recording not living up to old memories.

[Simula]

Am now listening to: Boulez Piano Sonata No.2

[(poco) Sforzando]

Mennin
Symphony № 7, « Variation-Symphony » (1963)
Seattle Symphony
Schwarz

[asin]B0085AXTFK[/asin]

But re Moby Dick: read the book instead.