What are you listening to now?

[Madiel]

Sibelius, Songs for Mixed Choir from the Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1897, op.23

[asin]B00000377S[/asin]

[North Star]

Fresh from the mail for Test-drive Tuesday

Mondonville
Grands Motets
Sophie Daneman, Maryseult Wieczorek, Paul Agnew, Francois Piolino, Maarten Koningsberger, Francois Bazola
Les Arts Florissants
Bill Christie
[asin]B00L4DV9FM[/asin]

[prémont]

Has anyone heard Glen Wilson's Froberger yet?

Listened to

Froberger: 23 suites. Glen Wilson, harpsichord, CD 1 of 2 (Naxos)

The playing is extremely sober and austere, even more than Leonhardt's playing sometimes was.
Wilson omits all repeats, because (as he states in the notes) : "The extensive ornamentation these [the repeats] require is a matter for individual taste". Accordingly the suites last between 3 and 5 minutes each, the resulting impression is indeed ephemeric and lacking in passion, and all in all the recording feels more like a registration than an interpretation. I can not recommend this without reservation.

[Madiel]

Sibelius, The Rapids-Rider's Brides, op.33

[asin]B00102FF8Y[/asin]

[Camphy]

SQ 10, 11 & 12

[Mirror Image]

Sibelius, The Rapids-Rider's Brides, op.33

[asin]B00102FF8Y[/asin]

Love that box set! Great stuff.

[Madiel]

Last Sibelius for the evening is The Breking of the Ice on the Oulu River, op.30. One of his works with a narrator.

Re the box: it's proving one of the potentially interesting ones in the series. However, I'm still fundamentally irritated by BIS' approach of wheeling out each and every variation of a work. There are 4 copies of "Have You Courage?" for example.

[Mirror Image]

Last Sibelius for the evening is The Breking of the Ice on the Oulu River, op.30. One of his works with a narrator.

Re the box: it's proving one of the potentially interesting ones in the series. However, I'm still fundamentally irritated by BIS' approach of wheeling out each and every variation of a work. There are 4 copies of "Have You Courage?" for example.

Yes, your irritation is a bit on point, but I couldn't live without the original version of The Origin of Fire, Op. 32 for example. The revisions made by Sibelius, which usually were structural changes kind of zapped the original version's spirit whereas a work like his Symphony No. 5 or En Saga, I can see where his revisions really paid off.

[Karl Henning]

Игорь Фëдорович [ Igor Fyodorovich (Stravinsky) ]
Symphony in Three Movements
LSO
MTT

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Fresh from the mail for Test-drive Tuesday



Mondonville
Grands Motets
Sophie Daneman, Maryseult Wieczorek, Paul Agnew, Francois Piolino, Maarten Koningsberger, Francois Bazola
Les Arts Florissants
Bill Christie

Beautiful stuff, innit?!?

[Madiel]

Yes, your irritation is a bit on point, but I couldn't live without the original version of The Origin of Fire, Op. 32 for example. The revisions made by Sibelius, which usually were structural changes kind of zapped the original version's spirit whereas a work like his Symphony No. 5 or En Saga, I can see where his revisions really paid off.

I think some of the ones with significant revisions, like those you mention, I could live with being duplicated. But when there's just a series of different arrangements, like a male choir version followed by a mixed choir version, I'd be happy to just stick with the original conception. This is not just a Sibelius thing, it's my attitude generally.

Having said that, the voice & orchestra volume remains one of the more appealing boxes at this stage. But I don't know that I'll every buy any of them. I suspect I'm more likely to stick with single albums.

[Karl Henning]

Дмитрий Дмитриевич [ Dmitri Dmitriyevich (Shostakovich) ]
Симфония № 9 ми-бемоль мажор, соч. 70 [ Symphony № 9 in E^b, Opus 70 ] (1945)
Wiener Philharmoniker
Lenny

[North Star]

Beautiful stuff, innit?!?

Bien sûr!


As are these Rameau motets, too. 

[Camphy]

Symphony 2

[Dee Sharp]

Helen Grimaud: Resonances. Superb recital disc featuring the Mozart Sonata #8, Berg Sonata and Liszt B minor Sonata.  The Berg and Liszt are standouts. Piano recording is excellent. Recommended.

[Mirror Image]

I think some of the ones with significant revisions, like those you mention, I could live with being duplicated. But when there's just a series of different arrangements, like a male choir version followed by a mixed choir version, I'd be happy to just stick with the original conception. This is not just a Sibelius thing, it's my attitude generally.

Having said that, the voice & orchestra volume remains one of the more appealing boxes at this stage. But I don't know that I'll every buy any of them. I suspect I'm more likely to stick with single albums.

I think the whole idea of the BIS Sibelius Edition is to include everything under the sun that the composer has done for better or for worse. If you're a huge fan of the composer, as I am, then it's nice to have all of these different versions and it's certainly value added. Other than that, I don't really understand the need to complain about something that could easily be skipped over in favor of something else that you'd rather hear.

[Mister Sharpe]

Johann Strauss II : Perpetuum Mobile : ein Musikalischer Scherz

I've never outgrown my interest in perpetuum mobile (nor need I, as there are many more examples of it to listen to).  See the excellent list in Wiki:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetuum_mobile  Also, David Popper's Elfentanz is linked therein and well worth the listen (and appropriate for the season).

[HIPster]

Pure bliss...

+1 

Bliss, indeed.

Hopefully we see a box gathering all of the oop Lislevand recordings soon.

[North Star]

Haydn
Symphony No. 75 in D major (c. 1778-81)
The Academy of Ancient Music
Hogwood
[asin]B01BHFPU3S[/asin]

[bhodges]

Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 (Jansons/Berlin, from the 1994 Waldbühne) - Have been listening to multiple versions (on YouTube) and there are some fine ones. But these two I found the most captivating. Jansons and Berlin have the more sophisticated camera work, and perhaps more polished playing.

But the second one may beat it for sheer excitement: a live performance from June 2015 in the Bucharest Athenaeum (what a gorgeous-looking hall), with Vlad Vizireanu and the Camerata Regala. The camera is just a single shot, focused squarely on Vizireanu, but it's a nice, clear one, showing some of the hall's lovely details.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ikZLcG52xLQ

http://www.youtube.com/v/tKL7ZOLRfNw

--Bruce