What are you listening to now?

[Mirror Image]

Now that is a Berg piece I really love a lot, but the version with Fleming makes me want to put a gun to my speakers 

Ummm...I listened to the Lyric Suite without the soprano. Fleming's vocal work is only included in a separate track of the final movement, so you can easily bypass her contribution and still hear the entire work instrumentally with no interruption.

[NikF]

These works are terrific, mainly (for me) the wonderful Concert

Absolutely, yes.

This morning - Also listening to some Brahms :



Symphony #4

Listening to various performances of this Symphony.



String Sextet's #1 & 2

That Klemperer cycle was a gift from an ex and served as my intro to the symphonies.
As for the sextets - beautiful. Beautiful. 

[TheGSMoeller]

Janacek: Idyll for strings
Schwarz - Seattle Symphony

[asin]B00A8QBFFA[/asin]

[Autumn Leaves]

That Klemperer cycle was a gift from an ex and served as my intro to the symphonies.
As for the sextets - beautiful. Beautiful. 

Hey Nik - Yes those Sextets sure are nice!. I like most all of Brahms Chamber Music and think his compositions using only Strings are especially good.
I tried a few different Brahms sets before arriving at Klemperer's - His interpretations suit my tastes well. I especially like his 4th and return to it when I can.
How are you enjoying Karajan's 60's Brahms cycle? - I don't own that one and am very curious about it (especially as the critical concensus seems to be that they are his best recordings of these works).

[HIPster]

Playing the first disc from this very fine 2 CD set ~

[asin]B01N0GWQ1D[/asin]

Superb performances and sound.   

[springrite]

Now:



Listening to Symphony No. 3, "The Camp Meeting". This may be the best performance of this symphony I've heard. I mean MTT, Sinclair, and Litton are excellent of course, but there's a bit more bite in Lenny's approach, which I find most pleasing. But, of course, it's quite possible that I've gone right out of my mind.

This being "The best performance of this symphony" and you going out of your mind are not mutually exclusive, you know.

It IS the best performance of this work and you ARE out of your mind (but not ABOUT this). 

[NikF]

Hey Nik - Yes those Sextets sure are nice!. I like most all of Brahms Chamber Music and think his compositions using only Strings are especially good.
I tried a few different Brahms sets before arriving at Klemperer's - His interpretations suit my tastes well. I especially like his 4th and return to it when I can.
How are you enjoying Karajan's 60's Brahms cycle? - I don't own that one and am very curious about it (especially as the critical concensus seems to be that they are his best recordings of these works).

Hello Conor.  Yeah, of the cycles I own the Klemperer 4 is definitely one of my favourites.
I'd read the same kind of critical reviews regarding that early Karajan cycle. That's why I bought it but unfortunately I still don't have any of his others to compare it with. However as a stand alone they're certainly powerful, vivid interpretations. But as I said, my frame of reference is generally limited.

Almost as an aside, I don't know how you feel about older and/or mono recordings, but I have this recording of the Sextet in B flat Major featuring Pablo Casals and find a moment in the second movement when his cello is solo that's almost worth the price of admission alone. 

[asin]B0000262GI[/asin]


If you're inclined you can listen to it via this YouTube link of a clip from Malle's 'Les Amants' -

https://youtu.be/BgSJDuyrvWI

The cello is at about 8:30  It's played with passion, yet such gravitas - like some wise old dude imparting a message or insight of great wisdom or something. 

[Mirror Image]

This being "The best performance of this symphony" and you going out of your mind are not mutually exclusive, you know.

It IS the best performance of this work and you ARE out of your mind (but not ABOUT this). 

HAH! You know me too well, Paul.

[Autumn Leaves]

Hello Conor.  Yeah, of the cycles I own the Klemperer 4 is definitely one of my favourites.
I'd read the same kind of critical reviews regarding that early Karajan cycle. That's why I bought it but unfortunately I still don't have any of his others to compare it with. However as a stand alone they're certainly powerful, vivid interpretations. But as I said, my frame of reference is generally limited.

Almost as an aside, I don't know how you feel about older and/or mono recordings, but I have this recording of the Sextet in B flat Major featuring Pablo Casals and find a moment in the second movement when his cello is solo that's almost worth the price of admission alone. 

[asin]B0000262GI[/asin]


If you're inclined you can listen to it via this YouTube link of a clip from Malle's 'Les Amants' -

https://youtu.be/BgSJDuyrvWI

The cello is at about 8:30  It's played with passion, yet such gravitas - like some wise old dude imparting a message or insight of great wisdom or something. 

Thanks for your response and your recommendation - I am quite fond of older recordings: Most of my collecting is of "classic" Stereo recordings and I sometimes dip into Mono ones as well if the sound quality is not too bad.
I like Casals and have his recording of Bach's Cello Suites on EMI - I had a look at the details of the Brahms Sextet CD recording and its from 1952 so I will definitely check it out (I find that Mono recordings made after about 1950 often sound quite nice)!.

[Spineur]

Almost as an aside, I don't know how you feel about older and/or mono recordings, but I have this recording of the Sextet in B flat Major featuring Pablo Casals and find a moment in the second movement when his cello is solo that's almost worth the price of admission alone. 

[asin]B0000262GI[/asin]


If you're inclined you can listen to it via this YouTube link of a clip from Malle's 'Les Amants' -

https://youtu.be/BgSJDuyrvWI

The cello is at about 8:30  It's played with passion, yet such gravitas - like some wise old dude imparting a message or insight of great wisdom or something. 

It is a terrific interpretation of one of the best Brahms composition.  The other recording of it I have by the Talich just doesnt compare.  I love this piece.

[kishnevi]

I've had my eye on the Heath Quartet cycle.. what do you think of the work, Karl?

Interjection:
The Tippett SQs are not among my top tier cycles, but I think Tippett has nothing to be ashamed of with them.  I have the recordings by the Tippett Quartet on Naxos.

[NikF]

Thanks for your response and your recommendation - I am quite fond of older recordings: Most of my collecting is of "classic" Stereo recordings and I sometimes dip into Mono ones as well if the sound quality is not too bad.
I like Casals and have his recording of Bach's Cello Suites on EMI - I had a look at the details of the Brahms Sextet CD recording and its from 1952 so I will definitely check it out (I find that Mono recordings made after about 1950 often sound quite nice)!.

You're welcome. 
I find that too and at some point will make a concerted effort to seek out recordings from that era. But at the moment I've still so much of classical repertoire to hear for the first time that I'm trying to avoid too many diversions. 

It is a terrific interpretation of one of the best Brahms composition.  The other recording of it I have by the Talich just doesnt compare.  I love this piece.

Yeah, there's definitely something special about it. How wonderful to have  recordings of such performances available. 

[Mirror Image]

Interjection:
The Tippett SQs are not among my top tier cycles, but I think Tippett has nothing to be ashamed of with them.  I have the recordings by the Tippett Quartet on Naxos.

Yeah, Tippett had plenty to be be embarrassed about with New Year's Suite.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to String Quartet No. 5, SZ 105. An endlessly fascinating work in a stellar performance.

About the String Quartet No. 5:

In the six years separating the fourth and fifth string quartets, Bartók wrote comparatively little music, but the works he did complete pointed to his mature style of the 1930s and 1940s, in which directness of compositional technique is coupled with a new concern for clear communication. The Cantata Profana (1930) and Piano Concerto No. 2 (1931) demonstrated a new linear style that incorporated elements of unabashed triadic harmony; while the 44 Duos for 2 violins, Sz. 98 (1931), were pivotal to a number of artistic roads Bartók would shortly travel. As teaching pieces they rekindled Bartók's interest in creating learning material based on Eastern European folk music, and as explorations of string technique, they paved the way for the String Quartet No. 5, easily Bartók's most virtuosic essay in the form.

For his fifth string quartet, Bartók again used the five-movement arch form, this time employing a more distinctive variation technique in which the first and fifth movements, and the second and fourth, closely mirror each other. The opening movement presents its three ideas in rapid succession: the first is a series of unison repeated notes from which rockets a querulous, chromatic melody, the second features a trilling figuration, and the third is rhythmically irregular with many double-stops. The development is introduced by a quiet, sinuous passage based on the first theme in imitative counterpoint, after which the theme turns into a Fugue. A dance-like passage emerges as the third theme, which then becomes an accompaniment for the second theme. The structure of the movement is loosely palindromic, and the themes are subjected to numerous variations. The inverted first theme brings the movement to an emphatic close.

The second movement begins in "night music" mode, with evanescent trills leading to a prayerful chorale in simple triadic harmony, and short-breathed sighs in unrelated keys from the violin. The nocturnal atmosphere takes over in the middle section, extending the sense of unease from the movement's introduction, with trills and pizzicati evoking the sounds of unseen birds and strange insects. After a restrained climax, the chorale resumes, but the triads are now chromatically tinged and anxious.

The keystone of the quartet's arch form is the middle movement, a scherzo in which 10 eighth notes per bar are subdivided according to the formula 5+2+3. A short arpeggiated theme is answered by a lively, irregular dance melody. In the middle section, the arpeggiated theme is intervallically compressed to become a high, skirling ostinato on the violin, against which a simple tune is sounded alternately by the other instruments. The dance tune returns with even higher spirits, though the ending is quiet and droll.

The fourth movement harks back to the second, and varies its material expressively. Desolate night music elements are now laced with a touch of humor, glissando pizzicati and short tremolando chords filling in for the second movement's prayerful sighs. The movement rises to an angry climax before closing with a series of glissando pizzicato chords from the cello that rise like question marks.

The finale, a variant of the first movement, modifies the original themes and sets them to a vigorous dance rhythm of serious intensity. The demands on the players are great, and the movement's propulsion is interrupted only by a short, satiric episode in which the violin plays a banal scale a half-tone higher than its accompaniment. A fast coda abruptly ends the work.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

[Que]

Morning listening:

[asin]B00005U0H4[/asin]

Despite the prominence of Henry Purcell on the cover, this disc also includes music by Richard Mico, a composer hitherto unknown to me, and John Jenkins.

Technical quality of fhis recording from 2001 is exceptional.

Q

[Que]

Playing the seventh and final disc in this set:

[asin]B01N5CDGDQ[/asin]

(....) this boxed set is a mandatory purchase for Baroque and Early Music enthusiasts.  Thus far, I have spun two of the seven discs; really looking forward to digging deeper within very soon! 

Thanks.... That's exactly what I wanted to know.


Q

[chord]

https://youtu.be/r7O8jM-WLEw

review
http://komolyzeneiajanlo.blogspot.hu/2016/02/kepzelt-riport-egy-velencei-vesperasrol.html

[SurprisedByBeauty]

#morninglistening to #Martinů w/@CzechPhil:http://ift.tt/2mzNX0A
A @surprisedbeauty compos... http://ift.tt/2nwvBgc

This i really like! (below). Very good amount of funk.


#morninglistening to @Baranova_Piano on @BerlinClassics:http://a-fwd.to/2VURKvK

♡♡♡ the... http://ift.tt/2nk1ExJ

[GioCar]

Fausto Romitelli - Dead City Radio

https://youtu.be/LmxzJQhNvlg

Fausto Romitelli's excellent cycle: Professor Bad Trip 

https://youtu.be/MBi42-_dOBc

Are you becoming a Romitellian too?   

Professor Bad Trip is my favorite, followed by An Index of Metals

Among his other works, I do like very much those in this album

[Florestan]

First listen

PIANO QUARTET in C minor Op. 1    
PIANO QUARTET in F minor Op. 2    

The Schubert Ensemble of London    

Hat tip to Todd for mentioning them elsewhere (not this performance). They are a delight from start to finish, and the Adagio of the F minor is heavenly.

KONZERTSTÜCK for clarinet, basset-horn and piano in F major Op. 114    

Rainer Schumacher, clarinet    
Gerhard Albert, bassethorn    
Roland Keller, piano

This is such a fun piece! Something for our dear Karl to perform. 



Vivaldi gives Haydn a run for his money when it comes to unbuttoned, joyous and happy sacred music. The Credo here is sublime.