What are you listening to now?

[vandermolen]

First impressions of the six symphonies: most impressed with 1-5. Regarding the sixth, was Nielsen hoping to enrol at the Second Viennese School? 😕

[asin]B00TQNMCHQ[/asin]

The first movement of No.6 is one of the most tragic pieces I know.

[Todd]

A player piano version of Liszt's Rhapsodie Espagnole.

[nodogen]

The first movement of No.6 is one of the most tragic pieces I know.

OK I've only listened the once so there is hope!

[Ken B]

First impressions of the six symphonies: most impressed with 1-5. Regarding the sixth, was Nielsen hoping to enrol at the Second Viennese School? 😕

[asin]B00TQNMCHQ[/asin]

Yes, the 6th is a clunker. But 2-5 are marvelous.

[Kontrapunctus]

[listener]

NIELSEN Flute Concerto and Clarinet Concerto
Paul Pázmándi, flute     Josef Deak, Clarinet
Philharmonia Hungarica     Othmar Maga, cond.
Artur SCHNABEL:  Trio, Duodecimet
Monod Ensemble

[amw]

Wimp. Some of us are made of sterner stuff. I got half way through track 2.

It's not that bad. Sounds pretty much like a harmonium with no registrations. >_>

OK I guess that's not really much of an endorsement.

edit: the F-sharp major prelude from book I is taken much too fast, especially for the instrument. Everything else sounds more or less ok. Overall a decent album but not revelatory.

[Todd]

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Zoooom!


And did you like 'em? Were you amused? 

Amused, indeed! Right at the outset about his birthday the notes had me grinning. As I read on I noticed the humorous angle, which is a definite departure when it comes to booklet notes. Kudos!

Do you do this kind of thing often?

[Ken B]

Nyman
MGV

[amw]

[TheGSMoeller]

The recording of this, Mendelssohn's magical music, from Ozawa/Boston on DG has been a long time desert-island disc. Not sure if this one from Gardiner and the LSO will replace it on the throne, and perhaps over time it just might, as it's the only other performance that comes close to my ears. I love having the narration included, as I feel that is where the true inspiration of the music comes from. The ending with Puck's final verse is as sweet, and exquisite as ever as Gardiner stretches the final minutes out with great patience.

[asin]B01MZ6IA9W[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Yes, the 6th is a clunker. But 2-5 are marvelous.

Actually, there's not a bad symphony from Nielsen. They're all magnificent. Ignore the naysayers, nodogen.

[Que]

Morning listening:



Q

[Wanderer]

.[asin]B00YCAU5CM[/asin]

[Mandryka]

Some ricercari from Andrea Gabrieli's Bk 2 by Roberto Loreggian.  These pieces work by subtle rhythmic variations, and that gives each toccata a unified feeling. It doesn't work by contrasts of mood, or climaxes, there is no narrative.

How to make it come off the page? I can't be sure, but I don't think Loreggian succeeds. My feeling is that part of the reason is that the performances are too homogeneous. If I compare the Andrea Gabrieli of Richard Stembridge with that of Roberto Loreggian, in the former there's a better sense of how to pace the music and phrase the music and punctuate the music with pauses, in a way which has the listener hanging off the edge of his seat. A greater sense of structure.

But it's easy for me to talk, and maybe the Stembridge style can't be done in Book 2. I enjoyed Loreggian's Bk 1 toccatas much more.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Amused, indeed! Right at the outset about his birthday the notes had me grinning. As I read on I noticed the humorous angle, which is a definite departure when it comes to booklet notes. Kudos!

Do you do this kind of thing often?

That's very gratifying to hear, Dancing Divertimentian. Thanks!
Not often ,per se but more and more. They tend to be effective, and I'd like to think they are because they are a departure from the usual stuffy way most notes are written and at the same time not as heady as the van den Hoogenblumen notes (or whatever his name is; he can often be funny in German though is usually ruined by the translation) for cpo. Other than to amuse, the notes intend to get reviews written about the CDs, mostly by presenting a story to pick up for the introductory paragraph of any review. Being plagiarized is therefore the greatest compliment to them. The most recent ones (Tchaik/DSCH) were even the explicit subject of a segment on West German Radio, which tickled me quite a bit.

Here are the other attempts so far:
Braunfels Songs
Braunfels Mass
Tchaik VC1 & DSCH VC2
Weinberg/Hartmann VC
Weinberg/Britten VC
Weinberg solo violin sonatas
Weinberg v-sonatas
Gernsheim VCs
Haydn Sonatas
Diabelli Variations


and three forthcoming ones.

[Wanderer]

.[asin]B00A228Y6I[/asin]

[Que]

From this set with Gustav Leonardt's Philips recordings, a mixed organ & harpsichord recital:

[asin]B00T65T6YQ[/asin]

Q

[prémont]

How is this? I am a bit reluctant about acquiring Bach recordings by Japanese artists, because I think one often can hear, that they do not have this music in their blood. On the other hand they sometimes add some impressive simplicity to their interpretations.