What are you listening to now?

[Ken B]

TD
Scriabin Sonatas 5-10, Sonata Fantasie in g sharp minor Op. Post.
Marc Andre Hamelin piano

Good but somehow I still prefer Ponti.

Ponti is splendid in the short pieces. I've never been such a fan of the sonatas, but I remember not liking Glemser. I sold it actually.

[listener]

RUBINSTEIN: Symphony no.2 in C op. 42   "Ocean"
Westphalian S.O. Recklinghausen,  Richard Kapp, cond.
DOWLAND: Lachrymae
Philomusica of London     Thurston Dart, cond.
1958 mono, reprocessed for stereo

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Violin concerto. Saschko Gawriloff, Ensemble InterContemporain, Boulez

[SimonNZ]

Julian Anderson's The Discovery of Heaven - Andrew Davis, cond.

Live: 24 April 2014, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYexaX4leik

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

That's still on my buy list!

I listened to that recording of his Ten Pieces For Wind Quintet, on YouTube earlier

At the time of its release it was a 4 CD compilation of every Ligeti recording on DG i believe. Lots of Boulez renditions! For individual works in particular there might be some i like a little more, but this set is overall the best box set of Ligeti anyone could buy for the price and quality of its recordings.

[akebergv]

I have been a passive reader for quite some time, but thought I would add my two cents to the discussion about recordings of the orchestral version of Les Noces since indeed there is one out there, recorded by no less than Robert Craft in 1973. It comes on a Columbia record that also includes Stravinsky's unfinished second attempt at orchestration, before he settled on the four piano version. I believe the Orchestral version is finished by Craft. I once had it on vinyl, but it is also included as one of the final discs of Sony's recent Stravinsky: The Complete Columbia Collection.

[Mirror Image]

At the time of its release it was a 4 CD compilation of every Ligeti recording on DG i believe. Lots of Boulez renditions! For individual works in particular there might be some i like a little more, but this set is overall the best box set of Ligeti anyone could buy for the price and quality of its recordings.

I rather like the Ligeti Project box set on Teldec and recommend it over the DG Clear Or Cloudy set.

Thread duty:



Going to be making my through this box set. Listening to Le Chant du rossignol. Such a cool work.

[Mirror Image]

All I need really is that set, then the complete Etudes  + Le Grand Macabre 

Get the Ligeti Project set on Teldec and then get Ligeti Works set on Sony and you'll be good to go. The DG set IMHO is more of a grab-bag if anything else. I'm not saying that the set isn't worth owning, of course, as any Ligeti box set, or recording, that appears is worth looking into, but I think these two sets offer more to the perspective buyer.

[NikF]

Henze: Complete Music for Solo Guitar - Andrea Dieci.

[asin]B01CTMJOC6[/asin]

Two sonatas on Shakespearean characters.

[Mirror Image]

I'm listening to Symphony in Three Movements, another Stravinsky favorite.
Funny true story: I originally though it was part of the Rite Of Spring....   

Love Symphony in Three Movements. Fantastic work.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Haydn, Seasons, Marriner.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Mavra for a first-listen. A one-act opera. Interesting. My main goal with this box set is to try and explore the lesser-known works, or lesser-known to me, first and then move onto the more heavy hitters.

[The new erato]

First listen to this version, and wow, do I hate it.

[asin]B0000523QL[/asin]

The voice is totally wrong for these essentially small scale, elegiac and nostalgic songs. Too much voice (cream and drama), too little storytelling. Gloriously sung of course, but I need Lisa della Casa to cleanse my ears.

Edit; when she eases down a little bit in the second song  it gets better...but I still find the first song over the top. Schlafengehn is good - but the the text enunciation (these songs are about the texts) bothers me. An when she "opens up" in the middle and late parts of the song it's all about Ms Norman again, and not about the story. This is glorious singing, and so totally wrong. Maybe I was brought up on the wrong versions.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Get the Ligeti Project set on Teldec and then get Ligeti Works set on Sony and you'll be good to go. The DG set IMHO is more of a grab-bag if anything else. I'm not saying that the set isn't worth owning, of course, as any Ligeti box set, or recording, that appears is worth looking into, but I think these two sets offer more to the perspective buyer.

The Sony and Teldec boxes are great; personally I prefer some of the other recordings of the larger scale works on DG and Wergo to what's on Teldec. Sony has the better (revised) version of Le Grand Macabre (in English) but I think the recording released by Wergo of the original version (and in German) before it was revised is a performance I like more. Personally I find that the Boulez/Ligeti combos released by DG are unsurpassed (although Friedrich Cerha has a brilliant recording of the Chamber Concerto on Wergo) as is Abbado's recording of Atmosphères (the one released on the same CD as Cerha's amazing recording of the chamber concerto is imo a DUD).

The recording I'd recommend of the complete Etudes for piano would be Thomas Hell's (the more recent one released by Wergo) but Jeremy Denk's is one I like more even if it is incomplete....I can't remember if Aimard's recording has book 3, but book 3 is a must hear in addition to the first two.

Thread duty:
Epitaphs for String Quintet by Brett Dean (there is a movement dedicated to Ligeti in this!)

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Henze: Complete Music for Solo Guitar - Andrea Dieci.

[asin]B01CTMJOC6[/asin]

Two sonatas on Shakespearean characters.

Did you listen to Drei Tentos? What are your thoughts on this performance? I played them back when I was 15 and I'm thinking of doing them and maybe some more Henze again in the near future. I don't know this recording though. 

[Mirror Image]

First listen to this version, and wow, do I hate it.

[asin]B0000523QL[/asin]

The voice is totally wrong for these essentially small scale, elegiac and nostalgic songs. Too much voice (cream and drama), too little storytelling. Gloriously sung of course, but I need Lisa della Casa to cleanse my ears.

Edit; when she eases down a little bit in the second song  it gets better...but I still find the first song over the top. Schlafengehn is good - but the the text enunciation (these songs are about the texts) bothers me. An when she "opens up" in the middle and late parts of the song it's all about Ms Norman again, and not about the story. This is glorious singing, and so totally wrong. Maybe I was brought up on the wrong versions.

Norman is fantastic, but Popp/Tennstedt may just be my favorite Four Last Songs on record.

[The new erato]

Norman is fantastic, but Popp/Tennstedt may just be my favorite Four Last Songs on record.

Popp's small scale voice is much more my cup of tea in these songs. I bought that on your recommendation.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Mavra for a first-listen. A one-act opera. Interesting. My main goal with this box set is to try and explore the lesser-known works, or lesser-known to me, first and then move onto the more heavy hitters.

This is definitely a work I won't be revisiting anytime soon. Far from essential Stravinsky and definitely not a 'hidden gem' within his oeuvre for me. I find that the music takes a backseat and I know this is an opera, but there's no let up in the vocals and it just really drives me crazy. I like vocal music (song cycles, cantatas, oratorios, some opera), but when it's the vocals take this kind of prominence over everything else, I start to lose interest really fast. Igor couldn't even give us a few interludes here. It's literally non-stop.

[Mirror Image]

Popp's small scale voice is much more my cup of tea in these songs. I bought that on your recommendation.

That was fast! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

[The new erato]

That was fast! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

I bought that some weeks ago on an earlier recommendation, and yes, I like it.

And strangely enough, I like Norman better in the other songs on that disc than in the 4 letzte Lieder. Thay are mainly sung in a far less dramatic fashion.