Topic: What are you listening to now?

[San Antone]

[Todd]

[Mirror Image]

Disc 4/4.

This set has music from 10 movies, all performed superbly by Frank Strobel and the RSO, Berlin. Schnittke is more successful than Shostakovich in creating genuinely original, intriguing, captivating numbers. Although I love Dsch’s film music, and own half a dozen discs of it, I find Schnittke’ genius more at home in the particular language of film music.

I certainly won’t argue with you here. I find Schnittke really came into his own in film music. Obviously, I love a lot of his more serious concert music, but his inventiveness in this medium was quite individual.

Do you own this recording?



If you don’t own it, then please remedy this soon. Schnittke's last film work, The Master and Margarita, is a real hoot. There’s a demented take on Ravel’s Bolero that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

e Raid merveilleux (The Amazing Flight), a mechanical ballet, H. 159
La Revue de cuisine (The Kitchen Revue), jazz-ballet in 1 act, H. 161
On Tourne!, ballet in 1 act, H. 163

Christopher Hogwood, conductor
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra



An absolute delight from start to finish.

[Kontrapunctus]

I finished listening to this today. While I normally prefer larger ensembles playing on modern instruments, this performance sounds great, and their energetic playing adds to the enjoyment. The smaller ensemble provides excellent clarity of the parts, too.

[Todd]

[Mirror Image]

Act II:

[Mirror Image]

Vaughan Williams Symphony No.8 D minor, Previn conducting the LSO




Sarge

I plan on revisiting this symphony at some point tonight. Such an enchanting work.

[kishnevi]

DSCH 1or 2? And  is the DSCH worth getting? (My interest in the Tchaikovsky is much weaker.)
ETA found it on Amazon. But still want your opinion.
TD

Last two CDs of this set.
Florestan's high regard for this set is justified. Although it's probably better to dip into the set a bit at a time, not wholesale like I am doing now.

[Todd]

DSCH 1or 2? And  is the DSCH worth getting? (My interest in the Tchaikovsky is much weaker.)

It's pretty good.  The Tchaikovsky is relatively better, and in both works the soloist is better than the accompaniment.  The only reason I ended up with it is because it is in the Perlman DG box.

TD:

Some small scale works:

[kishnevi]

It's pretty good.  The Tchaikovsky is relatively better, and in both works the soloist is better than the accompaniment.  The only reason I ended up with it is because it is in the Perlman DG box.

TD:

Some small scale works:

Actually, I'm not surprised by that difference between soloist and accompanist. Perlman is as good a conductor as Domingo.

TD
Now gone on to the final CD of this excellent set, a miscellany recorded live in Corsica, 2002.

[amw]

What I'm supposed to be doing is going to bed.

Anyway... Janine Jansen and friends. You told me it was good. It is. How's this?

Different. Slower across the board (especially in the Scherzo and Trio, one of the few slower recordings of the Scherzo that works well imo), darker sounding w/more emphasis on celli and viola, less perfect in terms of intonation, more vibrato, less energetic, more mysterious, emotionally more extreme. Less "straight". Closer comparisons would be the Pavel Haas Qt or Petersen Qt.

It's not necessarily the last word in Schubert but the way they phrase the second theme in the first movement, with quasi-vocal micro-hesitations, is very attention-getting (in a good way, for me), and if you like that, you'll like the rest of the performance. Similarly the use of vibrato in the 1st violin part in the adagio, which sounds almost like suppressed sobbing.

[kyjo]

Stephen Albert's Cello Concerto:

A powerful work. It's a shame Albert died so tragically young.

[André]

I certainly won’t argue with you here. I find Schnittke really came into his own in film music. Obviously, I love a lot of his more serious concert music, but his inventiveness in this medium was quite individual.

Do you own this recording?



If you don’t own it, then please remedy this soon. Schnittke's last film work, The Master and Margarita, is a real hoot. There’s a demented take on Ravel’s Bolero that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Yes I do, and I mentioned it in this very thread a few weeks ago. It’s so good that I was moved to buy the Capriccio box !

[You did it]

Stravinsky - Rite Of Spring

[Mirror Image]

Yes I do, and I mentioned it in this very thread a few weeks ago. It’s so good that I was moved to buy the Capriccio box !

Great to hear, Andre!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Prokofiev, piano sonatas 5 and 7, Chiu.

Prokofiev seems at his happiest the more he seeks to mock/shock those within earshot, including the performer. Fortunately Chiu is gifted with his own brand of mischievousness which is aligned as a perfect reverse converse, reversed, to the whimsies of Prokofiev. The resulting give-and-go between pianist and composer induces a bag-full of Prokofievian fun. I have a feeling Prokofiev couldn't be prouder. 

[Mirror Image]

The 8th:

[kyjo]

Casella's Symphony no. 2:

Head-banging stuff! This piece is the polar opposite of what comes to most people's minds when they think of Italian music - it's big, dark, loud, and Mahlerian. Derivative, maybe, but powerful and highly enjoyable nonetheless. The second movement was actually my favorite of the four - a whirling, stomping scherzo that is suffused with supercharged Russian energy. Casella would later go on to develop a more personal style, as exemplified by his wonderful Third Symphony.

[Mirror Image]

Casella's Symphony no. 2:

Head-banging stuff! This piece is the polar opposite of what comes to most people's minds when they think of Italian music - it's big, dark, loud, and Mahlerian. Derivative, maybe, but powerful and highly enjoyable nonetheless. The second movement was actually my favorite of the four - a whirling, stomping scherzo that is suffused with supercharged Russian energy.

A pretty nice symphony, but not a favorite of mine from Casella. The Sinfonia (Symphony No. 3), his last symphony, is my favorite with an absolute heart-rendering slow movement, Andante molto moderato quasi adagio. This particular movement, for me, is one of the best things he has composed. The Alun Francis recording is the one to own. Noseda totally misses the point in this slow movement and rushes through some key moments that should have been treated more delicately.