What are you listening to now?

[Mirror Image]

Ah yes, the opening is great, but it's not even my favorite part of the work...

My favorite part of the work is actually the last movement. Wow...so powerful.

[kyjo]

My favorite part of the work is actually the last movement. Wow...so powerful.

The ending is so uplifting! It's my favorite part of work as well, but the ecstatically beautiful slow movement and dance-like scherzo (with its great, prominent timpani part) aren't far behind.

[Ken B]

Beethoven
String Quartet 13
Borodin Qt

[Mirror Image]

The ending is so uplifting! It's my favorite part of work as well, but the ecstatically beautiful slow movement and dance-like scherzo (with its great, prominent timpani part) aren't far behind.

Yes, indeed. It certainly belongs to that list of great American third symphonies (Copland, Schuman, Diamond, Harris) without a doubt. I love Hanson's music. I've never heard a work from him I didn't like, which I suppose speaks of the consistency of his writing or perhaps my own deficiencies as a listener.

[kyjo]

Yes, indeed. It certainly belongs to that list of great American third symphonies (Copland, Schuman, Diamond, Harris) without a doubt. I love Hanson's music. I've never heard a work from him I didn't like, which I suppose speaks of the consistency of his writing or perhaps my own deficiencies as a listener.

+1

[kyjo]

Hovhaness' Meditation on Orpheus:

[asin]B0085AXT6E[/asin]

The mood of this work is darker and more disturbing than I am used to with Hovhaness, but I did enjoy it a good deal. John, you sure are right about that dissonant ending...I'm glad you warned me I wonder what he was trying to convey?

[Mirror Image]

Hovhaness' Meditation on Orpheus:

[asin]B0085AXT6E[/asin]

The mood of this work is darker and more disturbing than I am used to with Hovhaness, but I did enjoy it a good deal. John, you sure are right about that dissonant ending...I'm glad you warned me I wonder what he was trying to convey?

Yes, certainly a more foreboding Hovhaness than we're accustomed to hearing, which is actually a good thing IMHO. The work is, however, quite atmospheric, so in this regard, it's a textbook example of his style. I'm not sure what he's trying to convey to the listener, but perhaps these disturbances have something to do with the story of Orpheus who actually died by people who could not hear his music. So perhaps death and Orpheus' own journey into the underworld has something to do with the brooding quality of the work? I'm not sure as it's still an abstract piece. It could be called "Orchestral Suite No. 1" and we probably would still be scratching our heads.

[Spineur]

Margaret Price, recitals

[Mirror Image]

Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 17:

[kyjo]

Shostakovich's SQ 9:

[asin]B0000042HV[/asin]

That finale is surely one of most thrilling things Shostakovich ever composed! What's so remarkable is how he's able to sustain such a great level of intensity over about 10 minutes of music.

[Mirror Image]

Shostakovich's SQ 9:

[asin]B0000042HV[/asin]

That finale is surely one of most thrilling things Shostakovich ever composed! What's so remarkable is how he's able to sustain such a great level of intensity over about 10 minutes of music.

For me, one of the finest SQ cycles I've ever heard! Of course, I prefer the Borodin Quartet, but the music is what's important at the end of the day.

[kyjo]

For me, one of the finest SQ cycles I've ever heard! Of course, I prefer the Borodin Quartet, but the music is what's important at the end of the day.

No doubt about that! I also love the Borodin Quartet's recordings.

[kyjo]

Alwyn's Symphony no. 1:

[asin]B000C847FO[/asin]

An exciting, atmospheric work, if a little short on memorable material. Love that cover art!

[Mirror Image]

Alwyn's Symphony no. 1:

[asin]B000C847FO[/asin]

An exciting, atmospheric work, if a little short on memorable material. Love that cover art!

Alwyn always struck as an interesting composer, but, I don't know, I just can't quite connect fully with much of his music. I do, however, love his Symphony No. 3 and that gorgeous concerto for harp, Lyra Angelica. He wrote some excellent film music, too.

[listener]

Hey, listener, how's that Coulthard work? I remember hearing something of hers many years ago and enjoying. If I remember correctly, she was influenced by French Impressionism.

Pleasant enough, but I don't remember it an hour later.

[Que]

Morning listening:



I'm fascinated by a work (once) attributed to Bach: the Concerto e Fuga in C minor, BWV 909.
A wild piece in Stylus Phantasticus lasting almost 10 minutes. In my mind probably not by JS - sounds like an Italian (?) writing at a German or Austrian court. Or a very young Bach was in an eccentric mood, who knows...
There are few recordings of this piece available.

Christiane Wuyts plays  a harpsichord by Henri Hemsch, 1754, and one by Jacques Goermans, 1774.

Q

[RebLem]

On Wednesday, January 3, 2018, I listened to 5 CDs.


Louis Theodore Gouvy (1819-98): Tr. 1-4, Sym. 4 in D Minor, Op. 25 (27'20)  |Tr. 5-11, Symphonie breve in G Minor, Op. 58 (14'05)  |Tr. 12-14, Fantaisie Symphonique (21'45)--Jacques Mercier, cond., Deutsche RadioPhilharmonie Saarbrueken & Kaiserlautern.--Rec. 4-8 OCT 2010, Congresshalle Saarbruecken.  cpo CD
Listening to this CD is analagous to listening to a CD of Brahms--first the Academic Festival Overture with its carefully  constructed cheerful lightheartedness, then the lighter and somewhat less rigorous Haydn Variations, followed by the deadly serious Tragic Overture.  The 4th Symphony is well constructed but light hearted, in the manner of some of the early Schubert symphonies.  Thed Symphonie breve is a 7 movement piece consisting of a theme and 5 variations, followed by the longest movement of the work, a 5'44 Rondo.  The Fantaisie Symphonique is deadly serious.  The first movement is marked "Grave-Moderato," the second is an Adagio, and the third  is "alla breve."  Very serious, even morose stuff, but superbly performed in  exceptional performances.


Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 (54'33)--Karel Ancerl, cond., Czech Phil. & Chorus, Agnes Giebel, soprano, Vera Soukupova, alto, Georg Jelden,  tenor, Heinz Rehfuss, bass.  Rec. @ Montreux Festival 14 SEP 1966 by Radio Suisse Romande.  TAHRA label.
I found this to be an exceptional performance by one of the great conductors of the 20th century, a conductor and a man for whom my admiration is boundless.  He was a Jew who was in Czechoslovakia when the Nazis overran it.  IN 1942, he and his family were sent to the showplace Therisienstadt ghetto.  You may have seen a Nazi propaganda film on this ghetto where an audience is watching a symphony orchestra perform.  The conductor on the podium was Karel Ancerl.  About a month after that, almost everyone in that room was dead exceot Ancerl himself.  His first wife and his 18 month old son were gassed to death at Auschwitz in October, 1944.  Karel survived, but his health was severely compromised.  He was favored in a sense by the Communist regime, but he chafed under their restrictions, and during the 1968 revolution, he conducted a series of concerts in the US with the Czech Phil., and he was still in the US when Soviet tanks rolled back into Prague to suppress the revolution.  He chose to defect.  All  his property in Czechoslovakia was seized.  But at the time of his defection, the Toronto Symphony was looking for a new music director, and they snapped Ancerl up as soon as they determined he was available, and he spent the rest of his carreer there.  Sadly, he only lived a few more years, and died in Toronto on 3 JULY 1973.
And yet he found the strength to be a great artist.  This Requiem is one of the great performances of this work, not only because of Ancerl, but because of a superb cast of soloists as well.


Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971):  Tr. 1-14, Le Sacre du Printemps (1947 version) (33'39)  |Tr. 15-25, Petrouchka (1947 version) (30'12)  |Tr. 26-30, Movements for Piano & Orchestra (9'03)--Margrit Weber, piano, Berlin RSO.  This is CD 38 in the 45 CD set of all Ferenc Fricsay's orchestral recordings with DGG.  Rec. Berlin @ Jesus-Christus-Kirche, MONO 11-13 MAR 1954 (Tr. 1-14), 19 & 21 APR 1953 (Tr. 15-25), and STEREO 14 SEP 1960 (Tr. 26-30).
These are not, in my opinion, among the greatest performnace so any of these works, except, possible, the last of them.  Boulez, Stravinsky himself, and Claudio Abbado are the touchstones here.  Another one of Le Sacre which I like very much but which few seem to know about is one by  Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and the London Sym. Orch., coupled with the original versions of the Firebird Suite and Petrouchka  and the Symphony in 3 Movements on Nimbus Records.


Haydn: Tr. 1-3, Sym. 30 in C Major "Alleluja" (13'12)  |Tr. 4-7, Sym. 31 in D Major "Hornsignal" (25'08)  |Tr. 8-11, Sym. 32 in C Major (15'05)  |Tr. 12-15, Sym. 33 in C Major (15'35)--Adam Fischer, cond., Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orch.  Rec. 4 & 5/2001, Haydnsaal, Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria.  CD 8 of the 33 CD Brilliant set of the complete Haydn symphonies by these forces.  Licensed from Nimbus Records.


Carlos Chavez (1899-1978): Tr. 1-3, Piano Concerto (1940) (36'32)--rec. 7-9 MAR 2011 Sala Nezahualcoyotl, Centro ultural Universitario UNAM, Mexico, DF.  |Tr. 4, Chavez: Meditacion (1918) (5'09)  |Tr. 8, Jose Pablo Moncayo: Muros Verdes (1951) (6'36)  |Tr. 6, Samuel Zyman: Variations on an Original Theme (2007) (16'00)--Jorge Federico Osorio, piano (all) ,Carlos Miguel Prieto, cond., Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico (Tr. 1-3), Tr. 4-6 rec. 24-25 OCT 2012 Fay & Daniel Levin Performance Studio @ 98.7 WFMT Radio, Chicago.  Cedille Records, Chicago, James Ginsburg, producer.  Mr. Ginsburg is not only the producer, he is the owner of Cedille Records.  His mother is on the US Supreme Court.

[The One]

Carmignola and Beyer

[San Antone]

Listening again to Part: Kanon Pokajanen





Amazon reviewer jt52 sums up why this recording is preferable to the recent one by Capella Amsterdam/Daniel Reuss:

Kaljuste
Rich sounding male voices
Takes its time, with very comfortably-paced pauses between the slow-moving phrases
Reverberant acoustic
This reverberance doesn't just make the sound more attractive, it makes the singing more musical, as the phrases taper off instead of ending abruptly
Recording isn't up to ECM's usual high standards but is pretty good

Reuss
More treble-heavy
De-emphasized bass
Recorded sound is slightly thinner, with less texture
A bit faster and more important than the overall tempo there is a more mechanical timing of pauses in between phrases
Dryer, less reverbrant overall sound

But what is truly a shame is that Ruess made significant cuts in the work in order to fit it onto a single CD.  He left out entirely odes 5 and 7, and made cuts in the ones he did include. 

[Christo]

Recording isn't up to ECM's usual high standards but is pretty good

And one can hear the early morning birds outside of Tallinn's Niguliste church, isn't it?