What are you listening to now?

[HIPster]

Fux, Johann (1660-1741) - Partite a 3 w/ Gunar Letzbor & Ars Antique Austria and Overtures w/ Paul Dombrecht & Il Fondamento - reading about the JS Bach predecessors this afternoon and have a handful of discs (3 instrumental + 2 vocal) of this Viennese Court Kapellmeister - enjoyed - reviews attached for those interested.  Dave

 

Thanks for posting the Fanfare piece, Dave. 

How is that Dombrecht? 

This one has been on the ol' wishlist for a while - are you familiar with it?

[asin]B01HOU7GMS[/asin]

Cheers!

[Daverz]

Raff's Macbeth and Othello from Four Shakespeare Preludes:

[asin]B00AOALXBG[/asin]

When Raff is at his best, as he is here, he ranks with Berlioz and Berwald as one of the most imaginative and colorful composers of the mid-19th century.

I feel that way about No. 5, though I think it is still waiting for a truly great recording.  Will have to give No. 2 a listen.

[SonicMan46]

Thanks for posting the Fanfare piece, Dave. 

How is that Dombrecht? 

This one has been on the ol' wishlist for a while - are you familiar with it?

Hi HIPster - first, I like the Dombrecht disc - good Fanfare comments.  As to the CPO 2-CD set, I do not own but looked at on Amazon and also found the MusicWeb review attached - kind of dissuaded me from the double disc purchase, BUT is available for a listen on Spotify, so will see - there is also a 2-CD harpsichord set that received 'mixed' reviews (also on Spotify) - Dave

[Todd]

[kyjo]

I feel that way about No. 5, though I think it is still waiting for a truly great recording.  Will have to give No. 2 a listen.

I agree, no recordings so far have truly done Symphony No. 5 (Raff's masterpiece) justice. I found No. 2 quite forgettable, to be honest. No. 9 (In Summer) is my second favorite Raff symphony that I've heard, and No. 3 (Im Walde) is quite good too.

[André]

Disc 5, containing the symphonic suite from Gloriana, the cello symphony and Men of Goodwill.

Britten had high hopes for his coronation piece, Gloriana, an opera based on the life of Elizabeth I, written in 1953. It was not a failure, but audiences and critics were lukewarm. He salvaged some 25 minutes of music in the form of this 4 movement suite, the 3rd of which consisting in a set of courtly dances (pavan, galliard and so forth). This is all really good, especially the moving finale, Gloriana moritura, which ends with a quote from a famous piece whose identity escapes me (anybody knows what it is ?).

The Cello Symphony is cast in the traditional 4 movement symphonic mould. But its cello part is so important and busy that it sounds almost like a concerto. Written just 10 years after Gloriana, its language is much more dissonant and modern, almost disconcertingly so. It's a tough nut to crack, but it kept my attention throughout. Steven isserlis is the valiant soloist, and conductor Richard Hickox patiently weaves a spell over the listener.

Men of Goodwill is a christmas carols fantasia. Nice and forgettable.

[André]

RebLem wrote about the 9th symphony this week. I had not heard it in a long time, so here goes: as always, Schuman's symphonies are intelligently and economically constructed. Without going so far as to say that he is a 'brainy' composer, Schuman never wears his heart on his sleeve. The crux of the work is its last movement. The very real emotion contained here is held in check, the musical fabric almost reduced to its essentials. This is dignified, concise and powerful music.

Symphony no 4 is in 3 movements (like the 9th) and is at once more easily assimilated than its much later sister act. Very enjoyable, sophisticated stuff. Schuman clearly refused to throw candies at the crowd. Such bonbons can be found in the 2 short pieces, cleverly sandwiched between the main offerings. An excellent disc. Schuman's music has held its ground with class. Recommended.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Prokofiev, 9th piano sonata, Ginsburgh. Glorious piano sound, perhaps the best I've heard on disc. Ginsburgh turns in an appropriately introspective reading of this enigmatic work.

[kyjo]

Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit:

[asin]B000001G54[/asin]

A spellbinding performance of this haunting masterwork.

[Mirror Image]

The 9th:



A gritty, gnarly work, but not without moments of quiet reflection. I really like this symphony more and more as time goes on.

[anothername]

Requiem for Fallen Soldiers



It wasn't what I expected. It seemed somewhat cold and without much of that thrilling power from several of his symphonies. I think it's not one of his best works IMHO.

I've tried this, can't  get into it

[kyjo]

Prokofiev's Symphony no. 6:

[asin]B00BORVU9I[/asin]

I used to feel rather ambivalent about this symphony, but Litton's insightful recording has helped me warm up to it. It's such a strange, unsettling work, but of course not without moments of beauty.

[Que]

Morning listening to a new arrival:


                          click image for link

Q

[kyjo]

Brahms' Clarinet Quintet:

[asin]B00JFIQFZ2[/asin]

Absolute perfection...

[Kontrapunctus]

John Ogdon's recording of the Busoni is a bit more manic, but Grante's is quite intense, too. The Vlad piece is very interesting and complex, but a little harsher in tone due to his use of 12-tone techniques--but he doesn't follow the rules in a rigid manner. He wrote the piece for Grante, which probably means it lies at the limits of playability!

[RebLem]

On Sunday, 7 January 2018, I listened to 6 CDs.


Tchaikovsky (1840-93): Tr. 1-4, Sym. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36 (41'22)  |Tr. 4-9, Suite from Swan Lake, Op. 20 (19'56)  |Tr. 10, The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66: Waltz (4'28)  |Tr. 11, The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a: Waltz of the Flowers (6'39)  |Tr. 12, Eugene Onegin, Op. 24: Waltz (6'28)--Berlin RSO, Ferenc Fricsay, cond.  CD 40 of a 45 CD set of the complete orchestral recordings on DGG of Ferenc Fricsay.  Rec. Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, 9-10 SEP 1952 (1-4) & 10-12 SEP !957 MONO.
The Sym. 4 in a very exciting, committed performance, one of the best on record.  Still, my favorites are Monteux and  Mravinsky.


Haydn (1732-1809): Tr. 1-4, Sym. 38 in C Major "Echo" (15'55)  |Tr. 5-8, Sym. 39 in G Minor (16'45)  |Tr. 9-11, Symphony "A" in B Flat Major (12'58)  |Tr. 12-15, Symphony "B" in B Flat Major (11'37)--Adam Fischer, cond., Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orch.--Rec 4,5/2001 (38, 39) 6/2000 (A&B) Haydnsaal, Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria.  CD 10 of a 33 CD Brilliant set of all the Haydn symphonies.  Licensed from Nimbus Records.


Cyrill Scott (1879-1970): Tr. 1, Overture to Pelleas & Melisanda, Op. 5 (1900) (17'21) [Edited from the manuscript by Martin Yates]  |Tr. 2-4, Concerto for Piano & orch. in D Major, Op. 10 (1900) [Realized & completed by Martin Yates] (30'35)  |Tr. 5, Concerto for cello & orch., Op. 19 (1902)  [Realized & completed by Martin Yates.  Cello part edited by Raphael Wallfisch.] (20'52)--Peter Donohoe, piano (PC), Raphael Wallfisch, cello (CC), Martin Yates, cond. BBC Sym. Orch.--Produced in cooperation with BBC Radio 3.  These are all world premiere recordings.  Rec. @ Watford Colosseum, 26-28 November 2012.  DUTTON EPOCH CD.
Like Ernest Bloch, Cyrill Scott is another composer who is high on my list of unjustly neglected composers.  Go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Scott to learn more in general about his life and work.  His style is definitely influenced by the likes of Scriabin, Strauss, Debussy, and Ravel.  To my way of thinking, the piano concerto is the weakest work on this CD.  Often, it doesn't sound like a concerto.  Its more like a symphony with the piano providing, for much of the work, a simple chordal baseline underlining for the work of the orchestra.  The overture is so exciting, I would really love to hear the complete work.  The cello concerto is much more substantial than the piano concerto, IMO.  Scott's music is hard to describe, but I think it will reward your attention.  Urgently and strongly recommended.


Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959): Tr. 1-3 Piano Quartet 1 (1942) (25'22)--Daniel Adni, piano, Isabelle von Keulen, violin, Rainer Moog, viola, Young-Chang  Cho, cello  |Tr. 4-5, Qartet for Oboe, Violin, Cello, & Piano (1947) (11'57)--Joel Marangello, oboe, Charmian Gadd, violin, Alexander Ivashkin, cello, Kathryn Selby, piano  |Tr. 6-7, Sonata 1 for Viola & Piano (1955) (15'42)--Rainer Moog, viola, Daniel Adni, piano  |Tr. 8-10, String Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas, & Cello (1927) (19'15)--Charmian Gadd, Solomia Soroka, violins, Rainer Mood, Theodore Kuchar, violas, Young-Chang Cho, cello--Rec. @ Sir George KneippAuditorium, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia, 17-19 July 1994 as part of the 1994 Australian Festival of Chamber Music.   NAXOS CD.
Martinu is another composer who has been unjustly underrated by concert programmers, but on recordings, at least, his work is enjoying a modest popularity.  His music is definitely  tonal, influenced by late romantics like Ravel and Debussy, it seems to me.  His pretensions, though, are modest, and he is not given, in any of these works at least, to grand sweeping gestures, just good, well constructed chamber music.


William Howard Schuman (1910-92): Tr. 1, Sym. 6 (1948) (29'10)  |Tr. 2, Prayer in a Time of War (1943) (15'35)  |Tr. 3-5, New England Tryptych: Three Pieces for Orch. after William Billings (1938) (16'06)--Gerard Schwarz, cond., Seattle Symphony Orch.--Rec. @ the S Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA 10, 16 SEP 2008 (1), 7 SEP 2005 (2), & at Seattle Opera House, 24-25 SEP 1990 (3-5).  NAXOS CD.  This is part of a 5 CD set of Schuman's Syms. 3-10.  Schuman withdrew his first two symphonies, composed in 1935 and 1939. 
The Prayer in Time of War is an instrumental piece describing the composer's feelings about WWII.  He had tried to enlist, and was disappointed when he was rejected for medical reasons, so he wrote this piece as his contribution to the war effort.  The New England Tryptych is Schuman's most famous and most frequently performed work. Per Wikipedia,  William Billings (October 7, 1746 – September 26, 1800, both in Boston, MA) is regarded as the first American choral composer.  Virtually all of Billings' music was written for four-part chorus, singing a cappella. His many hymns and anthems were published mostly in book-length collections.  He was mostly an auto-didact, as his father died when he was 14, stopping his formal education.  He died in poverty, leaving a wife and 6 children.


Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Tr. 1-6, Moments Musicaux, Op. 16 (31'20)--Alexander Ghindin, piano, rec 1996, licensed from National Music Co, LLC  |Tr. 7-13, Morceaux de Salon, Op. 10 (34'40)--Michael Ponti, piano.  Rec. 1974, Stuttgart, Germany, licensed from Vox Music.  |Tr. 14, Polka de VR (3'30).  Rec. 1995.  Licensed from Challenge Classics.  This is CD  5 in a 9 CD Brilliant set of all the Rachmaninoff solo piano music.
These are excellent and energetic, committed performances.

[Karl Henning]

John Ogdon's recording of the Busoni is a bit more manic, but Grante's is quite intense, too. The Vlad piece is very interesting and complex, but a little harsher in tone due to his use of 12-tone techniques--but he doesn't follow the rules in a rigid manner. He wrote the piece for Grante, which probably means it lies at the limits of playability!

I think I did know that Vlad is a composer!  He wrote a very engaging monograph on Stravinsky.

[Biffo]

Varese: Arcana - Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly - spectacular recording, newly arrived today.

[Judith]

Prokofiev's Symphony no. 6:

[asin]B00BORVU9I[/asin]

I used to feel rather ambivalent about this symphony, but Litton's insightful recording has helped me warm up to it. It's such a strange, unsettling work, but of course not without moments of beauty.

Find the 6th is like a continuation of 5th.  What do others think?

[North Star]

Maiden-listen Monday
Leiden Choirbooks, Vol. I, Disc 2
Gombert: Missa beati omnes
Anon: Missa Sancta Maria
Egidius Kwartet & College
[asin]B00YJKUZ1Q[/asin]