What are you listening to now?

[Sergeant Rock]

To me, he distorts the work, drains it of impact, and makes the orchestra sound like the work of another (significantly worse) composer.  The phrasing is wrong.  The timbral balances are wrong.  The pacing is wrong.  The emphasis is wrong.  He makes me hate my favorite symphony like no one else can.  Every time I take another look to see if I was mistaken I come away disliking it more

Thanks for the explanation. I don't agree obviously but I understand the feeling. I feel the same way about Blomstedt destroying Nielsen 3 (one of my Top 5 symphonies).

There are two live recordings I've heard.  This is my preference.  It's white hot throughout.
[asin]B0027DQHOG[/asin]

That's the one I have. I'll listen to it tomorrow. Perhaps it will join my pantheon of M6s

Sarge

[Baron Scarpia]

I feel the same way about Blomstedt destroying Nielsen 3 (one of my Top 5 symphonies).

What did he do?

[Sergeant Rock]

What did he do?

Conducted it as if he were a metronome. Sped right through the climax of the first movement without a hint of feeling. Hear Lenny as an antidote.

Sarge

[André]

This will be a long evening, because it's Wagner. In the first act  Vickers dominates the scene like no other tenor can dream of ever doing. The voice is so huge, full and clear - no thickening whatsoever, that would come later in his career. His characterization can only be described as that of an invincible conqueror. Brouwenstijn is a girlish Sieglinde, David Ward a sonorous, perfectly musical Hunding - no bulging eyes, twirling mustachioed thug, this.

Act II has started in tremendous fashion, with Wotan calling his favourite Walkyrie. George London sings Wotan incisively, Birgit Nilsson IS Brunnhilde, and the redoubtable Rita Gorr portrays Fricka - what a gigantic voice ! The insolent vocal facility and youthful enthusiasm displayed by Nilsson are breathtaking. She leaves every other budding Brunnhilde in the dust. Erich Leinsdorf's conducting is energetic, at times frighteningly so. The LSO's playing is superb: flexible, sonorous, virtuosic. The recording is spacious and encompasses everything thrown at those microphones.

A magnificent achievement.

[SymphonicAddict]

Revisiting them:



The amount of pleasure that these works give me is immense.

[Baron Scarpia]

I'll give it another try. It's been years.

In any case, I wouldn't want to mislead you, last time I listened (in the past year) I was a little let down. Audio that was inadequate to capture the sound Karajan wanted was an issue. Currently I'd put Haitink as my most preferred version, with Barbirolli for quirkyness and Chailly the modern favorite.

[HIPster]

Now:

[asin]B0000007EC[/asin]

It has been far too long since I've given this a spin.  A delight. 

[Mirror Image]

Octet:



Some fun, Neoclassical hijinks.

[SymphonicAddict]

Roma Symphony/Suite



Some years ago I had played this work with great enthusiasm. Today wasn't the exception: such an invigorating work, full of memorable ideas, well-crafted, it's perfect to raise the spirit. The rendition is just amazing as well.

[Mirror Image]

Danses Concertantes:

[Todd]

Disc two.  The last three Op 18 quartets.  Unsurprisingly, it's much like the first disc.  The final quartet is especially fine, with an almost sweet sound, especially in the Adagio.

[HIPster]

Playing a new purchase (and first foray into Brahms) ~

[asin]B001DCQJ4A[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Playing a new purchase (and first foray into Brahms) ~

[asin]B001DCQJ4A[/asin]

When you say first foray, do you actually mean this is the first time you've heard Brahms or do you mean first foray into Gardiner's Brahms?

[HIPster]

When you say first foray, do you actually mean this is the first time you've heard Brahms or do you mean first foray into Gardiner's Brahms?

Hi Mirror Image!

Yeah, both really.  I had heard ths version of the First Symphony on the radio a few months ago.  Liked it enough to order the disc for a very reasonable price. 

Sounded great here, tonight!

[Mirror Image]

Hi Mirror Image!

Yeah, both really.  I had heard ths version of the First Symphony on the radio a few months ago.  Liked it enough to order the disc for a very reasonable price. 

Sounded great here, tonight!

Well this is excellent, HIPster. Brahms is an amazing composer. Hope you enjoy the music.

[anothername]

Revisiting them:



The amount of pleasure that these works give me is immense.

Me too, going to give it a spin right now.

[Que]

Morning listening:

[asin]B0050JPFQ0[/asin]
Triggered by Harry's recent purchase of a Reusner set on Brilliant.

Q

[Maestro267]

Some early morning music:

MacMillan: Seven Last Words from the Cross
Dmitri Ensemble/Ross

[RebLem]

On Monday, 22 January, 2018, I listened to 4 CDs.


F.J. Haydn (1732-1809):  Tr. 1-3, Trumpet Concerto in E Flat (15'44)--rec. 21 DEC 1961  |Tr. 4-6, Keyboard Concerto 4 in G (21'56)--rec. 28 JUN 1974  |Tr. 7-10, Sym. 100 in G "Military" (25'56)--rec. 9 AUG 1973--Timofei Dokshitzer, trumpet (Tr. 1-3), Arthur Moreira Lima, piano (Tr. 4-6), Rudolf Barshai, cond., Moscow Chamber Orch.--CD 3 of a 10 CD Brillliant survey of the work of Rudolf Barshai and the Moscow Chamber Orch.  Licensed from Gostelradfiofund, Russian Federation.  No information on recording venues.

The Dokshitzer/Barshai recording is, quite simply, the greatest performance of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto I have ever heard.  It swings.  It is played with enthusiasm, verve, and elan.  One has a sense of a group  of musicians, especially soloist and conductor, having a really good time. 

The keyboard concerto, although performed on a modern piano, is exciting and well played.  I have never heard of Arthur Moreira Lima before, so I thought perhaps he was Cuban.  I looked him up and found that he is Brazilian and is a quite prominent artist in his own country having recorded, among other things, the complete piano works of Chopin, and has recorded a number of Brazilian composers as well, especially Ernesto Nazareth. 

The Military Symphony is my personal sentimental favorite of the Haydn symphonies.  It is the first Haydn symphony I learned to love.  When I first started getting interested in classical music in the late 1950's, it was one of the first three works I learned to love hearing.  They actually would make a good symphony program today--the other two were Wagner's Tannhauser Overture and Venusberg Music and Stravinsky's Firebird.  This is one of the most exciting performances of the Military symphony I have heard, though here the competition is stiffer.  Overall, I prefer the Sigiswald Kuijken recording above all others, though I have heard many which I find meet a very high standard.  This Barshai recording is one of them.


F.J. Haydn (1732-1809): Tr. 1-4, Sym. 58 in F Major (16'40)  |Tr. 5-8, Sym. 59 in A Major "Feuersymphonie" (17'12)  |Tr. 9-14, Sym. 60 in C Major "Il Distratto" (24'43)--Adam Fischer, cond., Austro-Humgarain Haydn Orch.--Rec. 1996 Haydnsaal, Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria.  CD 17 of a 33 CD Brilliant set of the complete Haydn symphonies by these forces.  Licensed from Nimbus Records.


Franz Schubert (1797-1828):  Tr. 1-4, Four Impromptus, D 935 (33'33)  |Tr. 5-8, Piano Sonata in D Major, D 850 (35'45)--Clifford Curzon, piano.  CD 2 of a 23 CD + 1 DVD set of Clifford Curzon's complete recordings for DECCA.


Arnold Rosner (1945-2013):  Tr. 1-2, Sextet for Strings, Op. 47 (1970, rev. 1997) "Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland" (Now come, Saviour of the Heathens) (24'53)--Sestetto Agosto (Paul Vanderwerf, David Katz, violins, Terri Van Valkinburg, Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, violas, Peter Szczepanek, Julie Zumsteg, cellos)  |Tr.  3-8, Besos sin cuento (Kisses Without Number), 6 Spanish Songs, Op. 86 (25'50)--Pinotage (Julia Bently, voice, Janice McDonald, flute, Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, viola, Alison Attar, harp)  |Tr. 9-11, Sonata for Trombone & Piano, Op. 106 (17'08)--Gregory Erickson, trombone, Angelina Tallaj, piano.   TT: 63'19.  Rec. 15-16 AUG 1999 (Tr. 1-2), 12 JUN 2000 (Tr. 3-8), 1 DEC 2000 (Tr. 9-11), Northminster Presbyterian Church, Evanston, IL (Tr. 1-8), Patrych Sound Studios, Bronx, NY (Tr. 9-11).--Albany Records CD, Vol III in a series of CDs of Arnold Rosner's chamber music.

All of these works are strong, emotive, attention-grabbing works. 

"Nunn komm' der Heiden Heiland" is a hymn written by Martin Luther in 1524 after a piece by St. Ambrose.  Per Wikipedia, "The chorale was used as the prominent hymn for the first Sunday of Advent for centuries. It was used widely in organ settings by Protestant baroque composers, most notably Johann Sebastian Bach: he set it as the opening chorale prelude BWV 599 of Orgelbüchlein; and three times—as BWV 659 (one of his best known organ compositions), BWV 660 and BWV 661—in his Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes. Bach used the hymn in his chorale cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62 (1724) and in the opening chorale fantasia of his earlier cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, BWV 61 (1714). Max Reger composed a chorale prelude as No. 29 of his 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67 in 1902."  But in the liner notes, Rosner says he was influenced more by a setting by the mid-baroque composer Praetorius than by Bach.  He also states that the revision he did in 1997 involved mostly the connective passages between movements rather than the main body of the work itself.

Rosner came to The Six Spanish Songs by a circuitous route.  At first, he was interested in Sephardic poetry, but found that most of that that had survived had survived because it had already been set to music, so he abandoned that idea.  But then he became interrested in Renaissance Spanish poetry, and found that much of it had not been set to music, so that is where he began.  The two outer songs are the most complex.  "No. 1 is in 5/8 meter and No. 6 is  something of a rondo, where the "A" occur on different tonics each time.  Movements 2 & 5 are more pensive slow movements, # 2 has a coda in 11/8 meter; No. 5 uses a drone, the middle movements are the true scherzi; No. 3 is a duet for voice and flute, No. 4 adds a tambourine."

Rosner decided in the 1990's that he wanted to write sonatas or concerti for all the orchestral instruments.  He had already come close and decided to fill in the gaps.  In this, he was consciously imitative of Nielsen and Hindemith.  The Trombone sonata is "big-boned," he says, requiring a pianist who is co-equal with the trombonist, not a mere accompanist.  "The first movement is largely in three-strand counterpoint and may suggest the quality of "ars antiqua" or even "organum" counterpoint; many of the harmonies are fifths, and there are some noticeable on-beat dissonances.  The second is in a three part song design, but is in 7/8 meter throughout.  The third movement is the most difficult to play, and has its share of gritty complexity, but is in fact the most traditional example of classical sonata form I have ever used, replete with a clear contrast between the two main themes, and all the 'correct' tonal relationships."  Texts of the Spanish songs with English translations are included in the liner notes.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Been watching a bit of this opera on youtube lately so I feel like listening to it. This recording is one I especially enjoy.