What are you listening to now?

[Karl Henning]

Holmboe
Chamber Concerto № 3, Op.21/M.121 (1940-42)

Not at all surprised to find in this a thoroughly worthy successor to the Nielsen Concerto.

(Nor should I be at all surprised, if I said exactly that, the first time I listened . . . .)

[Mandryka]

Can't please everybody 

Where is he playing it?

[Karl Henning]

Holmboe
String Quartet № 11, « Quartetto rustico » Op.111/M.262 (1972)
Kontra Quartet

[asin]B003NEQAMC[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Where is he playing it?

Just where in Tokyo, I could not say.

[prémont]

Where is he playing it?

Certainly not one of his four recordings on North European historical organs.

[Karl Henning]

Hmm, I'd hate not having all of it

Well, I was inattentive:  in fact, I have all the music (!).  I did not before have the Koivula recording of the string Sinfonias and Kairos—where I have the Owain Arwel Hughes recording on BIS.

To my delight, I shall have, what we rarely enjoy with Holmboe's music, two recordings to compare . . . .

[aligreto]

Beethoven: Emperor Concerto [Curzon]





A bold, assertive version played with plenty of gusto yet which is quite lyrical.

[Malx]

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.30, op.109

[asin]B0000DB55A[/asin]
One of his finest. I consider the 1st movement to be a work of genius. And the rest isn't exactly slouching.

Forgive me for asking but - the genius work you refer to, is it Beethoven's composition or Kovacevich's playing?

[Malx]

A little earlier a Symphony that I rarely play - Shostakovich's 2nd - frankly not as bad as I remembered.

Currently playing - The Water Goblin & The Noon Witch from Charles Mackerras's disc of Dvorak's Symphonic Poems.

[aligreto]

Liszt: Les Preludes [Fricsay]

[Malx]

Mahler, Symphony No 2 - Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer.

[Todd]

Quite excellent.

[Madiel]

Forgive me for asking but - the genius work you refer to, is it Beethoven's composition or Kovacevich's playing?

Sorry for being a bit ambiguous, I meant Beethoven's composition.

[HIPster]

New acquisition:

[asin]B000009CJI[/asin]
Hat tip to Aligretto, or HIPster (or both....  )

Q

This is a good one! 

What are your thoughts regarding it Que?

I think you'd like it aligreto! 

TD

[asin]B004O9Q62O[/asin]

Excellent.  A recommendation from Mandryka.  Thank you!

[Karl Henning]

Mahler
Symphony No. 10 Adagio
Kremerata Baltica

[Zeus]

Koechlin: The Jungle Book
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman
RCA/Victor

[asin] B00000E6Q8[/asin]
K is unabashedly bonkers.  Sui generis.

[Alek Hidell]

Man, it is so easy to fall waaaay behind in this thread! But I'm finally caught up.

I've bought a ton of box sets over the last two or three years, and so I've decided to listen to a bunch of them instead of playing whatever comes up next, previously unheard, on my iPod. This is for my daily commute (about 30 minutes each way).

I just finished this one:



Except for the first disc, this was all new to me (well, aside from the omnipresent Adagio for Strings on disc two). It'll need a repeat listen to become more settled in my mind, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked the violin concerto (even the final movement, which I know is somewhat controversial here) and the piano concerto, as well as several of the smaller pieces. Not so fond of the "chamber opera" A Hand of Bridge on the final disc, but (1) I'm still not that fond of classical-style singing, generally speaking, and (2) it's sung in English, of course, which for some reason always strikes me as somehow "unnatural" (it's opera, so shouldn't it be in Italian or German? ). On the other hand, it did have some laughs in it.

Moving on, I've just begun this one, recently acquired for a pretty good price.



More 20th-century stuff, but some of it will be very different from Barber, I know. It's all Stravinsky and Schoenberg on the first five discs, and I'm sure I'll like it, but I've heard all the works before (though not these performances). I'm looking more forward to all the stuff on the later discs, which will be almost entirely new to me.

Oh, and belated condolences to Que on the recent loss of his father.

[Undersea]

NP:

[asin]B00011KOF4[/asin]

Sibelius: Nightride & Sunrise, Op. 55

Colin Davis: London Symphony Orchestra

[Zeus]

Some fairly contemporary Latin classical (?) music:

Klang der Welt - Brazil
Deutsche Oper Berlin Soloists
New Classical Adventures

[asin] B0017HFJCE[/asin]
(not Russia obviously but same series and similar cover)

Paris Buenos Aires
Tango Futur
BIS
[asin] B00008CLL8[/asin]

[Que]

Morning listening:

[asin]B0000014AA[/asin]

Oh, and belated condolences to Que on the recent loss of his father.

Much appreciated.

Q