What are you listening to now?

Started by Dungeon Master, February 15, 2013, 09:13:11 PM

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Traverso

Xenakis

1. Pléïades: I. Mélanges (Mixtures)
  2. Pléïades: II. Métaux (Metals)
  3. Pléïades: III. Claviers (Keyboards)
  4. Pléïades: IV. Peaux (Skins)
  5. Rebonds: Pt. A
  6. Rebonds: Pt. B

 


vandermolen

Quote from: cilgwyn on August 06, 2018, 01:41:21 AM
I'm beginning to wonder if this might be my favourite Arnold symphony?!! I didn't collect this until last,because of some of the controversy surrounding it,and I had some idea it could be very gloomy! After all that,I really like it. It's almost,wholly,introspective nature really appeals to me. It curls into the corners of your mind (as they say!) like no other Arnold symphony. In some ways I think it's the one Arnold symphony that gets anywhere near approaching the best of VW's symphonies. Not quite;but I'm very impressed,though. Far from a failure,I think Arnold's final symphony was a fine farewell to the form. Thank goodness he didn't end with No 8 (the weakest of the set,imho!). A pity he couldn't have been as philosophical as Havergal Brian;but people handle things in different ways. Allot of people would envy some of his achievements.


I agree with you although I know the Naxos recording better.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

kyjo

Quote from: Florestan on August 06, 2018, 02:55:14 AM


In a sense, York Bowen might indeed be called an English Rachmaninoff: like the Russian's, his music is oftenly frowned upon by the cognoscenti for its unabashed tonality, impenitent Romanticism and supposed sentimentality --- and like the Russian's, it will forever remain popular with the great unwashed for whom a good tune caressing the soul is still worth more than a hundred experiments in coordinating music with acoustics.   ;D

Woohoo! Another Bowen fan! I thought I was the only one  :laugh:
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

vandermolen

This is a magnificent work in my view (The Vision of Judgment), Fricker's masterpiece I think. Thanks to cilgwyn for recommending it. I have played probably over twenty times since purchasing it recently. I love the cheer from a member of the audience at the end:
[asin]B019CNMAM6[/asin]
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#119264
Concerto for two string orchestras, piano and timpani. Czech PO, Karel Sejna. I have never heard a more urgent, moving and riveting performance. The music full conveys the sense of looming catastrophe over Czecholsovakia in 1938. Thanks to John (MI) for posting this (surprisingly inexpensive) double album:
[asin]B0794MC592[/asin]
Inexpensive on Amazon UK
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Papy Oli

Good afternoon all,

Earlier : Roussel symphony No. 4 (Janowski)

[asin]B000003FOF[/asin]

Now: Domenico Scarlatti - sonatas for Viola D'amore & harpsichord

[asin]B005E5MVTY[/asin]
Olivier

aligreto

Telemann: Musique de table, Production I [Bruggen]





The recording has great weight and body given the relative size of the ensemble [no credits given in this edition to the sound engineers]. The music is very well played in a lively, lilting manner. The Trio and the Conclusion [in particular] in this section are notable, stand out movements for me.

cilgwyn

Elgar's delightful 1916 recording of The Starlight Express. I've got the old Pearl 5 cd set,pictured here (albeit,a bit "chopped off" in this photo!) The bronzed cd's work perfectly.......so far!


ritter

#119268
My first order from St.-Laurent Studio (placed 10 days ago) arrived from Canada today, and this went straight into the CD player:



So far, Debussy's Jeux is a fine prrformance, but nowhere near the excellence of the rendition Maderna gave of the same piece in Berlin four years earlier (which, as reported here, bowled me over some months ago).

I'm now halfway through Berio's Sinfonia (here given in its provisional four movement version). This is a historic occasion, as it's the work's European premiere. The first movement has a welcome urgency and rawness (perhaps the fact that this is a live concert has something to do with this). O King (Berio at his considerable best IMHO) is here indeed "immobile e lontano", beatifully delicate. Things are also fine in the In ruhig fliessender Bewegung movement (the vocals are provided by the Swingle Singers, who were so closely associated with this work for many years since its unveiling), but this extraordinary musical patchwork perhaps requires better sound than what this live concert can offer to be fully appreciated (the sound is quite decent, actually, but not up to studio quality). In this performance, the reciter does not end the movement by saying "Thank you, Mr. Maderna"....but I do.  ;)

After the Sinfonia, we'll have Bartók's MSPC...what a program, eh? (Even if it's compiled from three diffferent concerts spanning three years).

cilgwyn

Back on the cd player! A Ceremony of Carols,right,now. A bit early for Xmas,I know;but I actually hadn't heard these works until this cd arrived today!!! (Although,I did hear some of them in a boxy Lp transfer (not of this recording)which put me off? So,I can't really count that!).


Karl Henning

Maiden-Listen Monday!

Koechlin
La Course de printemps, Op.95


[asin]B07574QX4Y[/asin]
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Wakefield

JS Bach: Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten, BWV 207a
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Ton Koopman

[asin]B00015U66M[/asin]

Reused material, but what a beauty! An intense feeling of happiness takes over me, every time I listen to this cantata.  :)
"One of the greatest misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowards. They complain, keep quiet, dine and forget."
-- Voltaire

Karl Henning

Maiden-Listen Monday!

Koechlin
Les Bandar-log, Op.176


[asin]B07574QX4Y[/asin]
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Maiden-Listen Monday!

Koechlin
Chant funèbre à la mémoire des jeunes femmes défuntes, Op.37


[asin]B07574QX4Y[/asin]
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Florestan

Quote from: kyjo on August 06, 2018, 07:06:23 AM
Woohoo! Another Bowen fan! I thought I was the only one  :laugh:

Now we can start a club: The Bowenites. Membership allowed on the single condition of humming the Bolero for violin and piano.  :D
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

Zeus

The Forgotten Kingdom
La Capella Reial De Catalunya, Hespèrion XXI, Jordi Savall
Alia Vox

[asin] B002SKMGDY[/asin]

Quite long at 3 hours and 50 minutes, but otherwise good stuff.
"There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it." – Emmanuel Radnitzky (Man Ray)

Florestan

Quote from: Gordo on August 06, 2018, 09:17:24 AM
JS Bach: Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten, BWV 207a
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Ton Koopman

[asin]B00015U66M[/asin]

Reused material

Wait, wait, wait a minute! Do you mean Bach was less concerned with the meaning of great art and with producing set-in-stone masterpieces (read, scores) than with meeting his job requirements as well and as quick as he could? Do you mean he and Rossini actually had the same goals and used the same methods? The horror, the horror!...  :laugh:
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

Wakefield

#119277
Quote from: Florestan on August 06, 2018, 11:25:23 AM
Wait, wait, wait a minute! Do you mean Bach was less concerned with the meaning of great art and with producing set-in-stone masterpieces (read, scores) than with meeting his job requirements as well and as quick as he could? Do you mean he and Rossini actually had the same goals and used the same methods? The horror, the horror!...  :laugh:

Yes! This people –believe it or not– worked in very particular conditions, adapting their genius to the musicians and concrete instruments at their disposal, thinking of the venues where their compositions would be performed... Nothing like music for the ages, intemporal music or something like that, I'm afraid...  :P


"One of the greatest misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowards. They complain, keep quiet, dine and forget."
-- Voltaire

king ubu

Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

Florestan

Quote from: Gordo on August 06, 2018, 11:43:09 AM
Yes! This people –believe it or not– worked in very particular conditions, adapting their genius to the musicians and concrete instruments at their disposal, thinking of the venues where their compositions would be performed... [possibly, in some cases even probably, getting frustrated with all that] Nothing like music for the ages, intemporal music or something like that, I'm afraid...  :P

Thank you! My thoughts exactly --- and my interpolation as well.  8)
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham