What are you listening to now?

[NikF]

That's a very nice CD. I like the 4th Symphony in particular.

At the moment I'm on a mini ballet suites kick, but I've never heard the 4th symphony and so I'll enjoy knowing I have it to discover. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Whaddya think, Sarge?

I have to side with Daverz and Brian on this one. I really enjoyed Sgambati's First, especially the two slow movements. Melodically very appealing.

Sarge

[Traverso]

Hans Werner Henze

CD 1  Exploring this box ,mostly new music.

Symphony 1,5 & 6

[Biffo]

Bliss: Conversations; Oboe Quintet; Clarinet Quintet - The Melos Ensemble - from the Warner/Icon box. The three pieces make an interesting program with the Clarinet Quintet the one I have enjoyed the most.

Seeing the posting above on Henze, does anyone know where I can get, preferably download, the text of The Raft of the Medusa? I have the work as a download but without a text. I tried before some time ago but without any success.

[Papy Oli]

Good afternoon all,

Mozart - Clarinet concerto & Oboe Concerto
Hogwood / AAM

[Traverso]

Good afternoon all,

Mozart - Clarinet concerto & Oboe Concerto
Hogwood / AAM

Ah...you are in good company.

[TheGSMoeller]

Thanks for this! After reading what I think was your first post about this Zimmermann disk, I listened to it on Apple Music. It's a beautiful recording, indeed. 

That's great, Gordo! It's wonderful to hear new music from that era, and for it to sound so fresh.

[TheGSMoeller]

Beethoven's 6th...perhaps a bit too obvious for the morning time, but it is perfect...

[Madiel]

Schoenberg, Wind Quintet op.26

[asin]B00000E4W8[/asin]

The first thing that's striking is the sheer scale of the thing. For a wind quintet it seems exceptionally substantial.

And while initially it conformed to the developing idea that I prefer Schoenberg instrumental works where he can demonstrate a use of colour, it all started feeling a bit interminable. Particularly when I realised I'd only just got to the end of the rather extensive 1st movement, and the 2nd movement scherzo didn't come across as very different.

I'm currently in the 3rd movement, which does provide a bit more contrast. But overall I'm feeling that the combination of being both rather long for a wind quintet and being 12-tone is not a winner for me right now. Other opuses have appealed more. A 3-movement work and/or shorter movements might have won me more readily.

EDIT: See, the concluding rondo is probably the best bit.

[Florestan]

Some time ago a poster who is no longer with us (and I regret it) said that Chopin "directly benefitted primarily off the hard work of women like Szymanowska". After hearing three discs worth of her music, I see no reason for retracting my considering the comment "ignorant, clueless and ill willed". Even the childhood and teenage works of Chopin are far above Szymanowska's mature ones. Her music is pleasant enough, tuneful (albeit not memorably so), charming and in some instances even compelling --- but far from warranting repeated listenings, let alone approaching Chopin's depth of feeling and expression. This is actually a good reminder of the deleterious effect that Chopin's association with salon music had on his reception and criticism in some countries, particularly Germany and England (the enthusiasm the Russians manifested for him is a sort of paradox but not too much, all things considered). I'm not dismissive of salon music, mind you: in fact I'm a sucker for it and consider it as a much undeservedly maligned genre, but Szymanowska's music fits in the bill to a tee while Chopin's goes far beyond it and there is no way that one could, by a blind listening, mistake the latter for the former.

[Madiel]

Dabbling in early Nørgård on streaming services again. Yes this, is going to be a chronology thing again... thanks to Allmusic being fairly good at documenting when things were composed, although there are also difficulties because sometimes Nørgård revisited and reworked things many years later (e.g. I already know he took a one-movement 1950s piece and turned it into a sonata by adding another movement in the 1980s). Never mind.

[asin]B00006GE1C[/asin]

Op.2 songs ("Det Aabne", The Open) (1952-55)
Introduction and Allegro for accordion (1952-64)
String Quartet No.1, "Quartetto Breve" (1952)
String Quartet No.2, "Quartetto Brioso" (1952-58) (with thanks to Youtube because I haven't found the album that has all the first 6 quartets on a streaming service).

[asin]B01C9LDOC8[/asin]

One thing that's striking me about this early music is that it's sometimes quite aggressive or strident. Highly expressionistic. There's very little so far to resemble the composer I encountered in the infinity series works like Symphonies 2 & 3, maybe just a touch of what comes even later on. From something I just read, some of these are even before Nørgård got into Sibelius (though that can't be far away, because the 1st symphony is just around the corner). But I like a lot of it. There's already a capacity to develop some sort of musical argument and flow.

[asin]B000027TQY[/asin]

[Florestan]

Some time ago a poster who is no longer with us (and I regret it) said that Chopin "directly benefitted primarily off the hard work of women like Szymanowska". After hearing three discs worth of her music, I see no reason for retracting my considering the comment "ignorant, clueless and ill willed". Even the childhood and teenage works of Chopin are far above Szymanowska's mature ones. Her music is pleasant enough, tuneful (albeit not memorably so), charming and in some instances even compelling --- but far from warranting repeated listenings, let alone approaching Chopin's depth of feeling and expression. This is actually a good reminder of the deleterious effect that Chopin's association with salon music had on his reception and criticism in some countries, particularly Germany and England (the enthusiasm the Russians manifested for him is a sort of paradox but not too much, all things considered). I'm not dismissive of salon music, mind you: in fact I'm a sucker for it and consider it as a much undeservedly maligned genre, but Szymanowska's music fits in the bill to a tee while Chopin's goes far beyond it and there is no way that one could, by a blind listening, mistake the latter for the former.

That being said, the work I enjoyed the most of all the 3 discs was Six Marches, deliciously Schubertian.

[Karl Henning]

A thrilling work that I'm surprised isn't better known. Shostakovich's writing for voices is tremendously powerful. I particularly like the folk-like and "Russian Orthodox" sections of the work, which contrast with the more dramatic sections.

An absolutely fantastic piece.

[kyjo]

I have to side with Daverz and Brian on this one. I really enjoyed Sgambati's First, especially the two slow movements. Melodically very appealing.

Sarge

Cool. Maybe I'll give it another listen!

[Karl Henning]

Schoenberg, Wind Quintet op.26



The first thing that's striking is the sheer scale of the thing. For a wind quintet it seems exceptionally substantial.

And while initially it conformed to the developing idea that I prefer Schoenberg instrumental works where he can demonstrate a use of colour, it all started feeling a bit interminable. Particularly when I realised I'd only just got to the end of the rather extensive 1st movement, and the 2nd movement scherzo didn't come across as very different.

I'm currently in the 3rd movement, which does provide a bit more contrast. But overall I'm feeling that the combination of being both rather long for a wind quintet and being 12-tone is not a winner for me right now. Other opuses have appealed more. A 3-movement work and/or shorter movements might have won me more readily.

EDIT: See, the concluding rondo is probably the best bit.

May indeed be that the work doesn't do it for you.  May be that this was the groundbreaking recording, and (good as it may well be—I've not heard this one) it does not benefit from earlier efforts.

At some point, and if (of course) you feel that it is worth the fresh go, you might try the NY Woodwind Quintet/Craft recording on Naxos, which I fine clean and exciting.

[Mahlerian]

May indeed be that the work doesn't do it for you.  May be that this was the groundbreaking recording, and (good as it may well be—I've not heard this one) it does not benefit from earlier efforts.

At some point, and if (of course) you feel that it is worth the fresh go, you might try the NY Woodwind Quintet/Craft recording on Naxos, which I fine clean and exciting.

My own preference (I know it was not requested, and probably isn't desired) is for this recording, probably the fastest one:


The Wind Quintet is pretty tricky to get right.  It's difficult to play well, and I know many people who otherwise enjoy Schoenberg's music who find it exhausting.  Personally, I'm a sucker for quartal harmony...

[Karl Henning]

My own preference (I know it was not requested, and probably isn't desired) is for this recording, probably the fastest one:


The Wind Quintet is pretty tricky to get right.  It's difficult to play well, and I know many people who otherwise enjoy Schoenberg's music who find it exhausting.  Personally, I'm a sucker for quartal harmony...

Well, I am glad for the suggestion  0:)

[aligreto]

Mahler: Symphony No. 9 [Klemperer]





This is a wonderfully powerful, taut, thoughtful reading. There is a wonderful sense of yearning and longing throughout the performance. The rendition of the final movement is simply glorious with those lush strings.

[Cato]

I mentioned this under the new "French symphonies" topic, and thought that it was high time to listen again!

Theodore Dubois: Symphonie Francaise.

https://www.youtube.com/v/VxnxGXmFShY

[NikF]

Durosoir: Le Balcon - Quatuor Diotima; Trio Hoboken.

[asin]B004E2WK7G[/asin]