What are you listening to now?

[Florestan]

D 105, Schubert's first Mass.

The horns in the final bars of Donna nobis pacem are divine.

Now playing:



#44 Trauer

[Florestan]

I meant to pipe in that you are piquing my interest here;  I have always enjoyed the numbers I have heard from the Harmonies set,

Indeed, the HPR contain some of the most sublime pieces Liszt wrote. Pensee des morts, Hymne de l'enfant a son reveil, Funerailles and Cantique d'amour are paricular favorites of mine --- but there is not a single one of the set which I do not deeply enjoy. Ave Maria, for instance, is as beautiful and devout as Schubert's or Gounod's and only lack of exposure prevents it from being as popular.

and you probably have guessed that I do not take very seriously the "conventional wisdom" which is dismissive of large swaths of Liszt's piano works.

We are on the same page here (well, not only here but here especially.  )

[North Star]

Immaculate playing which conveys perfectly the spiritual qualities of the music, its portrayal of joys and sorrows and the overall sense of genuine devotion and unflinching faith. Splendid sound. Recommended without hesitation.

I meant to pipe in that you are piquing my interest here;  I have always enjoyed the numbers I have heard from the Harmonies set, and you probably have guessed that I do not take very seriously the "conventional wisdom" which is dismissive of large swaths of Liszt's piano works.

It's not hard to see why Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude and Funérailles are often picked from the set, but there aren't really any weaknesses in there, most of the other numbers are more subdued, though.  About time you got a full set, Karl. The Osborne is the only set I own, and you can't go wrong with it. Korstick is another good option.

[Karl Henning]

Indeed, the HPR contain some of the most sublime pieces Liszt wrote. Pensee des morts, Hymne de l'enfant a son reveil, Funerailles and Cantique d'amour are paricular favorites of mine --- but there is not a single one of the set which I do not deeply enjoy. Ave Maria, for instance, is as beautiful and devout as Schubert's or Gounod's and only lack of exposure prevents it from being as popular.

We are on the same page here (well, not only here but here especially.  )

I meant to pipe in that you are piquing my interest here;  I have always enjoyed the numbers I have heard from the Harmonies set, and you probably have guessed that I do not take very seriously the "conventional wisdom" which is dismissive of large swaths of Liszt's piano works.

It's not hard to see why Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude and Funérailles are often picked from the set, but there aren't really any weaknesses in there, most of the other numbers are more subdued, though.  About time you got a full set, Karl. The Osborne is the only set I own, and you can't go wrong with it. Korstick is another good option.

Cheers, lads!  I did find an inexpensive copy of the Osborne, will report!

Thread Duty:

Not that I foresee any better chance of mentally cataloguing all of them any better than I might the Haydn symphonies, but I am gradually making my way through the Bach Cantatas, and these past couple of days I have been "stuck" on my 'latest favorite' (though this is not the performance I have on my phone):

http://www.youtube.com/v/MORa0Y98Z1o

[Florestan]

It's not hard to see why Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude and Funérailles are often picked from the set, but there aren't really any weaknesses in there, most of the other numbers are more subdued, though.  About time you got a full set, Karl. The Osborne is the only set I own, and you can't go wrong with it. Korstick is another good option.

I also have the Roberto Plano set and the Leslie Howard version in his megabox of Liszt's complete piano works but haven't listened to them yet.



On YT there are these versions:

Gunnar Johansen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEvs3i5UjFQ

Philip Thomson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJIXU8ZxdA0

Aldo Ciccolini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1INgTmgQwM

Jerome Rose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2wAWfq5zg0

Andrea Bonatta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiSzQF39TNQ

Francois-Frederic Guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeQvf6yyGTc (this is illustrated with a Chopin photo, go figure!)

TD:



String Quintet in C major

[Mandryka]

Cheers, lads!  I did find an inexpensive copy of the Osborne, will report!

Thread Duty:

Not that I foresee any better chance of mentally cataloguing all of them any better than I might the Haydn symphonies, but I am gradually making my way through the Bach Cantatas, and these past couple of days I have been "stuck" on my 'latest favorite' (though this is not the performance I have on my phone):

http://www.youtube.com/v/MORa0Y98Z1o

I heard Osborne play it in concert a few years ago, the Liszt not the Bach cantata!, when he's in the mood he's a fabulous colourist.

[André]

Finishing this set with the Seventh "Choral" Symphony and the Requiem.
[asin]B002QEXBQS[/asin]
The former has a Danish text, apparently by the composer, and rather went by me with little impact. The Requiem reminds me of the choral passages in Verdi's Requiem, by turns vigorous and meditative.

Overall, Hamerik is well within the Central European symphonic tradition, although his treatment of themes is not necessarily classic. Most interesting was the Sixth Symphony, scored only for strings because of budgetary reasons,

Recommend the full set.

Thanks for the appraisal. I'll pull it out of the shelf where it has remained dormant since I purchased it a few years ago. At the time, it all « went by me with little impact ». Time for a reassessment.

[Traverso]

Bach

CD 2

[Cato]

And now, on to Arthur Honegger: Symphony No. 4, "Deliciae Basiliensis" and Symphony No. 5, "Di tre re", with Serge Baudo conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

[asin]B000003574[/asin]

That cycle is unrivaled, IMO!

AMEN!!!   0:)

[cilgwyn]

The first 'complete' recording of Purcell's The Fairy Queen finally got a long & way,overdue,reissue! I did have a download of it,before;but the sound quality,of this mono recording,is much better on this reissue. A lovely,"old school" performance. It can add it to my other Lewis/Purcell recordings,now. It shouldn't have had to wait for a cd release that long (I can't trace any other!). I suppose the Britten recording "trumped" it! I think it's an excellent performance. I remember thinking,"I hope Decca Eloquence release this..........and they did,sooner than I expected!

     

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Beethoven String Quartet Op 18, No 6.



I've finally gotten to the end of Op 18. No 6 was okay. As usual, well crafted first movement. I particularly liked the slow introduction to the finale. Slow movement was ok, scherzo a bit of a bore.

This is my second time through Op 18 and my conclusion matchers my first traversal and the conventional wisdom. In these works Beethoven seems to to seek to go beyond the classical masters (Haydn and Mozart) but he has given up more in wit and elegance than he has gained in originality. I am looking forward to moving on to Op 59.

[Zeus]

A few first listens....

Gernsheim: Piano Quartets Nos. 1 & 3
Andreas Kirpal & Diogenes Quartet
Brilliant

[asin] B002QXI2JU[/asin]

Casella: Complete Music for Cello and Piano
Andrea Favalessa & Maria Semeraro
Brilliant

[asin] B00HYO8IJU[/asin]

Ornstein: Violin Sonatas, etc
Francesco Parrino & Maud Renier
Brilliant

[asin] B01MQQCQOL[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

http://www.youtube.com/v/H3-K3gmRGzE

[Omicron9]

A few first listens....

Gernsheim: Piano Quartets Nos. 1 & 3
Andreas Kirpal & Diogenes Quartet
Brilliant

[asin] B002QXI2JU[/asin]

Casella: Complete Music for Cello and Piano
Andrea Favalessa & Maria Semeraro
Brilliant

[asin] B00HYO8IJU[/asin]

Ornstein: Violin Sonatas, etc
Francesco Parrino & Maud Renier
Brilliant

[asin] B01MQQCQOL[/asin]

How is that Ornstein box?   Tempting...

[vandermolen]

Symphony 7
[asin]B000X1YD2C[/asin]

[vandermolen]

This music seems to hover in an almost opiate haze somewhere between Debussy and Messiaen, and there's something transporting and sirenic about the way it beckons you further in, diffuse and vivid at the same time, extraordinary stuff. And what a strikingly deft orchestrational touch Koechlin has, the sound of the string harmonics for example in the La Caravane (reve pendant la sieste) movement are utterly hypnotic!

I really like this work in its piano and orchestral manifestations - as you say 'hypnotic'.

[vandermolen]

And now, on to Arthur Honegger: Symphony No. 4, "Deliciae Basiliensis" and Symphony No. 5, "Di tre re", with Serge Baudo conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

[asin]B000003574[/asin]

Two great symphonies IMHO. I never tire of Honegger.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Here you have it.



Full information and click-to-enlarge image, here:

https://nat.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=200247&navlang=en

The angels are indeed left-handed. Mystery solved.

It seems to be well established that the angels are left-handed, which solves half of the mystery. The other half of the mystery is why? The description does not address that, but does mention that the image was intended for some other media, boxes and carpets are mentioned. Perhaps it was originally created for some process that would have reversed it? Or was there some symbolic significance to the reversal?

[JBS]

It seems to be well established that the angels are left-handed, which solves half of the mystery. The other half of the mystery is why? The description does not address that, but does mention that the image was intended for some other media, boxes and carpets are mentioned. Perhaps it was originally created for some process that would have reversed it? Or was there some symbolic significance to the reversal?

One site on which I described the work as a tapestry cartoon.  And indeed....

Historically, weavers worked while facing what would be the back of the tapestry. They copied with their colored weft threads the tapestry's design. The design, referred to as the "cartoon," took the form of a painting—made on cloth or paper, the same size as the planned tapestry. This cartoon was either temporarily attached to the loom, flush against the backs of the warp threads, and visible in the gaps between the warps; or it was hung on the wall behind the weavers, who followed it by looking at its reflection in a mirror behind the warps. Because weavers copied the cartoon facing on the back of the tapestry, when the piece was finished, removed from the loom, and turned around to reveal the front, the woven image on the front of the tapestry was the mirror image of the cartoon shown. Weavers could avoid this reversal of the design by using the mirror method to copy the cartoon's design. The cartoon was not physically part of the completed tapestry, and could be reused multiple times in order to make duplicate tapestries.

from here
https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2014/making-a-tapestry

[North Star]

Today's listening

Liszt
Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Osborne
[asin]B0000Y37D8[/asin]

Mendelssohn
Piano Trio No. 1 in d minor, Op. 49
Trio Wanderer
[asin]B000OCYGRW[/asin]

Zelenka
Missa votiva
Collegium 1704
Luks
[asin]B001AS6A9G[/asin]