What are you listening to now?

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

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aligreto

Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 [Kajanus]





Recorded in the early 1930's, the sound quality obviously leaves something to be desired but it does not detract from a pleasurable listening experience. But get past that and the performance and interpretation are both powerful and magnificent. The whole performance is highly electrically charged and if you have not heard it you owe it to yourself to hear a highly unique and interesting version of this work.

Que

Quote from: André on November 25, 2018, 05:48:24 AM
Good morning, Que! How did you like the Cosset and Leo discs?

The Cosset quite nice, well performed. Really liked the Bylsma/Leo.  :)

Q

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: aligreto on November 25, 2018, 09:19:37 AM
Perhaps the recordings are overly dry, not reverberant enough?

There is a big variation among HIP styles. I have the Festetics and love it. At one time was available for a reasonable price, I think it is currently out of print.

Que

Quote from: Irons on November 25, 2018, 05:42:11 AM
After reading Music Web review I was convinced I would like this set. Stupidly I ordered two double CDs, Op.20 and Op.33. Played with gut strings and historically aware I have only so far listened to the Op.33 set. Trying hard to convince myself I like Haydn played this way, but deep down I don't think I do. :(

I do concur with the suggestions of the Festetics Quartet (ARCANA) - Hungarian, gutsy, vibrant, playful and witty.
The complete set might be OOP, but there are separate volumes to try.

Q

Daverz

Quote from: Que on November 25, 2018, 11:16:46 AM
I do concur with the suggestions of the Festetics Quartet (ARCANA) - Hungarian, gutsy, vibrant, playful and witty.
The complete set might be OOP, but there are separate volumes to try.

My choice would be the Mosaïques.

A very cheap but excellent set of all the quartets in the traditional style can be had on MP3 for under $10. 

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Thread duty:

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Love this recording of the Britten.

Malx

Jorg Widmann, Violin Concerto - Christian Tetzlaff, Swedish RSO, Daniel Harding.

JBS

Quote from: Irons on November 25, 2018, 05:42:11 AM


After reading Music Web review I was convinced I would like this set. Stupidly I ordered two double CDs, Op.20 and Op.33. Played with gut strings and historically aware I have only so far listened to the Op.33 set. Trying hard to convince myself I like Haydn played this way, but deep down I don't think I do. :(

Well, perhaps PI Haydn just doesn't click for you.  But you need not fear banishment to the outer darknesses if that's so.  Try to sample the Mosaiques and the Festetics if you can, to be sure, and then look for a modern instrument cycle because the music is among the best ever written in this genre.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

JBS

TD
The CD from the Nov 2018 BBC Music magazine
Featuring Jack Liebeck violin.
Paganini Caprice no 1, final movement of B Minor concerto, Moto perpetuo orchestrated by P Pitts
Ysaye Solo Sonata no 1
Tarrega Recuerdos de la Alhambra (transcribed for solo violin)
Tchaikovsky Valse Scherzo op 34 w/ Katya Apekisheva piano
Saint Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso
Korngold Violin Concerto

Four conductors and three orchestras are listed but there is no attempt to say which ones appear in which piece.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

aligreto

Martin: Soundings [Doris/Finucane/Lynch]





This is a very beautiful and lyrical work featuring scoring for harp, clarinet and viola. The sonic world is wonderful and very appealing.

aligreto

Quote from: Ghost of Baron Scarpia on November 25, 2018, 10:58:40 AM
There is a big variation among HIP styles. I have the Festetics and love it. At one time was available for a reasonable price, I think it is currently out of print.

There is that of course.


Quote from: Daverz on November 25, 2018, 11:54:57 AM
My choice would be the Mosaïques.


An excellent recommendation Dave.

Zeus

Froberger: Suites & Toccatas
Alina Rotaru
Carpe Diem

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"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)

Iota

Quote from: Daverz on November 25, 2018, 11:54:57 AM
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Love this recording of the Britten.

I really should try to hear that.


As far as Haydn quartets go, I have various Mosaiques recordings and find both they and the Festetics consistently excellent.


TD:



Shostakovich String Quartet No.11, F minor


Bleak hardly covers it. I wonder if there is a composer who more directly seems to decant a psychological state onto the page. Schnittke perhaps. This quartet reads as much like a mental diary as a piece of music. The Hagen are unblinking in their delivery.

Irons

Quote from: JBS on November 25, 2018, 12:33:16 PM
Well, perhaps PI Haydn just doesn't click for you.  But you need not fear banishment to the outer darknesses if that's so.  Try to sample the Mosaiques and the Festetics if you can, to be sure, and then look for a modern instrument cycle because the music is among the best ever written in this genre.

I love Haydn and his string quartets best of all. The absence of vibrato isn't a problem but find the swelling of notes gets in the way of the music.

aligreto: The recordings are up to the normal Hyperion high standards.
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

Irons

#125293
Quote from: aligreto on November 25, 2018, 03:42:16 AM
Janacek: Glagolitic Mass [Ancerl]





This is such a wonderful and powerful work which is give a very fine and compelling performance here by both instrumentalists and vocalists.

A legendary recording.
Not as well known, Janacek's cantata "Amarus" also on Supraphon is equally powerful but on a smaller scale.
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

North Star

Quote from: Iota on November 25, 2018, 01:09:42 PM
Shostakovich String Quartet No.11, F minor


Bleak hardly covers it. I wonder if there is a composer who more directly seems to decant a psychological state onto the page. Schnittke perhaps. This quartet reads as much like a mental diary as a piece of music. The Hagen are unblinking in their delivery.

Time for a revisit (the Emerson recording)
Have you seen the articles on each of the Shostakovich quartets here? Well worth reading.
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Zeus

#125295
Janacek: Amarus
Supraphon

from this album:

via Spotify

Hat tip Irons:

Quote from: Irons on November 25, 2018, 01:29:58 PM
Not as well known, Janacek's cantata "Amarus" also on Supraphon is equally powerful but on a smaller scale.
"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)

Zeus

#125296
Barbara Strozzi
Ensemble Poïésis
Aeon



I will have to check out the Cappella Mediterranea.   And maybe the Emanuela Galli also.  Thank God for Spotify!!

Anyway, this one is gorgeous.  I find this singing to be much more engaged and heart-felt than the Musica Secreta version.  At times it almost sounds like she's crying on your shoulder.  The Musica Secreta singer may possibly be more technically agile, but she doesn't seem to sing with much emotion.

That was my impression, anyway.
"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)

Daverz

#125297
Quote from: Irons on November 25, 2018, 01:10:54 PM
I love Haydn and his string quartets best of all. The absence of vibrato isn't a problem but find the swelling of notes gets in the way of the music.

From a review of Op. 20 by Burton Rothleder in Fanfare:

"The period-instrument sound on these discs is characterized by too many exaggerated swells and attenuations during passages of sustained notes, by frequent weak intonation, and occasionally by caterwauls. This is interspersed with some mighty uninspired and sometimes lifeless playing [...]"

Some of the other Fanfare reviews of other London Haydn Quartet discs were quite positive, though.

Thread duty:

Larsson: Symphony No. 3

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Wilhelm Georg Berger, Romanian composer

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Berger's compelling Symphony No. 4 wins the evening so far.

amw

The LHQ Haydn recordings are probably the most "extreme" HIP ones, including going back to earlier versions of the quartets than those commonly performed today as well as playing in a radically different manner from contemporary performance practice. Is it accurate? Obviously no one knows. The Festetics set represents a different school of ultra-HIP thought, and the Quatuor Mosaïques & Salomon Quartet recordings are significantly more accessible to modern audiences. Sampling is always essential.

Zeus

#125299
Quote from: Daverz on November 25, 2018, 04:29:43 PM
Larsson: Symphony No. 3

I noticed that David Hurwitz really trashed this symphony, though not the performance:
https://www.classicstoday.com/review/larssons-reactionary-third-symphony/

Ironically, I think he really liked the Symphony #1 recording.

Any thoughts?
"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)