What are you listening to now?

[aligreto]

Mozart: Piano Sonatas Nos. 7-9 [Wurtz]





These are bright, sparkling and ebullient performances which are very well presented.

[Maestro267]

Lloyd: Symphony No. 5
BBC PO/Lloyd

[aligreto]

Schumann: Symphony No. 2 [Szell]

[Todd]

[ritter]

Some weeks ago, I was disappointed by Walter Braunfels's Verkündigung, which I found overblown and tedious. Still, I thought I'd give this composer another go (as I remembered liking his opera Die Vögel years ago). Thus, I bought this CD:


Well, this is turning to be most enjoyable. There's a lightness of touch, a melodic inventiveness and sparkling orchestration, which is most welcome. So far, the Prelude and Suite from his opera Don Gil of the Green Breeches (based on Tirso de Molina) and the Konzertstück for piano and orchestra are both proving rather brilliant pieces, late-romantic in style, but with what to me appears as a personal and interesting voice.

Recommended. 

[André]

Not the first or last time in sport as well as the arts that pushy parents overstep the mark.
I listened to Schmidt today playing Mozart's K.246. Her playing has great purity but she never prettifies Mozart. A serious rendition which I found most refreshing. My only quibble is the size of the Dresden Orchestra, big band Mozart is justly consigned to the past.

True, esp the large string complement. It works much better in the later works, where I find this set really comes into its own.

Another little-known GDR pianist we didn't hear of before the fall of the Trump Berlin wall is Peter Rösel.

[aligreto]

Volans: String Quartet No. 3 " The Songlines" [Balanescu Quartet]





I really like this work. I like its strident musical language and its exciting rhythmic patterns in the first movement. The prolonged second movement is something of a contrast in terms of dynamics and tempo but is essentially the same in terms of musical language; it is a complete contrast to the first movement, which is good. The third movement is, I find, a very interesting piece of music. The final movement has the same musical language as in previous movements and the same tone and overall presentation but it lies somewhere between the first and second movements in terms of dynamics and tempo. I find it to be a very interesting work.

[king ubu]

Another little-known GDR pianist we didn't hear of before the fall of the Trump Berlin wall is Peter Rösel.

... whose most worthwhile Brahms recordings are available again these days, courtesy of our Japanese friends - there are five vols:
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1328
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1329
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1330
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1331
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1332

[Todd]

... whose most worthwhile Brahms recordings are available again these days, courtesy of our Japanese friends - there are five vols:
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1328
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1329
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1330
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1331
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICC-1332

Are those different than these:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=103519

[Todd]

Pieter-Jelle de Boer's disc in the Etcetera Rach box is really quite fine.  The pianist is perhaps a bit less lush/romantic than ideal, but otherwise he really delivers.  I was all set to hunt down his various discs, but it turns out he's made only a few and has since switched to conducting to earn his keep.

[aligreto]

Debussy: Sonate pour flute, alto et harpe [Ellis/Melos Ensemble]

[aligreto]

Strauss: Tod und Verklärung [Zinman]

[André]

[aligreto]

Mahler:  Symphony No. 10 [Rattle/BPO]





From the performance point of view this, for me, is a very fine presentation throughout. It is a live recording. Interpretatively, however, it is a mixed bag for me. The Adagio is quite an expansive reading, perhaps too much so in places, for me, in that it loses a lot of its inherent drama and tension as a result. The first Scherzo's interpretation is a little on the insipid side but it does have its moments; a fine conclusion for example. That wonderful Allegretto movement is very appealing and it is given a compelling and somewhat dark toned treatment here which is very engaging. The second Scherzo is a coherent rendition and is suitably agitated and tension filled. The very dark opening and subsequent assertive and atmospheric passages of the final movement are wonderfully reflective of what I would consider to be close to a true interpretation of what Mahler would have envisioned for his music.

[listener]

Johann Michael BACH:  15 short vocal pieces (motets  and cantatas)
Le Concert Royal de Nancy    René Depoutot cond.
SPOHR: Symphony no.7 in C (The Earthly and Divine in Human Life) op.121
Symphony no.8 in G  op.137
Slovak State Philharmonic O.  Alfred Waller, cond.
(previously released on Marco Polo)

[Maestro267]

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Royal Liverpool PO/Petrenko

[king ubu]

Are those different than these:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=103519

Looks like they're the same recordings (not sure about remastering or transfers and all that).

[aligreto]

Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 3 [Munch]





This is a thrilling, exciting, spirited and compelling performance of this wonderful work. The final movement is wonderfully executed with great intensity and has all of the requisite drama.

[ritter]

Revisiting this classic recording of the Brahms/Schoenberg Piano Quartet  No. 1:


[asin]B000F6YW2G[/asin]

[aligreto]

Shostakovich: Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 40 [Klein/Beldi]