What are you listening to now?

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

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Mirror Image

Debussy
La Damoiselle élue for soprano, mezzo-soprano, female chorus, and piano
Le Jeune Choeur de Paris
Natalie Dessay (soprano), Philippe Cassard (piano), Karine Deshayes (mezzo-soprano)


From this recording:

kyjo

#132261
Sculthorpe - Mangrove

[asin]B00006J53U[/asin]

As usual for Sculthorpe, this piece is so evocative and mysterious. Even though I've never been to the Australian outback, Sculthorpe's music certainly makes me feel like I'm there!


Sibelius - Belshazzar's Feast (complete incidental music)

[asin]B00XWDKN9U[/asin]

A minor work in the Sibelius canon perhaps, but very enjoyable and rather haunting nonetheless.


Janáček - Amarus (cantata)

[asin]B000003517[/asin]

I'll quote from Amazon reviewer G.D.:

"Janacek's cantata Amarus dates from 1897, which means that it is, for Janacek (at 43), an early work, dating from before his really unique, mature style had fully developed. As such, Amarus is overall more conventional in terms of drama, development and orchestration than some of his later works. Nevertheless, many of the hallmarks of his later style are there, and there is no mistaking the identity of the composer even from hearing a few, brief passages. The choral writing, for instance, is characteristically Janacek, as is the use of ostinatos and much of the melodic material. I have to admit that I was a bit uncertain by the opening movements when I first heard the work, but it certainly grew on me, and the final three movements are superb, sporting for instance one of Janacek's most gorgeous big tunes, and the work as a whole builds up to a marvelously stirring finale. No fan of the composer should be without this one."


Shostakovich - Piano Quintet

[asin]B07B6JHHKS[/asin]

A very fine new recording of this masterwork, which emphasizes the work's neo-Baroque and neoclassical elements, thereby asserting the work's relative uniqueness in the Shostakovich canon. The accompanying String Quartet no. 3 is great as well.


Gershwin - Second Rhapsody

[asin]B01B17C43G[/asin]

A fully delightful work, easily worth mentioning in the same breath as Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F. Sizzling performance, too.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Ken B

Joining kyjo in Sculthorpe, but Earth Cry.

Ken B

Da Shozz
Symphony 1
USSR State Orchestra, Kondrashin
This is the 1951 recording

Mirror Image

#132264
Quote from: kyjo on March 15, 2019, 07:38:23 PM
Sculthorpe - Mangrove

[asin]B00006J53U[/asin]

As usual for Sculthorpe, this piece is so evocative and mysterious. Even though I've never been to the Australian outback, Sculthorpe's music certainly makes me feel like I'm there!

Yes, indeed. I've always equated Sculthorpe to be an Impressionist of sorts as his music does seem to evoke the Australian landscapes he loved so dearly.

Quote from: Ken B on March 15, 2019, 08:14:17 PM
Joining kyjo in Sculthorpe, but Earth Cry.

Well, since both of you are listening to Sculthorpe, I might as well, too!

Sculthorpe
Memento mori
David Porcelijn, conductor
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra



Ken B

Kyjo, quick! Let's both put on Mozart.

Mirror Image


Madiel

Mahler, Das Klagende Lied, revised version



Noting that if I want an Australian landscape I just stroll about 50 metres. Whereas medieval castles are in extremely short supply.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Mirror Image

Quote from: Madiel on March 15, 2019, 08:55:08 PMNoting that if I want an Australian landscape I just stroll about 50 metres. Whereas medieval castles are in extremely short supply.

I hope, one day, I can travel to Australia. Your country is deeply fascinating to me.

Madiel

Quote from: Mirror Image on March 15, 2019, 08:58:06 PM
I hope, one day, I can travel to Australia. Your country is deeply fascinating to me.

Foreign places are like that. Home, not so fascinating.

When I'm in North America I get a bit excited when I see a squirrel. I'm sure the locals don't. Whereas of course there are things here that much of the rest of the world thinks are amazing and I'm fairly nonchalant about.

Of course, the vast majority of us live on coastal fringes and we find the outback pretty exotic. In fact there's an awful lot of this continent-country I've yet to see. Too busy going to Europe to see castles...
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Ken B

Da Shozz
Piano Quintet
Shostakovich and the Beethoven Quartet
Not so great sound, great playing.

Madiel

Streaming Faure, La Naissance de Venus



I can only find evidence of 3 recordings of this work, and this local one is the one I can actually find to listen to. And it's quite lovely. Definitely a work that deserves wider exposure.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

The new erato

#132272
Last evening, no TV and instead this:




What an amazing work Schutz' Auferstehung is - too long since I've last heard it. And an amazing performance and recording.

Madiel

I eventually found one of the other copies of La Naissance de Venus, the only one with the original piano accompaniment, hiding on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/v/ggonApB8zp8

Now I think I want the album this comes from, which is around in CD form but not online. It seems to have a mix of choral works and songs. Many of the choral works are pretty rare.  And certainly this performance bodes well for the rest.

I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

San Antone

#132274


D. 929

Que


Mandryka

https://www.youtube.com/v/S8_5BhCE_lM

Browne Salve Regina a 6 (I think a 6)  -- unbelievably fluid music making. Schmelzer's idea is that the embellishment is completely indistinguishable from the structure, and that the each voice, each syllable, each attack, should be surprising and expressive, no predictability or anonymity allowed -- and yet the resulting texture is coherent.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Irons

Mozart: violin sonatas K. 402 & 403.

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.

Christo

Quote from: Roasted Swan on March 12, 2019, 03:57:45 AMI really enjoyed the Barber Toccata Festiva - although be warned someone else on Amazon calls it "bombastic, too long & forgettable - Barber's worst piece" 
Am playing it now in this version (dirt-cheap on JPC):
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

vandermolen

#132279
Quote from: kyjo on March 15, 2019, 07:38:23 PM
Sculthorpe - Mangrove

[asin]B00006J53U[/asin]

As usual for Sculthorpe, this piece is so evocative and mysterious. Even though I've never been to the Australian outback, Sculthorpe's music certainly makes me feel like I'm there!


Sibelius - Belshazzar's Feast (complete incidental music)

[asin]B00XWDKN9U[/asin]

A minor work in the Sibelius canon perhaps, but very enjoyable and rather haunting nonetheless.


Janáček - Amarus (cantata)

[asin]B000003517[/asin]

I'll quote from Amazon reviewer G.D.:

"Janacek's cantata Amarus dates from 1897, which means that it is, for Janacek (at 43), an early work, dating from before his really unique, mature style had fully developed. As such, Amarus is overall more conventional in terms of drama, development and orchestration than some of his later works. Nevertheless, many of the hallmarks of his later style are there, and there is no mistaking the identity of the composer even from hearing a few, brief passages. The choral writing, for instance, is characteristically Janacek, as is the use of ostinatos and much of the melodic material. I have to admit that I was a bit uncertain by the opening movements when I first heard the work, but it certainly grew on me, and the final three movements are superb, sporting for instance one of Janacek's most gorgeous big tunes, and the work as a whole builds up to a marvelously stirring finale. No fan of the composer should be without this one."


Shostakovich - Piano Quintet

[asin]B07B6JHHKS[/asin]

A very fine new recording of this masterwork, which emphasizes the work's neo-Baroque and neoclassical elements, thereby asserting the work's relative uniqueness in the Shostakovich canon. The accompanying String Quartet no. 3 is great as well.


Gershwin - Second Rhapsody

[asin]B01B17C43G[/asin]

A fully delightful work, easily worth mentioning in the same breath as Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F. Sizzling performance, too.
A great selection Kyle! I especially like the Second Rhapsody and all your other choices.
Thread duty:
Symphony 2 - a magnificent work.
"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).