What are you listening to now?

[André]

I bought this to hear the Windsbacher Knabenchor in Bach's B minor Mass. Boy choristers sing the soprano and alto parts, grown ups make up the tenor and bass contingent. They produce a wonderfully full, transparent and penetrating sound. No haze here, no approximate pitches, no flying sibilants. The orchestra is MI and the performance as a whole is a traditional one in the best sense, with a natural feel to the tempi. At 107 minutes it is in the same time range (105-108 minutes) as Gardiner, Suzuki, Christie, Harnoncourt, Herreweghe, Layton, Jacobs, Brüggen and other period performance practitioners, and 15-30 minutes faster than the avuncular, old fashioned (but spiritually intense) Jochum, Karajan, Klemperer, Richter, Shaw, Scherchen, Munchinger, Giulini. Two very contrasted sets of approaches indeed. I have favourites in both camps, but tend to prefer the first.

[Kontrapunctus]

[JBS]

I have that set in the reissue by Steinway and Sons.

I can't find it on Amazon US, and Google only gives the one EBay listing from which I took that image. The packaging is a nonstandard size, and fits better with DVDs than CDs.

TD
Vernon Handley conducting Delius (First Cuckoo in Spring,  Summer Night on the River, Brigg Fair) and Vaughn Williams  Second Symphony ("London").
Listening to those three works, I find it hard to say Delius was anything other than the epitome of Britishness in music.

[Daverz]

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2

[asin] B079F9NCQD[/asin]

I'd count this toward the "more civilized" end of the Symphony No. 2 interpretational spectrum.  I like this a lot.  Very spacious sound (some may find it over-reverberant) and great bass.

[Brian]

Ravel String Quartet played by the Auryn



Sarge

Hey Sarge, do I need that French one too? I saw your comments about the Auryn and before I bought those Haydn CDs, did a GMG search and read all your previous posts about them! Very excited. The only overlap between the Auryn CDs I bought and my previous Haydn quartet collection is three quartets from Op. 50 (Prazak). Kind of anticipate a need to add more later.  0:)

Only Auryn in my house already is the Schubert quintet with Poltera.

[Mirror Image]

Debussy - Jeux (Dutoit, Montreal)

https://www.youtube.com/v/OXSWFlwX9a4

First, or possibly second listen to this work, and ---

--- Sarge, count me in as Pro. I like it very much.

Great to hear, Florestan. You should give the Boulez/Cleveland on DG a listen, but I'd also strongly recommend checking out Shui's on BIS with the Singapore SO for a bit slower take on the work.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

Roussel
Symphony No. 1 in D minor ("Le poème de la forêt"), Op. 7
Leif Segerstam, conductor
Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz



Absolutely stunning! I'm not sure where my mind was many weeks ago when I said Roussel wasn't for me, but I was clearly listening with some concrete in my ears. It seems that I'm going to be preferring older performances of Roussel to the newer ones. There's a certain magic here from Segerstam that I just don't hear from Eschenbach or Denève for example.

[TheGSMoeller]

[Que]

Morning listening:

[asin]B00Z8CCCXI[/asin]
Fanfare review: http://www.classicalacarte.net/Production/Production_11_15/DHM88875061582_01_02_fanfare.htm

Q

[vandermolen]

Holst, Gustav (1874-1934) - Orchestral Works & Planets - this afternoon listening to my small Holst collection, i.e. several discs of his orchestral works, quite nice, and 2 older recordings of the Planets; the latter I've owned for ages and there are SO MANY versions, so decided to order a potential replacement based on some Fanfare research and ordered the re-mastered quadrophonic recording of Steinberg's performances of the Planets/...Zarathustra (see attachment for more details of the restoration - from Amazon).  Dave

 

 

That's a very nice collection and the Steinberg Planets is terrific although I don't have that new release. You might also like The Perfect Fool ballet music and Egdon Heath, which Holst considered his greatest work;  if interested in choral music I'd suggest the First Choral Symphony (there is no second) which I think is Holst's masterpiece.

[Irons]

Listening to my favorite Haydn Quartet, the op.77/1, played by the Auryn Quartet (not my favorite performance but nonetheless enjoyable of course)




Sarge

My favourite too. Hearing the first movement I always feel the urge to break out in a silly dancing march!

[Harry]

Early morning listening.
TD, second listen.
Georges Onslow. String Quintets, Volume II. No. 10 in F minor & No. 22 in E flat major.
Elan Quintet.
Naxos.

Hat tip to Erato for alerting me to these wonderful recordings.
Onslow is quite a marvel in musical matters, an almost forgotten treasure.
Performance and recording are top notch.

[Irons]

Nielsen: Symphony No. 3 [Blomstedt]





The first movement is a powerful, atmospheric and exuberant affair which really has punch, great forward drive and presence. The contemplative and meditative mood generated in the second movement is a wonderful contrast to that of the first. I like those plaintive woodwinds. I also like the handling of the vocalists here. The somewhat quirky, scherzo-like third movement is very well portrayed with great energy and momentum. The big opening theme of the final movement is portrayed with gusto and intensity and the build up to the ultimate conclusion and finale is steady and spirited.

The Decca set is very well thought of unlike the earlier EMI set. I was about to purchase the latter on LP but put off by a friend who claimed it was not very good. Have you heard any of the EMI Nielsen recordings by Blomstedt?

[Harry]

TD. Second complete listen.
Johann Sebastian Bach, The Complete Organ Works, CD 11.
Five Trio sonatas, BWV 525-529.
Andre Isoir plays on a Georg Westenfelder organ, 1977, Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg.

Again well played and recorded. The organ has a wonderful disposition, with fine colours, and a superb mixture V-2 in the Hauptwerk, and a wonderful sweet Principal 16' and Sub bass 16' in the Pedal.
Westenfelder is a fine organ builder.

[Biffo]

The Decca set is very well thought of unlike the earlier EMI set. I was about to purchase the latter on LP but put off by a friend who claimed it was not very good. Have you heard any of the EMI Nielsen recordings by Blomstedt?

I bought the earlier EMI set on LP, possibly because it was there in the shop but also because of all the extras (concertos, tone poems etc). For many years it was my only Nielsen (apart from Horenstein's No 5) so my feelings for it are probably coloured by that. I don't return to it very often but think much of the claim that it was 'not very good'.

Eventually, just a couple of years ago, I bought the rival (at the time) set by Ole Schmidt and that is very good but no regrets over buying the Blomstedt.

[prémont]

The Decca set is very well thought of unlike the earlier EMI set. I was about to purchase the latter on LP but put off by a friend who claimed it was not very good. Have you heard any of the EMI Nielsen recordings by Blomstedt?

I am not Aligreto, but I find the San Francisco versions a tad too efficient. The Decca sound stresses that impression. The EMI version sounds more human, and for natural reasons I also prefer the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

[Biffo]

Delius: Sea Drift - Halle Orchestra and Halle Choir conducted by Sir Mark Elder - fine performance slightly marred by the recording; at times the choir seems to be in a different acoustic. Roderick Williams is the excellent baritone soloist.

[Madiel]

Hi Madiel - well, I sent Anna Stegmann an email yesterday and she responded today - her explanation about the bathtub quoted below - curious what the other images might have been?  Dave 

That's brilliant. And quite funny.

[Madiel]

TD: I've decided it's Beethoven chamber music night.

Starting off with the piano trio variations op.44 (actually a fairly early work).



Then streaming the similarly early wind Octet, op.103, as I don't a copy. So this is possibly a first listen.

[Madiel]

Beethoven really liked writing chamber music in E flat major around this time...

String Trio, op.3