What are you listening to now?

[Que]

No, I haven't been able to find them for reasonable prices, but must admit that I did not look for them for quite some time.

Thanks. 

Now:

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Q

[Mandryka]

No, I haven't been able to find them for reasonable prices, but must admit that I did not look for them for quite some time.

I enjoy what they do, and I have quite a few of their recordings, music by Dufay, Busnois, Ockeghem and Josquin, but I didn't know about the Musica Vaticana CD, which I've just ordered. So thanks for pointing it out.

I have a transfer of their LP of Dufay's Missa Ancilla Domini, if anyone wants it they can send me a message,

[Andy D.]

I heard Petterson's Symphony no. 11 last night and it's the first thing I really liked by him. Now I'll probably have to give his other music more serious investigation. I believe it was the Dorati.

Had a wonderful time also watching/listening to Borodin's Prinz Igor for the first time, the performance filmed at the 2012 Sommernachtkonzert.

[Biffo]

Sibelius: Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island (original version, 1896) - Sibelius revised his Lemminkäinen Suite several times, this is the first attempt - not all of the original version survives - probably for completists only though it is beautifully played by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vanska.

The daily super bargain from eclassical is Vol 1 - Tone Poems of the Sibelius Edition. I already have a lot of the content but there is enough to interest me including Vanska's Lemminkäinen Suite as a lossless download (I only had it as mp3).

Later -  Lemminkäinen in Tuonela - 1896 version –reconstruction based on the performing edition by Colin Davis (2004)

[ritter]

Some hyper-romantic chamber music: the Franck Piano Quintet in F minor and the Chausson String Quartet in C minor, op. 35. Played by the Quatuor Ludwig (with Michaël Levinas at the piano in the Franck).

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[Traverso]

Wolfgang Rihm


Jagden und Formen "On the hunt for Form"

[Madiel]

Mahler, Des Knaben Wunderhorn



I actually have the Gielen Mahler box set, but this is the cover for the single disc. Many of the songs are first listens for me, a few are not. Blumine is also included as an instrumental break.

The whole disc is well thought out and seems thoroughly well done, but the goosebump moment is having Urlicht at the very end. It's gorgeous.

[Biffo]

Beethoven: Symphony No 3 in E flat major Eroica - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan - fine performance

[André]

Thanks for the kind words André which are much appreciated 

Actually I was quite pleased with this release as I suggested to the CD company that Wordsworth's recording of 'Job' was an excellent one and worth reissuing. I also saved them by almost having an identical cover image to a recent Naxos release of 'The Lark Ascending' (as a result they changed the background colour). Maybe they should have listened to my suggestion of using one of William Blake's illustrations to Job! However, the Lark obviously is the more popular work. The CD is also interesting I think as it's the only one to include the poem on which 'The Lark Ascending' is based by Meredith. Yes, VW was lost after Holst died as they were good friends and he relied on Holst's musical advice. I like the idea that Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony is, in some respects, a tribute to his old friend as the second movement seems to show the influence of 'Mars' and the spectral finale has echoes of 'Saturn' and especially 'Neptune' from The Planets Suite.

Very interesting, thanks Jeffrey! The Abravanel disc of VW 6 is waiting in the pile and I'll give due attention to these holstian vibes in mov II and IV. Thanks again! 

[Que]

Next:

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Q

[André]

I heard Petterson's Symphony no. 11 last night and it's the first thing I really liked by him. Now I'll probably have to give his other music more serious investigation. I believe it was the Dorati.

Had a wonderful time also watching/listening to Borodin's Prinz Igor for the first time, the performance filmed at the 2012 Sommernachtkonzert.

For most Pettersson lovers, symphonies 6-9 are the kernel of his oeuvre. Personally, no 11 is the one I've been most taken with. Time for another listen, it must be 3 years since I last heard it. 

[vandermolen]

Very interesting, thanks Jeffrey! The Abravanel disc of VW 6 is waiting in the pile and I'll give due attention to these holstian vibes in mov II and IV. Thanks again! 

Greetings André. 
I think that it was the musicologist Stephen Johnson or possibly Michael Kennedy in his notes to the Haitink recording who made these Holst connections.  Johnson also suggested that the repeated two chords at the end of Symphony 6 (and I'm sure that you'll enjoy the Abravanel CD) were an 'unresolved 'Amen'' which does ring true to me - certainly very thought provoking.

[Florestan]

Light, airy, lilting --- galaxies apart from the subversive ideology Schumann's wild flight of imagination read in these works.

[Florestan]

Despite the less than sumptuous sound, this is a uniquely eloquent interpretation of the Nocturnes. François reminds the listener that Mozart and Bellini were two of Chopin's musical gods.

He does, with gusto and panache. The whole box is desert island stuff --- and the sound does not detract anything from it.

[Traverso]

Bach

[Mandryka]

Light, airy, lilting --- galaxies apart from the subversive ideology Schumann's wild flight of imagination read in these works.

Did Schumann write something or say something about the mazurkas then?

What I don't like about Kolesnikov is that it's too politically right wing. It's saying that the world is lovely . . . from the point of view of my splendid salon in the 11ème arrondissement. The mazurkas should be music seen from the point of view of political refugees sleeping rough under a bridge near Barbès Rochechouart.

[Harry]

New arrival.

Lucretia Borgia.

A blend of History, myth and Legend.

Capella de Ministrers, Carles Magraner.

For me an absolute gem, as I wrote in a previous review. Recommended.

[Biffo]

Greetings André. 
I think that it was the musicologist Stephen Johnson or possibly Michael Kennedy in his notes to the Haitink recording who made these Holst connections.  Johnson also suggested that the repeated two chords at the end of Symphony 6 (and I'm sure that you'll enjoy the Abravanel CD) were an 'unresolved 'Amen'' which does ring true to me - certainly very thought provoking.

Michael Kennedy wrote the notes for the Haitink and Boult recordings and it is in the Boult notes that he suggests the 6th as a memorial tribute to Holst - 'The allusions to Mars and Neptune from The Planets seem almost deliberate'

He also mentions thematic connections to some unused incidental music to Richard II, the film Flemish Farm and a work as bleak as the symphony, Riders to the Sea. Plenty to listen out for if you know all those works!

[Florestan]

Did Schumann write something or say something about the mazurkas then?

He did.

"If the mighty autocrat of the North* knew what a dangerous enemy threatened him in the simple tunes of Chopin's mazurkas, he would forbid this music. Chopin's works are canons buried in flowers."

(* ie, Tsar Nicholas I)

Imo, this is bull --- witnessed by the fact that many a Russian nationalist (including politically nationalist) composers worshipped, and were heaviliy influenced by, Chopin. Balakirev first and foremost.

See this doctoral thesis:

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/09b3q63z

for a well-documented and carefully researched, albeit unwittingly, refutation of Schumann's point. It states in plain English, and proves beyond any reasonable doubt, that

"the Russian [Tsarist] regime  was not only tolerant of, but actively promoted, Chopin's music".

What I don't like about Kolesnikov is that it's too politically right wing. It's saying that the world is lovely . . . from the point of view of my splendid salon in the 11ème arrondissement. The mazurkas should be music seen from the point of view of political refugees sleeping rough under a bridge at Barbès Rochechouart.

For God's sake, my friend! This is music, not the French presidential elections!

Not to mention that (1) I have never ever encountered a right-winger who claimed the world is a lovely place*, and (2) Chopin himself was rather right-wing: he was the darling of the French aristocratic salons, not of the revolutionary rabble-rousers (and incidentally or perhaps not, least of all was he the darling of the Polish expats in Paris).

(*which it is, left-wing or right-wing curmudgeons notwithstanding)

And once again I will never tire of saying it: "should" has no place in art, especially in the art of performing music.

[Traverso]

Lutoslawski