What are you listening to now?

[Brahmsian]

Zbigniew Preisner - Requiem for my friend
Sinfonia Varsovia, Leszek Możdżer

In memory of an old friend of mine who I today learned was murdered.
Beautiful, inspired music for an old friend who regaled us all with old Army stories.  He didn't deserve to go the way he did, not a bit of it.  Life is so ugly sometimes.
RIP old buddy, John Black.

I am so sorry to hear this, John.  My thoughts and prayers are with you.  What a horrible thing!

My sincerest condolences.   

[North Star]

Zbigniew Preisner - Requiem for my friend
Sinfonia Varsovia, Leszek Możdżer

In memory of an old friend of mine who I today learned was murdered.
Beautiful, inspired music for an old friend who regaled us all with old Army stories.  He didn't deserve to go the way he did, not a bit of it.  Life is so ugly sometimes.
RIP old buddy, John Black.

Hm, forgot to reply to this, even though I partly chose my listening because of your post, John. I'm very sorry indeed to hear this. Nobody deserves that. 

[mc ukrneal]

Zbigniew Preisner - Requiem for my friend
Sinfonia Varsovia, Leszek Możdżer

In memory of an old friend of mine who I today learned was murdered.
Beautiful, inspired music for an old friend who regaled us all with old Army stories.  He didn't deserve to go the way he did, not a bit of it.  Life is so ugly sometimes.
RIP old buddy, John Black.

Our thoughts are with you...

[mahler10th]

Thanks all for the condolences, which I redirect to my old pal John Black who is mighty deserving of it.  I'm sure we've all lost people we knew and spent time with who have passed on, it was just the nature of his death and how unnecessary and wasteful it was for him to go the way he did that rocked all of us who knew him.  He was 58, looked after his grand-kid four days a week, was always the first to lend a hand, and would often bicker happily over the price of petrol when giving people a run in his car, and argue non-stop with his wee wife about who spent what and who owed who what and when...but all in a good natured way.
Unbelievable the shit that can happen when you don't expect it.  He never saw it coming.  Bless.
So that's that.

THREAD DUTY:

The very grim Symphony 14 by Shosty from this, which MI John rightly recommended to me some time ago.  When it's done, I will brighten things up and get back in the grove with some Atterberg!





ONE LAST WORD ON JOHN BLACK: His heart went to donation, and was transferred quickly to someone else of the same age, who has a new lease of life because of it.   

[Papy Oli]

Condolences John, sorry about your loss.

[sheffmark]

Mozart - Complete Piano Concertos 17 & 18

[Papy Oli]

Finishing a 1st listen run through this CD received today.

Shostakovitch "the Dance Album" (Chailly)
Cheryomushki / The Bolt / The Gadfly

really great stuff, thoroughly enjoyed it !!!

[jlaurson]

Earlier:

  F. Schubert
Death and the Trout
C.Curzon + Vienna Octet / WPhSQ4t
Decca
German link - UK link

Now:

  W. Lutosławski
Symphonies 1-4
Fanfare for LA Phil
Salonen / LA Phil
Sony
German link - UK link

Deee-daa-daa-daa! Cacophonic fanfaretastic opener.


I squeezed some Classical Music in on Forbes:


Forbes.com: Two Cents About Classical Music For $100
Pronounced dead, classical music is more alive than ever

[TheGSMoeller]

Zbigniew Preisner - Requiem for my friend
Sinfonia Varsovia, Leszek Możdżer

In memory of an old friend of mine who I today learned was murdered.
Beautiful, inspired music for an old friend who regaled us all with old Army stories.  He didn't deserve to go the way he did, not a bit of it.  Life is so ugly sometimes.
RIP old buddy, John Black.

Very sad news, John. I think I'll join you with Preisner's work while honoring your friend.

[Mirror Image]

I will join John too, but with Berg's Violin Concerto from this recording:



A haunting and tragic work beautifully realized by Mutter and Levine.

[madaboutmahler]

Good evening!

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

Ives - Three Places in New England (Orchestral Set No. 1)

This composer is INCREDIBLE! Fantastic piece!

[Mirror Image]

Good evening!

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

Ives - Three Places in New England (Orchestral Set No. 1)

This composer is INCREDIBLE! Fantastic piece!

Absolutely, Daniel. Three Pieces in New England is one of Ives' most remarkable works IMHO.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Three Pieces in New England. A good performance. I'll be anxious to compare others.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Three Places in New England with Dohnanyi conducting the Cleveland Orchestra. Truth be told, I like this performance much better than MTT/SFSO. MTT's SFSO performance is just a little too polished for my tastes. I like a bit more edge and grit in my Ives performances.

In fact, I like this entire 2-CD set a lot. Strong performances from Mehta, Dohnanyi, and Marriner. What do you think about this set, Greg?

[Mirror Image]

Anyway back to Delius...

Now listening:



Listening to Dance Rhapsody No. 1. A great performance from Del Mar/RPO.

[Brahmsian]

My favourite Bartok disc! 

Bartok

Divertimento, Sz113
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz106
Danses Populaires Roumaines, Sz56

Jean-Marie Zeitouni
Les Violons du Roy

[asin]B001DELXDU[/asin]

[TheGSMoeller]

Now:



Listening to Three Places in New England with Dohnanyi conducting the Cleveland Orchestra. Truth be told, I like this performance much better than MTT/SFSO. MTT's SFSO performance is just a little too polished for my tastes. I like a bit more edge and grit in my Ives performances.

In fact, I like this entire 2-CD set a lot. Strong performances from Mehta, Dohnanyi, and Marriner. What do you think about this set, Greg?

It's a good set, and for containing all the symphonies it's valuable, but there are much better performances of 1-3. The Dohnanyi/Cleveland's (4th and Three Places) are excellent and could easily be considered first choices.

[Mirror Image]

It's a good set, and for containing all the symphonies it's valuable, but there are much better performances of 1-3. The Dohnanyi/Cleveland's (4th and Three Places) are excellent and could easily be considered first choices.

One could easily acquire the Litton recordings and have all the symphonies as well and the MTT recordings on Sony are cheap, so there's another cycle. Too bad Bernstein never recorded the 1st or 4th.

[TheGSMoeller]

One could easily acquire the Litton recordings and have all the symphonies as well and the MTT recordings on Sony are cheap, so there's another cycle. Too bad Bernstein never recorded the 1st or 4th.

Yes, a Bernstein 4th would have been very nice.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to North Country Sketches. Always an enjoyable listen especially with Sir Charles at the helm. This man knew how to conduct Delius.