What are you listening to now?

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

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amw

Quote from: Scots John on September 25, 2013, 05:31:05 PM
I very much look forward to your assessment of Ovchinnikovs first when I wake up.  For the time being, I go to sleep to the sounds of Toru Takemitsu, a fabulously creative Japanese composer whom I have taken a liking for...many of his works have birds, stars, water, nature, this kind of thing as subjects.  He was avant-garde I suppose, influenced by the dreadful John Cage... :'(...I wouldn't normally listen to such stuff, but it's connecting with me.
Bloody hell, next thing you know I'll be listening to Stockhausen, Schoenberg and even Cage.  What a horrific progression, can't think of any other three composers I'd rather NOT listen to, but if I'm finding some pleasant cerebral tickling with Takemitsu, anything might happen.   ???

:lol I assure you it's not that bad. You may even come to find Cage or Schoenberg enjoyable or even moving, as some people do! Sounds dreadful, doesn't it? ;)

Actually, Takemitsu is not that similar to Schoenberg or Stockhausen, who occupy the noisier/more anguished end of the avant-garde spectrum. There's some prettier Cage he's similar to (early piano music/Number Pieces/etc) but Cage never developed a really consistent "style"—rejected the notion in fact—due to his constant search for new territories. I suppose Feldman is a good comparison (Takemitsu admired Feldman quite a bit & dedicated Twill by Twilight to him I think), although less accessible (but accessibility is relative of course), or some of the quieter bits of Messiaen or Webern. There's a bit of his influence in some later composers as well, like Hosokawa and Jonathan Harvey, though their music tends to be much denser & is often more dissonant.

There's always a cool distance between Takemitsu and the listener, a sort of measured objectivity similar to Stravinsky or Ravel (though the music is otherwise very different), which sets him apart from composers like Stockhausen and Schoenberg who put so much of themselves into their music that it's at times almost embarrassing. The consequence is that it's easier to like (or feel unmoved by) Takemitsu's work but he doesn't seem to attract fanatical devotees (or detractors).

Bogey

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Wakefield

Haydn - The Piano Sonatas
Ekaterina Derzhavina
9 CDs

I bought the digital downloads of this set for less than 10 bucks, but then I felt I needed the physical disks.

[asin]B00BHEG6CO[/asin]

CD1: Nine Early Sonatas (again)

To say quickly definitive words: I think this set is very close to install a new standard among the recordings of Haydn's music on modern piano. Historically informed, Derzhavina is a sensitive performer, with a wonderfully light touch, good taste in ornamentation and who has been very well recorded by her label. Clearly, this cycle deserves to be better known.  :)
"One of the greatest misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowards. They complain, keep quiet, dine and forget."
-- Voltaire

Mirror Image

I'm not a Cage fan, but even I can admit that I do enjoy a few of his works. Most notably In A Landscape for solo piano:

http://www.youtube.com/v/XF1DoVdHM9M

I personally don't see how anyone couldn't connect in some way with this beautiful work.

Artem

I would never have guessed that that music was by John Cage. It is so different from the other music that I heard by him.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Artem on September 25, 2013, 07:40:24 PM
I would never have guessed that that music was by John Cage. It is so different from the other music that I heard by him.

Yeah, I wouldn't have contributed a work like this to him either, but this just proves that there's something for someone in his oeuvre. Even it's just one work, it's still something that you enjoy.

Bogey

Thanks to John:

Our Town: conducted by

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Mirror Image

Quote from: Bogey on September 25, 2013, 07:54:31 PM
Thanks to John:

Our Town: conducted by



Thumbs up! A very good work. The best I can remember anyway. By the way, Bill, have you heard Dance Panels? This is one of my favorite new Copland discoveries. Well, I've actually heard it years ago, but only in the last two or three months has it made such a lasting impression on me.

springrite

I like Cage more and more as I get to know his works (music as well as writing) more.


Now: Hubay Violin Concerti 3 and 4
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

Mandryka

#10469


This is one of my favourite  CDs , I find it very moving. I have never heard a performence of BWV 563 - 560 which comes close. The performance is confidential - you feel as though he whispering secrets to you.

When Vogel's at his best - here , in Sweelinck, in Buxtehude - he really touches the G spot. He seems to be able to play physically - you're aware of his efforts to tame the instrument  -  and play inwardly - the music seems to be psychologically meaningful -- at the same time. I wish he would record some more late Bach.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Wanderer


Que

Niiiccceee! :)

For me this morning:

[asin]B002EQBB24[/asin]

Pictured is the Hagerbeer/Schnitger organ (146/1725) in Alkmaar, Netherlands, on which the 1st disc of toccatas is played.

But I'm listening to the 2nd disc with the complete toccatas for harpsichord, played on a harpsichord by Keith Hill, after Christian Zell, Hamburg 1728.

Q


North Star

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on September 25, 2013, 03:03:19 PM
Dvorak: Symphony No. 7
Szell - Cleveland Wowzers!! I'm one step closer to buying everything from Szell and Cleveland, I'm continuously impressed with their catalog, and Szell really speaks my language when it comes to interpretation, performances filled with intensity.





Sarge and the boys
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

marvinbrown



  Thoroughly enjoying this set of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words.  Wonderful playing by Barenboim of these short ROMANTIC piano compositions:

  [asin]B000001GYC[/asin]

  marvin

Harry

Quote from: marvinbrown on September 26, 2013, 03:11:35 AM

  Thoroughly enjoying this set of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words.  Wonderful playing by Barenboim of these short ROMANTIC piano compositions:

  [asin]B000001GYC[/asin]

  marvin

I bought that aeons ago in the original release, and still find it one of the best performances. Sound is good too. Enjoy.
Quote from Manuel, born in Spain, currently working at Fawlty Towers.

" I am from Barcelona, I know nothing.............."

Sergeant Rock

Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Ovchinnikov Symphonies 1 & 2. Great stuff.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Karl Henning

Quote from: Gordon Shumway on September 25, 2013, 07:11:54 PM
Haydn - The Piano Sonatas
Ekaterina Derzhavina
9 CDs

I bought the digital downloads of this set for less than 10 bucks, but then I felt I needed the physical disks.



CD1: Nine Early Sonatas (again)

To say quickly definitive words: I think this set is very close to install a new standard among the recordings of Haydn's music on modern piano. Historically informed, Derzhavina is a sensitive performer, with a wonderfully light touch, good taste in ornamentation and who has been very well recorded by her label. Clearly, this cycle deserves to be better known.  :)

I went for the download, as well.  I've only spot-listened so far, but agree that it is very enjoyable.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Sadko

Quote from: Chen Tao on September 26, 2013, 03:12:58 AM
I bought that aeons ago in the original release, and still find it one of the best performances. Sound is good too. Enjoy.

Mendelssohn/Barenboim:

+1