What are you listening to now?

[Karl Henning]

Karl Henning  Plotting (y is the new x) ...a sexy new piece by our resident composer: the sound of  two skeletons copulating on a tin roof 


Sarge

(* shudder *)

[Karl Henning]

There will be a V. B., though . . . .

[Sergeant Rock]

There will be a V. B., though . . . .

Victoria Bitter?

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Violin Babe

[Cato]

Karl Henning Plotting (y is the new x) ...a sexy new piece by our resident composer: the sound of  two skeletons copulating on a tin roof 


Sarge

I listened to Karl's latest again, and did not quite receive such a poetic image from the work!

Actually, possibly because of the way I tend to listen to such new works - imagining the work first while concentrating on the score, and then checking my mind's ear with the computer realization - I am not sure that any image occurred to me. 

In general a mysterious and even ominous impression came to mind, especially in the Passacaglia which feeling was then exorcised by the Toccata at the end.

[listener]

BUXTEHUDE: The chorales for Christmas
plus  Preludes in C, a, G, d, Toccata in f
Ulrik  Spang-Hanssen, organ ( Arp Schnitger, 1686, Lutgenkirke, Norden)
from a box set that has a 48-page booklet - all in English! with photos, registrations and notes.

[Cato]

Karl Henning  Plotting (y is the new x) ...a sexy new piece by our resident composer: the sound of  two skeletons copulating on a tin roof 


Sarge

  One more thought:

  You have to admit, Sarge's image is quite vivid, although it is not quite clear how things would work out... so to speak!!! 

[Fafner]

Shostakovich - Symphony No. 8
Concertgebouworkest, Bernard Haitink

[asin]B000F3T7RO[/asin]

[Christo]

Concertgebouworkest, Bernard Haitink

Spelling completely correct! With compliments. 

[listener]

Amy BEACH: Grand Mass in E^b (transcribed for chorus, solists, organ, harp and percussion)
Michael May, cond.
Ethel SMYTH: Mass in D;   March of the Women (The Suffragettes' Battle Hymn); an aria from The Boatswain's Mate
Plymouth Festival chorus and orch.    Philip Brunelle, cond.
I've played these before, so can avoid problems of a '"maiden" listen' description.
Smyth seems to have been the inspiration for the character of Hilda Tablet but not her music.

[Fafner]

Spelling completely correct! With compliments. 

Bedankt mijn vriend. 

[Brahmsian]

Shostakovich - Symphony No. 8
Concertgebouworkest, Bernard Haitink

[asin]B000F3T7RO[/asin]

*pounds the table!*  What a magnificent performance. 

[Brahmsian]

Karl Henning  Plotting (y is the new x) ...a sexy new piece by our resident composer: the sound of  two skeletons copulating on a tin roof 


Sarge

Also First-Listen Friday! 

Henning

Plotting (y is the new x), Op. 116

Fantastic work, Karl!  Quite eerie and macabre feel.  I did not envison what Sarge did, but perhaps more of opening a door to a room of a beautiful old abandoned mansion, that is cobwebbed, dusty, very cold...taken over by the years of neglect, and has a haunted presence.

Just loved it, Karl!! 

[Karl Henning]

Most gratified!

[kishnevi]

Just finished a viewing of this: Mozart's Zauberflote, in Zurich Opernhaus production conducted by Franz Welser-Most.
[asin]B0001Y4JOS[/asin]
Musically strong, although the only singer known to me is Matti Salminen (Sarastro).  Production is minimalist,  setting redolent of late 18th century Freemasonry. basic set is the same throughout--a library/Masonic meeting place.  You can see the set, and the basic costuming style, on the DVD cover. There are slight touches of Regietheater, but even that is presented consistent with c. 1790 conventions--the dragon is a semi nude woman with a serpent draped around crucial points of the anatomy,  who is then quickly chased off by the Three Ladies;  the Queen of the Night on her first appearance (only) is attended by a troupe costumed to suggest Catholic clergy;  Monostatos is made up in blackface;  the final shot reveals everyone hailing a French liberty tree.  Non Regietheater  and imaginative: when Tamino serenades the wild animals in Act I, they appear as the zoomorphic forms of the Egyptian gods.

All in all, a recommendable DVD.  Only complaint is the English subtitles which are riddled with spelling errors ('Which" become "witch", for instance).  (The reviews on the Amazon page seem to mostly belong to another DVD of this opera.)

Two things about the opera itself struck me as I was watching: how utterly misogynistic and patronizing the libretto was in its references to women;  and that, in contrast, the true emotional center of this opera is really Pamina, even if it is Tamino who gets more stage time.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Double Concerto. Excellent performance from Little/Watkins/Davis.

[Wanderer]

.[asin]B001MRMS96[/asin]

[Octave]

Been belatedly working through a bit more of the KARAJAN 1970s box.

CD 14 15: Verdi: Requiem
CD 16: Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni (Michael Schwalbé)
Concerti grossi op. 3: Concertos Nos. 7 & 8
CD 17: Weber: Overtures
CD 18: Strauss: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche; Salome Tanz der sieben Schleier; Don Juan; Tod und Verklärung;
CD 19: Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Vier letzte Lieder
CD 20: Mahler: Symphony No. 5
CD 21: Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
CD 22 23: Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
CD 27: Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

The big discovery for me is a new taste (?) for Mendelssohn, or at least for these recordings of these symphonies.  I am absolutely certain I've heard these before, but this time the impact was much more immediate, more pleasurable; I haven't thought about it much, but I might be on the cusp of a Mendelssohn jag.

....the first time I met Rothko, which must have been around 1962, I remember him standing against the wall talking to me about Mendelssohn. He liked the combination of the youth and the lyricism of Mendelssohn, all the fantastic pieces he wrote as such a young man. Rothko got a big kick out of that.

from an interview with Orton/Bryars

De Kooning was nuts about us. He gave us a green light. But people are conventional. When I first met Rothko, he said, "You know, Morty, my favorite composer is Mendelssohn." Actually that's what the Japanese philosopher [D.T.] Suzuki said to John Cage - that his favorite composer was Mendelssohn.

from a different, very late interview

[Mandryka]

Knud Vad plays BWV 653

Another corker from Knud. On the negative side it's one sided. But on the positive side it's very consoling, and consolation has to be part of what's going on with the music.  And best of all are the counterpoint and registrations. I thought this was a revealing performance.

It doesn't completely obliterate the memory of Walter Kraft's emotionally complex preformance, but still I'm glad to have this one.

Penetrating organ sound, nice  - Sorø Monastery, Denmark.

[Que]

.[asin]B00D8AIUQ0[/asin]

Had to give this another run.

Q