What are you listening to now?

[Moonfish]

Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, one of the most hallowed works in the realm of religious music - only Verdi's Requiem being on that level of greatness and grandeur, searing drama and emotional outpouring. 

This version: http://www.amazon.ca/Dream-Gerontius-Connolly/dp/B00N83U9WU 

Easily the best sound I've heard in the work - not an unimportant factor in this multi-layered work. Part I is unfurling right now, and everything is right so far: pace, mood, textures, voices (Stuart Skelton's Gerontius is the  opposite vocally of Peter Pears' - IOW he's a healthy dying man).

What a work !!!

Preceding Gerontius: Nocturnes by Gabriel Fauré. Jean-Philippe Collard was the admirable pianist.

+1

[Moonfish]

I continue to find it a dud, the one real weak part of the symphony box. I confess I liked it when I was 18. I liked KFC at that age too.

From the box, Haydn 98,99
Most definitely Lennie's Haydn is no dud. Consistently fine big band Haydn.

Next up, Marc Blitzstein, Airborne Symphony (corrected, thanks to listener)
First listen ever to this.

Ah, I like the Bernstein Sony cycle! Vibrant and very much alive!
Besides, I cannot believe that a man of your imminent stature even considered to have a meal at KFC!   

[Moonfish]

2x
Elgar:
Sospiri
Elegy for Strings
Academy of St Martin in the Fields/Marriner

Exquisite pieces!

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[Daverz]

I continue to find it a dud

This will go on your permanent record.

Listening: Sallinen, Symphony No. 1

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I prefer the Bis.  The sound is warmer, richer, and more enveloping.

[Ken B]

This will go on your permanent record.

Won't be room! 

[kishnevi]

Ah, I like the Bernstein Sony cycle! Vibrant and very much alive!
Besides, I cannot believe that a man of your imminent stature even considered to have a meal at KFC!   

Yes. I mean, Popeye's is understandable, but KFC?

TD
R. Strauss. Four Lost Songs
Netrebko Staatskapelle Berlin cond. Barenboim
Actually an excellent job by Miss Anna. 
Although the photos included in the booklet for this and Iolanta make it clear she is getting rather, er, plump.

[RebLem]

Since my last report, I have been listening to the following:

Vol. 36 of the RCA Complete Toscanini set, NBC Sym Orch, devoted to music of Felix Mendelssohn::

Tr, 1-6.....A Midsummer Night's Dream Incidental Music, Opp. 26/61: excerpts (33:49), rec. CH,, 4 NOV 1947.  The Finale also features performances by soprano Edna Phillips and the NBC Women's Chorus.
   1, Overture       (11:21)
   2. Intermezzo        (3:41)
   3. Nocturne        (5:28)
   4. Scherzo        (4:18)
   5. Wedding March     (4:42)
   6. Finale        (4:19)

Tr. 7-10....Octet for Strings in E Flat Major, Op. 20 (27:43), rec 8H, 30 MAR 1947.

These are both fine performances.  Not my favorite of either work, although the Otet may be my favorite orchestral transcription of that piece.   


CD 7 & 8 of an 11 CD Sony set of Schoenberg vocal music conducted or supervised by Pierre Boulez: 

CD 7, Tr. 1-11 of 11--Gurre-Lieder for Orhestra, Chorus, & Soloists, Part I (63:38) 
CD 8, Tr. 1-9 of 13--Part II and III (51:44)  Text: Jens-Peter Jacobsen, Robert Franz Arnold
CD 8, Tr. 10-13 of 13--Four Orchestral Songs, Op. 22--Text: Ernest Dowson/Stefan George (# 1), and Rainer Maria Rilke (# 2-4)

BBC Symphony Orch., Yvonne Minton, soprano. (all)
Jess, Thomas, tenor, Marita Napier, soprano, Kenneth Bowen, tenor, Siegmund Nimsgern, bass, Gunter Reich, speaker, BBC Choral Society, BBC Singers, Goldsmiths Choral Union, Gentlemen on the London Philharmonic Choir (Gurre-Lieder only).

The Gurre-Lieder is a magnivicent work, composed before Schoenberg constructed his 12 tone system,  It is the saga of a 14th century Danish king and his love for his mistressTove.  It is called Gurre-Lieder because Gurre was the name of the castle in which the king lived.  This performance is absolutely top notch.  You expect great performances from people like Yvonne Minton and Siegmund Nimsgern, but I found Marita Napier as Tove expecially impressive.

[not edward]

I prefer the Bis.

Ditto. Kamu's conducting is more incisive than Rasilainen's.

[EigenUser]

Absolutely. Chailly, Boulez, Abravanel, Levine seem to be my go to guys for Mahler these days. Haven't dug into Abbado yet but I expect to like it, based on one symphony.

The Mahler symphonies are very long, often very complex. They have virtues you miss if it's all orgasmatron all the time. (Same for Shostakovich) (And everyone else.)

It depends on the symphony for me. I need an emotional M9 (so Lenny works well here), but I also need a balanced M7 (Boulez). I do like being able to hear all of the elements in a score, but I also like the occasional unbridled emotion.

(On the Dionysian-Appollonian axis, I am at the Apollo end. So are you I think.)

It's hard to say for sure, since I can be both. I love the 'analysis' part of music, but I definitely get swept into emotion as well. I think that Schoenberg was similar in that respect, based off of what I know about him.

[Ken B]

Some piano sonatas by Peter Schubert
Kempff

[Ken B]

It depends on the symphony for me. I need an emotional M9 (so Lenny works well here), but I also need a balanced M7 (Boulez). I do like being able to hear all of the elements in a score, but I also like the occasional unbridled emotion.
It's hard to say for sure, since I can be both. I love the 'analysis' part of music, but I definitely get swept into emotion as well. I think that Schoenberg was similar in that respect, based off of what I know about him.

Well Appollonian doesn't mean unemotional. It's more about control and balance.  It's also a matter of emphasis rather than either-or.
Nor is it necessarily a good thing: Boulez is at the extreme Appollonian end! 

[Todd]

The Dvorak Romance along with the Mendelssohn D Minor, rather than its more famous counterpart, and Sibelius concertos.  World class fiddling pretty much on par with any violinist one cares to name.  Orchestral support varies a bit.  Perhaps the Sibelius, in particular, doesn't match <insert favorite here> overall, but this is yet another disc in this set where one is assured of high quality everything. 

[Bogey]

Some piano sonatas by Peter Schubert
Kempff

Kempff is da man.  However, I would argue that he played the same role music as he did when he played Beethoven sonatas.

Sorry, too easy.

[Mandryka]

I disagree: monotony is a result of lacking of artistry. I know "non-interventionist" is frequently a tricky expression, but I use it this way: when the complete personality, experiences, emotions and skills of the performer are focused to exactly tell the "story" told (the ideal object created) by the composer, such as has loyally been understood by the performer, you have a non-interventionist approach. If the story is, for instance, merely intellectual story, the performer shouldn't move a finger to add emotions to it... 

Of course, other approaches are equally valid, but this is what I understand for non-interventionist.
It's clear now. 

As I said from the beginning of this conversation, I agree with you: Cabezón wrote great music. But to put my ideas into more general categories, IMO he is a composer more Apollonian than Dionysian. More intellectual than emotional; curiously, more Northern Europe than Mediterranean. His output is not deprived of emotions, of course; but you easily perceive a strong intellectual frame behind it... as when you listen to the AoF, to mention one of the greatest musical works of the History.

There are four possible view:

A Cabezon's music is emotional enough, the performer should just play it straight, no more is needed.
B Cabezon's music is emotional, but the performer needs to play it expressively to bring this out.
C Cabezon's music is not emotional, and the performer shouldn't try to add any. It's ideas music, and you shouldn't gild the lily by adding expression.
D Cabezon's music is not emotional, that's a limitation, and the performer should fix it.


If I understand you right, you buy A. Your criticism of Erdas is that she buys B, and in doing so masks the ideational content. You prefer Wilson because you think he's closer to A. We'd have to get down to specifics to take it further. Is Wilson really not intervening when he plays Malheur me bat? Where does Erdas obscure the ideas?

There's another way into this which I find just as interesting - the distinction between straight and crooked players which Taruskin makes, I wonder if Wilson's too straight.

Straight players [...] display really solid and reliable all-purpose technique at the service of a very scrupulous musicianship [...] The crooked players [...] seek not to group and generalize, but to distinguish and differentiate. Every musical event ideally possesses a unique, never- to-be-repeated shape-even phrases in a sequence. The task the crooked players set themselves [...] is to find a way of realizing and rendering that exact shape in palpable, intelligible sound.

[Moonfish]

Elgar: Symphony No 1      Philharmonia O/Barbirolli

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[Moonfish]

Weiss: Lute Sonatas Nos 30, 39 & 96            Barto

i'm very fond of Barto's recordings of Weiss' Lute Sonatas!  Mesmerizing and filled with tranquility!

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[EigenUser]

Well Appollonian doesn't mean unemotional. It's more about control and balance.  It's also a matter of emphasis rather than either-or.
Nor is it necessarily a good thing: Boulez is at the extreme Appollonian end! 

...which is what makes that hula-girl photo so hilarious.

[Henk]

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Fine but not great.

[Henk]

~
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Soleil-Tigre

Great stuff. Pécou deserves more listeners. His music isn't that difficult and weird. I think many members here would dig it.

[Harry]

Weiss: Lute Sonatas Nos 30, 39 & 96            Barto

i'm very fond of Barto's recordings of Weiss' Lute Sonatas!  Mesmerizing and filled with tranquility!

[asin] B006O51CRU[/asin]

Of course you are, they are top notch, without doubt.