What are you listening to now?

[Mirror Image]

Mirror Image is a good influence. Or a bad influence, if this cycle stinks. I'm starting with No. 1 and moving on from there.

The cycle gets better as it progresses but it's still not a clear favorite like Vanska/Lahti or Segerstam/Helsinki. Since these are live recordings, there is noise from the audience (i. e. coughing, sneezing), so this doesn't really help this particular cycle's case that much, but it's still quite good despite this hinderance.

[Mirror Image]

I've been listening to this, off and on, in the car the last few days. I need to sit down with Madetoja and give him a proper listen.



Sarge

I like Madetoja's symphonies a good bit. I wouldn't say I'm completely enthralled by them (like I am Sibelius' or Nielsen's), but they're quite enjoyable. Symphony No. 2, in particular, has a very moving slow movement.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Monkey's Uncle!  Add me to the Liszt :

[asin] B0000040Y5[/asin]

[Christo]

Symphony No. 2, in particular, has a very moving slow movement.

Indeed. A rare and pure 'solitude' in the true sense of the word, referring to the pastoral music of the lonely herdboy Madetoja himself once was. 

[Mirror Image]

Indeed. A rare and pure 'solitude' in the true sense of the word, referring to the pastoral music of the lonely herdboy Madetoja himself once was. 

Yes, well the 2nd is a 'war symphony' as it was written around the time of the Finnish Civil War. There must be some kind of longing in that particular movement.

Now:



Listening to Swanwhite Suite, Op. 54. Great stuff.

[North Star]

There is a fiery intensity Argerich brings to the piece which is exhilarating.  Very different from Hamelin, who is also fabulously convincing in the piece.  Both marvelously good performances, and providing yet another illustration of why Music is not a horse race.

This is something I might have written. Actually, I should go back and see that you didn't plagiarize me.  0:)

[Karl Henning]

And, why not?:

Liszt
Sonata in b minor, S.178 (1852-53)
Володя (Владимир Самойлович [ Vladimir Samoylovich (Horowitz) ])

[Karl Henning]

This is something I might have written. Actually, I should go back and see that you didn't plagiarize me.  0:)

If I did plagiarize you . . . at least I had committed your remarks to memory 

[San Antone]

And, why not?:

Liszt
Sonata in b minor, S.178 (1852-53)
Володя (Владимир Самойлович [ Vladimir Samoylovich (Horowitz) ])

Is that Horowitz the 1932 performance that everyone thinks is great(est), or the much later one (1977?) that everyone thought was strange?

[Brian]

Since these are live recordings, there is noise from the audience (i. e. coughing, sneezing),

Ahhhh, that explains all the sloppy playing. Not bad for what they are, then, I guess, but there are just too many other options.

[Mirror Image]

Ahhhh, that explains all the sloppy playing. Not bad for what they are, then, I guess, but there are just too many other options.

There certainly are which is why I mentioned Vanska and Segerstam.

[North Star]

If I did plagiarize you . . . at least I had committed your remarks to memory 

Very true - and also you knew what to think of the performance beforehand. 

Thread duty
Mozart
Serenade in B flat major, KV 361, 'Gran Partita'
Nachtmusique
Eriic Hoeprich

[Karl Henning]

Very true - and also you knew what to think of the performance beforehand. 

Well, that's planning, isn't it? 

Is that Horowitz the 1932 performance that everyone thinks is great(est), or the much later one (1977?) that everyone thought was strange?

Will check the booklet (which I've left at home).

[San Antone]

.

Guess?

[Mandryka]

Friedhelm Flamme plays some magnificats by Hieronymus Praetorius on the Scherer TagermÜnde- good choice. The performances are breathtaking and the music is outstanding. I think Flamme's the only person to have ever recorded any of these organ pieces. Some of them are as good as any magnificat ever written for organ before Hieronymous, the magnificat 5th tone for example.

Flamme's always distinctive by his enthusiasm and his registrations, I love it, he reminds me of Schoonbroodt, same penchant for cosmic virtuosity. Flamboyant in the sense of "aflame". Flamme should record Buxtehude and Bruhns and Lubeck.

[Mandryka]

.

Guess?

Given how interested you are in the big bad sonata, I hope you have a chance to read the long discussion of it in Joseph Horowitz's set of interviews with Claudio Arrau. Arrau has some serious ideas about what the sonata means, archetypes, what its structure is. The book's outstanding anyway.

[asin]0486408469[/asin]

Oh, and here's a special performance of it

https://youtube.com/v/6d7K6JRHFr8

[Ken B]

Monkey's Uncle!  Add me to the Liszt :

[asin] B0000040Y5[/asin]

Henk! Paging Henk!

[Karl Henning]

Henk! Paging Henk!

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya 'bout the raising of the wrist;
Socrates himself was permanently pissed . . . .

[bhodges]

Nielsen: Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia espansiva" (New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert) - First listen to some of this box, and so far, liking it. I heard Gilbert and the orchestra live in some of the later symphonies, and will be curious to see how they made the leap onto recording. I have Colin Davis's recent set of the symphonies with the LSO, so will be doing a little A/B comparison at some point.

[asin]B00WUFBV56[/asin]

--Bruce

[Mirror Image]

Nielsen: Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia espansiva" (New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert) - First listen to some of this box, and so far, liking it. I heard Gilbert and the orchestra live in some of the later symphonies, and will be curious to see how they made the leap onto recording. I have Colin Davis's recent set of the symphonies with the LSO, so will be doing a little A/B comparison at some point.

[asin]B00WUFBV56[/asin]

--Bruce

I didn't really connect with Gilbert's Nielsen for some reason. I don't think Gilbert really brought anything different to the table interpretatively. Oramo, on the other hand, has adopted some swifter tempi and really dug into those climaxes a bit more than Gilbert. I also think Royal Stockholm PO sounded much better in Nielsen than the New York PO. I have yet to hear Storgards' Nielsen cycle (it's in the mail).

Don't believe I've heard heard all of Davis' Nielsen, does he grunt a lot in those recordings? If he does, I'll pass.