What are you listening to now?

[Florestan]

If "complexity" means less naturalness and less fluency, I agree. But only in that case. 

Vivaldi is one of the greatest composers in history, and Tartini just a very skilled one. I would add an emoticon with a smile, but you're a big boy. 

IMO, Locatelli is superior to Tartini, too.

There is only one statement in the above that I agree with, but we can still be friends. 

[Mookalafalas]

Playing this for first time:

[asin]B016Z4697C[/asin]

  The backing chorale group is better than in the original, but that is about it.  It's pretty good, but lacks the verve, energy and bite of the early 70s Zappa version.  Somewhat surprisingly, Salonen seems to be straining to stay as close to the original as possible, which inevitably makes it sound a bit hollow--at least in direct comparison to the actual soundtrack album.  There is music that isn't in the original 200 Motels double album, but overall I'd say that if you have the old one you don't need this one.

 

[Karl Henning]

Playing this for first time:

[asin]B016Z4697C[/asin]

  The backing chorale group is better than in the original, but that is about it.  It's pretty good, but lacks the verve, energy and bite of the early 70s Zappa version.  Somewhat surprisingly, Salonen seems to be straining to stay as close to the original as possible, which inevitably makes it sound a bit hollow--at least in direct comparison to the actual soundtrack album.  There is music that isn't in the original 200 Motels double album, but overall I'd say that if you have the old one you don't need this one.

Interesting, thanks!

I seem to remember that the cover of Chunga's Revenge noted that some of the numbers were originally written for 200 Motels.  Whether that accounts for any of the extra material in the present release . . . .

[Mookalafalas]

Interesting, thanks!

I seem to remember that the cover of Chunga’s Revenge noted that some of the numbers were originally written for 200 Motels.  Whether that accounts for any of the extra material in the present release . . . .

  No, nothing from Chunga's Revenge.  There are some long-ish sung-dialogue sections that may have been in the movie (I haven't seen it in 20 or 30 years) but weren't in the album that add a lot of time.  Magic Fingers, Lonesome Cowboy Burt, and such aren't included.
   I didn't actually break out my 200 Motels to AB, but I feel pretty confident in my assessment.  I was a Zappa maniac in the old days and played that stuff scores, if not hundreds, of times.  That said, I only played the first disc of the Salonen.  Perhaps he gets his mojo going better as he moves along...

TD:
  a vinyl rip somebody made of Katchen playing Rachmaninov under Adrian Boult.

[Karl Henning]

  No, nothing from Chunga's Revenge.  There are some long-ish sung-dialogue sections that may have been in the movie (I haven't seen it in 20 or 30 years) but weren't in the album that add a lot of time.  Magic Fingers, Lonesome Cowboy Burt, and such aren't included.
   I didn't actually break out my 200 Motels to AB, but I feel pretty confident in my assessment.  I was a Zappa maniac in the old days and played that stuff scores, if not hundreds, of times.  That said, I only played the first disc of the Salonen.  Perhaps he gets his mojo going better as he moves along...

I appreciate your investigative musico-journalism 

[Karl Henning]

And I am a big fan of 200 Motels.  When I first found a cassette in a local book chain in NoVa back in the mid-'80s, I might have called it a 'guilty pleasure';  but that was probably largely because my then-girlfriend gave me cause to feel that.  Now I do like it, for a great variety of reasons, and I''ve shucked off anything resembling guilt.

[Mookalafalas]

And I am a big fan of 200 Motels.  When I first found a cassette in a local book chain in NoVa back in the mid-'80s, I might have called it a 'guilty pleasure';  but that was probably largely because my then-girlfriend gave me cause to feel that.  Now I do like it, for a great variety of reasons, and I''ve shucked off anything resembling guilt.

  That's when I got mine.  The whole Zappa discography went out of print right when I got interested.  I hunted from music store to music store for a couple of years.  Finally I hit a gold mine in a classical records shop in Toledo, Ohio in 1984.  They had pristine copies of Waka Jawaka, 200 Motels, Live at the Fillmore, and Uncle Meat long after they had gone OOP.  One of the great days of my life.  I got Chunga's Revenge and Burnt Weenie Sandwich at a flea market in Houston, Texas.  They just had cassettes, but would make a copy for $2 each.
   I drove my friends crazy. Couldn't have a conversation without bringing up Zappa...

[Tsaraslondon]

Listening to the stereo version, recorded back in 1959, but sounding amazing for its age. This has to be one of the most thrillingly savage versions in the catalogue.

[aligreto]

Serge Baudo and the Czech Philharmonic!  Oh, the good old days!

[aligreto]

Mozart: Horn Concerti Nos. 2 & 4....





...on 10" vinyl and in glorious mono 

[North Star]

Rakhmaninov
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
St. Petersburg Philharmonic
Jansons
[asin]B000UZ4EY8[/asin]

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

Listening to the stereo version, recorded back in 1959, but sounding amazing for its age. This has to be one of the most thrillingly savage versions in the catalogue.

^ I'd call the '59 Markevitch Sacre "savage squared," myself.

Its my all time favorite Rite.

<Clink.> Cheers.

It has the most charging and galvanizing horns on the "Ritual of the Rival Tribes"- and the hammering drive of "The Glorification of the Chosen One" and "The Sacrificial Dance" are in a class of their own.

Markevitch does a thrilling "Ritual of Abduction," but the most ferocious one I've ever heard is the Mehta/LAPO on Decca- which is one of the most exciting things I've ever heard in Stravinsky. The recording quality is stellar as well.

Rattle's BPO Rite has the most powerfully 'engineered" "Sacrificial Dance" I've ever heard, although his comparatively-slower tempo vis a vis the Markevitch makes it less exciting for me.

Raphael Fruhbeck de Burgos Rite with the LSO is another savage performance that I love- and the Muti/Philadelphia has an absolutely thrilling "Ritual of the Rival Tribes" and "Dance of the Earth"- I just love hearing the Philadelphia Orchestra play that passage.

So all said and done, there are other performances that do one section or another marginally more viscerally- but overall the Markevitch wins in spades for me.

[prémont]

Vivaldi is one of the greatest composers in history.

I have recently listened through Vivaldis op. 1 - op.12 incl. Yes, there are some outstanding works there, but much of the rest is just stuffed with repetitive and foreseeable stereotypes IMO, but this may rather belong to the "unpopular opinions" thread.

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

Terrific performances of this all Barber programme in demonstration-worthy sound.

I love that cd! Zinman has Barber in his blood. Fantastic permances.

The Schippers is absolutely fantastic as well- but of course it doesn't have the great Argo engineered sound. I love the sweep of the strings that he brings to The Overture to the School for Scandal.

[Mandryka]

The Brabant Ensemble play motets by Nicolas Gombert - this is almost as inspiring as the performances by The Sound and The Fury I was listening to yesterday, both of whom make me think that Gombert was an imaginative and original composer, not just a footnote to Josquin. I kind of already knew that from the Magnificats, but the motets have taken me longer to appreciate.

Has anyone enjoyed Beauty Farm, with their big fat bass up sound?!

Isn't it strange how Gombert's music which, in its day was seen as really dissonant, seems very natural to me. I think that I've got too used to dissonance from listening to C17 organ music

[aligreto]

Handel: Organ Concerti 7 & 10....

[Tsaraslondon]

^ I'd call the '59 Markevitch Sacre "savage squared," myself.

Its my all time favorite Rite.

<Clink.> Cheers.

It has the most charging and galvanizing horns on the "Ritual of the Rival Tribes"- and the hammering drive of "The Glorification of the Chosen One" and "The Sacrificial Dance" are in a class of their own.

Markevitch does a thrilling "Ritual of Abduction," but the most ferocious one I've ever heard is the Mehta/LAPO on Decca- which is one of the most exciting things I've ever heard in Stravinsky. The recording quality is stellar as well.

Rattle's BPO Rite has the most powerfully 'engineered" "Sacrificial Dance" I've ever heard, although his comparatively-slower tempo vis a vis the Markevitch makes it less exciting for me.

Raphael Fruhbeck de Burgos Rite with the LSO is another savage performance that I love- and the Muti/Philadelphia has an absolutely thrilling "Ritual of the Rival Tribes" and "Dance of the Earth"- I just love hearing the Philadelphia Orchestra play that passage.

So all said and done, there are other performances that do one section or another marginally more viscerally- but overall the Markevitch wins in spades for me.

Gosh! You certainly know your Rites!

I don't know very many other performances, but overall greatness will do for me! 

[San Antone]

I have recently listened through Vivaldis op. 1 - op.12 incl. Yes, there are some outstanding works there, but much of the rest is just stuffed with repetitive and foreseeable stereotypes IMO, but this may rather belong to the "unpopular opinions" thread.

My feelings, too. 

[listener]

CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO:  2 violin concertos   Concerto Italiano op. 31, Concerto #2 op.66  'I Profeti'
Tianwa Yang, violin  SWR S.O. Baden-Baden und Freiberg   Pieter-Jelle de Boer, cond.
The 'Italiano' quite a pleasant work, would be a pleasant change from the Bruch in concert programs.
SAINT-SAËNS: Symphony no.3 (with organ)   FRANCK: Chorale no.3 (organ solo)
Edgar Krapp, organ   Bamberg S.O.    Christoph Eschenbach, cond.
Ethel SMYTH: Overture "The Wreckers",   Hamilton HARTY: With the Wild Geese, Hamish MacCUNN: Concert Overture "The Land of the Mountain and the Flood"  Edward GERMAN: Welsh Rhapsody,
Scottish National Orch.  Alexander Gibson, cond.
tuneful pieces that used to be popular filler music on radio, nice' music with composer's names which made them acceptable to highbrow listeners.  The MacCunn reminds me of Rachmaninoff's 2nd (4th mvt).

[Tsaraslondon]

Felicien David's Le Desert was much admired by Berlioz, and occasionally there are echoes of that great genius in the music, though it never quite reaches his level. None the less, it is an enjoyably original work, and certainly worth listening to from time to time, especially in this excellent performance by Accentus and l'orchestre de chambre de Paris under Laurence Equilbey.