What are you listening to now?

[SimonNZ]

The last Planets recording to really impress me was John Eliot Gardiner's. One of those discs that, for me at least, made an over-familiar work fresh and new again, while still being respectfully done.


playing now:



Telemann Overtures, Sonatas, Concertos - Musica Alta Ripa

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

Now:





Listening to En Saga, Op. 9 (Original Version, 1892). Great stuff.

Sibelius forever!

(I love the cover.)

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

CD number fifteen:



Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as innocence and light.



Ludwig as intriguing darkness.

They yin and yang beautifully.

Chiaroscuro Wagner that I can 'believe' in.

Elsa and Ortud never sounded so dramatically perfect to me anywhere.

[Todd]

First listen to Anne Schumann and Sebastian Knebel's take on the Mystery Sonatas.  What sets this set apart is two things: 1.) this is the first disc of a three disc set of the complete works, and comes in at only 40 minutes, and 2.) this is a duo recording, featuring violin and church organ only.  This is the first recording of these works I've heard that take the duo approach.  It creates a more somber, serious tone for the pieces.  It works pretty well, though it does not rival established faves.  Schumann plays quite nicely, and the heft of the organ sounds impressive.  The recording is geared toward optimal organ sound, which means the violin sound is much more resonant than normal.  The disc starts with some bells pealing and ends with an organ piece by Buxtehude.  An intriguing disc.

[listener]

HARTMANN: Concerto funèbre    STRAVINSKY: Concerto in D,
PENDERECKI: Capriccio   SCHNITTKE: Suite in the Old style
PROKOFIEV: Overture on Hebrew Themes
Moscow Virtuosi     Vladimir Spivakov, violin and cond.   
Alexei Utkin oboe (Penderecki)
CHARPENTIER:  Te Deum   Missa 'Assumpta est Maria'   Litanies de la Vièrge
Les Arts Florissants     William Christie, cond
MILHAUD: La creation du monde    STRAVINSKY: Ebony Concerto   BERNSTEIN: Prelude, Fugue and Riffs
GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue
Michael Collins, clarinet     Peter Donohoe, piano    London Sinfonietta. Simon Rattle, cond.
+ some jazz with Harvey and the Wallbangers

[André]

From that excellent box, symphonies 1, 2 and 5. The First is small brew, but pleasant to the ear.  There's a nice, striding theme in the finale.v4 movements.  The second symphony is beautifully self-contained in a 2-movement form , in which the second acts as andante, scherzo and finale. He then appended a third movement (another 'real' finale), overlong, slightly bon-bonbastic and not really related to the preceding material. Nice try. The 5th is a masterpiece, comparable to the best of Alfvén and Stenhammar.

[aligreto]

Brahms: Symphony No. 3...





Another great opening for a symphony here. We have, once again, lyrical melodies and wonderful orchestral textures in this work and I particularly like the woodwinds.

[Todd]

From the big box.  A most impressive Carnegie Hall debut by a teenager. 

[Turbot nouveaux]

Grażyna Bacewicz
Complete String Quartets Vol. 2
String Quartet no. 4 (1951)
String Quartet No. 2 (1943)
String Quartet No. 5 (1955)
Lutosławski Quartet [Naxos, 2012]

A nice selection of Bacewicz's finely crafted quartets which seem to demonstrate her engagement with and absorption of developments elsewhere in European modernism.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to the Violin Concerto, Op. 15. Still the best performance of this VC that I know. Awesome sonics as well.

[Todd]

From the big box.  Some lovely chamber music. 

[Mookalafalas]

volume 2 of this series. Wispelway and Giacometti.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Job, A Masque for Dancing. Awesome work and performance.

[Brahmsian]

Yes I did, Ray, and will. 

First Listen
Rakhmaninov
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 31
Alexander Ranne, Sergey Tsipcalo, Natalia Kornieva
St. Petersburg Chamber Choir
Nikolai Korniev

Oh, I certainly hope you enjoyed your first listen to this piece I love! 

[kishnevi]

The last Planets recording to really impress me was John Eliot Gardiner's. One of those discs that, for me at least, made an over-familiar work fresh and new again, while still being respectfully done.


playing now:



Telemann Overtures, Sonatas, Concertos - Musica Alta Ripa

Gardiner has a way of doing that. Did you ever hear his recording of Verdi's Requiem?
TD
Beethoven courtesy of BBC Music Magazine December 2015 issue
PC 2
John Lill piano BBC NO of Wales, Walter Weller conducting
With a cadenza I don't ever recall hearing before. No indication of who wrote the cadenza.  Followed by four overtures played by BBC Scottish SO,  Donald Runnicles conducting (Leonore 3, Coriolan, Creatures of Prometheus, Egmont).

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

The last Planets recording to really impress me was John Eliot Gardiner's. One of those discs that, for me at least, made an over-familiar work fresh and new again, while still being respectfully done.


playing now:



Telemann Overtures, Sonatas, Concertos - Musica Alta Ripa

I too love Gardiner's.....and Rattle's one is also worthwhile to hear with the new commissions.

What do you think of this Telemann recording? I  haven't heard much Telemann and I would like to get into his music a little more...perhaps it will help me to branch out into earlier styles again (I haven't listened to anything pre-Bruckner for months).

[SimonNZ]

Gardiner has a way of doing that. Did you ever hear his recording of Verdi's Requiem?

That's interesting. The Verdi Requiem is a work I've never loved as much as many others seem to. A fresh perspective might finally open that door. I'll try to track down a copy. Thanks.

I too love Gardiner's.....and Rattle's one is also worthwhile to hear with the new commissions.

What do you think of this Telemann recording? I  haven't heard much Telemann and I would like to get into his music a little more...perhaps it will help me to branch out into earlier styles again (I haven't listened to anything pre-Bruckner for months).

That series is particularly well done, but if you really want to be surprised by Telemann and hear knockout works that make you cry out "why aren't these more famous?!" then check out his Cantatas and Oratorios and Passion settings - particularly on the recordings that have been coming out on the CPO label.

[Mirror Image]

Back to Russian music...

Now playing:



Listening to Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99. This is a performance I'm beginning to come around to as the sheer passion in Mordkovitch's playing is gripping. Also, this is some of the best conducting Jarvi's ever done period.

[kishnevi]

Back to Russian music...

Now playing:



Listening to Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99. This is a performance I'm beginning to come around to as the sheer passion in Mordkovitch's playing is gripping. Also, this is some of the best conducting Jarvi's ever done period.

Been reissued as part of a tribute series

TD
19th century Spiderman? No, just a French caricature from 1886

Contents

The Tristan Prelude is actually by Lortie. Liszt only did the Liebestod, but Lortie felt it appropriate to play the full pairing we moderns are used to.

[Mirror Image]

Been reissued as part of a tribute series

Yep, I knew of this one. I wonder how the remastered sound is on this reissue? I'm certainly happy with my issue which came in the Chandos Milestones box set.