What are you listening to now?

[Madiel]

I refuse to think any less of the Fifth, I feel it would be terribly disloyal.  In comparison to the Fourth, it is certainly "tidy" and "classical" in a way which circumstances demanded;  but the composer wrote into those "limitations" so brilliantly, they are no limitation at all.

On first listen it's gone through "classical" and almost out the other side. It is so stark, so minimalist, showing the bare bones of the music. It's got the economy of a Mozart piano sonata, but with an entire orchestra available.

It's funny timing, because I was listening to a favourite similarly minimalist pop album today... and thinking about Bach's cello suites as a consequence. It's always interesting when a composer can almost make you 'hear' more than what is actually there.

[pjme]

I've had a quick listen on the YouTube link you provided and it sounds interesting indeed. Can't find a CD, although I've only looked at Amazon so far.

I'm afraid there is no CD yet.

This seems to be a good recording : http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/60480


Peter

[jlaurson]

R. Schumann, The Symphonies
Simon Gaudenz / Odense SO
cpo
German link - UK link


NOICE! That's some of the best Schumann I've heard in a long time. Reminds me of listening to Paavo's Beethoven.

[amw]

Op. 118

certified 100% nostalgia free, partially hydrogenated Brahms, zero trans fats

Op. 118 is almost a single work in six movements, rather than a set of piano pieces—in a good performance (this is one) the movements naturally lead into one another like a great narrative arc, inexorably bound for the great cataclysm of the e-flat minor intermezzo. I doubt it was conceived that way, but certainly the final ordering of the pieces lends itself to that interpretation: from the initial disturbed passion of the first two, to the mounting intensity of the middle two, to the extraordinary suspended arcadia of the fifth and the final dissolution in tragedy. (Also the descending key scheme: A -> G -> F -> Eb.)

[NikF]

This seems to be a good recording : http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/60480


Peter

That's great. I look forward to listening. Thank you.

[Brahmsian]

At some point I'm going to hear two Shostakovich symphonies that vaguely resemble each other, and it may be something of a disappointment given what the first five have been like.

I don't think that is going to happen. 

[Karl Henning]

Дмитрий Дмитриевич [ Dmitri Dmitriyevich (Shostakovich) ]
Симфония № 4 до минор, соч. 43 [ Symphony № 4 in c minor, Opus 43 ] (1935-36)
Royal Liverpool Phil
Василий Эдуардович [ Vasily Eduardovich (Petrenko) ]

[asin]B00CX1Z5ZO[/asin]

[Brahmsian]

Дмитрий Дмитриевич [ Dmitri Dmitriyevich (Shostakovich) ]
Симфония № 4 до минор, соч. 43 [ Symphony № 4 in c minor, Opus 43 ] (1935-36)
Royal Liverpool Phil
Василий Эдуардович [ Vasily Eduardovich (Petrenko) ]

[asin]B00CX1Z5ZO[/asin]

*pounds la table!* 

[bhodges]

Most interesting comments, everyone, on the Shostakovich 4 - one of my favorites, but it took awhile to get there because of its unconventional structure. I have not yet heard the Petrenko recording (or any in the cycle, alas). The one below, with Haitink and Chicago, has been occupying my attention since its release.

PS, just heard it live a few weeks ago with Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra: a little on the cool side, but I thought that approach actually worked - more testimony (word deliberately chosen!) to a great piece being subject to a wide variety of interpretations.

[asin]B001BBSE6Y[/asin]

--Bruce

[Harry]

New acquisition

Again an unjustly forgotten composer that needs reappraisal and deserves it in my view.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/02/tombelle-fernand-de-la-1854-1928.html?spref=tw

[Karl Henning]

Most interesting comments, everyone, on the Shostakovich 4 - one of my favorites, but it took awhile to get there because of its unconventional structure. I have not yet heard the Petrenko recording (or any in the cycle, alas). The one below, with Haitink and Chicago, has been occupying my attention since its release.

[asin]B001BBSE6Y[/asin]

--Bruce

Yes, an excellent account!

Also:  Very interesting that your word for the Welser-Möst/Cleveland Orchestra performance is cool—an adjective often used "against" Haitink!

[Harry]

New acquisition

Instead of his orchestral works, I played some very fine Chamber music for Wind instruments. Never heard them before, so there's a novelty in it for me, And that makes me always happy.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/02/gouvy-theodore-1819-1898-chamber-music.html?spref=tw

[Todd]

Some Schubert.

[listener]

all-new cds, all new music for me
IBERT:  Angelique  a 1-act farce in a German adaptation
Brigitte Roth, Kurt Zuber, Thomas Kohl...
Loh-Orchester Sondershausen, Nordhausen Opera Chorus
German text supplied, not much help with my limited German,
Amy BEACH:  Caprice, Pastorale for flute, cello & piano a dozen or so songs, pieces for cello & piano
Jörg Waschinski, counter-tenor   Christiane Meninger, flute  Françoise Groben, Rainer Gepp, piano
FRANÇAIX: Octet, Clarinet Quintet, Divertissement for bassoon and string quintet
Charis Ensemble

[Mandryka]

31 minute Op. 111?

The allegro actually takes off at a good pace once he's out of the intro, in which a bit of slowness is not inappropriate (though it should be half the speed of the allegro if we're counting). Notable are a few moments where he drags the music to a halt before starting again. Also notable is the lack of drama. The Arietta is... incredibly slow (~21:30 plus applause) and it's difficult to get used to in the theme, where the pauses between chords are sometimes long enough to allow the chords to decay to near silence, and any sense of triple meter is basically gone. It creates an effect that goes beyond meditative to elegiac, which is actually rather effective, but not so much so in the variations. Variation 2 has a kind of ridiculous solemnity, like a very self-absorbed child. Variation 3 is overdotted for some reason, and not quite as manic as it should be due to the slow tempo. It sounds slightly heroic I suppose. Variation 4 and the coda (all 9 minutes of it) come off much better, giving the feeling of music suspended out of time and trills like the subtle vibrations of the universe and whatever. You know, profound Beethoven. One gets the feeling he wanted to play the whole movement like that, and just didn't know what to do with those annoying Variations 1 through 3 and their boring amabilità. (He even does a rit. into the final bars, in order to make them as profound as possible, I guess—I've always seen the point of those bars as emphasising simplicity and normality after the "transfigured" appearance of the theme under a trill, but not Sokolov, apparently.)

I can't dislike it the way I disliked his Hammerklavier—I mean, it's not boring. Interpretively it's interesting if only as a curiosity, and of course the playing's very well done. I remain convinced Beethoven is just not his area of expertise, though.

I think you're  a bit generous in your criticism in fact, certainly I would be reluctant play that old LP again. His 2004 recording of op 111 is I think better. Var 2 comes off much better, for example.  Var 3 is inspired, you could even say manic. And the timbre is better, as is the dynamic contrasts. Altogether a wonderful recording which makes me a bit reluctant to dismiss his Beethoven completely, even though I can see it' s a bit hit and miss.  This is the recording



You should also hear his op 10/3 from Aix last year - see if you say then that Beethoven isn't his strength.

[aligreto]

Bax: Nympholept - "a pagan evocation of one enraptured by spirits of the wood"....

[North Star]

Schönberg
Verklärte Nacht, Op.4 (original string sextet version)
Members of Ensemble intercontemporain
[asin]B00AK3X3U6[/asin]

[Mandryka]

Op. 118

certified 100% nostalgia free, partially hydrogenated Brahms, zero trans fats

Op. 118 is almost a single work in six movements, rather than a set of piano pieces—in a good performance (this is one) the movements naturally lead into one another like a great narrative arc, inexorably bound for the great cataclysm of the e-flat minor intermezzo. I doubt it was conceived that way, but certainly the final ordering of the pieces lends itself to that interpretation: from the initial disturbed passion of the first two, to the mounting intensity of the middle two, to the extraordinary suspended arcadia of the fifth and the final dissolution in tragedy. (Also the descending key scheme: A -> G -> F -> Eb.)

Very imaginative post, much appreciated.

[Mandryka]

Grigori Sokolov plays Bach's first partita, Aix 2015. There are little touches, the way he buzzes and trills now and then, like a metallic burr or a static discharge,  which show that he listens to Pierre Hantaï. I think.

[Karl Henning]

Schönberg
Verklärte Nacht, Op.4 (original string sextet version)
Members of Ensemble intercontemporain
[asin]B00AK3X3U6[/asin]

(* frappant la table *)