What are you listening to now?

[Que]

New in:

[asin]B019G8SROM[/asin]
Q

[Harry]

New in:

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Q

I for one will be very curious what you make of this performance Que.
I had it on my list, but was not entirely happy about the samples.

[Karl Henning]

Michael Daugherty: UFO (concerto for percussion and orchestra).  Evelyn Glennie, Colorado Symphony, Marin Alsop.

Well, what do you think?

[NikF]

Weber: Clarinet Concerto No.1 - Goodman/Martinon/Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The only disc from the Martinon CSO box set I hadn't listened to. I find it interesting enough to maybe seek another recording at some point.

[Mookalafalas]

Chopin's Preludes



From this:
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[NikF]

Ravel: Rhapsodie espagnole and Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and Strings - Martinon/CSO.

Staying with the box to enjoy a couple of performances of Ravel, particularly the Introduction and Allegro - full, warm and beautiful.

[Karl Henning]

Ravel: Rhapsodie espagnole and Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and Strings - Martinon/CSO.

Staying with the box to enjoy a couple of performances of Ravel, particularly the Introduction and Allegro - full, warm and beautiful.

Exquisite pieces.

[listener]

CASELLA: Paganiniana, Suite from La Giara, Serenata
Svizzera Italiana Orch.,  Christian Benda, cond.
de FALLA: The Three-Cornered Hat, El Amor Brujo    both complete!
Montreal S.O.    Dutoit cond.
old favourites, worth an occasional repeat because I like them

[Brian]

Tonight begins a five-day jaunt through Seattle and the Pacific Northwest with a gang of my best friends, and while I'm bringing some jazz, there won't be any classical listening. So today, gotta hit up some of my favorites and make sure the itch is good and scratched.

Starting with Oberon:



Mostly I'm posting about this, despite listening to only one track, because (1) the cover painting is fantastic, and (2) so's the performance. I love Antoni Wit's Weber overture disc too (also with a misty, mysterious cover). Hmmmm...time for comparison listening!!

[Brian]

Tonight begins a five-day jaunt through Seattle and the Pacific Northwest with a gang of my best friends, and while I'm bringing some jazz, there won't be any classical listening. So today, gotta hit up some of my favorites and make sure the itch is good and scratched.

Starting with Oberon:



Mostly I'm posting about this, despite listening to only one track, because (1) the cover painting is fantastic, and (2) so's the performance. I love Antoni Wit's Weber overture disc too (also with a misty, mysterious cover). Hmmmm...time for comparison listening!!

One track may not be enough for a solid comparison, but here are my notes:
- Griffiths has shrunk his WDR orchestra to chamber size, which pays off in the more intimate moments but, towards the end of the overture, exposes some less-than-gorgeous playing
- Wit's NZSO is at full size and while it's not as glorious as his Warsaw band, it's certainly very fine
- Griffiths's opening horn solo is perfect and uber-atmospheric, but the horn parts later on glare a bit, a sore thumb in the orchestral texture
- Wit's tendency to conduct things slowly is in evidence here (he has an extra minute) but it's not noticeably slow. The performance never drags; it has a total command of the work's structure
- CPO's sound is a bit better

Edge: Wit

[Brian]

Now on to another masterpiece that opens with a horn solo. Serkin/Cleveland/Szell

[Karl Henning]

One track may not be enough for a solid comparison, but here are my notes:
- Griffiths has shrunk his WDR orchestra to chamber size, which pays off in the more intimate moments but, towards the end of the overture, exposes some less-than-gorgeous playing
- Wit's NZSO is at full size and while it's not as glorious as his Warsaw band, it's certainly very fine
- Griffiths's opening horn solo is perfect and uber-atmospheric, but the horn parts later on glare a bit, a sore thumb in the orchestral texture
- Wit's tendency to conduct things slowly is in evidence here (he has an extra minute) but it's not noticeably slow. The performance never drags; it has a total command of the work's structure
- CPO's sound is a bit better

Edge: Wit

Tangentially, the EnnZedd band sound great in the Copland Third Symphony.

[Todd]

A-list recordings only today. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Starting with Oberon:

Good idea; I'll join you...Szell with the Cleveland in Tokyo




Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Good idea; I'll join you...Szell with the Cleveland in Tokyo

Did you photoshop in that Interview with Boulez, Sarge? Tell the truth, and shame the devil . . . .

[Mirror Image]

Now:





Listening to Kikimora. Such an enchanting work.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Now on to another masterpiece that opens with a horn solo. Serkin/Cleveland/Szell

Yes, I especially like the horn solo in op. 117/2. And much fancier cover art than the CBS copy I have of that performance. But I have to laugh at "the art of interpretation." When is the art of interpretation absent from any performance?

Bon voyage for your second trip in so many months, but before you depart I hope you will share your reactions to the German Requiem.

[Sergeant Rock]

Did you photoshop in that Interview with Boulez, Sarge? Tell the truth, and shame the devil . . . .

Boulez conducted some of the concerts during that Asian tour. In the interview he reminisces about Szell and the tour.

Listening to the Mozart G minor now. A fabulous performance. Intensely dramatic first and fourth movements.




Sarge

[Brian]

Did you photoshop in that Interview with Boulez, Sarge? Tell the truth, and shame the devil . . . .

Dang does that box look like necessary listening, Boulez or no Boulez.

When is the art of interpretation absent from any performance?

When it's HJ Lim playing Beethoven sonatas

Bon voyage for your second trip in so many months, but before you depart I hope you will share your reactions to the German Requiem.

So much of it is achingly beautiful - and while I don't know the individual Bach cantatas, when you posted that mini-discussion about the similarities yesterday, it didn't altogether shock me. Certainly, this is a more conservative and calm Requiem than Dvorak's dramatic and ultra-romantic interpretation (to say nothing of a certain Italian). Brahms keeps his grief a little more buttoned-up. I do look forward to hearing it again soon, probably right after returning, but it is quite a time investment, especially since much of the music is pretty similar in tempo/dynamics.

I see it's kind of earlyish - to the extent that you can call the 1860s early for Brahms; he found his voice very quickly, which was the point I was going to make with this sentence before the structure fell apart.

[Brian]

First-ever listen to this Pulitzer Prize winner: Caroline Shaw's Partita for 8 Singers.