What are you listening to now?

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 (soloist: Lilya Zilberstein)
In Autumn, Op. 11
Symphonic Dances, Op. 64

Stunning performances all-around.

[HIPster]

D'India - Ensemble Elyma/Garrido

CD 2~ Madrigals, Arias & Dances

[asin]B0012DACLQ[/asin]

Thanks to Harry for reviewing this set! 

Wonderful recording.

[king ubu]

Karajan's "Aida" w/Tebaldi, Bergonzi et al. from here:

[aligreto]

Jo498 on the slow movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony...

The slow movement is a variant of the "double variations" employed frequently by Haydn. Haydn almost always has minor-major, e.g. c minor/major in the Andante of the symphony #103 (but I am not sure if there might be a different key relation in a late trio or so where Haydn DOES have fairly "romantic" key relations sometimes).

Beethoven has B flat major for the main theme and variations and G and D respectively for the contrasting 3/4-andante-sections. And he breaks up the variation scheme for a lengthy "coda" that takes 30% or so of the movement.

The closest parallel in Beethoven's other works might be the "Dankgesang" from op.132 with a stronger contrast in tempo and character between the chorale and the dance-like andante.

A slow movement that was almost certainly inspired by this form is the one in Bruckner's 7th. The 3/4-Moderato (A major, I think) is almost a fusion of the tunes of the triple time contrasting sections of the two Beethoven examples. The contrast is still stronger here because Bruckner's chorale sections are in the minor mode and very sombrely orchestrated.

The magnificent, beautiful broad sweep that is Bruckner's 7th Symphony with its wonderful Adagio movement [originally conceived as music for Wagner's funeral]....

[SonicMan46]

Boccherini, Luigi - late yesterday & today, going through some of Luigi's flute music; the 4 recordings below have no overlap w/ nearly two dozen quintets - Dave

P.S. also have one disc of Oboe Quintets w/ Lajos Lencsés, which are the same Op. 55 works on flute w/ Faust & the Auryn Quartett.

 

 

[North Star]

Although I have been remiss in reporting so, I listen to about half a disc of this each day.  Indeed, pure delight!

Very good, Karl.


Thread duty
I's been a Grieg & Dvořák day

Dvořák
The Noon Witch, B. 196
The Golden Spinning Wheel, B. 197
Czech Phil
Václav Neumann

Requiem, B. 165
Magdaléna Hajóssyová, Vera Soukupová. Jozef Kundlák, Peter Mikuláš
Vladimir Rusó (organ)
Slovak Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra
Zdenek Kosler


Grieg
Suites nos. 1 & 2 from Peer Gynt
Berliner Phil
Karajan
Piano Concerto
Anda
Berliner Phil
Kubelik

[Mirror Image]

Very good, Karl.


Thread duty
I's been a Dvořák day

The Noon Witch, B. 196
The Golden Spinning Wheel, B. 197
Czech Phil
Václav Neumann

Requiem, B. 165
Magdaléna Hajóssyová, Vera Soukupová. Jozef Kundlák, Peter Mikuláš
Vladimir Rusó (organ)
Slovak Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra
Zdenek Kosler

Pounds the Bohemian table!

[North Star]

Pounds the Bohemian table!

Just don't spill my pilsner!

Thread duty
Lasso
Tristis est anima mea
Choir of New College, Oxford
https://www.youtube.com/v/pcThx87qnoM

[Karl Henning]

Again:

Holmboe
Quartetto sereno, Op.197 (Op. posth.) (1996)
Redigeret af Per Nørgård
The Kontra Quartet

[asin]B003NEQAMC[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Lasso
Tristis est anima mea

One exquisite motet.

[North Star]

One exquisite motet.

Indeed!

[Brian]

Just decided to see what trouble Mirror Image is getting into here.



In Autumn, overture
Sigurd Jorsalfar, three-movement suite
From Holberg's Time

My favorite string orchestra recordings of Holberg are probably these (random order):

[Mirror Image]

Very nice, Brian. As for getting into trouble, it's too late!

Now:

Symphonies 2 & 6 from this recording:

[North Star]

Lasso
Tristis est anima mea

And again, along with other motets, superb performances from Singer Pur

[asin]B001S86JAS[/asin]

[Brian]

Very nice, Brian. As for getting into trouble, it's too late!

The two full-orchestra works I tried were really good - each a bit faster than some of the rivals - and the main characteristic of this Holberg reading is that there's a microphone really close to the first row of cellists, so you can hear the cello parts with great detail. Otherwise, I mean, all Holberg performances are lovely, pretty much. The main question is how rhythmically precise they are, and this one isn't on the level of, say, Norwegian Chamber Orch on Simax (the awesome album with the moose cover in my post above).

[Mirror Image]

The two full-orchestra works I tried were really good - each a bit faster than some of the rivals - and the main characteristic of this Holberg reading is that there's a microphone really close to the first row of cellists, so you can hear the cello parts with great detail. Otherwise, I mean, all Holberg performances are lovely, pretty much. The main question is how rhythmically precise they are, and this one isn't on the level of, say, Norwegian Chamber Orch on Simax (the awesome album with the moose cover in my post above).

Thanks for the feedback. I've never really heard a bad Holberg ether.

[Spineur]

A romantic moment before going to bed..

[aligreto]

Mozart: Piano Quartet in E flat major K. 493....

[bhodges]

Shostakovich: Prelude and Scherzo for String Octet, Op. 11 (Apple Hill String Quartet and VEM String Quartet, recorded 3/22/15 at Zipper Hall in Los Angeles) - An(other) excellent version, though the sound quality is a bit  muffled. But worth hearing for fans of the piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bArsXlyssmg

Edit: This one, with the Prazak and Zemlinsky Quartets, is even better, and in clearer sound. (Recorded at the Wissembourg Festival, 9/4/13)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JcmnFDoAzU

--Bruce

[Mandryka]

Richard Lester and lots of others play Scarlatti  K126.  What has become apparent to me over the past few couple of weeks is how sometimes Scarlatti's music really is like a sort of exploration of keyboard effects, like he was doing for the harpsichord what Henry Cowell did for piano, but it's done with such an amazing sense of storytelling, the inevitable logic of the flow of events, that the music is elevated to art.


In K 126,   Lester is good  at telling the story and he does so by marking the sections with tempo changes. He conceives the work as very complex, with many sections, like a fantasy by Buxtehude of something.

Belder  plays it colourfully. I preferred Lester's harpsichord to Belder's instrument (Belder's Flemish and Lester Italian maybe - I haven't checked) and I like his way of using  lots of variety of touch and texture.

Baiano was also very good, more energetic than Lester and I'm not sure that's my cup of tea. Lester is deeper because he's a bit slower.

Ross and Columbo and Jandó (modern piano) are too linear IMO, they don't differentiate the sections enough and that isn't good.  Claudio Columbo plays crudely IMO. Valenti as always has colourful things to say, but the instrument is unbearable, and anyway, it's very solemn - I suppose solemnity and romanticism go hand in hand, anyway it isn't my cuppa.