What are you listening to now?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Listening to Barber's Violin Concerto. I usually turn to Hilary Hahn for this concerto, but Ehnes does it justice IMHO.

I don't think I know this recording...I should check it out! Btw, I do find that I enjoy Hahn's one now, except the last movement feels a bit too fast and cold for my taste (if 'cold' is a word that can adequately describe how this music sounds to me...)

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

At the moment I am listening to SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden with Thomas Larcher on the piano playing Isabel Mundry's wonderful 'Ich und Du' conducted by the great Pierre Boulez

[Mirror Image]

I don't think I know this recording...I should check it out! Btw, I do find that I enjoy Hahn's one now, except the last movement feels a bit too fast and cold for my taste (if 'cold' is a word that can adequately describe how this music sounds to me...)

Personally, Hahn is the only violinist who has performed that last movement to my liking. Yes, she's fast and, yes, she's emotionally cold, but the sheer strength and incisiveness are what make it so memorable for me. Well...I like it, but understand that it may not be to everyone's taste.

[André]

Bach's violin sonatas (with harpsichord) played by James Ehnes and Luc Beauséjour.



Bach shakes the foundations of my being. Ehnes melts my conscious being. I am but a puddle of bliss.

[Ken B]

Fleeing Watchorn's perfectly unlistenable WTC, I can never stand more than a few minutes, I sought refuge in Glass's wonderful Concerto Fantasy for Two Tympanists and Orchestra.

[Wanderer]

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[Autumn Leaves]

Now playing:



Listening to SQ #4
The Andantino movement from this one gets me every time. Beautiful piece of music - one of my favourite DS creations.

[Autumn Leaves]

Now:



Listening to the Piano Concerto. A work that captures the desolation of the Outback and the hot sun beaming down upon all who enter this barren landscape. Of the three performances I've heard of Sculthorpe's Piano Concerto, this is the best one and the most convincingly performed. What's interesting about this particular concerto is it doesn't adhere to any of the traditional notions of the genre. There's no question that there's structure here, but it's almost rhapsodic in form.

Yes, this is a very nice piece for sure.
I have a few Sculthorpe Discs and I do like his music. I guess I should listen to him more often too - I am not being very patriotic by leaving it a long time between listens .

[Autumn Leaves]

Now playing:



Symphony #3
Absolutely brilliant this one - I think probably the best version of this work I have heard so far.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Never heard of James Ehnes before in my life, but I am loving this:

[Wanderer]

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[andolink]

Fleeing Watchorn's perfectly unlistenable WTC, I can never stand more than a few minutes, I sought refuge in Glass's wonderful Concerto Fantasy for Two Tympanists and Orchestra.

Could you elucidate?

For me, at present, Watchorn is the bencmark in this repertoire with Kenneth Weiss right up there too.

[Autumn Leaves]

Now playing:



Symphony #5
Continuing with my 10 Composer Survey. I didn't really put a lot of thought into it - I just wanted to listen to some nice Symphonies and Orchestral music. All easy listening - nothing challenging in this survey

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Listening to the Piano Concerto. A work that captures the desolation of the Outback and the hot sun beaming down upon all who enter this barren landscape. Of the three performances I've heard of Sculthorpe's Piano Concerto, this is the best one and the most convincingly performed. What's interesting about this particular concerto is it doesn't adhere to any of the traditional notions of the genre. There's no question that there's structure here, but it's almost rhapsodic in form.

This is so cool that you can imagine the desolation of the outback and the hot sun....this is my favourite Sculthorpe work and maybe it is the way the piece is orchestrated, or maybe the image on the cover has influenced my perception of the work, but it reminds me of the uninhabited areas and solitary beaches along the coast of Gippsland region in Victoria where I have been a number of times. I have never been to the outback, but I can only imagine that there would be a very similar feeling of isolation in a huge open area in the desert.

[TheGSMoeller]

I sought refuge in Glass's wonderful Concerto Fantasy for Two Tympanists and Orchestra.

An excellent concerto, it is. 

[TheGSMoeller]

This set is on Spotify, and features Guschlbauer(Nulte), Sieghart(1, 3, 4) and Eichhorn(the rest) at the helm. I've only listened to the 5th, 6th and 7th. The 5th performance with Eichhorn is to die for, most notably the broad and gloriously delivered finale. Would love to get my hands on some hard copies of these, but I might have to sell my first born to afford it.

[Karl Henning]

For the Barber concerto, Stern/Bernstein, Hahn, and Ehnes are my top three.

I read your post, Brian, and realized:  I've got that in The Box.  So:

Barber
Violin Concerto, Op.14 (1939)
Isaac Stern, vn
NY Phil
Lenny

[Karl Henning]

... but I might have to sell my first born to afford it.

Tangentially, friends of mine drove in to downtown Boston Wednesday to have lunch with me. (I know: it sounds mad and improbable, but there it is.)  They had been on walkabout up in the wilds of Maine to celebrate their anniversary, and wanted to catch up with me on their way down to Rhode Island.  They found the road in to Boston surprisingly smooth that lunchtime.

"You well propitiated the traffic gods, then," said I.

"And it only involved the sacrifice of a small child," the husband observed philosophically.

"Thank goodness it was not your child, anyway," I said.

"We won't miss him," said the wife cheerfully.

[NikF]

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1 in D Minor - Jansons/St Petersburg Philharmonic.

[asin]B000UZ4EY8[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1 in D Minor - Jansons/St Petersburg Philharmonic.

[asin]B000UZ4EY8[/asin]

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