What are you listening to now?

[Brian]

From the  recently in pile:

[asin]B00PKWHLJG[/asin]
Q

That's some great repertoire - how do you like the playing? I may need to investigate...

[Que]

That's some great repertoire - how do you like the playing? I may need to investigate...

I think it is really good. I mean, it doesn't make me to abandon my allegiance to Staier & Lubimov (the recordings have the Divertissement à la hongroise D828 in common).
But definitely something to look into, unless you wouldn't like the marvelous sound of a Tröndlin 1825/30....
Which I actually like so much that I still cherish Vermeulen's previous (incomplete) Schubert survey on Vanguard (the complete cycle on EtCetera is on a Streicher).

Gramophone review:

Having recorded Schubert's complete piano music on period instruments, Jan Vermeulen now launches a cycle dedicated to the composer's abundant catalogue of piano duets, abetted by his former student Veerle Peeters. Their 1825 30 Tröndlin instrument has a basically gentle sonority that nevertheless conveys power and definition, as well as a wonderful muted quality in softer passages.

The disc commences with an energetic, forward-moving and beautifully thought-out reading of the Lebensstürme duo. The pianists' sensitivity and stylistic surety masks the three-movement Divertissement à la hongroise's rambling tendencies, while the instrument's timbral distinctions particularly hit home, for example in the 'semi-sustained' pedal effects in the Andante's cadenza-like episode or the way the long Allegretto's tremolos vary in shape and expression, rather than rattle on like a silent-movie pianola. The duo wisely refrain from hurrying the first Marche militaire's Allegro vivace, allowing the music to breathe without losing excitement. The second march takes on a welcome pomp and grandiosity that contrasts to the dead weight we often get from similarly slow performances, while the third transpires on a grand scale in the manner of an orchestral piece transcribed for piano duet. Here I especially like the elegant transitions between sections by way of the pianists' slightly elongated up-beats.

By contrast, the closing Deutscher are all about Viennese charm and affection, and Vermeulen and Peeters lovingly demonstrate how to float Schubert's disarming lyricism in seven blissful minutes. Vermeulen's informative and well-written booklet-notes add value to a most desirable first instalment that augurs well for this cycle's subsequent volumes.

Jed Distler

Q

[bhodges]

Hindemith: Sonata for solo violin, Op. 31 (Itamar Zorman) - Thanks to this recording, this is becoming one of my favorite solo violin works.
Brahms: Sonata in D minor, Op. 108 (Zorman with Kwan Yi, piano) - An intense, muscular reading - both Zorman and Yi are marvelous, separately and together.

[asin]B00LM9T1HQ[/asin]

--Bruce

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 [Dart]....





Small forces yield clarity in the lines but the recording lacks "weight" as a result and sounds a little "thin". This is always a fine balance with this concerto but tempi are lively and the performances are fine.

[aligreto]

I would be interested in a comparison of this to the other Naxos recording, with the Warsaw PO and Antoni Wit...

Yes, that would be an interesting exercise. I have not heard the Wit/Warsaw PO version but I have a number of various performances by Wit and I like them.
I bought the Alsop because I heard a radio interview with her a couple of years ago where she spoke of her regard for the music of Brahms and how it has been with her since she was young. She impressed me and I duly went out and bought the four Symphonies and the Requiem as a result.

[NikF]

Mahler 2 - Bernstein/NYP.

I'll need to get around to hearing other interpretations, but for now I'm finding the experience of listening to this symphony to be almost a humbling one.

[TheGSMoeller]

Mahler 2 - Bernstein/NYP.

I'll need to get around to hearing other interpretations, but for now I'm finding the experience of listening to this symphony to be almost a humbling one.

Hi, Nik,
I take it you're referring to the 1990 recording on DG? I don't think Bernstein recorded the 2nd with NYP earlier on Sony like he did other Mahler symphonies.
If so, I find this performance of the 2nd, along with their 3rd, to be otherworldly, nothing quite like it. Track No.12 on disc 2, with the entrance of the choir is so serene, so achingly beautiful. I really love Bernstein's later years, his patience with the music in his performances, the depth that is displayed. It's one of kind.

[aligreto]

Liszt: Les Préludes [van Immerseel]....

[Karl Henning]

Hindemith: Sonata for solo violin, Op. 31 (Itamar Zorman) - Thanks to this recording, this is becoming one of my favorite solo violin works.

Well, Hindemith was a violinist, you know 

[Brian]

Divertissement a la hongroise

[NikF]

Hi, Nik,
I take it you're referring to the 1990 recording on DG? I don't think Bernstein recorded the 2nd with NYP earlier on Sony like he did other Mahler symphonies.
If so, I find this performance of the 2nd, along with their 3rd, to be otherworldly, nothing quite like it. Track No.12 on disc 2, with the entrance of the choir is so serene, so achingly beautiful. I really love Bernstein's later years, his patience with the music in his performances, the depth that is displayed. It's one of kind.

Hello TheGSMoeller.

The recording I listened to was this one -



from this Sony Box -

[asin]B005SJIP1E[/asin]
The notes say it was recorded with the New York Phil in 1963 and then released the following year.

I'm going to take your description of the 1990 recording as a recommendation though, because I was given his Mahler 6 from 1988 and love it. I'd been put off his later work due to reading so many comments and reviews about it being slow or over the top etc. But as you put it "his patience with the music in his performances, the depth that is displayed" - each layer is clearly revealed and yes, it's just beautiful.
I still think I'll get another cycle with a different take on Mahler, but I've certainly got time in my life for Bernstein and so I'll check out the 2 and 3.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Violin Sonata in G major. Such an awesome work.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Hello TheGSMoeller.

The recording I listened to was this one -



from this Sony Box -

[asin]B005SJIP1E[/asin]
The notes say it was recorded with the New York Phil in 1963 and then released the following year.

I'm going to take your description of the 1990 recording as a recommendation though, because I was given his Mahler 6 from 1988 and love it. I'd been put off his later work due to reading so many comments and reviews about it being slow or over the top etc. But as you put it "his patience with the music in his performances, the depth that is displayed" - each layer is clearly revealed and yes, it's just beautiful.
I still think I'll get another cycle with a different take on Mahler, but I've certainly got time in my life for Bernstein and so I'll check out the 2 and 3.

The SONY M2 is good but the M3 is "other-worldly" in every sense of the word. The finale I don't think has ever been captured more beautifully with its ebbs and flows. Just an incredible performance.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Death Speaks for the second time (via YouTube until my recording arrives). Gorgeous.

[TheGSMoeller]

Hello TheGSMoeller.

The notes say it was recorded with the New York Phil in 1963 and then released the following year.

I'm going to take your description of the 1990 recording as a recommendation though, because I was given his Mahler 6 from 1988 and love it. I'd been put off his later work due to reading so many comments and reviews about it being slow or over the top etc. But as you put it "his patience with the music in his performances, the depth that is displayed" - each layer is clearly revealed and yes, it's just beautiful.
I still think I'll get another cycle with a different take on Mahler, but I've certainly got time in my life for Bernstein and so I'll check out the 2 and 3.

Yes I was referring to his 1990 one, not the 1963. I know his later years has its critics, and I can understand their criticism, but to my ears, and in most cases, these spacious tempos fit perfectly.
Cheers, Nik!

[TheGSMoeller]

Now:



Listening to Death Speaks for the second time (via YouTube until my recording arrives). Gorgeous.

These songs are sung by Shara Worden, also the lead singer of My Brightest Diamond. Her voice is stirring, and fits Lang's vision perfectly. She was featured on an album by The Decembrists as well, and I saw her in concert with them. she's a great performer.

[Ken B]

Mostly I am listening to discs from this.

[asin]B01DB7DV9A[/asin]



This box is quite excellent. I won't say I have yet heard anything in a league of its own, but it's all very good and often notably different from the recordings I know best. The Bartok may be something very special, I will need another listen and some comparisons. I know many hear like their Shoz a lot, but I am not that far in yet.

Now the 6 Haydn quartets by Mozart. Some tough competition in this repertoire.

[Mirror Image]

These songs are sung by Shara Worden, also the lead singer of My Brightest Diamond. Her voice is stirring, and fits Lang's vision perfectly. She was featured on an album by The Decembrists as well, and I saw her in concert with them. she's a great performer.

Yes, her voice is alluring and sweetly haunting. You're lucky to have seen her live. I'd love to hear her in Death Speaks live so I can get the full atmosphere of the work.

Now playing:



I always love how Reich begins several of his post-Music for 18 Musicians works with these spellbinding rhythmic pulses.

[NikF]

The SONY M2 is good but the M3 is "other-worldly" in every sense of the word. The finale I don't think has ever been captured more beautifully with its ebbs and flows. Just an incredible performance.

That'll probably be part of my listening tonight.

Yes I was referring to his 1990 one, not the 1963. I know his later years has its critics, and I can understand their criticism, but to my ears, and in most cases, these spacious tempos fit perfectly.
Cheers, Nik!

You're welcome!

[Ken B]

Philip Glass (pbuh)
Songs From Liquid Days

Arranged for Orchestra and Choir
Crouch End Festival

H/t Monkey Greg