What are you listening to now?

[Florestan]

A musical surprise by the hands of a great pianist. Music not likely to be heard by many who know this composer through his opera compositions. New acquisition, and first listen.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/09/weber-carl-maria-von-1786-1826-piano.html?spref=tw

One of my favorite pianists and one of my favorite composers in one of my favorite twofers. I´´m very glad you enjoy it, too. A peach!

[Karl Henning]

Shostakovich 4th.

[asin]B00CX1Z5ZO[/asin]

Karl, if no-one else, will be pleased to know I'm finding myself far more in tune with this work than I was when I first listened to it back in February. Since then I've heard all of symphonies 5-15 in my chronological traversal of all of Shostakovich's opuses, and I've also recently revisited numbers 1, 5-10 and 15 in a tactically chosen order of my own devising. Listening to number 4 after all of those was part of the tactic!

As much as anything I think the span of the music is a lot less daunting. After becoming used to frequent movements of 20 minutes, and a few that are nearly as long as the outer movements of the 4th, it's easier to handle. Plus the music in the 4th is actually a lot more dynamic than some of the other long movements, so that bit of extra length doesn't feel too onerous.

I know people around here aren't the greatest fans of the reviews of David Hurwitz on Classics Today, but one of the things he praises Petrenko for is a genuine sense of symphonic structure, and from other reviews I think that's what people who like Petrenko like about his Shostakovich.  And as I am the kind of person who is into structure, I like the fact that the 1st movement now sounds to me like one long, movement full of interest, not bits and pieces. The end of it, as so often with Shostakovich endings, is magical.

The 2nd movement comes across as, initially, deliberately at a lower voltage. But every now and then the music rears up with an edge of menace. The percussion at the end sounds an awful lot like the 15th symphony, several decades later.

This low-voltage approach naturally leads into the start of the 3rd movement. The emphasis might be on slow and steady, but I'm finding much of it has a magnetic pull. I think Petrenko's secret is that he keeps everything very crisp - this is certainly apparent once the music speeds up again. Attacks are very precise. I'll admit that towards the end I was beginning to wonder when it would all finish, but it wasn't because the playing was boring. And the closing section, when it arrives, is fantastic.

Yeah, okay, I'm converted. This is a good symphony, I want to keep listening to it, and I'll be more than happy to use this recording to do it.

Cool.

Aye, the scale is daunting, the ears are overloaded on the first listen. (I should admire the listener who can take it all in fairly at first.)

[hpowders]

Shostakovich 4th.

[asin]B00CX1Z5ZO[/asin]

Karl, if no-one else, will be pleased to know I'm finding myself far more in tune with this work than I was when I first listened to it back in February. Since then I've heard all of symphonies 5-15 in my chronological traversal of all of Shostakovich's opuses, and I've also recently revisited numbers 1, 5-10 and 15 in a tactically chosen order of my own devising. Listening to number 4 after all of those was part of the tactic!

As much as anything I think the span of the music is a lot less daunting. After becoming used to frequent movements of 20 minutes, and a few that are nearly as long as the outer movements of the 4th, it's easier to handle. Plus the music in the 4th is actually a lot more dynamic than some of the other long movements, so that bit of extra length doesn't feel too onerous.

I know people around here aren't the greatest fans of the reviews of David Hurwitz on Classics Today, but one of the things he praises Petrenko for is a genuine sense of symphonic structure, and from other reviews I think that's what people who like Petrenko like about his Shostakovich.  And as I am the kind of person who is into structure, I like the fact that the 1st movement now sounds to me like one long, movement full of interest, not bits and pieces. The end of it, as so often with Shostakovich endings, is magical.

The 2nd movement comes across as, initially, deliberately at a lower voltage. But every now and then the music rears up with an edge of menace. The percussion at the end sounds an awful lot like the 15th symphony, several decades later.

This low-voltage approach naturally leads into the start of the 3rd movement. The emphasis might be on slow and steady, but I'm finding much of it has a magnetic pull. I think Petrenko's secret is that he keeps everything very crisp - this is certainly apparent once the music speeds up again. Attacks are very precise. I'll admit that towards the end I was beginning to wonder when it would all finish, but it wasn't because the playing was boring. And the closing section, when it arrives, is fantastic.

Yeah, okay, I'm converted. This is a good symphony, I want to keep listening to it, and I'll be more than happy to use this recording to do it.

The Fourth is my favorite Shostakovich symphony. Although, I prefer the devastating live performance conducted by Daniel Raiskin.

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 4-6 [Abbado]....

[aligreto]

That early Abbado recording of the Brandenburgs caught my attention when I saw it some time ago in a B&M store. It seems I didn't lose much by not picking it up. The later one with the Orchesta Mozart on DG is a stupendous achievement IMHO. Really, really enjoyable perfomances of the six, with great soloists.

These things are of course subjective but in this case I would say that you did not lose out. Yours is now the second recommendation for the later Abbado version. This is interesting for me as, over the years, I have generally, but not always, been a non-admirer of Abbado so I have a small dilemma here.

[aligreto]

Here it is ~

[asin]B0042JIL1U[/asin]

Also available as a video.

HIPish, "all star" lineup.  Makes me want Dantone to record these concertos with his own group.

Thank you for that and I absolutely agree with you on Dantone 

[aligreto]

Following Que's lead with the only Dall 'Abaco disc in my collection:

[asin]B000V07IV8[/asin]

The first disc of this set.

A really excellent set all round 

[aligreto]

Cello Suites #1-3 - This sure is a sweet recording: excellent in every way!

One of my all time favourite recordings of these suites 

[Mahlerian]

Cool.

Aye, the scale is daunting, the ears are overloaded on the first listen. (I should admire the listener who can take it all in fairly at first.)

Sounds impossible to me.  Shostakovich's Fourth is deliberately engineered to confound all normal expectations of structure.  That's probably why it's taken so much longer than his more straightforward works to catch on (and also why this Mahler fan enjoys its intricacies more than those more straightforward works).

[ritter]

These things are of course subjective but in this case I would say that you did not lose out. Yours is now the second recommendation for the later Abbado version. This is interesting for me as, over the years, I have generally, but not always, been a non-admirer of Abbado so I have a small dilemma here.

You can gauge for yourself  :

https://www.youtube.com/v/Wi9tDgPNHMU

All six are on YouTube...cute how in the sixth Abbado vanishes from the stage...

As opposed to you, though, I am a fervent admirer of Abbado...

[aligreto]

You can gauge for yourself  :

https://www.youtube.com/v/Wi9tDgPNHMU

All six are on YouTube...cute how in the sixth Abbado vanishes from the stage...

As opposed to you, though, I am a fervent admirer of Abbado...

Thank you very much for that and, as it happens, No. 4 is my favourite. I will give it a listen a little later 

[Wanderer]

.[asin]B000EQHIM8[/asin]

[ritter]

Thank you very much for that and, as it happens, No. 4 is my favourite. I will give it a listen a little later 

Well, I chose #4 because it's my favourite as well 

[aligreto]

Well, I chose #4 because it's my favourite as well 

Cool.....and I may even be an Abbado convert by the end of it 

[San Antone]

Ockeghem : Requiem
Hilliard Ensemble

[Sergeant Rock]

Piano Trio in B major op. 8

The piano trio never fails to send shivers on my spine, goosebumps on my skin and tears in my eyes ever since I first heard it, some 15 years ago when my reaction was "This is the most beautiful music in the whole world".

This is the chamber piece that convinced I could like chamber music. Before hearing it (at age 19) I was mainly interested in bombastic orchestral pieces and opera. But, like you, I had the most intense emotional reaction to the Brahms Trio when I first heard it (at a live chamber concert at Ohio University. I went for an Ives Violin Sonata but fell in love with the Brahms).

Listening to it now, played by the Trio di Trieste





Sarge

[GioCar]

I've heard recordings from all of them except for Oscar Ghiglia....hmm...

One of my favourites from earlier in the 20th century was Alirio Diaz.

Well, Oscar Ghiglia made very few recordings, actually, but was very active in the concert halls (he's still alive but now retired afaik). In my roaring 20s I went to see him playing I don't remember how many times.
He's well-known as a teacher, and he married one of your favorites and a former pupil of him, Elena Papandreou.

Alirio Diaz was a true legend. I was so lucky to see him playing live when I was a boy. Just passed away  as you may know.

[Sergeant Rock]

Haydn Piano Trio E major Hob XV:28 played by the Trio di Trieste





Sarge

[Harry]

Ockeghem : Requiem
Hilliard Ensemble

That is a very good performance, one of my personal favourites.!

[San Antone]

That is a very good performance, one of my personal favourites.!

Good to hear.