What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Hermann Bischoff Symphony No. 1 in E major, Op. 16, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Werner Andreas Albert

[Todd]

It's been at least a decade since I last listened to Chailly's Mahler cycle.  I think it's time to revisit it.  I'll see how many symphonies I can get through.

[Irons]

Ivo Jirásek
Symphony - 'Matka Naděje' or 'Mother Hope'
Zdeněk Košler
Czech Philharmonic
Supraphon

Left field discovery while looking for Novak's, 'The Storm' on Spotify (which doesn't seem to be available for streaming).

Can't find much on Jirásek at all, on t'internet. I like this symphony very much, however. Atmospheric, dramatic, thoughtful, punctuated with contemplative passages that build and drop tension, loud and strident brass and percussion... niiiice....

That cover rung a bell - sure enough a LP version resides on my shelves. Thanks are in order as I enjoyed the recording very much. The use of orchestra is particularly striking, a sort of symphonic concerto for orchestra if that makes sense. I don't know if you had access to programme notes but of interest that Jirasek conceived the symphony to include baritone solo to the text of a poem by Vitezslav Nezval, indeed the premiere included the vocal part. Afterwards Jirasek decided to drop the baritone solo, although the symphony is built around Nezval's poem. 

[Mapman]

Mendelssohn: Symphony #2 "Lobgesang"
Abbado: LSO

The first orchestral movements are wonderful.

[SonicMan46]

This afternoon, I decided to pull out my Martinu collection of just over two dozen discs:

Martinů, Bohuslav -Cello Works & Chamber Music for starters (first row of pics below) + spreadsheet of what else I own at bottom - Bohuslav was an extremely prolific composer (list HERE), some would same TOO productive -     But, I do enjoy many of these works even not being much of a 20th century music fan (but I do have a number of exceptions as the 'usual suspects') -     Dave

[Lisztianwagner]

Max Reger
Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 114

Eduard Erdmann (piano)
Hans Rosbaud & Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester

[Todd]

[VonStupp]

CM von Weber
Flute Trio in G minor, op. 63
Piano Quartet in B-flat Major, op. 8

Irena Grafenauer, flute
Gidon Kremer, violin
Veronika Hagen, viola
Clemens Hagen, cello
Vadim Sakharov, piano
Kremerata Musica

Boy, was I taken aback by Weber's Flute Trio! It is a beautiful, haunting piece of music.

Too often I skip over smaller chamber music, but I am glad to have visited this one. Theirs is a robust Romantic view of this music, which I know is not for everyone. It worked for me, though.
VS

[Symphonic Addict]

Some of these recordings (Léonce Gras , Franz André) must be quite old and -possibly- stem from the radio archives.

The recording of the 5th (the least adequate one of the bunch) is from 1995, and the symphony was played by the Moscow S.O. under Frédéric Devreese.

[Symphonic Addict]

The arrangement for string orchestra of the String Quintet didn't convince much, above all the first two movements. It's the Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola, two horns and string orchestra the main dish here. A work that is by turns heartfelt and restrained proper of his late period. A great piece.

[foxandpeng]

That cover rung a bell - sure enough a LP version resides on my shelves. Thanks are in order as I enjoyed the recording very much. The use of orchestra is particularly striking, a sort of symphonic concerto for orchestra if that makes sense. I don't know if you had access to programme notes but of interest that Jirasek conceived the symphony to include baritone solo to the text of a poem by Vitezslav Nezval, indeed the premiere included the vocal part. Afterwards Jirasek decided to drop the baritone solo, although the symphony is built around Nezval's poem.

I did see that in one of the few information snippets about Jirásek. I think I prefer the non-baritone version even without hearing the original. Vocal parts don't often ring the right bells with me!

Glad you also like this 😁

[Karl Henning]

Haven't listened to this in a while. The performance was six years ago.