What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Boult conducts:
Arnold Bax.
Northern Ballad No.1 (1927).
Mediterranean (1920 -1922).
Symphonic Poem, The Garden of Fand (1913-1916).
Symphonic Poem, Tintagel (1917-19).
Symphonic Poem, November Woods (1917).

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult.
Recorded in 1968 & 1972.

There is nothing to say really, its that good!

[Harry]

When you look at the prices that ask for these CDs today 

Right, I did that and I almost got a "Hartverzakking"

[Madiel]

I think Debussy and Ravel surpassed Fauré in terms of harmony, yes. I think that is about as objectively true as something can be related to music. In terms of melody I think all three were gifted and I don't think one stands out as clearly the best. As far as my comment about "flash over substance" I said 'seems' and that I'm not certain. But as you seem to be certain that my description was inaccurate, who do you think he was referring to? What other notable French composers of keyboard music are there that are contemporary to Fauré? French music contemporary to Fauré seemed to be the context in which he was making the statements.

He wasn't referring to other composers. That's where you've gone wrong. He was talking about pianists. He was explaining that pianists don't go for Faure because Faure's music is not flashy.

He's hardly the first person to make this point, either. For starters it's pretty much said in the liner notes for the Kathryn Stott set I was listening to earlier. Faure's music is incredibly difficult to play but frequently doesn't SOUND like it, and so a pianist doesn't get the reward of an audience going "wow" over the sheer technical ability involved. A point that Hamelin, with his repertoire, is well equipped to make.

Your claim that the inferiority of Faure's harmony is near an objective statement frankly tells me you've fallen into exactly that trap of thinking that something has to sound impressive to be impressive. Faure's harmony is incredibly subtle, gliding almost imperceptibly until you find you've moved through all sorts of distant keys. Perhaps it's not until you try to play some of these pieces that you realise how amazing they are, but I don't know whether anyone else could write something like the 5th Barcarolle. And I suspect a lot of very good pianists couldn't manage to play it with the kind of flow Faure always needs. I sure as hell couldn't, but God I loved trying to play the last page in particular.

Edit: honestly, Hamelin is a little stilted in some of the earlier Barcarolles.

[Spotted Horses]

A little catching up, three days worth.


Maconchy, final two quartets in the cycle, No 12 and 13.



The 12th is a work in four brief movements, generally following the classical scheme. The 13th is in three even briefer movements. I'm starting to sound like a broken recording, but these works are a delight with contrapuntal texture and concise motivic development.

Schubert Piano Sonata No 11 (D625/505), Badura Skoda



Another exasperating case where Schubert failed to complete a brilliant work. The first movement breaks off as the "recapitulation" begins. Badura-Skoda performs his own completion. This is reasonable because at this point the movement is expected to re-state the exposition section with simplified key relationships, which seems like a student exercise, except that Schubert (being a genius) might have had some tricks up his sleeve. The finale is likewise incomplete, with the left hand part not written for a long stretch of the movement. Again, reconstruction is reasonable since it is not contrapuntal music, but florid figuration over a basic bass line. Great music.

Beethoven Quartet Op 59, No 2, Takacs.



Brilliant. Makes me doubt my previous obsession with only the late quartets. The meditative slow movement is a wonder, with conventionally dissonant harmonic progressions often presented with very original chord voicing. I have to hear what the Budapest Quartet (mono) does with this.

[DavidW]

Brilliant. Makes me doubt my previous obsession with only the late quartets.

I usually listen to middle period Beethoven more than late or early.  It just hits right for me (in general and not just the string quartets).

[Roasted Swan]

A pair of very contrasting recordings accompanied me on my dog walk today;



What a tremendous pair of players!!  Their Symphonic Dances is just about great enough to make me not miss the orchestral version.  The benefits here are superb expressive flexibility that would be all but impossible to achieve with an orchestra (or too mannered if they did manage it) and wonderful textural clarity that brings out so much of the inner detail in Rachmaninov's meticulous writing that again is obscured by a full orchestra.

Then;



Hobson and his Polish Sinfonia Varsovia play this music far more idiomatically than they have any right to do so!  It is intended to be lighter-hearted music but it is still tremendously effectively written and enjoyable to listen to.  I like all the discs in this series - superbly engineered by the Albany team to boot.

[ando]

Another one of my favorite sets on shuffle.


The Mozart Recordings Orchestra of the 18th Century
Frans Brüggen, conductor (Glossa)

[classicalgeek]

Over the weekend:

Beethoven
Symphony no. 5
Schubert
Symphony no. 8 'Unfinished'
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Seiji Ozawa
(on CD)




Beethoven
Symphony no. 6
Orchestre de Paris
Rafael Kubelik
(on CD)




Bruckner
Symphony no. 4
Staatskapelle Dresden
Eugen Jochum
(on CD)

[vers la flamme]

Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. Murray Perahia

Love this performance.

This over and over lately.

[Traverso]

Right, I did that and I almost got a "Hartverzakking"

Tijd voor nieuwe bretels🙂

[Steinway D]

If I recall correctly, this was my introduction to PMD (on an LP). It holds up well today.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Stokowski Plays the 20th Century.

[Traverso]

Henry Purcell

CD 1

[Harry]

Tijd voor nieuwe bretels🙂

Dat komt goed, ik heb nog nooit een riem gedragen, voor mij zijn dat sluipmoordenaars. Geef mij maar bretels, ik heb ze in vele kleuren, en maten.   

[Henk]

Gorgeous music. Topnotch performance and sound.
Going to revisit my other Medtner recordings.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No.4 in E flat major, "Romantic", 1880 (aka 1878/80) - Ed. Robert Haas, Bernard Haitink, Concergebouw Orchestra

[Mandryka]

Thank you for that...

I see that he plays on a lute built by Nico van der Waals

It's very good, my ears are pricking up listening to the Dowland pavana. Thanks for mentioning.

[Lisztianwagner]

Gielen's recording of Verklärte Nacht was definitely beautiful, intense and deeply suggestive; the orchestral arrangement of Bach's work was glorious. It seems an excellent set so far.

Now:
Arnold Schönberg
Die glückliche Hand
Five Pieces for Orchestra

Michael Gielen & SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg

[AnotherSpin]

[brewski]

Stokowski Plays the 20th Century.

OK, I have a pretty wide range of appreciation as far as cover art goes, but this one made me go wha—? Are we supposed to conclude that Stokowski is slow, or leaves a slimy trail? Oh I get it: listening to Stokowski is good for the skin.    

(Great looking program, by the way.)

-Bruce