What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Fauré, Franck, Violin and piano Sonatas, Paul Crossley, Arthur Grumiaux

[Lisztianwagner]

Strauss Family
Auf der Jagd
Pizzicato Polka
Karnevalsbotschafter
Annen-Polka
Fesche Geister

Willy Boskovsky & Wiener Philharmoniker

[Todd]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Wagner: Orchestral Works. Markevitch.

[Mandryka]

Listening to Radulescu's second sonata here, and I find myself drawn in by Woodward more than ever before in this music  - certainly one of Woodward's most interesting recordings. There's something about the percussive piano and episodic form which makes me think of Messaien's Catalogue d'Oiseaux. If they're in the mood I'd like to know what @Traverso and @aukhawk think.

[Traverso]

Listening to Radulescu's second sonata here, and I find myself drawn in by Woodward more than ever before in this music  - certainly one of Woodward's most interesting recordings. There's something about the percussive piano and episodic form which makes me think of Messaien's Catalogue d'Oiseaux. If they're in the mood I'd like to know what @Traverso and @aukhawk think.

There are similarities, but you immediately hear the difference in handwriting. Already in the first bars you hear that it is Messiaen, in this case that it is not him. Having said this, from the idea of spectralism there is a perception of similarities while  it remains clearly distinguishable. My opinion is based on listening to a fragment. There may be people who have difficulty distinguishing the difference between Mozart and Haydn, but as an experienced listener you can hear it immediately. I have no recordings of music by Radalescu, so my  Opinions are not based on relevant knowledge.

[foxandpeng]

Vagn Holmboe
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 11
Owain Arwel Hughes
Aarhus SO
BIS

Night watches with Holmboe. Not restful but still good in the dark.

[Bachtoven]

Jaw-dropping playing and excellent sound. I saw these exact forces play the Prokofiev 2nd in a fairly small hall several years ago--it was overwhelming!

[JBS]

Earlier:

Symphonies 5 and 6

The Sixth was rather average, but I liked the Fifth, which is rather brisk. The first movement is 6:55. Not quite as fast as Hogwood, close to the timings of Krivine, Bruggen/Glossa and Savall, a half minute or more faster than Thomas, Barenboim, or Wand. (Those are the sets I checked. Barenboim/DG was the slowest by far, going over the 8 minute mark.).  Some conductors do the "Fate knocking on the door" as if Fate is pounding away, trying to get someone on the other end of the house to hear them. Manacorda makes it like Fate is tapping on the window pane so the person just inside the doorway will realize it's there.

Currently a second listen to this

[brewski]

Britten: Young Apollo (Steven Osborne, piano / BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Ilan Volkov, conductor). Love this early Britten piece, which was scheduled to be on the Minnesota Orchestra concert the other night — until both the pianist and conductor were taken ill.

First time hearing this recording, and it's great: captures the composer's youthful high spirits, and the sound quality is typical Hyperion excellence.

-Bruce

[Symphonic Addict]

I often feel the same. There are days when symphonies such as 8, 10, 6 really hit the nark - but more days when Brian doesn't seem to meet any of my hopes. Possibly just me. Probably more to do with me than anything else, but he still stands behind many other recent and contemporary British composers.

Whenever I hear a work by this composer, I try to understand the music and make by best finding interesting details or something that really attracts me. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen very often, and these are some points I constantly detect:

1. The way he developed the ideas is frequently too much spontaneous for its own sake. It seems that he didn't have a sense of structure. I don't feel his ideas lingering on the mind either.

2. When orchestration is concerned he wasn't very polished either, and something that really makes me raise an eyebrow is how he used the cymbals. It often gets tiresome to be honest. I've seen the instrumentation he employed in his symphonies and what one can think is that this man just wanted to put as many instruments as possible, but apparently without a precise use.

3. Also, most of his symphonies sound quite similar each other, there are few where I say "Ok, this one sounds more distinguishable that most of the bunch".


For now, I consider the symphonies 1-3 and 7 the ones with better and more memorable ideas. Perhaps the 8th might be included too.

[Symphonic Addict]

Mendelssohn: String Octet

The one who mustn't be named made a video about this work recently. Astonishing creation.

[JBS]

Mendelssohn: String Octet

The one who mustn't be named made a video about this work recently. Astonishing creation.

Hastur was a music critic?

TD
Finished off this set with the 9th. First impression: the First and Fifth were excellent, the rest fairly mainstream and about average, with no misses or stumbles.


Collegium Vocale 1704 are the chorus in this recording.

Now on to CD 14 of this set,  which contains the five symphonies Solomons recorded but were never released on LP or CD before this set was issued.

16 in B Flat Major
17 in F Major
19 in D Major
20 in C Major
108 aka Symphony B in B Flat Major

The strings at the opening of Number 16 are severely recessed. Not sure if that was a recording fault never corrected or something else.

[Symphonic Addict]

Never heard of this recording before, and it is exceptionally good not only because of the performances themselves, but also the programme. Two works that are scarcely recorded.

[Symphonic Addict]

Hastur was a music critic?

I would be intrigued if so!

[Karl Henning]

Mendelssohn: String Octet

The one who mustn't be named made a video about this work recently. Astonishing creation.

Great piece!

[steve ridgway]

And to add to your frustration, she was probably playing Hummel!  

When she played The Star Spangled Banner it was the home of the brave all right .

[steve ridgway]

TD: Takemitsu: Signals From Heaven

[AnotherSpin]

Op. 106

[Que]

The only thing sabout this is that the recording volume is oddly low but after cranking it up, all sounds fine.