What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Joseph Haydn.
Complete Baryton Trios. CD 15.
No.104-110.
Esterhazy Ensemble.

As always fine listening time.

[Madiel]

Barber, Prayers of Kierkegaard

[Traverso]

Bach

Cantatas

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Claude Debussy: Estampes. Claudio Arrau. Arrau's Debussy has been really clicking for me lately. I love his abstract, somewhat spaced out approach to the music. It gives the impression of a mature & serious artist having lived with these scores for decades and decades.

I have read a little bit on the tragic life of Pavel Haas. He died in Theresienstadt, no? I have heard none of his music, though. I think that's smart programming, coupling Haas with Janacek, giving a little exposure to a little-known composer to those who may have otherwise not heard any of his music. It would be nice to get both of those discs, but Supraphon CDs are pretty expensive, unfortunately for my limited budget.

You might try checking out the catalogs of some of the university libraries near you; I tried looking through the catalogs of the Atlanta public library system and didn't have much luck pulling up recordings of Pavel Haas--let alone Janacek I'm sad to say.  Perhaps there are other resources that I missed?  University/college libraries will often let you listen to music while you are there as a visitor even if you can't check them out.  Just a thought...

Pavel Haas (1899-1944), according to the liner notes accompanying the CD which has Janacek's first string quartet and PH's first and third quartets, spent several years in Theresienstadt:  "...in 1940 he would divorce in order to protect his family, and one year later he would be apprehended and deported to the Terezin ghetto before being sent to Auschwitz in 1944)."  Notes from Jiri Benes.

Best wishes,

PD

[Papy Oli]

Good afternoon all,

An other visit through this gorgeous George Butterworth CD:

[asin]B00005IA6B[/asin]

[vandermolen]

Rawsthorne: Concerto for String Orchestra.



Another without a CD release! Not to mention Gibson's Elgar 1st on RCA again no CD.

Leslie Jones with his "little" orchestra perform the vibrant first movement with great gusto. The essentially solemn middle movement is perfectly paced which leads without a break to the finale where the sun comes out. Both better recorded and played then the recording Boult made for the BBC. The Concerto for String Orchestra is one of my favourite Rawsthorne works and Leslie Jones is to be commended.

Ah, another great nostalgia trip. That LP was my first encounter with the concert music of Rawsthorne. I'd become interested as I was impressed by his fine score for the film 'The Cruel Sea' and I wanted to hear more. However, it was Berkeley's Serenade which made the biggest impact on me.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

No I haven't, P. I have mentioned this before, and a poster advised me the noise is caused by the laser arm trying to track a defective disc. I would rather bin it and as always another will come along sooner or later. I only paid £2 for it.

PS. The disc is unmarked.

Ah, sorry, I missed the part about the laser.  Oh, well....knowing your amazing LP/CD hunting skills, I'm sure that you will come across another one at some point.   

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Good afternoon all,

An other visit through this gorgeous George Butterworth CD:

[asin]B00005IA6B[/asin]

I love his "The Banks of Green Willow" and have it on that recording with Hickox which has Vaughan Williams original 1914 version of "A London Symphony".  I don't know his other works though (sadly).

Best,

PD

[Papy Oli]

I love his "The Banks of Green Willow" and have it on that recording with Hickox which has Vaughan Williams original 1914 version of "A London Symphony".  I don't know his other works though (sadly).

Best,

PD

Hi PD,
you should check out the "Six songs from A Shropshire Lad", "A Shropshire lad" itself (orchestral rhapsody) and the "Two English Idylls".

[Traverso]

Messiaen

L'Ascension    
Le Banquet Céleste    
Apparition de l'Église Éternelle    
Diptyque

[pjme]

Villa-Lobos
Symphony No. 10 'Amerindia'
Saulo Javan (bass)
Leonardo Neiva (baritone)
Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo
Coro da Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo
Isaac Karabtchevsky

Mahler had Symphony of a Thousand, Schoenberg had Gurrelieder, and Villa-Lobos had this symphony. It's a huge, sprawling work full of melodic twists, lyrical themes, spacious harmonies, and pounding, primal rhythms. A real aural delight for the ears, but what does it all mean exactly? I haven't the faintest clue, but Villa-Lobos sure does make some magnificent sounds in the process. I remember some member here called Villa-Lobos' larger orchestral works 'everything but the kitchen sink, jungle music' and that pretty much sums it up. But, man, I do dig Villa-Lobos' style very much.

Hi, after reading your comments, I gave "Sumé Pater Patrium" (O greatest Father of fathers) a spin. I have Gisèle Ben-Dor's (january 2000) version on Koch. Ben-Dor revised and prepared the score for her  recording with the Santa Barbara Symphony & the Santa Barbara Choral Society, USCB Chamber Choir, the Donald Brinegar Singers and three singers: Carlo Scibelli, tenor, Nmon Ford _Livene, bas-baritone and mezzo Carla Wood.
The use of a female solo voice (in part 4 / "Servili culpae") instead of choral altos, is entirely Ben-Dor's choice.
According to Ben-Dor, Villa Lobos took many (felicitous) liberties when he conducted the world premiere performance in Paris (1957) and, apparently, dealt bravely with scarce rehearsal time and lack of opportunity to revise the score. Anyway, she worked on a thoroughly "cleaned/revised" score with the help of the Villa Lobos Museum in Rio. I have no idea which score is used in the other recordings .
It is indeed an imposing work, more oratorio than symphony (cfr. Mahler, Schoenberg).
The orchestra is a normal "large" one, with added South American percussion (2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, cymbals, chocalho, coconut hulls, lion's roar, bells, gong, sleigh bells, small frame drum, bass drum, xylophone, marimba, celesta) 2 harps, piano, organ, and strings.
The symphony was commissioned for a specific event: the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Sao Paulo in 1952.
The text is derived from the writings of father Jose de Anchieta, a Jesuit priest and colonial missionary to Brazil, who left an account of the conversion of the natives to Christianity....
For purposes of the symphony, the text was translated into several languages: the native Tupi, the Latin of the missionaries and the Portuguese of the settlers. This was to produce an "allegorical, historical and religious account of the city of Sao Paulo".

I enjoyed listening again after a very long time.

About the scores : https://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/en-GB/Composers/V/Villa-Lobos-Heitor.aspx

[Irons]

Ah, another great nostalgia trip. That LP was my first encounter with the concert music of Rawsthorne. I'd become interested as I was impressed by his fine score for the film 'The Cruel Sea' and I wanted to hear more. However, it was Berkeley's Serenade which made the biggest impact on me.

Oddly there is another (same) issue of the Rawsthorne Concerto for String Orchestra with the same forces which I would like to get my hands on. The only Rawsthorne chamber pieces on my shelves is the string quartets.

[Harry]

Joseph Haydn.
Complete Baryton Trios. CD 16.
No. 111-117.
Esterhazy Ensemble.

Superb.

[vandermolen]

Symphony No.3 by Glazunov - an inspiriting and melodic score - one of his best I think:

[Mirror Image]

Stravinsky
Symphony in Three Movements
Stravinsky
CBC SO

[Mirror Image]

Hi, after reading your comments, I gave "Sumé Pater Patrium" (O greatest Father of fathers) a spin. I have Gisèle Ben-Dor's (january 2000) version on Koch. Ben-Dor revised and prepared the score for her  recording with the Santa Barbara Symphony & the Santa Barbara Choral Society, USCB Chamber Choir, the Donald Brinegar Singers and three singers: Carlo Scibelli, tenor, Nmon Ford _Livene, bas-baritone and mezzo Carla Wood.
The use of a female solo voice (in part 4 / "Servili culpae") instead of choral altos, is entirely Ben-Dor's choice.
According to Ben-Dor, Villa Lobos took many (felicitous) liberties when he conducted the world premiere performance in Paris (1957) and, apparently, dealt bravely with scarce rehearsal time and lack of opportunity to revise the score. Anyway, she worked on a thoroughly "cleaned/revised" score with the help of the Villa Lobos Museum in Rio. I have no idea which score is used in the other recordings .
It is indeed an imposing work, more oratorio than symphony (cfr. Mahler, Schoenberg).
The orchestra is a normal "large" one, with added South American percussion (2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, cymbals, chocalho, coconut hulls, lion's roar, bells, gong, sleigh bells, small frame drum, bass drum, xylophone, marimba, celesta) 2 harps, piano, organ, and strings.
The symphony was commissioned for a specific event: the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Sao Paulo in 1952.
The text is derived from the writings of father Jose de Anchieta, a Jesuit priest and colonial missionary to Brazil, who left an account of the conversion of the natives to Christianity....
For purposes of the symphony, the text was translated into several languages: the native Tupi, the Latin of the missionaries and the Portuguese of the settlers. This was to produce an "allegorical, historical and religious account of the city of Sao Paulo".

I enjoyed listening again after a very long time.

About the scores : https://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/en-GB/Composers/V/Villa-Lobos-Heitor.aspx

Thanks for the information, pjme. I, too, have read a good bit about this symphony, especially last night during my listening of it. I have to say this newer recording from Karabtchevsky is my favorite and seemed much more spirited than the Ben-Dor (as fine as her recording is). Karabtchevsky's performance felt more 'symphonic' if this makes any sense. I copied this from the inside booklet of this Karabtschevsky recording: This recording forms part of the complete cycle of Villa-Lobos's symphonies with revised scores. I'm not sure which revision it is, but I imagine it's the latest edition.

[Traverso]

Purcell

CD2

[Mandryka]

Continuing my investigation into the c20 anti establishment. This would appeal to people who like tunes - Florestan, it's got your name written all over it.

Best ignore the titles if you're not a communist.

[Karl Henning]

Barber, Prayers of Kierkegaard

Greatly enjoyed revisiting this disc a few days ago.

[Karl Henning]

RVW
A Sea Symphony
Yvonne Kenny, sop
Brian Rayner Cook, bar
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Thomson