What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

The plan is to listen to the 3 Bruckner 9 recordings by Schuricht I have. I'll post separately instead of putting all 3 in the same post (might take a few days), as I have a tendency to forget details after a while 🫢.



This one has a few strikes against it, but I can't dismiss it just like that. A few days ago I commented on the coupled 8th symphony (recorded in 1951) by saying that german radio orchestras started pretty much from scratch after WWII and that things evolved very fast when organization and funding were secured. This recording is a good case in point. This same orchestra+conductor+venue+recording conditions (both are live)+composer played, recorded just 3 years later shows a substantial increase in technical proficiency from the orchestra, chemistry between conductor and orchestra and recording quality. Gone are the numerous brass clams, the strings sound more assured and fuller in tone. Very little allowances need to be made in that regard (the farewell to life horn call at the end is shaky though).

Where this recording errs is entirely the conductor'S fault. In all 3 movements he rushes climaxes and the resulting scramble forces the orchestra to shorten note values, making a mess of for example the first movement's outburst 3 minutes in, the scherzo's brass mêlées and the adagio's twice intoned big outburst. The trumpets' taaaa-tadada! is all but buried in the process. I don't like unmarked accelerandos in Bruckner, a fault often found in recordings of the 9th. It robs the music of its grandeur and granitic power. Even then though this performance is notable for its richness of emotion and dramatic power (perfect tempo for the savage ostinatos in the scherzo). The mono sound is very good.

[Traverso]

Boulez

[Spotted Horses]

Mozart, Divertimento K439b, No 2, Sabine Meyer's Trio di clarone



A delight. I can finally put my finger on what these pieces remind me of. There is a similarity to J.S. Bach's Trio Sonatas for organ, three voices in free counterpoint with no figured bass.

[SonicMan46]

Woelfl, Joseph (1773-1812) - String Quartets w/ the performers on the cover art below - Woelfl wrote at least 21 string quartets, listed below - these groups perform 3 works each with only one duplication so 8 quartets covered.  Dave

String quartets
3 String Quartets, Op. 4, dedicated to Leopold Staudinger
String Quartets, Op. 5 (3 or more?)
6 String Quartets, Op. 10. Dedicated to Count Moritz Fries.
3 String Quartets, Op. 30. Dedicated to Mr. Bassi Guaita.
Six String Quartets, Op. 51. Published by Lavenu in London (British Library Holdings).

   

[steve ridgway]

 

I am probably more Brit than French now as I have more often gone on the left in France than I have on the right in England (only once for the latter in a village centre road)    It doesn't matter where the steering wheel is. French supermarkets car park are the worst for me as I have a few times drifted so very naturally to the left upon leaving my parking spot. 

 

Italy was a challenge for me. Not only having to work the gears with the wrong hand but the person that missed his exit on the motorway so was reversing as fast as his car would go - in lane two of three .

[foxandpeng]

This composer has a new Naxos album released last week!

On it, boss 😀

[NumberSix]

Brahms: Violin Concerto
(plus other stuff)
Leonidas Kavakos
Chailly, Gewandhausorchester

[Lisztianwagner]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.7

Leonard Bernstein & New York Philharmonic

[Symphonic Addict]

Schnittke: Symphonies 4 and 5

Always interesting when Schnittke adds tubular bells in his works. The fourth (and the previous three symphonies) feature them quite well. However, I was less taken by that piece this time, but the fifth... oh, hot stuff!

[Iota]

Boulez: Éclat/Multiples

Such strange and wonderful music. Akin at times to sitting in a tropical jungle and listening to the infinitely rich soundworld.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, 1878 Version Ed. Leopold Nowak, Wiener Philharmoniker,  Carl Schuricht

[Todd]

[steve ridgway]

Messiaen: La Nativité Du Seigneur

[SonicMan46]

New arrivals the last few days:

Vivaldi, Antonio - Clarinet Concertos w/ Martin Frost and Concerto Köln - well not really but 'arrangements' from various operas/arias with Frost on a boxwood clarinet (pic at bottom from his website described as "On this vintage boxwood clarinet in B♭ by Buffet Crampon, Fröst plays Vivaldi" (all better commented on in the attachment).

Visée, Robert de - Theorbo Pieces w/ Fred Jacobs on a 'French' instrument strung with gut strings - a review in the attachment for those interested.

Vanhal, Johann - Piano Trios w/ the Haydn Sinfonietta Tokyo (pianist on fortepiano) - booklet notes in Japanese - stated to be a live recording but absolutely NO audience noise - 4 works are included using the Weinmann catalog and labelled as Op. 5 (cannot find a link to the catalog)*  Dave

*"Bryan" numbers for symphonies are cited from: Paul Robey Bryan, The Symphonies of Johann Vanhal (Michigan, 1956)
"W" numbers are cited from: Alexander Weinmann, Themen-Verzeichnis der Kompositionen von Johann Baptiste Wanhal (Wien: Musikverlag Ludwig Krenn, 1987) (Source)

   

[NumberSix]

Dat's purty!

[NumberSix]

Strauss Lieder
Diana Damrau
Thielemann, Munich

[Linz]

Franz Schubert  The Piano Sonatas Sonatas No. 3 D. 459 And No. 21 D.960, Wilhelm Kempff

[ritter]

First listen to this recent purchase:



Three piano trios by half-forgotten composers, from Madrid.

Evaristo Fernández Blanco (1902 - 1993) saw his career curtailed by the Spanish Civil War, and his Trio in C major, written in 1927, was only premiered in 1969. I found very little to enjoy in this work, to be honest. A provincial interpretation of "roaring 20s" modernity, with relentless rhythms of the tango, the blues and the foxtrot. Fortunately, its three movements are over in less than 9 minutes. Forgettable...

Ángel Martín Pompey's Manolas y chisperos is much more attractive. It is substantial (over 30 minutes) work, from 1953, and if I understand the liner notes correctly, this recording (from 2015) is its first performance ever. The work is subtitled "Evocation of Old Madrid - quasi una fantasia" ("manolas" and "chisperos" are popular  characters from the traditional working-class neighbourhoods of the city), and it uses classical forms and traditional Spanish dance rhythms (bolero, seguidillas). Perhaps rather anachronistic for when it was written, but beautiful without doubt. Very Spanish, very Madrid, but with an unmistakable Gallic touch as well.  I will revisit this for sure. Martín Pompey seems to have been mainly devoted to religious music (his father had been a church organist), but he wrote in many genres —including opera—, and he was for many years the music teacher of one of the traditional schools for the children of the local elite.

Up next is Gerardo Gombau's Trio in F sharp, which apparently is in the style of late Falla and Conrado del Campo (teacher to both Gombau and Martín Pompey), and does not yet display the influence of the post-WW2 avant-garde that Gombau did so much to bring to Spain. Let's see...

The Trio Arbós play very convincingly,. A curiosity: I've been every now and then to the café in old Madrid where the cover picture was taken (Café del Nuncio), but it's been redecorated since...

[DavidW]

[Bachtoven]

I listened to one of my favorite recordings of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" today. The entire recording is great, and Shimkus' own work "EU Variations" is quite a hoot!