What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Edith Peinemann[ Violin Concerto
Beethoven Concerto in E flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Op.73 ,  Emil Gilels
Beethoven Ouverture 'Coriolan' Op.62
Beethoven Ouverture 'Fidelio' Op.72, Kolner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, Gunter Wand

[Iota]

Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103

There are a number passages in this work that feel quite tender and nostalgic, an old man perhaps drifting off into a reverie about his childhood, with a mix of regret and fondness for all that is gone. Very affecting I find. Ovchinnikov's playing as always, absorbing and full of the wide spectrum of character that makes his Prokofiev so memorable.

[Lisztianwagner]

Carl Nielsen
Symphony No.4

Fabio Luisi & Danish National Symphony Orchestra

[Linz]

Sir George Dyson At the Tabard Inn: Overture, Symphony in G, In Honour of the City, London Symphony Orchestra; London Symphony Chorus; Malcom Hicks, Richard Hickox

[Lisztianwagner]

First listen to this composer:

Joseph Marx
Symphonische Nachtmusik

Steven Sloane & Bochum Symphony Orchestra

[VonStupp]

WA Mozart
Piano Concerto 5 in D Major, K175
Piano Concerto 6 in B-flat Major, K238

Christian Zacharias, piano
Stuttgart RSO - Neville Marriner

I especially enjoy the horn play in the finale of No. 6.
VS

[foxandpeng]

Britten: String Quartet No 1, Op 25

A staggering quartet in a brilliant performance. The first and third movements in particular I find uniquely expressive. Not that it matters, but it's always been a bit of a mystery to me that it isn't more widely enthused about.

I'm not a huge Britten fan, but I appreciate this very much.

[Number Six]

Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Rattle, Berlin

Starting this one over from last night. It was late, and I was tired; I didn't get far.

[André]

Ditto here. And I find his sadness gentle, bittersweet and melancholy, ie humane, rather than painful, gloomy and hopeless, ie demonic. Even in his saddest mode, Schubert's music makes my heart leap with joy.

It's been said that Mozart could bring a smile through one's tears (I can imagine the Countess shedding a single tear when Count Almaviva sings his cavatina 'Contessa perdono').

With Schubert there's a degree more bitterness. Mozart didn't know his days were numbered. Schubert had this intimation of his own mortality from his early twenties, and that transpires in everything he wrote in that last decade..

Just listening to a compilation of vocal (choir) arrangements of Schubert lieder made over the last two centuries. Some composers are well known (Brahms, Liszt, Cornelius, Bantock), but most are unknown. Schubert's music has touched so many people. Brahms' arrangement of Der Leiermann (Winterreise) left me speechless in its scope, pushing the emotional boundaries of the original.

I do feel joy in Schubert's music, but often it's after he shattered my heart. He invariably does that in the last movement of his sonatas. Imagine having been one of his close friends. What a roller-coaster of emotions...

[ChamberNut]

Today's listening:

Bruckner 8 (always enjoy Jochum and Bruckner, for a very long time)



Debussy, disc 24 from this set: Caveat (vocal music isn't my thing, but I'm going through the complete box)    Most of this is pleasant and enjoyable, except apparently I really don't like male french tenor voices! Totally not my cup of tea. 





Bach - Suites BWV 995-998, Prelude BWV 999 and Fugue BWV 1000 - Luigi Attademo. Well played all around here by Attademo, but he unfortunately rushes a bit through one of my favourite movements in the classical repertoire (Bach's Fugue from BWV 998). Overall though, this is such a very enjoyable six disc set.



Górecki - Symphony 3 - First listen to this performance. Overall, very, very strong performance from Penderecki and Gibbons. Thoroughly enjoyed, and admirably sung by Gibbons, even though she doesn't supplant Upshaw or Kilanowicz for me.



It's early in 2025, I know....but this may be my purchase of the year!  What a disc! Giuliani Variations performed spectacularly by Raffaele Carpino. And the recording is in incredible sound on this TACTUS release. Recommended to the classical guitar fans on this board!

[Number Six]

Mahler: Symphony No. 2
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Philharmonia Orchestra

[Mapman]

Mendelssohn: Symphony #4; A Midsummer Night's Dream
Mackerras: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

(Originally on Virgin Classics.) I thought this was an excellent performance. I was especially impressed with the sound of the period horns.

[AnotherSpin]

Everyone knows that Giulini's recording of Brahms with the Vienna Philharmonic is on the slow side. Personally, I have nothing against slower interpretations—quite the opposite. Given my tendency toward procrastination, they might even align better with my temperament. That said, slowness only works if it doesn't descend into a nonsensical mockery of the composer and their music, as is the case with Bernstein's version of Sibelius's 2nd with the same orchestra.

Giulini, however, is thoroughly impressive. To borrow a well-worn metaphor: it's a true feast for the ears. One of the added pleasures is the opportunity to hear textures that are often lost in faster-paced interpretations.

[Irons]

Haydn: Piano Trios.

Life affirming music.

No.21 The most carefree of the three with abundance of Haydnesque wit.

No.28 A most arresting and unusual middle movement.

No.23 Inspired opening movement in variation form followed by a precious Adagio.

[hopefullytrusting]

Interrupting my Dvorak, for a disc that just arrived from Poland: Boguslaw Schaeffer's Piano Concerto No. 4



Comes with an awesome booklet as well.

It is as good as I remember.

Easily the best piano concerto I've ever heard, bar none.

It's exciting, propulsive, phantasmagoric, kaleidoscopic, dreamlike, reverie - Proust come to life. I cannot level enough praise at this disc. Now, I just need to rip it, so I will always have access to it.

Now, back to Dvorak's Overtures and Tone Poems (only got an hour done, yesterday).

[Florestan]

It's been said that Mozart could bring a smile through one's tears (I can imagine the Countess shedding a single tear when Count Almaviva sings his cavatina 'Contessa perdono').

With Schubert there's a degree more bitterness. Mozart didn't know his days were numbered. Schubert had this intimation of his own mortality from his early twenties, and that transpires in everything he wrote in that last decade..

Well, Mozart's perspective on death is well-known: he didn't fear it in the least. Even if he had known he's going to die soon, I doubt his music would have changed its character.

As for Schubert, I don't know. His plan to study counterpoint with Sechter (in November 1828) and his sketches for the Tenth Symphony don't fit in the mindset of one who knows his days are literally numbered. And his very last compositions, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen and Die Taubenpost, are not bitter at all --- the former even ends in fairly optimistic mode.

[Que]

[Harry]

C.F.E. Horneman & Asger Hamerik.
String Quartets.
See back cover for details.
Recorded at Takkelloftet, Operaen, Copenhagen, on 6-9 June 2011
Arild String Quartet.

Matter of fact is that both composers are more or less forgotten. Not fair but fact! The SQ on this discs are neither below or above anything that was composed at their time. Well construed and therefore musically very satisfying. The Arild SQ are top notch musicians who add care and love on these works, and make them shine and glitter in the right proportions. Sound is excellent.

[Madiel]

I'm possibly starting a bit of an Antoni Wit thing. I want to listen to his Szymanowski albums again (and possibly then buy them), but I'm going to listen to some other release along the way. Today in bits and pieces:



Hmm. I was sort of ambivalent about this. I certainly didn't hate it, but neither did it make me think I needed to dive deep into Lutosławski. I think I've heard one record in the past and had something of a similar reaction. I get the impression that Wit's performances are highly regarded, so it may be the music isn't really my thing. I'll probably try at least one more album though.

[Traverso]

Bach

Great CD with a boy soprano who sings his heart out with a convincing passion and where you realize that this is not possible with female voices, it is incomparably different.
When listening to these performances I notice that they continue to convince next to those with Suzuki which is a good thing.