What are you listening 2 now?

[Duke Bluebeard]

NP:

Bruckner
Symphony No. 8 in C minor
Oberösterreichisches Jugendsinfonieorchester
Rémy Ballot

From this set -



This entire box set is a monumental achievement for all-involved.

[hopefullytrusting]

In honor of @Madiel

[Madiel]

In honor of @Madiel

Thanks. That looks appalling.

[Madiel]

Currently playing:



Of course, only the first couple of works on here were designed for orchestra, and some of the others Faure wasn't the arranger (though possibly he consented, I should check because there are definitely works where he basically left the job of orchestration to someone else**). But those couple of works are definitely pleasing - damn the prelude to Penelope sounds nice.

**EDIT: In fact the album liner notes are excellent at setting out this information. The flute piece was orchestrated after Faure's death, but the other orchestrations are almost certainly things he knew about.

[Duke Bluebeard]

Last work for the night:

Vaughan Williams
Symphony No. 5
Royal Liverpool PO
Handley

[hopefullytrusting]

Thanks. That looks appalling.

It's actually super sick, which I wasn't expecting. Some of the other stuff I found in the classical-edm crossover tray was pretty bad though - this disc has everyone taking their job seriously, and so the tracks are kicking.

[Christo]

Last work for the night:

Vaughan Williams
Symphony No. 5
Royal Liverpool PO
Handley

Handley is widely regarded as Sir Adrian Boult's successor in this kind of music: solid, confident, trouble-free, just plain good. And: I know that the significance of conductors is exaggerated (much more than setting the beat and laying accents, they cannot bring in).

Still, there are a handful of conductors I would prefer in this Fifth. Among them Thomson and Previn -- not Hickox, that is slapdash IMHO (a side view of RVW that more conductors indulge in: that leaves only a softie, without the inner drive that characterises the 'pastoral' composer so much).

[Madiel]

It's actually super sick, which I wasn't expecting. Some of the other stuff I found in the classical-edm crossover tray was pretty bad though - this disc has everyone taking their job seriously, and so the tracks are kicking.

One of the things you will come to learn about me is that I'm rather skeptical about arrangements, even within the classical genre. And I dislike about 98% of remixes I hear in the pop/alternative world. So yeah... I said what I said. 

[Madiel]

ADDENDUM: Okay I went and listened, I lasted no more than 45 seconds on the tracks I tried. I hate it. I mean, I even hate the bits that don't really have any Haydn in them.

[hopefullytrusting]

ADDENDUM: Okay I went and listened, I lasted no more than 45 seconds on the tracks I tried. I hate it. I mean, I even hate the bits that don't really have any Haydn in them.

You need to work on stretching your ears, my friend.

About to close the door on Dvorak. Next up is another compose who I have struggled with, Rachmaninoff:

Prelude in D Minor for Piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CMiN2ktvPE
Piano Piece in A-Flat Major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qt-3APsVFk
Oriental Sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4znAqZnkMs
Fragments for Piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNhGO1sjQGc

Piano Concerto No. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6EX3t2Mdnw

Symphony No. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr-ifrS5Qq4

String Quartet No. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQvXH0554Uw
String Quartet No. 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsbfUlf8HO0

Spring (Cantata): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MdT4i3WD0U

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams: Job: A Masque for Dancing
LSO/Boult

A great performance! Boult, the dedicatee of 'Job' recorded it several times.

[Madiel]

You need to work on stretching your ears, my friend.

My ears stretch in a lot of directions. But I've no regrets that Deutsche Grammophon trying to appeal to the next generation of Hooked On Classics fans isn't one of them.

[Madiel]

Mozart: Sonata for 2 pianos



Argerich with Sergei Babayan. I'm not sure I've ever heard this work before, but it's a marvellous piece.

[Madiel]

Mozart: Rondo for piano and orchestra in D, K.382



Which, as Wikipedia has just pointed out to me, isn't even really a rondo!

[AnotherSpin]

Today, I've been listening to the various versions of Beethoven's 8th Symphony, full recordings. For some reason, I rarely revisit Beethoven's 8th; along with the 1st and 2nd, it's one of the least played. My first encounter with the 8th was in the early '70s, on a dreadful Soviet LP pressing of Furtwängler's wartime tape recording. It's hard to say exactly what, but something I heard back then turned me off for many years to come.

This morning I began with Forck's recording with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and it left such a fine impression that I went on to explore other versions one by one, mostly focusing on HIP recordings, however one might interpret that term. Here's what I listened to:





























The recordings by Forck, Brüggen, Järvi, de Vriend, and both versions by Gardiner resonated well with me. Immerseel, Norrington, and Hogwood were slightly less impressive. I'm somewhat unsure how to assess Harnoncourt, it's both intriguing and difficult to grasp. The least appealing was Savall, but, I rarely share the frequent praise he receives. The Hanover Band and Weil didn't particularly appeal to me. I didn't like Krivine's version at all.

[Madiel]

Pejacevic: Piano Quartet



The first of her mature large-scale chamber works. I suspect I'm about to listen to all of them.

(And maybe go back to the 1st piano trio which I believe has been recorded, CPO left it out.)

[Traverso]

Bach

[ChamberNut]

Mozart: Sonata for 2 pianos



Argerich with Sergei Babayan. I'm not sure I've ever heard this work before, but it's a marvellous piece.

This brings me back to about 18 years ago. In my early exploration days, I would grab CDs from the local library, of works I'd never heard of. One such disc included this work, along with Schubert's Fantasy in F minor. It was the very first time I'd heard piano music for 2 piano 4 hands.

This was the recording, and it made an incredible impression. Both works, but in particular the melancholic Schubert piece.

PS - Pretty horrible cover art, but that was the late '80s for you. Güher Pekinel and Süher Pekinel on the pianos. Turkish twin sisters duo.

[VonStupp]

Samuel Barber
Three Essays for Orchestra
Vanessa: Intermezzo
Vanessa: Under the Willow Tree
Music for a Scene from Shelley
Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Detroit SO - Neeme Järvi

VS

[Duke Bluebeard]

Handley is widely regarded as Sir Adrian Boult's successor in this kind of music: solid, confident, trouble-free, just plain good. And: I know that the significance of conductors is exaggerated (much more than setting the beat and laying accents, they cannot bring in).

Still, there are a handful of conductors I would prefer in this Fifth. Among them Thomson and Previn -- not Hickox, that is slapdash IMHO (a side view of RVW that more conductors indulge in: that leaves only a softie, without the inner drive that characterises the 'pastoral' composer so much).

We share a similar view on Handley, but I don't really think any complete cycle of these symphonies are successful in every symphony. I think Handley is a fine conductor, but his cycle is plagued by subpar audio quality --- for example, the strings are so recessed and lack definition. The Classics for Pleasure box set I own is supposedly remastered, but I think this entire cycle needs a modern remix. My favorite performances of the 5th are Previn (RCA), Marriner and Thomson.