What are you listening 2 now?

[ChamberNut]

Haydn
Symphonies Nos. 33, 54 & 55
Kammerorchester Basel
Antonini

Hello there. Nice to see you! 

[foxandpeng]

Kalevi Aho
Viola Concerto
Symphony 14 'Rituals'
John Storgårds
Lapland Chamber Orchestra
BIS

I don't listen to enough Aho. I think it is a bit like when I pondered listening to Rautavaara - seemed like a big hill to climb, and not all of it easily accessible. Rautavaara is now amongst my favourite composers, so I guess there is no excuse and every encouragement.

[Madiel]

Smetana: Piano trio in G minor



I have been meaning to listen to this work again for FOREVER. Well, for a couple of years at least. Because apparently I haven't touched it since 2016. 

And I've known I love it ever since seeing it live in Seattle in 2013...

[Harry]

Kalevi Aho
Viola Concerto
Symphony 14 'Rituals'
John Storgårds
Lapland Chamber Orchestra
BIS

I don't listen to enough Aho. I think it is a bit like when I pondered listening to Rautavaara - seemed like a big hill to climb, and not all of it easily accessible. Rautavaara is now amongst my favourite composers, so I guess there is no excuse and every encouragement.

Well done matey, keep on listening to AHO, it keeps your soul alive, honestly!

[Harry]

Hyacinthe Jadin.
String Quartets.
In C major, opus 3/1.
In E flat major, opus 2/1.
No.2 In F major.
Quatuor Mosaiques.
Recorded: 1994.

Unknown quartet art, magnificently revived. One could go into raptures about these gripping and delicate, always inspired interpretations, its  historical performance practice at its best, extremely clear in articulation, yet sonorous and highly virtuosic, and at the same time filigree like a cut diamond Simply perfect, absolutely worth recommending. And a good recording it is too.

 

[North Star]

Hello there. Nice to see you! 

Hello, nice to see you too Ray, and to be here!

Thread duty

De Leidse Koorboeken Vol. 1 Disc 1
Egidius Kwartet & College

Schubert
String Quintet
Arcanto Quartett & Olivier Marron

[Florestan]

There is a remarkable contrast between Albeniz's flamboyant and expansive personality and his music, which is almost Classical in its emotional restraint and avoidance of big gestures*. Although he (falsely) claimed to have studied with Liszt, he seems to take his cues rather from Chopin. There's certainly flamboyance and exuberance in his music but they come rather from the Spanish folk flavor itself than from himself, because in his more cosmopolitan music there's little of them: his sonatas, for instance, alternate the moods between serene gaiety and contemplative serenity, with little if at all passionate outbursts or flashy fireworks.  Even his piano concerto is much more intimate and gentle than one would expect, its mood once again much Chopin and little Liszt. Which is to say, I love it. A lot.

* in this respect, see this article by Walter A. Clark, the world's leading expert on Albeniz:

https://escholarship.org/content/qt4q54v67g/qt4q54v67g.pdf?t=pyfnqj

[foxandpeng]

Well done matey, keep on listening to AHO, it keeps your soul alive, honestly!

On it, my friend. Much to work through!

[ChamberNut]

There is a remarkable contrast between Albeniz's flamboyant and expansive personality and his music, which is almost Classical in its emotional restraint and avoidance of big gestures*. Although he (falsely) claimed to have studied with Liszt, he seems to take his cues rather from Chopin. There's certainly flamboyance and exuberance in his music but they come rather from the Spanish folk flavor itself than from himself, because in his more cosmopolitan music there's little of them: his sonatas, for instance, alternate the moods between serene gaiety and contemplative serenity, with little if at all passionate outbursts or flashy fireworks.  Even his piano concerto is much more intimate and gentle than one would expect, its mood once again much Chopin and little Liszt. Which is to say, I love it. A lot.

* in this respect, see this article by Walter A. Clark, the world's leading expert on Albeniz:

https://escholarship.org/content/qt4q54v67g/qt4q54v67g.pdf?t=pyfnqj

Nice. I enjoy this set a great deal!

[Traverso]

Mozart

Galimathias musicum KV 32

Divertimento in D KV 131

Cassation in B flat KV 99/63a

[Iota]

Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles

Like a perfectly cut diamond in its dimensions and allure. Great performance.

[Harry]

Gabriel Pierne.
Orchestral Works.
Volume I.
See back cover for details.
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Piano.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Juanjo Mena.
Recorded: 2009-2010 at Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester.

For the life of me I do not understand why Pierne is so little recorded or performed, and why these Chandos releases, two of them, get so little attention. Pierne is a name I do not see often in the listening thread, whilst he is a remarkable and inventive composer with a lot of worthwhile musical things to say. I reach out to him once again and hope it gets some follow up by others. The recording is a SOTA one. Robust performance, Mena packs everything together and makes a success of the music. There is also a fantastic second volume.

[Christo]

Gabriel Pierne.
Orchestral Works.
Volume I.
See back cover for details.
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Piano.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Juanjo Mena.
Recorded: 2009-2010 at Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester.

For the life of me I do not understand why Pierne is so little recorded or performed, and why these Chandos releases, two of them, get so little attention. Pierne is a name I do not see often in the listening thread, whilst he is a remarkable and inventive composer with a lot of worthwhile musical things to say. I reach out to him once again and hope it gets some follow up by others. The recording is a SOTA one. Robust performance, Mena packs everything together and makes a success of the music. There is also a fantastic second volume.

Totally agreed, Yet, conductor Jean Martinon -- 1970s, French orchestras -- remains unsurpassed in Pierné. Take his idea of the

Gabriel Pierne.
Orchestral Works.
Volume I.
See back cover for details.
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Piano.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Juanjo Mena.
Recorded: 2009-2010 at Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester.

For the life of me I do not understand why Pierne is so little recorded or performed, and why these Chandos releases, two of them, get so little attention. Pierne is a name I do not see often in the listening thread, whilst he is a remarkable and inventive composer with a lot of worthwhile musical things to say. I reach out to him once again and hope it gets some follow up by others. The recording is a SOTA one. Robust performance, Mena packs everything together and makes a success of the music. There is also a fantastic second volume.

Totally agree, incomprensible, one the finest French composers, amidst of e.g. Debussy, Ravel, perhaps Tournemire IMHO.

Yet in Pierné, conductor Jean Martinon -- 1970s, with French orchestras -- remains unequalled. Take his view on the lovely Divertissents sur un Thème Pastoral alone -- a slowly unfolding little paradise of its own (unlike in this also nice recording, even with Chandos sound).
                             

[North Star]

Bach
Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott BWV 80
Gardiner



Messiaen, Ravel, Fauré
Alexander Lonquich


Fauré
Piano Quintet no. 1
Domus & Anthony Marwood

[Harry]

Giuseppe Verdi.
Preludes, Overtures and Ballet music.
Volume I.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Downes.
Recorded: 1996, New Broadcasting House, Manchester.

A series I also keep high in my regard, but even though you get a terrific performance and superb sound, it never took flight, in fact the series did not bring in the money it should have done. But it did not deter Chandos to produced four volumes, all of them to my ears, very successful. I start today with the first volume, just to let you lovely people on GMG know, that it is available and please give it a go. Most of you will love the gorgeous melodies and Verdi's inexhaustible creativity in producing quality joy. A bumpy but satisfying ride, I am sure!

[mahler10th]

BBC RADIO 3:  Symphony No. 3 in B flat minor, Op. 45, Staatskapelle Dresden, Mirga Gražinytė‐Tyla
I have just listened to Weinberg on the radio, Symphony 3.  Wow.
This is new to me, Weinberg was just one of those composers I never listened to, kind of off my radar.  But now I've heard Weinberg, the creative musicality, timpani, silence, horns, rolling rhythms, dissonance, so much I love in music is in Symphony 3, my first full on listening exposure to his music.  So that's it.  I'm off in a Weinberg listening spree! 

[pianococo90]

Gabriel Vicens
Sueños Ligados for violin, cello, and piano

[Karl Henning]

Arrived in the post just in time for the birthday boy.

It took a month for arrival after the shipping date of December 27th, from across the pond in the U.K. to the Canadian Great White North. Perhaps it came on the back of Platero the donkey from the Castelnuovo-Tedesco composition (see above)!

I have been eargerly awaiting to dive into this set. And doing that right now and probably going through it like a hot knife through butter!

Disc 1

Mozart

String Quartet No. 1 in G major, K80
String Quartet No. 2 in D major, K155
String Quartet No. 3 in G major, K156
String Quartet No. 4 in C major, K157
String Quartet No. 5 in F major, K158

THE Quartetto Italiano (aka, the luxury liner of quartet ensembles)
Decca

Sweet!

[SonicMan46]

Susan & I are watching the Great Courses composers' bios with Bob Greenberg, so I just pulled a few works of interest - Dave

 

[Karl Henning]

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (2024)
Alfia Bakieva
Jordi Savall, Les Musiciennes du Concert des Nations

The first time I streamed this album not long ago, it was the first set "with sonnet". I wasn't expecting that, and I hated it. Thank goodness disc two has the "not with sonnet" version!

For me, as with the superscriptions to RVW's Sinfonia antartica, it's nice to have read them, but not part of the performance, thank you v. much.
TD: