What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

NP:

Glazunov
Symphony No. 8 in E flat, Op. 83
USSR Ministry of Culture SO
Rozhdestvensky

From this set -



Without a doubt, my favorite Glazunov symphony cycle with Svetlanov coming in second-place. I usually return to Svetlanov for all of the miscellaneous orchestral works that Rozhdestvensky never recorded.

One Glazunov conductor I'm rather allergic to or so it seems is José Serebrier. For me, there really is nothing special about any of his Glazunov performances. He treats this music like Dvořák and tries to be "light and airy" and, while yes, there are some occasions where this approach works, the fact is Serebrier downplays the lyrical intensity of the music. Glazunov's music has an ebb-and-flow that is unique to him with one phrase fading out and another one coming in and the music must keep moving. And the times where Glazunov's music calls for more yearning and mournfulness, Serebrier couldn't careless and completely downplays it. For goodness sake, Glazunov is a passionate Russian! Anyway, the Serebrier set iso be avoided at all costs. For a more middle-of-the-road approach, Järvi's cycle on Orfeo is pretty good, but still, for me, he can't top Rozhdestvensky and Svetlanov.

For me Serebrier is the best set on the market, and to avoid this set at all cost seems to me the wrong advice, a bit too strong in the teeth one might say, and Järvi is not pretty good, but top tier. when the Orfeo set was released I bought it right away, and to this day when I return to him my heart rejoices.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

For me Serebrier is the best set on the market, and to avoid this set at all cost seems to me the wrong advice, a bit too strong in the teeth one might say, and Järvi is not pretty good, but top tier. when the Orfeo set was released I bought it right away, and to this day when I return to him my heart rejoices.

That's more than fair enough, Harry. Perhaps my assertions were too absolute. FWIW, my dad enjoys the Serebrier cycle a lot as well.

[North Star]

How are the Schnittkes, Karlo ? I've been eyeing this set for a while ...

G'day, André! I've always thought very highly of the Molinari set. This is my first hearing of the Matsuev and it sounds really good.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Translation: Expect a 10 recordings binge purchase of Medtner within the next 24 hours. 

Oh, I've already got a good bit of Medtner right now. I just had an order from Hyperion delivered today that contained their solo piano recordings plus a recording of his Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 3. I already own the Hyperion recordings of his PCs (+ the Piano Quintet).

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

@André, I can also vouch for the Quatuor Molinari's cycle of Schnittke SQs. It is excellent --- as is this companion recording:

[Linz]

Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 op.64, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Rachmaninov  The Isle of the Dead Op. 29
Liszt  Mephisto Waltz 1 S110 2, London Philharmonic Orchestra,  Serge Koussevitzky

[hopefullytrusting]

One of the saddest words to come across when looking for music: Eigenvertrieb

Giovan Battista Polledro Six Studies for Violin (missing the Etude):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4ud-1rr4wI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R11g3DNIlS4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LZh3aMMmR0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFvcIH10zMM

[VonStupp]

Ethel Smyth
The Song of Love

Steph Garrett, soprano
Archive Inns, tenor
Christ Church Cathedral - Alice Knight

Catching the premier performance of Smyth's cantata from 2023, just out of curiosity.
VS

[Karl Henning]

The Mozart clarinet quintet is one of my favorite classical works, the beauty of it is almost unbearable. Also one of the few classical LP's I own.

Utterly sublime!

[Karl Henning]

Schnittke
Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra, Op. 136
Denis Matsuev
Kammerorchester Wien-Berlin
Rainer Honeck



String Quartets nos. 1 & 2
Quatuor Molinari

That piano concerto is one of my favorite Schnittke scores!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Antonin Rejcha, Fugues for Piano.

[André]

Thanks for the Schnittke/Molinari comments ! They seem to be available only as downloads.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP:

Biber
Sonatae Violino Solo - Sonata No. 3 In F
John Holloway (violin), Aloysia Assenbaum-Holloway (organ), Lars Ulrik Mortensen (harpsichord)



Such heavenly, uplifting beauty. Brilliant performance, too.

[Mapman]

Reger: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (Piano 4 hands version)
Duo Tal & Groethuysen

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing Act I:

Handel
Hercules, HWV 60
David Daniels (alto), Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Michel Maldonado (double bass), Yvon Repérant (harpsichord), Claire Giardelli (cello), Mirella Giardelli (organ), Richard Croft (tenor), Sébastian Rouland (chorus master), Lynne Dawson (soprano), Gidon Saks (bass), Marcos Pujol (bass)
Les Musiciens du Louvre, Chorus Of Les Musiciens Du Louvre
Marc Minkowski

From this set -





About Handel's Hercules:

Handel characterized this piece as a "musical drama," to be sung in the theater, but unstaged, rather than either oratorio or opera, but it has been performed as both during its history. Like many of his masterworks, such as Messiah, it was written in a short time, from mid-July to mid-August, but it shows no signs of haste. At its first performances at the King's Theater in London, it was very badly received, and many of the composer's supporters blamed this on the extra-musical vagaries of fashionable society rather than on any deficiencies in the work itself. In addition, Handel had hoped to make his music more accessible to the general public by lowering ticket prices, but this did not draw the larger audiences he had hoped for, which also contributed to his calling off further performances. He was deeply disappointed by its failure, which probably contributed to his later illness. Today it is considered one of his strongest musical-dramatic works, behind only Samson and Semele.

The musical characterization is extremely vivid, though the male characters are rather stock types. The music for Hercules is appropriately robust and extroverted, even a bit simple-minded and pompous. Iole's is deeply tragic, as she relives the death of her father, supported by the almost weeping punctuation of the orchestra. This scene is one of the strongest of the opera, coming immediately after the lively march introducing Hercules and his chained captives, and all the more vivid for the contrast. Later her character is developed a bit more, as she expresses her refusal to consider Hyllas' proposal in firm, dignified music, or the crystalline clarity Handel uses to depict her innocence and compassion for those caught up in the tragedy of Dejanira's jealousy. It is Dejanira herself, though, who is the most three-dimensional of the characters, as we see her love, jealous anger, and final desperate remorse, expressed accordingly in melting pathos, furious runs and biting stacatto phrases, and burningly frenzied lines. Handel's mastery is made clear in the way that even when one emotion dominates, others are hinted at. For example, in her first aria, chromatic phrases alternate between more direct cadences, giving her emotions more complexity and a foreshadowing of the darker side of her love.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

[DavidW]

Schnittke
Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra, Op. 136
Denis Matsuev
Kammerorchester Wien-Berlin
Rainer Honeck



String Quartets nos. 1 & 2
Quatuor Molinari

Oh that is interesting because I listened to this album last week:

[JBS]

Quite a while back (about three years ago I think) I started a fresh run through of this set, but got distracted after CD 4, and never resumed until now.
CD 5 has 38 songs, most with D numbers in the upper 200s or lower 300s, and over half (25) under 2 minutes in length. (One has a timing of 34 seconds.)

[steve ridgway]

Before returning to the madness, I just want to say I actually listened to some (arguably) classical music between Nine Inch Nails and getting distracted by @hopefullytrusting  .

Stockhausen: Spiral - Version Elektronium



and Scelsi: Et Maintenant C'Est À Vous De Jouer... 

[Que]

More Ars Nova.

[hopefullytrusting]

Gaetano Pugnani's
Violin Concerto in D major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg0syBEE3jg
Violin Concerto in A major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvUlngiNQs

Lovely, virtuosic works, clearly designed showpieces, very showy for the violinists, but enough meat there to not bore the orchestra - these are most definitely not light concertos.