What are you listening 2 now?

[Florestan]

Nielsen: Prelude and Theme with Variations, for solo violin



There are at least 2 sections of the score where pizzicato notes are played at the same time as a bowed note. And I'm wondering how the devil that's actually done.

Pizzicato with the index, the bow going down held with the rest of the fingers. I saw it done on TV. I think Paganini's Caprices use the trick extensively.

[prémont]

Pizzicato with the index, the bow going down held with the rest of the fingers. I saw it done on TV. I think Paganini's Caprices use the trick extensively.

Is there a special musical meaning to such a gimmick, or is it simply to give the violinist an opportunity to "show off"?

[Madiel]

Is there a special musical meaning to such a gimmick, or is it simply to give the violinist an opportunity to "show off"?

Why can't we have both?

It certainly adds to the Nielsen piece. Which is both a piece of music and a showpiece. Nielsen amusingly kind-of-punished his son-in-law, the violinist in question, after the latter expressed his disappointment with one variation. Nielsen wrote a replacement that was much, much harder.

[Madiel]

Poulenc: Sécheresses



The only performance available on Idagio is this one from 1953 (though not labelled as being this Naxos album), which sounds perfectly good and apparently Tzipine was responsible for making the work more successful. But it doesn't look as if it's been recorded very frequently at all, which rather surprises me. Another case of choral works just not hitting the market much, especially not works for choir and orchestra.

[Que]

Back on track with this boxset:

   

Disc 4, which is recorded on the Renaissance organ (1600/1669) of the Église Saint Jacques-Le-Mineur in Liège.

https://aeolus-music.com/pages/page-liege-eglise-saint-jacques

[Madiel]

Pejacevic: her orchestral songs.



Possibly a 2nd try rather than a first, I'm not certain. But either way, there's something very late-Romantic about this sort of solo song with orchestra and these fit very nicely in that genre.

[Madiel]

Schumann: Minnespiel, op.101



This is Schumann's 2nd collection combining solos, duos and quartets, only this time there's more emphasis on solos (with the tenor being terribly unfair by grabbing an extra and again leaving the bass/baritone without one), and the poetry by Rückert is a bit more heartfelt. There's a lot of very fine music here, although one song struck me as a bit sub-par.

[Madiel]

Ravel: Two Hebrew melodies



Well @Brian, this has proved to be a damn fine album.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing two Sinfoniettas:

Tubin
Sinfonietta on Estonian Motifs
Gothenburg SO
Neeme Järvi



Janáček
Sinfonietta
LSO
Rattle

[pianococo90]

Giorgio Colombo Taccani
Cadenze for violin and piano

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP:

Bach
Violin Sonata No. 3 in E major, BWV 1016
Isabelle Faust, Kristian Bezuidenhout

From this set -

[AnotherSpin]

Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 from this set.

[Que]

Reviews attached, courtesy of our Dave (SonicMan)!

[Karl Henning]

Terrific box!

[Karl Henning]

A superb disc of late Stravinsky pieces —The Flood, Abraham and Isaac, Variations, and Requiem Canticles—, plus Charles Wuorinen's A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky. Oliver Knussen conducts vocal soloists, the New London Chamber Choir, and the London Sinfonietta.

Superb, indeed!

[Karl Henning]

Nielsen: Prelude and Theme with Variations, for solo violin



There are at least 2 sections of the score where pizzicato notes are played at the same time as a bowed note. And I'm wondering how the devil that's actually done.

Left hand pizz. Probably an open string.

[VonStupp]

Granville Bantock
Pagan Symphony
Fifine at the Fair
Two Heroic Ballads
Royal PO - Vernon Handley

It has taken me a long time to come to terms with late-Romanticism, and still it doesn't always work for me. I remember not knowing what to think of this Bantock recording when it first came out.

Well, I don't know what my problem was, for all of this music is simply wonderful. My wife was even taken aback by some of the brass perorations here. This is why I always love revisiting recordings I may have inadvertently rejected. It is akin to making amends with long lost friends.
VS



The Sacred Wood dear to the Arts and Muses (1884)
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

[Traverso]

Bach

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E Flat Major, 1878/80 Version (1880 with Bruckner's 1886 revisions) - Ed. Leopold Nowak, Bruckner Orchestra Linz,  Martin Sieghart

[brewski]

And yet another in the unofficial "Shostakovich Sixth Sweepstakes," with L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, from a concert in Paris in September 2023.

Liking this one a lot, with very clear instrumental textures, lightness, and delicacy — all assets here. Plus, from the camera shots of their faces, the musicians appear to be having a fabulous time.