What are you listening 2 now?

[Madiel]

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Acts 3 and 4 on OperaVision.

Well, Act 3 was just... ugh. Act 4 was slightly better.

Parts of the 3rd Act I didn't even like the music, never mind the plot. And then the staging, which I already had some issues with, took a turn for the worse, with Katerina and Sergei wearing 2 of the stupidest costumes you could ever see. Almost every character in this story is horrible. We get a scene to show us that the police are as bad as everyone else before they fulfil their actual function of being police.

In a lot of ways I recognise Shostakovich in here, but it's got some of the most excessive elements of his pre-condemnation style, and of course this is the work that triggered that condemnation. From the Wikipedia article there are indications the people who don't like the work extend a fair bit beyond Stalin. And I doubt I'll revisit it. Maybe if there's a chance to view a more traditional staging - this one was in Germany which I guess is where getting Regietheater is most likely.

----------------------

OperaVision currently has an amazing 5 Verdi operas on it, with 2 of them expiring soon. I had vague ideas to explore Verdi more, I guess now is the time!

[Spotted Horses]

Pejacevic Waltz-Caprices, Veljkovic. A really delightful set of miniatures.



Martinu, Les Ritournelles, Koukl. Not as crazy as the Czech dances on the same release, but wonderful music in varying moods.

[ritter]

Cd 4 of the Henri Dutilleux "Centenary Edition" on Erato: Tout on monde lointain... (Rostropovich, Orchestre de Paris, Baudo), Trois Strophes sur le nom de Sacher (Mørk), L'Arbre des songes (R. Capuçon, Orch. Phil. de Radio France, Myung-Whun Chung), Sur le même accord (C. Tetzlaff, Orchestre de Paris, P. Järvi).

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Piano Concertos from the Netherlands.

[VonStupp]

I've got a ticket to see Burning Fiery Furnace in a couple of weeks in London, I'm sure I've seen it before, I've got a memory of the staging but not of any details beyond that. I've certainly seen Curlew River semi staged at a prom -- I like gender bending operas.

The one I have absolutely no memory of hearing or seeing is The Prodigal Son.

Neat! I have no expectation of ever seeing Britten's church parables live in the US. Prodigal is next up on my listening list though.
VS

[VonStupp]

Hugo Alfvén
Symphony 2 in D Major
Swedish Rhapsody 1 'Midsommarvaka'
Stockholm PO - Neeme Järvi

I would normally object to hearing one work ending in the same key which the next begins on a program. In this case, the similarity of key helped me hear Alfvén's particular orchestral colors and ways with a melody carried over from the Rhapsody to the Symphony, which I didn't hear in Alfvén's first symphony.

Midsommarvaka reminds me of my grandparents, who were Swedish immigrants to the US at the turn of the 20th Century, and were voracious folk dancers in the US, complete with Swedish folk outfits. At one point my grandfather helped me translate Vem kan segla förutan vind? for my vocal ensemble class, and was surprised I didn't know it already... if only the BeeGees had covered it.
VS

[foxandpeng]

Sven-David Sandstrøm
Flute Concerto
Cello Concerto
Leif Segerstam
Swedish RSO
Caprice

There is challenging music, and there is challenging music. I'm not sure this is something I will revisit... very difficult to find anything to hold onto in the Flute Concerto beyond the unpredictability and dissonance itself. It may be my mood, but this was unrelentingly hard going.

Now listening to the Cello Concerto, which is less bonkers in the first ten minutes, at least. It is a little pedestrian, if anything.

Apparently, I am turning into Goldilocks.

[Karl Henning]

I was obliquely reminded of this after hobnobbing with Orlando after the Lowell Chamber Orch concert yester night:

[Iota]

Britten: Curlew River
Harold Blackburn (bass), John Shirley-Quirk (baritone), Bryan Drake (baritone), Peter Pears (tenor), Bruce Webb (boy soprano)
English Opera Group Chorus, English Opera Group
Benjamin Britten

Reminded by @VonStupp's post that it had been way too long since I listened to Curlew River, I sought this out today. As VS says in another post, it's an emotionally gripping work, the richness and haunting power of Britten's imagination across many of his works is what makes him the unique and distinct figure he is, and it's yet again in play in CR, creating unforgettable drama and singular intensity.

[ritter]

I was obliquely reminded of this after hobnobbing with Orlando after the Lowell Chamber Orch concert yester night:

Beautiful work, Karl! Thanks, and good evening to you.

TD:
 
Vocal soloists and the London Sinfonietta, led by David Atherton, perform Kurt Weill: Happy End, Berliner Requiem, Pantomime I from Der Protagonist, and Vom Tod im Wald.

CD 12 of the "Vienna" (??  ) box:

[Karl Henning]

Beautiful work, Karl! Thanks, and good evening to you.

TD:
 
Vocal soloists and the London Sinfonietta, led by David Atherton, perform Kurt Weill: Happy End, Berliner Requiem, Pantomime I from Der Protagonist, and Vom Tod im Wald.

CD 12 of the "Vienna" (??  ) box:

Many thanks, Rafael! A good evening to you!

[Karl Henning]

An inaugural listen:

[Mandryka]

I was obliquely reminded of this after hobnobbing with Orlando after the Lowell Chamber Orch concert yester night:

Very nice! Thanks.

[Karl Henning]

Very nice! Thanks.

Thanks for listening!

[DavidW]

Thanks for listening!

To give two references at once:

[71 dB]

Yves Prin - Dioscures, Ephémères & Le Souffle d'Iris
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Bruno Ferrandis
Naxos 8.555347

[ritter]

Yves Prin - Dioscures, Ephémères & Le Souffle d'Iris
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Bruno Ferrandis
Naxos 8.555347

Interesting! I had never heard of Prin, but a search on him indicates I should explore his music. Thanks for bringing him to our attention, 71 db.

TD:

Gian Francesco Malipiero's Sinfonia del mare, Symphony No. 3, "delle campane" and Symphony No. 4, "in memoriam ". Antonio de Almeida conducts the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.

[JBS]

An afternoon with modern (mostly) Latin American music.

[71 dB]

Interesting! I had never hear of Prin, but a search on him indicates I should explore his music. Thanks for bringing him to our attention, 71 db.

Cool! My pleasure.    I hope you'll find his music worth your time.

[Traverso]

Beethoven

Symphony No.9