What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

Yes indeed - his recording of the RVW Mass in G minor coupled with the Howells Requiem was revelatory (especially concerning the Howells) and one of Hyperion's great early (and enduring) successes.  Recorded 42 years ago so Best was still in his 20's. The wonderfully evocative cover image of Gloucester Cathedral helped and seems rather poignantly appropriate here......

Indeed it does. The recording of DNP was voted No.1 choice in a survey  of different recordings in the current BBC Music Magazine.

[vandermolen]

Richard Arnell: Symphony No.3
A great, neglected, war-time symphony (1945)
Arnell's mother was killed in the Blitz in London:

[Madiel]

Mozart: String Quintet no.4 in G minor

[Traverso]

Albinoni

CD 5

Six Sonatas Op. 6



 

[Madiel]

Brahms: Violin sonata no.2



I adore that first movement.

[Harry]

6th rerun

[Harry]

6th rerun

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing Vasks Oboe Concerto

[Brian]

First listen to the symphonies of Victor Bendix. No. 1 is exuberant, youthfully easy to excite, and with a lavish orchestra. It reminds me of Langgaard's First and some tone poems by Strauss and Karlowicz. Amazingly, however, this piece dates from the late 1870s, earlier than any work I've just compared it to. Bendix was at the time heavily influenced by Liszt and Wagner - he showed the symphony's score to Liszt for approval - and this is the very first Scandinavian symphony to import that kind of late romantic language. It proved a pioneer; Langgaard's First is modeled after it and Carl Nielsen conducted multiple performances of it 40 years after it was written.

In the first symphony, I'm most taken with the "nocturne" slow movement that is in fact a fast scherzo, just played very quietly. (Foreshadowing of Mahler, even?) The third movement is a solemn march to a temple, with lots of gentle tam tam strokes. In general, I confess that my interest decreased throughout the second half, when the composer's poetic program became more important to him than writing interesting, surprising music.

Symphony No. 3 is from a decade later and, Bendix's friends believed, reflected his disappointment at the way his career was failing. Despite being in the 1880s, it sounds a little like Nielsen (the beefy trombone and tuba parts), and it also carries the influence of Russian composers: Rimsky-Korsakov, maybe even Tchaikovsky. The "Fantasie" first movement goes through many moods and emotions. The scherzo has waltz-like moments, episodes that remind me of Nielsen's Third, and a riot of color; it's the most interesting movement on the whole CD, I think. Then, like Tchaikovsky's last symphony (which was being composed at the same time!), Bendix ends with a tragic slow movement. Unlike Tchaikovsky, however, Bendix's piece holds out some elegiac hope, fading out in a defiant major key with some soft cymbal crashes in the background. It feels less like tragedy and more like a strange dream.

Very unusual pieces, for sure. The booklet is very entertaining about Bendix's personal life. He never gained prominence in Denmark because he was born Jewish, became a radical atheist, betrayed his teacher Gade to become a Wagnerian, and carried on many affairs with his female students. He impregnated one woman and she attempted to murder him, resulting in a scandalous trial. All in all, his name was so toxic that when he conducted the Danish premiere of Tristan und Isolde, he had to pay for the entire production himself!

[Iota]

Benjamin Britten
Phaedra, op. 93
A Charm of Lullabies, op. 41
Lachrymae, op. 48a
Two Portraits
Sinfonietta, op. 1

Sarah Connolly, mezzo
Maxim Rysanov, viola
BBC SO - Edward Gardner

A mix of vocal and orchestral music from Britten. Britten's purely instrumental music often takes a while for me to grasp, but his vocal music is always an immediate pleasure.

I really need to revisit Dame Janet's Phaedra.
VS

Yes indeed, that Janet Baker Phaedra with Britten is terrific, though the Connolly/Gardner you've listened to is also great. An incredibly powerful work written by a very poorly man!

[Karl Henning]

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Continuing on with the Arnold symphonies --- now playing Symphony No. 7, Op. 113

[Brian]

A very entertaining piano recital, featuring suites by Alberto Ginastera, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Bolivian composer Marvin Sandi (whom I have never heard of before; he became a philosopher instead of a musician and died at age 30 in 1968), plus Schumann's Davidsbundlertanze. The South American works are terrific, and wonderfully played. The Schumann is interpreted to convey a similar dancing mood.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing Mahler's 1st

[Que]

[Brian]

An intriguing combination of two Rameau suites and the Scriabin sonatas 6 and 7, played with great sensitivity and style.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 6 in A Major, 1881 Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak
Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Paavo Järvi

[Lisztianwagner]

Sergei Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No.1

Janine Jansen (violin)
Klaus Mäkelä & Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

[Karl Henning]

[ritter]

Jean Hubeau plays Fauré: 7 Short Pieces, op. 84, 9 Preludes, op. 103, 4 Waltz-Caprices, and Mazurka.

CD4 of this set: