What are you listening 2 now?

[Florestan]

Picked this up at a public library sale late this afternoon. Must listen immediately to the Serenade for Strings, courtesy of Stokowski and the LSO from Sept.'74, a performance I haven't heard, or don't think so.  This is a work I never tire of and never have enough different recordings of, but freely admit part of the attraction is pure nostalgia.  In the late '60s and early '70s, its opening strains were used to introduce a daily late-night CJBC program I used to stay up for from Toronto called Pensées de la nuit, a brief inspirational talk. For years I wondered what that music was ... then in '75 or '6, heard it performed by a high school orchestra! "So, that's what it was...I ought to have guessed!"

I have a nostalgic attachment to it as well, but for me it's the waltz. I first heard it as a child in a Swedish TV series depicting Selma Lagerlof's Gosta Berling, in a scene where one of Gosta's friends flies with the help of a self-devised contraption. It has stayed in my memory ever since. One of the most memorable tunes ever penned by anyone, so bittersweet, so dancelike yet so achingly nostalgic, and ultimately so beautiful.

[Florestan]

It's not Mozart - it made me think of Xenakis!

It's something strictly functional, the required virtuosity notwithstanding.

[AnotherSpin]

Straight to parts IV and V, while walking through the sun-dried steppe along the cliff above the sea.

[AnotherSpin]

[Harry]

Graindelavoix is an acquired taste, you either love it or dislike it heartily, there is no middle way, I say that out of experience. Most of my friends shy away from Schmelzer and his boys.

[AnotherSpin]

[AnotherSpin]

Graindelavoix is an acquired taste, you either love it or dislike it heartily, there is no middle way, I say that out of experience. Most of my friends shy away from Schmelzer and his boys.

I cannot know what lies ahead, but at present I find them utterly fascinating

[pjme]

Be it as it may, it's clear from the context of that paragraph that both Coulton and the letter refer to the Feast of Fools (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Fools). Now, that occurred at a precise time of the year and for a very limited duration. To extrapolate the behavior of the (lesser) clergy during that episode to the whole liturgical year and assume or imagine that what happened then was regular behavior for all masses and any and all other divine services at any given time during the year is a big stretch, warranted by nothing.

I was reminded of this René Clemencic (1979) recording:

In some parts of France it is still a tradition....

And a 19th century version by Gabriel Pierné - L'an mil, poème symphonique for chorus and orchestra.

[Mister Sharpe]

New to me, a curious selection of works played at the annual Danish festival, dedicated to piano music, this one from  2000. According to the booklet, for the first time a concert of piano duets was added that year along with cabaret songs. I know it's going to annoy me no end to have Janáček's On an Overgrown Path reduced to four movements! Grrrr, grimace and gripe.  On the other hand, how brilliant to see one of Godard's Mazurkas on the program.  Well, on with the show, recorded live ... Full track listing at Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/19182727-Various-Rarities-Of-Piano-Music-At-Schloss-Vor-Husum-Live-Recordings-From-The-2000-Festival-At-Schlo

[Todd]

A few SQs.

[Iota]

Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807
Alexandra Papastefanou (piano)

I guess this might be considered a poster boy/girl Suite of the collection, such a joyful and evergreen romp. And I'm won over by the same undemonstrative elegance that Papastefanou showed in the first Suite, everything so crystal clear and spring-like. A great pleasure.

I thought I'd cross-post my entry in the listening thread here, since it might interest Casella people.

Listened to Concerto per archi and Divertimento per Fulvia from this release



Wonderfully droll and entertaining ...

Had a listen to the Serenata from this and warmed to it immediately. I noted the other recommendations in your post and if other Casella triggers the same enthusiasm as the Serenata, I'll be onto a very good thing indeed. Grateful for the introduction.

[Madiel]

Second half of this volume.



I think this is one of my favourites of the volumes I've listened to thus far. If, as seems likely, this collection of arias was deliberately selected by Vivaldi for particular purposes, he was choosing some of his best stuff with an aim of having music with a great variety of moods and for different sorts of voices. So it's a thoroughly engaging listen. And because it's a bunch of separate pieces I'm freed from trying to engage with a plot.

[hopefullytrusting]

Been looking for things with a "soft focus effect" - that isn't a cassette - the superior medium for fuzzy warmth.

Nils Frahm's Felt

[Iota]

Second half of this volume.



I think this is one of my favourites of the volumes I've listened to thus far. If, as seems likely, this collection of arias was deliberately selected by Vivaldi for particular purposes, he was choosing some of his best stuff with an aim of having music with a great variety of moods and for different sorts of voices. So it's a thoroughly engaging listen. And because it's a bunch of separate pieces I'm freed from trying to engage with a plot.

I've been reading your Vivaldi posts with interest, and agree the aria you posted some pages back from Griselda (Vede orgogliosa l'onda) is a real beauty.

[Madiel]

Vivaldi: Concertos for strings



The most bite-sized kind of Vivaldi's little concertos. Many of the other volumes fit around 7 concertos on a disc, this one has 12.

They certainly don't lack musical interest though, if the first couple are any guide. The finale of RV 159 in A major has these fantastic duelling violins trying to pull the music into A minor before the main group fights back.

[Madiel]

I've been reading your Vivaldi posts with interest, and agree the aria you posted some pages back from Griselda (Vede orgogliosa l'onda) is a real beauty.

That it is. And honestly, there's an argument I could have saved myself all this effort and kept just listening to that one stunning aria/performance. 

I do like exploring a body of work, though. Always have. 8 parcels have arrived, another 14 to go...

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No.3 in D Minor, 1889 Version (aka 1888/89) Ed. Leopold Nowak
Staatskapelle Dresden, Eugen Jochum
 

[Todd]

[Brian]

Leshnoff: String Quartets 1 and 2

First listen ever to anything by this American composer and I'm sold. These are remarkably good pieces. Fortunately there are many contemporary composers who still write tonal music with purpose.

His Violin Concerto No. 2 (also on Naxos) was written for our local orchestra and its concertmaster. I got to interview Leshnoff before the premiere and he is the kindest, friendliest man. He is very sincere, as you would expect from his music, but he was also rather funny. He does not listen to any music while in the process of composing a work. Meaning, he does not go to the grocery store because they play music inside, he does not get in cars with friends who use the radio, he does not go to restaurants, he does not watch TV because it has music...he doesn't listen to anything while composing! He is now so busy that he told me often, he only gets to listen to other music while attending the premiere performances of his works. Back in 2017-19, almost all his orchestral commissions were 20-25 minute concertos programmed before Beethoven's Ninth, so the only other music he heard for years was Beethoven's Ninth. I asked if he was intimidated, to always share programs with Beethoven. He said he was used to it!

[Linz]

Joseph Haydn  Symphonies Vol. 7 CD 1
Symphony No. 45 in F sharp minor, 'Farewell
Symphony No. 46 in B Major
The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood