What are you listening 2 now?

[ritter]

Joining la festa della Giara...

[asin]B00BDSRK38[/asin]

Good day, César and John!

[Mirror Image]

And same to you, Rafael.

[Mirror Image]

Seeing



This might be my second time listening to this work, which is, essentially, a piano concerto in all but a name. I think the performance is pretty good, but the Albany Symphony Orchestra doesn't have a large string section and the music kind of suffers because of it. I recall the same problem in their recording of William Schuman's Piano Concerto (along with his 4th symphony and Credendum).

[Mirror Image]

Chichester Psalms



For me, one of Bernstein's best works.

[vers la flamme]

Arnold Bax: Symphony No.2 in E minor and C major. David Lloyd-Jones, Royal Scottish National Orchestra

This is, to my knowledge, the only such explicitly polytonal symphony in my entire collection. This is my first listen, but so far, so good. I enjoy the vaguely gothic feeling of the music. Bax's music is really working for me lately, though it doesn't always make so much sense to me, it seems.

[André]

As always the setting of Psalm 39 made me recoil. But I prevailed and found Psalms 40 and 150 quite beautiful. Stil, I've always have trouble enjoying this work. Les Noces benefit from excellent soloists, all hailing from Switzerland (Basia Retchitzka, Lucienne Devallier, Hugues Cuénod, Heinz Rehfuss) and well versed in the idiom. A series of concerts with the same artists in swiss cities preceded the recording. And of course Ansermet gave the premiere of the work in 1923. I can't imagine a more authoritative and idiomatic performance, then. And yet the music eludes and irritates me almost as much as that first psalm in Symphony of Psalms. The last section, Le repas de noces in particular is a trial.

There follows a 1952 recording of the 1920 suite from L'Histoire du soldat played by soloists of the OSR (violin, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, cornet, trombone and percussion), under the baton of Ansermet. The solo violinist is Michel Schwalbé, who would become concertmaster of Karajan's Berlin Phil. This, too, is presumably authoritative. Ansermet conducted the premiere in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1918.

I know the other two versions (with reciters and the same instrumental complement as above, and the reduction for violin, clarinet and piano from 1919). For an inattentive ear this is quite inoffensive as pure music. But Stravinsky designed it very ingeniously, exploiting the extremes of the instrumental forces (violin vs double bass, trumpet vs trombone, violin double stops used like a percussion instrument, etc). I suppose a staged version of the original is better suited to convey the bite and absurdity of Ramuz' text, itself an adaptation of a russian folk tale. This is quite enjoyable. The recording is excellent.

[Irons]

Elgar: 2nd Symphony.



I must say I disagree with Hurwitz's assessment of Barbirolli's recording of Elgar's 2nd Symphony. Sir John brings passion and commitment that is unique to him. The Larghetto second movement is very special in my opinion, which I found most moving and inspirational  - https://youtu.be/r3CB5Pbzy3M

[Sergeant Rock]

+1

Yes, Zimerman's Chopin PC1 is a gorgeous performance.

Sarge

[Symphonic Addict]

And same to you, Rafael.

+1

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First-Listen Sundays

3 Concert Arias



Ravishing! I had to buy this recording as a download because I couldn't find any physical copies for an affordable price.

[Symphonic Addict]

Jon Leifs - Organ Concerto

An angry (and eventually fun) work!

[Mirror Image]

Jon Leifs - Organ Concerto

An angry (and eventually fun) work!

Pounds the table! Leifs is fine in small doses, but he does offer the listener such a unique aural experience.

[TheGSMoeller]

My new obsession is Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro...

[SonicMan46]

Mozart, WA - String Quartets w/ Quartetto Italiano - more Wolfie over the next few days!    Dave

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First-Listen Sundays -

Harpsichord Concerto

[ritter]

.... Les Noces benefit from excellent soloists, all hailing from Switzerland (Basia Retchitzka, Lucienne Devallier, Hugues Cuénod, Heinz Rehfuss) and well versed in the idiom. A series of concerts with the same artists in swiss cities preceded the recording. And of course Ansermet gave the premiere of the work in 1923. I can't imagine a more authoritative and idiomatic performance, then. And yet the music eludes and irritates me almost as much as that first psalm in Symphony of Psalms. The last section, Le repas de noces in particular is a trial.

...

Curious how we all react differently to some works  . Les noces is a work that fascinates me no end (actually, if I listen to it, I usually have to repeat the whole thing shortly afterwards), and it's the last section I enjoy the most. Cubism in music is IMHO  the best description of this work.

AFAIK, that Ansermet recording is one of only two available in C.-F. Ramuz's French translation of the text; the other is the very rare Boulez on Adès (with a young José van Dam among the soloists), which fortunately has been in my collection for decades. Hearing the text in this version (even considering the "disjointed" setting in this piece) is a delight. « Chez ma Nastasie, la démarche est légère... » Glorious! And Jean Cocteau also raves about this in the first volume of his published diary, Le passé défini.

I've been looking for the Ansermet recording for quite a while, to complement the Boulez and several recordings in the original Russian plus the composer's in English—which does not work at all for me —,  but affordable copies are not easy to come by. 

Good evening to you, André!

[SimonNZ]

Last night:

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Last night:

Cool!     Whose voices/performances did you enjoy the most?  I remember when I first heard a recording of Ponselle's and was thrilled....probably in part due to the fact that she was Maria Callas' vocal heroine growing up.  What a voice!  Years ago, I purchased over time a bunch of Nimbus' and other labels series of early opera recordings.  Wondered for certain performers who weren't recorded until 'past their prime' what they sounded like at their best?

Best wishes,

PD

[Todd]

This recording scores points for ornate (for Morales) accompaniment from strings and a lute, but the extremely close recording - rendering something closer to a 'they are here'  sound rather than a 'you are there' sound - saps some of the otherworldly quality of his music.  Not enough to detract from near maximal enjoyment, though.  As always with Morales, my attention invariably ended up focused only on the music emanating from my transducers of choice.  Morales is one composer I cannot listen to as background music while working.

[SimonNZ]

Cool!     Whose voices/performances did you enjoy the most?  I remember when I first heard a recording of Ponselle's and was thrilled....probably in part due to the fact that she was Maria Callas' vocal heroine growing up.  What a voice!  Years ago, I purchased over time a bunch of Nimbus' and other labels series of early opera recordings.  Wondered for certain performers who weren't recorded until 'past their prime' what they sounded like at their best?

Best wishes,

PD

I'll have to get back to you after I give it a few more spins. The quality was consistently stellar throughout.

But I was especially pleased it opened with John McCormack, long a favorite of mine, singing Donizetti.