What are you listening 2 now?

[Papy Oli]

[Karl Henning]

["Papa"] No. 87: Bernstein



Lenny at his best.

Yes!

[The new erato]

No 3 and 4 today. Very definitely a great set.

[Biffo]

Dvorak: Piano Quintet No 1 in A major, Op 5 - Rudolf Firkusny piano & Ridge String Quartet

[Christo]

Vaughan Williams' lifelong preoccupation, his setting of the Pilgrim's Progress:

[Que]

Continuing with the Hurtwizer's "ideal" Paris Symphonies recordings.

No. 86: Harnoncourt



A big, exciting, joyful noise.

What? 

The Hurwitzer and I agree? On Haydn? 

Q

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams' lifelong preoccupation, his setting of the Pilgrim's Progress:

Possibly his greatest work and that's a great set. I was so fortunate to see Hickox conduct a semi-staged performance on my birthday many years ago and I have subsequently seen the fully staged version. Still, this music works very well as a purely listening rather than watching experience.

On a perhaps less-elevated plane I'm currently listening to Symphony No.1 'The Lord of the Rings' by Johan de Meij, which I'm enjoying very much. I think that it's better than Howard Shore's soundtracks to the films. And, I think that there is a VW connection as about one minute into the second movement 'Lothlórien' there is a section which sounds straight out of Vaughan Williams's 'A London Symphony':

[Christo]

On a perhaps less-elevated plane I'm currently listening to Symphony No.1 'The Lord of the Rings' by Johan de Meij, which I'm enjoying very much. I think that it's better than Howard Shore's soundtracks to the films. And, I think that there is a VW connection as about one minute into the second movement 'Lothlórien' there is a section which sounds straight out of Vaughan Williams's 'A London Symphony':

Have it, but hardly know it. I know band music lovers who are lyrical about it, should give it a try. 

[vandermolen]

Have it, but hardly know it. I know band music lovers who are lyrical about it, should give it a try. 

I think that it's great fun Johan and makes a nice change from Kokkonen's 4th Symphony etc. If you listen to it see if you agree with me about the passage about 1 minute into the second movement which sounds straight out of 'A London Symphony'. The CD I'm listening to is the version for orchestra rather than for Band.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I'm pretty sure this is the recording that was made by the BBC back in the day that the BBC felt able to show complete operas without being deemed to be elitist or exclusive.  If so, this exact performace was the one I attended - certainly 1981 is the right kind of year.  (Im)famously at this performance they had to stop it and reset a section for the sake of the TV recording.  It is the moment when Grimes' apprentice falls over the cliff.  From memory (I haven't watched it in a  long time!) they had a raised "cliff top cabin" with a rope hanging down the back which 'snapped' causing the apprentice to fall accompanied by a despairing scream.  When they re-set the rope some wag from the audience called out "don't forget to scream....."

I thought that I saw you in the audience! 

PD

[André]

Have it, but hardly know it. I know band music lovers who are lyrical about it, should give it a try. 

The original is for band. The composer rescored it for full orchestra later on. I think this is the only disc of the orchestral version. It's great fun !

[vandermolen]

Kalninš: Symphony No.5
An impressive score:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Nov/Kalnins_sys_LMIC067.htm

[André]

Like Furtwängler, Jochum and Karajan, Böhm played and recorded Brahms many times over his long career. He showed particular affection for the first two symphonies. I have his recordings with the BPO (DGG, mono), the LSO (Andante) and this one with the glorious WP. It is a spacious reading, but one that unfolds with the utmost naturalness within its chosen perspective. The first movement displays an ideal balance between the bucolic and the dramatic, with lovely contributions from the orchestra's warm strings and its golden brass section (meltingly beautiful horns). The Adagio is slow (the marking is non troppo), but searching and beautifully grave. In the last two movements Böhm is again a bit slower than usual, though not as slow as Giulini with the same orchestra. The articulation is very clear and the accents forceful, with prominent winds and brass (the conductor's balances, no doubt). The rock steady tempo in the coda lets the orchestra accumulate and release decibels in splendid fashion.

I love the work to pieces, and this is one of its most affectionate accounts. Favourites are Munch (BSO, on tour), Stokowski/National Philharmonic and the first Abbado BP version from 1969. Munch offers a positively orgiastic experience that leaves one breathless. Böhm sows beauty and energy and reaps an armful of joy.

The two fillers here are classic performances. Deeply felt, with sepulchral low strings and beautiful singing from Christa Ludwig, this version of the Alto Rhapsody is one of the best I know. The Tragic Overture is Brahms' Coriolan, a turbulent, agitated statement quite unlike what one expects from this composer. Böhm is stern but not inflexible. The performance has great sweep and the orchestra makes a beautiful noise.

[Traverso]

Mozart

"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"

[Karl Henning]

Possibly a first listen:

R. Strauss
Le bourgeois gentilhomme, Op.60
ONRF
Markevich

[André]

Quartets 13-15.

The more I hear these works (I mean, listening to them chronologically), the more I think their personality is revealed in the slow movements. They unfailingly bring a complete stop to whatever may be happening. They are mesmerizing. In the fast movements, Holmboe (like Simpson) brings mastery and imagination, almost too much so: they tend to sound inventive and clever rather than completely organic. The detailed booklet notes are replete with descriptions of how the composer doubles this, halves that, brings back motivic cells in a different meter, etc. It makes me feel like I'm missing the cleverness and brilliant technique of it all. I've listened to this trio of works twice today. I know they will demand further hearings for me to tie up everything. Quartet no 14 here is especially rewarding. In quartet 15, the Funèbre Movement is arresting.

[Symphonic Addict]

Kalninš: Symphony No.5
An impressive score:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Nov/Kalnins_sys_LMIC067.htm

A very good symphony! The 4th movement almost always brings a tear to my eyes.

[Symphonic Addict]

Reger and Respighi:

Eine romantische Suite
Suite from 'Belkis, Regina di Saba'



Romantische Suite was one of the few truly late-Romantic pieces Reger wrote, and it's so beautiful. Reger at his most voluptuous. The ending is similar to that of the Hiller Variations, in a resplendent E major.

The Turkish orchestra provides a rather exotic sound in the Respighi which enhances its magical atmosphere. The recording is vivid, very appropriate to capture the frenzy and the mysticism of the work.

[Karl Henning]

"Papa"
Symphonies # 101 & 102
ONRF
Markevich

[T. D.]