What are you listening 2 now?

[Irons]

Delius: Sonata for String Orchestra.



An arrangement by Eric Fenby of the Delius String Quartet for my favourite medium of English music, String Orchestra.

I have the same work in another recording and pleasantly surprised how much more sensitive Fenby is here. He shapes the music as Beecham did in Delius. 

[Maestro267]

Pickard: Sixteen Sunrises
BBC NOW/Brabbins

[Harry]

Arnold Bax.

Four Orchestral Pieces.
Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra.
Overture, Elegy and Rondo.

Philip Dukes, Viola.
BBC Philharmonic, Andrew Davis.

A delightful disc with works from Bax. State of the Art Recording, and a sublime performance. I like it very much.

[ritter]

Igor Stravinsky conducts his Agon (Los Angeles Festival Symphony Orchestra).

CD 4 of the "cheap" edition:



The orginal cover was rather attractive IMO:



What wonderful, WONDERFUL music!!!!

EDIT:

Following Agon with its companion in the original release, the Canticum Sacrum (another all-time favourite of mine). Also with the composer conducting the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra (and Chorus, in this work), and with tenor Richard Robinson and baritone Howard Chitjian. This is on CD 21 of the big box. And again, simply wonderful!

[Harry]

Franz Lachner.

Symphony No. 3 opus 41 in D minor.
Festouvertüre in E flat major

Evergreen SO, Gernot Schmalfuss.

Make no mistake, this is a highly professional orchestra, and pretty well rehearsed. I heard them go from strength to strength, in many recordings, getting better in the process with big steps. Almost every recording with them is a party as such, with plenty of commitment, and insight in the music they play. Lachner is a fine composer, well appreciated by me, for his abundance of energy, and creative drive. To my ears he is by no means small fry as some criticasters label him.
Thoroughly enjoyable music, everything at the right place, melodies, harmonies, rhythm, tempi, etc. Sound is really good, so what would hold one to embrace Lachner's music.

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

Ibert to start the day :

[Biffo]

Works (mainly arrangements) by Mozart, Casals, Gounod, Bizet, Wagner, Mascagni, Glazunov and Luigini - John Barbirolli conducting the London Violoncello School, Royal Opera Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra - recordings made between 1928 and 1931. Enjoyable potpourri with reasonable sound

[Traverso]

Bach

Vol.6 CD1

[Traverso]

Delius

CD 2

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Summer Night on the River
A Song before Sunrise
La Calinda
Fennimore and Gerda (intermezzo)
The Walk to the Paradise Garden
Irmelin Prelude
A Song of Summer

Sir John Barbirolli

[Harry]

Max Bruch.

Symphony No. 1, opus 28 in E flat major & 2, opus 36 in F minor.

Bamberger Symphoniker, Robert, Trevino.

I know there is not much love for much of Bruch's music, maybe apart from his overly famous violin concerto, but I still have the desire to tell, that his symphonies are much better as some may think. They stand out in the music literature as extra ordinary fine examples of the Romantic era, and have the weight of the Brahms symphonies. They are packed with gripping melodies, deeply felt emotion, and for those that care to listen seriously, a score that is amazing in its complexity and detailing. I am at a loss to understand why they are so undervalued, while to me they are masterworks. Some of the critics made mashed potatoes of his music, and when reading this I really get angry about it all the time. I must remember to be Zen, I must.
The performances are the best I know on the market. Trevino gets all in the right place and creates order, and amazing detailing in the densely scored compositions. He gets the tempi right and has a good feel for rhythm so needed. The sound is superb.

[vandermolen]

Robin Milford 'The Darkling Thrush' (after Thomas Hardy's poem).
A poignant work which should appeal to admirers of VW, Delius or Finzi.
Here's Thomas Hardy's wonderful poem:

The Darkling Thrush

I leant upon a coppice gate
      When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
      The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
      Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
      Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to be
      The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
      The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
      Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
      Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice arose among
      The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
      Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
      In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
      Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
      Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
      Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
      His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
      And I was unaware.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

NP: Ravel Shéhérazade (Crebassa/Say)



Lovely. This is an interesting arrangement done by the composer for voice, flute and piano. I find myself not missing the orchestra at all.

I hadn't heard of her before now, but just listened to some excerpts of her singing and a video made by Warner about this album.  Lovely voice!  And such warmth!    Here's a link to it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3pTn8W_wmE

PD

[Biffo]

Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen - New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli

[steve ridgway]

Peter Maxwell Davies - St. Thomas Wake. Now this was a good find on archive.org, it reminds me of Schnittke's polystylistic mashups. Cheerful, not entirely competent jazz and popular music from what sounds to me like the 1920s is obliterated at intervals by bleak and thunderous monotony. As if one were nostalgically trying to blot out the grim reality of the present day by recalling the happy times of youth.

[Todd]

Disc three, some nice if not best ever Schumann.

[Traverso]

Bax

First time for a Bax symphony

CD 1 Symphony No.1 & 6

[Que]

BIS really makes us wait for the boxsets of the keyboard concertos and the solo works! 

I do hope it will be some time before my appointment with eternity....   

Q

[vandermolen]

Bax

First time for a Bax symphony

CD 1 Symphony No.1 & 6

Two great scores.

[Traverso]

Two great scores.

Starting now with the Lento solenne,the beginning sounds mysterious......I'm starting to like it.

[steve ridgway]

Peter Maxwell Davies - Renaissance & Baroque Realisations. Quite listenable versions of older music, I suspect some have been more radically updated than others.