What are you listening 2 now?

[Madiel]

CD1

Several people whose opinions I value have praised this so my expectations were high. Unfortunately, they were not met in the least.

I couldn't disagree more with Todd's enthusiastic review: https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,26952.msg1222127.html#msg1222127

Plodding to, and often beyond, the limit of disintegration. I'm sorry but I can think of no other way to put it. I'm not in principle opposed to slowness (as in Barenboim's way with Schiubert's sonatas, for instance) but Mr. Paik takes it to insane levels. And the problem is compounded by the fact that, for all this exaggerated slowness, the effect, far from being light and ethereal, it's heavy and earthbound. Boredom set in after just the first three Nocturnes (at Paik's tempos this means actually about half an hour --- okay, I'm exaggerating but not too much) and eventually I stopped listening somewhere half-way through the disc. Listening to CD2 is not even an option.

Possibly the worst performance of the Nocturnes I've ever heard.

Sorry, Todd, Mandryka, George.

This made me curious enough to sample a track.

Nocturne in G, op.37/2 (actually track 3 on the album, interesting how they are shuffled).

Pedestrian. Of all the nocturnes, this is perhaps the one where the first section should feel light, it's an Italian barcarolle. Instead he makes it plodding and then makes the contrasting section fast to make up for it. Which to my ears sounds quite horrible, and does not have any justification in the score that I own.

Then I very briefly tried the first track, op.9/1.

Yeah. I won't be exploring further.

[JBS]

CD 2 of this set

Opus 13
Organ Symphonies 3 in e minor and 4 in f minor
Recorded on the organ of la Madeleine, Paris

All three organs are  Cavaille-Coll instruments such as those preferred and used by Widor. The  Symphonie Romaine in fact was written for the organ on which Nolan performs it (Saint Sernin, Toulouse).

I have never heard this music before, but I am finding it well written and very listenable.

[amw]

Cédric Pescia is someone I've just been listening to - and enjoying the journey quite a bit.  He has recorded a significant amount of Bach, as well as Schumann.  One recording in particular I want to highlight is this one:

Reviews of his Beethoven disc seem to be pretty mixed—Gramophone didn't like it, IRR & MusicWeb did, and for contradictory reasons (Gramophone criticised him for being oversentimental and using too much rubato, MusicWeb praised him for playing the music straight).

My thoughts were more similar to the positive reviews, obviously. What struck me about the Arrau 109 was its quality of searching and analysis, digging deep inside the music for meaning—a performance that seeks to present the music to a listener—and what struck me about the Pescia 109 by comparison was a quality of intimacy and inwardness, as though he was playing it for a few friends in his living room and we just happened to overhear. One of only a few Beethoven performances I know of that bridges the gap to Cage and "music to sober and quiet the mind, thereby rendering it susceptible to divine influences." (Cage hated Beethoven, at least in the way he would have heard it performed—Schnabel-Backhaus-Kempff-Serkin-Gulda-Gieseking.)

I should probably do a proper, 100% undivided attention listen to some of the late beethovens eventually to work out why I like what I like and dislike what I dislike.

[Daverz]

Peterson-Berger: Symphony No. 3

[asin] B00004R8E1[/asin]

Another beautiful Peterson-Berger symphony, and another gorgeous recording by the Norrköppers. 

[Mirror Image]

Schulhoff
String Sextet
Petersen Quartett

[Mandryka]

This is available now from Linn's website.

[vandermolen]

Symphony No.2.
I like the performances in this set:

Now Night Ride and Sunrise (my first encounter with the work was this performance on LP - one of my first classical LPs). The Eloquence box features the original LP sleeves which reveals it as a 1972 release, which at 16/17 was when I was first 'getting into' classical music. I was also lucky that year was the VW Centenary as it allowed me to attend concerts of his music and explore recordings, like the EMI boxed set of Boult's recordings.

[vandermolen]

Peterson-Berger: Symphony No. 3

[asin] B00004R8E1[/asin]

Another beautiful Peterson-Berger symphony, and another gorgeous recording by the Norrköppers.

Probably my favourite of the cycle, much as I like 2 and 5.

[Que]

Morning listening:



Music from Lassus' later years, from the death in 1579 of his old patron, Albert V of Bavaria, who was succeeded by his son William the Pious.

Q

[Que]

This record I have, if it is the opus I, but I would be interested which ones you recommend.

Yes, it's the Vivaldi Opus I. 

I'd recommend his Corelli recordings on ARCANA, and particularly these recordings (previously issued on Symphonia ):

[asin]B005NKRFTQ[/asin]

[asin]B00XD41LGC[/asin]

Q

[Irons]

Symphony No.2.
I like the performances in this set:

Now Night Ride and Sunrise (my first encounter with the work was this performance on LP - one of my first classical LPs). The Eloquence box features the original LP sleeves which reveals it as a 1972 release, which at 16/17 was when I was first 'getting into' classical music. I was also lucky that year was the VW Centenary as it allowed me to attend concerts of his music and explore recordings, like the EMI boxed set of Boult's recordings.

I listened some time ago to a most interesting radio documentary on Horst Stein. By all accounts he is much lauded in Japan, much more then in the West. I have one LP from your box - superb performances.

My introduction to "Night Ride and Sunset" was Simon Rattle of all people, which I liked a lot.

[Que]

2nd part of this set:

[asin]B0000DD54U[/asin]

Q

[vandermolen]

I listened some time ago to a most interesting radio documentary on Horst Stein. By all accounts he is much lauded in Japan, much more then in the West. I have one LP from your box - superb performances.

My introduction to "Night Ride and Sunset" was Simon Rattle of all people, which I liked a lot.

A picture of that fine looking LP features in my set. I'm not a great fan of Simon Rattle, although his performance of Sibelius's 3rd Symphony is probably my favourite and I have his box set of the symphonies on CD.

[Tsaraslondon]

Discs 4 & 5

Roméo et Juliette - Patricia Kern, Robert Tear, John Shirley-Quirk, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus - Sir Colin Davis.

This, I think, is my favourite of all Davis's recordings of Berlioz's wonderful dramatic symphony. The recording, though analogue, seems to me much clearer than the one for LSO Live and I also prefer the soloists here.

[San Antone]

Bach | The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II
Vladimir Askenazy

[vers la flamme]

Alfred Schnittke: Symphony No.4. Okko Kamu, Stockholm Sinfonietta, Uppsala Akademiska Kammarkör. This is a really great performance. The music is somewhat challenging but I am enjoying what I am hearing.

[Harry]

2nd part of this set:

[asin]B0000DD54U[/asin]

Q

One of my favourites! I simply love the music and especially the performance.

[Todd]

Supremely well executed, but I'm not wild about the soloists. 

[Mirror Image]

Vaughan Williams
Six Studies in English Folksong
The Nash Ensemble

[Traverso]

Bach

Cantatas CD48