What are you listening 2 now?

[vers la flamme]

Must be in the air:

Sibelius
Symphonies # 4 & 6
CBSO
Rattle

I have not heard any of Sir Simon's Sibelius but I have a feeling it's really good, especially the CBSO recordings. I heard him say in an interview that he learned much from Paavo Berglund. Apparently, Berglund shared his conducting scores with their annotations with Rattle. Anyway, you are right that Sibelius is in the air. I know I for one have been binging on his music heavily.

Thread duty:



Witold Lutosławski: String Quartet. LaSalle Quartet, on DG. This sparse work was my introduction to Lutosławski when I randomly decided to pick up this CD one day; the other 3 quartets presented here are also great. His music is an ongoing obsession for me.

Has anyone heard the recording on Hyperion from the Royal String Quartet, coupled with Penderecki's three quartets? I want to hear that one. I think it's relatively recent.

[aligreto]

Strauss: Four Last Songs [Norman/Masur]

[Todd]

Jumping ahead in the Firkusny big box to one of his last recordings.  I picked this up long ago when I still shopped at BRO, and now as then, it strikes me as one of the greatest song recitals yet recorded.  Pianist and singer meld perfectly, and both deliver the goods.  Benackova sings beautifully and in a few pieces one must be careful not to well up.  Firkusny is the model of taste.  He pulls off a similar feat in his Supraphon recital with Josef Suk, which still stands out as one of the great chamber recitals in my collection.  The dude was a kick ass collaborator.

[Traverso]

This reminded me of something Louis Thiry says in his recording of Auauxo

Yes indeed,I sympathize with these thoughts and they are the words of a real artist. There are people who know every note of a piece and have never tasted the secret that is hidden in the notes. Not only emotionally, but also intellectually, spiritually  The doors of perception, the entry of the unknown, the music that we know can always reveal new things to us without changing a note.It is a certain state of mind that is needed.The Art of the Fugue is a perfect example,there is more than what is visible in the score.Thiry is a musician I feel comfortable with.It feels so natural that he as an interpreter is invisible.like a narrator in a documentary who speakes so well that it draws no attention to himself.Art is a living thing,it would be meaningless otherwise.We are pupils from start to finish.

[SymphonicAddict]

Pavel Haas - String quartet No. 2 From the Monkey Mountains

I had already known this work previously from another recording. I also consider that (today) is like if I had listened to this work for the first time. A super quartet from the highest talent. This is a tour de force. Rhytmical complexity at its utmost. Memorability aplenty. Strong Czech folk accents throughout. The ending prepares us for a real riot, with percussion included!

It belongs to the Best String Quartets Fame Hall for sure.

[Irons]

I just did a bit of research into the Bax/Boult conundrum Lol by looking at my copy of Boult's biography by Michael Kennedy. It seems that Boult had a clear preference for the tone poems and there are a number of references to him conducting November Woods, the Garden of Fand and Tintagel (the works he recorded for Lyrita). However he also conducted the Symphonic Variations and Winter Legends as well as symphonies 1,4 and 7 (Premiere performance in the USA). Boult wrote an autobiography 'Blowing My Own Trumpet' and it would be interesting to see if he has anything to say about Bax but I don't have a copy of the book. Somewhere I have a copy of a book of letters to Boult but not too sure where it is.

Great stuff Jeffrey, excellent research. So Sir Adrian did conduct Bax symphonies and some would say the least popular three of the set.

Edit: The 6th Symphony is dedicated to Boult.

[SymphonicAddict]

And this:



Morawski-Dabrowa - Ulalume

A rare Polish composer whose an important portion of his output is lost. As the title of the work indicates, it's based on the Poe's work, denoting too a strongly atmospheric composition as effectively it is. The next works titled (Don Quixote and Nevermore) will come next!




Halffter - Sinfonietta

What a curious work!! I loved this instantly. I was powerfully reminded of Baroque airs and rhythms. Its magical orchestration has nothing to envy any work of Respighi, Stravinsky or even Martinu. Wonderful music!




Symphony No. 1

A frosty creation as cold as a Finnish iceberg if ever were one. A sort of Sibelian cragginess permeates it, knows how to convey the sensation of an icy and raw landscape. Havergal Brian is another composer who often reminds me of Butterworth. They share many ideas indeed. A nice discovery.

[André]

This collection of waltz arrangements by Schönberg, Berg and Webern is the most famous by-product of the music workshop called Association for Private Musical Performance. At the premiere Schönberg played the first violin part, Berg the harmonium and Webern the cello. It has been recorded many times and I've loved them for many decades. My favourite performance remains that of Ensemble 13 Baden Baden, but this one runs it close. They clearly have fun performing them and their relish is infectious. The rubato touches arise from the music instead of being pasted on (e.g. Boston Symphony Chamber Players) and the lilt to the rythms sounds echt-viennese. A beauty.

[Todd]

[SimonNZ]

[SimonNZ]

[SymphonicAddict]

Kreutzer Sonata

Flawless both work and interpretation.




String quartet No. 2

Never had heard of this composer before. My first meeting with his music was better than expected. Rewarding stuff.




Symphony No. 4

I feel like more serious and craggier than his 3rd Symphony. The Neoclassicism from this composer is definitely on par with Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Honegger, among others. This recording sounds direct, emotionless and quite sharp. The 2nd movement involves certain pathos, though.

[SimonNZ]

[Mirror Image]

I am a big fan of Ashkenazy's Sibelius but this came as a surprise to me when I first heard and enjoyed it. Normally I like my Sibelius to be on the ice cold, craggy side but I find Ashkenazy's Sibelius to be on the warmer side of the spectrum. I think that his emphasis on the dramatic won me over.

I'm with you in that I like Sibelius performances that sound as if they were performed on an icy mountaintop. I'll definitely check out Ashkenazy's at some point as this warmer approach you speak of has me a bit intrigued.

[Mirror Image]

I've enjoyed his recordings, in particular Symphony No.7 coupled with Tapiola. I also like his CD featuring Walton's symphonies and was deeply impressed hearing him conduct Shostakovich's 8th Symphony in Liverpool during my student days:

Very cool, Jeffrey. Ashkenazy is certainly a good conductor. I love his Rachmaninov.

[Madiel]

Bach, first listen to BWV 36.



Interesting because the sacred cantata is built from an earlier secular one. What Bach added was several chorales, with no recitatives at all.

[Madiel]

Beethoven, op.12 violin sonatas

[vandermolen]

Great stuff Jeffrey, excellent research. So Sir Adrian did conduct Bax symphonies and some would say the least popular three of the set.

Edit: The 6th Symphony is dedicated to Boult.

Thanks Lol. The research was nothing special, although I have to say that it was not that easy to look up all the references to Bax in the index of the Kennedy/Boult biography, lying on the sofa with the cat asleep on my chest. I'd forgotten that No.6 was dedicated to Boult. Coincidentally I was listening to it yesterday. A pity that we don't have any recording of Boult conducting a Bax symphony.

[Que]

Morning listening:

[asin]B00EHZUOCI[/asin]
Q

[vandermolen]

Very cool, Jeffrey. Ashkenazy is certainly a good conductor. I love his Rachmaninov.

Yes, me too John. I like both his conducting of the symphonies (and 'The Bells') and his performances of the concertos. I grew up with my mother's LP of Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto with Ashkenazy playing and Fistoulari conducting - a genuinely classic performance.
This is a fine CD: