What are you listening 2 now?

[aligreto]

Great to hear you're enjoying Varèse's music. Amériques is, indeed, a special work, but Arcana and Déserts are also solid favorites. Happy listening!

Thank you, John. I am hooked 
I have one of the Naxos CDs but this Chailly set of performances is at another level altogether.

[Mirror Image]

Thank you, John. I am hooked 
I have one of the Naxos CDs but this Chailly set of performances is at another level altogether.

Indeed they are. Chailly was excellent in this kind of music. It's too bad he later on became more of an 'establishment' conductor and his repertoire, IMHO, became less interesting. You should definitely check out all of Boulez's Varèse recordings as well (Sony, DG).

[aligreto]

Indeed they are. Chailly was excellent in this kind of music. It's too bad he later on became more of an 'establishment' conductor and his repertoire, IMHO, became less interesting. You should definitely check out all of Boulez's Varèse recordings as well (Sony, DG).

Thank you for the recommendation.

[Mirror Image]

Thank you for the recommendation.

My pleasure.

[aligreto]

Andrei, your In Box is full my friend. You are obviously a popular guy or else you owe money to a lot of people here 

[bhodges]

Varèse: Amériques, original version [Chailly]





I really like the somewhat mystical, magical feel to this work. It has wonderful woodwind writing. The timpani, brass and strings also help to create a wonderful, menacing and disconcerting underlying atmosphere. This is the only version that I know of this work but I find its presentation to be very powerful and exciting. I think that the scoring is just wonderful and Varese creates such wonderful sonorities and sound pictures; such wonderful orchestral colour. I also enjoy the constant explosions in the dynamics sphere; terrifically powerful and exciting stuff! It must be a wonderful experience to hear this work live.

Chailly and the Concertgebouw have a marvelous legacy, and this set is high on the list. I've been fortunate to hear Amériques live several times: When Christoph von Dohnányi and the Cleveland Orchestra did it at Carnegie Hall, it was easily the loudest (non-amplified) concert I've ever heard.

--Bruce

[Traverso]

Andrei, your In Box is full my friend. You are obviously a popular guy or else you owe money to a lot of people here 

Is this a calculated guess   

[aligreto]

Chailly and the Concertgebouw have a marvelous legacy, and this set is high on the list. I've been fortunate to hear Amériques live several times: When Christoph von Dohnányi and the Cleveland Orchestra did it at Carnegie Hall, it was easily the loudest (non-amplified) concert I've ever heard.

--Bruce

That must have been a wonderful experience altogether. 

[aligreto]

Is this a calculated guess   

No, Jan, I am assuming that he is a popular guy. I hope that I am correct 

[bhodges]

Speaking of the Concertgebouw, now revisiting Dvořák's Eighth with conductor Gustavo Gimeno. Filmed in June 2020, this was the orchestra's first live concert after the pandemic began, and granted, perhaps the emotional impact of the occasion had something to do with the quality of the performance. In any case, it's marvelous. (Not familiar with Gimeno, either.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQTgC1KeIcI&t=1965s

--Bruce

[Traverso]

Messiaen

Finally time to listen to some music 

Catalogue d'Oiseaux  Book 4-6

[Florestan]

No, Jan, I am assuming that he is a popular guy. I hope that I am correct 

I hope it too. 

[pjme]

Who wrote this lines?

Bis repetita placent : the Wiki article explains it all and well - lyrics and english translations  included
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C3%A9h%C3%A9razade_(Ravel)

[Traverso]

I hope it too. 

This is a kind of subversive support 

[Karl Henning]

Stravinsky

CD 12 Chamber Music & Historical Recordings, Vol. 1

Preludium for Jazz Ensemble
Columbia Jazz Ensemble

Concertino for 12 Instruments
Columbia Chamber Ensemble

Octet for Wind Instruments
Columbia Chamber Ensemble

Ragtime for 11 Instruments
Columbia Chamber Ensemble
Toni Koves, cimbalom

Tango
Columbia Jazz Ensemble
Septet
Columbia Chamber Ensemble

Pastorale
Israel Baker, solo vn
Columbia Chamber Ensemble

Ebony Concerto
Benny Goodman
Columbia Jazz Ensemble

Symphonies d'instruments à vent (1947 version)
Northwest German Radio Symphony

This is actually the first I've listened to either the Preludium or the Septet.

[Alek Hidell]

Thanks to all who have wished me well over the past few pages. It's truly appreciated.

TD - as I suggested I would do:

[Traverso]

Messiaen

Catalogue d'Oiseaux

Book 7  Peter Hill

[listener]

a 4-cd set of organ music played by Wiliam Krumbach in instruments at
Pomssen (Richter, 1671), Brandis (Donat 1705),  Freiberg Dom (G. Silbermann 1710-14)   Steinbach (Hänel 1724)
Störmthal ( Hildrbrandtn 1722-23), Grossteuben (Friederici  1754-55), Leibnitz (Heidenreich 1826-28), Schönbach (Jahn 1852)
Nice booklet with picture and histories of the organs and background notes on the music.
Lots of short pieces to demonstrate the range of each instrument and give cataloguers something to do on a quiet evening

[André]

Cello concerto
Spektrum for orchestra
Konzertstück for alto saxophone and orchestra
Night Music for string orchestra

A composer new to me. Dietrich Erdmann (1917-2009) is a german composer active in the second half of the 20th century. Studied with Hindemith and Harald Genzmer. His music certainly has the character of his teachers' but also that which could be found in that country in that period - composers like Dessau, Hartmann, Raphael, Eisler. It is totally unromantic but always tonal (Erdmann rejected dodecaphonism), heavily chromatic but strong on melody (of a tortured kind). It also reminds me of nordic composers like von Koch, Blomdahl, Lidholm, even Pettersson - but that melodic vein is always there front and center. Hard to describe, really. I listened to the disc 3 times. There was always something I wanted to hear again in one or another of the works, ending up playing the disc through just to immerse myself in his sound world. The music is often enigmatic and resolutely unflashy (no cadenza and an unresolved, quiet ending in the concerto). And yet it is very attractive. Recommended if the composers mentioned above are your fach.

P.S. Not to be confused with Eduard Erdmann (1896-1958). I have not been able to find out any relationship between the two families.

[aligreto]

Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps [Beths/Pieterson/Bijlsma/de Leeuw]





This is music and a performance for the ages. This is an incredible piece of music performed by four wonderful musicians here. The performance, on the surface, sounds very simple but it is filled with high emotion, atmosphere and intensity. It is a profound, powerful and compelling performance but it is also filled with tenderness and poignancy. There are many haunting moments in the music and they are all very well portrayed here. I really do wonder what the German commanders at Stalag vi 11  a  - Görlitz felt when they heard this music live in that particular situation? Was their conscience moved at all? Who could not be affected by that devastating ending?

This post is for Jan [Traverso].