What are you listening 2 now?

[Wanderer]

What do you think of the Barenboim set? I would love a Mozart concertos set with the ECO, and there are three I'm interested in: Perahia, Uchida, and the aforementioned.

I like the Barenboim set, but if these are your options, Perahia is the clear choice.

[vandermolen]

An influential critic of his time said: "That in Finland Kuula was now second to none but Sibelius". I think that is driving the argument too much. He is certainly a composer with a gift for fine melodies, and in this this he fits well into his time. Madetoja was a good friend of him, and he said, "Here is a man who knows what he wants and is confident in his powers". Thanks to his teacher Arne Järnefelt Kuula became one of Sibelius's few composition students in 1907. His music met with great success, but his life was short, very short. I like his music, which is akin to Sibelius but nevertheless has its own distinctive character. Dreamy, magical, well formed melodies, and clear lines.

That sounds most interesting. Thank you Harry.

[vandermolen]

My 12 year old Kimi and I listened to the York Bowen Viola Concerto twice today. Well, we were just listening to it once, but after I changed to a Hindemith CD, she asked me to put the Bowen back on. "I want to listen to it again, especially the leitmotif in the first movement." She said.

Well, we listened again and I have to admit, maybe I wasn't paying full attention the first time, but the work is absolutely stunning!

I'm very impressed with Kimi's response! Clearly I need to listen again to York Bowen, whose music has previously not made much of an impression on me.

Now playing:
Bax Symphony No.6 LPO/Thomson
I have never previously liked this symphony as much as others have (it's often considered to be the greatest of the 7 Bax symphonies). However, Thomson is bringing this epic work alive for me. I think that part of the problem before was that I first encountered the symphony through Norman Del Mar's performance on a Lyrita LP. I think that it's the only example of the five Bax symphonies recorded by Lyrita (1,2,5,6,7) where other performances are better. The boxed-in recording of the Lyrita doesn't help. I prefer all the other recordings (even the much-maligned one by Douglas Bostock) to Del Mar's. There are some fine recordings by Del Mar (Stanford's Irish Symphony, Moeran's Sinfonietta for example) but I find his performance of the Bax symphony very underwhelming. I also saw him give the most dreary performance of 'A Pastoral Symphony' in London, which was the worst performance of a VW symphony that I have seen live. Thomson's, however, is a fine, brooding performance and recording as is the one conducted by Lloyd-Jones on Naxos (the best of that series I think). The unpromising sounding 'Festival Overture' is also a fine and entirely characteristic work:

[Madiel]

Now playing selections from this exquisite recording:

I don't think I knew you had that one. I've yet to listen to all of it, but so far 'exquisite' is a totally appropriate word.

[Brahmsian]

Dvořák: Symphony No. 6 (Witold Rowicki / London Symphony Orchestra) - Love the piece, first time hearing this recording. Still give a slight edge to von Dohnányi and Cleveland, for sheer magnificence, but this one (from 1965) has a lot of pizzazz and charm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqx_f2yualE

--Bruce

Very nice Bruce! 

[aligreto]

Strauss: Orchestral songs sung by Soile Isokoski





Das Rosenband
Ich Wollt ein Sträusslein binden
Sausle, liebe Myrte
Arls mir dein Lied erklang
Befreit

This is wonderful stuff. What a voice! What a particularly magnificent delivery of Befreit. It sounds like a whole opera in just five and a half minutes. I could play that version on repeat all day!

[Harry]

Uuno Klami.
Violin Concerto (1943/1954)

Einar Englund.
Violin Concerto (1981)

Benjamin Schmid, Violin.
Oulu SO, Johannes Gustavsson.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Good Morning GmG, I'm waking up listening to Johannes Tinctoris on NON-SUCH label , wild guess it's an LP 
Yep and it's called: Missa Trium Vocum = Mass For three voices.

Love the LP sleeve stunning purple whit a nice painting of era. The recording is quite decent It's ensemble Roger Blanchard, so I know what to expect, that is, satisfaction and that it fellas of GmG.

[vandermolen]

Haven't listened to this in years.

It's a very nice CD and I like those Isaac Levitan paintings.

Like this one:

[Que]

Another performance of Haydn's Esterházy sonatas.

How many period instrument Haydn keyboard sets does one need?  Well.... not more than the three I have now, I gather! 
But listening to these sonatas by Beghin on harpsichord, Schornsheim on a Dulcken fortepiano and Brautigam on his McNulty after Walter illustrates the added value of different perspectives.

BTW the Brautigam is totally appropriate for those usually not wedded/accustomed to fortepianos.
And he is damn good, so why waste your time on other performances? 

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

La Venexiana and La Compagnia del Madrigale.
     

These look like just the ticket! Molte grazie, signor Stella!  I really like Glossa as a general rule. 

[aligreto]

Two works by Varese:





Offrandes [Chailly] This is a stark and bleak sound world but it is also wonderfully intriguing. The scoring is very effective in creating such an atmosphere.
Hyperism [Chailly] I do not quite know what to say about this work other than to say that I like it even though it is far beyond my comfort zone. I do not have the vocabulary to analyze it.

[Harry]

Tuomas Kantelinen.

The Snow Queen, Ballet-Suite.

Finnish National Opera Orchestra, Tuomas Kantelinen.

World Premiere at the Finnish National Ballet, 23-11-2012. Choreography by Kenneth Greve.

[bhodges]

Medtner: Sonata Romantica, Op. 53 No. 1 (1929 - 1930) - This excellent version by pianist Geoffrey Tozer is synced with the score, which I find is often a marvelous way of listening. It can be instructive to see how the notes on the page are interpreted by the pianist, and then end up in our ears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_EAmPjn08Y

--Bruce

[Papy Oli]

Good afternoon all,

First listen to Charpentier.

[aligreto]

Good afternoon all,

First listen to Charpentier.

I hope you like it Olivier. I find it to be divine.

[Iota]

Schnittke: String Quartet No.3


Alfred certainly lays it all uncompromisingly on the table (not only enthusiastic listeners endangering this long-suffering piece of furniture .. ), as is often his way.

I listened to this straight after Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, music that seems for large stretches to exist in the moment, which appears to be the one place that Schnittke is unable to access, one could even say some of the music's energy comes from its at times frantic efforts to do so. Whatever the truth, two highly compelling pieces of music.

[Biffo]

Sibelius: Symphony No 5 in E flat major, Op 82 - Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste

[bhodges]

Schnittke: String Quartet No.3


Alfred certainly lays it all uncompromisingly on the table (not only enthusiastic listeners endangering this long-suffering piece of furniture .. ), as is often his way.

I listened to this straight after Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, music that seems for large stretches to exist in the moment, which appears to be the one place that Schnittke is unable to access, one could even say some of the music's energy comes from its at times frantic efforts to do so. Whatever the truth, two highly compelling pieces of music.

Love this quartet, but don't know this recording. My introduction to Schnittke was back in the late 1980s, during three consecutive nights by the Kronos Quartet. On each concert, they did one of the three (at the time) quartets, and I could hardly contain excitement. Had never heard anything like them.

Your Schoenberg/Schnittke pairing is intriguing -- I may have to try that.

--Bruce

[Papy Oli]

I hope you like it Olivier. I find it to be divine.

Hi Fergus,
I think this composer is falling in the category of "I appreciate the beauty of it more than I like it" and into a soundscape I wouldn't have a huge appetite for. Sampling some tracks here and there from those at the moment. I hear how nice it is, it just doesn't grab me. There is a always certain "sameness" to my ears too in baroque music (I don't mean this latter comment disrespectfully, I see it as my shortcoming on this particular period)  0:)