What are you listening 2 now?

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Nielsen
Little Suite for Strings, Op. 1
Danish National SO
Schirmer



The work that brought Nielsen his first taste of success. A lovely work for sure.

[André]

Friedrich Klose (1862-1942) was a student of Bruckner for 4 years. Apparently his music was very well regarded before WWI (he stopped composing for good in 1918). Ilsebill is a conflation of opera/fairy tale and symphonie dramatique à la Roméo et Juliette, a work Klose hugely admired. It's a long opus, lasting 2 1/4 hours. What I hear really is an opera, except that Klose structured it a bit like a symphony with a sonata-like first movement, scherzo, slow movement and dramatic finale. Of course only a well-versed musician or musicologist would detect the underlying framework.

The present performance was released by CPO in 2009. It is led by Marcus Bosch and hails from a 2004 production from  the Aachen Theater. Bosch and the Aachen orchestra went on to record an integral set of the Bruckner symphonies that received some acclaim. From Bruckner to Klose must have been an easy step for them. The music has little to do with that of AB though. I find it closer to Humperdinck, with not a little of Lohengrin thrown in (it was the first score he ever owned and it remained a work he held in the highest esteem). Maybe some very early Mahler, too (Klagende Lied). So, an interesting find, but not a lost masterpiece. What is definitely special though is the composer's orchestration, going from rather sparse (strings and harp in the first scene) to very dense and sophisticated as the work progresses, with organ, off-stage trombones, children's chorus, bells, thunder machine added to the already very full romantic orchestra.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Saygun
Symphony No. 3, Op. 39
Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic Orchestra
Ari Rasilainen

I think it's important to remember that Saygun was a Modernist. He didn't have a Romantic viewpoint of music. This is actually pretty damn good! I detect a little of Bartók here and there, but I don't really understand that particular comparison to be honest. When I went to read some reviews on Amazon, I was wondering why this recording (among others in this series) received so few stars and then I ran across a guy who wrote a review stating that he's not sure if he likes it and that's all he wrote! Gosh, move over Mark Twain, we have a prodigious writer amongst us!

[foxandpeng]

Eduard Tubin
Symphonies 3, 8, 4  9
BIS

General GMG-inspired Tubin back to back while football pre-match and first half is on. Good to hear these works again after a bit of a break hearing other things.Tubin was the first Estonian composer I had ever heard. I hope to have an equally long and fruitful relationship with Pēteris Vasks going forward...

[ritter]

Further exploring Ramón Barce's string quartets, with SQs V, VI & VII. CD 2 of the complete traversal by the Cuarteto Leonor:


I had started to listen to the cycle late last year (SQs I through IV), and was favourably impressed, particularly by the first one. Now the first movement, moderadamente ligero, of SQ V is sounding very attractive. Much freer than the early quartet (which in its "orthodoxy" I found very appealing TBH), but beautifully constructed and very "quartetic" (if you get what mean).

Clearly, Barce's cycle is, along with Cristóbal Halffter's, Spain's great contribution to the SQ repertoire of the late 20th century.

[Symphonic Addict]

Why I took too long to give this work a proper listen! Simply amazing. One of the best choral works I've heard lately. From the very beginning with the tolling bells you know that what is to come is going to be very affecting and special, and effectively it was so. Both the choral and orchestral writing convey such beauty in a way that leave you moved and touched. Jeffrey was right about the greatness of this sublime masterpiece. It's that good. Very recommended.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Sibelius
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43
Wiener Philharmoniker
Maazel

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Dag Wiren - Symphony No.3

Awesome cover art! 

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Sibelius
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43
Wiener Philharmoniker
Maazel

This was just an astounding performance! I had written off Maazel's Sibelius earlier, but I seem to be more open this time around and let me say that the remastering has given these performances a new life. I'm not going to say there's an earth-shattering world of difference in the older vs. newer remastered set, but it was enough for my ears to perk up and notice certain things in the mix that I hadn't quite heard before. There seems to be a bit of a lift in frequencies and the overall sonic picture sounds clearer --- or, at least, to my ears this is the case.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

dEAR kind GmG ful of love mutual respect empathy, you cherrish quality harvest virtues (quality not inherant to all man/woman, welcome aboard, bless yah , good will thinker that are brainiac,, I salute you all anyway, was listening to an old LP of Josquin Desprez,  il Josquin, the gret  composer, the man the legend, .The album is missa  L'Homme Armée by Die Musica antiqua Wien & Die Prager Madrigalisanger
Release in 1963 Supraphon,  very good , tres bon ce vynil!!!! 

Nice label.

[bhodges]

And more Mahler from Vänskä and Minnesota: the Tenth, also released in 2020.



--Bruce

[Sergeant Rock]

Symphony #3 from the same set 

Good choice. It ranks second in my list of fave Tubin symphonies.

Sarge

[vers la flamme]

Eduard Tubin
Symphonies 3, 8, 4  9
BIS

General GMG-inspired Tubin back to back while football pre-match and first half is on. Good to hear these works again after a bit of a break hearing other things.Tubin was the first Estonian composer I had ever heard. I hope to have an equally long and fruitful relationship with Pēteris Vasks going forward...

Vasks is not an Estonian but a Latvian composer (and one I should probably check out one of these days). Tubin was the second Estonian composer I ever heard after Arvo Pärt and so far I'm two for two with composers of that country, as both are excellent. Need to hear more.

[Undersea]

Recent Listening:




Mozart: Violin Concerto #4 in D, K 218


Enjoying one of my new recordings...

[VonStupp]

Why I took too long to give this work a proper listen! Simply amazing. One of the best choral works I've heard lately. From the very beginning with the tolling bells you know that what is to come is going to be very affecting and special, and effectively it was so. Both the choral and orchestral writing convey such beauty in a way that leave you moved and touched. Jeffrey was right about the greatness of this sublime masterpiece. It's that good. Very recommended.

Indeed. Katalsky's Requiem was a major release for that composer and in excellent performances too.

[VonStupp]

Edward Elgar
The Light of Life (Lux Christi), op. 29
Judith Howarth, Linda Finnie
Arthur Davis, John Shirley-Quirk
LSO & Chorus - Sir Richard Hickox

Splendid, but so is Sir Charles Groves on EMI with Margaret Marshall, Helen Watts, and JS-Q. Never cared for Robin Leggate's tenor, though.

At only 60-minutes, Light would be an excellent introduction into Elgar's wide world of oratorios without diving headlong into the multi-disc ones.

[Undersea]

Now Playing:




Faure: Various Nocturnes


Alright... I am off to Bed - the above should be a suitable Soundtrack...

[vers la flamme]

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.2 in C minor, the "Resurrection". Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic, The Collegiate Chorale, with Jennie Tourel and Lee Venora, vocal soloists

Another favorite Mahler performance in celebration of the composer's birthday... A bit of trivia about this symphony I just learned: the author Stefan Zweig, whom I have been reading and enjoying greatly in recent weeks, owned the manuscript to this work.

[Mirror Image]

It's symphonic poem mania!

Dvořák
The Noon Witch, Op. 108, B. 196
Czech PO
Mackerras



Sibelius
Nightride & Sunrise, Op. 55
Scottish National Orchestra
Gibson



Tchaikovsky
Fatum, Op. 77
Russian National Orchestra
Pletnev



Glazunov
Stenka Razin, Op. 13
USSR State SO
Svetlanov



Saint-Saëns
Le rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31
Philharmonia
Dutoit



Barber
Music for a Scene from Shelley, Op. 7
Royal Scottish NO
Alsop

[Karl Henning]

One of my favorite discs!

CD 3

Shostakovich Pf Trio № 2 in e minor, Op.67
Tchaikovsky Pf Trio in a minor, Op. 50
Argerich/Kremer/Maisky