What are you listening 2 now?

[Karl Henning]

Yes it is.   One of these days I'd like to see some of these films, though I suspect the quality may be a bit ... variable.

The Kozintsev Hamlet and King Lear are obligatory viewing! New Babylon is also Kozintsev, and if there is ever a restoration release, I'm in!

TD:

Tansman
Symphony № 4 in c# minor (1939)
Melbourne Symphony
Caetani

[Mirror Image]

I don't have that set and would be interested to hear what you think of it.  The Capriccio set is good solid fare, maybe just occasionally lacking the last ounce of exuberance that Rozhdestvensky brings.

Oh, I've heard this whole set before. Serebrier brings fire and brimstone.

[VonStupp]

César Franck
Rédemption, FWV 52

Lambert Wilson - speaker, Béatrice Uria‐Monzon - mezzo
Orfeón Donostiarra - chorus
Toulouse NO - Michel Plasson (rec. 1993-4)

Franck's cantata Rédemption is enchanting, and at half the length of Les Béatitudes, a bit more concise. The first half is the treasure, with a charmingly bucolic intro, some well-written, dramatic choral moments, and a beautiful solo from Uria-Monzon. The second half is a little too gentle and devotional to maintain its length, although the famous Morceau Symphonique movement belts out its horns.

I am still not sure any of these symphonic choral works by Franck are masterpieces, but I have enjoyed them both, moreso this one I think. Like Berlioz, Gounod, and Saint-Saëns, Franck's writing for chorus is so unique compared to the Germans, who I am more familiar with from this era. I probably won't continue on to his Mass or Seven Last Words for a while.

I was not overly familiar with this recording's choir or soloist, but they were all top-notch. Plasson and his Toulouse ensemble were in really good form too. The spoken portions are skippable, but Lambert Wilson's small portions of French are likeable and not overly dramatic.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

This entire recording:



Pure magic!

Yes, fabulous disc!

[Karl Henning]

CD 9:

Apollon Musagète
Concerto in D for strings

[Mirror Image]

Yes, fabulous disc!

Yes, indeed. It's too bad that Fischer didn't do a complete survey of Kodály's orchestral and choral works (w/ orchestra).

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

That's one of my best CD purchases of recent years Danny - especially for Symphony No.4, which I rate very highly. No.2 is great as well but I already knew that through a different recording. Let us know what you think of it.

+1. Excellent music.

[Mirror Image]

First-Listen Thursday:

Kodály
Theatre Overture
Philharmonia Hungarica
Antal Doráti

[Karl Henning]

Via YouTube
Ruth Gipps (1921-99)
Symphony № 4, Op. 61 (1972)

[vers la flamme]

Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1-4, BWV 1046-1049. Christopher Hogwood, Academy of Ancient Music

Not necessarily my go-to for these great works, but a solid performance.

[Karl Henning]

Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1-4, BWV 1046-1049. Christopher Hogwood, Academy of Ancient Music

Not necessarily my go-to for these great works, but a solid performance.

Agreed!

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Harrison
Symphony No. 2 "Elegiac"
American Composers Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies

[André]

One never has too many Nelson Masses in one's collection  . This one is strongly sung and played, with clean, unfussy conducting from Rilling. The Nelson is unique among Haydn's masses in dispensing altogether with the wind band (except trumpets of course). His patron Prince Esterhazy had sacked them from his orchestra, so Haydn made virtue out of necessity and replaced all the winds and horns with an elaborate organ part. And of course he added 3 trumpets which, along with the timpani underlined the feelings implied by the work's title (Missa in angustiis, or Mass for Troubled  Times). Contrary to popular belief Haydn didn't compose the Mass to celebrate Lord Nelson's naval victory at Aboukir. The news reached Austria 2 weeks after the mass had been completed. For Haydn it was just his annual commission for the name day of Prince Esterhazy's wife, Princess Maria Hermenegild. Nelson did visit Ezterhazy 2 years later with his mistress, Lady Hamilton, and heard the mass performed during his stay, hence the association with him.

The only idiosyncratic bit of interpretation is the unnaturally prominent timpani part. I know of no other version where the timpani are so strikingly angry. A good stroke of interventionism from the podium ! The important solo soprano part is excellently performed by Letizia Scherrer, of whom I have never heard before. The engineering is excellent. A very, very fine version. Top choice remains Pinnock, but it rivals the best: Swarowsky, Harnoncourt, Ferencsik.

The Creation Mass (Schöpfungsmesse) is named thus because there is a rather striking self-quotation in a solo for the bass from Haydn's oratorio The Creation (Die Schöpfung) composed 3 years before. This was a quirk from the composer, quoting a passage from the Adam and Eve duet where the 'glückliche paar' are enjoying each other's company and setting it to the solemn words of the Qui tollis peccata mundi - «Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world« . This so incensed Empress Maria Theresa that she asked Haydn to change her copy of the Mass to strike out the offending passage. In any case, there are other delicious haydnesque traits in this work, like a saucy little organ solo at Et incarnatus est. Another excellent performance from Rilling, this time with oregonian forces. In both masses Rilling sometimes drives the choral allegros hard but that's the only small problem I can find with these performances. To have both works on the same disc offers excellent value.

[Symphonic Addict]

Ifukube: Salome (Ballet)

Fantastic and exciting music. I couldn't guess that this ballet was composed by him. However, the rhythmic vitality in several passages could bring some references of his style. I'm a sucker for works with exotic tinges like this. Ifukube is clearly my favorite Japanese composer.

Edit: The last minutes are absolutely stirring!!!

[T. D.]

Haven't yet connected with this. Not sure whether it's the music (huge Bach fan but don't fully "get" AoF and prefer the string quartet version), the performance, or the sound quality (thin with soft output level). Maybe it'll work this time...

[JBS]

From the Berlioz Rediscovered set

[Symphonic Addict]

Dutilleux: Le Loup

A quite interesting ballet. It's not Dutilleux with his unmistakable voice since there are strong reminiscences of Prokofiev, but it doesn't mean that the music doesn't have value for itself. The cover art is also quite provocative.




Picturesque is a word that comes to my mind on hearing this ballet. The music is quite easygoing, joyful, colourful, but I don't consider it strong enough to hold a special place in Saint-Saëns's output.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Shostakovich
Hamlet, Op. 116a
Belgian RSO
Serebrier

[Mirror Image]

First-Listen Friday:

Kodály
Summer Evening
Philharmonia Hungarica
Antal Doráti

[Mirror Image]

From the Berlioz Rediscovered set

Nice!