What are you listening 2 now?

[Mirror Image]

I never much warmed up to Karajan's Beethoven (or Haydn or Mozart), but he did some great Bruckner, especially toward the end of his life. He was great in opera (I especially like his Puccini opera recordings). He was also great in the Second Viennese School. So there's a lot to admire - he did make a LOT of recordings!

I actually like Karajan's Beethoven. In particular his early cycle for DG. Don't forget that he was an excellent Strauss conductor as well. I agree about his Second Viennese School recordings. I wish he had done Berg's Wozzeck and the Violin Concerto. I imagine him being quite good in Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder, too. Oh well, that's just wishful thinking.

[vers la flamme]

Franz Schubert, transcribed by Franz Liszt for solo piano: Lieder. Oxana Yablonskaya

[Madiel]

NP:

Glass
Violin Concerto No. 2, "The American Four Seasons"
Robert McDuffie, violin
LPO
Alsop



I'm going to be honest here and say that all of the Philip Glass I've heard so far hasn't done much for me. I liked his Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 pretty well, but I think that overall his later work is dull. I'm going to keep trying and I don't regret buying recordings of his music, but so far there hasn't been any musical rewards.

...and this is why online services can be helpful (and other methods of listening). I've been able to to determine I get no musical rewards from Glass without spending any money.

[Mirror Image]

...and this is why online services can be helpful (and other methods of listening). I've been able to to determine I get no musical rewards from Glass without spending any money.

This is where our opinions diverge. I'm a believer in having an extensive music collection, especially when it comes to the 19th and 20th Centuries. If I don't like Glass, this doesn't mean that I'm not open to the possibility of liking his music later on. I did like his 2nd and 3rd symphonies for example. I haven't and will not close that door. The same with someone like Messiaen for example who I have little love for. So this is why having his music in my collection is important to me. Tastes change and opinions can change if you're open-minded. I even have some Bach and Mozart in my collection and they're not even in my "Top 100".

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Shostakovich
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor. Op. 35
Mikhail Rudy, piano
Ole Edvard Antonsen, trumpet
Berliners
Jansons

[Madiel]

This is where our opinions diverge. I'm a believer in having an extensive music collection, especially when it comes to the 19th and 20th Centuries. If I don't like Glass, this doesn't mean that I'm not open to the possibility of liking his music later on. I did like his 2nd and 3rd symphonies for example. I haven't and will not close that door. The same with someone like Messiaen for example who I have little love for. So this is why having his music in my collection is important to me. Tastes change and opinions can change if you're open-minded. I even have some Bach and Mozart in my collection and they're not even in my "Top 100".

Yes, well, I haven't lost any access to Glass. He's right there on the internet if I decide I want to try him for a 6th or 7th time.

It's not that I don't explore. It's that exploring comes before adding things to my collection, not by adding things to my collection.

EDIT: To me, the ability to explore more readily is precisely the benefit the internet has brought. I listen to a far wider variety of music these days than I used to when purchases were necessary.

[Karl Henning]

...and this is why online services can be helpful (and other methods of listening). I've been able to to determine I get no musical rewards from Glass without spending any money.

I've not enjoyed much Glass, myself, so this sounds ideal.

[Karl Henning]

TD: I may or may not have listened to Jn Adams's Chamber Symphony before. Listened to it today, and didn't think much of it.

[Madiel]

I have decided it needs to be a Haydn day. One of my purchases from early in the year not yet listened to.

[classicalgeek]

Sampling von Karajan in 20th-century music - listened to two version's of Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (both on Spotify):

Bartok
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Philharmonia Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan



The Philharmonia sounds kind of scrappy, and the recording is in Mono. Not a great recording - but I found a later version with the Berlin Phil.

Bartok
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Berlin Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan



It's definitely better all round, both in the quality of the playing and the recording. I think I prefer Bartok with more of a bite, a harder edge - but I can see where Karajan is coming from.

[Karl Henning]

.

[Madiel]

I have decided it needs to be a Haydn day. One of my purchases from early in the year not yet listened to.

I had heard op.54/1 as a work before, but now I've listened to op.54/2 for the first time. Gosh there are some interesting and unusual things in there. A slow movement that leads straight into the minuet, and a finale that starts and ends with an Adagio.

[Mirror Image]

Yes, well, I haven't lost any access to Glass. He's right there on the internet if I decide I want to try him for a 6th or 7th time.

It's not that I don't explore. It's that exploring comes before adding things to my collection, not by adding things to my collection.

EDIT: To me, the ability to explore more readily is precisely the benefit the internet has brought. I listen to a far wider variety of music these days than I used to when purchases were necessary.

I guess I'm old school in that I prefer having physical copies of music that I'm interested in and want in my collection. If you don't want Glass in your collection that's your own prerogative. I felt that I needed some of his music represented in my collection. I even have other Minimalists like Reich and Riley in my collection and I'm not a great fan of either of these composers, but the music is there when I want to listen to it. The most important point I want to make here is that I value ownership over a digital download or streaming online.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

NP:

Shostakovich
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor. Op. 35
Mikhail Rudy, piano
Ole Edvard Antonsen, trumpet
Berliners
Jansons

Cool cover art!

[Mirror Image]

Cool cover art!

Yeah, all of Jansons' Shostakovich series has cool covers.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Copland
Dance Panels
Detroit SO
Slatkin

[classicalgeek]

More Karajan:

Prokofiev
Symphony no. 5
Berlin Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan
(on Spotify)



Not my first choice in Prokofiev 5s, but it has its strong points. The first movement, crushing climax aside, kind of left me underwhelmed, but it picked up after that. I particularly like the way Karajan does the finale - it really lets loose at the end, almost in a menacing way! And there's a trombone glissando (in the score, it's three bars after #111) which really comes through - it doesn't in many performances! I think my first choices remain Järvi/Scottish National Orchestra and Slatkin/St. Louis Symphony, but I think Karajan has a lot to say.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Stravinsky
Agon
LA Festival SO
Stravinsky

[Karl Henning]

NP:

Stravinsky
Agon
LA Festival SO
Stravinsky

Always delish!

[Mirror Image]

Always delish!

Indeed. Love Stravinsky's late period works.