What are you listening 2 now?

[Mandryka]

Good idea to listen again to this disc,and indeed  .the alto's sound like girls,very nice.

I love the way Kirkman's recordings are so often an advocacy of unheard music. The big Nicolas Champion De Profundis is a really impressive piece of music I think - Graindelavoix did it but I prefer Kirkman's Scottish coolth here. I'm going to have to find out about this composer. 

Just seen that Graindelavoix recorded a whole Champion mass on this CD, but somehow after Kirkman I'm not ready for the style - tomorrow.

[Traverso]

Scarlatti

Sonaras KK 428-448

[foxandpeng]

Peter Maxwell Davies
Symphony #1
Maxwell Davies
BBC Philharmonic
Naxos

Revisiting Havergal Brian over the last 24 hours made me wonder about Peter Maxwell Davies, another British composer who I've not spent time with for ages. I seem to remember being intrigued by him in the same way that Humphrey Searle has recently interested me.

As an odd aside, the Secondary Boys' School that my eldest and youngest attended, has a Peter Maxwell Davies Centre out of which various musical projects for youth have emerged, including a String Orchestra for young people. Never asked why it was named after him when they were there, but it seems an unusual composer to name after.

Looking forward to re-prodding his work.

[Traverso]

I love the way Kirkman's recordings are so often an advocacy of unheard music. The big Nicolas Champion De Profundis is a really impressive piece of music I think - Graindelavoix did it but I prefer Kirkman's Scottish coolth here. I'm going to have to find out about this composer. 

Just seen that Graindelavoix recorded a whole Champion mass on this CD, but somehow after Kirkman I'm not ready for the style - tomorrow.

I recently listened to the Mass for St. Anthony of Padua with the Pomerium choir wich was a bit disappointing. Kirkman and his ensemble know how to involve you more and take you into the world behind the notes.

   

[Bachtoven]

[André]

I know that some view this version as willful, if not downright eccentric. Well, perversity does fit with the Mahler ethos IMO, along with lucidity and painstaking attention to the myriad incidentals of these vast symphonic journeys. It's a perversity written down very exactly in the score by Mahler himself, and has become received enthusiastically by musicians and audiences alike in the past decades. So much so that it has stopped sounding weird and novel.

Haitink is certainly not known for his eccentricity as a conductor - rather the opposite. All the more reason to see this departure from norm with interest. My opinion is that Haitink has taken stock of the orchestra's capacity to generate immense waves of sound and tremendous orchestral weight. For these qualities to register fully, extra time is needed. IOW tempi are bound to be slower than usual (movements 2, 3 and 5) but that doesn't mean they bog the music down. Quite the opposite in fact.

This is simply glorious playing and its physical impact should be enjoyed, not denied. The one fly in the ointment that remains for some is the super slow tempo in the Adagietto (14 minutes) and here Haitink does indulge massively. One has to listen to the extraordinary legato playing and miraculous dynamic nuances achieved to realize this is an Adagietto the likes of which you'll never hear in concert. The concentration of the playing is such that I listened to it motionless, with bated breath. Unusual and perverse, yes. But simply magical.

[Sergeant Rock]

Josquin Messe Ave Maris Stella




Sarge

[Que]

Josquin Messe Ave Maris Stella




Sarge

Nice... 

[Traverso]

Nice... 

Very 

[Traverso]

I know that some view this version as willful, if not downright eccentric. Well, perversity does fit with the Mahler ethos IMO, along with lucidity and painstaking attention to the myriad incidentals of these vast symphonic journeys. It's a perversity written down very exactly in the score by Mahler himself, and has become received enthusiastically by musicians and audiences alike in the past decades. So much so that it has stopped sounding weird and novel.

Haitink is certainly not known for his eccentricity as a conductor - rather the opposite. All the more reason to see this departure from norm with interest. My opinion is that Haitink has taken stock of the orchestra's capacity to generate immense waves of sound and tremendous orchestral weight. For these qualities to register fully, extra time is needed. IOW tempi are bound to be slower than usual (movements 2, 3 and 5) but that doesn't mean they bog the music down. Quite the opposite in fact.

This is simply glorious playing and its physical impact should be enjoyed, not denied. The one fly in the ointment that remains for some is the super slow tempo in the Adagietto (14 minutes) and here Haitink does indulge massively. One has to listen to the extraordinary legato playing and miraculous dynamic nuances achieved to realize this is an Adagietto the likes of which you'll never hear in concert. The concentration of the playing is such that I listened to it motionless, with bated breath. Unusual and perverse, yes. But simply magical.

Good read 

[Mandryka]

I recently listened to the Mass for St. Anthony of Padua with the Pomerium choir wich was a bit disappointing. Kirkman and his ensemble know how to involve you more and take you into the world behind the notes.

   

I listened to both of those too and felt much the same, there's a huge difference in their approach and I prefer Kirkman by a long chalk.

[Mandryka]

Very 

Re Josquin Ave Maris Stella

In the Capella Pratensis recording of that you can hear the influence of Rebecca Stewart slightly, even though it's Stratton Bull. It's quiet and prayerful, rapt and introspective. Not loud and proud like nearly everyone else.

[Traverso]

Re Josquin Ave Maris Stella

In the Capella Pratensis recording of that you can hear the influence of Rebecca Stewart slightly, even though it's Stratton Bull. It's quiet and prayerful, rapt and introspective. Not loud and proud like nearly everyone else.

I'm curious about this recordingr are you familiar with it ?  By the way beautiful cover !

[Karl Henning]

Brilliant, Karl! Speaking of, here's one of my favorite Bernstein videos...

https://www.youtube.com/v/uT8YsDI2yu4

Nice!

Now:

Hindemith
Sonata for solo viola, Op. 11 № 5 (1919)
Lawrence Power

[Mandryka]

I'm curious about this recordingr are you familiar with it ?  By the way beautiful cover !

Yes I listened to it recently when I found that Chiaroscuro Ensemble of the mass, which rather grabbed all my attention  - I'll listen again soon and post here if I have anything to say.

[MusicTurner]

Mozart, various stuff from the early Masterworks 40CD box on Brilliant.

There's been about 3 different such 40CD boxes from Brilliant. This is catalogue no.99308, possibly from 2004.
https://www.discogs.com/release/12336394-Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart-The-Masterworks

The rather big box has become redundant, among other things because I've got the Brilliant complete works box now too. There are a few differences, for example the selected symphonies are conducted by Haenchen and others, not Linden (and better, IMO). I'll be giving it away or sell it in a pile, together with others (it seems practically impossible to sell on its own here in DK, unless perhaps for maybe 2 - 4 Euros). But listening to some of content - the symphonies, string quintets, wind chamber music and the serenades, the recordings are actually better than I remember them to be, and it's a quite nice, introductory Mozart box to have for newcomers, with varied soundscapes, should I be giving it away. As far as I recall, the Requiem with Kosler is poor and has poor sound, though, and the only vocal music there is the Requiem and the c-minor Mass with Gönnenwein.

[SonicMan46]

Strong, George Templeton (1856-1948) - Symphonic Works w/ Adriano & Moscow SO - Strong the composer/painter (first bio below) was the son of George Templeton Strong, Sr, who seems now to have more fame as a diarist, especially during the American Civil War (see second bio below).  George Jr. lived in Switzerland the last 50 or so years of his life - he had some academic musical training there and had met Franz Liszt; Strong's list of compositions is short (see his link, if interested) and not much more seems available on Amazon USA except the three in my possession below (recordings from 1998-2000). Numerous reviews are attached w/ variable opinions about the quality of the music and the performances, but the recordings are a pleasant listen - he's the last 'American' composer in my collection and the most eccentric and least memorable, I guess.  Dave

George Templeton Strong  was an American composer of classical music and a professional painter. His work has been described as Romantic. He moved to Vevey, Switzerland, in 1897 and lived there and in Geneva for the remainder of his life. In 1879 Strong traveled to the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany, where he became a pupil of Salomon Jadassohn and Richard Hofmann. He composed his third symphonic poem, Undine, Op. 14 in 1883. In 1886 Strong moved to Wiesbaden, where he became close friends with Edward MacDowell. After his 1891 return to the United States, Strong taught at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He disliked the work, and in 1897 he moved back to Europe to Vevey, Switzerland. For the next several years he studied watercolor painting and worked as a professional artist. About 1912, he moved to Geneva, where he began to compose music again. He lived in Geneva for the rest of his life and painted seriously for 30 years. (Source)

George Templeton Strong (1820–1875) was an American lawyer, musician and diarist. His 2,250-page diary, discovered in the 1930s, provides a striking personal account of life in the 19th century, especially during the events of the American Civil War. It covers 1835 to 1875. The historian Paula Baker described him as "perhaps the northern equivalent of South Carolina's Mary Chesnut: quotable, opinionated, and a careful follower of events." He was a well-placed civic leader who was very well known in New York City. He served with distinction on the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. (Source)

[classicalgeek]

Someone else was listening to this yesterday, and I thought I'd listen too (on Spotify):

William Grant Still
Symphony no. 4
Symphony no. 5
Poem for Orchestra
Fort Smith Symphony
John Jeter



Tuneful and uniquely American symphonies. The Fort Smith Symphony isn't exactly Chicago or Cleveland, but they play quite well.

[SonicMan46]

Someone else was listening to this yesterday, and I thought I'd listen too (on Spotify):

William Grant Still
Symphony no. 4
Symphony no. 5
Poem for Orchestra
Fort Smith Symphony
John Jeter



Tuneful and uniquely American symphonies. The Fort Smith Symphony isn't exactly Chicago or Cleveland, but they play quite well.

Hello CGeek - that was me listening to my 4 CDs of WG Still yesterday; all of the orchestral discs where w/ Jeter and the Fort Smith Symphony - the reviewers were quite positive about the 'band', so had to look them up - seems that they source likely excellent musicians from all over the place according to the description quoted below from their website.

But I must say for a Still 'change of pace' that chamber Koch disc is excellent but seems to be OOP and really overpriced now on Amazon, unfortunately - there was a 'piano music' recording w/ Mark Boozer that piqued my interest from the Amazon reviews (but one of my favorite reviewers there J. Scott Morrison dropped a star, so I was hesitant) - but still in the back of my mind.  Dave

Established in 1923, the Fort Smith Symphony is a per-service professional orchestra comprised of musicians from Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Springfield, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Norman, Dallas, Little Rock, New York, Florida, and other communities. The orchestra performs classical, pops, youth and community concerts in Fort Smith and surrounding areas. In recent years, the Symphony has seen tremendous artistic and financial growth. The majority of the Symphony subscription concerts are sold out. (Source)

[71 dB]

Ferruccio Busoni - Fantasia Contrappuntistica - Wolf Harden - Naxos 8.555034