What are you listening 2 now?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 5 on a live recording with Rafael Kubelik and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1983....ahhh!  Been ages since I had listened to it....wow!  Very intense...feels like a battle between light and darkness.  In excellent sound.

Part of a nice 2-fer on EMI Classics (CD) which also includes his Violin, Flute and Clarinet Concertos and his Wind Quintet (the last with the Melos Ensemble).   

PD

[Harry]

Pjotr Ilych Tchaikovsky.

The Nutcracker.

Marinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev.
SACD.

A noble performance, that it is. Such lovely detail, and heart wrenching emotion, brilliance of scoring, well chosen tempi. My heart leaps a mile and more, hearing what maestro Gergiev does. I am profoundly touched by his interpretation. Never sounded the wood winds so seductive, never such searing violins, and deep humming basses. This is a favourite for me, together with his recording with the Kirov orchestra, mad some years ago on Philips which is just slightly slower in tempi, but not less inspirational.
Recommended.

[Karl Henning]

Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 5 on a live recording with Rafael Kubelik and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1983....ahhh!  Been ages since I had listened to it....wow!  Very intense...feels like a battle between light and darkness.  In excellent sound.

Part of a nice 2-fer on EMI Classics (CD) which also includes his Violin, Flute and Clarinet Concertos and his Wind Quintet (the last with the Melos Ensemble).   

PD

The Quintet [too] is brilliant!

[Traverso]

Mozart

I'll stay a little longer with Mozart, no HIP performance but "Good Old Klemperer"

Symhony No.29 & 31

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The Quintet [too] is brilliant!

I'll visit that next; listening to his fifth symphony was my little reward for dusting my stereo off...more to do in living room.     Then more music! 

PD

[Harry]

Marin Marais.

Quatrieme Livre de Pieces de Viole, 1717.

CD II.

Suitte d'un gout Estranger.
Continuo: Harpsichord, Theorbo, Guitar, Harp, Bass Viol.

Francois Joubert Caillet, Bass Viole.
L'Acheron.

Sublime performances, and well recorded too. There is warmth and commitment. Music making of the highest order.

[VonStupp]

It is a first listen, it has its moments but it is err...challenging, quite shrieking 

Still, part of my getting accustomed to Shostakovich 

I have lived with his six concertos for long enough to enjoy them greatly, but I remember the initial challenge, especially the gloomy cello concertos. The Piano Concertos were the easiest for me to love.

Hope you are having fun exploring them! VS

[VonStupp]

If you are looking for another performance to enjoy, I can highly recommend Monteux and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

+1

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It is a first listen, it has its moments but it is err...challenging, quite shrieking 

Still, part of my getting accustomed to Shostakovich 

Yes, it can be a bit jarring at first listen; I handed a copy of the classic recordings with Rostropovich on EMI (Great Recordings series); alas, it wasn't his cuppa tea!  And he's fairly adventurous music-wise though classically, he does gravitate towards early music overall. 

Prompted by Karl, I put on Carl Nielsen's Wind Quintet with the Melos Ensemble from the same CD set that I had mentioned earlier:  wonderful!  How different and how clever!  The first movement had me envisioning a bunch of birds--all different types and sizes--all chirping away in their own worlds but in the same vicinity.  I don't know the hymn tune that Nielsen wrote and was referencing (in 11 variations) in the last movement, but I certainly enjoyed it. 





PD

[Karl Henning]

Yes, it can be a bit jarring at first listen; I handed a copy of the classic recordings with Rostropovich on EMI (Great Recordings series); alas, it wasn't his cuppa tea!  And he's fairly adventurous music-wise though classically, he does gravitate towards early music overall. 

Prompted by Karl, I put on Carl Nielsen's Wind Quintet with the Melos Ensemble from the same CD set that I had mentioned earlier:  wonderful!  How different and how clever!  The first movement had me envisioning a bunch of birds--all different types and sizes--all chirping away in their own worlds but in the same vicinity.  I don't know the hymn tune that Nielsen wrote and was referencing (in 11 variations) in the last movement, but I certainly enjoyed it. 





PD

Very nice!

TD:

CD 9:

Schoenberg

String Quartet № 2 in f# minor, Op. 10
Uta Graf, sop

String Quartet № 3, Op. 30

[VonStupp]

Reinhold Glière
The Sirens, op. 33

Slovak PO - Stephen Gunzenhauser

Glière seems to be going for a Scriabin-esque tone poem, but with far more Romanticism. The sound isn't great from this mid-80's recording.

VS

[Bachtoven]

Vibrato? Check. Modern grand piano? Check. Sounds authentic to me! I wouldn't mind a little more legato playing from the pianist, though. Excellent sound.

[André]

Little-known works of Busoni's. The 'Indianische Fantasie' is not about India, but about what the booklet calls Red Indians  . It's a substantial work for piano and orchestra. Gesang vom Reigen der Geister (Song of the Spirit dance) also draws from Native American folklore. It belongs to Busoni's orchestral elegies (like his better-known Berceuse élégiaque). Both works were written near the beginning of WWI. Funny that another italian composer wrote an opera about the Wild West at the same period. There must have been a Buffalo Bill factor at work then. Fine performances and very good sound.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Carl Nielsen's Violin Concerto.  Beautiful work--melodic and virtuosic and played by the extremely talented Norwegian violinist Arve Tellefsen.  Recorded in 1975 with the Danish Radio S.O. and Herbert Blomstedt.

PD

[Iota]

Debussy: Preludes Book 1

Youri Egorov (piano)


A marvellous thing. Egorov is so exquisitely responsive to the seemingly infinite subtleties of the score, it's quite breathtaking at times.

[Sergeant Rock]

Havergal Brian Symphony No. 15




Sarge

[vandermolen]

Bax: Symphony No.6 LPO/Thomson.
My favourite recording of this work. Thomson allows the symphony to breath and I like the reverberant acoustic in All Saints Church, Tooting:

[Sergeant Rock]

Havergal Brian Symphony No. 16




Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Havergal Brian Symphony No. 17




Sarge

[André]

Piano concerto by women composers. All 3 are substantial works that would be big hits in the concert hall. There is drive, energy, lots of colours and plenty of fireworks. Modernist/neo-classical would describe the styles best, but there is plenty of repose when needed. That's an excellent release.