What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2

I don't know many recordings of Tchaikovsky's PCs, and this one is getting the one I revisit the most.

This is a better work than the more famous PC 1, I consider.

[André]

Indeed! Very enjoyable... Good evening, DBK.

And now, another old favourite: the two Ramuntcho suites by Gabriel Pierné.



I bought this disc more than 30 years  in Biarritz (i.e. in situ so to speak, given the Basque theme of Pierre Loti's novel / play for which Pierné wrote the incidental music), and I've revisited it a couple of times recently, with great pleasure.

One of the ugliest covers for one of BIS' best productions...

[foxandpeng]

Alan Rawsthorne
Symphonies 1 - 3
Symphony #2 'A Pastoral Symphony'
David Lloyd Jones
Bournemouth SO

[classicalgeek]

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2

I don't know many recordings of Tchaikovsky's PCs, and this one is getting the one I revisit the most.

This is a better work than the more famous PC 1, I consider.

I'm a fan of the Tchaikovsky Second PC too - not that the First is any less magnificent, but the Second too often gets overlooked. It's kind of like the Saint-Saens First and Third PCs! Perhaps the first movement is a little overlong, but it's still full of great music. The second movement is unique in the way it uses the solo piano as part of a piano trio (not to mention the main theme is gorgeous), and the finale is a complete tour de force with a thrilling, virtuosic ending. I personally love the work just as much as the more celebrated First.

TD: More of Reiner's Strauss

Richard Strauss
Also sprach Zarathustra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fritz Reiner
(on Spotify)



Intense and passionate, on the quick side - and wonderfully played as well!

[San Antone]

Mahler: Rückert-Lieder
Janet Baker, John Barbirolli, New Philharmonia Orchestra

[foxandpeng]

Peter Maxwell Davies
Naxos Quartets 5 and 6
Maggini Quartet

Ah, PMD, how I've missed you. First excursion into these waters during 2022.

[classicalgeek]

Mahler: Rückert-Lieder
Janet Baker, John Barbirolli, New Philharmonia Orchestra

Outstanding! One of my all-time favorite recordings of Mahler's song cycles - possibly the favorite.

[Daverz]

Zemlinsky: Sinfonietta



A fine late work (1934).   The sonics are OK here, and it's a very good performance.

[classicalgeek]

Speaking of Saint-Saens odd-numbered Piano Concerti:

Saint-Saens
Piano concerto no. 3
Louis Lortie, piano
BBC Philharmonic
Edward Gardner
(on Spotify)



Seriously, why isn't this concerto a regular in the concert hall? The opening is just gorgeous... and the finale is witty and charming and effervescent... just a fun, rewarding piece! Maybe the slow movement serves more as an introduction to the finale than a true slow movement... but when the music of this quality, that's a minor quibble. Delightful!

[Brian]

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2

I don't know many recordings of Tchaikovsky's PCs, and this one is getting the one I revisit the most.

This is a better work than the more famous PC 1, I consider.

I agree, definitely the best Tchaikovsky concerto, but many performers tragically cut half the slow movement. They'll all burn in the afterlife! 

[Symphonic Addict]

Bridge: Mid of the Night - Symphonic poem

Even earlier Bridge has a compelling voice; not too much particularly distinctive till that point of his musical career, though, it deserves to be regarded as a strong music creator.

[Symphonic Addict]

I'm a fan of the Tchaikovsky Second PC too - not that the First is any less magnificent, but the Second too often gets overlooked. It's kind of like the Saint-Saens First and Third PCs! Perhaps the first movement is a little overlong, but it's still full of great music. The second movement is unique in the way it uses the solo piano as part of a piano trio (not to mention the main theme is gorgeous), and the finale is a complete tour de force with a thrilling, virtuosic ending. I personally love the work just as much as the more celebrated First.

TD: More of Reiner's Strauss

Richard Strauss
Also sprach Zarathustra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fritz Reiner
(on Spotify)



Intense and passionate, on the quick side - and wonderfully played as well!

Exactly my thoughts about the Tchaikovsky and the Saint-Saëns connection. His melodic inventiveness and orchestral propulsion are nothing short of masterful.


And that Zarathustra must be dynamite. It's rather fast afaik, like 32:00 or 33 minutes long.

[Symphonic Addict]

Speaking of Saint-Saens odd-numbered Piano Concerti:

Saint-Saens
Piano concerto no. 3
Louis Lortie, piano
BBC Philharmonic
Edward Gardner
(on Spotify)



Seriously, why isn't this concerto a regular in the concert hall? The opening is just gorgeous... and the finale is witty and charming and effervescent... just a fun, rewarding piece! Maybe the slow movement serves more as an introduction to the finale than a true slow movement... but when the music of this quality, that's a minor quibble. Delightful!

I took a listen to that very concerto, but with Previn conducting (don't recall the pianist right now). Also strongly developed, with its respective melodic and lyric material.

[Symphonic Addict]

I agree, definitely the best Tchaikovsky concerto, but many performers tragically cut half the slow movement. They'll all burn in the afterlife! 

All the relentless weight and mass of punishment for those indeed. 

It's a glorious one-movement masterpiece.

[Mirror Image]

Oh, nice. The Florestan is fine indeed, they play expertly. Wanderer Trio, however, really make these works shine more, there is intense and committed playing of the highest caliber here. And the sonics is nothing but overwhelming. A winner all around! Above all the works, of course. A frolicsome and joyous 1st in F major and an energetic, yet very expressive, 2nd in E minor.

Have you actually heard this recording?



This performance is smoking and I'm sure will give the Trio Wanderer a run for its money. But there's no need to turn this into a competition. There are many fine performances available for those who want to hear it.

[Mirror Image]

NP: Schmidt 4th (Mehta)

[JBS]

I took a listen to that very concerto, but with Previn conducting (don't recall the pianist right now). Also strongly developed, with its respective melodic and lyric material.

Probably Collard. That's the recording I was listening to the other night, via the Warner set.

TD


First listen
Musicianship and sonics are up to Naive's usual standard, but there's a certain sameness to the works, despite some variation in the accompanying instruments.

Perhaps this is a CD best listened to one cantata at a time.

[Madiel]

Vivaldi, Sacred Music (volume 9 of the series, equals disc 10 of the box set).



Listening to one of these after every 5 volumes of the Naive series... which proves that it's taken me over a year to listen to 5 volumes of the Naive series!

[Symphonic Addict]

Probably Collard. That's the recording I was listening to the other night, via the Warner set.

Exactly, that is. Thanks for the info.

[Symphonic Addict]

Suk: Epilogue - Symphonic poem