What are you listening 2 now?

[vers la flamme]

The work that sold me on Bernstein's greatness as a composer was West Side Story, but I have to say for his serious concert works, I have a special affection for the 2nd symphony and Halil. The second work is seldom mentioned, but I find it to be one of his best. A special nod to Chichester Psalms and Serenade, after Plato's Symposium. I'm sorry that I don't agree with your opinion of Mass. I think it's a mix-and-match that doesn't quite add up to a cohesive whole or a musically satisfying one for me.

Too bad. It's a good one in my book. I have not heard Halil, but I do like the other works you mention. (Have not spent much time with West Side Story though.)

Now playing:



William Alwyn: Concerto for Oboe, Strings & Harp. Jonathan Small, David Lloyd-Jones, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

The Naxos Alwyn cycle is so damn good. I can't get over how good the RLPO sounds in this music.

[JBS]

CD 27*

The first of the "Historical Recordings" CDs is devoted to Saint-Saëns as pianist performing his own music (mostly:  Chopin's Impromptu in F Sharp is the second track): seven piano rolls imprinted in 1908, 1915, 1916, and 1917 (and recorded via a player piano in 1992, in stereo; five acoustic recordings from 1904, six more in 1919, and a final acoustic recording from 1920. A violinist named Gabriel Williams appears in three of the recordings.  Four pieces recorded on piano rolls reappear as acoustic recordings, one of them(Valse Mignonne Opus 104) recorded three times: piano roll in 1915, acoustic in 1904 and again in 1919. The acoustic recordings were transferred to digital in 1999-2001.
By the evidence of these recordings CSS was a capable pianist.

*CD 26 contains among other things a cello concerto transcribed for fluegelhorn, and Carnival of the Animals interspersed with 1980-era texts sung by the King's Singers. I wasn't in the mood for it so it got skipped.

[Mirror Image]

Too bad. It's a good one in my book. I have not heard Halil, but I do like the other works you mention. (Have not spent much time with West Side Story though.)

Can't say I'm fond of the Alwyn you've been listening to either. There is one work by Alwyn that I do love and it's his harp concerto, Lyra Angelica. Such a gorgeous piece.

[vers la flamme]

Can't say I'm fond of the Alwyn you've been listening to either. There is one work by Alwyn that I do love and it's his harp concerto, Lyra Angelica. Such a gorgeous piece.

Too bad. I can't get enough of his music lately. Lyra Angelica was the "gateway drug" for me as well. It was actually the only work of his I liked for quite some time too. The rest of his music has clicked with me much more recently.

[vers la flamme]

William Alwyn: Pastoral Fantasia. Richard Hickox, City of London Sinfonia, with Stephen Tees, solo viola

So glad that Chandos and Naxos have both recorded so much of Alwyn's music.

[SimonNZ]

[Mandryka]

[kyjo]

It's performed by the Vlach Quartet.

I couldn't find it on Spotify either, but on Youtube it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvy-0IY37Fk&list=OLAK5uy_kVaYu386pLECOtv-FRVOOY13OWsSl7STo

Thanks, Cesar!

[kyjo]

First-Listen Saturday

Schoeck
String Quartet in C major, Op. 37
Minguet Quartett



I am LOVING this piece! I might even end up repeating it when it's over, which is something I don't do often.

Great piece! I especially love that noble opening.

[Mirror Image]

Various selections from this Szymanowski lieder box set:



To those interested, don't bother looking for physical copy of it. I bought the last one on the internet.

Edit: There appears to be some copies of this set still floating around, but the prices aren't reasonable at all.

[Mirror Image]

Last work before bed:

Lutosławski
Five Songs
Jadwiga Rappé (alto)
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit



Again, I'm constantly impressed with the way Lutosławski wrote these works with voice and orchestra. Such a master of texture and color.

[Mirror Image]

Great piece! I especially love that noble opening.

It sure is, Kyle. I listened to it twice in a row. Something I don't do too often as you probably know. The only criticism I have for this work is the Presto movement. It goes on a bit too long. Other than this, it's a superb piece.

[Klavier1]

Sonata No.1 tonight. It's very good, but there's just something about Grumiaux's playing that speaks more to me.

[Maestro267]

Crumb: Star-Child
Warsaw PO/Conlin

[Madiel]

Mozart, Symphonies 16 to 18, all written in the same month.



EDIT: I've been sticking with this album for a while now when streaming early symphonies, and I'm consistently happy with it. I think that when I get around to purchases this will be something I look for.

[Harry]

Johann Gottfried Walther.
Complete Organ Works Volume VII.
Chorale Settings VI.
Simone Stella plays on a Francesco Zanin Organ, 2006.


As always, this music gives me a lot of pleasure.

[Harry]

Gabriel Pierne.

Orchestral Works, Volume II.

Jean Efflam Bavouzet, Piano.
BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena.

[Florestan]

Long spoken dialogues in the Neapoiltan dialect but othewise fun action and great music, though not on the level of his best work. Live recording so lots of stage noise and applause but I don't mind it in the least.

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Complete Organ Works [Foccroulle] CD 4





Freie Formen, Chorale, Fughetten der Kirnberger Sammlung played on the Silbermann organs in both the Dorfkirche, Pfaffroda and the Petrikirche, Freiberg. 

[Harry]

Bo Linde.
Orchestral Works Volume I.

Violin concerto & Cello concerto.
Karen Gomyo, Violin.
Maria Kliegel, Cello.
Gavle SO, Peter Sundkvist.

I discovered to late that I liked the music by Bo Linde, enormously. There are not many recordings around, so I managed to locate with great difficulty the first 2 volumes, and I got message from the seller, Swedish Society, that volume III was not available anymore. My bad, obviously, still I am quite sad about this. Searched the net for it, but was unable to locate it. So if anybody knows were to find a copy of this CD, I would be grateful.