What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

The only well-known work here is the Masonic Funeral Music and Kertesz elevates it to the level of greek tragedy, with the WP horns braying dolefully.

[Todd]

Revisiting this splendid disc.

[Spotted Horses]

The only well-known work here is the Masonic Funeral Music and Kertesz elevates it to the level of greek tragedy, with the WP horns braying dolefully.

Intriguing, but it is the London Symphony Orchestra, no?

I found the CD on presto music, and indeed the masonic funeral music is the only think I could imagine myself ever listening to. I was able to purchase the individual track in FLAC format for $1.40.

[Mandryka]

Morning listening on Spotify, hat tip Mandryka. 



Nice. The musical approach is to my taste, but since it is a Flemish ensemble I wasn't much worried about that.
With 7 singers this is supposed to be one voice per part, with the possible doubling of the tenor, but the vocal clarity isn't there. At times it sounds like a sea of voices.... Must be the way it is recorded: too much blending, too much reverb.
The singing is also not as crisp and tight as we are used to with the curent top ensembles.

I am curious what part 2 sounds like. 

I think your point about clarity is kind of cutting off your nose to spite your face. It's thrilling! Enjoy the thrill and stop saying that the grass could be greener.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Janáček
Violin Sonata
Isabelle Faust, Ewa Kupiec



Exceptionally fine performance of the Violin Sonata. I wish Janáček had composed more chamber music!

[Tsaraslondon]

Swan Lake from this set.

I've seen that Warner have now reissued the set with a different cover in a new and apparently improved transfer. The sound here loses some of the warmth of the original LPs, but the performance is very fine, if not perhaps the finest available.

I've enjoyed listening today. What wonderful music this is and what an amazing melodist Tchaikovsky was. There is this wonderful tune when Siegfried makes his entrance in the last act. Most composers would no doubt plug it to death, but we only hear it once and then it's never heard again. I wait for it every time I see or hear the ballet.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Prokofiev Symphony 4-1. Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra/James Gaffigan.
Nice performance, mediocre recording sound.

[Mirror Image]

Prokofiev Symphony 4-1. Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra/James Gaffigan.
Nice performance, mediocre recording sound.

This is a shame. The Challenge Classics label usually has excellent audio quality. I'm thinking here of their Hartmann symphony set and a more recent recording with some Vasks works for violin and orchestra. I also like their box set of the Weinberg violin sonatas (plus other works).

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Janáček
Violin Concerto, "The Wandering of a Little Soul"
Ivan Ženatý, violin
Brno Philharmonic Orchestra
František Jílek



Such a cool work. I have to wonder why it's not programmed more often. I suppose a lot of it has to do with it's duration --- it's only around 12 minutes or so. A quirky work and its compactness reminds of Langgaard's VC.

[Operafreak]

Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts, Op. 5 (Requiem)


Musikklag, Musicians from the Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra &
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner

[Mirror Image]

Why that prickly tone that strikes you when something doesn't match your self-endowed authority.
Of course this is a personal opinion and I am not guided by popularity polls.
It would be nice if one could express his honestly meant views here without the panting breath of a schoolmaster.

This is a classic case of "do as I say, not as I do". It's okay for him to say whatever he wants, whenever he wants, but if you question his opinion then you are the bad guy. You would think the idea of a different opinion in musical tastes would be common knowledge and accepted in 2022, but the resistance to this concept is still running rampant.

[Karl Henning]

Yes there is a grey area, ie. Karajan.

While I do own (and listen to) HvK recordings, in no case do I feel he "owns" the music, so if one wished, one could boycott HvK and still have a perfectly rich musical experience, IMO.

That sentiment of mine is not personal to HvK. I don't feel that any conductor  "owns" any music.

[Irons]

Alan Rawsthorne (1905-1971): Symphonic Studies (1938) - his masterpiece in its greatest recorded performance (LPO Pritchard). I think that this abstract work reflects the urgency of its time. If you only want one Rawsthorne CD in your collection (as I'm sure you all do  ) this is the one to have. Pritchard was a fine conductor (his live Shostakovich Symphony No.11 lives on in my memory and I can even hear it again on BBC Radio Classics):

Totally agree, Jeffrey. Symphonic Studies is his masterpiece. I know you are not for one moment alluding to the fact that Rawsthorne is a one hit wonder and of course he isn't. He has, for me anyway, the ability to surprise. From the far corners of his repertoire "Improvisations on a theme by Constant Lambert", an excellent piece which I recall you liking too. I recently purchased a Naxos CD of the two violin concertos. For me the star of the show is actually the coupling "Fantasy Overture: Cortéges". A work that I found far more interesting then the works for violin and orchestra. 

[Que]

I think your point about clarity is kind of cutting off your nose to spite your face. It's thrilling! Enjoy the thrill and stop saying that the grass could be greener.

I guess there's the rub...

For me it is surely enjoyable, but I cannot say on first hearing that the performances absolutely thrill me.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Janáček
Sinfonietta
Bavarian Radio SO
Kubelik



The recording I own is actually one of those DG Eloquence reissues, but I like the original cover art much better and this is what I used when I ripped this disc to my computer.

[VonStupp]

NP:

Janáček
Violin Concerto, "The Wandering of a Little Soul"
Ivan Ženatý, violin
Brno Philharmonic Orchestra
František Jílek



Such a cool work. I have to wonder why it's not programmed more often. I suppose a lot of it has to do with it's duration --- it's only around 12 minutes or so. A quirky work and its compactness reminds of Langgaard's VC.

I heard Wandering...Little Soul for the first time around a year ago or so from James Ehnes. While I doubt it was a reference version, I was glad to make its acquaintance nonetheless.

VS

[Linz]

Cd2 of Volume 1 of Costantino Mastroprimiano Playing Clementi

[Karl Henning]

I heard Wandering...Little Soul for the first time around a year ago or so from James Ehnes. While I doubt it was a reference version, I was glad to make its acquaintance nonetheless.

VS

Of course!

[VonStupp]

Ralph Vaughan Williams
Job - A Masque for Dancing
Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

London PO - Vernon Handley (rec. 1973-1985)

For the afternoon:

VS

[Iota]

Howard Skempeton's most recent (2019), I believe, composition, 24 Preludes and Fugues, played in full by Carson Coorman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Li6vmGTsc

Light, airy, breezy, minimalistic - contemplative, meditative, dreamy, lulling.

I'm never *quite* sure what I think about those. I keep periodically dipping in though, so something must keep me coming back. William Howard on Orchid Classics has a nice 'breezy' feel to his playing.