What are you listening 2 now?

[Roasted Swan]

You are probably right. I bought the box set because it was being widely discussed in this forum with people making claims about it that I was sceptical about. I played through it and found it to have mainly decent performances but nothing to get too excited about.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been revisiting it and enjoyed it a lot more - especially Nos 8 & 9.

Andrew Keener - who has been producer on more recordings of RVW symphonies than any other person alive or dead(!) referenced this Slatkin cycle as being under-appreciated and I guess he can speak with as much authority as anyone.  I agree that 8&9 are highlights - Slatkin's BBC Music Magazine Sea Symphony is very fine indeed.  The whole set benefits from excellent engineering and beautiful playing by the Philharmonia.

[Roasted Swan]

I like it. Bear in mind these are transcriptions of Bach done by Bach and others (including Molardi). Probably something to Spotify.
TD
More NWE Strauss

Extraordinary to see that those Strauss performances were "first recordings" - such lovely music by a great composer how come it had to wait so long!?

[Roasted Swan]

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No.1 in C minor, WAB 101. Eugen Jochum, Staatskapelle Dresden

First listen to any of Jochum's EMI Bruckner cycle. The Dresden brass sounds excellent. Jochum does some interesting things with the music unlike other performances I've heard; he seems more flexible with tempi.

Got it in one! (which is why you either like Jochum in Bruckner a lot or not.......)

[Harry]

Not by me. Flipping excellent chap.

That gives me great pleasure you appreciating him. He is indeed a flipping excellent chap!

[Traverso]

 Beethoven


Quartets Op. 18 No.1-2 & 3


Today I choose the Juilliard Quartet, these recordings were my first acquaintance with the Beethoven quartets.

[Harry]

Joseph Lauber.
Symphony No. 4 in C minor and 5 in B major.
Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn, Kaspar Zehnder
World Premier recordings.

It is a riddle to me why Lauber is so little loved. He is one of the most important Swizz composers that graced the musical pantheon. The symphonies are highly accomplished masterworks, which has a deep fascinating attraction for me. As an orchestrator he surely belongs to the top in the business, and gets a superb performance and ditto sound by this label. Tis already the Third volume.

[Traverso]

https://www.jpc.de/s/olivier+messiaen%3A+catalogue+des+oiseaux+livre+1-7

For those interested

catalogue des oiseaux livre 1-7  Pierre-Laurent Aimard  14,99 € !   JPC

[Todd]

Josef Krips in the Low Countries.  The repeat is added in the opener, and the sound is bigger and better and slightly bolder, but interpretively it is much the same as the recording with the Israelis.  A wonderful recording, just a smidge less wonderful than the earlier recording overall.

[aukhawk]

Yeah, still unable to see it, though as was pointed out by Mapman above, a right-click -> open in new tab will display the image. It's only invisible when embedded within the main forum page, for some reason. And there's at least one other Firefox user confirming I'm not just imagining it!

Sounds like a tricky browser-specific technical issue and not something that's readily fixable, in any case.

Firefox is sensitive to 'mixed' content.  Probably other browsers too - it's simply a settings thing, that has become more of an isssue over the last 2 or 3 years.  It's easy to fix. The thing is that when software updates (which Firefox does very frequently), it sometimes resets some deep settings if they're considered 'not secure'.

'Mixed' content usually means a non-secure link (such as an image link) embedded in a secure page (such as this GMG page).  The right-click trick makes a new page that is not 'mixed'.
In Firefox, under Tools, Settings, Security I have 'standard' selected, and I never have any problems with images.  You may find yours is set to 'strict'.
When posting an image (link) try to ensure always to use a secure (https) source, to avoid others complaining of problems.

[Operafreak]

Bizet: Roma-RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Jean-Luc Tingaud

[Harry]

Johann Pachelbel.
Complete Organ Music.
Volume I.
CD II from V.
Psalmlieder I.
Christian Schmitt, Organ.
Instruments: The main organ, Johann Christoph Leu, 1715, & the choir organ, Johann Christoph Albrecht and Johann Speisegger, 1710-1746, Klosterkirche Rheinau, (Kanton Zurich)

I could wish for more expression. Sometimes the music sounds a little bland and conservative, wayward even. Despite Schmitt's technical skills and being in demand as a performer, his style can be a bit uninterested. But there are also gains here, due to his slow tempi, you have time to nourish mentally, in that it calms you down. That's a great skill. And after all these remarks, I am still happy with this series, for the organs are superb, and are tuned to perfection, and Pachelbel his music needs definitively more airing time.

[Que]

Georg Anton Benda.

Harpsichord Concertos.

Concertos in F minor, B minor, F major, G major.
Sabine Bauer plays on a instrument after Johann Daniel Dulcken, built by Matthias Griewisch Bammental, 1992.

La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider.
SACD Recording.

To my surprise I found this SACD recording in my collection, it was made in 2004, when I did not have a player with that option. Now I have and the sound is really very good. Sabine is a able harpsichordist, with an excellent touche, and a good sense for proportion in expressing the spirit of the music. Benda stands a bit behind in appreciation, but he deserves a first place. I've heard enough of his music to come to this conclusion.

Since I have that recording on my own shelves, and as a Benda fan, I knew you owned that recording. 

[Harry]

Since I have that recording on my own shelves, and as a Benda fan, I knew you owned that recording. 

I try to get as much music by Benda as I can, that much of a fan am I !!!

[Lisztianwagner]

Arnold Schönberg
Kammersymphonie No.2

[Harry]

Johann Pachelbel.
Complete Organ Works.
CD III from V.
Katechismuslieder und Andere I.
Jurgen Essl, Organ.
Instrument: Jacob Hor organ, 1742, Pfarrkirche St. Katharina in Wolfegg.
Pitch and temperament not mentioned in the booklet.

Jurgen Essl is a energetic organ player, and puts loads of expression in Pachelbel's music. In pace he is a lot faster as Christian Schmitt, and does not lack the creative insight to get more out of the music so far in this series. The Hor organ is a fantastic instrument. Well recorded too.

[Todd]

[Brian]

I just listened to Nadia Boulanger's Fantaisie variée for piano and orchestra, a sort of mini concerto, and enjoyed that. Florian Uhlig on SWR, paired with Tailleferre and Ravel left hand.

[Harry]

Derek B. Scott.
Orchestral Music.
Volume II.
Symphony No 1 in A flat major, opus 23. (1995, orch. 2021)
Symphony No. 23 in G minor, opus 26. (1996-97; Orch. 2021.
The Silver Sword-Tone Poem, opus 39. (2021)
Liepaja SO, Paul Mann.

Best buy 2021, a marvelous journey.

[SonicMan46]

Georg Anton Benda.   Harpsichord Concertos.    Concertos in F minor, B minor, F major, G major.
Sabine Bauer plays on a instrument after Johann Daniel Dulcken, built by Matthias Griewisch Bammental, 1992.

La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider.
SACD Recording.

To my surprise I found this SACD recording in my collection, it was made in 2004, when I did not have a player with that option. Now I have and the sound is really very good. Sabine is a able harpsichordist, with an excellent touche, and a good sense for proportion in expressing the spirit of the music. Benda stands a bit behind in appreciation, but he deserves a first place. I've heard enough of his music to come to this conclusion.

Hi Harry - have that CD, too - enjoy the Benda Brothers and own about 12 recordings presently (list attached) - have not looked recently on Amazon to see what 'new' may have been added - Franz Benda in particular seems to have written a lot, esp. for violin.  Any other recommendations in your collection that I could add?  Thanks - Dave

[Spotted Horses]

Continued with the final two pieces from Brahms' Fantasias, Op 116. Ciccolini non-interventionist approach was satisfying



Then two numbers, Au bord d'une source and Orage, from Liszt's Annees de pelerinage, Cziffra. Amazingly fluid sound painting



Contrasting music, contrasting interpreters, similar result, satisfaction.