What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Antonin Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor Op.70 and Cello Concerto in B minor Op.104 with Natalia Gutman cello Philedelphia Orchestra wolfgang Sawallisch

[ritter]

That is a great collection. However, it would be good to have some alternatives. I recently bought Antal Dorati's version of Jolivet's symphony nr. 3 (from the Dorati asso.) which is good but also dating from the seventies.
I wish his two cello concerti, the concerto for ondes Martenot and several vocal works (Songe à nouveau rêvé, Le coeur de la matière, Jeanne d'Arc...) would get  (new) recordings.
Isabelle Faust's version of the violin concerto is impressive and Pascal Gallet's take on the (frenetic) piano concerto is very good.

Pascal Gallet in Brasil 13 years ago and less "nervous" than in Mexico...

february 2020

Thanks for the comments, pjme! Yes, there's been little recording activity surrounding Jolivet's music recently. Perhaps that will change. In any case, he's a composer I'm not fully attuned with, but do enjoy some works.

TD:

Louis Lortie plays Fauré (partly in transcriptions by the pianist himself,Alfred Cortot, or Percy Grainger).

[Todd]

1/1.

[Roasted Swan]

Cross posted from the "what film did you last watch thread";

Prompted by this I put on Herrmann's Moby Dick this afternoon in this spectacular version;



Cinema of the ears I reckon.......!  Is this piece OTT?  Almost certainly but a genuinely compelling listening experience.  The version on Unicorn conducted by Herrmann is pretty amazing too but compromised by a transfer that simply cannot cope with the dynamic range that distorts at climaxes and also John Amis as an inadequate tenor.

[Karl Henning]

Erland Von Koch's Nordic capriccio gives even the dullest february morning a bright smile!

I like the trolley terminal painting, too ; )

[Karl Henning]

pedantic and simply unexciting, even sometimes boring to my ears. They reflect an old school

Alas! yes, a document "of its time" in a negative sense.

[Karl Henning]

Perhaps once I am caught up on listening to my recordings I haven't listened to yet.

When that happens, let a chap know how it feels, @OrchestralNut!

[Mapman]

Kaljo Raid: Symphony #1
Järvi: SNO

It's a good symphony, that reminds me of Vaughan Williams in places.

[VonStupp]

Kaljo Raid: Symphony #1
Järvi: SNO

It's a good symphony, that reminds me of Vaughan Williams in places.

I wonder how many volumes of the Music From Estonia series there were on Chandos; I don't remember them at all.
VS

[aligreto]

Parry: Symphonic Variations in E minor [Bamert]





I do not know the music of Parry. I am using this work, rightly or wrongly, as an introduction to his musical world prior to my embarking on an odyssey of his symphonies. I like what I have heard here. The work is well constructed and orchestrated and augurs well for what is yet to come.

[Roasted Swan]

I wonder how many volumes of the Music From Estonia series there were on Chandos; I don't remember them at all.
VS

2

[Baxcalibur]

The other day, I listened to the 3rd Symphony by Richard Wetz.



The piece is almost an hour long, often associated with Bruckner's style although I didn't hear much similarity other than in the harmonies. I enjoyed the contemplative and serious mood, and the way Wetz returns to the home key at the very end was brilliant. It's reminiscent of his fantastic "Requiem," composed around the same time.

There is another recording of this work on the CPO label, which seems quite a bit faster. I didn't mind the tempi here, and the intonation issues in the first movement didn't persist. Or, I stopped noticing them.

[Bachtoven]

The Casken and Bartok are fine, but I'll stick with Karajan for Beethoven.

[VonStupp]

2

Ooh...short lived! Still, it sounds interesting; I will invest the time if I can track them down.

[Karl Henning]

Inevitably, given my avatar, I'm going to have to disagree with you, I'm afraid!
Which is fine: a plurality of opinions is quite OK, even if yours is the wrong one

I find all of Britten's Bach (i.e., this, plus his St. John's Passion) very well-thought out and, given its pre-HIP timing, quite remarkable. It may be that in a world of colour (i.e., strong HIP-informed performances) we no longer need this approach. But even Schindler's List was made in (mostly) black-and-white, despite it being 1993 and colour film being over 50 years old at the time: there's room for an older tradition, basically.

Well, one canna be right all the time!

[Que]

[Mapman]

Ooh...short lived! Still, it sounds interesting; I will invest the time if I can track them down.

It looks like they were reissued as a Chandos 2 for 1, and that reissue looks more available than the originals.

[Lisztianwagner]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Concerto

Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin)
Herbert von Karajan & Berliner Philharmoniker

[kyjo]

A couple of recent acquisitions getting their 1st listens....



This was a cheapy disc in the Dutton/Vocalion sale.  Well played and recorded but pretty weak musical fare.  Somehow lacking in much of anything - proficiently written but simply lacking real musical character.  The sort of disc I should probably sell because I can't imagine ever digging it out again!

I largely agree with your assessment. These works are like Gershwin without the tunes and personality, all very anonymous and harmless and lacking in "spark". I've been more favorably impressed by Carpenter's 2 symphonies and his suite Adventures in a Perambulator, coupled together on a Naxos CD. The two symphonies, while not particularly "symphonic" by any means, have the benefit of being concise and are not devoid of moments of occasional drama and "edge".

[vandermolen]

Atmospheric, doom-laden ... you might like it.   Similar sound world to Penderecki, heavily influenced by Shostakovich - right down to the inclusion of the "clockwork" percussion from his 4th & 15th - in fact it's not hard to imagine this as something Shostakovich might have written, had he been 37 years younger, and Polish.

You can hear it for yourself:

Unless you like that sort of thing.     There are some great recordings of Rozhdestvensky conducting the USSR Huge TV Orchestra (or whatever it was) in Bruckner - really clears the wax out of your ears.

Very many thanks!