What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

B. Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No. 1
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1

[Symphonic Addict]

Janacek: String Quartet No. 2
Fuga: Cello Sonata No. 1

I only know this Cello Sonata by this Italian composer, and it's a very strong work that deserves to be better known. From the very beginning it shows it's going to be special.

[DavidW]

Sorry, but I missed which movie you were talking about?

PD

Tar (with the accent), a movie about a conductor recording the Mahler 5th who has controversies catch up to her.

[DavidW]

This week's listening:



I was speechless when I listened to these symphonies, especially the 7th. Despite their menacing and dissonant sounds, they are tonal works full of what I can only describe as the man's beating heart. Inextinguishable, you could say.

As with the Stenhammar "Serenade" from last week, I haven't heard other renditions of these pieces. But the performance here seems beyond criticism, and I dearly hope that I won't be tempted to nitpick the differences when I hear other performers.

Well Segerstam is by far the finest in Petterson.  But yeah I totally agree, the 6th-8th are heart on sleeves lament.  And then the 10th-11th is just a bit of the ultraviolence my droog. 

The 9th being a transitional symphony is a tougher nut to crack, and the earlier and later symphonies are in my personal opinion are too much on the drab, emotionally gray depressed side to be as engaging.

[DavidW]

Clavier Ubung III


That was in the morning.  In the evening I listened to quite a bit of music.
Sibelius 4 Vanska I (tied with Segerstam for my favorite cycle):


First listen: Langgaard's 6th (which is a wow!):


First listen: Amy Beach's Piano Quintet (another surprisingly great work!):


From my personal collection: Simpson's 10th and Shostakovich's 7th:

btw notice that the galaxies and nebulae are replaced with country side.  Don't be fooled, this is not RVW!

[Karl Henning]

Love the Beach Piano Quintet, @DavidW!

[Symphonic Addict]

Tansman: Sonatina da camera, for flute, harp and string trio
Malipiero: String Quartet No. 6 'L'arca di Noè'

[Symphonic Addict]

First listen: Langgaard's 6th (which is a wow!):

A terrific recording!

[Mapman]

Barber: Knoxville: Summer Of 1915, Op. 24
Gauvin: Alsop: RSNO

This was my first experience with this work. I enjoyed it, especially the beautiful woodwind parts (which are excellently performed here).




Sibelius: Symphony #3
Sanderling: Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester

A mostly excellent recording. It's slightly let down by the bassoonist. (Some of the solos felt weak compared to the rest of the woodwinds.) But Sanderling leads an excellent performance, with natural feeling tempo changes.

[Bachtoven]

Beautiful.

[Operafreak]

 Bruch: Symphony No. 2 & Violin Concerto No. 3

Andreas Krecher (violin)- Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, Georg Hanson

[Irons]

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 Op. 127 [Quartetto Italiano]





The opening movement is played, for me, with assertion and conviction yet with great poise and elegance. For me, they dig deep into the meaning of the music.
Intensity is the hallmark of this second movement. They never get exuberant yet the music has a wonderful flow to it. I suppose that the elements of both elegance and poise raise their heads again.
The music of the Scherzo is attacked making for an exciting performance. The performance has a palpable sense of being electrically charged particularly in the Trio section.
The Final movement is another assertive and exciting performance. It steadily builds towards a fine conclusion.

A set(LP) that calls for a strong shelf.

[Mandryka]

Does not come close to joining Lupu on the top tier of complete sets of both ops. The great shame is that Kocsis didn't record op 142  - or Sofronitsky didn't record all of them.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Tigranian piano works - Mikael Ayrapetyan.

[Tsaraslondon]

Disc 5
All Handel. First we get Baker's incomparable contributions to the 1967 Mackerras Messiah. This recording was one of the first to make a proper stab in the direction of HIP. It was also my first recording of the work and, as is so often the case, it is the one that is still imprinted on me. Baker actually shared alto honours with the countertenor, Paul Esswood, so she only got to sing O thou that tellest and He was despised. Her performance of the latter is one of the most emotionally shattering I've ever heard.

The rest of this disc was new to me. I never even knew of the existence of the original LP, but these are characteristically intense performances. Baker was a wonderful Handelian and she was in superb voice when these were recorded in 1969.

[vandermolen]

George Antheil: Symphony No.4 '1942'

[Que]

Morning listening to this iconic recording with pieces representing the height of Polyphony in the Renaissance:

[vandermolen]

Composer : Howard Hanson
Recording : Symphony No. 5 (Schwarz - 1991)
Performers : Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony Orchestra

One of my favourite Hanson symphonies.

[vandermolen]

HB Symphony No.16

[Tsaraslondon]

Disc 6

Scottish Folk Song Arrangements by Haydn and Beethoven, with Yehudi Menuhin (violin), Ross Pople (cello) and George Malcolm on harpsichord or piano, plus the remainder of the disc of duets with Fischer--Dieskau and Daniel Barenboim.

Even in these arrangements and with such wonderful performers, a whole disc of Folk Songs is just a bit much for me. Not one of my favourite discs from this set.