What are you listening 2 now?

[brewski]

Live from the National Opera Center in New York, loadbang, a quartet made from the unlikely mix of baritone, trumpet, bass clarinet, and trombone (surprisingly effective). The stream will likely be up for awhile after the broadcast.

Works by Pulitzer Prize winner Raven Chacon, Sky Macklay, Heather Stebbins, Jon Yu, Qi Li, Christina Lord, and Arshia Samsaminia.

-Bruce

[Symphonic Addict]

Tansman: String Quartets 6 and 7
Myaskovsky: Symphonies 11 and 12

These string quartets have been major finds.

[Mapman]

Weinberg: Symphony #3
Gražinytė-Tyla: CBSO

I finally started listening to this disc. It's great! The first movement reminds me of Shostakovich, especially the 3rd movement of Symphony #5. The 2nd movement reminds me of Lutosławski's Mała Suita, which makes sense as the booklet notes mention that it uses Polish folk music. The opening section of the 3rd movement is beautiful.



(Also, I think I figured out one reason some images don't appear for some users. The Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox blocks eBay images. If I disable it, those images will appear.)

[Karl Henning]

CD 51

Gunther Schuller
Symphony for Brass and Percussion, Op. 16


Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor


J. J. Johnson
Poem for Brass


John Lewis
3 Little Feelings


Jimmy Giuffre


Pharaoh


Gunther Schuller, conductor


Miles Davis, flugelhorn & trumpet
Joe Wilder, trumpet
J. J. Johnson, trombone


The Brass Ensemble of the Jazz and Classical Music Society
Recorded 14 June 1956
In the essay heading the book included in this set, NY Phil archivist Gabryel Smith observes that Mitropolous was responsible for many firsts and innovations with the orchestra, for which the public mind has after been apt to credit his successors. My own exploration of Mitropolous'  work is perforce chronologically retrospective, as I grew up admiring Leonard Bernstein's work with the NY Phil. One item in Sony's 80-CD Leonard Bernstein Edition Concertos & Orchestral Works box which stood out for me was guest artist Louis Armstrong performing W. C. Handy's "St Louis Blues." I don't say that I assumed that Bernstein was the pioneer here, but my eyes grew large when I saw the name Miles Davis in this Mitropoulos box. Running at the original LP's duration of 43 minutes, this disc is short but mighty sweet. It opens with Gunther Schuller's Symphony for Brass and Percussion. In 1957, lecturing at Brandeis, Schuller coined the term Third Stream to describe music that combines classical and jazz techniques. and the Symphony exemplifies this cross-pollination very stylishly.
Poem for Brass by J. J. Johnson, a trombonist who played with and composed some music for Miles Davis, is an engaging piece in four sections with smooth lines and sweet, warm harmonies, with its "brassiest" lines in the latter half, but overall quite cool, and with a nice concluding fughetta. John Lewis (founder of the Modern Jazz Quartet) composed 3 Little Feelings: an easy swing, some mildly melancholic nonchalance, and a concluding movement opening with a nocturnal fanfare, moving into a bit of a shuffle, and ending with a brightened reprise of the fanfare. The album concludes with Pharaoh by Jimmy Giuffre, who came to be known as an arranger for Woody Herman, opening with timpani, Pharaoh is characterized by brass writing redolent of the swing band sound.
Something for whose accuracy I cannot attest, as I found it only on the Internet (d/b/a The Disinformation Superhighway) is the enticing suggestion that Gunther Schuller appears as a horn player in the first movement of his Symphony. It's obviously plausible, so let's leave that there.

[Peter Power Pop]

Composer : Jean Sibelius
Recording : Symphony No. 4 (Gibson - 1982)
Performers : Alexander Gibson, Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Splendid. My first Sibelius symphony cycle was the Gibson on three Chandos Collect CDs.

[Operafreak]

Alessandro Rolla: Concertos

I Musici

[Harry]

Music in Germany from Schutz to Bach.
CD V.
Works by:
Johan Christoph Bach, Johann Pachelbel, Georg Böhm, Samuel Scheidt, Dieterich Buxtehude, Nicolaus Hanff, Heinrich Scheidemann, Matthias Weckmann, Michael Praetorius.

Many organ works on this disc, played by Foccroulle, Bart Jacobs & Thomas Ospital, the last two I do not know at all. All on fine organs of course.
Such miscellaneous works makes for a good start in the morning.

[vandermolen]

Splendid. My first Sibelius symphony cycle was the Gibson on three Chandos Collect CDs.

Mine too!

[Que]

Morning listening of this recording which arrived quite quickly from La France:



A meagre selection of 17 motets from the edition of 374 motets(!) simply called Opus Musicum that Jacobus Handl (Gallus) had printed in Prague between 1586 and 1591. But I'm grateful and greatly enjoying it. Perfomances by French Musica Nova are, as expected, excellent.

Now this recording is from 2017. Will there ever be an ensemble brave enough to tackle the entire Opus Musicum?

[vandermolen]

Before work - Henry Cowell Symphony No.5
This often lovely work deserves a more modern recording.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

CD 41
Wallingford Riegger
Symphony № 3 in G, Op. 42 (1946–1947, revised 1960)
Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra
Howard Hanson, conductor
Recorded in the Eastman Theater, Rochester 30 Apr 1952

Peter Mennin
Symphony № 3 (completed May 17, 1946, his doctoral dissertation at the Eastman School of Music)
Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York (New York Philharmonic)
Dmitri Mitropoulos, conductor
Recorded at the Columbia 30th Street Studio 1 Feb 1954

Native to Albany, Georgia, Wallingford Riegger (Wallingford was his mother's maiden name) seems not half so well known as Walter Piston, William Schuman, Roy Harris or Peter Mennin ... I was tempted to suggest that Riegger is 'practically unknown,' only I do know better than to take my own degree of ignorance as to someone as normative. I first heard of Riegger when a professor who had attended my performance of my own piece for clarinet and organ complimented me, saying the piece reminded him of the music of Wallingford Riegger. I was insufficiently enterprising to seek out Riegger's music at the time, so not only does the present recording satisfy at last a long-dormant curiosity, but I now understand what a compliment I received 40 years ago. The Third Symphony, which received the New York Music Critics' Circle Award and a Naumburg Foundation Recording Award, robustly demonstrates the composer's deserving his place among the more celebrated native-born symphonists mentioned above.
Mennin is altogether better known, and I'm a big fan, but I confine myself to reporting that he completed his Third Symphony on 17 May 1946 for his doctoral dissertation at the Eastman School of Music. Under the direction of Walter Hendl, the New York Philharmonic played the symphony's première in February 1947. Make sure you're seated, and try to imagine, in our day, a graduate's doctoral dissertation going to a public performance by a major US orchestra in nine months.

I don't know this recording of Mennin 3. I will check it out!

[Harry]

Attilio Ariosti.
The Stockholm Sonatas.
Volume I.
Lessons and sonatas for Viola d'amore.
Thomas Georgi, viola d'amore.
Lucas Harris. Theorbo, Archlute & Baroque Guitar.
Joëlle Morton, Viola da Gamba, & great Bass Viol.

The Three volumes in this series which I have, do not need promotion, the music and performance speak of their quality enough. For Baroque lovers, these interpretations are a must, no question about it.
Sound is good as expected from BIS.

[Irons]

Delius: Violin Concerto.

I purchased for the enigmatic Violin Concerto, a work I find intriguing. As it turned out the whole disc is a delight. Mackerras hardly features in my collection of recordings which going by this disc is not ideal. That a Janacek specialist can shape a phrase with the delicacy of Beecham took me completely by surprise.

[Que]

Attilio Ariosti.
The Stockholm Sonatas.
Volume I.
Lessons and sonatas for Viola d'amore.
Thomas Georgi, viola d'amore.
Lucas Harris. Theorbo, Archlute & Baroque Guitar.
Joëlle Morton, Viola da Gamba, & great Bass Viol.

The Three volumes in this series which I have, do not need promotion, the music and performance speak of their quality enough. For Baroque lovers, these interpretations are a must, no question about it.
Sound is good as expected from BIS.

Agreed! 

I explored Ariosti a little bit more, but these seem to be the most interesting bits.

[Harry]

Anton Stepanovich Arensky.
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor & No. 2 in F minor.
Borodin Trio.
Recorded in 1986 & 1990, Layer Marney Church, Essex.


I am going through my collection, (started in September 2022), and to my utter horror, I only played this disc once in October 2007. More as ever, I am resolved to play all that has been so neglected in my collection, a giants task, but I will do it. Still beautiful interpretations, of Arensky's piano trios. Well recorded too.

[aligreto]

Vivaldi: Concerti [Biondi]





Concerto for Violin & Cello RV 547
Concerto for Violin RV 202
Sonata a 4 "Al Santo Sepolcro" RV 130
Sinfonia "Al Santo Sepolcro" RV 169

This is a CD which I have admired since I first bought it many years ago.

[Que]

I didn't have strong memories of this set, but revisting it is a pleasant experience. Well played on a nice Walter fortepiano and well recorded. Lighter fare, but quite enjoyable.

[Florestan]

[otare]

I will continue my travels through William Byrds music. Yesterday this one:



Last week I also listened to this box:



Her Ravel and Satie recordings are amazing. Her control, technique and touch is fantastic. She should be much more known.

[aligreto]

Albinoni: 12 Concertos et Sonates Op. II [Scimone]





Sonates Op. II Nos. 4-6
Concertos Op. II Nos. 4-6

I am not happy to keep this set as the playing style and interpretations are too old school for my ears. Into the cull container it goes.