What are you listening 2 now?

[foxandpeng]

Again:

Myaskovsky
Symphony № 23 in a minor, Op. 56 (1943)
Had to come back to this. Of course! In the middle of the first movement Myaskovsky makes use of the same Kabardino-Balkarian folk song which Prokofiev incorporates into his Second Quartet.

Sergei Prokofiev
String Quartet 2
Quartetto Energie Nove


This is actually a first listen for me, aside from wanting to do a comparison with Myaskovsky 23. Cool beans.

[Madiel]

Earlier today: Pogorelich on DG, album 2



The Beethoven I liked well enough. The Schumann I liked a lot.

[Harry]

Ludwig Daser.
Polyphonic Masses.
MISSA PRETER RERUM SERIEM À 6V.
MISSA FORS SEULEMENT À 4V.

World Premiere Recording.
Huelgas Ensemble • Paul Van Nevel.
Cantus: Michaela Riener, Sabine Lutzenberger.
Tenor: Olivier Coiff et, Paul Bentley-Angell, Adriaan De Koster, Loïc Paulin,
Tom Phillips, Matthew Vine.
Baritonans: Frederik Sjollema, Romain Bockler.
Bassus: Tim Scott Whiteley, Joel Frederiksen.

Total time: 56:08
Recording date and location: 28 February and 1 March 2021, AMUZ, Sint-Augustinuskerk,
Antwerp (Belgium).


As per usual the singing is excellent, but it did not fire my interest much. As far as the compositions go, I find them rather formal and not as engaging as I thought they would be. That certainly has to do with the composers background and the time in which he lived. There are some fine moments as in the Credo, (MISSA PRETER RERUM SERIEM À 6V) which touched me, but as a whole it did not convince me. So I am afraid I let this CD pass after one hearing. Sound is very good. The playing time rather short. Excellent booklet though.

[Lisztianwagner]

Franz Liszt
Trascendental Etudes

Pianist: Vladimir Ovchinnikov

[Harry]

Anthony Collins.
Orchestral music.

Vanity Fair.
Festival Royal -
Overture Eire; The Song of Erin (Lamentation).
Victoria the Great.
The Saga of Odette: Valse Lente.
The Lady with a Lamp; Prelude & Valse Variations.
Santa Cecilia: a madrigal.
Louis XV Silhouettes.
Symphony for Strings Nr. 1.

BBC Concert Orchestra, John Wilson.
Recorded in 2005, at the Colosseum Town Hall, Watford, Hertfordshire.
Recorded by Dexter Norman.
TT.= 73:52.

I really loved the light music section of British composers, it gives so much flair and joi de vivre while listening. Collins was a good one in this respect, and imbues the compositions with urgency of purpose, and lively confrontational melodies in a good sense. I will search for more in that respect. Suggestions are very welcome.   Superb performances throughout and fine sound.

[Madiel]

Haydn symphony randomiser: No.3 in G major



An earlyish symphony, but possibly a fraction later than no.20 which was the previous choice. Most likely from the Morzin period. But, as the liner notes from the original Hogwood releases say, if it really is that early it shows how quickly Haydn became a master. With a minuet in canon (turns out he had that trick up his sleeve for several decades) and a fugal finale.

[foxandpeng]

Nicolai Miaskovsky
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 23
Svetlanov
State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia


Such a lovely symphony. The thought that this was written with the backdrop of war, makes it all the more remarkable. I appreciate that the folk songs on which he draws aren't his, but the optimism and pride that suffuse the work are really powerful.

[Cato]

In this time of Lent and Easter...

Les Sept Paroles du Christ - Theodore Dubois

[Harry]

New release.
GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ(1909–1969)
MUSIC FOR STRING ORCHESTRA
PRIMUZ Chamber Orchestra Lukasz Blaszczyk.

RECORDED AT THE CONCERT HALL OF THE GRAŻYNA AND KIEJSTUT BACEWICZ ACADEMY OF MUSIC IN LODZ, 26–31 JULY 2021. TT.= 54:00.


If you love your Bacewicz, then this is unquestionably a must. Top drawer music by this Polish phenomenon, and so is the playing and sound. The orchestra are mainly a bunch of very beautiful females, a lot of them actually, just see the pictures in the booklet and stand dumbfounded. This adds a certain mood to the proceedings

The Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz may be counted among the most important personalities in Polish music of the 20th century. She was one of the most important composers of her time and studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, among others. Her music is characterized by powerful vitality, with a tendency toward wit and sarcasm, especially in the neoclassical-influenced works.

[Sergeant Rock]

"Papa"
Symphony № 78 in c minor, Hob. I:78
Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies

Ah, the Stumbling Goat...a Lethe coinage. God I miss her.

Sarge

[brewski]

Ilhan Mimaroğlu: Preludes for Magnetic Tape (1966-67) - Early examples of electronic music, delightfully fizzy, with timbres of their time, i.e., "pre-digital." Haven't heard any of these in decades, but @Cato reminded me of the Internet Archive, which is a gold mine.

A Turkish composer, Mimaroğlu was part of the seminal Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, produced a few records for jazz great Charles Mingus (!), and also contributed to the soundtrack for Fellini's Satyricon.

https://archive.org/details/agp30

-Bruce

[Cato]

In this time of Lent and Easter...

Les Sept Paroles du Christ - Theodore Dubois

For those who want the Latin text, it can be found here with assorted translations:

https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Les_Sept_Paroles_du_Christ_(Th%C3%A9odore_Dubois)#Introduction:_O_vos_omnes

[DavidW]

Heard a wonderful rendition of Mendelssohn's Octet for Strings in E Flat Major, Op. 20 performed live!

Welcome to GMG!  I would love to hear that octet live.  It is a rare treat for me to attend concerts of chamber music.  Orchestral music is far more popular where I live.

[DavidW]

Inspired by Florestan and Madiel I'm revisiting Mozart's 1st symphony!  Better than I remembered:

[Brahmsian]

Welcome to GMG!  I would love to hear that octet live.  It is a rare treat for me to attend concerts of chamber music.  Orchestral music is far more popular where I live.

I am very lucky where I live that there are three chamber music organizations to go along with our symphony orchestra, opera, and ballet organizations.  And the Mendelssohn Octet was wonderful to hear live, perhaps only surpassed by hearing Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence live. 

[foxandpeng]

Nikolai Myaskovsky
Wartime Music 1941-1945 Volume 1
Symphony 24
Alexander Titov
St Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra
Northern Flowers

Not much to distinguish this from the Svetlanov or the Yablonsky, really. Not in a bad way, because 24 is excellent in all, but my ear isn't strongly inclined to one or other recordings.

More educated ears may be able to suggest differently?

Edit: Continuing with 25 on the same disc/stream, because why not?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

My Armenia. Sergey Khachatryan & Lusine Khachatryan.

[Brian]

Moving on also to a first listen to this:

Florestan alert! This is like finding a lost CD of Verdi overtures. And the performing and conducting are first-rate. Minas Gerais has a very good orchestra.

[Brian]

Today's Naxos catalogue trawl:

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E Major, 1885 Original Version. Ed. Robert Haas [1944], Gewandhausorchester leipzig, Franz koniwitschny