What are you listening 2 now?

[Brian]

I tried listening to the new Bent Sorensen St Matthew Passion on Qobuz, but all the tracks break and stop after 30 seconds. Enter backup plan, another new release.



At least this one plays!

[vandermolen]

Composer : Uuno Klami
Recording : Piano Concerto No. 2 (Kangas - 1999)
Performers : Juha Kangas, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Izumi Tateno (piano)

Looks most interesting. I like Klami's music.

[Karl Henning]

Maiden-Listen Monday!

An early piece by our own weirdears

[Lisztianwagner]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.6

Herbert von Karajan & Berliner Philharmoniker

[vandermolen]

I just recently discovered this cd and hope to find it. This "Nuit à Montmartre" is a little jazzy gem.

"Uuni Klami's piano concerto Une nuit a Montmartre occupies a special place in what is known as the 1920s Modernism in Finnish art music. Despite its jazz influences, it is scored for a traditional symphony orchestra. The three-movement structure derived from the Classical-Romantic concerto tradition is blurred through the use of attacca transitions. The first movement is a serious opening with aspirations towards nobility. The use of solo saxophones are obvious allusion to jazz - and a cause for scandal in the solemnly Sibelian musical landscape that was Finland in the 1920s. The decadent mood is contrasted by the straightforward anti-Romanticism of the last movement, Ronde. The ragtime-like piano rhythms and a dry martellato style recalling Prokofiev are set against a burst of orchestra pyrotechnics where Klami for the first time shows his chops as an orchestrator."

Most interesting! Great photo of the young Klami as well.

[vandermolen]

William Alwyn
Symphony No.3

Richard Hickox & London Symphony Orchestra

Greatest British symphony since Elgar's No.2 according to John Ireland.

[Spotted Horses]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.6

Herbert von Karajan & Berliner Philharmoniker

The slow movement is absolutely stunning in that recording.

[Karl Henning]

Maiden-Listen Monday!

Bruckner
Viola Quintet in F (1878-79)
Konzerthaus Quartet & Ferdinand Strangler (not of the Boston Stranglers)

Hovhaness
Symphony № 34 for Bass Trombone & Strings, Op. 310 (or 311?) (1977)
Douglas Yeo, bass tn (BSO, retired)
Tokyo Artist Ensemble
Yoshiyushi Yamagishi

He composed this while I was yet in high school. Man, I wish I might have heard it then!

[Brian]

This brand new April release.

[Cato]

Cross-post

Time passes, you forget about a piece you wrote. Then, an occasion reminds you, you revisit the piece, and you find that you're glad to have written it:

Nicodemus Brings myrrh & aloes for the burial of the Christ, Op.85 № 4

https://soundcloud.com/karlhenning-1/nicodemus-brings-myrrh-aloes

That is one of your top-of-the-top works, up there with Nuhro!


Concerning listening to opera music as music only:

You have good company!  Anton Bruckner during a performance of Goetterdaemmerung supposedly asked someone nearby: "Could you tell me why the princess is riding into the fire?"   

Seemed a good idea at the time ....

A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do!

And the Bruce Willis version of Brunhilde just came to me:

"Yippee-Ki-Yi-Yay...."   

[Lisztianwagner]

The slow movement is absolutely stunning in that recording.

Completely agree, such a sublime, ecstatic performance; but I think the other movements aren't less astounding! Karajan's recording is my favourite along with the DG Bernstein.

Greatest British symphony since Elgar's No.2 according to John Ireland.

It is certainly outstanding, I listened to it for the first time and I absolutely loved it!
But about symphonic masterpieces, between Elgar and Alwyn, let's not forget about Vaughan Williams' No. 7.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 1894 Original Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak [1951] Günter Wand, Berliner Philharmoniker

[vandermolen]

Completely agree, such a sublime, ecstatic performance; but I think the other movements aren't less astounding! Karajan's recording is my favourite along with the DG Bernstein.
It is certainly outstanding, I listened to it for the first time and I absolutely loved it!
But about symphonic masterpieces, between Elgar and Alwyn, let's not forget about Vaughan Williams' No. 7.

Yes, Ireland's comment is a bit harsh on Walton and Vaughan Williams not to mention Bax.

[Linz]

Mozart Complete Piano Concertos, Alfred Brendel, Concerto No.18 in B flat, K456 and Concerto No.19 in F, K459, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner

[classicalgeek]

On a bit of an Eastern European kick:

Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin (complete ballet)
Kodaly: Hary Janos (suite), Dances of Galanta
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Gerard Schwarz
(on CD)




Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Martinu: Memorial to Lidice
Klein: Partita for Strings
Philadelphia Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach
(on CD)



Janacek: Taras Bulba
Martinu: The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Charles Mackerras
(on CD)

[Karl Henning]

Maiden-Listen Monday!

Martinů
Bergerettes, H.275 (1939)
Arbor Trio

[Lisztianwagner]

Symphony No.3 was incredible, now:

William Alwyn
Symphony No.2

Richard Hickox & London Symphony Orchestra

[Linz]

Wagner Der fliegende Hollander, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gottlob Frick, Marianne Schech, Rudolf Schock and Fritz Wunderlich and Staatskapelle Berlin, Franz Koniwitschny the last 2 Cds of the set

[Brian]

I tried listening to the new Bent Sorensen St Matthew Passion on Qobuz, but all the tracks break and stop after 30 seconds. Enter backup plan, another new release.

It's working now!



Wow, thanks to Brewski for pointing this out. This is a totally amazing soundscape. I must say that although most of the lyrics are in English, they are usually challenging to make out, given the textures and overlayering of different voices. (An exception is the lovely a cappella rendering of "I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to complete unity.") I am not Christian but the music speaks on a universal level, I think, of loss and regrowth, like the Mahlerian Resurrection. In part because Sorensen chooses so many poets' verses to intermingle with the biblical source text.

Sonically, just an incredible experience, with lots of really interesting colors achieved by muted brass instruments, especially, and sometimes by blending brass with percussion in novel ways.

The story behind the piece is inspiring as well. The fact that Sorensen decided that he wanted this to be the subject of his crowning masterpiece as a composer, spent years practicing for it with various choral commissions, announced his intention for this work, and then after all those years of aspiration and thought did indeed write a crowning masterpiece. I am always heartened by stories of people who set artistic goals and then have the resources, opportunity, and genius necessary to fulfill them.

There is one Bach quote in the "Lament" section.

Basically flawless sound to capture the virtuoso performance of one of the world's best choirs.

[vers la flamme]

It's time for me to participate in this "Maiden Listen Monday" I've heard so much about...:



Kurt Atterberg: Symphony No.3 in D major, op.10, "West Coast Pictures". Ari Rasilainen, Radio-Philharmonie Hannover des NDR

Beautiful, ripe, Swedish late Romanticism from the 19-teens. I'm reminded, for some reason, of Franz Schreker, and even Frederick Delius.