What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

It has been a while! And I doubt if I ever completed more than one full run..

I did two runs, but did not have the courage to do it a third time, in fact I gave the set away, for to be honest, I found this music rather boring. Immediately runs for cover for incoming projectiles!

[ritter]

And now, some (late) chamber and ensemble music by Roberto Gerhard:



This is the part of this composer's output I'm least familiar with. I've had this CD for years, but cannot remember whether I've ever listened to it before. Be that as it may, this is turning out to be superb music!

[DavidW]

Perfect. I've never hear that one.

This is my favorite Alain set:

I prefer the second set to the first.  I think there is more personality in flexibility in the second one.  I never listened to the third (the digital one).

[DavidW]

[JBS]

I did two runs, but did not have the courage to do it a third time, in fact I gave the set away, for to be honest, I found this music rather boring. Immediately runs for cover for incoming projectiles!

Well, Haydn presumably intended them to be played only one or two at a time, not 25 hours worth in a week! (Or whatever.)
And he composed them over a span of about 10 years, about one trio every month. So you can pace yourself accordingly.
TD
Another run at this

[Cato]

Can you tell us more about this Mahler Fourth?  I see it is a "Super CD" etc.: how is the performance?

And is the sound really superior?  Would one need a special player?

[JBS]

Can you tell us more about this Mahler Fourth?  I see it is a "Super CD" etc.: how is the performance?

And is the sound really superior?  Would one need a special player?

Not David, but in regards to the entire Nott set, I found the sound good. Performance-wise, it's high quality at one same level for all of them. So for every individual symphony, there are better recordings, but unlike other cycles there are no weak points. (Inbal is another cycle that has this quality.)

The physical media is hybrid-SACD, so a regular CD player is all one needs.

[Brian]

@Cato, thank you for posting that, I had no idea that Lera Auerbach was up to three violin concertos! Recordings are needed! Will watch that YT video when I have the chance.

I am dipping back into the "Ancerl Live" box for my first-ever listen to Josef Suk's "Ripening."

[SonicMan46]

I did two runs, but did not have the courage to do it a third time, in fact I gave the set away, for to be honest, I found this music rather boring. Immediately runs for cover for incoming projectiles!

LOL Harry - I did the same w/ that box (although probably once through completely, then only some selections), i.e. local charity donation - BUT, I still have a baryton collection (like the works above trio level) - 8 CDs still; shown at the bottom for those who may be interested in a smaller and more varied assortment.  Dave

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Hindemith - Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp & Orchestra.

[Karl Henning]

Milhaud's Symphony No. 5 and No. 6, from Alun Francis' complete traversal on CPO, with the Basel Radio Symphony Orchestra.

What do you think, Rafael? Buenas tardes!

[DavidW]

Can you tell us more about this Mahler Fourth?  I see it is a "Super CD" etc.: how is the performance?

And is the sound really superior?  Would one need a special player?

Like the other Nott/Bamberg performances it is lean, classical with a large emphasis on transparency, detail and speed.  Not for everyone but I like it.

About the sound-- I streamed it.  It is the absolute pinnacle of sound quality, perhaps even beating Ivan Fischer.  If I buy the set I will buy it on cd and not sacd.  But I'm sure the sacds are hybrids and will play in regular cd players.  I think Harry might own the sacds and can comment further.

Edit: I just read that JBS confirmed that they are hybrids.

[Brian]

I did two runs, but did not have the courage to do it a third time, in fact I gave the set away, for to be honest, I found this music rather boring. Immediately runs for cover for incoming projectiles!

Not just you or Sonic Dave - I bought a Naxos disc of Haydn baryton but also found it to be background music at best.

[DavidW]

Not David, but in regards to the entire Nott set, I found the sound good. Performance-wise, it's high quality at one same level for all of them. So for every individual symphony, there are better recordings, but unlike other cycles there are no weak points. (Inbal is another cycle that has this quality.)

That is what I've been discovering too, a high degree of consistency.  Another cycle I would describe that way is Bertini.

[ritter]

What do you think, Rafael? Buenas tardes!

I already knew Milhaud's Sixth Symphony from 1955 (it's probably the most recorded of the twelve), and very much enjoy it (particularly the calme et tendre first movement). I do not recall having listened to the Fifth (from 1953) before, and didn't care for it much, I must say. It seemed less inspired, and overlong. Will have to listen to it more attentively again sometime.

Good day to you, Karl.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony no. 6 in A major, 1881 Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak, Eugen Jochum, Staatskapelle Dresden 

[Lisztianwagner]

Felix Mendelssohn
Piano Concerto No.2

Jan Lisiecki (piano) & Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

[Que]

Much as we may love Haydn, three discs of his baryton trios a day for a full week are a sure recipe to send anyone to the insane asylum... 

I did two runs, but did not have the courage to do it a third time, in fact I gave the set away, for to be honest, I found this music rather boring. Immediately runs for cover for incoming projectiles!

I once described this as a set that everybody likes, but nobody really needs...   

It is a lot of times just... pom - pom - pom...pom... 

[Cato]

@Cato, thank you for posting that, I had no idea that Lera Auerbach was up to three violin concertos! Recordings are needed! Will watch that YT video when I have the chance.

Yes, in fact, there are 4 Violin Concertos now, and she has a fairly new Cello Concerto "Diary of a Madman" which is making the rounds.

From the Chicago Symphony program notes in December 2022:

"...Auerbach is one of our most gifted and prolific composers. Born in Russia and long resident in the West, she has written extensively in every medium, an output that encompasses operas, three symphonies, four concertos for violin, and a host of instrumental and chamber works including nine string quartets...

"...Diary of a Madman was inspired by the short story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol, the Russian writer who also inspired an opera from Auerbach. The tale tells of the insignificant government clerk Poprishchin who becomes increasingly unhinged, gradually losing his grip on reality until he goes insane altogether.

In her program note Auerbach states that, while she did not realize a parallel while writing the work, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, she now sees an "eerie resonance" between the grandiose delusions of Gogol's protagonist and those of Vladimir Putin.

Auerbach also movingly relates the harrowing tragedies visited upon her family under the Soviet regime; not least a great-grandfather who she says was tortured to death by Stalin's secret police in one of their anti-Jewish purges.

Unfortunately, the program note doesn't have a single word about the actual music in Diary of a Madman, so audience members have to fend for themselves...."

  Those are my kind of program notes! 

Unfortunately, I can find no performances of this work online (YouTube, etc.).

Like the other Nott/Bamberg performances it is lean, classical with a large emphasis on transparency, detail and speed.  Not for everyone but I like it.

About the sound-- I streamed it.  It is the absolute pinnacle of sound quality, perhaps even beating Ivan Fischer.  If I buy the set I will buy it on cd and not sacd.  But I'm sure the sacds are hybrids and will play in regular cd players.  I think Harry might own the sacds and can comment further.

Edit: I just read that JBS confirmed that they are hybrids.

Many thanks for the review!


Concerning Darius Milhaud:

I already knew Milhaud's Sixth Symphony from 1955 (it's probably the most recorded of the twelve), and very much enjoy it (particularly the calme et tendre first movement). I do not recall having listened to the Fifth (from 1953), and didn't care for it much, I must say. It seemed less inspired, and overlong. Will have to listen to it more attentively again sometime.

When I was discovering Classical Music back in the late 1950's and 1960's and beyond, Darius Milhaud was pretty big!

Not Stravinsky big, or Aaron Copland big, but pretty big!   

But then his works seemed to fade away.  So it is nice to see that people are giving them a chance.

I recall one reviewer calling his oeuvre "facile at times," but...

Poulenc and Messiaen and of course Boulez were the other "big" French composers from back then.

[Cato]

Earlier I wrote about composers (Milhaud) whose works faded, but then made a comeback.

A great composer whose works should never have faded away...

Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov

Symphony #1: