What are you listening 2 now?

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JS - Well-Tempered Clavier, Bks. 1/2 with Colin Booth on a harpsichord built by him in 2016, after an original instrument he restored by Nicholas Celini, 1661 - the reproduction is strung in brass. Both books available for £20 on his website HERE - shipping was free to me (North Carolina, USA).  Dave

 

[Traverso]

Bach

[Mandryka]

Kurt Weill: Die Dreigroschenoper. John Mauceri, RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta

First listen to the whole piece. It's amazing.

There's a song in it, Die Seeräuber-Jenny, which really used to get under my skin. Und ein Schiff mit acht Segeln
Und mit fünfzig Kanonen Wird liegen am Kai.

[Todd]

Wrapping up the first run-through of this cycle.  Pleasant enough, but not great or even especially memorable overall. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

One of my first Britten CDs, but as issued by Naxos.

I was having a dickens of a time finding a photo of the Collins Classics one that I could upload! lol

I can't remember where I purchased it from but have owned it for quite some time.  I love the music from Peter Grimes in particular--very dramatic and atmospheric.  I swear that I could "hear" the waves crashing and see the beach. 

Earlier today listened to Elgar's Enigma Variations which I haven't listened to in ages.  Thoroughly enjoyed it!

PD

[Traverso]

Bach

and another cantata BWV 151  "Süsser Trost,mein Jesus Kömt"

[Irons]

I was having a dickens of a time finding a photo of the Collins Classics one that I could upload! lol

I can't remember where I purchased it from but have owned it for quite some time.  I love the music from Peter Grimes in particular--very dramatic and atmospheric.  I swear that I could "hear" the waves crashing and see the beach. 

Earlier today listened to Elgar's Enigma Variations which I haven't listened to in ages.  Thoroughly enjoyed it!

PD

I like Collins Classics CD's. Good dynamic sound.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I like Collins Classics CD's. Good dynamic sound.

Yes, it sounded pretty good on my stereo system; a bit dated sound-wise, but still thoroughly enjoyable.  I think that it was recorded in 1989.

PD

[ando]

Italian Baroque: The Instrumentals (2016, Brilliant Classics)

This 50 CD box set is a bit unwieldy so I almost always resort to shuffling a handy playlist. Perfect for this rainy afternoon.

[ritter]

Earlier this afternoon, first listen to this recent purchase:



Apart from the Symphony No. 10 (one of the more successful of the late symphonies IMHO), all the Milhaud works on this disc were new to me. The Concertino d'hiver for trombone and chamber orchestra is quite effective and enjoyable. Musique pour Prague is typical late Milhaud, fine but not particularly inspired or memorable. The Hommage à Comenius was written for UNESCO, to words by (you guessed it) Comenius (a figure I was ignorant about until now). The CD says it's performed "in the original Czech". I suspect that what was in Czech were the original texts, but that the music probably was composed to a French translation of them (I have not been able to locate any detailed information on this). Be that as it may, this is a major late Milhaud piece for soprano, baritone and orchestra, and works quite well, despite an abrupt ending. But boy, I wish it were sung in French! 

And now, some Stravinsky:



Apart from the Danses concertantes (which I've always found to be great fun), I consider the rest of the works on this disc (Ode, Four Norwegian Moods, and the Concerto in D) "B list" Stravinsky, and I seldom listen to them. My opinion has not changed this time around.   

CD 52 of the big box:

[Todd]

#3.  A slight dip in quality, from stupefyingly great to mere reference level playing.  The Poco adagio does maintain the stupefyingly great standard, though.

[Traverso]

Franck

CD 3

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JS - Goldberg Variations with Jaroslav Tuma on clavichord and also on harpsichord (instruments described below - link for more, if interested) - Dave

Clavichords: A large instrument built in 2002 and based on an original of 1761 by the organ-maker  David Tannenberg, (whose parents came from Moravia) living at the end of the 18th century in Pennsylvania, was used for the recording of the Goldberg Variations as the first manual. It is what is known as the unbound type of clavichord with a range of six octaves CC – c4.  On top of it stood a small instrument with a range of 4? octaves AA-e3, which is a copy of a clavichord of 1787 built by Christian Gottlob Hubert of Ansbach. This copy, completed in  2004, is from the private collection of Diez Eichler.

Harpsichord: The two-manual model completed in 2004 is a copy of an instrument built by François Etienne Blanchet of 1733, in the depositary of the Château de Thoiry not far from Paris. Range EE – f3, dispositions 8´, 4´ (lute) on the bottom manual and 8´ (lute) on the top manual.
All three instruments are tuned to 415 Hz (a1) using unequal temperament; the fifths F-C-G-D-A-E-B are a little narrower, B-F#-C#-G# pure, G#-Eb-Bb-F slightly wider.
(contact: Martin.Kather@hamburg.de) (Source)

 

[DavidW]

[VonStupp]

Ralph Vaughan Williams
Songs of Travel
On Wenlock Edge
Edward Elgar
Pleading, op. 48
Three Songs, op. 59
Two Songs, op. 60
George Butterworth
Love Blows as the Wind Blow

Robert Tear, tenor
Thomas Allen, baritone
CBSO - Simon Rattle & Vernon Handley

I don't think I have heard the orchestrated versions of RVW's song cycles. Different, but enjoyable, as are the contrasting Elgar songs, which I had not known previously.

Historically, I never have cared for Robert Tear's tenor. Not much to complain about here though, although much different than the Ian Partridge and Philip Langridge I heard earlier. A more pointed, Italianate sound.
VS


Map of Shropshire (c1850), Thomas Moule (1784-1851)

[ritter]

Underappreciated composer imo.

Grand style as well as accessible music.

Henk's post prompted me to revisit the Petrassi Concerti for Orchestra (which is always a pleasure). No. 5 to 8 tonight (CD2 of the set pictured above).

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 6 in A Major, 1881 Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Lorin Maazel

[Cato]

Thanks to Dayton Classical Radio yesterday: this was one of my favorites!  It shared an RCA LP-record with Franck's Le Chasseur Maudit, with Charles Munch conducting The Boston Symphony Orchestra in barn-burning performances!

If you are unaware of Ernst Chausson's only symphony, you must become very aware of it! 

[Karl Henning]

CPE Bach
Cello Concerto in a minor, Wq 170
Truls Mørk & Les Violons du Roy

[Karl Henning]

"Papa"
Cello Concerto in C, Hob. VIIb
Truls Mørk & al.