What are you listening 2 now?

[staxomega]

I think that the Shostakovich String Quartets are are truly magnificent body of work. I have not heard the Quatuor Danel cycle but I may well investigate it.

It's a fine cycle, not as "gritty" as my personal favorite the first Borodin. It's available for streaming on Spotify. I've also enjoyed Danel playing the Weinberg string quartets.

Listened to the Op. 87 Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues played by Jenny Lin and now on this Arthur Friedheim Pearl CD. Some Emil von Sauer on this CD as well, the Marston releases of his Chopin are personal favorites.

[JBS]

What's that like?

Can ask who your new avatar is? Google image search wants me to think it's Alan Turing.

TD
Beethoven
Piano Sonatas 4, 9, 8
Stewart Goodyear piano

Playing is certainly excellent though I have yet to hear anything I  might call superb.  The sonics are certainly among the best (thanks in part I suppose to Glenn Gould...the recording venue was the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto).
But I will repeat this cycle has the chinziest packaging I have ever seen, other than the EMI 50CD LvB Masterworks set.

[Todd]

What's that like?

Heavy Bach transcriptions flanking heavy-ish, baroque-informed works by Gubaidulina and Hindemith.  Gourari's style works well, though Elusive Affinity is her best ECM disc.

Can ask who your new avatar is? Google image search wants me to think it's Alan Turing.

John Logan.

[Moonfish]

Mendelssohn: VC
Bruch: VC

Jansen
Gewandhausorchester/Chailly

Nothing amazing in this recording. Pretty much in the middle of the road performances of these two warhorses.
But Jansen is very cute!

[asin] B000JRYMDU[/asin]

[Moonfish]

Haydn
Symphonies Nos. 9-13
Vienna Chamber O/Märzendorfer

from

[Mandryka]

It's the anniversary of Jacques Arcadelt's death. The poems on this are recited with an historic accent which, for some reason, even though I'm not a francophone, makes me laugh. I have the same response to a Quebec accent! The singing doesn't quite efface the memory of Rooley in Arcadelt for me, to put it mildly.

[Madiel]

Sibelius

4 pieces for violin and piano, op.78



5 Romantic Compositions, op.101

[Irons]

Everything was slow with him... never heard a Klemperer record I wanted to buy

Probably the last work you would think of but Klemperer's recording of Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique is worth anyone's money.

[Irons]

Copland: 3rd Symphony.



Magnificent! To have the composer - fine conductor too - with the Philharmonia is a bonus.

[vandermolen]

Copland: 3rd Symphony.



Magnificent! To have the composer - fine conductor too - with the Philharmonia is a bonus.

That's a marvellous performance and LP cover. I find that Copland's slightly understated approach results in an even more moving account. I never liked the Bernstein CBS/Sony version and much preferred Copland's earlier Everest LP.

[vandermolen]

I've been very tempted by this CD! What's your opinion of it? I have a number of other recordings of the work.
Thread duty:

'Leyla and Mejnun' (1947)

[Irons]

That's a marvellous performance and LP cover. I find that Copland's slightly understated approach results in an even more moving account. I never liked the Bernstein CBS/Sony version and much preferred Copland's earlier Everest LP.

I like Copland a lot but must admit coming to the 3rd Symphony late. Better late then never as a terrific symphony! The cover is striking as you say, but puzzled by its message. Listening to Copland I always think of the vast open US prairie.

[San Antone]

I've been very tempted by this CD! What's your opinion of it? I have a number of other recordings of the work.

I enjoyed it.

Zimerman, for me, is a reliable pianist and I have never been disappointed by any recording of his I've heard, so despite Rattle I was immediately interested in this recording.  I've never been a huge fan of Rattle, and the recording that has made me think twice about him was his recording of Debussy's P&M.  So this is the second recent recording of his that I've liked.

I haven't done any head-to-head comparisons, and cannot speak to how it holds up against the other recordings, but will come back to this one again.

[Que]

Via Spotify:



Q

[San Antone]

Via Spotify:



Q

Thanks for the Spotify alert.  I like Hopkinson Smith a lot and created a playlist of some of his recordings I enjoy.  After listening for a few minutes, I will add this one to it.

[Que]

Thanks for the Spotify alert.  I like Hopkinson Smith a lot and created a playlist of some of his recordings I enjoy.  After listening for a few minutes, I will add this one to it.

Now I'm on vacation and seperated from my CD collection, I find that Spotify is a great way to discover new recordings. 

Plus the convenience when travelling. My wife got a portable device with speakers that can be connected via bluetooth to my tablet or iPhone.

Q

[Tsaraslondon]

Klemperer slowed down considerably in old age, even more so in the recording studio. Recordings and concerts from the fifties show he could be quite the speed merchant, to the point where things tumble down almost uncontrollably at times.

Indeed the first movement of his Mahler 2 on EMI with the Philharmonia is on the fast side and a good deal faster than Rattle on his award winning CBSO account. I prefer it too. Much more bitingly urgent.

[Tsaraslondon]

Famous performances which need no introduction from me.

[Madiel]

Sibelius - original version of the 5th symphony



I've not tried the 4-movement original before. That was a rather odd experience. I don't really "get" the 5th symphony anyway, it's a work I've never entirely warmed to, and so to then have an unfamiliar form of most of its ideas was...

There are lots of passages I enjoy in isolation, but as an overall work I didn't know where it was going or what it was doing.

Oh, and Spotify? Pfft. Try Deezer.

[aukhawk]

I think it's good to have.  It's almost like a whole 'nother symphony.  I'd like to hear other recordings of it (although Vanska is reliably good of course).