What are you listening 2 now?

[Mirror Image]

Sibelius
Seven Runeberg Songs, Op. 13
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano
Bengt Forsberg, piano

[Alek Hidell]

I've been enjoying this work lately:



What an insane piece! It's like a musical rigmarole, several genres are heard here in a quite original conception. And somehow all those 'patches' put together make sense. I heard some references from other works (Beethoven's 5th, Tchaikovsky's PC 1, Strauss II Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald), but just that in a psychedelic way! The work of a genius IMO.

Yeah, it is, as I believe our Karl has said more than once, "a wild ride!" I haven't heard that recording but I have heard the Segerstam. I remember thinking it sounded like the work of a young man eager to show off his compositional prowess, throwing in every idea he'd had to that point. (In fact Schnittke wasn't especially young when he composed it: he was in his mid- to late thirties. But of course some of the ideas might have been simmering in his head for years before that.)

[Mirror Image]

Sibelius
Seven Songs, Op. 17
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano
Bengt Forsberg, piano

[Mandryka]

https://www.youtube.com/v/Vf2BQtMQNgs

Laurence Crane, Sparling. What's going on here? Why does this sound so Satie-like, so unresolved. I like it very much.

[Daverz]

Currently on Symphony No. 9.  It's not all cheeky fun: the Largo is dark and serious.  The cheeky fun returns in the final Allegretto.

[Harry]

Music in Europe at the time of the Renaissance. CD I.

Italy: Secular Music, from the Frottole to Madrigal.

Josquin Desprez and others.

The first CD is a mixed blessing. There are some Countertenors that are definitively hooty, and the recordings are not always friendly for my ears. The mixed choirs and ensembles are variable in quality and expression. But it's an amazing ride through the landscape of the Renaissance.
What made quite an impression was an Anonymous piece called: "Giu per la mala via"(Lauda) performed by Ensemble Daedalus, Roberto Festa.

[ritter]

Some weeks ago I was rather unimpressed by Friedrich Gulda's take on Book 1 of Bach's WTC (revisiting it after many years). I am now listening to Pierre-Laurent Aimard's recording on DG, which I just purchased, and am enjoying it tremendously. Somehow, Aimard manages to be precise and warm at the same time, and to sneak in some "harpsichordist" touches into his glorious piano playing.

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TBH, I don't recall ever being taken over so strongly by the (overfamiliar) Prelude No. 1 in C major as in Aimard's rendition. Simply beautiful, and beautiful in its simplicity. A superb recording IMHO.

[Tsaraslondon]

The original 1913 version of Vaughan Williams's wonderful London Symphony, superbly played by the LSO under Richard Hickox, which won Gramophone's Record of the Year in 2001 Terrific Chandos sound too.

[vandermolen]

The original 1913 version of Vaughan Williams's wonderful London Symphony, superbly played by the LSO under Richard Hickox, which won Gramophone's Record of the Year in 2001 Terrific Chandos sound too.

One of my favourite CDs ever. I saw Hickox conduct it live - first performance since the 1920s I guess.

[vandermolen]

Currently on Symphony No. 9.  It's not all cheeky fun: the Largo is dark and serious.  The cheeky fun returns in the final Allegretto.

Love the Socialist Realist art work on those old Olympia recordings.

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams
A Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 3)
Heather Harper, soprano
Previn
LSO



This performance is still my reference for A Pastoral Symphony. Everything is paced magnificently and there's such a passion from all-involved that hasn't been equalled in this symphony on record, IMHO.

Never been equalled.

[Andante]

LvB. The string trios. Sophie Mutter, Bruno Giuranna, Mstislav Rostropovich on a 1989 DG box set.
Going very well with a glass of red before bed.

[ritter]

And now, from Bach to the avantgarde...

First listen to Gilbert Amy's Piano Concerto (from 2005). Jean-François Heisser at the piano, with the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Acquitaine, conducted by Julien Leroy.

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A very approcheable piece, with atmospheric orchestral writing and a brilliant piano part (superbly played by Heisser). Very enjoyable...

[Tsaraslondon]

One of my favourite CDs ever. I saw Hickox conduct it live - first performance since the 1920s I guess.

What a wonderful memory that must be.

[steve ridgway]

Scelsi CD 1 - so absorbing, the time just flies by.

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[Tsaraslondon]

Disc 5.

Béatrice et Bénédict and Benvenuto Cellini are taken from the Davis complete recordings, whilst the remaining overtures are from a 1965 release with the LSO.

Davis and Berlioz. What else needs to be said?

[vers la flamme]

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.5 in E-flat major, op.82. Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra.

edit: replaced huge image with smaller image

[Harry]

Thats a image megasize, better learn how to make them smaller, folks on here know how to do that.

[Harry]

Music in Europe at the time of the Renaissance. CD II.

Italy,  Sacred music and Secular vocal music.

Composers:
Palestrina, Willaert, de Wert, Gesualdo, Gabrieli, Striggio, de Rore, Vicentino, Marenzio, Luzzaschi, Banchieri.

A fine journey through such divers music, by so many different performers. Sharpens my mind profoundly in what ensembles I am going to check out.

[vers la flamme]

Thats a image megasize, better learn how to make them smaller, folks on here know how to do that.

Yeah that is pretty massive. I didn't realize.

This one should be more reasonable:



Alfred Schnittke: Cello Concerto No.1. Maria Kliegel, Gerhard Markson, Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra.