What are you listening 2 now?

[vers la flamme]

I have both the Scherbakov and Donohoe versions of Tchaikovsky 2, but I tend to gravitate towards the Donohoe whenever I go to listen to the work. Also this...

Is the first positive recommendation I've seen for Scherbakov's Medtner concerto cycle. I've been hesitant to pick up the discs due to a negative "avoid at all costs"-type review here.

Thread duty:

Bantock: Pagan Symphony
Royal PO/Handley

Fricker: Symphony No. 3
BBC Northern SO/Downes

Care to share the review you mention? I can't say I see where the writer is coming from based on anything I'm hearing in the recordings.

Also, just to clarify, I didn't intend my post to be a recommendation per se, or an opinion to be taken with any weight. I'm hardly familiar with these works and the Scherbakov is the only recording I've heard. I just happen to find it good.



Wolfgang Amadè Mozart: Symphony No.36 in C major, K425, "Linz". Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

[aligreto]

Schumann: Waldszenen [Richter]

[San Antone]

Just my two cents, but often the case for me with Rogé is he's a technically capable pianist but he fails to bring the music alive in a way that takes my mind on the aural journey with him.

For example, listen to Tacchino in Trois Novelettes:

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

And then listen to Rogé:

https://www.youtube.com/v/WuVQF-JpnkE

Rogé, of course, has the better audio quality (thanks to Decca's sound engineers), but Tacchino's performance, for me, exhibits more personality and individuality.

I liked Rogé better, but as is always the case, to each his own.



TD

[vers la flamme]

I liked Rogé better, but as is always the case, to each his own.



TD

I also preferred Rogé in this particular comparison. I think Vladimir Horowitz outdoes them both in the C major Novelette, but his recording is in much worse sound.

[SimonNZ]

[JBS]

On now
[asin]B0074XY8G8[/asin]

I got the first three CDs of this series in my recent JPC order. For some reason JPC didn't show me the fourth CD, released this past March. If Volumes 2 and 3 match this one, I'll be ordering Volume 4 from Amazon soon.

[Symphonic Addict]

On now
[asin]B0074XY8G8[/asin]

I got the first three CDs of this series in my recent JPC order. For some reason JPC didn't show me the fourth CD, released this past March. If Volumes 2 and 3 match this one, I'll be ordering Volume 4 from Amazon soon.

This Graener series is compelling. The Vol. 4 contains the concertos for flute, violin and cello respectively. Not groundbreaking stuff, but those pieces are thoroughly charming.

[JBS]

This Graener series is compelling. The Vol. 4 contains the concertos for flute, violin and cello respectively. Not groundbreaking stuff, but those pieces are thoroughly charming.

As you say, nothing groundbreaking, but certainly well made and quite listenable

TD
Moving on, the second CD of this set, which also deserves the terms "well made" and "quite listenable", albeit in a different idiom and genre
[asin]B07NBDQXCT[/asin]

The Amazon blurb

aving recorded the only complete set of Viottis violin concertos, Franco Mezzena may be counted the foremost modern exponent of an unjustly overlooked composer. Born the year before Mozart in 1755, Giovanni Battista Viotti has been eclipsed by his Salzburg contemporary for who would not be? Yet Viotti wrote so much more than display vehicles for the instrument of which he was the pre-eminent Italian virtuoso of his generation. He composed quartets throughout his eventful career, which included a brief period as a wine merchant. The agreeable, undemanding idiom of his quartet-writing reveals not only his own fondness for music that he and his friends and pupils could play together privately, but also the growing tendency to make the concert repertoire available to amateur musicians in their own homes. The set of six quartets Op.1 was published in Paris around 1783. The general mood is serene and enjoyable but never banal, thanks to Viottis skill at surprising listeners with unusual combinations of timbre and register across the four instruments. The incisive start of the first quartet, for example, is reminiscent of a concerto, whereas in the fourth, and even more so in the fifth quartets of the set, the individual timbres of the viola and cello are interwoven to great effect, here and there evoking a sense of mystery, or indeed drama. Op.1 met with considerable acclaim, and was followed soon after (1787) by the six quartets of Op.3, that are clearly a development and completion of the first collection. Dedicated to his brother André, the following three quartets, which have no opus number, cross the threshold of the 19th century. Viotti himself took pleasure from them: really fascinating and perhaps something more. The set is completed by a standalone work in E minor, which is a free arrangement of the Violin Concerto No.18, including the addition of a new second movement and a slow introduction. Mezzenas playing of Viotti comes highly recommended in a 2004 survey of French violin school recordings by the Music Library Association. The veteran violinist has founded the present ensemble specifically to play these works of unfailing charm.

[Symphonic Addict]

Also sprach Zarathustra

I really enjoyed this reading by Sinopoli and the NYPO. From the very beginning I felt it was gonna be a great performance, though the organ didn't sound as powerful as expected, but the timpani did sound imposing, a good signal.

[Daverz]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 5  - Haitink, Berlin Philharmonic (via Qobuz)

[asin] B081DF9S7R[/asin]
Very enjoyable performance, though it's difficult to hear the plucked bass at the beginning (a common problem in recordings of No. 5).

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 1

[asin] B07NRTDS5M[/asin]
This has quickly become my favorite recording of the 15-year old Mendelssohn's Symphony.

[André]

Enjoyable, but rather repetitive. I can't see myself listening to this more than once every 5 years 

[Symphonic Addict]

Nielsen - Symphony No. 4

Menuhin conducting Nielsen's 4th Symphony. I didn't expect such a vibrant rendition, and relatively lengthy too (39:15). The timpani duel is thrilling and accentuated. The last passages were taken too fast, albeit as a whole there is a good display of its most prominent features. Very impressive overall.

[steve ridgway]

George Crumb - Quest.

[asin] B000FGGKIK[/asin]

[steve ridgway]

Birtwistle - Nomos.

[asin] B000026AYP[/asin]

[HIPster]

Streaming via Prime Music:

[asin]B008FGW0RC[/asin]

Quite enjoyable!

I'd like to see the video some day.

[Que]

My morning listening is a return to this:

[asin]B07DS1WJPZ[/asin]
Q

[Tsaraslondon]

Gorgeous disc.

[vandermolen]

Some very nice early morning listening. Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1.
With thanks to Olivier (Papy Oli)

[Irons]

Brahms: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel.



The Julius Katchen star seems to be slowly fading, which is a shame. Excellent in Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Bartok and especially Brahms.

[Christo]

Enjoyable, but rather repetitive. I can't see myself listening to this more than once every 5 years 

Why did you think it was dirt cheap (3 lousy euros) at JPC?