What are you listening 2 now?

[Carlo Gesualdo]

I dunno why but Schoenberg ''Le Pierrot Lunaire opus.27 is so awesome, , at first I hate it find it difficult, because I hated all narration, done in a crazy over top way, this one yes this one on EVEREST  Records is exquisite.

My verdict is the ensemble and instrumental part or sublime, the narration is fluid and not annoying, king of cabaret music for expressionist very pleasant each time I hear it, grow on me wild, perhaps because it's in  exotic Germans language and little in this world sound like this or very little.

[Karl Henning]

I dunno why but Schoenberg ''Le Pierrot Lunaire opus.27 is so awesome, , at first I hate it find it difficult, because I hated all narration, done in a crazy over top way, this one yes this one on EVEREST  Records is exquisite.

My verdict is the ensemble and instrumental part or sublime, the narration is fluid and not annoying, king of cabaret music for expressionist very pleasant each time I hear it, grow on me wild, perhaps because it's in  exotic Germans language and little in this world sound like this or very little.

Interesting. For a while, I swung back and forth about Pierrot, but now I do simply love it.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Dear Karl, thank for the feedback, I'm now listening to Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, on Archiv produktion on polydor Japan, I do parallel Schoenberg genius whit Gesualdo In some odd way in musical sphere there connected expressionism & manierism.

The following is  such a meal Tenebrea Responsoria I happen to have this in multiple copy even in vinyl I still got one more on Candide a part of VOX record.

Do this experiment listen to Le pierrot lunaire and Gesualdo Tenebrae responsoria,you will connect dot in space and time.

good night

[JBS]

Dear Karl, thank for the feedback, I'm now listening to Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, on Archiv produktion on polydor Japan, I do parallel Schoenberg genius whit Gesualdo In some odd way in musical sphere there connected expressionism & manierism.

The following is  such a meal Tenebrea Responsoria I happen to have this in multiple copy even in vinyl I still got one more on Candide a part of VOX record.

Do this experiment listen to Le pierrot lunaire and Gesualdo Tenebrae responsoria,you will connect dot in space and time.

good night

Time to play Stravinsky's Monumentum pro Gesualdo, perhaps?

TD
Ton Koopman playing a bunch of Bach organ works from the Eloquence set.

[Mirror Image]

Bernstein
Serenade (after Plato's 'Symposium')
Hahn
Zinman
Baltimore SO



I've heard many fine performances of Bernstein's Serenade through the years, but none come close to the excellence of Hilary Hahn's performance, IMHO.

[André]

Schubert

Die schöne Müllerin

A beauty !

[Mirror Image]

I'm thinking of starting an exploration on Ligeti:

First order of business -

Violin Concerto
Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin)
Schönberg Ensemble, Asko Ensemble
Reinbert de Leeuw

[Daverz]

Interesting. For a while, I swung back and forth about Pierrot, but now I do simply love it.

I was hooked after hearing Erika Sziklay on Hungaroton.  Very sexy. 

[asin]B00000303W[/asin]

I also think the English translation by Andrew Porter works very well.

[asin]B000003GIQ[/asin]

[Traverso]

A beauty !

I'm glad you like it too,the use of the guitar makes it more intimate,a bit neglected recording in my view.

[Tsaraslondon]

One of my three favourite recordings of my favourite Puccini opera (the others being Callas/Karajan and Scotto/Barbirolli) and better I think than De Los Angeles's second (stereo) recording. First and foremost, the conducting of Gianandrea Gavazzeni gives much more shape to the opera than Patané. Bjoerling might seem to be one of the attractions of the second set and as always of course there is a great deal of pleasure to be had from his singing per se, but Di Stefano is the more believably charming Pinkerton. He is in enviable vocal form here and I think this one of his best performances on record. Gobbi is quite simply the most sympathetic, most multi-faceted Sharpless you are ever likely to hear. Anna Maria Canali is an excellent Suzuki too. And De Los Angeles? Well she is in easy, golden voice in a role that she might have been born to sing, and one she made very much her own. Maybe not as searingly intense as Callas, but very much inside the role and absolutely adorable.

The recording is mono of course, but the transfer has been well managed.

[steve ridgway]

Ligeti - Masterworks Vol. 1.

[asin] B07MCW81MK[/asin]

[Harry]

Backlog 2014.

Donald Tovey.
The Bride of Dionysus: Prelude.
Symphony in D major.

Malmo Opera Orchestra, George Vass.

I long had my doubts about Donald Tovey, and in all ways I am confirmed in this. His compositions are not memorable. I rather like episodes in the densely scored Symphony, and admire his gift for fine melodies, but the ebb and flow are vehement. Its either loud or soft and this in quick succession. Massive Brucknerian blows without the quality of that composer. As an orchestrator one has to admire him and I do, but the scoring at times is so dense that it rather obscures any interest there might be in his works. I like the openness at times in the second movement, and his tighter grip on the material at hand.
Honesty compels me to say that the recording and performances are in the wrong hands. Recorded in a Studio in Sweden, there is almost no air around the instruments, and I miss rather a lot of details. The lower region of the orchestra gets the full blast, while upwards from the cellos all detail is muffled. No depth in the soundstage, and some careless miking does the rest. It improves a bit here and there, but overall it's a tepid affair.
This orchestra is to my ears not an ensemble sympathetic to Tovey's music, for it is a rather bland, and the British colours are not pictured in the right hues. George Vass is a good conductor, but I feel he is a bit out of his depth with Tovey's complexness. So what we really need is a good recording, orchestra, and a conductor that can make sense of the orchestral scorings of this composer.

[steve ridgway]

Penderecki - Symphony No. 8.

[asin] B000ZJVI6Q[/asin]

[Maestro267]

Lalo: Symphonie espagnole
Yang (violin)/Barcelona SO/Ang

The liner notes to this contain numerous mistakes. It omits the percussion from the instrumentation, and it describes the 4th-movement Andante as having a quiet coda with a loud final chord. This actually describes the 3rd-movement Intermezzo.

[Traverso]

Debussy

Trois Nocturnes (1900)   
La Mer (1903-5)   
Images (1905-12)   

Concertgebouw Orchestra Eduard van Beinum

[Harry]

Backlog 2014.[/i

Havergal Brian.
Orchestral music, Volume II.

BBC Scottish SO, Garry Walker.

Emotionally Brian does not move me, I undergo his music as an excellent rational and technical experience, in which all the inventive and powerful creativity that so typifies Brian, is coming to the fore in all its brilliancy.
All the works that are on this disc exemplifies my admiration for him as one of the best orchestrators I know, from the British isles. All things come together here, first is a state of the art recording, superb orchestra and conductor, and music that shows me how far modernity can go before it gets unpalatable for me. In that sense he is a bit to modern for me, and I miss the warmth and emotional punch, being a hopeless romantic.

[Tsaraslondon]

Rostropovich's second recording of Shostakovich's eleventh symphony, recorded live at the Barbican, in March 2002, seems to divide opinion. For some the slow speeds are just too drawn out and prolix. For others Rostropovich creates enormous tension within those slow speeds. I tend towards the latter view and consider this a great performance indeed.

[Biffo]

What's your view of it Biffo?

I have enjoyed all three of the Bax quartets but this is the first time I have heard them; they will need a further listen before I can decide on a favourite.

[Papy Oli]

Continuing where I left off yesterday.

[asin]B000N8UVR6[/asin]

[Traverso]

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No.6
Romeo and Juliet

Concertgebouw Orchestra  Paul van Kempen