What are you listening 2 now?

[Mandryka]

Detail of Thomas Becket Reliquary, between 1190 and 1200, Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge.

https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/thomas-becket-imagery-unexpected-saint/

Ooooh, I WANT THAT RELIQUARY NOW!!!!!!!!

(I'm very impressed you found it, thanks!)

The man with the sword looks so lean, tough, and sinewy, dangerously so.

[JBS]

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.

That was the first DSCH 11 I ever heard, and for me it remains the best performance. (Similar statement applies to the companion recording of the 8th.)

[San Antone]

[pjme]

Ooooh, I WANT THAT RELIQUARY NOW!!!!!!!!

(I'm very impressed you found it, thanks!)

The man with the sword looks so lean, tough, and sinewy, dangerously so.

You're welcome. I enjoy doing some research...

[Traverso]

Detail of Thomas Becket Reliquary, between 1190 and 1200, Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge.

https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/thomas-becket-imagery-unexpected-saint/

Good research ! 

[Karl Henning]

You're welcome. I enjoy doing some research...

Well done!

[Mirror Image]

Excellent, San Antone. What do you think of Alsop's performances?

[André]

Testing the new configuration of my listening room with this:

[San Antone]

Excellent, San Antone. What do you think of Alsop's performances?

I think that at worst, they are reliable, but many performances are excellent.  Her Mass, e.g., is the best modern recording of the work, IMO.

Also, what I really appreciate is the wealth of music that she recorded. 

[San Antone]

Violin Concerto

[Karl Henning]

Milhaud
6 Little Symphonies

[Mirror Image]

I think that at worst, they are reliable, but many performances are excellent.  Her Mass, e.g., is the best modern recording of the work, IMO.

Also, what I really appreciate is the wealth of music that she recorded.

I should revisit her Mass, but it's going to be difficult to shake impressions of Bernstein's on Columbia.

Thread duty -

Britten
Cantata Academica, Op. 62
Jennifer Vyvyan (Soprano), Helen Watts (Alto), Owen Brannigan (Bass),
Peter Pears (Tenor)
George Malcolm
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus



This might be a first-listen to this work, but, honestly, I'm not sure as I don't remember it. I might this work confused with Cantata misericordium, Op. 69, which I have heard but definitely need to refresh my memory of this work as well. Damn fine work so far, though! Really enjoying it.

[Mirror Image]

Milhaud
6 Little Symphonies

Some of the only Milhaud I can stomach. Fine little hairballs those. I take it you're listening to the composer's own recordings?

[Christo]

Milhaud
6 Little Symphonies

+1

[André]

[San Antone]

I should revisit her Mass, but it's going to be difficult to shake impressions of Bernstein's on Columbia.

His original recording is my first choice, but hers is a close second, IMO.  The original suffered a bit from the cramped Columbia '70s sound, so, the remastered version is nice to have.

There are other recent recordings, and they are mostly good.  I once did a side-by-side comparison but have forgotten them by now.  I should do it again, since Mass is one of my favorite works from the 20th century, and I might nominate it as Bernstein's greatest achievement.

[Mirror Image]

Another first-listen -

Bernstein
Songfest
Vernon Hartman (Baritone), Walter Planté (Tenor), Linda Hohenfeld (Soprano),
Patricia Spence (Mezzo Soprano), Wendy White (Mezzo Soprano)
Saint Louis SO
Slatkin

[Mirror Image]

His original recording is my first choice, but hers is a close second, IMO.  The original suffered a bit from the cramped Columbia '70s sound, so, the remastered version is nice to have.

There are other recent recordings, and they are mostly good.  I once did a side-by-side comparison but have forgotten them by now.  I should do it again, since Mass is one of my favorite works from the 20th century, and I might nominate it as Bernstein's greatest achievement.

Alsop is very much in agreement with you about the Mass being Bernstein's greatest achievement. For me, there are many works that I think are remarkable and deserve all the accolades one could possibly give. I'm always wary to pick out just one work from a composer's entire oeuvre that I find is their best, especially when it comes to composers with whom I have nothing but praise for to begin with.

[Symphonic Addict]

The whole CD (Piano Quintet, Cello Sonata and Two Fantasy Pieces for cello and piano)

Peter Heise was a Danish composer of the Romantic period. These works contain some very fine, tuneful and well-crafted music that won't leave indifferent to anyone who enjoys, say, Schubert, Schumann or Mendelssohn. The Piano Quintet in F major is the highlight, but all the pieces, including the brief but effective Fantasy Pieces, deserve to be more widely known. Lovely music altogether.

[San Antone]

Alsop is very much in agreement with you about the Mass being Bernstein's greatest achievement. For me, there are many works that I think are remarkable and deserve all the accolades one could possibly give. I'm always wary to pick out just one work from a composer's entire oeuvre that I find is their best, especially when it comes to composers with whom I have nothing but praise for to begin with.

I wasn't aware that Alsop said that, and I don't know her rationale.  In Mass all of Bernstein's aspects are represented: his jagged modern atonalism, his Broadway tunes, his Americanisms, which all add up to a quintessential Bernstein stylistic pastiche.  And then there's his spiritual struggling.  But for me it hangs together as a unified work.

TD



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