What are you listening 2 now?

[pjme]

My first encounter with Schütz. Dated, but wonderful.
https://www.youtube.com/v/mkc2vk-SSlA

[Roasted Swan]

Also this:



Symphony No. 1

Wow! Spicy, violent, turbulent but tonal. Impressive work, the use of the orchestra is remarkable.

Prompted by your post I dug out my ENTIRE Sternefeld collection which amounts to this....!



Much to my shame I have NO memory at all of what I thought this was like but this morning I REALLY enjoyed this disc both in terms of the music and the performance.  I cannot make comparisons to the version above but on its own terms this Marco Polo/Naxos disc is very good.  Sometimes in this kind of repertoire I think the Moscow SO can sound raw and under-rehearsed.  Here they sound as though the music is fully engaging them - and why wouldn't it!  Your description above; "Spicy, violent, turbulent but tonal. Impressive work, the use of the orchestra is remarkable" is perfect and extends to the Mater Dolorosa Interludes too.  Thanks for the tip/reminder!

Oh the joy of YouTube - now listening to Sternefeld's 2nd Symphony here;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS7i39JfePs

much later work - early 1980's but very similar musical vocabulary.  Sub-titled "Breughel" - here is the note usefully attached to the YouTube file..... "Symphony No. 2 "Brueghel" (1981-83)

I. Dance of the Peasants and Bride in the Open Air (Allegro) [0:00]
II. Winter Landscape: Skaters and a Bird-Trap (Scherzo: Perpetuo mobile) [7:26]
III. The Parable of the Blind (Andante: Passacaglia) [10:25]
IV. The Triumph of Death "My venial dear's a venereal deer" (Allegro feroce - Lento) [21:36]

The second symphony by Belgian composer and conductor Daniel Sternefeld (1905-1986). Each of the four movements takes as its subject a painting by the Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569). The first movement evokes the "Dance of the Peasants" (1566; Detroit Institute of Arts), the second movement scherzo treats "Winter Landscape: Skaters and a Bird-Trap" (1566; Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium), the slow third movement depicts "The Parable of the Blind" (1568; Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Napoli), and the finale deals with "The Triumph of Death" (1562-63; Museo del Prado, Madrid). In the third movement, Sternefeld borrows a cantus firmus from the "Pallestina Song" (1228) by the German Minnesinger Walther von der Vogelweide, and in the finale, the composer quotes from the bawdy song "Een Venus-dierken heb ic uitvercoren" ("My venial dear's a venereal deer") from the Antwerp Songbook (1544).

Conductor: Meir Minsky
BRTN-Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels
(1985 recording)"

Check it out if you enjoyed Symphony 1

[Harry]

NEW ARRIVAL.

John Foulds.
Orchestral Works.
London PO, Barry Wordsworth.

My first exploration of this composer, and for the most part my impressions are favourable. The first three works are of a lighter make, and please the ear. Hellas is a more ambitious work, with some beautiful music, that really calls out one's imagination. So far so good, until I came to the three mantras, which in their nature should have some balance in their expression, but in the hands of Foulds it's merely a lot of orchestral noise. sure there are moments in it which I like, but he quickly goes for a full blast of cacophony, severely testing my capability of endurance. I will listen to them again, but knowing myself that that would be the last time for this work. My next steps into Foulds, will probably go to the Dutton label, although on a few of them works of the conductor are added as an unwelcome bonus, I am not interested in Richard Corp's music, nor will I ever be, so that's a drawback.
The sound of the Lyrita CD is topnotch as is the performance.

[San Antone]

This set is simply extraordinary. My reference recording for the Brahms.

I agree.

TD - repeat listen

[Madiel]

I find nothing objectionable... The sound is not the best but didn't spoil my enjoyment.

Tom-ay-to, to-mah-to.

[San Antone]

Bernstein Symphony No.2 'The Age of Anxiety' BBC SO Slatkin. A very fine performance:

I like the Slatkin Bernstein recordings - in fact, Slatkin's entire American composer series of recordings are a valuable collection.

[Florestan]

Tom-ay-to, to-mah-to.

I googled it but I still don't get your point. 

[Madiel]

Trying Paul Lewis doing D784.

[Madiel]

I googled it but I still don't get your point. 

You hear the same thing as me, you just describe it differently.

[Karl Henning]

One final work for the night:

Tippett
Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Hickox
City of London Sinfonia

(* pounds the table *)

[Florestan]

Trying Paul Lewis doing D784.

After Schiff, I've been listening to Lewis, Brendel (1980s) and Ingrid Haebler playing D850. Lewis is indeed a bit more aggressive in the 1st movement than both Schiff and Brendel (maybe the metalic sound of the piano adds to the effect) but I don't think the difference is that great. For real drama and passion I think you should hear Haebler.

[Florestan]

You hear the same thing as me, you just describe it differently.

Ah, now I see. Yes, that's probably true.

[Madiel]

After Schiff, I've been listening to Lewis, Brendel (1980s) and Ingrid Haebler playing D850. Lewis is indeed a bit more aggressive in the 1st movement than both Schiff and Brendel (maybe the metalic sound of the piano adds to the effect) but I don't think the difference is that great. For real drama and passion I think you should hear Haebler.

I may try Haebler's recordings at some point. They straddle the line between recording dates I'm likely to be fine with and ones that are going to be more questionable.

[Karl Henning]

I googled it but I still don't get your point. 

Let's call the whole thing off

[Madiel]

In other news, Deezer has made a spectacular hash of the metadata of the Paul Lewis album I'm trying to listen to.

If you use the app you get D784 and D958 complete, but only the finales of D959 and D960.  If you use the website, though, you get all of D959 and D960, but none of D784 and only one movement of D958.

How it's even possible to achieve a different result on 2 different platforms like that, I don't know (Edit: actually I do have an idea how it happened). It's really quite something.

[Florestan]

I may try Haebler's recordings at some point. They straddle the line between recording dates I'm likely to be fine with and ones that are going to be more questionable.

No need to worry, the sound is very good.

[Madiel]

No need to worry, the sound is very good.

With respect, given how you and I react to Schiff's sound, I'm not going to take your word for it!

[Florestan]

With respect, given how you and I react to Schiff's sound, I'm not going to take your word for it!

Hah! Yes, indeed. 

EDIT: to my ears, Haebler's sound is much better than Schiff's.

[Harry]

BACKLOG. 2014.

Les Maîtres de l'orgue François de Louis XIII à la Monarchie de Juillet.
Concertos et Noels.
L"Orgue dans le siècle.

Music by: Michel Corrette, Louis Claude Daquin, Claude Balbastre.

Concertos for Organ and Baroque ensemble.

Organists: Fabio Bonizzoni, Olivier Baumont.
Organs: Boizard-1714. Moucherel-1741. Dom Bedos-1748.
Ensembles: La Risonanza, La Symphonie du Marais.

A box that I still treasure. I am probably the only one that has it, apart from Premont that is.

[Florestan]

Re: Schubert' D850

Is it just me, or in the final episode of the rondo, just before the refrain is restated for the last time, Schubert quotes directly from Beethoven's Fantaisie for PIano, Choir and Orchestra?

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

The passage in question starts at 37:20.