What are you listening 2 now?

[aligreto]

Nielsen: Symphony No. 3 [Bernstein]





The first movement has the requisite energy and drive for this work. The performance is robust and the tension is palpable. The slow movement has interesting scoring and Bernstein's is a somewhat plaintive reading. There is great energy and drama in the third movement performance. There is a relentless drive throughout the final movement performance which is exhilarating.

[aligreto]

That CD was my introduction to the music of Rautavaara. I can still remember the impact that Cantus Articus had on me.

[aligreto]

Schubert: Wanderer Fantasie [Richter]


   

[Florestan]

I've been spending the last few nights with this box and while I was quite shocked by the poor quality of the sound --- compared to his Chopin box, for instance, it sounds like mono*  --- the performance is superb throughout.

* really, has anyone else listened to this set and care to comment about the sound? to my ears it's restricted and boxed, without any space or depth.

[vandermolen]

Vasks: Piano Quartet.
I played this in the car this evening. It was the third time I have heard it. It took me a while to 'get it' but I now thing it is a very fine work. For me the main emotional impact came in the penultimate section 'Canto principale'. I can't imagine anyone who responds to Shostakovich's Piano Quintet not responding to this movement or to the work as a whole:

Now playing: Miaskovsky Symphony No.21 Eugene Ormandy with the Philadelphia Orchestra (1947 recording). I read somewhere recently that this was the best recorded performance of the Symphony No.21, perhaps NYM's masterpiece and it is a deeply impressive and searching performance, very well re-mastered by Biddulph. It is part of a rather expensive double CD album. I was lucky as when I phoned up to enquire about it at Harold Moore's Record Shop in London (sadly no more) they told me that they had a copy but couldn't sell it to me as one of the CDs was damaged. I asked them which one and it was not the one which featured the Miaskovsky symphony, so they sold it to me cheaply!


Now playing VW 'A Pastoral Symphony' (Brabbins) - a wonderful performance IMO:

[Ratliff]

The Sarge suggested that the place the start in the big Szell box would be the Janacek Sinfonietta. Well, I got to it second (after the Barber Piano Concerto).



It is indeed splendid, perhaps lacking a bit of the swagger of the Mackerras/WPO recording. I went on to the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. Also a very fine recording, in which brilliance is combined with clarity. There are passages which I only feel I've grasped properly after hearing this recording (for instance, the entrance of flutes during the introduction). I look forward to exploring this box set.

[Daverz]

Bax: Garden of Fand - Barbirolli/Hallé (Pye, 1956)

In vivid stereo.  Pye was apparently technologically ahead of EMI in 1956.  The other Pye recording included is A Shropshire Lad.

One of the more interesting things in a box filled with mostly stuff that any Barbirolli fan will already have, and which is now not cost effective even if you want those things.

[asin] B0031IHBCS[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Feldman
Clarinet and String Quartet
Carol Robinson (clarinet)
Quatuor Diotima



So much for small doses. I've been listening to Feldman all day.

[bhodges]

All day have been replaying (in my head) the superb Mahler 5 on Saturday night from Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra, live from the Kennedy Center.

You can watch it on medici.tv (looks like it's free, with registration), and before intermission, there's a lovely Schubert Unfinished.

--Bruce

[j winter]

Vaughan Williams 3 & 4, Previn.  I'm still in the "getting acquainted" phase with VW, I enjoyed these but I need to do some more listening.  I have this set and Haitink, and plan to do some exploring...

[André]

After waiting about 2 years I finally unwrapped this set. Now playing sonata no 1. Not at all what I expected. This is a very youthful work, written around the age of 18, maybe earlier. Influences are Chopin, maybe Schumann. I expected something thornier, more eccentric.

[mc ukrneal]

I've been spending the last few nights with this box and while I was quite shocked by the poor quality of the sound --- compared to his Chopin box, for instance, it sounds like mono*  --- the performance is superb throughout.

* really, has anyone else listened to this set and care to comment about the sound? to my ears it's restricted and boxed, without any space or depth.

I guess. The sound isn't as good as some - I'd agree. But it doesn't sound like mono to me either. I don't know how these were recorded compared to the Chopin. At least the music's good!

[San Antone]

I've been spending the last few nights with this box and while I was quite shocked by the poor quality of the sound --- compared to his Chopin box, for instance, it sounds like mono*  --- the performance is superb throughout.

* really, has anyone else listened to this set and care to comment about the sound? to my ears it's restricted and boxed, without any space or depth.

This has been a favorite set of mine for years.  It might have been the first set I had for investigating Schumann's piano works, I don't remember. But I do know that I have valued it for a long time. As far as the "sound" that kind of issue rarely registers with me, but I don't remember anything sticking out in a bad way regarding the sound.

I am listening again on Spotify.  Sound is fine, IMO - and the music is magical.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing:

Feldman
Only
Voice, Violin and Piano
Vertical Thoughts 5
For Franz Kline
Voice and Cello
Voice and Piano

[Daverz]

Zelenka: Missa Sancti Josephi

[asin] B07GW4WT26[/asin]

First listen to this vibrant and colorful work.

[Karl Henning]

The Sarge suggested that the place the start in the big Szell box would be the Janacek Sinfonietta. Well, I got to it second (after the Barber Piano Concerto).



It is indeed splendid, perhaps lacking a bit of the swagger of the Mackerras/WPO recording. I went on to the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. Also a very fine recording, in which brilliance is combined with clarity. There are passages which I only feel I've grasped properly after hearing this recording (for instance, the entrance of flutes during the introduction). I look forward to exploring this box set.

Nice!

[Karl Henning]

Sibelius
Symphony # 3 in C
Lahti/Vänskä

[bhodges]

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 -- Haochen Zhang, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Philadelphia Orchestra (live in Tokyo, 2019).

And an encore: Rachmaninoff Vocalise.

Excellent. The pianist is new to me, and the ensemble sounds great in NHK Hall.

https://youtu.be/N_WWhsYzHNE

--Bruce

[Mirror Image]

John Luther Adams
Canticles of the Sky
Northwestern University Cello Ensemble
Hans Jørgen Jensen



It's amazing what can be achieved with cellos only. Gorgeous work from JLA.

[Mirror Image]

Ending tonight's listening session with Fauré's Impromptu Nos. 1-6 from this set: