What are you listening 2 now?

[SimonNZ]

[vandermolen]

Vaughan-Williams: Symphony No. 9 [Boult]





Boult delivers a very fine presentation of this wonderful work. One feels that he is almost messaging the music his presentation is so well rounded.

I agree. It's especially moving as it was recorded a few hours after the composer died unexpectedly in the early hours of the morning. He had been due to attend the recording session. Boult and the LPO must have been very moved and I'm sure that this impacted on their very fine performance of this great score.

[vandermolen]

https://www.youtube.com/v/5ChHR8tT8cQ&t=2113s

In spite of some agitated moments and apparent passion, this work sounds too cold and unexpressive. It's like music for one of those boring silent movies. A mere succession of notes without shape.




I found much entertainment on these symphonies. The most compeling ones, in my opinion, are 1 to 3. No. 4 sounds like a transition work towards a slightly more aggresive and dissonant idiom found in symphonies 5 and 6. Well worth revisiting.

The CD with symphonies 2 and 3 is definitely my favourite and one which I really enjoyed.

[Traverso]

This is my favorite recording,especially Pieterson and Bijlsma are impressive.The ensemble is congenial ,convincing and sublime.

[Tsaraslondon]

Percy Grainger was an original. There's certainly no one else quite like him.

[Harry]

From the SEON box. CD 45.

Johann Sebastian Bach.

Inventions BWV 772-786.
Sinfonias BWV 787-801.

Gustav Leonhardt, plays on a David Rubio, Oxford, the first from 1973, and the second instrument from 1975, After Pascal Taskin.

This is how I know Leonhardt, majestic, a stickler for details, and a spiritual dimension all over it. I thoroughly enjoyed this disc. Good sound too.

[Harry]

From the SEON box, CD 46 & 47.

Johann Sebastian Bach.

The English Suites. No. 1-6

Gustav Leonhardt plays on a J.D. Dulcken, Antwerp 1745, by Martin Skowroneck, Bremen

Absolutely marvelous, enjoying it enormously.
****************************

Note: My pre-amplifier plus power unit is back, the LED display is replaced, so its glowing like a Christmas Tree, but of course it has to get thoroughly warmed up, so next week I will start playing Orchestral works again, so many discs are waiting.

[ritter]

First (rather superficial) traversal of this new acquisition (hat tip to Mandryka):


I knew several works of Berio's Chemins series (I, II, IIb, IV and V) from previous recordings, but having all of them together in one set (beautifully preformed by the soloists, the WDR Sinfonieorchester and the various conductors--including Peter Eötvös and Emilio Pomarico) is a delight. This is gorgeous music, that I'm finding much richer than in previous approaches. Also, I cannot but conclude that these works (which are a unifed whole, but also have each their individual personality) must have influenced the late work of Pierre Boulez (who was a pioneering champion of some of them on record).

It will be intersting to listen more attentively to each Chemins piece preceded by respective Sequenza (for solo instrument) from which it evolved. In any case, this is music of the highest quality, challenging and seductive at the same time.

[vers la flamme]

Leoš Janáček: Glagolitic Mass, JW 3/9. Michael Tilson Thomas, London Symphony Orchestra. I've been spending time with the Sinfonietta on the same disc, but it's been some months since I've returned to the Mass. So far, so good. Quite beautiful singing.

[Mandryka]

(which are a unifed whole, but also have each their individual personality)

This is very much what I learned from the set.

[Karl Henning]

It's not, pace our Jeffrey, one of my favorite among the 15, and so I rarely set out to listen to it, but when I do listen, I like it entirely:

Shostakovich

Symphony # 12 in d minor, Op. 112 1917
Maxim Shostakovich
Prague Symphony

[Traverso]

Liszt-Chopin-Weber-Saint-Saëns-Granados-Villa-Lobos

[j winter]

Symphony no 2.

I had not listened to anything from the Inbal/Frankfurt cycle in 3-4 years. Inbal is a 'straight', clear-headed, no nonsense Mahler conductor - like Kubelik, Abravanel, Haitink RCOA or Gielen. Nothing is italicized. The percussion is given due prominence in the orchestral texture - helped in that by the super-clear recording, but also thanks to keeping the brass in their place. This is particularly striking in the last movement. Inbal's pacing is taut, the rythms gripping and the orchestra is on their toes throughout.

I found the ladies ok vocally, but no more. Both (Doris Soffel and Helen Donath) have slightly fluttery voices and their intonation is sometimes a hair away from being suspect. At least they have the idiom down pat and sing with sincerity. In a sense it adds to the frisson of the performance. The conductor contributes audible grunts and moans to the massed forces  . The chorus makes the requisite impact. A truly excellent version and a great listening experience.

I have that set on the shelf, and haven't listened to it in ages... like many folks here I imagine, it looks like I'm working from home for the next few weeks at least, so I think I'll revisit this in the coming days.  One advantage to all this, I can crank up the music here, rather than using earbuds at work...

TD:  Given the overall strangeness in the air, I am pulling out some old favorites.  First up:

[Mirror Image]

Respighi
Il tramonto, P 101
String Quartet in D minor, P 91
Quartetto dorico, P 144
Stella Doufexis (soprano)
New Hellenic Quartet



I'm getting back into Respighi in a huge way. Such lyrical, passionate music. This recording is gorgeous.

[aligreto]

Vaughan-Williams: Symphony No. 9 [Previn]





I remember when I first heard this Previn cycle, Symphony No. 9 was my favourite performance in the set. I am not so sure that I would put it in that position so far ahead now but it certainly is an engaging and compelling one. It is a robust, atmospheric and profound presentation.

[aligreto]

I agree. It's especially moving as it was recorded a few hours after the composer died unexpectedly in the early hours of the morning. He had been due to attend the recording session. Boult and the LPO must have been very moved and I'm sure that this impacted on their very fine performance of this great score.

There is that also, of course.

[ritter]

I'm getting back into Respighi in a huge way. Such lyrical, passionate music. This recording is gorgeous.

Good day, John.

Funny, I was listening to this recent purchase just this week:

[asin]B00BDSRK38[/asin]
Casella's La giara is a perennial favourite of mine, and this recording by Fernando Previtali (to whom I'm partial, as I saw him conduct live many, many years ago) is top notch. Petrassi's First Concerto for Orchestra is also fantastic. The Ghedini piece inspired by Frescobaldi didn't seem particularly distinguished to me, and the Wolf-Ferrari overtures (conducted not by Previtali but by Nello Santi) are delightful (but the suite from I gioielli della Madonna is just as ugly as the opera itself).

The CD includes Respighi's The Pines of Rome (a piece I hadn't listened to in decades), and I found it downright unpleasant. Pure orchestral flashiness with no musical substance. Definitely not my cup of tea. 

[j winter]

I have it in CD boxset, natch, but I always find the LP covers cooler...  great stuff regardless...

[Traverso]

Brahms & Schubert

Johannes Brahms
Sonata In F Minor, Op. 5
Intermezzo In A, Op. 118 No. 2
Capriccio In G Minor, Op. 116 No. 3
Intermezzo In B Flat Minor, Op. 117 No. 2
Capriccio In B Minor, Op. 76 No. 2
Intermezzo In B Flat, Op. 76 No. 4
Rhapsody In B Minor, Op. 79 No. 1

   
Franz Schubert
Sonata In A, D. 664

[bhodges]

First (rather superficial) traversal of this new acquisition (hat tip to Mandryka):


I knew several works of Berio's Chemins series (I, II, IIb, IV and V) from previous recordings, but having all of them together in one set (beautifully preformed by the soloists, the WDR Sinfonieorchester and the various conductors--including Peter Eötvös and Emilio Pomarico) is a delight. This is gorgeous music, that I'm finding much richer than in previous approaches. Also, I cannot but conclude that these works (which are a unifed whole, but also have each their individual personality) must have influenced the late work of Pierre Boulez (who was a pioneering champion of some of them on record).

It will be intersting to listen more attentively to each Chemins piece preceded by respective Sequenza (for solo instrument) from which it evolved. In any case, this is music of the highest quality, challenging and seductive at the same time.

Ooooh, this sounds pretty tasty (as a longtime Berio fan). Thanks for putting it on my radar.

--Bruce