What are you listening 2 now?

[Maestro267]

Penderecki: A Polish Requiem
Soloists, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir
Warsaw PO/Wit

[vers la flamme]

Heitor Villa-Lobos: Guitar Concerto. Norbert Kraft, Nicolas Ward, Northern Chamber Orchestra.

I've heard this work a couple times before. The slow movement is really beautiful. Nice, jazzy chords, especially in the cadenza. Good music, I think.

[j winter]

That early Ormandy recording is one of my favourite versions of Le Sacre du Printemps - very fiery, and certainly among the fastest ever (30 minutes).

Agreed -- this was extremely enjoyable. 

TD:  More from the same source, Prokofiev Symphony #1, Violin Concerto #2 - Ormandy & Philadelphia.  This is really a fabulous box...

[André]

Yes, it's a broadcast. It was posted here some years back in a blind test thread. Well, either here, or at CMG, I can't recall for sure  . I'll check the details tomorrow.

Here are the details of that performance:

Beethoven, Eroica Symphony
14.09.2007, Victoria Hall, Genève
Orchestre de la Suisse romande, Marek Janowski

I just finished listening to the performance. Smashing. Just smashing. It IS the Eroica. The orchestra is on fire, the conductor leads a taut, incisive, driven interpretation, yet it is never brutal or careless. First movement repeat taken, it clocks in at 48:45. The sound is from the same hall Decca used for all the OSR Ansermet recordings: resonant, colourful yet finely detailed. Worth seeking out. There must be a link out there somewhere...

[San Antone]

Heitor Villa-Lobos: Guitar Concerto. Norbert Kraft, Nicolas Ward, Northern Chamber Orchestra.

I've heard this work a couple times before. The slow movement is really beautiful. Nice, jazzy chords, especially in the cadenza. Good music, I think.

I agree it is fine work.  The recording I usually listen to is by Julian Bream - very old, but still my favorite.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I'm still fairly early in my acquaintance with Scriabin myself.  My understanding is he evolved quite a bit over the course of his composing life, and I can definitely hear that here -- the second symphony is a classic Romantic style work, very much in the mold of Brahms or Dvorak, whereas the Op 54 reminds me a lot of some of Wagner's overtures, with a much wider, more adventurous tonal palette.  Very enjoyable.

TD:  Stravinksy, Le Sacre du printemps & Petrushka Suite, Ormandy & Philadelphia.  Having heard Night On Bald Mountain earlier today, I'm continuing the Fantasia flashbacks    Great stuff this...

Thank you for your thoughts on his music J Winter.  :-)

I grew up listening to some of Ormandy's recordings, so I have a soft spot for them.

[vers la flamme]

Agreed -- this was extremely enjoyable. 

TD:  More from the same source, Prokofiev Symphony #1, Violin Concerto #2 - Ormandy & Philadelphia.  This is really a fabulous box...

Wow, that looks excellent. Quite pricey though from the look of it.

@San Antone, I love Julian Bream, I'll have to check it out.

[vers la flamme]

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.5 in D major. André Previn, London Symphony Orchestra

Enjoying it more than usual, but I'm still not totally convinced. What I really ought to do is take a long break from the RVW symphonies and come back in about a year, and see if my perspective has changed any. As it stands, the only symphonies of his I really like are No.3 & No.8.

[Karl Henning]

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.5 in D major. André Previn, London Symphony Orchestra

Enjoying it more than usual, but I'm still not totally convinced. What I really ought to do is take a long break from the RVW symphonies and come back in about a year, and see if my perspective has changed any. As it stands, the only symphonies of his I really like are No.3 & No.8.

Nothing wrong with really liking 3 & 8, of course

[vers la flamme]

Nothing wrong with really liking 3 & 8, of course

They're both damn good, I only wish the others would click, too.

[vandermolen]

They're both damn good, I only wish the others would click, too.

3 and 8 are ones that I've come to appreciate more and more in recent years.

TD
Khachaturian Piano Concerto
A fabulous performance performed by Moura Lympany:

[vandermolen]

E.J. Moeran: Symphony in G minor.
Vassily Sinaisky BBC PO
(I was fortunate to be present at this performance in London in 2009).
One of my Desert Island symphonies:

[vers la flamme]

Checking out a few things from this new box;



Pierre Boulez: Livre pour cordes. Pierre Boulez, New Philharmonia Orchestra.

Charles Ives: Fragments from Piano Sonata No.2, "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860", played by the composer (an historic recording).

Toru Takemitsu: Asterism for piano and orchestra. Yuji Takahashi, Seiji Ozawa, Toronto Symphony Orchestra. WOW!!! At first I was thinking Lutoslawski, and that's still a useful touchstone, I think. But then I got to the complete aural assault at around the 10 minute mark. That completely ravaged my brain for a second there. Is this Takemitsu at his most hardcore modern? I must admit I've never heard him compose in this mode, but I find it intriguing.

[Kaga2]

Taking a break in the Haydn marathon. Fayfax masses, The Cardinall's Musick

[SimonNZ]

[Symphonic Addict]

Symphony No. 1 in C minor

This work is something else. I didn't recall how impetuous and formidable it is, and that slow movement is incredible.




Symphony No. 4 in F major

Life-enhancing, placid, joyous. These Weingartner symphonies have been fantastic so far.

[Mahlerian]

Toru Takemitsu: Asterism for piano and orchestra. Yuji Takahashi, Seiji Ozawa, Toronto Symphony Orchestra. WOW!!! At first I was thinking Lutoslawski, and that's still a useful touchstone, I think. But then I got to the complete aural assault at around the 10 minute mark. That completely ravaged my brain for a second there. Is this Takemitsu at his most hardcore modern? I must admit I've never heard him compose in this mode, but I find it intriguing.

That work does use some controlled aleatoric elements if I recall correctly, so Lutoslawski isn't a bad comparison, though I think he came to them through Cage's circle. Takemitsu used those kinds of things occasionally even into his mellower late works.

This work is quite "avant-garde" as well, and recall that Takemitsu did a number of works for tape, with or without instruments:

https://www.youtube.com/v/GkGyfb0mIiY

[SimonNZ]

[Karl Henning]

Alexandre Tharaud playing Satie

[Daverz]

Erland von Koch: Symphony No. 2



https://open.qobuz.com/album/coc16hu3ew8qb

Haydn: Symphony No. 99



https://open.qobuz.com/album/hhhyim4zric2a