What are you listening 2 now?

[71 dB]

I love Boccherini's cello music! Being a virtuoso cellist himself, he wrote so masterfully for the instrument. Really delightful and colorful music.

I agree. 

[Christo]

Khatchaturian week:

[Mirror Image]

Khatchaturian week:

Pounds the table!

[Todd]

Disc 2.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing this new acquisition:



Very impressive so far.

[Symphonic Addict]

Thanks for the reminder. I heard 2 Gerhard discs (one on Montaigne and one on Largo) long ago, don't even recall the titles. I found him very interesting (though as you said, perhaps too astringent for some listeners), but never followed up.
I'll see if I can locate the recordings in my disorganized stacks.

I only know a few works by him (including the symphonies) and I've been rather pleased by what I've heard despite how challenging his works sound.

[Symphonic Addict]

I'm a great fan of the Gerhard Harpsichord Concerto. Astringent, but also with fun nods to the Spanish classical tradition. The third movement, vivace spritoso--really spiritoso  --, starts with a quote of the prelude to Ruperto Chapí's zarzuela La revoltosa (a piece of muisc I'd say everyone in Spain is familiar with), and then it also quotes one of Falla's Seven Popular Spanish Songs.

Here that third movement of the Gerhard:

https://www.youtube.com/v/MuCG0fQjVkw
The Falla quote appears at 3'40"

Here the Chapí (few pieces of music are more identified with the city of Madrid than this)
https://www.youtube.com/v/lmjUEioXrhc

And here Falla's Canción (at 9'36"):
https://www.youtube.com/v/213cxfA-Luc

If you have a chance, try to listen to the Gerhard Concerto in the alternate recording on Auvidis-Montaigne from Barcelona with Ursula Dütschler and Lawrence Foster (long OOP). IMO, it is much more succesful than the Tozer / Bamert on Chandos.

Duly noted, Rafael. I'll see if I can get it.

[Symphonic Addict]

Indeed, a gorgeous concerto. You'd think it would be a prime candidate for Hyperion's RPC series. That opening, in particular, is just rapturous! I've also fallen in love with his equally beautiful Piano Quintet in E-flat due to your enthusiasm.

Fantastic, Kyle! Precisely those works are my favorites by him. I've heard his string quartet and piano quartet but they're not at the same level as the aforementioned works I'm afraid.

[Symphonic Addict]

Khatchaturian week:

Bitten by the 'Khachaturian' bug? 

[Symphonic Addict]

My first exposure to Tishchenko's symphonies:

Symphony No. 1



This sounds attractive to my ears. That dreamy beginning hooked me, but it didn't last that much. The music gets darker afterwards. That 3rd movement is just crazy! A fun riot where percussion (including a drum kit) has a prominent role. Very cool.

The work itself was rather good, albeit the recording is pretty regrettable. It seemed like a symphony for orchestra and coughing. 

[Mirror Image]

My first exposure to Tishchenko's symphonies:

Symphony No. 1



This sounds attractive to my ears. That dreamy beginning hooked me, but it didn't last that much. The music gets darker afterwards. That 3rd movement is just crazy! A fun riot where percussion (including a drum kit) has a prominent role. Very cool.

The work itself was rather good, albeit the recording is pretty regrettable. It seemed like a symphony for orchestra and coughing. 

Good of you to give this a listen, Cesar. I couldn't really get into Tishchenko I'm afraid. Nothing really stuck out in his music to me except maybe the coughing.

[Symphonic Addict]

Good of you to give this a listen, Cesar. I couldn't really get into Tishchenko I'm afraid. Nothing really stuck out in his music to me except maybe the coughing.

Ha! 

[Todd]

[Mirror Image]

Now playing this new acquisition:

Playing this recording yet again. I have to say the Concerto-Rhapsody for Violin & Orchestra is hugely impressive. I do like the Violin Concerto a lot, but the Concerto-Rhapsody was a first-listen.

[not edward]

If you have a chance, try to listen to the Gerhard Concerto in the alternate recording on Auvidis-Montaigne from Barcelona with Ursula Dütschler and Lawrence Foster (long OOP). IMO, it is much more succesful than the Tozer / Bamert on Chandos.

I very strongly second this recommendation and preference for Dütschler/Foster in the harpsichord concerto. The Auvidis disc also contains the only recording I'm aware of of the fine Nonet. I prefer Tozer on Chandos for the piano concerto, though.

Coincidentally, I was also at the Roberto Gerhard today, with this outstanding disc.

[asin]B000005Z6I[/asin]

The violin concerto is a wonderfully lyrical piece (one of so many great violin concerti from the 1930s), while I find the symphony dark and gripping throughout--probably my favourite serial symphony, even over Rochberg's 2nd.

[Karl Henning]

LvB
Opp. 109, 110, 111
R. Serkin

[Symphonic Addict]

This disc offers an utterly wondrous program of some striking, lovely and vigorous music by Doreen Carwithen, the wife of William Alwyn. The charming and impassionate Concerto for piano and strings is the main course here. It's such an endearing, unabashedly romantic piece. Suffolk Suite is quintessential English music, simply gorgeous, so are both Bishop Rock and ODTAA (One Damned Thing After Another) overtures. Any listener who responds to Alwyn and/or VW could enjoy these works enormously.

I can't recommend it enough. One of my discs of the year.



She was a pretty beautiful woman, wasn't she? Alwyn had good taste for sure.   

[JBS]

Landed today.  Decided to start at the end with Op.125

[asin]B087CP8SD7[/asin]

[vers la flamme]

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No.11 in G minor, op.103, "The Year 105". Vasily Petrenko, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

It seems this is generally accepted as the greatest of Shostakovich's "propaganda" symphonies and it ain't hard to tell why. I love the rich, calm expansiveness of the first movement—a real "calm before the storm" feeling. As for the 2nd movement, I'm afraid it overstays its welcome in my mind. I still haven't fully come around on the work as a whole, which is something I can say about many, if not most, Shostakovich symphonies. The ones I love without reservation are generally the shorter ones: No.1, No.9, No.5. I still have yet to hear 13, 14 & 15. I need to really be in the mood to listen to Shostakovich, but when I am, I enjoy his music quite a bit.

[Mirror Image]

This disc offers an utterly wondrous program of some striking, lovely and vigorous music by Doreen Carwithen, the wife of William Alwyn. The charming and impassionate Concerto for piano and strings is the main course here. It's such an endearing, unabashedly romantic piece. Suffolk Suite is quintessential English music, simply gorgeous, so are both Bishop Rock and ODTAA (One Damned Thing After Another) overtures. Any listener who responds to Alwyn and/or VW could enjoy these works enormously.

I can't recommend it enough. One of my discs of the year.



She was a pretty beautiful woman, wasn't she? Alwyn had good taste for sure.   

Goodness, I haven't seen this recording since 2009 (the year I started getting into classical music). After my discovery of many Brit composers in '09, I bought this Carwithen recording. I recall the music being quite good. I've read good things about her chamber music, too, but I haven't heard any of it.