What are you listening 2 now?

Started by Gurn Blanston, September 23, 2019, 05:45:22 AM

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Traverso

The Alarius ensemble

A very fine recording,the music and the playing as well.







vandermolen

#23141
Ichmouratov: Symphony 'On the Ruins of an Ancient Fort'.
Promises more than it delivers I'm afraid. It starts off promisingly, reminding me of the opening of Kokkonen's 4th Symphony (a much great work IMO), but then becomes very bland, too long and unmemorable. It reminds me of not-very-good music accompanying a travelogue TV programme. It was rubbished in BBC Music Magaine by David Nice, whose views I invariably disagree with - so, I thought that I might enjoy it. Nice compared it to symphonies by Maximilian Steinberg but I consider Steinberg to be a much greater composer. I found the booklet notes, comparing the music with Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Mahler,  MussorgskyProkofiev and Shostakovich embarrassing to  read.
I'll listen to it again and others might enjoy it more that I have:
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Madiel

Earlyish Szymanowski

Variations in B flat minor, op.3 - very attractive in this performance.



The Swan, op.7 - this is the 3rd time I've decided that Biernacki's performance is better than one on an album from the Dux label, where several different singers I've tried in different opuses all seem to believe that maximum operatic melodrama is required.



Violin Sonata, op.9

I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

aukhawk

[Stepan Razin]

Quote from: JBS on August 11, 2020, 04:43:12 PM
I've got Schwarz on Naxos, Ashkenazy on Ondine, and Kondrashin as part of his symphony cycle, and my preference is for Schwarz.  But Ashkenazy is almost as good, and you may find the couplings more interesting.
Kondrashin is Kondrashin, of course, but the sonics didn't impress me. Plus Amazon listings indicate it's not available right now in any form other than MP3.

The Kondrashin recording of Stepan Razin is available as hi-res FLAC from HDTT - although this is NOT a recommendation, I checked out the free sample 1st 2 minutes and it is rather compressed, the Amazon MP3 would almost certainly be a better bet.  The best I've heard is via Spotify which has much better preservation of the dynamics than HDTT and none of the clicks and pops of my vinyl.

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Madiel on August 12, 2020, 11:12:30 PM
String Quartet No.8


I love that set!  It was recommended to me years ago.  Glad that you are enjoying revisiting it.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Madiel

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 13, 2020, 03:27:01 AM
I love that set!  It was recommended to me years ago.  Glad that you are enjoying revisiting it.

PD

Yeah, I don't know any alternative versions. But I did originally buy this on the strength of various recommendations.

I generally only listen to SQ no.7 and onwards.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

#23146
Beethoven, piano sonata in A flat op.110



First listen to this version of a piece I know well. And it's pretty good. Goode believes in keeping the 1st movement momentum, not playing up any of the potentially more dramatic moments, but that's a legitimate view in this music where a singing line is specifically asked for by Beethoven.

Similarly in the 3rd movement, the arioso sections are not that slow, but it works pretty well because the fugue sections still register as faster. Well, the first fugue does. The second is deliberately started slower so there's room to accelerate.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

Poulenc, Nocturnes



Not sure that Roge is giving this music as much character as it could have...
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Todd

The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Biffo

Rubbra: Symphony No 11, Op 153 -  BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted By Richard Hickox

Todd

The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

j winter

A couple of new purchases -- plugging in a few gaps on the Haydn shelves.  Both very nice discs on first listen...

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

steve ridgway

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on August 12, 2020, 08:40:16 PM


Te Deum

A nice but bland work. I wasn't hooked by what I heard.

"Tedeum" doesn't sound very exciting to me :-\.

steve ridgway

George Crumb - Songs, Drones, And Refrains Of Death.


MusicTurner


André



Disc 2



Gluck, Sacchini, Grétry, Berlioz, Piccinni, Rameau, Cherubini. There sure was no dearth of unhappy heroines on opera stages in that period.

Mahlerian

Quote from: some guy on August 12, 2020, 03:38:56 PM
I like the Leinsdorf set. It is a bit painful for me, though.

Leinsdorf never recorded the entire Romeo & Juliet ballet. If he had, it would have been the one to beat, though.

Oh well.

Quote from: vandermolen on August 12, 2020, 10:13:42 PM
I wasn't aware of the Leinsdorf box. His Prokofiev symphonies recordings were excellent.

Unfortunately he didn't record all of the Prokofiev symphonies, either. I'd appreciate a Fourth from this pairing...
"l do not consider my music as atonal, but rather as non-tonal. I feel the unity of all keys. Atonal music by modern composers admits of no key at all, no feeling of any definite center." - Arnold Schoenberg

Todd




Disc 9, all on fortepiano.  Listening to this it becomes clear what Brautigam lacks: nuance.  Beghin is much more to my liking with the inferior instrument.  (Inferior to modern grand.)
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

SonicMan46

Yost, Michel (1754-1786) - Clarinet Concertos & Quartets w/ the performers below; short-lived but apparently a well-known and brilliant clarinetist - list of his compositions HERE, which includes over a dozen clarinet concertos and many more duos, trios, and quartets for the instrument; a number of these works may have been written w/ fellow composers/musicians, such as Johann Christoph Vogel.  Not much more available on Amazon, but Dieter Klocker did a concerto recording on MDG w/ Nos. 7-9,11, which overlap none on the CD below w/ Susanne Heilig.  Dave :)

 

Iota



Mozart: Divertimento K.138



A musical smile. Utterly enchanting.