What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

Disc 3. Ein Heldenleben and the suite from Der Bürger als Edelmann op. 60.

The main offering here is of course the ubiquitous Heldenleben. It may well be the most recorded of all Strauss tone poems (with Don Juan maybe). Ormandy's hero is more a lover than a fighter. The performance is beyond gorgeous. Ardent, passionate, with creamy strings and brass, luscious winds and an overall ensemble sound that has not been surpassed IMO.

The Molière piece is an indulgence from the composer, charming but insubstantial. I wish Ormandy had chosen to record the great Alpine symphony instead.

[aligreto]

Are you enjoying your new arrival, Jan?

[Traverso]

Are you enjoying your new arrival, Jan?

Yes, Fergus, three in a day was certainly not a punishment. From what I have heard now  is beautiful except for a single piece which I have heard better with Reinhardt Goebel and Maria Zedelius. A cantata by Johann Christoph Bach "Meine Freundin, du bist schön "
I love the repertoire, which is of course a prerequisite to enjoy this music.
The other recordings in this box are very promising and so I am very happy with them.
I have placed a video in my post which gives you an idea but no more than that because it is very diverse: Scheidt, Böhm, Buxtehude, Preatorius, Scheidemann, Kuhnau, Rosenmüller, Fischer and many others.
31 CDs with only German baroque music, not bad and mostly nicely recorded with a good sound image.
Also good singers such as Henri Ledroit, Max van Egmond, Greta de Reyghere and many others.
Yes it's a bargain, ciao Fergus.

[vers la flamme]

Unfortunately, I cannot help you there. This is the only version of this work that I own and know of. The liner notes only focus on DuPré and her career and there is no reference at all to Schoenberg.
I am now intrigued. Did Schoenberg rewrite this concerto?

I don't know; maybe Monn wrote multiple cello concertos. The Schoenberg-Monn Cello Concerto in D major was essentially a transcription by Schoenberg of a Monn harpsichord concerto for then-modern orchestra with solo cello. It's a very odd work. Here it is on youtube if you're curious... maybe you can compare to the one you have with DuPré...:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV3mZipNmYQ

[vers la flamme]

It doesn't sound baroque to me even when Johnstone's playing it. Too poised and calm. Nice to revisit that recording, thanks for mentioning it here.

No prob. A guy recently put up about a million really cool Baroque and Renaissance CDs on Ebay and this is one of two that I won, managed to get it for something like $2 because no one else bid on it. Maybe shoot me a message about it if you do listen to it again with any thoughts, or maybe we have a Gibbons thread somewhere?

Anyway, TD;



Heinz Holliger: Lieder ohne Worte II; Sequenzen über Johannes 1, 32; Trema; Präludium, Arioso und Passacaglia. Thomas Zehetmair, Thomas Larcher, Ursula Holliger

First listen to this disc; I'm totally smitten with it. Fascinating.

[Symphonic Addict]

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

https://www.youtube.com/v/lzFR7H4Mhoo

Skulte seems to be one of the best kept secrets from Latvia. I had previously heard his 5th Symphony finding it absorbing and cogent. These impressive pieces are not far behind in those attributes.




String Quartets 4-6

An interesting evolution culminating with the splendid and sophisticated No. 6 in B flat major. It has merits enough to be considered his greatest work in the genre.

[Daverz]

William Schuman: Symphony No. 7 - Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel

[asin] B000001K3Z[/asin]

Interesting, though not exactly lovable music.

[André]

Berlioz gets top billing, but his Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale makes up less than half of this collection. The other works - all short - are by Gossec, Jadin, Cherubini, Lefèvre and Rouget de Lisle (La Marseillaise of course, in the Gossec arrangement). Great performances on PI. A fun disc, introduced to me many years ago by our own Gurn Blanston  .

[André]

The Hamburg Concerto (2003) is scored for horn and chamber orchestra with 4 obligato natural horns. The Double Concerto from 1972 is for flute, oboe and orchestra. Ramifications was written in 1968. It is a quarter-tone work for 12 solo strings. The Requiem, completed in 1965 is for two female soloists, mixed chorus and orchestra.

The earliest works on the disc (1965-1972) are, not surprisingly, the most experimental and adventurous in idiom. They are also more likely to sound 'of their time', i.e. dated, being stamped markedly with the Avant-garde label (as some early Penderecki works now sound). That they do not sound dated at all, while still very much exploratory is a tribute to Ligeti's formidable ability to use avant-garde techniques convincingly and stamp his own personality on the proceeds. IOW this is music by Ligeti, not Avant-garde music full of 'sound and fury signifying nothing'.

That being said, I find the recent Hamburg Concerto fresher and more sophisticated, more satisfying as pure music. I have a feeling it may be one of Ligeti's most successfull works, indeed a masterpiece.

[Todd]

Nice enough performances, but the amateur hour recording renders it a one and done disc.

[Symphonic Addict]

Symphony No. 1

I had forgot how dour this work is. Curiously the next symphonies are less so. The sharp and complex rhythms are the Honegger's trademark.




Rimsky-Korsakov's music for string quartet is few represented on CD, and I can see why. The works on this CD (SQ in F major, SQ on the theme 'B-la-F' (in collaboration with Lyadov, Glazunov and Borodin), In the Monastery and Variations on a chorale) are not masterpieces at all, but they're utterly charming and tuneful. Those features make the CD worth a listen.

[kyjo]

Dutilleux: Symphony no. 1



An absolutely stunning masterwork, spellbinding from start to finish. The nocturnal, fantastical atmospheres Dutilleux conjures up here have an interesting parallel (to me, anyway) to those found in some of Walton's later works (Cello Concerto, Symphony no. 2, etc). Superb performance and sound.


Tcherepnin: Symphony no. 3



That "Oriental" flavor that makes several of Tcherepnin's works so special is present (though not to an excessive degree) here. Tcherepnin's ideas in this approachable work are very endearing, atmospheric, and memorable. Especially remarkable is how the slow movement builds to a magnificent peroration at the end. The brief finale isn't quite as inspired as the previous three movements, but that's a small caveat.


Ginastera: Piano Sonata no. 1



This work is classic Ginastera with its rhythmically exciting outer movements surrounding a haunting slow movement. The powerhouse pianist Michael Korstick plays it to the hilt, with more fire and brimstone than one could ask for!


Röntgen: Piano Concerto no. 2



One of the loveliest piano concerti known to me. Röntgen never struggles to pull a winning tune out of his pocket, and there's a verdant freshness of invention to his music that raises it above some of the "Brahms imitators" of the era.


Braga Santos: Viola Concerto

https://youtu.be/euQRh66ic_w

Written in 1960, this work straddles Braga Santos' "early" and "late" periods, and contains elements of both. The first movement is rather overcast and harmonically unsettled, but the second is a joyous, folksy dance not far away from the scherzi of the first four symphonies. The wonderfully lyrical finale combines elements of both the preceding movements and comes to a serene conclusion. I would say that this work is in urgent need of a new commercial recording, except that the performance here by the wonderfully rich-toned Gérard Caussé is splendid in every way. Highly recommended to admirers of the composer!

[Daverz]

Symphony No. 1

I had forgot how dour this work is. Curiously the next symphonies are less so. The sharp and complex rhythms are the Honegger's trademark.

Dour?  I've always thought of it as the fun one.  No. 4 is the pretty one.

[vandermolen]

William Schuman: Symphony No. 7 - Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel

[asin] B000001K3Z[/asin]

Interesting, though not exactly lovable music.

That was my impression as well.

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

Boult conducting Eric Coates.

[Traverso]

Christoph Bernhard & Georg Böhm


CD 4

[Biffo]

Moeran: String Quartet in E flat major - Maggini Quartet

[Papy Oli]

Holbrooke - Symphony No.3 "Ships", The Birds of Rhiannon, The Girl I left behind me.

[Madiel]

It's been far too long since I listened to any of this set.

Orchestral Suite No.2



And for this particular work, apparently it's been nearly 9 years...

[Madiel]

Barber, Canzonetta for oboe and strings



Every composer has to have a last work. This is a hell of a beautiful way to go out.