What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

Quartets 1, 3 and 4. There are 10 early quartets not included in this set. They are unnumbered and unperformed to this date. No 1 was written when Holmboe was already 40. Considering these two facts it shouldn't come as a surprise that already in the 1st work we find an experienced string quartet writing and mature musical language. According to the notes Haydn and Bartok were the composer's model. I don't find much influence from Haydn (his humour and sense of surprise for example), although that of Bartok is often discernible.

[JBS]

This landed today
[asin]B07Q8Q6WVN[/asin]

The first 7 CDs of the set are devoted to the Clavierubungen in (more or less) order.
[The GVs are presented twice, once in a live recording from 1985, the other a studio recording from 1988.]

CD 1 Partitas 1, 5, 6

[Madiel]

Naive Vivaldi... up to the first of the bassoon concerto albums. It's apparent within a couple of tracks that there's some very nice playing.



EDIT: And track 4 is a scorcher.

[Symphonic Addict]

Romeo and Juliet: The composer's spark shines in this suite portraying several scenes of the famous tragedy. Very entertaining.




Suite veneziano: This composer is hit and miss IMO, but to be honest by judging this piece I would say he's more miss. Dull, too generic.




Piano Concerto No. 4 (for the left hand): Revisiting this work. Hardly one of his most famous pieces. The slow movement is that somber and, at once, lyrical Prokofiev I like so much. No one sounds like him.

[vandermolen]

Romeo and Juliet: The composer's spark shines in this suite portraying several scenes of the famous tragedy. Very entertaining.




Suite veneziano: This composer is hit and miss IMO, but to be honest by judging this piece I would say he's more miss. Dull, too generic.




Piano Concerto No. 4 (for the left hand): Revisiting this work. Hardly one of his most famous pieces. The slow movement is that somber and, at once, lyrical Prokofiev I like so much. No one sounds like him.

I think that Kabalevsky is an underrated composer. Particular favourites are symphonies 1 and 4, the First Piano Concerto, the Cello Concerto No.2 and the string quartets.

[Que]

My morning listening:



Q

[vandermolen]

Morning listening
Marsyas Concert Suite by Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921)
Thanks to Christo for this poetic and atmospheric discovery:

[vandermolen]

Glazunov Symphony 5/The Seasons

There has been some criticism of the Serebrier cycle here but I thought that Symphony No.5 was excellent and 'The Seasons' as heart-warming as any other performance that I have heard.

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all 

More Pierné. Songs and Melodies this morning.

[Florestan]

I liked the first two more than the Sixth. The former are quite fresh and natural-sounding, the latter sounded rather contrived and academic to my ears.



Disc 1.

My first impression is that Jones' way with the music is harsh and unsentimental --- exactly the wrong approach to Guastavino. Must listen again.

[aligreto]

Handel: Messiah [Koopman]





I find the feel of this interpretation to be more contemplative and devotional than joyful and celebratory. It is not a bad performance but it can be quite pedantic and pedestrian in places. It lacks a spark of vitality for me. I find it to be a gentle presentation, and somewhat understated.

[Papy Oli]

Closing the Pierné loop by revisting this one.

[Madiel]

Schumann op.142 - his last song opus, though the songs are all offcuts from the prodigious 'year of song' in 1840.



And so I've finally listened to everything in this consistently excellent set. In just 38 months...

[Papy Oli]

[Madiel]

Dvorak, Miniatures for 2 violins and viola.



Written because the Terzetto for the same ensemble was too hard for one of the original players! But there's certainly nothing simplistic sounding about the music.

[aligreto]

Nielsen: Symphony No. 6 [Schmidt]





This is such a wonderful version of this work, for me. It is dark and full of passion, tension and inherent power.

[aligreto]

I have that CD and I like it.
However, I would not have thought that it would be your cup of tea.

[Madiel]

Debussy, 2 dances for harp and orchestra

[Papy Oli]

I have that CD and I like it.
However, I would not have thought that it would be your cup of tea.

Hi Fergus,
Funnily enough, this CD is probably among the first 15-20 classical CD I ever bought. I purchased it in HMV solely because of the name of Notre Dame on the cover, no idea what the music and had never heard of Leonin or Perotin before either (As the ongoing project shows, it turns out to be quite a long list of French names in that case too !!  ).  I probably listened to it 3 or 4 times only. it was time to remedy to that.

More generally, I had a fair stretch discovering choral and mass music some years back, accumulating a bit along the way, so I can dabble as and when: - this one, full Tallis works, full Victoria Works, Secret Labyrinth, HM Sacred Music, Leidse Koorboeken and then the odd CD's with Palestrina, Bingen,  Allegri, Byrd, Desprez, Dufay, Monteverdi, Lasso, Gesualdo, Obrecht, Ockeghem, Richafort, Schütz, Vaet, etc).

That said, that particular genre has fallen out of favour with me in the last 2-3 years but it has been quite a pleasant surprise today to (re)discover that Leonin/Perotin again with fresh ears.

[pjme]

Closing the Pierné loop by revisting this one.

I have photographs of the Cydalise (in her costume as "La sultane des Indes") and Styrax of the world premiere performance in 1923.