What are you listening 2 now?

[Traverso]

We are in agreement.... 

+1

[André]

Symphonic Prologue

It's a pity there are so few recordings of Fernström's orchestral music. This piece is worth your attention. Sounds severe in mood with a certain sense of urgency in some fragments. Very substantial and its name doesn't do justice to the music.

An excellent disc 

There's another one on the same label with symphony no 12 that I like just as much:

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Dvorak's Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 with Segerstam



PD

[Biffo]

György Ligeti: Melodien, für Orchester (1971) -  Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Jonathan Nott

[Traverso]

Scarlatti

CD 12


Sonatas  KK189-203

[Harry]

Erkki Melartin.

Symphony No 2 & 4.

Tampere PO, Leonid Grin.

[Biffo]

Martinu: Sonata for Cello and Piano No 2 - Janos Starker cello & Rudolf Firkusny piano

[Papy Oli]

Magnard - symphony No.2

[Mirror Image]

Some more Milhaud today (a purchase that arrived this morning).


I've never been a fan of the violin + piano combination, but was willing to give good old Darius's output in this genre a shot. The first CD opens with the Violin Sonata No.1, op. 3, written at the tender age of 19. Not at all what we'd expect from the mature Milhaud, even if the booklet notes claim that "the Sonata speaks clearly for the composer's aesthetic goals" (whatever that may mean); this is full-blown late-romantic violin sonata, and I find little to admire in it. Things improve significantly with the short Printemps, op 18 (from 1914), and the Violin Sonata No. 2, op. 40 (written in Brazil in 1917). These works really sound like Milhaud, with his unmistakable harmonic language, and this unique combination of joy and "sunshine" with a certain nostalgic tinge, that permeates so much of the composer's vast output. Despite my aversion to the violin sonata form, I'm actually enjoying these works.

The second CD has the works for viola (which are later in the composer's career--mid-1940s); let's see what they're like.

The Gran Duo Italiano (Mauro Tortorelli on the violin--and viola on CD 2--and Angela Meluso at the piano) play beautifully.

G'day to you, Rafael. That is a great set. I take it you haven't yet started listening to the string quartets yet? I'll have to revisit those later sonatas as I do recall enjoying them.

[Traverso]

Milhaud

String Quartets 12-14 & 15
Octet op.291

Quartetto Italiano
Quator Bernède
Quator Parrenin

[Mirror Image]

Milhaud

String Quartets 12-14 & 15
Octet op.291

Quartetto Italiano
Quator Bernède
Quator Parrenin

[Brian]

This is such a fabulous string orchestra program from a young group in Boston:

[asin]B01M7W32SU[/asin]

It combines music from, or adjacent to, all three major Western religious traditions. Starting with an arrangement of a Hildegard sacred piece, then a newly commissioned work by my fellow Turkish-American Mehmet Ali Sanlikol based on Sufi mysticism, then an orchestral arrangement of Golijov's "Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind" (with the incredible David Krakauer on clarinet), and the encore is Beethoven's Heiliger Dankgesang. So well-programmed and so well-played.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Martinu: Sonata for Cello and Piano No 2 - Janos Starker cello & Rudolf Firkusny piano

Two of 'my guys' [favorites]!    Actually, three, if you include the composer.

PD

[Todd]

Finished off the mono cycle.  It retains its Top Ten status.

[Biffo]

Two of 'my guys' [favorites]!    Actually, three, if you include the composer.

PD

Sonata No 3 is on the way, probably tomorrow. The disc comes from the Sony Complete RCA and Columbia Firkusny box

[Papy Oli]

Saint-Saëns
Havanaise
Piano Concerto No.2

[pjme]

Kitice (1937).
Perfect music for a gloomy day. The naïve folk tales in this extraordinary cantata combine cruelty with humor, sentiment and religious fervour.
This classic performance (1955-1956) still sounds fresh and totally committed. I was happily carried away for 45 minutes.

[pjme]

Erkki Melartin.

Symphony No 2 & 4.

Tampere PO, Leonid Grin.

Ah! The slow movement of the fourth symphony with vocalising soprano, mezzo and alto!
feels like:

[The new erato]

Finishing a close to year long listening project with CD nr 10 from this set:

[Todd]