What are you listening 2 now?

[Irons]

The two piano concertos, Symphonic Studies and Symphony No. 3 are the works I do enjoy. Yes, lyricism is definitely not one of the features when I think of him.

I think of Rawsthorne as bitter/sweet. The two movement 1st Violin Concerto is lyrical, in fact the first movement is marked Adagio espressivo.

[Harry]

Cecile Chaminade.

Callirhoe-Ballet Symphonique.
Concertstück for Piano and Orchestra.

Victor Sangiorgio, Piano.
BBC Concert Orchestra, Martin Yates.

This must be one of the finest discs I bought in 2020. I am utterly beguiled by the Ballet Symphonique. In it everything that makes excellent ballet music. And if you get such excellent recordings and performances the feast is complete. A yummy disc.

[vandermolen]

Glazunov Symphony No.1 - a remarkably assured work for a sixteen year old. In fact his style didn't change that much:

[prémont]

Even as an admirer and lover of Bartók, I have difficulty getting into the Mikrokosmos, which are, to my ears, nothing more than piano exercises. I suppose if I was a pianist or teacher, I'd get some use out of these works, but as a listener, they don't do much for me.

Concerning Mikrokosmos I feel much in the same way, while the other set of instructive pieces For Children feel much more musically rewarding even if the pieces are shorter.

Happy birthday MI 

[Mandryka]

Even as an admirer and lover of Bartók, I have difficulty getting into the Mikrokosmos, which are, to my ears, nothing more than piano exercises. I suppose if I was a pianist or teacher, I'd get some use out of these works, but as a listener, they don't do much for me. The rest of his solo piano works are top-notch, though.

The last books, Books 5 and 6. I remember they were worthwhile.

[Harry]

Moritz Moszkowski.

Orchestral Music, Volume II.

Suite No 2 opus 47 & 3, opus 79.

Sinfonia Varsovia, Ian Hobson.

The second volume in this series is as successful as the first instalment. Both suites are fine pieces, that will hold your attention throughout.

[71 dB]

As some of you may know I am struggling to enjoy classical music the way I did two decades ago. I revisited this Naxos disc of Silvestrov and it worked well. Silvestrov's music is among the most dreamy I have ever heard. Also very comforting. If I had to say something negative, it is the sameness of the music. Not much variation, but sometimes that is a plus depending on your mood. In general I think I prefer "modern" contemporary classical music these days. So maybe I should just concentrate on that for now...

[asin]B074BYNSTD[/asin]

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

Starting this Boulez set properly with the Debussy Orchestral works.

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune to start with... the introduction of which I now find out is the music used on Idagio free for their advertising interludes every 2-3 tracks. I am ok with that now 

[Traverso]

Morning listening:



Harmoniae Morales

Q

Quality time for sure,one of my best purchases last year. 

[71 dB]

Arensky - The two piano trios - Trio Carducci /brilliant CD

Very pleasant and well played, was somehow reminded of French Belle Epoque chamber music, rather than any Russian heavyness here. A bit of interesting booklet/cover design too, IMHO. Recommended; I don't agree at all with the MusicWeb review's very harsh criticism of the recorded sound.

Out of interest I am listening to this disc on Spotify. In my opinion the recorded sound is not that great (for a modern recording). There is a lot of reverberation creating muddiness and giving the lower midrange an unnecessary emphasis, but also warm bass. With headphones this isn't so bad, because it compensates for the lack of listening room acoustics and makes the sound "fuller." Spatiality is a little bit fuzzy, but there's not much spatial distortion on headphones thanks to the heavy reverberation washing out channel differencies. Crossfeed at level -10 dB seems to remove spatial distortion. For all it's problems this recording is quite suitable for headphone listening, but on speakers the muddiness probably becomes a bigger issue. The sound is pleasant rather than technically precise. Fans of "dry" sound should stay away.

That said, the cover art of this CD looks silly. Brilliant Classics rarely if ever impresses me with their cover art. 

[Florestan]

Happy birthday, John!

[Traverso]

La Bayadère

[MusicTurner]

Out of interest I am listening to this disc on Spotify. In my opinion the recorded sound is not that great (for a modern recording). There is a lot of reverberation creating muddiness and giving the lower midrange an unnecessary emphasis, but also warm bass. With headphones this isn't so bad, because it compensates for the lack of listening room acoustics and makes the sound "fuller." Spatiality is a little bit fuzzy, but there's not much spatial distortion on headphones thanks to the heavy reverberation washing out channel differencies. Crossfeed at level -10 dB seems to remove spatial distortion. For all it's problems this recording is quite suitable for headphone listening, but on speakers the muddiness probably becomes a bigger issue. The sound is pleasant rather than technically precise. Fans of "dry" sound should stay away.

That said, the cover art of this CD looks silly. Brilliant Classics rarely if ever impresses me with their cover art. 

I think there are tons of recordings, also modern ones, with worse sound. But Brilliant Classics vary a lot in that respect, some are really awful. In this case, there's plenty of space in the recorded sound on my non-hifi speakers.

Like in the case of sound, there's a big variety of covers in Brilliant Classics. Agree that the cover is ... untraditional. But then, covers rather tend to be predictable and conventional. I don't mind being challenged a bit a times. Though one would likely place their dressing in the 1920s, not around 1900, which is when the music is from. George Sand however also  liked to dress in a manly way too, and Arensky is considered somewhat influenced by Chopin, including in trio no.2. Unsure though if there are some considered parallels in that, though - but if they've played say Chopin's trio, that could be one clue.

[Traverso]

Johnny.........congratulations 

https://www.youtube.com/v/QX67kpYqCps

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

I know, let's go dancing (Angela Hewitt has a recording of the Spanish Dances I'd sure like to hear someday) : 

[Harry]

Alexander Mosolov.

Symphony No. 5.
Harpconcerto.

Moscow SO, Arthur Arnold.
Taylor Ann Fleshman, Harp.

Quite a find for me. I love the language in which Mosolov is writing. superb performance and recording.

[Que]

Quality time for sure, one of my best purchases last year. 

Same here! 

[Harry]

Quality time for sure,one of my best purchases last year. 

Still searching for an affordable copy of this complete set, you and Que have been such Bofkonten

[The new erato]

Still searching for an affordable copy of this complete set, you and Que have been such Bofkonten

You can have my set in exchange for your inexpensive CD player!

Now playing:



Some prime Hindemith coupled with an unknown early work. Alerted to this by John, and absolutely a very fine disc for my Hindemith collection.

[Biffo]

Kabelac: Symphony No 3 in F for Organ, Brass and Strings - Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Ivanovic