What are you listening 2 now?

[Todd]

Superb playing, though maybe too refined.  Maybe.

[Karl Henning]

Schuman
Vn Cto
Paul Zukowsky
BSO
MTT

[Daverz]

Schuman
Vn Cto
Paul Zukowsky
BSO
MTT

A great work.  TD: Stravinsky, Agon, a Hurwitzer YT recommendation.



Really enjoying this.

[Symphonic Addict]

Coincidentally  Paganini was on the menu this weekend, and just once wasn't enough  .






Both recordings by James Ehnes (1994 and 2009) are superb, but IMO the more recent one is better. On Telarc Ehnes' tone is sweet, gleaming and rounded, while on Onyx it displays a denser core while still being immaculate. It's more the gestures that have changed: better defined, more decisive, less decorative in the 2009 recording. A great disc.

The Caprices are, of course, a very different and attractive matter, but those quartets... 

[Symphonic Addict]

Listening to Myaskovsky's longest symphony attentively. There are passages that reminded me strongly of Rachmaninov (in the 1st and 3rd movements) and Tchaikovsky (especifically his Symphony No. 2 Little Russian). It's more interesting than I remembered. My only caveat is the recording quality. The orchestra sounds distant at moments and lacks clarity.

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

This evening : the Spirit of England.

[André]

The Caprices are, of course, a very different and attractive matter, but those quartets... 

You are most certainly right. Paganini was quite prolific and no doubt uneven in his production. Quartet writing is a complex business, not all composers were suited to the task. The Caprices are probably Paganini's lasting claim to fame as a composer. And a couple of his concertos too, I guess.

[André]

The Klughardt offering here is his tuneful musical travelogue 'Auf der Wandershaft' ('Wanderings', or 'Travels'). Never mind that it could have been written 50 years before, it is an immensely pleasurable work, chock-full of good tunes and deftly orchestrated (it started life as a piano suite, à la Waldszenen). Maestro Berg and his fine orchestra have recorded more Klughardt for the CPO label. On the strength of this work I might explore further.


It is incongruously coupled with Schubert's 3rd symphony. Not that the work isn't a fine one of course, but there are dozens of recordings of it out there. Everybody has one or two integral sets of the symphonies, so that limits this release's appeal. Unless it happens to be your favourite Schubert symphony, of course  . Along with nos 2 and 9 it's a work I never tire of listening. This version has the particular appeal of outstanding wind contributions and perfectly balanced trumpets and timpani - they must stand out from the texture but not aggressively so. The tempo for the second movement is absolutely perfect, with the yodeling clarinet in the middle section a joy to hear.

[Todd]

[Symphonic Addict]

Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1
Dvořák: String Quartet No. 13

I had forgot how passionate and endearing the 3rd movement is. Some of Brahms' most romantic pages. However, I thought this performance and recording weren't totally satisfying in the 2nd and 4th movements.

What I can say about the Dvořák is: perfection. Thoroughly brilliant music, impeccable performance, superb recording. One of those masterpieces that possesses such a degree of mastery that one can't help but be absorbed by its splendid craft.

[Madiel]

The CDs mailed from Germany on 6 January finally arrived! 

Piano Trio no.1

[Karl Henning]

The CDs mailed from Germany on 6 January finally arrived! 

Piano Trio no.1

Huzzah!

[Karl Henning]

Janáček
Putování dušičky
Baiba Skride
Berlin Radio Symphony
Marek Janowski

[Madiel]

Haydn Piano Trio No.2

I'm trying to get a handle on which trios belong in sets... the first 5 were all published together, though a couple appear to be arrangements from other forces and there was a 6th in the set, regarded as a divertimento rather than a trio.

Things get much clearer with the mature trios from no.18, but the earlier information is much hazier.

Calling Gurn...

[steve ridgway]

Stockhausen - Tierkreis (for trumpet and organ).

[steve ridgway]

Kagel - Die Stücke Der Windrose.

[Que]

Morning listening:

   

[Harry]

New acquisition, first listen.

German Baroque Sacred Music.

"Passion & Resurrection".

CD I.

Heinrich Schütz.
Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi.
Die Sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz.

Franz Tunder.
Christ lag in Todesbanden, Bernard Foccroulle, plays on a Schnitger organ, Norden, Ludgeri Kirche.
Ach Herr, laß deine lieben Engelein.

All known music, part of which I had already, but 5 Ricercar CD'S for 10 € was too much to resist. And a few things in this box I did not have. So in my book that's a very good deal. As to the performances, they cannot be faulted. Sound is good too. So some relaxed and quiet music to start with this morning.

[Florestan]

The Caprices are, of course, a very different and attractive matter, but those quartets... 

I quite ike his strings and guitar quartets. Amiable, unbuttoned and life-affirming music.

[vers la flamme]

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No.3 in D minor, WAB 103, the "Wagner". Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Philharmonic