What are you listening 2 now?

[Roasted Swan]

A marvelous discovery for me in 2020 was Bizet's symphony.

If you can do hear Stokowski's recording which is extraordinarily buoyant given he was 90+ years young when he recorded it.....



The Szell/Mendelssohn is pretty remarkable too as a filler!

[Mirror Image]

NP: Martinů String Quartet No. 7, H. 314 "Concerto de camera" (Pražák Quartet)

[SonicMan46]

Prokofiev, Sergei - Piano Sonatas - Anne-Marie McDermott vs. Matti Raekallio - I own the McDermott 3-disc set but the Raekallio recordings have come up in recent posts, so I listened to him on Spotify for a few hours and now my Anne-Marie set playing and using headphones.  These performances are both outstanding - not sure which one I prefer, i.e. a tie for me; others think similarly in the attached reviews.  If one is looking for a 'box' of these works, then flip a coin IMO - Dave

 

[Iota]

Milhaud: String Octet
Parisii Quartet, Manfred Quartet


What an incredibly unusual work!

The fact that it's two separately composed string quartets combined, kind of shows as it gets on the sonic scales. At first it feels like a dish with so many ingredients that digestibility seems a rather distant hope, and maybe congestion hovers near at times, but those considerations are completely outweighed for me by the sheer voluminous gorgeousness and oddness of it. At times it's like Ravel on steroids, bursting out of his gilet after overdoing it with the Duck a l'Orange and Cointreau, with intriguingly odd, harmonically clashing passages interspersed, that cast uneasy but palate-enlivening shadows.

The more I've listened the more I've been won over by its singular character and ravishing abundance, the density of the texture quickly became a feature rather than a bug for me. An extraordinary work which I bet has a fair number detractors, but phooey, good on you, Darius, I say!

[bhodges]

Milhaud: String Octet
Parisii Quartet, Manfred Quartet


What an incredibly unusual work!

The fact that it's two separately composed string quartets combined, kind of shows as it gets on the sonic scales. At first it feels like a dish with so many ingredients that digestibility seems a rather distant hope, and maybe congestion hovers near at times, but those considerations are completely outweighed for me by the sheer voluminous gorgeousness and oddness of it. At times it's like Ravel on steroids, bursting out of his gilet after overdoing it with the Duck a l'Orange and Cointreau, with intriguingly odd, harmonically clashing passages interspersed, that cast uneasy but palate-enlivening shadows.

The more I've listened the more I've been won over by its singular character and ravishing abundance, the density of the texture quickly became a feature rather than a bug for me. An extraordinary work which I bet has a fair number detractors, but phooey, good on you, Darius, I say!

Aside from the tempting-sounding music, you write quite beautifully about it! E.g., "a dish with so many ingredients that digestibility seems a rather distant hope."

--Bruce

[steve ridgway]

Luc Ferrari - Hétérozygote.

[steve ridgway]

Takemitsu - Kwaidan.

[Symphonic Addict]

Milhaud: String Octet
Parisii Quartet, Manfred Quartet


What an incredibly unusual work!

The fact that it's two separately composed string quartets combined, kind of shows as it gets on the sonic scales. At first it feels like a dish with so many ingredients that digestibility seems a rather distant hope, and maybe congestion hovers near at times, but those considerations are completely outweighed for me by the sheer voluminous gorgeousness and oddness of it. At times it's like Ravel on steroids, bursting out of his gilet after overdoing it with the Duck a l'Orange and Cointreau, with intriguingly odd, harmonically clashing passages interspersed, that cast uneasy but palate-enlivening shadows.

The more I've listened the more I've been won over by its singular character and ravishing abundance, the density of the texture quickly became a feature rather than a bug for me. An extraordinary work which I bet has a fair number detractors, but phooey, good on you, Darius, I say!

Supremely interesting description. I'll have to hear this ASAP. Thanks.

Aside from the tempting-sounding music, you write quite beautifully about it! E.g., "a dish with so many ingredients that digestibility seems a rather distant hope."

--Bruce

+1

[Mandryka]

There's something on this called The Only Geezer an American Soldier Shot was Anton Webern. A 30 minute piece, probably an improvisation, but I'm not sure. I can assure you: it is astonishing music making, absolutely incandescent.

[Iota]

Aside from the tempting-sounding music, you write quite beautifully about it! E.g., "a dish with so many ingredients that digestibility seems a rather distant hope."

--Bruce

Supremely interesting description. I'll have to hear this ASAP. Thanks.

Well thank you, both, most kind! At least for two people my blah-blah seems to have approached digestibility too. 

[Karl Henning]

A marvelous discovery for me in 2020 was Bizet's symphony.

Sweet, Ray! Musique parfaite pour le matin.

[Karl Henning]

Thread Duty:

Mahler
Symphony № 6 in A
NY Phil
Lenny

[Brahmsian]

Sweet, Ray! Musique parfaite pour le matin.

Bon comme la premiere tasse de café du matin.

[vandermolen]

Rihards Dubra: Symphony No.2 - very good indeed - like Vasks's 2nd Symphony:

[Mirror Image]

A little assortment of post-war avant-garde -

Penderecki
De Natura Sonoris II
Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie
Andrzej Markowski



Scelsi
Anâgâmin
Münchener Kammerorchester
Christoph Poppen



Carter
Double Concerto For Harpsichord & Piano
Paul Jacobs, Gilbert Kalish
The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Arthur Weisberg

[SonicMan46]

Hotteterre, Jacques-Martin (1674-1763) - Chamber & Wind Music w/ Camerata Köln & Bruggen, Kuijkens, et al - Dave

   

[Karl Henning]

Can't help wanting to be part of the Kertész/Dvořák party. I'll start with one I've listened to much too seldom:

Dvořák
Symphony № 3 in E^b, Op. 10, B. 34
LSO
Kertész

[Brahmsian]

Can't help wanting to be part of the Kertész/Dvořák party. I'll start with one I've listened to much too seldom:

Dvořák
Symphony № 3 in E^b, Op. 10, B. 34
LSO
Kertész

I'll be joining you in a week or so once my set arrives. 

[André]

Haydn: The Seasons.

The only recording of the work by Haitink, otherwise unavailable outside this set.

Taped live from the Herkulessaal in 1997. The audience must have been gagged beforehand, as not a peep is to be heard.

Excellent performance, with particularly felicitous wind playing and a beautifully realized continuo (fortepiano). The BR Choir is outstanding. The soloists are very fine - Herbert Lippert's plangent tenor particularly appropriate as Lukas. The whole performance flows very naturally and convincingly, with a welcome attention to word and tone painting. Haitink sees to it that instrumental solos register with maximum character, imparting just the right amount of rusticity to the picture. The storm scene in Summer for example is outstanding.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Boulez
Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna
BBC SO
Boulez

From this set: