What are you listening 2 now?

[Wanderer]

.

[vandermolen]

Maiden-Listen Monday:

Hovhaness
Symphony № 25, Op. 275 « Odysseus »
Polyphonia Orchestra
The composer conducting

[André]

One of the lesser-known french opera composers, Ambroise Thomas wrote this beautiful work on a libretto by Carré and Barbier (Faust, Roméo et Juliette etc). The basis for the libretto is Goethe's bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister. It was premiered in 1866 at the Opéra Comique. The first Mignon was Célestine Galli-Marié. 9 years later Galli-Marié would be the first Carmen at the Opéra Comique. It was a triumph and Thomas' crowning achievement, one of the most frequently performed operas in France until the 1930s.

Thomas' score contains some of opera's most famous tunes. My favourite is Mignon's Connais-tu le pays (Kennst du das Land?), a text set to music countless times (by Beethoven, Schubert, Berg, Schoeck, Schumann, Wolf and many others). This gorgeous ballad based on a simple melody is a favourite of mezzos. I feel that Horne misses some of its wide-eyed simplicity and freshness - a bit too knowing, perhaps. The whole production is lavishly cast and produced (superb playing and sound). AFAIK there is no alternative in stereo, although a few performances from earlier generations are available, reflecting the opera's undeserved descent into oblivion.

[Florestan]

[North Star]

More Maiden-Listen Monday Madness


Hartmann

Wachsfigurenkabinett, five short operas (1929–30), libretti by Erich Bormann

Das Leben und Sterben des heiligen Teufels
Der Mann, der vom Tode auferstand (unfinished; completed by Günter Bialas and Hans Werner Henze)
Chaplin-Ford-Trott, 'scenic jazz cantata' (unfinished; completed by Wilfried Hiller)
Fürwahr? (unfinished; completed by Henze)
Die Witwe von Ephesus

Claudia Barainsky (soprano), Michelle Breedt (mezzo), Thomas Harper (tenor), Michael Kraus (baritone), Egbert Junghanns (baritone) et al.
Members of DSO Berlin
Roger Epple

[ritter]

More Maiden-Listen Monday Madness


Hartmann

Wachsfigurenkabinett, five short operas (1929–30), libretti by Erich Bormann

Das Leben und Sterben des heiligen Teufels
Der Mann, der vom Tode auferstand (unfinished; completed by Günter Bialas and Hans Werner Henze)
Chaplin-Ford-Trott, 'scenic jazz cantata' (unfinished; completed by Wilfried Hiller)
Fürwahr? (unfinished; completed by Henze)
Die Witwe von Ephesus

Claudia Barainsky (soprano), Michelle Breedt (mezzo), Thomas Harper (tenor), Michael Kraus (baritone), Egbert Junghanns (baritone) et al.
Members of DSO Berlin
Roger Epple

Interesting. Next to these, Milhaud's opéras-minutes appear as massive as  Die Meistersinger! 

Good evening, Karlo.

[André]

🎵 Adieu, notre petite table 🎶  ...

[North Star]

Interesting. Next to these, Milhaud's opéras-minutes appear as massive as  Die Meistersinger! 

Good evening, Karlo.

Good evening, Rafael.

[Karl Henning]

Maiden-Listen Monday
Strauss
Daphne
Hilde Güden · Fritz Wunderlich
James King · Paul Schöffler
Wiener Symphoniker
Karl Böhm

Very nice, Karlo!

[vandermolen]

Bloch: Symphony (Naxos/Dalia Atlas/LSO)
Magnificent performance of this great work.
Odd that there are two cover images for the same recording. Mine is the lower one but I prefer the top one:

[Mirror Image]

Finished Kempe's complete orchestral works of Richard Strauss, and while I found the music to be not bad - I found little that was new or interesting, so I will not be returning to any of it, at least for the foreseeable future, but I do feel that it would make some very solid background music for studying (or something similar).

[Brian]

Bloch: Symphony (Naxos/Dalia Atlas/LSO)
Magnificent performance of this great work.
Odd that there are two cover images for the same recording. Mine is the lower one but I prefer the top one:

Freaky!! I just finished (2 minutes ago) listening to that exact same work and exact same recording! The universe must have lined us up in the exact same wavelength. I don't think I had ever heard the entire symphony. Liked the swashbuckling scherzo especially.

I doubt you will move on to the same disc I moved on to :



First listens to almost all of Respighi's piano works here, although of course I know the Ancient Airs in their orchestral garb.

[Mirror Image]

Interesting. Next to these, Milhaud's opéras-minutes appear as massive as  Die Meistersinger! 

Good evening, Karlo.

What do you think of Hartmann's music, Rafael? Good evening to you.

[Cato]

More Maiden-Listen Monday Madness


Hartmann

Wachsfigurenkabinett, five short operas (1929–30), libretti by Erich Bormann

Das Leben und Sterben des heiligen Teufels
Der Mann, der vom Tode auferstand (unfinished; completed by Günter Bialas and Hans Werner Henze)
Chaplin-Ford-Trott, 'scenic jazz cantata' (unfinished; completed by Wilfried Hiller)
Fürwahr? (unfinished; completed by Henze)
Die Witwe von Ephesus

Claudia Barainsky (soprano), Michelle Breedt (mezzo), Thomas Harper (tenor), Michael Kraus (baritone), Egbert Junghanns (baritone) et al.
Members of DSO Berlin
Roger Epple

"Wow, Bob, just WOW!!!" *

I absolutely MUST buy that CD!   




For your consideration:


Cadence Fantastique by Nikolai Tcherepnin!

https://www.youtube.com/v/bC2OoqyvQyM



* "Wow, Bob, wow!" is a mysterious line from the mysterious T.V. series Twin Peaks, which is the brainchild of the mysterious David Lynch. 

[North Star]

"Wow, Bob, just WOW!!!" *

I absolutely MUST buy that CD!   

* "Wow, Bob, wow!" is a mysterious line from the mysterious T.V. series Twin Peaks, which is the brainchild of the mysterious David Lynch. 

Surprised you didn't already have every Hartmann album there is, Cato.

I should see Twin Peaks, my parents weren't fans and somehow I've not seen it myself yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Hartmann-Wachsfigurenkabinett-5-Small-Operas/dp/B00005I40A

[ritter]

What do you think of Hartmann's music, Rafael? Good evening to you.

I'm not that familiar with it, I'm afraid. I listened to some things many moons ago (Miserae and Gesangszene—on a Metzmacher CD I got for Dallapiccola's Canti di liberazione—, the Sonate 27. April 1945—played by Benedikt Koehlen—, and some other stuff), but don't have much recollection of any of them. 

I did get this Dutch multi-conductor set of the symphonies some years ago in Berlin, but listened fleetingly to only parts of it:



So (thread duty), now listening to Symphony No. 5 'Sinfonia Concertante', conducted by Michael Schønwandt (pjme alerted me not long ago to the Stravinsky connection of this work). I'm liking what I hear quite a bit, even if the music sounds slightly dated to me (for lack of a better term, and in the sense it harks back to a prewar expressionistic sound world—which is perfectly understandable, as that style had been obliterated in Germany during the dark years). I get the impression it's  well constructed and scored, in any case (will require better acquaintance).

Good evening to you, John.

[Mirror Image]

I'm not that familiar with it, I'm afraid. I listened to some things many moons ago (Miserae and Gesangszene—on a Metzmacher CD I got for Dallapiccola's Canti di liberazione—, the Sonate 27. April 1945—played by Benedikt Koehlen—, and some other stuff), but don't have much recollection of any of them. 

I did get this Dutch multi-conductor set of the symphonies some years ago in Berlin, but listened fleetingly to only to parts of it:



So (thread duty), now listening to Symphony No. 5 'Sinfonia Concertante', conducted by Michael Schønwandt (pjme alerted me not long ago to the Stravinsky connection of this work). I'm liking what I hear quite a bit, even if the music sounds slightly dated to me (for lack of a better term, and in the sense it harks back to a prewar expressionistic sound world—which is perfectly understandable, as that style had been obliterated in Germany during the dark years). I get the impression it's  well constructed and scored, in any case (will require better acquaintance).

Good evening to you, John.

Very cool, although I'm not that taken with those performances in the Challenge Classics set --- the Wergo set (also a multi-conductor set) is much more alive and exciting to these ears. You definitely should get your hands on this set:

[Brahmsian]

*Maiden Monday Listen (to the piano concerto)

Dvořák

*Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33
The Water Goblin, Op. 107

Jeno Jando, piano

Antoni Wit, conducting

Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

A wonderful work, this concerto!  And a nice performance of The Water Goblin 

[Daverz]

Finished Kempe's complete orchestral works of Richard Strauss, and while I found the music to be not bad - I found little that was new or interesting,

Strauss just copied Reznicek. 

[Cato]

Very cool, although I'm not that taken with those performances in the Challenge Classics set --- the Wergo set (also a multi-conductor set) is much more alive and exciting to these ears. You definitely should get your hands on this set:

YES!  AMEN!!!   Even though the performances are 50 + years old, "more alive and exciting" is right!

Surprised you didn't already have every Hartmann album there is, Cato.

I should see Twin Peaks, my parents weren't fans and somehow I've not seen it myself yet.

I must have missed this World Premiere Recording in 2002!!!  Oy!  Better late than never!


Twin Peaks was a big hit in its first year, but began to lose its audience as Lynch's penchant for weirdness passed the general public's threshold.  However, I recommend giving it a try!