What are you listening 2 now?

[Irons]

A new composer for me :

John McCabe - Notturni ed Alba
Frémaux / CBSO

You are right Olivier, a very good box.

The Saint-Saens 3rd Symphony recording is another one that didn't receive credit due.

[Karl Henning]

Tchaikovsky
Symphony № 4 in f minor , Op. 36
Symphony № 5 in e minor , Op. 64
NY Phil
Lenny

[Papy Oli]

You are right Olivier, a very good box.

The Saint-Saens 3rd Symphony recording is another one that didn't receive credit due.

I need to go back to McCabe again with more attention, Lol, that was a seriously intense work.

I have liked everything I have heard in that box so far, even the operatic bits!

[Mirror Image]

Do you think? What's your take on this one where Beethoven finds his last hiding place? ( with approval of mr. Barenboim of course)
Double measures are taken against the background of the "me too" movement.
But they are also a time phenomena of the richness of our civilization. 

Poor taste is poor taste. No matter how you frame it.

[vandermolen]

Returning home from work music.
Dag Wiren: Symphony No. 3

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Strauss
Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59
Christa Ludwig, Lucia Popp, et. al.
Wiener Philharmoniker, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Bernstein

[vandermolen]

I need to go back to McCabe again with more attention, Lol, that was a seriously intense work.

I have liked everything I have heard in that box so far, even the operatic bits!

I'm not a huge McCabe fan but can recommend this CD which includes most of the contents of two LPs:

[Karl Henning]

I need to go back to McCabe again with more attention, Lol, that was a seriously intense work.

I have liked everything I have heard in that box so far, even the operatic bits!

Très cool!

[aukhawk]

Messiaen
Vingt Regards sur L'Enfant-Jesus
Anton Batagov

Great montage!  Love those Russian sleeves!  (Although the whole set is now available at bargain price as mp3 from Amazon.)
Listening some more to this, there's a decided slap-echo to the acoustic.  I'm assuming it's natural, given the recording date (1989) and likely location (Moscow or Leningrad maybe? I don't have the sleevenotes unfortunately) - so Batagov would have been very aware of the music coming back at him as he played.  He taps into this with his tempi, giving the music a subtle swinging effect.  It's very noticeable for example in the last few minutes of the first piece, Regard du Père but also in other slower numbers such as Regard du temps and Première communion de la Vierge.

Overall perhaps a bit too much of a good thing, maybe not a primary recommendation after all, a bit more clarity is needed.  Although I haven't heard Osborne's recording on Hyperion, I do have a recording from the BBC of him playing Vingt Regards live in a concert hall, and it is intense.  Similar tempi to Batagov (who has a somewhat sinister reputation for 'slow' by the way).

Back to


Messiaen, Catalogue d'Oiseaux - Ugorski

I noticed, listening to Le Loriot, that Messiaen directly quotes the well-known pentatonic theme from Debussy's Prelude No.2, Voiles.  Only much faster, as though some small bird has listened to the Debussy through an open window and then sung it back at 'natural' bird-speed.  Check it out, the first occurrence is just before 1 minute in.  Probably this is mentioned in every Vingt Regards sleevenote there is - but I had missed it up to now.  I noticed it last night and had to listen again today!

[Brahmsian]

Well, mon cher, as with Schumann's Spring, it appears that I zag where you zig

Of course this is true, nevertheless, I can't say I'm enthusiastic about it! 

[Karl Henning]

Of course this is true, nevertheless, I can't say I'm enthusiastic about it! 

Ho capito.

[Iota]

Messiaen, Catalogue d'Oiseaux - Ugorski

I noticed, listening to Le Loriot, that Messiaen directly quotes the well-known pentatonic theme from Debussy's Prelude No.2, Voiles.  Only much faster, as though some small bird has listened to the Debussy through an open window and then sung it back at 'natural' bird-speed.  Check it out, the first occurrence is just before 1 minute in.  Probably this is mentioned in every Vingt Regards sleevenote there is - but I had missed it up to now.  I noticed it last night and had to listen again today!

Nice to hear somebody else mention this, the Voiles moment always strikes me too, but as the quote is slightly altered I've never been *quite* sure if he's doing it consciously or not. But thinking about it I guess if I hear it, somebody with the acute ear of Messiaen surely must also.

(If of any interest, on the subject of 'acute ears', a friend of mine was in the same Messiaen composition class as George Benjamin, and he said that sometimes OM would come in sit down at the piano and splash both hands on the keyboard and ask the class to identify the notes of the resulting chord, and said that George Benjamin was always the first with his hand up, and always correct ..)

[Karl Henning]

Myaskovsky
Silence, Op. 9 (1910)
Svetlanov & al.

Inspired by Poe's Silence—A Fable, whereof the following is the closing passage:

"Now there are fine tales in the volumes of the Magi — in the iron-bound, melancholy volumes of the Magi. Therein, I say, are glorious histories of the Heaven, and of the Earth, and of the mighty sea — and of the Genii that over-ruled the sea, and the earth, and the lofty heaven. There was much lore too in the sayings which were said by the Sybils; and holy, holy things were heard of old by the dim leaves that trembled around Dodona — but, as Allah liveth, that tale which the Demon told me as he sat by my side in the shadow of the tomb, I hold to be the most wonderful of all! And as the Demon made an end of his story, he fell back within the cavity of the tomb and laughed. And I could not laugh with the Demon, and he cursed me because I could not laugh. And the lynx which dwelleth forever in the tomb, came out therefrom, and lay down at the feet of the Demon, and looked at him steadily in the face."

[André]

First encounter with the music of Herr Schwertsik (b.1935). Studied in Vienna under Josef Marx (of Herbstsymphonie fame), later joined the Damrstadt cenacle where he took courses with Nono, Kagel, Stockhausen and Cage. Rather hard to believe when listening to these entirely tonal, evocative pieces that suggest a mix of Janacek and Silvestrov - if that can be imagined. Hints of Copland, Riisager and Bartok (The Wooden Prince) also come to mind. John Adams makes a surprise appearance in the last 'Tree Song'.

The three works here are the 'Night Musics', 'Mr. K Discovers America', after Kafka's novel Amerika, and the 'Tree Songs'. All three works are what one could term orchestral suites, consisting of vignettes evocative of the subject (title) at hand.

Schwertsik is president of the Josef Marx Society, a fact that may explain the intriguing absence of a Darmstadtian avant-garde influence in his works. In short, he writes contemporary music that is not modern in the usual sense. Whether that's a good thing or not depends on the listener. I found enjoyment in this disc.

[aligreto]

Varese: Ionisation [Boulez]

[Mirror Image]

I was in the mood for something that just goes 'smack' 'pow' and that was infectious beyond belief, so here's what I wound up listening to:

Walton
Portsmouth Point Overture
LSO
Previn

From this smashing set:

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Shostakovich
Cello Concerto No. 2 in G, Op. 126
Alban Gerhardt, cello
WDR Sinfonieorchester
Saraste

[Traverso]

Great montage!  Love those Russian sleeves!  (Although the whole set is now available at bargain price as mp3 from Amazon.)
Listening some more to this, there's a decided slap-echo to the acoustic.  I'm assuming it's natural, given the recording date (1989) and likely location (Moscow or Leningrad maybe? I don't have the sleevenotes unfortunately) - so Batagov would have been very aware of the music coming back at him as he played.  He taps into this with his tempi, giving the music a subtle swinging effect.  It's very noticeable for example in the last few minutes of the first piece, Regard du Père but also in other slower numbers such as Regard du temps and Première communion de la Vierge.

Overall perhaps a bit too much of a good thing, maybe not a primary recommendation after all, a bit more clarity is needed.  Although I haven't heard Osborne's recording on Hyperion, I do have a recording from the BBC of him playing Vingt Regards live in a concert hall, and it is intense.  Similar tempi to Batagov (who has a somewhat sinister reputation for 'slow' by the way).

Back to


Messiaen, Catalogue d'Oiseaux - Ugorski

I noticed, listening to Le Loriot, that Messiaen directly quotes the well-known pentatonic theme from Debussy's Prelude No.2, Voiles.  Only much faster, as though some small bird has listened to the Debussy through an open window and then sung it back at 'natural' bird-speed.  Check it out, the first occurrence is just before 1 minute in.  Probably this is mentioned in every Vingt Regards sleevenote there is - but I had missed it up to now.  I noticed it last night and had to listen again today!

The only information I have is this  ( from the booklet)

[Traverso]

Messiaen

Cataloque d'oiseaux

Livre 1-2 & 3

[vandermolen]

I was in the mood for something that just goes 'smack' 'pow' and that was infectious beyond belief, so here's what I wound up listening to:

Walton
Portsmouth Point Overture
LSO
Previn

From this smashing set:

Great choice John!