What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

Nikolai Miaskovsky.

Complete Symphonies and other Orchestral Works.
CD 15.

Sinfonietta opus 32, No. 2 & opus 68, No. 2.
Concerto Lirico, opus 32, No. 3.

State SO, of the Russian Federation, Evgeny Svetlanov.

Quite a discovery hearing these works again. And one might think to know them, but I found out, that they always sound as fresh as a daisy, as hearing them for the first time. Love the scoring in the Sinfonietta's, very special indeed and very accessible. The Concerto Lirico is to me a pastoral work, very reminiscent of what British composer tend to do.

The Lyric Concertino, with its haunting slow movement, is my favourite of Miaskovsky's shorter works.

[vandermolen]

Joonas Kokkonen.

Symphonies 1&2.
Opus Sonorum.

Finnish Radio SO, Sakari Oramo.

I still have to get used to Kokkonen's oeuvre, but after a few hearings I get closer to the man behind the music. It is not music to close your eyes with, it is too rational in its execution, and pays hommage to a rational stance that bothers on a technical level at the cost of musicality, but that's my opinion. There are works by Kokkonen I like instantly. All three works on this disc are a tad harder to digest. But I will eventually. The recording is really very good, as is the performance.

Symphony No.4 is my favourite of the Kokkonen symphonies because it seems to be a synthesis of the technical and the 'spiritual' if that makes sense. I find it to be a powerful, brooding and ultimately moving symphony.

[akebergv]

At one point Gimell reissued most (but not all*) of the Tallis Scholars recordings in this 2 CD format.

(*the biggest omission is Gombert's Magnificats, I think)

The Gombert Magnificats are included in the recent 4 CD Gimell box Sacred Music in the Renaissance, Volume 3.

[Roasted Swan]

Good morning Olivier - that Holst set is a source of great pleasure for me too.

+1 - I'd go as far to say the best single set collection of Holst there is (now I think about it there aren't many others!

[Papy Oli]

Like Egnon Heath, Olivier. Also Somerset Rhapsody from your previous post. "Hammersmith" is growing on me too. All place names, even if one is in someone's imagination.

Good morning Olivier - that Holst set is a source of great pleasure for me too.

+1 - I'd go as far to say the best single set collection of Holst there is (now I think about it there aren't many others!

Yeah, Team Holst   

I like how his music make my mind wander, reminisce with some melancholy also. Hard to pick a favourite, it is just not the Planets (Maybe one day, if I hear them live, I'll change my mind  0:)). This box is a perfect complement to the 4 Lyrita CD I already own.

TD: various works of...Gustav Holst, including some first listens !

2 Psalms
A Choral Fantasy
Suite No.1 in E Flat
Suite No.2 in F

[Harry]

Marin Marais.

Premier Livre de Pieces de Viole.
Pieces a une et Deux Violes, Premiere Livre (1686)
CD IV.

Suite in D minor a Deux Violes. (Continuo: Theorbo, Archlute)
Suite in D major. (Continuo: Bass Viol, Harpsichord)
Suite in F sharp minor. (Continuo: Harpsichord)

Francois Joubert Caillet, Bass Viol.
L'Acheron.

I sung my praises about this set already, and I doubt that my opinion will change with the following Book II & III. Caillet has chosen a fine balance between clear lines and warmth, emphasising just enough emotion to make the music highly accessible, with a tinge of studied intellectualism, that tops the thoughtful interpretation of Marais compositions. I doubt that one will get more insight as what Caillet has to offer. Next the second book

[Harry]

New acquisition, first listen.

The Renaissance Flute.

Collegium Musica Rara Stuttgart, on Historical instruments
Peter Thalheimer plays on nine different Recorders and Transverse Flutes.
Recorded in: 1977 & 1980

Now I am not a great fan of Recorders but I make a exception for this CD, for it is so tastefully done, and recorded in Hi-def sound. A surprise it was also in terms of all the interesting composers on this disc, and the fact that so many historical instruments are used. The Recorder and Transverse flute were held in high regard as solo instruments during the Renaissance and Baroque eras due to their many expressive qualities in common with the human voice, and so it is, literally on this disc. A fine addition to my collection in my opinion and highly recommendable

[Que]

For some reason Ablitzer's Buxtehude sprang to mind this morning:

   

Jean Charles Ablitzer plays the organ of the St.Jacobikirche in Cuxhaven-Lüdingworth, Lower-Saxony, Germany, built by Antonius Wilde in 1598–99 and extended by Arp Schnitger in 1682–83.

Every bit as good as I remembered: the cutests old organs full of character, though some my find it too rustic.
Ablitzer' playing is intense and involved but never rushed or smoothed out, carefully phrased and detailed.

Q

[Roasted Swan]

Yeah, Team Holst   

I like how his music make my mind wander, reminisce with some melancholy also. Hard to pick a favourite, it is just not the Planets (Maybe one day, if I hear them live, I'll change my mind  0:)). This box is a perfect complement to the 4 Lyrita CD I already own.

TD: various works of...Gustav Holst, including some first listens !

2 Psalms
A Choral Fantasy
Suite No.1 in E Flat
Suite No.2 in F

The Lyrita discs conducted by Imogen Holst are essential purchases for anyone interested in the composer.  She conducts the two Suites you mention as well - especially interesing because its a "proper" military band and there is a unique sound that other symphonic wind sections can't replicate.  I knew these pieces first via a famous ASV Dennis Wick/London Wind Orchestra recording.  This is a stunning "All Star" line up of players and definitely worth hearing but The Central Band of the RAF is as authentic as you can get!

[Mandryka]

Now available (and the first track is impressive)

[steve ridgway]

No worries. We all have our dislikes. I might be the only one on this forum who dislikes Dutoit's Planets for example.

I haven't heard that one.

Just played Takemitsu - Quotation Of Dream. It does indeed sound like La Mer - Remix but I enjoyed it.

[aligreto]

Iribarren: Pardiobre [Bernardini]





I was recently sorting through some downloads when I came upon this one. I have not heard it in, literally, years. In fact I had quite forgotten about it.

I know nothing at all about it. It is a very fine work indeed. It is music that is very well presented here. The two vocalists are excellent and work very well individually and as a duet. The orchestral ensemble is excellent and is very well directed. Their timbres and sonic world in general is very appealing. The music is very engaging and moves constantly along being well driven in a good way by the director. It is generally lively and quick paced. A very attractive work altogether with the vocal lines being carried along on a babbling brook that is the wonderful orchestral accompaniment.

[The new erato]

[Florestan]

This is the weakest disc in this series. Both works are complete bores but the VC is outstandingly so: if you excise the trivial passage-works and the long(uish) note-spinning you are left with almost nothing: not a single interesting idea, not a single inspired tune, nothing but commonplaces and emptiness. The symphony is marginally better but only slightly; I didn't listen to any of its movement in their entirety, I skipped to the next in the hope that something will pique my interest, but in vain. A huge disappointment.

Now that my WP-B exploration has come to an end, I can safely say that he was no revelation.  I will certainly return to his piano music (which imo is what he excelled at writing) but I have no intention to revisit his orchestral works: generic Late Romanticism, at best pleasant enough, at worst irredeemably boring, they don't warrant a second listen.

[Harry]

This is the weakest disc in this series. Both works are complete bores but the VC is outstandingly so: if you excise the trivial passage-works and the long(uish) note-spinning you are left with almost nothing: not a single interesting idea, not a single inspired tune, nothing but commonplaces and emptiness. The symphony is marginally better but only slightly; I didn't listen to any of its movement in their entirety, I skipped to the next in the hope that something will pique my interest, but in vain. A huge disappointment.

Now that my WP-B exploration has come to an end, I can safely say that he was no revelation.  I will certainly return to his piano music (which imo is what he excelled at writing) but I have no intention to revisit his orchestral works: generic Late Romanticism, at best pleasant enough, at worst irredeemably boring, they don't warrant a second listen.

Your a man hard to please. I do not recognize the criticism you exercised over the Violin concerto and for that matter the Fifth Symphony, which I find well written works. Maybe I am not so easily bored, huh!

[Florestan]

Your a man hard to please.

More and more as time goes by, actually. 

Seriously now, Peterson-Berger's VC really bore the hell out of me --- but a VC which I listened to recently and was positively impressed by is August Enna's.



Actually, that whole dfisc is outstanding.

[DaveF]

(...while attacking an overgrown beech tree... )



Sladkovsky / Tatarstan NSO

Didn't Beria once comment to Stalin that there was no tree he was not prepared to cut down, while fingering an axe tucked into his belt?  DSCH probably came pretty close to being one of those trees from time to time.  So... er... I'm sure there's a connection there somewhere...

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Strauss
Elektra
Fritz Uhl (tenor), Inge Borkh (soprano), Marianne Schech (soprano), Jean Madeira (mezzo-soprano), Cvetka Ahlin (mezzo-soprano), Gerhard Unger (tenor), Fred Teschler (bass (vocal)), Hermi Ambros (soprano), Siegfried Vogel (bass (vocal)), Gerda Scheyrer (soprano), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Renate Reinecke (soprano), Ilona Steingruber (soprano), Ernst Hintze (chorus master), Judith Hellwig (soprano), Margarita Sjostedt (mezzo-soprano), Sieglinde Wagner (mezzo-soprano)
Dresden State Opera Chorus
Women's Chorus of the Dresden State Opera Chorus
Staatskapelle Dresden
Böhm

[Papy Oli]

Ariosti - Stockholm Sonatas Vol.III

[SonicMan46]

Milhaud, Darius (1892-1974) - Symphonies 1-4 from the complete 5-disc CPO box w/ Alun Francis & RSO Basil - Milhaud reminds me of the 'Telemann' of the 20th century w/ 441 Opus numbers in his oeuvre!  But his first symphony was not written until his late 40s in 1939, at the start of WW II although he soon fled France for the United States.  Several reviews are attached for those interested - a 10/10 from Hurwitz but a more 'reserved' assessment from Classical Net.  Dave