What are you listening 2 now?

[SonicMan46]

Biber, Heinrich (1644-1704) - Rosary Sonatas w/ Daniel Sepec on violins, Hille Perl on viola da gamba, Lee Santana on archlute/theorbo, and Michael Behringer on harpsichord/organ.  Now have 3 recordings of these works, the other two shown below - these Biber sonatas have been oft recorded so I'm sure others have their favorites - along with a brief quote below, also attached are some reviews of the ones in my collection for those interested.  Dave

The Rosary Sonatas (a.k.a. the Mystery Sonatas or Copper-Engraving Sonatas) by Heinrich Biber are a collection of 15 short sonatas for violin and continuo, with a final passacaglia for solo violin. Each has a title related to the Christian Rosary devotion practice and possibly to the Feast of the Guardian Angels. Presumably, the Mystery Sonatas were completed around 1676, but not published until 1905. The music of Biber was never entirely forgotten due to the high technical skill required to play many of his works; this is especially true of his works for violin. Once rediscovered, the Mystery Sonatas became Biber's most widely known composition. The work is prized for its virtuosic vocal style, scordatura tunings and its programmatic structure. (Source)

   

[Mirror Image]

I'm afraid I am currently spending the time to play all compositions lasting less than 10 minutes which I've not previously played with my current player, so I am churning through them at around 40+ recordings a day! I am enjoying them all, but this one just happened and left me extremely impressed: Witold Lutosławski's Silesian Triptych. Antoni Wit, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and a lovely performance by Olga Pasichnyk (soprano).

That Lutoslawski box set is fantastic. I don't believe I've made my way through it, but I have been impressed with Wit's performances. If you'd like to hear some other performances, I'd suggest the series on the Accord label (I imagine all of these volumes being difficult to track down nowadays), but also the Gardner series on Chandos is quite good, too (dare I say it's some of his best work so far). Of course, the 3-CD set of Lutoslawski conducting his own music on EMI is top-notch as well.

[Mirror Image]

Further research led me to Juon's sibling, Konstantin (who spelled his name Yuon, probably to avoid mispronunciation). He was a renowned painter who spent his entire life in Russia/USSR, rising to eminent positions in the artistic world. Since I consider siblings should never be separated (I'm thinking of some terrible events back here), I've decided to file Juon the composer under Russia.

Sounds completely reasonable to me, Andre.

[Mirror Image]

CD 2 of this awkward anthology of the "Complete Works" of Edgar Varèse, allegedly "volume 1", but AFAIK a second volume was never published, and these "complete works" do not include Amériques 


Intégrales, Density 21.5, Ionisation, Octandre, the interpolations from Déserts, and the riotous world première performance of Déserts under Hermann Scherchen.

I, too, own this set and found it bizarre that no second volume has come out. What a missed opportunity!

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Good morning!

I should revisit this set. I remember being quite impressed with it.

[Mirror Image]

Poulenc

Poulenc Day !

A Poulenc day is a day well-spent. Enjoy!

[Mirror Image]

Glazunov Symphony No. 2 in F sharp, Rozhdestvensky conducting




Sarge

Pounds the table! I love that set!

[Mirror Image]

I'm in, Sarge:

Glazunov
Symphony № 2 in f# minor, Op. 16, « In memoriam Liszt »
BBC Nat'l Symphony Wales
Tadaaki Otaka

Great stuff, Karl!

[Karl Henning]

I'm in, Sarge:

Glazunov
Symphony № 2 in f# minor, Op. 16, « In memoriam Liszt »
BBC Nat'l Symphony Wales
Tadaaki Otaka

I enjoy this rather than enthuse over it, but I am content so.

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I enjoy this rather than enthuse over it, but I am content so.

Well, I have to thank my dad for getting me into Glazunov. At first, I didn't really understand him or his musical language. I mean I thought 'Oh that's pretty...' or 'I like that chord progression' etc., but I'd say when I heard the Svetlanov cycle of symphonies is when the music finally hit me in an emotional way and needless to say after this I was hooked. The Svetlanov and Rozhdestvensky cycles are my favorites. I returned the favor to my dad by turning him into a Sibelius fanatic.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm in, Sarge:

Glazunov
Symphony № 2 in f# minor, Op. 16, « In memoriam Liszt »
BBC Nat'l Symphony Wales
Tadaaki Otaka

Nice! I'm moving on to Glazunov's Violin Concerto in A minor played by Anne-Sophie, Slava conducting.




Sarge

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Borodin
Symphony No. 2 in B minor
USSR State SO
Svetlanov

[PaulR]

I enjoyed the violin concerti (might have been first listen?), so onto more Schnittke!

[Traverso]

A Poulenc day is a day well-spent. Enjoy!

Ah...it's great music.I look forward to listen to L'histoire de Babar le petit élephant with Ustinov as a sublime narrator !! 

[Traverso]

Poulenc

Another  Poulenc  disc with fine music.

I look forward to listen again to L'histoire de Babar le petit élephant with Ustinov as a sublime narrator !!

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Ah...it's great music.I look forward to listen to L'histoire de Babar le petit élephant with Ustinov as a sublime narrator !! 

It sure is --- I especially like his concerti, chamber, solo piano and choral works.

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I enjoyed the violin concerti (might have been first listen?), so onto more Schnittke!

That Polyansky recording contains my favorite performance of the Requiem. I was less keen on this performance of the Concerto for Piano and Strings, however, preferring Postnikova/Rozhdestvensky and Krainev/Spivakov.

[Papy Oli]

Bach - Cello Suites No.1 & 2 (Fournier)

[Sergeant Rock]

Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major




Sarge

[aligreto]

Part: Kanon Pokajanen [Kaljuste/Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir]





I like this music, the musical language, the musical message and the presentation of the music. The music is always solemn, intense and powerfully emotional. The musical language is sparse and lean but gentle. The harmonies are very appealing. The choir sounds full, suitably solemn, atmospheric and robust in its delivery. It is always engaging and can be quite haunting at times.