What are you listening 2 now?

[Traverso]

Did you enjoy the music, Jan?

Yes I did,but not in a special way.As I said before it is no match for Mozart or Richard Strauss.Their music for wind music is real extraordinaire.
It is nice but lees gripping,maybe I was not in the right mood for it.

[Mirror Image]

Appealing bunch of recordings.
I have an old Elan CD of the SQ by the Cuarteto Latinoamericano; I assume the Brilliant release is a reissue (?).
The Korstick piano recording is really tempting; long ago I purchased the highly praised (at the time) Santiago Rodriguez recording on Elan; it's good but I wouldn't consider it the last word.

Yeah, I own that that Elan issue of the Ginastera SQs, but it was easier to post the Brilliant Classics reissue. The Korstick is an amazing recording --- I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Walton: Symphony No.1, Philharmonia Orchestra Cond. Walton:
An excellent performance from 1951.

Great recording. I like it and I love the entire box!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Good afternoon,

Back to this one. BWV 1017 onwards. Just superb !

+1. Great album. Recently I have been listening to the discs by Podger and Chrstine Busch.

[André]

More Ginastera:

[Mirror Image]

First-Listen Wednesday

Aho
Trombone Concerto
Jörgen van Rijen, trombone
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins



Yet another fascinating, but beautiful concerto from Aho.

[vers la flamme]

Jean Sibelius: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, op.46. William Boughton, English String Orchestra

Brilliant suite from Sibelius' incidental music for a play which must have been an absolute smash hit at the time, considering at least four major composers created their own take on it.

[Symphonic Addict]

Jean Sibelius: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, op.46. William Boughton, English String Orchestra

Brilliant suite from Sibelius' incidental music for a play which must have been an absolute smash hit at the time, considering at least four major composers created their own take on it.

How different our perspectives are about this work. One of my least favorite works by the Finn. The last time I revisited it, it left me cold.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Popov
Symphony No. 2, Op. 39, "Motherland"
USSR Radio & TV SO
Gennady Provatorov



I was prompted to give this symphony another listen after a recent post about it in the composer's thread. It's a beauty and it's a live performance, which also includes a lovely performance of synchronized coughing from the audience. I prefer this performance over the Titov on Northern Flowers.

[Mirror Image]

Nobody is listening to anything tonight apparently.

Anyway...NP:

Smetana
String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor, JB 1:105, "From My Life"
Pavel Haas Quartet

From this new acquisition -

[André]

Schubert's 9th plus the fillers. I've known the Karajan for over 40 years, but I was new to either Gielen's or Abbado's. As it happens, while I still think Karajan is unsurpassed in this work, both other conductors bring special insights I know I'll want to hear again. Karajan doesn't observe any of the repeats in I, III and IV. Gielen observes only those of III (scherzo  and trio), making it the longest movement of the work. That's just too much for me as it unbalances the work IMO.

Abbado takes all the repeats and makes a good case for it. Also, in the second movement he uses a different text for the second part of the main theme, a slight but startling difference. Since that bit is repeated over and over again throughout the movement it does bring a quite different shape to the thematic material - more sinuous, less direct and march-like. The usual text sounds plain in comparison. The notes tell us that this is what the latest research has unearthed. Given that Schubert never heard the piece, that it was published decades later and that errors crept in (Brahms and others had a hand at it for corrections), I won't argue with Abbado's editorial decision. Anyhow, considering his interpretation is by and large excellent and the playing superb, I think this is very close to a benchmark recording. Solid, impactful engineering. Still, Karajan, Sinopoli, Suitner, Giulini and Konwitschny are more personal and remain my favourite versions.

Gielen takes the slow introduction much faster than anyone else - at double the tempo, as per the newly discovered alla breve marking - making an acceleration into the allegro unnecessary. It works swimmingly and totally alters the shape of the movement. Also per new score findings, he rams through the coda like a bull. It's startling at first, but exciting and quite convincing. Other conductors usually broaden at that point, so an acceleration really jolts, like a runaway horse leaving all others behind. Apart from the scherzo, where you feel the carousel operator dozed off and gave the kids a couple of free rides, the rest of the work is superbly alive under Gielen. Excellent sound (live performance from 1999).

Karajan's BP has never sounded as good and resplendent as here. Brass and the all-important timpani are simply stupendous, with the strings outclassing every other orchestras'. What a cello section ! The only thing that bothers slightly is the slender german oboe tone. It sounds precious and fragile, but one gets used to it and it has to be said that its penetrating quality does make it stand out more. I know that sounds oddly contradictory, but that's how it comes across. The engineering is out-of-this-world perfect (Günter Hermanns, Jesus-Christus Kirche 1969). The Unfinished that opens the disc is a thing of beauty, too. I have a slight preference for Böhm-WP and Walter, but this performance is still one for the ages.

[Mirror Image]

Continuing with Act II from last night:

Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake, Op. 20
USSR State SO
Svetlanov

[JBS]

Well I'm listening to this

[Chamber organs in place of the usual harpsichords]

[Brian]

Well I'm listening to this

[Chamber organs in place of the usual harpsichords]

Thanks for that note at the bottom, I was about to ask how many churches they needed!

[kyjo]

How different our perspectives are about this work. One of my least favorite works by the Finn. The last time I revisited it, it left me cold.

+1 I much prefer some of his other incidental music, above all The Tempest and Swanwhite. Rakastava also leaves me colder than a Finnish winter!

[Mirror Image]

One more work for the night:

Dvořák
String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96, B. 179 "American"
Pavel Haas Quartet



Like the Smetana I listened to earlier from this quartet, this is stunning and my only hope is that they record the rest of these SQs (or, at the very least, finish with the later ones).

[kyjo]

Beethoven: String Quartets nos. 8 and 9 (Op. 59 nos. 2 and 3)



I usually try to avoid making such grand statements, but I have no doubt in my mind that these are the absolute definitive performances of these seminal works. These magisterial recordings by the Ebene Quartet have single-handedly reignited my love for Beethoven. They have obviously spent a lot of time with this music, yet at the same time their performances are marvelously spontaneous and fresh. Just sample the concluding fugue of the Op. 59/3 if you have any doubts - WOW!


Garūta: Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor


A very beautiful late-romantic concerto by this Latvian composer. In particular, the secondary themes of the outer movements are really something to be treasured. The slow movement is a bit too repetitive, but it makes a strong effect.


Raid: Symphony no. 1



I'm afraid I can't quite share Jeffrey's and Cesar's admiration for this work. It has the same "epic" atmosphere of Tubin's earlier symphonies and Walton's 1st but largely without their memorability and forward drive IMO. In particular, I found the first movement to be quite meandering. I thought the second movement was definitely the strongest, with an almost Braga Santos-like open-air quality to it. Perhaps part of the problem is that I found the sonics here to be curiously fuzzy for Chandos, blurring orchestral texture and softening dramatic impact - I don't believe it's the fault of Jarvi and the RSNO!


The entire disc:



Staying in the Baltic States...The VC and Fantasy for violin and orchestra are largely forgettable, despite excellent advocacy from Baiba Skride. However, as I believe Jeffrey has mentioned, the Symphonic Legend is quite a discovery, containing a wealth of imaginative ideas and orchestration. The brief one-movement Symphony is also well worth hearing.


Coleridge-Taylor: Piano Quintet



A superbly accomplished Op. 1 - full of energy and attractive melodic material. This new recording by Stewart Goodyear and the Catalyst Quartet is very good, but it doesn't displace the Nash Ensemble on Hyperion. Also, what terrible cover art!

[kyjo]

Mozart: Piano Concertos nos. 23 and 24



I had forgotten how utterly marvelous these two works are, particularly the slow movements of both which give me chills with their tender simplicity. Just sublime stuff!


The whole disc:



Nothing earth-shattering, but there's some atmospheric, tuneful music here, particularly in the quite substantial Suite sobre cantos gallegos, which is worth a listen by anyone with a taste for Romantic nationalist music. There are two more volumes of Granados' orchestral music from Naxos - I wasn't aware he had written so much. Performances and sound are excellent.


Larsson: Symphony no. 3



I had high hopes for this work but was ultimately rather disappointed despite some very fine passages here and there. It's probably my least favorite of his three symphonies, with the excellent second definitely being my favorite. I sampled some of the later atonal-ish works on the disc, and boy, were they dreary!


Brahms: Piano Quintet and String Quartet no. 3



The Belcea Quartet is to Brahms what the Ebene Quartet is to Beethoven - they breathe new life into this music that makes most older recordings sound dull and stodgy by comparison. If you aren't blown away by their incredible fiery performance of the scherzo of the Piano Quintet (my favorite movement in all of Brahms, btw), you may want to check your heart rate!


Creston : Symphony no. 3 Three Mysteries



Utterly splendid stuff. Brilliant, life-enhancing music that radiates warmth from every bar - though there are some darker, anguished moments in the slow movement. Creston's 2nd and 3rd symphonies undoubtedly rank amongst my favorite American works of classical music.

[Madiel]

As I say, I wouldn't pretend to have a technical ear, but I also like the Da Capo versions. The timing difference over the two movements don't stand out massively - I think the Da Capo is quicker by about 25 seconds in the first, and slower in the second by about 15, but neither of the BIS seem to  drag or rush. I think my hearing is sufficiently poor to notice little about recording brightness, etc., but perhaps the Da Capo has it by an edge.

My preference for the Da Capo version of the Holmboe clarinet concerto is not based on pacing. To me the BIS version is too smooth. I think this piece benefits from the more nervous energy you get on Da Capo.

[Madiel]

Beethoven: String Quartets nos. 8 and 9 (Op. 59 nos. 2 and 3)



I usually try to avoid making such grand statements, but I have no doubt in my mind that these are the absolute definitive performances of these seminal works. These magisterial recordings by the Ebene Quartet have single-handedly reignited my love for Beethoven. They have obviously spent a lot of time with this music, yet at the same time their performances are marvelously spontaneous and fresh. Just sample the concluding fugue of the Op. 59/3 if you have any doubts - WOW!

Okay, you're not the first person to be wildly enthusiastic about this set. I'm going to have to try it out.