What are you listening 2 now?

[Roasted Swan]

Sibelius, Tapiola (I would suggest also, 4th Symphony)
Wagner, Forest Murmurs from Siegfried - see also, Liszt
Smetana, From Bohemia's Woods and Fields from Ma Vlast
Finzi, The Fall of the Leaf
Mahler, Waldmarchen from Das Klagende Lied
Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht

very good.....!

[Traverso]

Bach

Das Wohltemperierte Klavier  Livre 1

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Cantata BWV 178 Wo Gott Der Herr nicht bei uns halt [Gardiner]

[Artem]

Very good interpretation. Rather unorthodox at times and almost avant-garde on faster movements.

[VonStupp]

Leó Weiner
Hungarian Folkdance Suite, op. 18

Philharmonia - Neeme Järvi

I love this one. Such fun!

[Iota]

Adès: Violin Concerto 'Concentric Paths'

Pekka Kuusisto (violin), Aurora Orchestra/Nicholas Collon


My experience of Adès has almost invariably been that he flatters to deceive. A great painter with the orchestral palette, a vivid imagination, but ultimately the music felt a bit hollow.
The violin concerto which I've just listened to for the first time however, seemed rather more promising. All his cleverness and talent still there conjuring up spectacular sonic events, but this time I wasn't left feeling as if something was missing. The central movement, a chaconne, is particularly striking and felt like it had real blood in its veins.

So will be returning to this one with more enthusiasm than usual, no doubt to discover if this was just a blip in my cognitive processes or a genuine step forward with his music, and rather hoping for the latter.

[aligreto]

Victoria: Sacred Works [Noone]





Ave Regina caelorum
Missa Ave Regina

[MusicTurner]

Sibelius - Symphonies 1+2+3 /Sanderling etc. /brilliant classics box

Sound and ensemble playing is good, but I was confirmed in my earlier views - that Sanderling's approach tends to be too classicist, even subdued, to my taste. The rawness and the sweeping gestures tend to absent, compared to some other recordings. There are a bit of such features in the ending of the 2nd Symphony, but not quite enough, IMO. The approach perhaps suits the 3rd Symphony somewhat better, which it is played rather fast, but organic, yet likewise at the expense of much of the mysticism in the work. The Finale is good and lively, though, with a good sense of progression and also fine contrasts as well.

[ritter]

First listen to Kodály's Theatre Overture, Concerto for Orchestra, Summer Evening, and Symphony in C. Antal Doráti conducts the Philharmonia Hungarica. CD 2 of this set that arrived yesterday.

[Biffo]

Fauré: Piano Quintet No 2 in C minor, Op 115 - Pascal Rogé piano and Quatuor Ysaÿe

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Cantata BWV 179 Siehe zu, dass deine Gottesfurcht [Gardiner]

[aukhawk]

From what little I've heard, I do prefer those original Gardiner recordings of the Cantatas to the remakes.  Just a bit fresher-sounding somehow.

[Mirror Image]

First listen to Kodály's Theatre Overture, Concerto for Orchestra, Summer Evening, and Symphony in C. Antal Doráti conducts the Philharmonia Hungarica. CD 2 of this set that arrived yesterday.

And? The Theatre Overture, Concerto for Orchestra and Summer Evening were rather impressive, but the Symphony in C wasn't that great of a work for me. I haven't ran into a lot of works from Kodály that I have been disappointed with so far, so not enjoying the Symphony in C rather looks good on him I'd say. Good day to you, Rafael.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Sibelius
En Saga, Op. 9
Philadelphians
Ormandy

[foxandpeng]

Fritz Brun
Symphony  #4
Moscow SO (I think)
Brilliant Classics

After an afternoon of DSCH, this is surprisingly good. Tuneful and interesting 

[aukhawk]

So buy his new recording of partitas and let me know how it is.

IMHO ...
I only have Suzuki to compare him (Esfahani) with, in the Partitas on harpsichord.

   

Assuming Esfahani is playing the same instrument as in his Toccatas recording, it sounds a bit sweeter here.  That could be more about the music though, his no-holds-barred Toccatas I find quite a difficult listen.  Here the instrument has a lot of top end, almost glassy-sounding.  It's a modern instrument (2018) with a carbon fibre soundboard (!)
Suzuki's instrument actually sounds quite similar to me, but less analytically recorded.  I'm no expert on harpsichords though.

Suzuki plays it very straight, sort of respectful sounding, satisfying to listen to but slightly soporific.

Esfahani has a lot of tempo variation, at both micro and macro levels.  His articulation in the faster passages is of course stunning.  Elsewhere he is very legato, to bell-like effect. It's an interesting listen, but I find it gets a bit mannered quite quickly.  Something midway between the two would suit me better, I think, although in any case I'm always going to prefer this music on a piano, Philistine that I am.

[aligreto]

Victoria: Sacred Works [Noone]





Salve Regina
Dixit Dominus
Magnificat Quinti toni

[aligreto]

From what little I've heard, I do prefer those original Gardiner recordings of the Cantatas to the remakes.  Just a bit fresher-sounding somehow.

Yes, some do prefer them to the later SDG versions. Overall, I find the presence of the live element more engaging on the SDG versions. However, I do own all of both.

[Mandryka]

Roland Götz shows how to play Merulo on a harpsichord, I'm afraid he puts Bonizzoni in the shade when it comes to harpsichord. It's partly a question of the timbre of the instrument, and partly a question of straightforward musicality. Just when I was starting to give up, I hope I'll find more Merulo like this.

[ritter]

And? The Theatre Overture, Concerto for Orchestra and Summer Evening were rather impressive, but the Symphony in C wasn't that great of a work for me. I haven't ran into a lot of works from Kodály that I have been disappointed with so far, so not enjoying the Symphony in C rather looks good on him I'd say. Good day to you, Rafael.

Oh, I really liked all the compositions on the disc (including the Symphony, particularly the lively closing vivo movement). I find Kodály's very personal fusion of Hungarian folk themes with Gallic, Debussyian influences, very much to my liking. Great stuff!

Good day to you too, John.