What are you listening 2 now?

Started by Gurn Blanston, September 23, 2019, 05:45:22 AM

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Carlo Gesualdo

Quote from: The new erato on September 16, 2021, 07:24:36 AM
Revisiting a favorite early music disc:



You're a man of taste this is excquisite for sure , me I just received in the mail, Sigismondo D'India Volch'ascoltate Ensemble Poiésis Marion Fourquier this is an awesome release on ZIG ZAG, very pretty stuff, marveleous  CD  :P

Brahmsian

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 15, 2021, 03:47:45 PM
Krzysztof Penderecki
Orchestral Works Vol.2
Symphony 5
Antoni Wit
Polish NRSO


First music of the day, and first concentrated hearing of Symphony #5

Listening to this, right now.  A fantastic work.  Although uniquely Penderecki, I hear some shades of a hybrid Shostakovich 2nd and 11th symphony (sans vocals).  That's just me.

Also listened to Symphony No. 1 earlier, and it is quite a contrasting work to # 5, still in the avant-garde vein, but a bit more on the "approachable" side compared to his other avant-garde work. 

Spotted Horses

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on September 16, 2021, 08:00:11 AM
I suspect that they probably faired better than a lot of the "common" folk, but I don't know.  If you wrote or performed something that the government didn't approve of, life could suddenly get very, very "rough".

"Dmitri, did you notice if they had any real sturgeon caviar at the central committee commissary today?"
"No Sviatoslav, they only have the salmon caviar."
"How do they expected us to make a great performance without sturgeon caviar, Dimitri?"
"I don't know. Benjamin Britten told me he has to eat mushy peas 7 days a week, that's probably why his music is so weak."
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

DavidW

Quote from: kyjo on September 16, 2021, 06:23:15 AM
I tend to shy away from solo organ music, but I really ought to familiarize myself with Bach's.

I also recommend Mendelssohn, Messiaen, and Hindemith for solo organ music.

foxandpeng

#49564
Quote from: OrchestralNut on September 16, 2021, 08:24:17 AM
Listening to this, right now.  A fantastic work.  Although uniquely Penderecki, I hear some shades of a hybrid Shostakovich 2nd and 11th symphony (sans vocals).  That's just me.

Also listened to Symphony No. 1 earlier, and it is quite a contrasting work to # 5, still in the avant-garde vein, but a bit more on the "approachable" side compared to his other avant-garde work.

I'm also hearing Symphony #5 again now. We have a fortnight off work to prep for putting our house on the market, so my listening is somewhat reduced atm, but this symphony is now likely to be forever known as The Spider Symphony. I played it in the car earlier when making a trip to the tip, and the largest spider in the entire universe appeared on the dashboard from the garden rubbish, causing me to react like a teenage girl, screaming like a man possessed. I had to stop the car to let my wife bravely evict it while I stood on the other side of the road. Putting it on again now, led her to exclaim that 'this is that spider symphony, isn't it?'.

I am ashamed.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Traverso

Strauss Graduation Ball

This recording is also available on Decca Elquence.






Que


Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 16, 2021, 09:18:29 AM
I'm also hearing Symphony #5 again now. We have a fortnight off work to prep for putting our house on the market, so my listening is somewhat reduced atm, but this symphony is now likely to be forever known as The Spider Symphony. I played it in the car earlier when making a trip to the tip, and the largest spider in the entire universe appeared on the dashboard from the garden rubbish, causing me to react like a teenage girl, screaming like a man possessed. I had to stop the car to let my wife bravely evict it while I stood on the other side of the road. Putting it on again now, led her to exclaim that 'this is that spider symphony, isn't it?'.

I am ashamed.
:laugh:  But, seriously, we all have our phobias.   :)

Good luck with your prepping!  What kind of new digs will you be moving into?  And have you found anything yet?

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Brian

Revisiting Saint-Saens "Urbs Roma" symphony and Bizet "Roma" symphony back to back so I can remember which is which. Neither is intensely or strongly Roman in character, although there are rustic dance type tunes in (respectively) CSS' scherzo and GB's finale. CSS' piece ends quietly. There are some moments of cheesy/cringey harmony at times in the Bizet, a little bit amateurish/youthful, while the CSS is already quite polished. Neither is unforgettable, but both are pleasant. Overall I probably like CSS better but Bizet's finale is the best movement of the eight.

Karl Henning

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 16, 2021, 06:24:22 AM
Surprisingly, there was no slogging on my part. :) There's only three discs in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. One has to remember these were long films, so there was quite a bit of music composed for them. The longest is The Return of the King as it has four discs. But make no mistake, there is much beautiful music to found here. I'm glad to own the complete soundtracks, though, I couldn't imagine buying the one disc versions and being satisfied with all of the selections.

That's the wonderful thing about GMG: the variety of musical passions. Would I ever have given Myaskovsky a second thought, but for Harry and Jeffrey? I am forced to doubt it.
I certainly remember them being long movies, I doubt I should ever forget 8)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: Spotted Horses on September 16, 2021, 06:50:26 AM
Probably it was something along the lines of
"Dmitri, did you notice if they had any beets at the market today?"
"No Sviatoslav, they haven't come in yet."
"That's too bad, I'm getting tired of cabbage."

A Russian tiring of cabbage? I'll never believe it.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

vandermolen

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 16, 2021, 09:18:29 AM
I'm also hearing Symphony #5 again now. We have a fortnight off work to prep for putting our house on the market, so my listening is somewhat reduced atm, but this symphony is now likely to be forever known as The Spider Symphony. I played it in the car earlier when making a trip to the tip, and the largest spider in the entire universe appeared on the dashboard from the garden rubbish, causing me to react like a teenage girl, screaming like a man possessed. I had to stop the car to let my wife bravely evict it while I stood on the other side of the road. Putting it on again now, led her to exclaim that 'this is that spider symphony, isn't it?'.

I am ashamed.
OT
Years ago our cat brought in a small frog from the garden. The frog disappeared behind a dresser. I had to remove all the crockery etc from the dresser to access the frog. When I asked my young daughter to assist she was most unhelpful, resulting in me angrily saying 'for goodness sake stop making such a fuss - it's just a tiny frog'. At that moment the frog leapt out from behind the dresser and I screamed and fell backwards into the piled up crockery sending everything cascading over the floor. My daughter has never let me forget this incident.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

Alwyn: Symphony No.3, RPO, Beecham, premiere performance.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Brahmsian

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 16, 2021, 09:18:29 AM
I'm also hearing Symphony #5 again now. We have a fortnight off work to prep for putting our house on the market, so my listening is somewhat reduced atm, but this symphony is now likely to be forever known as The Spider Symphony. I played it in the car earlier when making a trip to the tip, and the largest spider in the entire universe appeared on the dashboard from the garden rubbish, causing me to react like a teenage girl, screaming like a man possessed. I had to stop the car to let my wife bravely evict it while I stood on the other side of the road. Putting it on again now, led her to exclaim that 'this is that spider symphony, isn't it?'.

I am ashamed.

Perhaps there is something to Penderecki and spiders?

The reason I say that is there is a part in Penderecki's Polymorphia that gives me a vision of a gargantuan spider crawling along on a hardwood floor.  :-\

Brahmsian

Quote from: Brian on September 16, 2021, 10:55:51 AM
Revisiting Saint-Saens "Urbs Roma" symphony and Bizet "Roma" symphony back to back so I can remember which is which. Neither is intensely or strongly Roman in character, although there are rustic dance type tunes in (respectively) CSS' scherzo and GB's finale. CSS' piece ends quietly. There are some moments of cheesy/cringey harmony at times in the Bizet, a little bit amateurish/youthful, while the CSS is already quite polished. Neither is unforgettable, but both are pleasant. Overall I probably like CSS better but Bizet's finale is the best movement of the eight.

Interesting, Brian. I didn't even know Bizet composed another symphony outside of his famous C major Symphony.

foxandpeng

#49575
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on September 16, 2021, 09:53:42 AM
:laugh:  But, seriously, we all have our phobias.   :)

Good luck with your prepping!  What kind of new digs will you be moving into?  And have you found anything yet?

PD

Thanks, PD. Nasty creatures. Yuk.

Well, we downsized about 5 years ago, but sadly COVID-19 has done to us what it has done to so many, and our working patterns going forward will mean that we will both continue to work primarily from home. As a result, we both want a home office each and more space overall - looking to buy something with those things, plus space for a craft room and a music room. Plus the offspring are starting to spread their genetic material, so more space for them to inflict grandparently duties will be required.

Have only just started looking, so haven't found anything yet, but technically we are open to a really wide range of fairly rural locations. We are a commuter couple who have bases about 80 miles apart, but flexible working patterns mean that we don't actually attend an office that often. We do need to think about being vaguely close to one location or equidistant, just for the sake of good sense.

All very frustrating welcome.

Needs must, I guess.

Thread duty:

Johan De Meij
Symphony #1 'The Lord of the Rings'
Peabody Conservatory Wind Ensemble
Harlan D Parker
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

foxandpeng

Quote from: OrchestralNut on September 16, 2021, 11:20:26 AM
Perhaps there is something to Penderecki and spiders?

The reason I say that is there is a part in Penderecki's Polymorphia that gives me a vision of a gargantuan spider crawling along on a hardwood floor.  :-\

I can see that too, now. Aaargh!

They are disquieting works, are they not?
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

foxandpeng

Quote from: vandermolen on September 16, 2021, 11:02:08 AM
OT
Years ago our cat brought in a small frog from the garden. The frog disappeared behind a dresser. I had to remove all the crockery etc from the dresser to access the frog. When I asked my young daughter to assist she was most unhelpful, resulting in me angrily saying 'for goodness sake stop making such a fuss - it's just a tiny frog'. At that moment the frog leapt out from behind the dresser and I screamed and fell backwards into the piled up crockery sending everything cascading over the floor. My daughter has never let me forget this incident.

Haha. That did make me laugh 😃. Poor you.  Perhaps Penderecki should have written a piece to go with this entitled Amphibia. I would prefer the frog to the arachnid, to be honest. 
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Brahmsian

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 16, 2021, 12:08:55 PM
I can see that too, now. Aaargh!

They are disquieting works, are they not?

Well, some of Penderecki's works are disquieting, no question about it.

classicalgeek

A do-it-yourself playlist of Smetana's Ma Vlast on Spotify:

1. Vysehrad
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Neeme Jarvi



2. Vltava
Cleveland Orchestra
George Szell



3. Sarka
Staatskapelle Dresden
Paavo Berglund



4. From Bohemia's Woods and Fields
Vienna Philharmonic
Nikolaus Harnoncourt



5. Tabor
Janacek Philharmonic
Theodore Kuchar



6. Blanik
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Rafael Kubelik



For some reason, I just haven't gotten into these, save for Vltava and maybe From Bohemia's Woods and Fields. Maybe I just haven't found the right recording yet... maybe I need to give Mackerras a listen!
So much great music, so little time...

Original compositions and orchestrations: https://www.youtube.com/@jmbrannigan