What are you listening 2 now?

[JBS]

Yes, and some are these who stand out for me. I know there are others I'm missing or forgetting.

Bernstein
Svetlanov
Doráti
Perhaps Markevitch

Salonen, for currently active musicians.
Eotvos and Ades both conduct, but I think of them as composers who do other things as well.

ETA: Mon dieu! I almost forgot:

Boulez

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Korngold
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
LSO
Previn

[Symphonic Addict]

Salonen, for currently active musicians.
Eotvos and Ades both conduct, but I think of them as composers who do other things as well.

ETA: Mon dieu! I almost forgot:

Boulez

Yes, that's one I'm discovering step by step, slowly. Despite how challenging many of his works can sound like, the music invites to persevere, and it has a bewitching nature.

[kyjo]

Gubaidulina: Offertorium



Really splendid stuff reminding me that I should take a chance on "modernist" music more often! I had heard some excerpts of works by Gubaidulina before and they'd been rather off-putting, but Offertorium turned out to be a thoroughly engrossing and haunting work that I thought was quite accessible despite its mostly atonal idiom. It receives a stunningly committed performance here.


Medtner: Violin Sonata no. 3 Epica



Absolutely one of my favorite violin sonatas of all time. Not only is it epic, but it is also sublimely lyrical and infectiously rhythmic - almost jazzy - in places (as in the second movement). His other two violin sonatas are also wonderful.


Kabalevsky: String Quartet no. 1



It's hard to resist the earthy, folksy energy of this work, especially in the 2nd and 4th movements. I can't get enough of this composer!


Bax: Oboe Quintet and Finzi: Interlude for oboe and string quartet



The Bax may not be quite on the level of his masterful Piano Quintet or Harp Quintet, but it's an entirely characteristic and engaging work with an infectious Irish-gig like finale. The Finzi is his most substantial chamber work (I wish there were more!), and it's a poignant work not without some darkly troubled passages.


Kalinnikov: Symphony no. 2



The first two movements are very good, but it is the final two (scherzo and finale) which make this symphony so cherishable to me. The whirlwind scherzo is contrasted with its sweetly lyrical trio, and the finale is possibly one of the most well-written symphonic finales of the Romantic Era IMO. It's an unstoppable tidal wave of festive joy, ingeniously referencing themes from previous movements in a wonderfully satisfying summing-up.

[Mirror Image]

Gubaidulina: Offertorium



Really splendid stuff reminding me that I should take a chance on "modernist" music more often! I had heard some excerpts of works by Gubaidulina before and they'd been rather off-putting, but Offertorium turned out to be a thoroughly engrossing and haunting work that I thought was quite accessible despite its mostly atonal idiom. It receives a stunningly committed performance here.

Pounds the table! I have found her music to be more and more incredible each time I listen to it. Not all works are successful, but when they are, they're incredibly powerful and thought-provoking.

[Symphonic Addict]

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto (Suk, Ancerl, Cz. PO)



Neither Suk, Ancerl nor the Czech Orchestra seem to want indulge in themselves at performing this work. Not too much sentimentalism here. I would say it's impeccably interpreted and recorded, you can hear every detail, perceive how clear they are, this is real music making and playing overall.

[Symphonic Addict]

Great works, but it's so difficult to avoid over-exposure to them being an orchestral musician myself...

A kind of mild torture? 

[Symphonic Addict]

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (Reiner, Chicago SO)

A coruscating performance, if too "precise" and impeccable for my taste. This work is not famous for anything. Really memorable, colourful, poetic and expertly orchestrated.

[Symphonic Addict]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Bernstein, New York PO



This "distinguishable" performance is not for everybody, I hasten to add. It's suffocatingly Mahlerian in terms of slow pacing and how it unfolds, and even very Sibelian in the opening and closing minutes of it. Since this symphony made a strong in the symphonic literature, I see probable that Sibelius was influenced by these two external slow sections to write his 4th Symphony.

Here Bernstein is at his most self-indulgent. The only movement that didn't work well was the 3rd. It does need more speed to make an impact.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Gubaidulina
Stufen
Royal Stockholm PO
Rozhdestvensky

[kyjo]

Vaughan Williams: Suite for Viola and Chamber Orchestra



This is RVW at his most generously open-hearted, warm, and positive. Some movements even have a real sense of "fun" that one doesn't normally associate with the composer. Dare I say it's even one of my very favorite works of his? Violist Timothy Ridout is one of the most remarkable young string players of our generation IMO, and he gives a gorgeous performance here.


Massenet: Espada



One of the most delightful and infectiously colorful works I've yet heard by this composer. If you enjoy French works written in a Spanish style (who doesnt? ), you can't miss this ballet, brilliantly performed and recorded here.


L. Boulanger: Psalms 24 and 129 and Vielle priere bouddhique



Quite simply, I've run out of superlatives to describe Lili Boulanger's sublime, powerful, deeply felt music. Her sacred works for chorus and orchestra stand amongst the finest in the repertoire IMO.


Zarebski: Piano Quintet in G minor:



Regrettably, this is the only non-solo piano work Zarebski completed before his untimely death at the age of 31. And what a serious, substantial work it is, with strong themes and a keen sense of drama. I was particularly taken by the colorful scherzo, which might have inspired the respective movement of Taneyev's Piano Quintet in the same key, which lay a few decades in the future.


Benjamin: Symphony



A classic "wartime" symphony; purposeful, dramatic, and following an arc from conflict through tragedy to triumph. There are some passages that put me in mind of Prokofiev's Symphonies 5 and 6 (the contour of the violin lines and the low-register writing for orchestral piano) and Korngold's Symphony in F-sharp (the jagged rhythms and menacing atmosphere). A great work.

[kyjo]

Pounds the table! I have found her music to be more and more incredible each time I listen to it. Not all works are successful, but when they are, they're incredibly powerful and thought-provoking.

I knew you'd approve! I'm looking forward to hearing more of her works. What would you say your "top 5" (or so) Gubaidulina works are?

[kyjo]

A kind of mild torture? 

The most pleasant torture imaginable!

[kyjo]

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (Reiner, Chicago SO)

A coruscating performance, if too "precise" and impeccable for my taste. This work is not famous for anything. Really memorable, colourful, poetic and expertly orchestrated.

I assume you mean "this work is not famous for nothing"?

[Mirror Image]

I knew you'd approve! I'm looking forward to hearing more of her works. What would you say your "top 5" (or so) Gubaidulina works are?

Very good to read, Kyle. My 'Top 5' for Gubaidulina (in on particular order):

Alleluia
Viola Concerto
Sieben Worte
Music for Flute, Strings and Percussion
Fachwerk

[classicalgeek]

Yes, that's one I'm discovering step by step, slowly. Despite how challenging many of his works can sound like, the music invites to persevere, and it has a bewitching nature.

I need to revisit Boulez the composer sometime. I've heard a few of his works... but nothing has stuck with me...

more conductor/composers:
Klemperer
Kletzki
Martinon
Furtwängler (who basically sounds like third-rate Bruckner)
and who could forget Leif Segerstam and his 934,172,565 symphonies? 

I'll put in a word for Markevitch the composer... wonderful, evocative music. He sounds more French than Russian. Marco Polo recorded a bunch of his orchestral works that are now available on Naxos. Great stuff!

[vandermolen]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Bernstein, New York PO



This "distinguishable" performance is not for everybody, I hasten to add. It's suffocatingly Mahlerian in terms of slow pacing and how it unfolds, and even very Sibelian in the opening and closing minutes of it. Since this symphony made a strong in the symphonic literature, I see probable that Sibelius was influenced by these two external slow sections to write his 4th Symphony.

Here Bernstein is at his most self-indulgent. The only movement that didn't work well was the 3rd. It does need more speed to make an impact.

Interesting point Cesar. I think that Tchaikovsky was clearly an influence on Sibelius.

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams: Suite for Viola and Chamber Orchestra



This is RVW at his most generously open-hearted, warm, and positive. Some movements even have a real sense of "fun" that one doesn't normally associate with the composer. Dare I say it's even one of my very favorite works of his? Violist Timothy Ridout is one of the most remarkable young string players of our generation IMO, and he gives a gorgeous performance here.


Massenet: Espada



One of the most delightful and infectiously colorful works I've yet heard by this composer. If you enjoy French works written in a Spanish style (who doesnt? ), you can't miss this ballet, brilliantly performed and recorded here.


L. Boulanger: Psalms 24 and 129 and Vielle priere bouddhique



Quite simply, I've run out of superlatives to describe Lili Boulanger's sublime, powerful, deeply felt music. Her sacred works for chorus and orchestra stand amongst the finest in the repertoire IMO.


Zarebski: Piano Quintet in G minor:



Regrettably, this is the only non-solo piano work Zarebski completed before his untimely death at the age of 31. And what a serious, substantial work it is, with strong themes and a keen sense of drama. I was particularly taken by the colorful scherzo, which might have inspired the respective movement of Taneyev's Piano Quintet in the same key, which lay a few decades in the future.


Benjamin: Symphony



A classic "wartime" symphony; purposeful, dramatic, and following an arc from conflict through tragedy to triumph. There are some passages that put me in mind of Prokofiev's Symphonies 5 and 6 (the contour of the violin lines and the low-register writing for orchestral piano) and Korngold's Symphony in F-sharp (the jagged rhythms and menacing atmosphere). A great work.

The Benjamin Symphony is a great favourite Kyle. I have three recordings of it! I think that it also shown the influence of VW, especially his 4th Symphony as well as 'Mercury' from the Planets at one point.

[Spotted Horses]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Bernstein, New York PO



This "distinguishable" performance is not for everybody, I hasten to add. It's suffocatingly Mahlerian in terms of slow pacing and how it unfolds, and even very Sibelian in the opening and closing minutes of it...

I don't follow how performing Tchaikovsky at slow tempo makes it Mahlerian, or how bending the tempo like taffy makes it Sibelian. In fact, around the same time Bernstein applied his self indulgent slow-motion style to Sibelius Symphony No 2. I expect you'll claim it makes the music Tchaikovskian.

[Irons]

Vaughan Williams : Songs of Travel.



A set that contains my favourite RVW song bar none Youth and Love.