What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

The great romanian mezzo in one of the very few discs she ever recorded. Despite being a star singer she didn't have a recording contract. On top of possessing a huge instrument covering a wide range and being an excellent linguist, she had a fiery temperament. This one's available only as a download. Orchestral playing and recorded sound are no more than okay.

[Karl Henning]

NP: The 11th

From this superb set -

Superb, indeed!

[Karl Henning]

Robt Schumann
Symphony № 2 in C, Op.61
Vc Cto in a minor, Op. 129
Misha Maisky, vc
Wiener Philharmoniker
Lenny

[Karl Henning]

Robt Schumann
Symphony № 2 in C, Op.61
Vc Cto in a minor, Op. 129
Misha Maisky, vc
Wiener Philharmoniker
Lenny

Whenever I listen to the Op. 129, I wonder why this piece is not played more often, whether in Schumann's original scoring or in Shostakovich's re-orchestration.

[Karl Henning]

Chas Wuorinen
A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky
London Sinfonietta
Ollie Knussen

[SonicMan46]

Piston, Walter (1894-1976) - Symphonies & Other Works mainly w/ Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony, and others - just 3 of the 7 or so CDs owned for the afternoon; will post the rest tomorrow.  Short bio synopsis below - much more at the link which includes a list of his many compositions (many seemingly ignored these days) - found an interesting pic from the mid-40s w/ him, Copland, and Boulanger who he studied with twenty years earlier.  Dave

Walter Piston was an American composer of classical music, music theorist, and professor of music at Harvard University. On graduating summa cum laude from Harvard, Piston was awarded a John Knowles Paine Traveling Fellowship. He chose to go to Paris, living there from 1924 to 1926. At the Ecole Nationale de Musique in Paris, he studied composition and counterpoint with Nadia Boulanger, composition with Paul Dukas and violin with George Enescu. He taught at Harvard from 1926 until his retirement in 1960. His students include Leonard Bernstein, Elliott Carter, Irving Fine, John Harbison and many others. (Source)

[VonStupp]

If I recall correctly, the whole reason I didn't go for that album you've listening to is because I didn't want a chamber arrangement of The Lovers. I wanted it the way Barber conceived it.

Yes if you are a purist, stay away, although for me it still works well enough. The good news is that the rest of the album is some of the finest singing of Samuel Barber around.

The video alludes to the chamber version being created so that The Lovers can be more easily performed by using modest resources, but I have never seen it on a program.

VS

[André]

Performances from the early 50s. Eager to reclaim musical glory from the past, the Bavarian Radio went all out with these productions, securing top soloists and their star conductor's services for these big works. BR did not make commercial recordings yet, that would follow a few years later when it secured a contract with DGG.  From the BRSO's web site we can read that the Music Director (Jochum)

"shall take all actions needed, to build up and educate this orchestra. Whoever is engaged as conductor, guest conductor or orchestra musician may be decided by Professor Eugen Jochum and the Director alone." This quote from the foundation contract of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks from 1949 shows the strength of Eugen Jochum's position as the first Chief Conductor of the orchestra.

Both works are quite splendidly played and sung, although there are a couple of insecure notes from the trumpets at the beginning of the Tuba mirum - of all places - and the tenor is rather ordinary. The two ladies though are absolutely outstanding. Jochum's conducting is excellent, especially in the big moments (he doesn't stint on the timpani, which I like). In the Te Deum we hear all the trademarks of his well-known love for Bruckner. This is a forceful, dynamic, direct performance of the work, more ardent than his Berlin remake.

I do question the opportunity of reissuing these 70 year old performances in such a crowded market. Although the sound is reasonably clear and spacious, it does not reveal interpretive genius as the contemporary Toscanini recording of the Verdi Requiem would.

[VonStupp]

William Schuman
Perceptions
Mail-Order Madrigals

Joyful Company of Singers - Peter Broadbent

Schuman has a sort-of crusty choral language, but the texts taken from an 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog and short Whitman portraits are a gas.

The Gregg Smith Singers are more gregarious in this music, despite a solid outing from JCoS here.

[vers la flamme]

For the composer's 149th birthday...:



Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Barry Wordsworth, New Queen's Hall Orchestra

A phenomenal work...

[Karl Henning]

For the composer's 149th birthday...:



Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Barry Wordsworth, New Queen's Hall Orchestra

A phenomenal work...

A local community orchestra is playing it later this month, looking forward to it!

[DavidW]

Also RVW for me, crossposted:

I listened to his 8th symphony in celebration

[Mirror Image]

First-Listen Tuesday

Hovhaness
Concerto No. 10, Op. 143
Seattle Symphony
Schwarz

[TheGSMoeller]

A few new purchases from Europadisc have arrived! Starting with this one from Signum Quartett, which mixes Schubert's quartets (Nos. 6 and 14) with several of his songs arranged for string quartet. Great sound, great playing.






And this new recording from the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, I primarily purchased it for the Choir Concerto, but the other works included are equally fantastic.

[classicalgeek]

It's a Malcolm Williamson day. The Piano Concerto no. 3 from this disc (on Spotify), I believe with the composer as soloist:



And this entire disc (also on Spotify):



Williamson is a hard composer to "pigeonhole" - his style is highly eclectic. A neoclassical spikiness reminiscent of Stravinsky? Percussive piano writing that calls Bartok to mind? Atonality? The influence of jazz and popular music? They're all present. I'm still formulating my opinion of his music, but he definitely intrigues me, and I'll say once again that his orchestration is marvelous. Perhaps the most appealing work to me was his 'Santiago de Espada' overture; I'll confess it was also his most approachable between these two discs.

[Madiel]

Schumann, Violin sonata no.2

[Mirror Image]

Schumann, Violin sonata no.2

A fantastic recording!

[kyjo]

For some reason, the only Elgar's major chamber work that has resonated with me thus far is his Piano Quintet. I'll need to spend more time with the Violin Sonata and String Quartet in the future.

I didn't know about the existence of those recordings of Franck's piano trios. Thanks for posting them, Kyle. And yes, that trio is a scorcher!

Elgar's Violin Sonata and String Quartet aren't as consistently great as the Piano Quintet perhaps, but they both contain some really fine music nonetheless.

You're welcome! I simply can't imagine those recordings of Franck's piano trios being bettered. Absolutely mandatory listening IMHO!

[kyjo]

All these works are delightful, with a special nod to the works I had not heard before: Massenet's Espada, a Spanish-themed ballet which is a hit parade from start to finish and Ambroise Thomas' overture to "Raymond, ou Le secret de la reine" (a The-Man-in-the-Iron-Mask opera no less), beautiful stuff too.



The catch here are not the concertos but the smaller works. I've listened to them for days in a row.



Rachmaninoff. Ashkenazy. 'Nuff said.

Superb stuff, Andrei!

[André]

Not too long ago I listened to Marteau's beautiful clarinet quintet. I was smitten by that work, which called for further exploration of this French/German/Swedish composer.

A renowned violin virtuoso, Marteau was the teacher, dedicatee and first performer of a number of works for violin by Reger - most notably his big violin concerto. He also played the works of swedish composers Tor Aulin and Wilhelm Stenhammar, who accompanied him in his scandinavian tours.

Marteau was himself a composer of great accomplishment, writing music that recalls the manner of Reger and late Brahms, but also of Debussy. The quartet is very fine, a meaty 4-movement work that firmly states its structural kinship with Beethoven's late quartets, works he loved deeply, performing them with his own string quartet throughout Europe.

The surprise of this disc however is the Huit Mélodies for soprano and string quartet. It's a truly bewitching work, in which the strings form a web of harmonic and rythmic fretwork around the singer's melodic lines. It is sung here to perfection by Karine Deshaies. All told, a very satisfying disc of substantial music by a little known composer.