What are you listening 2 now?

[classicalgeek]

Arnold Bax
Symphony 6
David Lloyd Jones
RNSO
Naxos

Can't go wrong with a Bax Symphony! Number 6 is one of my favorites (I'm also very fond of no. 4)

Thread duty:

Bruckner
Symphony no. 8
Vienna Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan



From near the end of his life (1988) - this and his no. 7 also with the Vienna Phil from the same period are some of my favorite Bruckner recordings. I find these recordings preferable to what I've heard from his Bruckner cycle with Berlin. Just beautiful all around. The horns and Wagner tubas in the slow movement? Gorgeous!

[Karl Henning]

Thank you!

Thank you! It's a beauty!

[vers la flamme]

Can't go wrong with a Bax Symphony! Number 6 is one of my favorites (I'm also very fond of no. 4)

Thread duty:

Bruckner
Symphony no. 8
Vienna Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan



From near the end of his life (1988) - this and his no. 7 also with the Vienna Phil from the same period are some of my favorite Bruckner recordings. I find these recordings preferable to what I've heard from his Bruckner cycle with Berlin. Just beautiful all around. The horns and Wagner tubas in the slow movement? Gorgeous!

I need to spend more time with (a) Karajan's Bruckner recordings (though I don't predict he'll ever become my go-to, I think he had something to say with this composer's music) & (b) Bruckner's 8th. For some reason it's always been my least favorite of his works, & it seems to be the favorite of many.

[foxandpeng]

Can't go wrong with a Bax Symphony! Number 6 is one of my favorites (I'm also very fond of no. 4)

Thread duty:

Bruckner
Symphony no. 8
Vienna Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan



From near the end of his life (1988) - this and his no. 7 also with the Vienna Phil from the same period are some of my favorite Bruckner recordings. I find these recordings preferable to what I've heard from his Bruckner cycle with Berlin. Just beautiful all around. The horns and Wagner tubas in the slow movement? Gorgeous!

Bax and Bruckner hold special places for me. Bruckner's 4, 7 and 8 were amongst my earliest 'big' symphonies when coming to serious music for the first time. Stunning.

TD:

Havergal Brian
Symphony 8
Alexander Walker
New Russia SSO
Naxos

[SonicMan46]

Still, William Grant (1895-1978) - Symphonies, Orchestral & Chamber Works, mainly w/ John Jeter and the Fort Smith Symphony (on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border) - but all well reviewed (see attachment). Still was amazingly versatile in his early years (short synopsis below reflects his more classical training, but he played multiple instruments, and orchestrated/performed w/ Paul Whiteman, Fletcher Henderson, Artie Shaw to mention a few - check out the link if interested for much more detail).  Dave

William Grant Still was an American composer of nearly 200 works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works, plus art songs, chamber music and works for solo instruments. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and was a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and later, Edgard Varèse. Due to his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, Still is considered to have been part of the Harlem Renaissance. (Source)

 

[classicalgeek]

I need to spend more time with (a) Karajan's Bruckner recordings (though I don't predict he'll ever become my go-to, I think he had something to say with this composer's music) & (b) Bruckner's 8th. For some reason it's always been my least favorite of his works, & it seems to be the favorite of many.

Definitely get to know Karajan's Bruckner 7 and 8 with Vienna. They're both among my top choices for their respective works, though my pick for a complete cycle would have to be Jochum II (Staatskapelle Dresden). The 8th isn't my favorite Bruckner symphony - that would be no. 7, followed closely by no. 9. But I do like the 8th better than a lot of the earlier symphonies. The slow movement in particular is beyond beautiful.

Bax and Bruckner hold special places for me. Bruckner's 4, 7 and 8 were amongst my earliest 'big' symphonies when coming to serious music for the first time. Stunning.

No. 7 is my favorite Bruckner Symphony (see above)... another one where the slow movement never fails to move me. And I'm really fond of nos. 4 and 8 as well. Of course, my favorite 'big symphony' composer will, I suspect, always be Mahler. I do wonder why Bax's symphonies are so seldom performed live. He has a voice all his own, and his orchestration is brilliant. At least they seem decently served by recordings, as are his tone poems. I'm fond of the Handley cycle myself, but Thomson and Lloyd-Jones, from what I've heard, have their strong points.

[Madiel]

Beethoven, Pathetique

[André]

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No.5 in B-flat major, WAB 105. Bernard Haitink, Bavarian RSO

Man, this is a stellar performance of this great symphony. The 5th is not my most frequently played Bruckner symphony by any means, but it is surely one of the best in my book. I love its expansiveness. Seems to go on forever.

+1

I'm picky when it comes to this symphony, possibly my favourite by Bruckner. Haitink recorded it commercially twice before, with the Amsterdam Concergebouworkest and the WP. This BRSO performance has a sense of purpose that grows movement by movement, reaching boiling point in the coda - all the while never rushing fences. The accumulated energy is simply astounding. Klemperer does that too, but his blunt, gaunt way is not to everyone's taste. I think these two tower above the competition.

[André]

Very good stereo from the early sixties - probably among Fricsay's last recordings. Big, furtwänglerian performances with leisurely tempi and big-boned musical phrases, but packed with tremendous energy ans tons of personality - the conductor adds many unwritten crescendos or swells on individual notes. Articulation is not just fastidious but produces enormous rythmic power. The orchestra unleashes its full might unstintingly - unlike in Nézet-Séguin's prissy, dynamically compressed Philadelphia performance of this week. It took me a while to warm to Fricsay's unusually slow 5th, but it is so grand, big and burly that it won me over.

[JBS]

I need to spend more time with (a) Karajan's Bruckner recordings (though I don't predict he'll ever become my go-to, I think he had something to say with this composer's music) & (b) Bruckner's 8th. For some reason it's always been my least favorite of his works, & it seems to be the favorite of many.

The Bruckner Karajan recorded with the Philharmonia for EMI are, I would contend, among the best Bruckner recordings ever made and some of Karajan's best recordings of any conductor.  The recordings of the first three symphonies he made as part of the BPO Bruckner cycle are among the best recordings of the early triad. The rest of the BPO cycle is not on that level. The VPO Eighth didn't thrill me, but my feelings about the Eighth are similar to yours so take that cum grano salis.

[JBS]

TD
Schönberg 2 and 3 with soprano Uta Graf

From

[vers la flamme]

The Bruckner Karajan recorded with the Philharmonia for EMI are, I would contend, among the best Bruckner recordings ever made and some of Karajan's best recordings of any conductor.  The recordings of the first three symphonies he made as part of the BPO Bruckner cycle are among the best recordings of the early triad. The rest of the BPO cycle is not on that level. The VPO Eighth didn't thrill me, but my feelings about the Eighth are similar to yours so take that cum grano salis.

I'm not aware of any of the Karajan/Philharmonia Bruckner, but I do have a Karajan/Berlin Bruckner 4th on EMI that sounds great.

[André]

I'm no big fan of the conductor, but I count this as one of his best discs ever. He succeeds in making the Othello overture as thrilling and creepy as the late tone poems. His timing here is the fastest I've seen (quick check on Amazon) and his pacing of the slow middle section brings an electric atmosphere to the music - conductors sometimes start to snooze here. Definitely the best of the few versions I've heard.

The New World is similarly taut and alive to every nuance, never on auto-pilot. The BPO outdo themselves - incredible details emerge from the string section. These performances were recorded at the beginning of Abbado's tenure. The alertness and involvement of the playing is on a very high level. Excellent sound.

[Symphonic Addict]

Debussy: Jeux

A ballet in the form of a tone poem. My favorite Debussy orchestral work. A quite tricky piece to get played succesfully. Fascinating textures and haunting harmonies. A masterpiece from the early 20th century.

[vers la flamme]

Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, op.83. Vladimir Ashkenazy, Bernard Haitink, Vienna Philharmonic

First listen, I think, to this recording, which I got earlier in the year. Sounds great.

[Symphonic Addict]

No. 7 is my favorite Bruckner Symphony (see above)... another one where the slow movement never fails to move me. And I'm really fond of nos. 4 and 8 as well. Of course, my favorite 'big symphony' composer will, I suspect, always be Mahler. I do wonder why Bax's symphonies are so seldom performed live. He has a voice all his own, and his orchestration is brilliant. At least they seem decently served by recordings, as are his tone poems. I'm fond of the Handley cycle myself, but Thomson and Lloyd-Jones, from what I've heard, have their strong points.

Same here. It's one of the few Bruckner symphonies I've eve seen and heard live. The 7th is a desert-island symphony to me. It's sometimes called "the Lyric" with good reason.

[JBS]

I'm not aware of any of the Karajan/Philharmonia Bruckner, but I do have a Karajan/Berlin Bruckner 4th on EMI that sounds great.

My mistake. It was indeed the Berlin Philharmonic, not the Philharmonia.  The one you have is one of the recordings I meant. The companion recording of the 7th is just as good.
He also did the Eighth for EMI. It's typical of my allergy to the Eighth that I have no clear memory of it, and needed Amazon to remind me of its existence, although I do have it.

[classicalgeek]

Same here. It's one of the few Bruckner symphonies I've eve seen and heard live. The 7th is a desert-island symphony to me. It's sometimes called "the Lyric" with good reason.

It is probably one of my favorite 10? 20? symphonies - definitely if I only had to listen to one Bruckner symphony for the rest of my life, it would be the Seventh. I've never heard of that nickname, though it fits!

Thread duty:

Shostakovich
Symphony no. 6
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Hallé Orchestra
(on Spotify)



Not the most exciting Shostakovich 6 I've heard...

[JBS]

[kyjo]

Miaskovsky: String Quartet no. 13



Undoubtedly one of my favorite works of his, due in no small part to the marvelously fresh performance it receives here. I especially love the folksy rhythmic energy of the 2nd and 4th movements. It would make a great companion work to Kabalevsky's 1st SQ (also in A minor).


Hummel: Septet no. 1 in D minor



Hummel seems to get very little mention on this forum, and I think that's a real shame. At his best, he could produce some really engaging and inventive works that are key products of the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. There's not a single dull note in this delightful septet which is filled to the brim with catchy tunes and marvelous part-writing.


Webern: Passacaglia



An powerful, 10-minute fireball of an Op. 1 that already foreshadows the strange directions Webern's music would later take. To me, it sounds in parts like a twisted/distorted version of the finale of Brahms' 4th Symphony. Great stuff!


Taneyev: Piano Quintet



My high opinion of this masterwork has already been stated multiple times on this forum. Absolutely, astoundingly epic in every sense of the word, with a performance that does it full justice.


Vasks: Cello Concerto no. 2 Presence



One might argue that many of Vasks' compositions follow the same "formula" - meditative and lyrical outer movements (the last one ending with a rising trill evaporating into stratosphere) surrounding a fierce, toccata-like one. I say, no use in criticizing Vasks for this because he pulls it off so well every time! A very touching and accessible work, not as overwhelmingly intense and cathartic as his first cello concerto but none the worse for that.