What are you listening 2 now?

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

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Florestan

Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Madiel

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The opening of the 5th suite really, really tells you that you're listening to a period instrument. It almost sounds medieval. This music is playing somewhere in a dark corner of an old castle.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

71 dB

Franz Ignaz Beck - Symphonies Op. 4, Nos 1-3 - La Stagione Frankfurt / Michael Schneider - CPO SACD

Revisited this after many many years. Disappointingly it didn't do much for me. I am much more into the Sinfonias of Dittersdorf, Haydn's Sturm und Drang era and even Vanhal.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Traverso

Quote from: aligreto on October 23, 2021, 03:25:25 AM
JS Bach: Drama per Musica BWV 201 [Alarcón]
I was recently reading about JS Bach's not writing anything in the opera genre and a reference was made to BWV 201, Drama per Musica. I do not have this work in my collection and the fact that I had never heard it prompted me to seek it out. I found this fine presentation of the work by Les Agrémens and Choer de Chambre de Namur under the direction of Leonardo García Alarcón:


https://www.youtube.com/v/fFVFmcZkRC8


This is a wonderful live performance and is equally visually important [in its theatrically limited way] as it is aurally engaging and rewarding. It is a secular Cantata which derides the "pretty ditties" of the then modern opera style in favour of a more discerning musical style and content. I think that this is a wonderful work and that this is a particularly fine performance. One needs to lay aside 45 mins. [ or an hour for "curtain calls and an intriguing encore] of your time to listen to/watch this presentation but for me it was an hour very well spent. The musicians are excellent as are all of the vocalists both individual and choral. The obligato solo instrumental accompaniments to some of the vocal lines are just divine. The sound is also excellent. This just might convince some that still believe that the music of JS Bach is old fashioned and stuffy to change their minds. I certainly would have liked to be present at that particular concert.

Hi Fergus,it is a so called "secular Cantata",great music  !


aligreto

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 [Ashkenazy]





This must have one of the most instantly recognisable openings to a symphony. The whole opening movement is well presented; it is light, crisp but not overly driven. The orchestral textures of the music is also very apparent. Although this is a serious version I really like the feeling of "lightness" here. Once again, the textures in the slow movement are wonderful. The lower register strings sound wonderful as a sort of ground bass accompaniment; prominent and effective. The third movement is quite lyrical and this is a smooth, rounded presentation of it with those wonderful orchestral textures once again being wonderfully balanced and highlighted. The tempo takes flight again wonderfully in the  final movement; it is quite invigorating. Those flitting woodwinds are wonderful. 
This is a most delightful and engaging version of this work. The recorded sound is excellent.


Brahmsian

Quote from: aligreto on October 23, 2021, 04:30:56 AM
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 [Ashkenazy]





This must have one of the most instantly recognisable openings to a symphony. The whole opening movement is well presented; it is light, crisp but not overly driven. The orchestral textures of the music is also very apparent. Although this is a serious version I really like the feeling of "lightness" here. Once again, the textures in the slow movement are wonderful. The lower register strings sound wonderful as a sort of ground bass accompaniment; prominent and effective. The third movement is quite lyrical and this is a smooth, rounded presentation of it with those wonderful orchestral textures once again being wonderfully balanced and highlighted. The tempo takes flight again wonderfully in the  final movement; it is quite invigorating. Those flitting woodwinds are wonderful. 
This is a most delightful and engaging version of this work. The recorded sound is excellent.

Glad that you are enjoying this Ashkenazy set, Fergus.

Ironically, the incredibly famous and popular Italian symphony is my least favourite of all Mendelssohn symphonies.

Traverso

Quote from: aligreto on October 23, 2021, 04:32:11 AM
Ah, Leonhardt did it; interesting.

Yes and many others.

 

https://www.youtube.com/v/RWGdXjXo9XI

I don't want to impose anything on you, but BWV 30a is really a must,a fantastic successful performance, which radiates the real "lebensfreude".I'm afraid that goes as well fot the other recordings. :)

The cantata is also included in this box

https://www.dodax.nl/nl-nl/films-muziek-spellen/kamermuziek/cafe-zimmermannherreweghejoyecantagrel-tribute-to-gustav-leonhardt-the-last-recordings-dpGLDJT7J7H1C/


vers la flamme



Malcolm Arnold: Bridge on the River Kwai Suite, Whistle Down the Wind Suite. Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra

John Copeland

For the second time since yesterday:


Traverso

Shostakovich

Symphony No.3 "May"

Symphony No.14

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks




Traverso

Quote from: John Copeland on October 23, 2021, 06:08:09 AM
For the second time since yesterday:



You like to stay in high places,great recording  :)

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Gliere: Bronze Horseman.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on October 22, 2021, 09:17:09 PM
Prokofiev: String Quartet No. 2

A stellar work and performance. Prokofiev in exotic mode.




Milhaud: Six chamber symphonies

The very meaning of delightful miniatures.



Pounds the table! Exquisite works.

NP:

Bartók
Dance Suite, SZ 77
2 Pictures, SZ 46
Hungarian Sketches, SZ 97
Divermento, SZ 113

CSO
Boulez



aligreto

Nielsen: Violin Concerto [Znaider/Gilbert]





Powerful, poignant, robust, rich, lyrical and thrilling are all adjectives that I would use to describe the music of the first movement. The musical language is also very engaging and exciting. The slow movement is basically a plaintive air and I really like the orchestral scoring in this music. I find this music to be both wistful and enchanting. The music in the final movement is, once again, robust, rich and lyrical and the orchestration is exciting. The performances from all concerned are excellent.

aligreto

Quote from: Traverso on October 23, 2021, 05:06:20 AM
Yes and many others.

 

https://www.youtube.com/v/RWGdXjXo9XI

I don't want to impose anything on you, but BWV 30a is really a must,a fantastic successful performance, which radiates the real "lebensfreude".I'm afraid that goes as well fot the other recordings. :)

The cantata is also included in this box

https://www.dodax.nl/nl-nl/films-muziek-spellen/kamermuziek/cafe-zimmermannherreweghejoyecantagrel-tribute-to-gustav-leonhardt-the-last-recordings-dpGLDJT7J7H1C/


Quote from: Traverso on October 23, 2021, 05:11:03 AM
This is the complete recording. :)


https://www.youtube.com/v/Wgz-tGexIJo

Excellent stuff, Jan. Thank you very much for those.
And impose away anytime, Jan, because you know how much how much I value your musical opinions  8)

aligreto

Quote from: John Copeland on October 23, 2021, 06:08:09 AM
For the second time since yesterday:



I am not surprised at that. A magnificent work and a magnificent presentation by Haitink.

Karl Henning

#52258
Quote from: John Copeland on October 22, 2021, 07:48:57 PM
Henning:  Opus 129 — From the Pit of a Cave in the Cloud. Text by Leo Shulte. First performance at King's Chapel in Boston.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1GX6gAmom8

I listened to this recently for the first time and thought it really good.  I didn't know why.  Here is a completely personal experience with 'From the Pit of a Cave in the Cloud'...
I have listened to this piece so many times now.  I read the musical notes made by Leo Schulte, some (most) of which were beyond my understanding, and I listened to the music following the libretto.  This is not the usual kind of stuff I listen to, it's not eh...a purely tonal piece, though tonality is there...but God, Hell and Damnation, I have followed it through, and I've come to understand it a wee bit better.  What a vocal job the Soprano had to do!  Some of the text is sung short, some words are singularly spread, there is an irregularity in some of the words sung which, in a way I do not understand, align with the instruments, which themselves provide a very stark 'unconscious' narrative process of the actual narrative sung.  Hell, this is extremely complex for a simple listener to get, but even if I don't understand the chemistry of creation behind it, I think this is a superb piece of music.  It is quite brutal, in every sense, savage and sinister, a fourteen minute blast of emotion, the music slaughters vile worms (you can hear the worms, even if they're not there) and the purpose of a life is revealed...and it isn't a 'delightful' purpose either..!
I find it hard as a non-musician to write about something so dramatically portrayed from a well informed perspective, this is probably complete nonsense to the librettist and composer.  Please forgive my general incomprehension, but the main point is that this music and it's words have sprinkled a wee bit of unknown magic on my ears.  Anyway, as I say, this not something I would normally listen to...but hellfire and damnation, I really do like this work!   It should be professionally recorded and released on CD (CD1 of a compilation of Henningmusik) so it's full potential can be heard outside the live environment. 
I have listened to it multiple times.  I really do like it, and I still don't know why! ;D

John, I warmly appreciate your "listener's diary" here, and (to say the least) I'm highly gratified that you like the piece so ardently. As one who has frequently liked a piece without at first (or sometimes, ever) understanding it, I can assure you there's nothing remotely wrong with that. The marvel is, not only did Bobbie (the soprano) make this monodrama her own in this performance, making brilliant music with it, but she did it on an exhilaratingly short timeline. As I recall, it was the first weekend of September when the original soprano notified me that she was bowing out, and we had the 27 October date at King's Chapel. Bobbie's husband Dan was playing recorders for the piece, so I reached out to Dan to ask if Bobbie would consider creating the piece. To my astonished relief, after I sent her the score to review urgently, she signed on. That, my friend, is one fearless singer!
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

aligreto

Quote from: OrchestralNut on October 23, 2021, 05:05:03 AM
Glad that you are enjoying this Ashkenazy set, Fergus.



Ironically, the incredibly famous and popular Italian symphony is my least favourite of all Mendelssohn symphonies.

An excellent set, Ray.