What are you listening 2 now?

[Sergeant Rock]

Havergal Brian Symphony No. 9, Groves conducting the RLPO




Sarge

[Mirror Image]

Before heading off to work:

Mendelssohn
The Hebrides, Op. 26, "Fingal's Cave"
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Jurowski



I'll finish the rest of the recording later on tonight.

[Brian]

Disc four.

Will be curious when you develop any thoughts on it. I thought the performances I heard were proficient, technically good, a little dry, not very witty, and of course the applause was annoying, so when the complete HIP symphony cycle came out on Decca, I mostly switched to that. (Plus Tafelmusik, Harnoncourt, Bernstein, McGegan, Szell, Colin Davis, etc. for various symphonies.) But haven't gotten rid of ol' DRD yet, his box is under the guest bed waiting to be re-evaluated some day.

[Que]

[Que]

[Tsaraslondon]

I LOVE this 2-CD set. Everything is exquisitely performed. Dare I say, these are Karajan's best Mahler performances. I do like his Das Lied with Ludwig and Rollo as well. His recordings of the 4th, 5th and 9th (his later remake) are also top-drawer.

Karajan came quite late to Mahler, recording the 5th, 4th and DLVDE first. I think he really got into his Mahler stride with the 6th, which was recorded before the two great recordings of the 9th (the first in the studio, the second live), both of which won Gramophone awards. I'd love to know what he would have made of the 2nd.

[VonStupp]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Opferlied, op. 121b
Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, op. 112

Jean Rigby, mezzo
Corydon Orchestra & Chorus - Matthew Best

The filler is beautiful, but I think I still yearn for ruddier forces, less chaste than the Corydon players. The cantatas are well worth hearing, though, and I may try and dig up the Tilson Thomas late-Beethoven choral works from the 70's to see how they hold up.

I don't need another Beethoven recording, but I may investigate some of these less popular choral works that I don't own many of (if any), to see if I can get closer to my choral preferences.

VS

[vers la flamme]

Maurice Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges. Lorin Maazel, Orchestre National de l'ORTF

First listen to this work. It sounds good, very whimsical. Lorin Maazel was really a fine conductor in his younger days. Very detail oriented, possibly to the point that the less sympathetic might call "fussy" or "mannered". But I enjoy his work and would love to hear more.

[SonicMan46]

Kari Kriikku - yesterday, I listen to him in the Weber Clarinet Concertos/Quintet - superb recording and wanted to hear some more, so put together the Spotify playlist w/ the CDs below and enjoying - Dave

     

[MusicTurner]

Maurice Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges. Lorin Maazel, Orchestre National de l'ORTF

First listen to this work. It sounds good, very whimsical. Lorin Maazel was really a fine conductor in his younger days. Very detail oriented, possibly to the point that the less sympathetic might call "fussy" or "mannered". But I enjoy his work and would love to hear more.

Very fine Maazel, indeed - those early recordings tend to be good, and the orchestral ones tend to have plenty of flight too.

[Sergeant Rock]

Havergal Brian Symphony No. 10, Loughran conducting




Sarge

[Todd]

Will be curious when you develop any thoughts on it.

This is my third time through it.  (Assuming I make it all the way through.)  Verdict: Accomplished background music.  I prefer the set to the Fischer cycle, though the symphonies from the Dorati set that I have heard are uniformly superior.  I think I need that Dorati cycle.

[SonicMan46]

Crusell, Bernard (1775-1838) - Clarinet Quartets & Concertos w/ Eric Hoeprich on period clarinets made by him after Crusell's own Heinrich Gresnser clarinets; Hoeprich is a clarinet virtuoso, a maker and restorer of these period instruments, and a clarinet historian having published the book below (now OOP but I was able to get a musical library loan locally for a read).  Now, I also have Anthony Pay doing the concertos on a period instrument and Martin Frost on a modern one, but I do not have a MI recording of the quartets? Reviews attached.  Dave

   

[vandermolen]

Havergal Brian Symphony No. 10, Loughran conducting




Sarge

A great CD featuring my favourite craggy HB cover image. The performance of the epic Symphony No.10 is, if anything, more moving than the later recording with a professional orchestra on Dutton (although I wouldn't be without that one either).
Now playing:
Herman Galynin (1922-66)
Works for strings 'Scherzo for Orchestra' etc.
Harry was right about this CD. I also consider it one of the best Toccata CD releases. The music is always eloquent and sometimes very moving. The CD is almost worth having for the long booklet essay about Galynin's especially tragic life and the fine photo (which I'd never seen before) of Galynin playing his 'Epic Poem' on the piano to Miaskovsky in the latter's Moscow flat. I'd love to come across a modern recording of the Epic Poem but here is a scratchy historic recording which still gives a sense of the works eloquence and poetry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3oXDDf0YxY

[vandermolen]

A hodge-podge of a program, nicely played.

I really like that CD and am always interested to hear non-British orchestras play the music of VW. I like the combination of works as well André.

[vandermolen]

Havergal Brian Symphony No. 8, Groves conducting the RLPO




Sarge

The LP release of that recording had a huge impact on my younger self - a marvellous performance of a great symphony.

[André]

[Karl Henning]

Schoenberg's Moses und Aron...

Love it!

[Karl Henning]

Koechlin
Les Bandar-Log, Op. 176
BBC Symphony
Doráti

[Todd]

Exactly as good as hoped for in the Granados - which is to say, rather excellent - and better than hoped in the Mompou - which is to say, this rendition cements the work's place as a post-war theme and variations masterpiece.