What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

Stephen Paulus: 'Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra':

[vandermolen]

I've been waiting for my mood to be right for No. 13, because I wanted to hear the Haitink, one I've never heard before.

Haitink's is the best (I love the original CD cover image) IMO but don't know the Muti.

[Que]

Morning listening on Spotify:



An ensemble new to me: Franco-Flemish, Belgian based, five singers.  This is their 2nd recording.

[Wanderer]

My experience with Medtner is somewhat limited, but this recent aquisition is really wonderful:

I'm glad you're enjoying this. Exquisite performances throughout. 😎

[Maestro267]

Hindemith: Violin Concerto
Oistrakh (violin)/USSR RSO/Rozhdestvensky

[Irons]

NP:

Vaughan Williams
Symphony No. 5 in D
LSO
Previn

For me a very special recording.

[Irons]

Sibelius: Tapiola and Oceanides.

Posts from forum members on Sibelius thread put me in mood for .......

[vandermolen]

For me a very special recording.

+1 along with Previn's No.2,3 and 8 (RCA).

[vandermolen]

Sibelius: Tapiola and Oceanides.

Posts from forum members on Sibelius thread put me in mood for .......

Two of my favourite Sibelius tone poems in very fine performances. Beecham AFAIK recorded the Oceanides at the special request of Sibelius. I have a nice BBC Sibelius CD featuring a recording of Beecham describing his visit to Sibelius's house. At one point Sibelius turned his record payer up to such a loud volume that his wife and daughters had to flee into the garden.

[Florestan]

Second run. Imo this is one of the best recent Chopin releases and makes a nice complement to Kolesnikov's all-mazurka disc, being slower, more introspective and ruminative. Both are highly recommended.

[vandermolen]

Having greatly enjoyed and been moved by William Alwyn's 'Pastoral Fantasia' (1939) on Naxos conducted by David Lloyd-Jones I thought that I'd try the alternative recording on Chandos, conducted by Richard Hickox, which I also greatly enjoyed. Unbelievable that this fine work disappeared for 50 years. Alwyn, in pastoral mode, rather reminds me of that fine Estonian composer Heino Eller (the teacher of Tubin and Raid):


I was amused to read that Alwyn's great-grandson is or was the boyfriend of the singer Taylor Swift.

[Tsaraslondon]

I've been working my way through the Mahler Symphonies and have now reached the eighth, which I've never quite got on with. I used ot have the famous Solti recording on LP, but for a long time didn't bother to get a recording on CD. In the interests of completeness I eventually decided to go for the Tennstedt on CD to see if it would change my views, but I can't say it has and it's still the Mahler symphony I listen to least. Tennstedt doesn't have Solti's starry line up, but his soloists are all pretty good. I can't really fault the performance.

This one is coupled to a rather disappointing version of Des Knaben Wunderhorn which is completely lacking in atmosphere. Popp and Weikl are recorded far too close and both seem uncharacteristically out of sorts.

[Cato]

Good evening to you as well, Karl!

THREAD DUTY:

Inevitably, more Busoni. Excerpts from his magnum opus Doktor Faust: the Symphonia, the Festliches Aufzug (Cortège), the Symphonisches Intermezzo, and the final scene of the opera).

The classic recording conducted by Ferdinand Leitner, with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title rôle.



That symphonia, with the chorus singing "Pax! Pax!", is really something (as is the rest of the opera). 

One of my favorite operas and recordings!  It RAWKS!  I have heard it dozens of times throughout the years!

[foxandpeng]

Walter Piston
Symphonies 2 & 6
Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Gerald Schwarz
Naxos

I love Piston #2 so much. Such a great work.

[vandermolen]

William Alwyn: Symphony No.3 (First Performance) RPO Beecham. Beecham agreed to conduct the premiere (after Barbirolli and Sargent declined) and this was very fortunate for Alwyn, for Beecham's performance has a greater urgency than any other recording that I have heard (Alwyn, Hickox, Lloyd Jones). As with his recording of Sibelius's 4th Symphony, there is an intensity about Beecham's performance which is unique. John Ireland thought that it was the greatest British symphony since the No.2 by Elgar:

[Traverso]

Schütz

[Papy Oli]

Good afternoon all.

A first listen to those works:

[vers la flamme]

I've been working my way through the Mahler Symphonies and have now reached the eighth, which I've never quite got on with. I used ot have the famous Solti recording on LP, but for a long time didn't bother to get a recording on CD. In the interests of completeness I eventually decided to go for the Tennstedt on CD to see if it would change my views, but I can't say it has and it's still the Mahler symphony I listen to least. Tennstedt doesn't have Solti's starry line up, but his soloists are all pretty good. I can't really fault the performance.

This one is coupled to a rather disappointing version of Des Knaben Wunderhorn which is completely lacking in atmosphere. Popp and Weikl are recorded far too close and both seem uncharacteristically out of sorts.

I had felt the same way about the 8th for quite some time, but these days it's my favorite Mahler symphony. The one to make it click was the Haitink/RCO.

[vers la flamme]

George Frideric Handel: Saeviat Tellus, HWV 240. Emma Kirkby, Andrew Parrott, Taverner Choir & Players

Can't get enough of this recording lately. Phenomenal baroque sacred music. The plainchant adds a lot for me, even if monophonic chant is not a genre I listen to much of otherwise.

If anyone wants to recommend more standout recordings from maestro Parrott & co., I would be very open to checking out more of his work.

[Traverso]

George Frideric Handel: Saeviat Tellus, HWV 240. Emma Kirkby, Andrew Parrott, Taverner Choir & Players

Can't get enough of this recording lately. Phenomenal baroque sacred music. The plainchant adds a lot for me, even if monophonic chant is not a genre I listen to much of otherwise.

If anyone wants to recommend more standout recordings from maestro Parrott & co., I would be very open to checking out more of his work.

My first recommendation would be these two recordings

   

If you like Handel choirs,this is a must