What are you listening 2 now?

[Que]

Marin Marais.

Quatrieme Livre de Pieces de Viole (1717)
Disc I.

Francois Joubert Caillet, Bass Viol
L'Acheron.

First listen. Every bit as good as the previous volumes, Marais is clearly walking new territory. More embellishments, and Italian influences.

Haven't gotten to Book IV yet, but agreed with your general comments! 

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Mahler
Symphony No. 9
LSO
Solti

[Mandryka]

Very rare that I'm in the mood for this, but I am today.  Must be pining for something.

[SonicMan46]

Marin Marais.

Quatrieme Livre de Pieces de Viole (1717) Disc I.  Francois Joubert Caillet, Bass ViolL'Acheron.

First listen. Every bit as good as the previous volumes, Marais is clearly walking new territory. More embellishments, and Italian influences.

Hi Harry - I'm listening to the same music (Bk IV) w/ Joubert-Caillet on Spotify (to my den speakers) - I have enjoyed all of his 'Marais recordings' but have not yet purchased any, plus looking at the composer's composition list quoted below, there is a fifth book - also just checking what I already own (the 3 double-disc sets below); the first two are selections from Bks. II-IV, and the 2CDs w/ Musica Pacifica the Pieces en Trio; SO, just 4 discs total from the viol books - and Joubert-Caillet now has Bks. I-IV w/ 16 discs recorded, and is Bk. V to come?  Plan - will listen to what I own this afternoon and look for some 'bargain prices' on Francois w/ L'Acheron!  Dave

 

Instrumental music (Source)
* Pieces for 1 and 2 viols, Book I (20 August 1686, only solo viols, 1 March 1689 first published with associated basso continuo)
* Pieces en trio pour les flutes, violon, et dessus de viole (published on 20 December 1692, dedicated to Marie-Anne Roland)
* Pieces for 1 and 2 viols, Book II (1701), including 32 couplets on "Les folies d'Espagne"
* Pièces de violes, Book III (1711)
* Pieces for 1 and 3 viols, Book IV (1717; includes the famous Suite d'un Goût Étranger.)
* La gamme et autres morceaux de symphonie (1723, includes La Gamme en forme d'un petit Opéra, Sonate à la Maresienne, Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris)
* Pièces de violes, Book V (1725)
* 145 Pieces for viol (ca. 1680), about 100 pieces were published in Books I – III
Operas
* Idylle dramatique of 1686 (music lost)
* Alcide (1693, in collaboration with Louis Lully)
* Ariane et Bacchus (1696)
* Alcyone (premiered on 18 February 1706)
* Sémélé (1709)
* Pantomime des pages (with Louis Lully, music lost)
Sacred works
* Te Deum (1701) for the recovery of the Dauphin (lost)
* Motet Domine salvum fac regem (1701) for the recovery of the Dauphin (lost)

   

[classicalgeek]

Last night, finally listened to the Levine Mahler 3:

Mahler
Symphony no. 3
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
James Levine



An excellent performance on the whole, with the CSO in top form. Of course, the brass stand out; no one has surpassed Jay Friedman's trombone solos in the first movement, and Bud Herseth owns the posthorn solos in the third movement like no one else has. And the fifth movement is the finest I've heard; the women of the CSO chorus and Marilyn Horne acquit themselves very well indeed. Maybe I could have used more - sentimentality? - in the slower movements (the second and the finale - one reason Bernstein/NY Phil remains my recording of choice in M3!), and more atmosphere and mystery the the fourth. But on the whole, a really great recording.

[Mirror Image]

Last night, finally listened to the Levine Mahler 3:

Mahler
Symphony no. 3
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
James Levine



An excellent performance on the whole, with the CSO in top form. Of course, the brass stand out; no one has surpassed Jay Friedman's trombone solos in the first movement, and Bud Herseth owns the posthorn solos in the third movement like no one else has. And the fifth movement is the finest I've heard; the women of the CSO chorus and Marilyn Horne acquit themselves very well indeed. Maybe I could have used more - sentimentality? - in the slower movements (the second and the finale - one reason Bernstein/NY Phil remains my recording of choice in M3!), and more atmosphere and mystery the the fourth. But on the whole, a really great recording.

Levine was a good Mahler conductor, but he doesn't wipe my mind from so many great ones that have come before him. Bernstein's 3rd (on Columbia) is a desert island recording for me. And I would have no hesitancy to call it my favorite performance of this work.

[VonStupp]

I don't know his music but will check out his Christmas Cantata but post-Thanksgiving.

PD

Understandable. There is a very fine account of Pinkham's Christmas Cantata from his stomping grounds at the New England Conservatory, where he taught for almost 50 years:

https://vimeo.com/80032537

VS

[VonStupp]

Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006)
Christmas Cantata
Wedding Cantata
Advent Cantata

Ariel Wind Quintet, Lenox Brass
Boston Cecilia - Donald Teeters

I love the efficiency of scope from Pinkham's famous Christmas and Wedding Cantatas; no more than 10 minutes each. I like when music leaves me wanting more too (as opposed to wanting a composer to just get it over with), and both of these leave me with that feeling, most positively. Pinkham's mid-20th-century music is very approachable, but far from commercialized, and I find it all rather intriguing.

The Christmas Cantata revels in neo-Medievalisms, but the mixed-meters, brass choir, and organ are great contrasts. The very sensual Song of Solomon texts highlight the Wedding Cantata, and it is a beautiful work. I have performed both of them before, but hearing them again makes me want to program them in the future.

The Advent Cantata was new to me. Pinkham likes the long sinuous, almost chant-like melodies, but in this longer cantata, he strikes a Stravinsky-ian world with the wind quintet/harp and more complex harmonies compared to the others here. I am very happy to have been newly acquainted with it!

I was very impressed with the singing of the Boston Cecilia; I think I will try and find more from them.

VS

[vandermolen]

NP:

Rachmaninov
The Bells, Op. 35
John Shirley-Quirk (baritone), Robert Tear (tenor), Sheila Armstrong (soprano)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Previn

A great performance!

[Bachtoven]

[Linz]

Now for Bruckner 4 with Haitink

[Cato]

Beach Balls for Thanksgiving:

https://www.youtube.com/v/-bYl3ZJ0RVs

And why not?  Another fun miniature! 

[Karl Henning]

Thanks!

[Linz]

Listening to Karel Ančerl and the Czech Philharmonic in Leoš Janáček Glagolitic Mass and Taras Bulba

[classicalgeek]

NP:

Rachmaninov
The Bells, Op. 35
John Shirley-Quirk (baritone), Robert Tear (tenor), Sheila Armstrong (soprano)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Previn

Just out of curiosity, is this performance in English or Russian? I don't believe I've heard the performance, but Previn was always excellent in Rachmaninov.

Levine was a good Mahler conductor, but he doesn't wipe my mind from so many great ones that have come before him. Bernstein's 3rd (on Columbia) is a desert island recording for me. And I would have no hesitancy to call it my favorite performance of this work.

Exactly on Bernstein! That M3 on Sony/Columbia is special - he has that extra little bit of heartfelt passion, that "tugging at the heartstrings" quality, that puts his performance over the top for me. His is one of the versions that makes me tear up in the finale - especially at that final peroration the begins after the brass chorale. And you're right, Levine is very good indeed - part of his appeal is the Chicago Symphony, arguably one of the world's great orchestras. Certainly that was the case in the Third (I found that while I enjoyed his First, with the London Symphony, they don't match Chicago in Mahler.)

Thread duty: it's Mendelssohn Day!

Mendelssohn
Piano Trio no. 1 in D minor
Piano Trio no. 2 in C minor
Jonathan Gilad, piano
Julia Fischer, violin
Daniel Müller-Schott, cello
(on Spotify)



Dynamic, exciting performances from these young (at the time of this recording) artists. And the works speak for themselves: gorgeous and tuneful pieces, Mendelssohn at his absolute best.

[classicalgeek]

Listening to Karel Ančerl and the Czech Philharmonic in Leoš Janáček Glagolitic Mass and Taras Bulba

Excellent! You can't do better in this repertoire than Ancerl!

[Spotted Horses]

On some social media account another I saw auditory mention of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, and was mortified that, despite being a fan of Messiaen, I had never heard the work. Sure enough, I have it in the Warner Messiaen edition.



I'll admit that I was completely flummoxed by this work. Could not make heads or tails of it.

[Mandryka]

Having been really enjoying a bootleg of the 19th concerto, K459, with Fou Ts'Ong in Hong Kong, I thought I'd try Zacharias at Lausanne, since Florestan was asking about the set. I'm afraid it falls completely flat by comparison, and is not really special or recommendable IMO, though no doubt well executed and recorded etc. There just is no sense of an interesting or inspired vision driving the music making.

The Fou is wonderful, on symphonyshare - take it if you can.

[ritter]

Cross-posted from the opera sub-forum:

First listen to Vincent d'Indy's Fervaal, in this super-budget release of a 1962 French radio performance:


D'Indy's L'Étranger, AFAIK his only other opera to have been recorded (on the Accord label), made a very week impression on me when I listened to it some years ago. This is a more ambitious work, and the prelude has been recorded often (by Monteux, for instance). According to Wikipedia, some refer to this as the "Parsifal français". I am inclined to say it's a "Parsifal de pacotille"  .  The admittedly very adroit orchestration doesn't compensate for the obvious lack of worthwhile thematic material or development, and the originally Swedish plot, transplanted to the South of France to make it more "national", seems uninteresting.

The radio performance (in tolerable sound) is undistinguished.

[André]

Live recording from Severance Hall in May 1968 - turbulent, harsh, momentous period if ever there was one in the Western world.

Parenthesis: many years ago I was a subscriber to Time magazine. I dutifully read the film section, where Richard Corliss and Richard Schikel were the reigning critics. I liked their perceptive analyses and sense of formula. It must have been March 1995 and it was Oscar time again. Among the nominated actors for best leading performance was Anthony Hopkins for The Remains of the Day. Weighing the pros and cons for each nominee's winning prospects, Corliss mentioned: « pro: Hopkins could play an emotionally repressed Englishman in his sleep ». And « con: Hopkins could play an emotionally repressed Englishman in his sleep ». I found that witty. The very quality that could make Hopkins win the prize would be perceived by others as a defect. The line can be very, very thin between acing and flunking. Only the best do not put a foot wrong.

Now, on to the Szell M9. Pretty much the same remark could be levelled at Szell's conducting in general, and especially so when he was conducting new or rarely heard works: his musical objectivity was almost fanatical, to the point where his own emotions as a musician were severely held in check. He would never allow departures from or accretions to the score. The notes, nothing but the notes. The result was almost always magnificent (the Clevelanders were the best orchestra in the world under him) and never less than illuminating. In the case of Mahler the emotion is built into the score. The composer was painstaking in his indications and performances inevitably led him to adjustments. IOW he'd never let anything to chance or to a conductor's judgment.

It's that kind of objectivity one hears here. This is not Mahler naked, but Mahler as he himself wanted to be heard. No more, no less. Szell makes one intensely aware that his is an hyper objective performance. As a listening experience, after decades of listening to more emotionally charged interpretations (Sinopoli, Barbirolli, Bernstein, Karajan, etc etc) this felt like watching an old painting stripped of layers of varnish and the workings of time. I found it both uplifting and shattering.

The sound on this (heard on Spotify, but also available on youtube) is okay to fine. It crumbles a wee bit in the final stages of the concluding Adagio. The strings sound like they are weeping.