What are you listening 2 now?

[classicalgeek]

(Mendelssohn's Symphony no. 3)

I've never understood the criticism of the coda of this symphony - I think it's thrilling and effective, in the right performance.

I think it's because it has shares no thematic material with the rest of the symphony? I'm not exactly sure. But it definitely feels 'Scottish' - and you're right, as long as it doesn't drag, it can be **highly** effective. Especially when the horns take the lead!

(Bliss: Colour Symphony, Adam Zero)

That's a great disc, included in the book '1001 Classical Recordings That you Must Hear Before You Die'. I like both works very much.

As do I - especially Adam Zero, but I really enjoyed the Colour Symphony as well. Both really compelling works!

Thread duty:

Nielsen
Symphony no. 2
Symphony no. 3
New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert



I especially like this performance of no. 3, a piece with which I'm less familiar. So far Gilbert's Nielsen cycle has been a winner, with the best Inextinguishable that I've heard. I still need to listen to nos. 5 and 6, and given the 'Sibelius vs. Nielsen' thread going on, that might be soon! (but really, how can one choose between the Sibelius and Nielsen Fifths?)

Schubert
Symphony no. 8
Staatskapelle Berlin
Otmar Suitner



I definitely liked this better than Munch/Boston, the most recent Unfinished I heard. The Staatskapelle Berlin plays beautifully, with some gorgeous wind solos in the second movement.

[Todd]

The PC.  Fantastic, as memory held.  Schuch needs to record more concertos.

[Daverz]

Taras Bulba

This is the kind of recommendations where I agree with Hurwitz. A glorious and noble performance. I think the 3rd movement impressed me the most. Spectacular, epic, imposing, majestic, and that organ does participate actively in its respective moments.

Listened to that Taras Bulba earlier (Qobuz), but warmed up first with The Ride to Dubno from Franz Waxman's score to the 1962 film Taras Bulba.

[Symphonic Addict]

All that Sibelius 5 talk in the other thread got me in the mood...:



Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.5 in E-flat major, op.82. Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic

Damn, what a composer Sibelius was. This work belongs to a special category of old favorites for me which also includes Schubert's 8th (the Unfinished), Brahms's 1st, Pärt's Tabula Rasa, and Beethoven's 6th. Don't ask me why, but there's a special hidden thread connecting all these works in my mind.

And that's a ravishing performance of that work. The horns sound especially splendid in the beginning, in the very swan theme and at the end in that heart-wrenching and longing melody.

[Symphonic Addict]

As do I - especially Adam Zero, but I really enjoyed the Colour Symphony as well. Both really compelling works!

Thread duty:

Nielsen
Symphony no. 2
Symphony no. 3
New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert



I especially like this performance of no. 3, a piece with which I'm less familiar. So far Gilbert's Nielsen cycle has been a winner, with the best Inextinguishable that I've heard. I still need to listen to nos. 5 and 6, and given the 'Sibelius vs. Nielsen' thread going on, that might be soon! (but really, how can one choose between the Sibelius and Nielsen Fifths?)

Adam Zero is a great and imaginative score. It receives a thumbs up from me too. One of my favorite ballets, actually.

Gilbert is indeed splendid with the NYPO on these recordings and performances.

I also rate Rozhdestvensky's cycle very highly. The performances could be more soft-edged, more "romantic", less hysterical, but those are not an obstacle to enjoy them enormously. The performance of the 3rd is particularly charming and uplifting!!

[Symphonic Addict]

Listened to that Taras Bulba earlier (Qobuz), but warmed up first with The Ride to Dubno from Franz Waxman's score to the 1962 film Taras Bulba.

Oh yes, I duly noted it. It seems like that I want to hear anything related to Cossacks and battles lately.

[Symphonic Addict]

Borodin: Symphony No. 2

This is such a bona fide composition. The different themes make this work memorable. It never fails to take me to the steppes, to nature, to oriental kingdoms, feasts and dances, and the knightly cover art suits the music quite well.




Hartmann: Symphonische Hymnen

Simply a terrific piece and CD. I adore those haunting atmospheres and angry passages. The climax in the 2nd movement and its subsequent section are not to be missed, and the thrilling final Toccata much less so!!




Sternefeld: Symphony No. 1

I wasn't wrong when I stated that this work is worth knowing. It has something of Prokofiev, Bartók and Hartmann. I found curious the wink to a theme from the 5th movement of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra. Powerful stuff!

[JBS]

Hi PD - did not mean to be 'confusing', usually not my gestalt -    First, I have not heard the Takács doing Bartok (own them in Beethoven only at the moment, and heard them at Carnegie Hall in NYC doing the same probably pre-2000).  Second, from the reviews read, the Takács Bartok recordings are well received; they are available on Spotify so I can give them a listen, and I shall listen to more of the Ragazze Quartet - but the Emersons and Alexander Quartets are still well received, SO hard to make a decision if one wants just one recording.  BUT, I must say that I enjoy listening to SQs from the late 18th and early 19th centuries more, just me - Dave

I'd like to add one more candidate

My introduction to the Quartets. Perhaps it's only imprinting but it remains my favorite of the ones I've heard (Takacs, Emerson, Jerusalem).
TD
First listen to another new arrival.

For Opus 58, the pianist and conductor went archiving for a manuscript version with somewhat more bravura than the standard. The differences I caught however made me feel that when LvB edited down the bravura, he knew what he was doing.
Opus 61a is of course the piano incarnation of the Violin Concerto.

[vers la flamme]

Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.9 in A major, op.47, the "Kreutzer". Renaud Capuçon, Frank Braley

Ashamed to admit that I'm not as familiar with this work as I ought to be, but it's a damn good one that I enjoy every time I listen to it. This Capuçon/Braley set is REALLY good!

[classicalgeek]

Another Bliss ballet:

Arthur Bliss
Checkmate
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
David Lloyd-Jones
(on Spotify)



What a remarkable work! Totally imaginative and colorful, both the composition and orchestration. It's tremendously exciting in spots; I imagine it's not programmed in concert often, if at all (either the complete ballet or a suite.) Too bad, because it contains some wonderful music!

[Symphonic Addict]

Dutilleux: Ainsi la nuit

It left me speechless. Playing of the highest caliber. Simply a masterpiece, quite atmospheric, nocturnal and a little bizarre. A scorcher.




Englund: Violin Concerto

Both the Klami and Englund convert this CD into a fine recording, but I was taken by the Englund the most.




Symphony No. 7

I really like the militaristic rhythmic vitality (coming from his 2nd and 6th) this work possesses. The themes are instantly recognizable like Tubinian. A formidable piece.

[JBS]

[Operafreak]

Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.9 in A major, op.47, the "Kreutzer". Renaud Capuçon, Frank Braley

Ashamed to admit that I'm not as familiar with this work as I ought to be, but it's a damn good one that I enjoy every time I listen to it. This Capuçon/Braley set is REALLY good!

Great set, good buy.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing this yet again:

Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F♯ minor, Op. 1
Ashkenazy
LSO
Previn

[vers la flamme]

Hey, Symphonic Addict, that sounds excellent. So now playing...:



Henri Dutilleux: Ainsi la nuit. Quatuor Sine Nomine

Great stuff! It's really clicking for me right now. A little bit impressionistic, a little Bartókian (like a full quartet of the Bartókian "night music" style). Definitely music for the night time, though maybe not for everyone (suspect it might freak some folks out).

[amw]

Taking a short break here and put on a Geza Anda CD that I hadn't yet gotten around to listening to.  It's a live CD from Ermitage from 1965 and in quite decent sound.  On it:  Chopin's 12 Etudes, Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze and Schubert's Piano Sonatas in A major, D 664.  Really enjoying the Schumann! 

I have two reference recordings of Davidsbündlertänze I usually compare all others to. One is that one. The other is this one. There are many others I go back and forth on, and the ideal recording probably hasn't been made yet, but these are the fixtures for me personally.

[vers la flamme]

Had to follow up with this:



Béla Bartók: String Quartet No.3, Sz.85. Emerson String Quartet

Man, it's been a great weekend for music listening, for me. I feel like it's been hit after hit. Really enjoying everything. Doesn't always work out like this 

[kyjo]

I can certainly understand your sentiments, Kyle, but I have fallen for this composer and I've actually come to regard him as a favorite. This Oramo performance seemed quite fine to me as have the other performances I've heard. I would still say that Music of the Spheres is his crowning achievement in terms of orchestral music. There's nothing quite like it compared to the other works I've heard from him. I'm still in the midst of rediscovering a lot of his music, but one last work I want to mention is his opera Antikrist. This is one hell of a work! I LOVE it. It's Straussian fireworks laced with hallucinogenics. I was quite surprised when I first heard the music, because it was almost symphonic in scope in that the music doesn't take a backseat and felt like an important as the vocals. Do check it out if you haven't already.

Antikrist certain sounds appealing, John, as I definitely prefer Langgaard's more "advanced/visionary" works as opposed to his more "conservative" ones. Which chamber works of his do you particularly recommend, btw?

[kyjo]

Thanks for pointing the way to this one, a very interesting work that caught my attention more than any other Weinberg I've yet heard. That second movement certainly leaves a mark on the memory banks. And the last movement seems more like prologue than epilogue to me, in a most intriguing way, noodling around on the brass waiting for the chance to burst gloriously into the arena of self-realisation, but the moment never seeming to come, instead just a kind of collapse into a fog of self-doubt. Very toothsome indeed.

Glad you enjoyed it! Weinberg's 14th Symphony is undoubtedly one of his most striking works that I know.

[Mirror Image]

Antikrist certain sounds appealing, John, as I definitely prefer Langgaard's more "advanced/visionary" works as opposed to his more "conservative" ones. Which chamber works of his do you particularly recommend, btw?

One of the most incredible pieces of chamber music I think he's written is Rosengaardsspil for string quartet. Give it a listen:

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