What are you listening 2 now?

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

Previous topic - Next topic

Cato, Harry, AnotherSpin and 26 Guests are viewing this topic.

Harry

Quote from: André on November 29, 2021, 08:15:54 AM


It's hard to imagine a duller, greyer art cover than this. But the music on the disc is absolutely first class. The two main items are the fiddle concertos, one for violin, one for viola, of about the same length. Both play to their instrument's most expressive tonal qualities, with superbly singing lines. Though they are dark in content and intent, I found the music extremely engrossing. Frankel is known to have composed a string of symphonies using dodecaphonism in the latter part of his career, these two concertos are anything but thorny. The last work is a piano trio and strings concertante work. It's more spiky in manner and jolly in tone. This is a superb disc.

Absolutely!
Quote from Manuel, born in Spain, currently working at Fawlty Towers.

" I am from Barcelona, I know nothing.............."

Harry

Quote from Manuel, born in Spain, currently working at Fawlty Towers.

" I am from Barcelona, I know nothing.............."

VonStupp

Quote from: kyjo on November 27, 2021, 08:19:29 PM
Such an appropriately seductive, atmospheric work. A shame it wasn't included in Chandos' Glière survey, because it really calls for a top-notch performance and sound.

Yes, very atmospheric. Before you replied, I was looking for another of Glière's The Sirens, but it looks like all that exists is an old Russian broadcast. Most unfortunate.

VS
"All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff."

Pohjolas Daughter

Shostakovich's Piano Quintet with the Borodin Trio with Mimi Zweig and Jerry Horner on Chandos.  A particularly poignant intermezzo.  Fascinating, well-written liner notes by Robert Layton and wonderfully recorded.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

bhodges

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on November 29, 2021, 08:44:29 AM
Shostakovich's Piano Quintet with the Borodin Trio with Mimi Zweig and Jerry Horner on Chandos.  A particularly poignant intermezzo.  Fascinating, well-written liner notes by Robert Layton and wonderfully recorded.

PD

Such a great piece! I love Shostakovich symphonies (most all of them), and his operas, but sometimes I think his real legacy is his chamber music.

--Bruce

Traverso

Quote from: "Harry" on November 29, 2021, 08:24:59 AM
The best Ballet box one could wish for!

It is also a very nice box to look at. :)

Tsaraslondon



Anyone listening to this CD blind would, I'm sure, guess correctly that the music emanated from the late nineteenth century. I doubt very much though that they would guess the composer was Italian. The music seems to owe a lot more to Schumann and Brahms than it does to anyone else, Brahms in particular.

Excellent performances of some rather gorgeous music by the Italian Giuseppe Martucci.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Mirror Image

NP:

Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
Gilels
New Philharmonia
Maazel



Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Brewski on November 29, 2021, 08:47:51 AM
Such a great piece! I love Shostakovich symphonies (most all of them), and his operas, but sometimes I think his real legacy is his chamber music.

--Bruce
I've been meaning to revisit his quartets (been a while).  I found the liner notes to be particularly helpful in trying to better understand what all was and had been going on in the Soviet Union during that time and getting a small sense of what the atmosphere was like and what people were feeling and experiencing then.

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 29, 2021, 09:17:39 AM
NP:

Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
Gilels
New Philharmonia
Maazel



Good choice!  :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Mirror Image


SonicMan46

Caecilia-Concert - boy, completely forgot about having these three CDs!  The group's website HERE; built around a trio of members (Adam Woolf on trombone, Wouter Verschuren on dulcian, and Kathryn Cok on keyboards, i.e. harpsichord and organ) w/ additional performers added when needed.  They specialize in 17th century music for instruments and voice at times - a nice change of pace!  8)  Dave

   

Karl Henning

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on November 29, 2021, 08:44:29 AM
Shostakovich's Piano Quintet with the Borodin Trio with Mimi Zweig and Jerry Horner on Chandos.  A particularly poignant intermezzo.  Fascinating, well-written liner notes by Robert Layton and wonderfully recorded.

PD

Great piece! (As you know)
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

bhodges

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on November 29, 2021, 09:21:32 AM
I've been meaning to revisit his quartets (been a while).  I found the liner notes to be particularly helpful in trying to better understand what all was and had been going on in the Soviet Union during that time and getting a small sense of what the atmosphere was like and what people were feeling and experiencing then.


Yes. Sometimes I marvel that he was able to write anything at all -- never mind works of such magnificence -- given the difficulties.

--Bruce

Karl Henning

Schubert
String Quartet in Bb, D 18
Wiener Konzerthausquartett

And—goosebumps—

CD 15:

Alexei Haieff
String Quartet № 1 (1951)

Samuel Barber
Hermit Songs, Op. 29

Leontyne Price, sop
The Composer, pf
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

classicalgeek

Quote from: vandermolen on November 29, 2021, 06:48:45 AM
Good research there Lol! I like the Edinburgh Overture.

I need to add the Discourse and the Edinburgh Overture to my Bliss traversal!

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on November 29, 2021, 08:44:29 AM
Shostakovich's Piano Quintet with the Borodin Trio with Mimi Zweig and Jerry Horner on Chandos.  A particularly poignant intermezzo.  Fascinating, well-written liner notes by Robert Layton and wonderfully recorded.

PD

Quote from: Brewski on November 29, 2021, 08:47:51 AM
Such a great piece! I love Shostakovich symphonies (most all of them), and his operas, but sometimes I think his real legacy is his chamber music.

--Bruce

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 29, 2021, 09:36:34 AM
Great piece! (As you know)

I'm not nearly as familiar with Shostakovich's non-string quartet chamber music as I'd like to be... sounds like the Piano Quintet is a good place to start! I do remember hearing the late (is it the last piece he completed before he died?) Viola Sonata and being moved by it.

Thread Duty: more Bliss!

Arthur Bliss
Adam Zero (complete ballet)
English Northern Philharmonia
David Lloyd-Jones




This time with a full score (available on Nkoda.) My first impression was upheld - this is an innovative, imaginative, brilliantly orchestrated score!

Also, the discmates to the "Meditations on a Theme by John Blow":

Arthur Bliss
The Enchantress
Mary of Magdala
Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano
James Platt, bass
BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Sir Andrew Davis

(on Spotify)



Bliss's style is fully evident in his choral and vocal music as well; I was almost reminded of Samuel Barber in these pieces, in a way I wasn't with the orchestral music. Maybe it's his way with setting the English language? I'm not entirely sure. Connolly is excellent in both works, as is the BBC Chorus in "Mary of Magdala". About my only reservation is with the bass soloist (also in "Mary") - something about the quality of his voice is distinctly unappealing. But he has such a small role that it's not a huge deal.
So much great music, so little time...

Original compositions and orchestrations: https://www.youtube.com/@jmbrannigan

Brian



Pierné deserves more exposure, but this is only partly successful. Superior sound quality and characterful solo playing by various instrumental leaders, but the climaxes of Cydalise suffer from rather sloppy ensemble playing, especially violins that struggle to hit the right notes. In general this sounds underrehearsed. Plus, of course, you're only getting the suites, not complete works. For Ramuntcho, the Chandos recording has more polish although it's a bit slower at times, and for Cydalise, the Luxembourg/Shallon complete disc offers more realistic, less analytical recorded sound and a truly epic soundworld...and completeness.

The disc was recorded in October 2015 and released in October 2021, an unusual delay for Naxos. I wonder if they initially decided against releasing it, then changed their minds when COVID created lots of gaps in the release calendar.

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: classicalgeek on November 29, 2021, 10:22:30 AM

I'm not nearly as familiar with Shostakovich's non-string quartet chamber music as I'd like to be... sounds like the Piano Quintet is a good place to start! I do remember hearing the late (is it the last piece he completed before he died?) Viola Sonata and being moved by it.
Here's the opening movement to the recording that I have; I don't know whether or not the other (4 I think?) movements have also been uploaded there or not.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qSOHL232g4

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Karl Henning

Quote from: classicalgeek on November 29, 2021, 10:22:30 AM
I'm not nearly as familiar with Shostakovich's non-string quartet chamber music as I'd like to be... sounds like the Piano Quintet is a good place to start! I do remember hearing the late (is it the last piece he completed before he died?) Viola Sonata and being moved by it.


The Viola Sonata is magnificent.

Also on your short list (not that your list should be short!) should be the Blok Romances for soprano & pf trio, Op. 127, and the e minor pf trio, Op. 67.

TD:

Prokofiev
String Quartet № 1 in b minor, Op. 50
Pavel Haas Quartet

and

CD 6:

Roman Hoffstetter (prev. attr, to Haydn
String Quartet in F, « Serenaden-Quartett » Hob III:17

"Papa"
String Quartet in d minor, « Quinten-Quartett » Op. 76 № 2, Hob III:76
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

MusicTurner

#55018
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on November 27, 2021, 01:42:21 PM
He's one of my favorite pianists.  Will have to see what other recordings I have of him of this work...maybe on LP?  I do have some boxed sets of his.  Love his Bartok in particular.  :)  Which ones do you have of his MT?

Here's a photo of that Ermitage CD for you:



(...)

PD

Thank you, if I see it here somewhere, I'll probably buy it. Regarding Anda, I've got the Mozart concertos set, and the Bartok concertante works set with Fricsay, both on DG CDs. Also a fine, different Bartok 2nd Concerto with Fricsay (1952) on the Praga label.

Plus on DG LP, the 'Diabelli Variations', the Grieg/Schumann Piano Concertos with Kubelik, and some Schumann on DG (Davidsbundlertanze, Symphonic Etudes, Kreisleriana, Fantasia in C), and on Angel (Carnival, Kreisleriana); his Schumann surely tends to be good.

And also the Liszt Sonata + some smaller pieces, on Angel LP ...

Possibly more as well ... but no Schubert!

Mirror Image

#55019
Playing yet again:

Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
Gilels
New Philharmonia
Maazel




The recording I'm listening to is actually the 2-CD hybrid SACD set released in conjunction with Warner and Tower Records. I own several of these recordings and have been thrilled by the sonics on all of what I've heard so far.