What are you listening 2 now?

[MusicTurner]

That Praga CD sounds tempting!  They normally do a good job re sound.  Is this a live recording?  I'll try and do some more digging around in LPs (not the easiest setup to try and thumb through them (no partitions alas and a lot of it is at ground level    ).

PD

Yes, live recordings, but it's very temperamental, and the whole disc is very good.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Oct14/Bartok_PC2_PRD350108.htm


http://www.pragadigitals.com/epages/265941.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/265941/Products/350108

[ritter]

Cross-posted from the opera sub-forum:

Another vintage opera recording tonight chez ritter (ordered last week from melomania in Paris, and landed today  ).


This recording of L'Heure espagnole is possibly the first ever made of Ravel's "other" opera (it's never had the success of L'Enfant et les sortilèges, but IMHO is a wonderful work in itself). It was made live in concert in wartime (but post-liberation) Paris —December 1944—, soon after Manuel Rosenthal returned to conducting the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française. What a wonderful conductor of Ravel this man was (his set of the orchestral works with the orchestra of the Opéra, from the late 50s, is among my favourites). Concepción is the delightful Geori Boué, and the rest of the cast is unknown to me (except for Roger Bourdin), but they are all excellent, and the diction is crystal-clear, making this the conversation piece it should be. The sound is remarkably good for the age of the recording.

The booklet has a lengthy and very interesting discussion between Rosenthal and musicologist (and Ravel biographer) Maurice Marnat.

I now realise this is the fifth recording of the work (I already had Leibowitz, Ansermet, Maazel, and Maderna), but rarely have I enjoyed it as much as this time.

[Linz]

I am listening to Disc 1 of this set

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yes, live recordings, but it's very temperamental, and the whole disc is very good.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Oct14/Bartok_PC2_PRD350108.htm


http://www.pragadigitals.com/epages/265941.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/265941/Products/350108

Interesting!  So it was a recreation of an earlier concert using various live recordings?  Thank you so much for the links! 

PD

[MusicTurner]

You're welcome - yes; I didn't make a concise comparison with Anda/Fricsay's later DG version of the 2nd Concerto, though.

[ritter]

Well, L'Heure espagnole went by in a flash, so on to more Ravel under Manuel Rosenthal: Pavane pour une infante défunte, Menuet antique and Le Tombeau de Couperin (with the Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris).

CD5 of this treasure trove of a set:



EDIT: Man, I really, really love Le Tombeau de Couperin (both the piano and orchestral versions). One of my favourite compositions by anyone, in any genre, from any period.  . And this performance is fantastic...

[Pohjolas Daughter]

You're welcome - yes; I didn't make a concise comparison with Anda/Fricsay's later DG version of the 2nd Concerto, though.

That's o.k.!  I'm afraid that I'm keeping you up late though!

Sweet dreams,

PD

[Irons]

English Music for Viola.



Superb. Imaginative programming dispels any sameness worries of a CD worth with a single instrument plus piano. The Vaughan Williams, Bax and Clarke (sonata) are self-recommending and require no advocacy from me. I also enjoyed immensely tracks 3, 6 & 8. Grainger over Britten must be a first! The Britten piece was the only one that didn't work for me, that is not to say it will not do so after some more plays.

[Irons]

Sorry to see that the set that I own is going for fairly "stupid" prices at the moment.    I had purchased mine used probably 10+ years ago after getting some recommendations for it.  I managed to get a used copy of it at a reasonable price back then.  Keep your eyes open!

Have you heard any of his recordings of the tone poems Irons?  If so, how did you find them to be?

PD

One will turn up, they always do.

I very much like "The Bard".

[André]

I have 5 discs of McCabe's music - concertos, symphonies, chamber music, ballet - and although I find every one of them very intereting, there's nothing that really grabs me. The music is superbly crafted, but I don't detect a heart beating behind the notes. Lots of neuronal activity, but no emotion I can relate to.

[JBS]

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!

There's also a different recording of the Bartok First Concerto released on DG, conducted by Karajan, recorded in concert during the Salzburg Festival.

TD
Been so long since I last heard this, it's almost a first listen, and I'm puzzled why I found it "dreary" on those earlier listens. It's not best-of-class, but it's a fairly good performance. [And I ordered her DBT recording this afternoon.]

[Karl Henning]

"Papa"
String Quartet in f minor, Op. 20 № 5, Hob III:35
String Quartet in D, Op. 33 № 3, Hob III:42

Jerusalem Quartet

And the conclusion of an outstanding box:

CD 16

Lukas Foss
String Quartet № 1 in G (1947)

American Art Quartet

Wm Bergsma
String Quartet № 3 (1956)

Juilliard String Quartet

[vers la flamme]

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.

Do I need another Tchaikovsky PC No.1, probably not, but I think I need this 

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Gershwin
Porgy & Bess, Symphonic Suite
Second Rhapsody
Cuban Overture
Cristina Ortiz, piano (in Second Rhapsody)
LSO
Previn

[prémont]

There's also a different recording of the Bartok First Concerto released on DG, conducted by Karajan, recorded in concert during the Salzburg Festival.

There are some more live recordings of Bartok concerti with Anda - other than no 2 with Fricsay and Karajan.

1 - 3 with Bour
1 with Gielen
2 with Müller-Kray
3 with Karajan

Of the ones I have heard (the ones with Fricsay, Bour and Gielen) I still find the DG studio recordings to be the most satisfying.

[Mirror Image]

Do I need another Tchaikovsky PC No.1, probably not, but I think I need this 

If you haven't heard this performance then, yes, yes you do.

[Mirror Image]

And now for a double-shot of Salonen's Sibelius in LA:

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I am listening to Disc 1 of this set

oh, nice!  Looking forward to hearing your comments!

PD

[Karl Henning]

"Wolferl"
String Quartet in B^b, K. 458
Jerusalem Quartet

[vandermolen]

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

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.

You must hear 'Morning Heroes' - a big choral symphony if you don't already know it and the exquisite Oboe Quintet.