What are you listening 2 now?

[Valentino]

^Thanks. I probably should dive more into choral and music for voice, since my oldest son is planning to make a carreer out of classical singing. Hints for GMC-threads for learning are most welcome. Learning, and the civilized behaviour of the contributors, was what kept me at GMG before the kilometers ate away my listening time.

Another well known piece and recording now:

Beethoven, the "Archduke trio" with Askhenazy, Perlman and Harrel on EMI. From the complete piano trio box I bought at full price some thirty years ago. Sounds right, I must say.

[Que]

Return to this:



Gets better and better the more I listen to it.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/Feb/Biber_rosary_AE10256.htm

[Tsaraslondon]

Cross posted from the Opera Forum.



Hardly ever performed these day, but Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz I enjoy rather more than quite a lot of verismo works that are more regularly given.

If not quite erasing memories of Mafalda Favero and Tito Schipa in the famous Cherry Duet, Freni and Pavarotti are nonetheless at their youthful best and Vicente Sardinero is excellent as David. I don't much care for the blowsy mezzo of Laura Didier Gambarella in the breeches role of Beppe, but Gavazzeni conducts with evident love of this charming score.

A winner.

[Valentino]

These Enigmas are quite excellently done, both musically and sonically. Sounds that way to me at least.

[Harry]

Richard Wagner.

"Meistersinger" an Orchestral Tribute.
Eine Faust overture.
Deux Entreactes Tragiques.
Overture to Columbus.

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi.

All in all an successful enterprise by Chandos to arrange the music by Henk de Vlieger. His efforts are admirable. They get excellent performances on all the discs Chandos has issued, and I appreciate Wagner more. Not the vocal parts though, that's a never go area for me.
All of the discs are in SACD format and that greatly enhances aural parts, clear cut sonics.
I can recommend this series.

[Harry]

These Enigmas are quite excellently done, both musically and sonically. Sounds that way to me at least.

Well, that's a very good orchestra, and most of the time, but not always, BIS makes excellent recordings.

[Papy Oli]

More Berlioz:

[Traverso]

Beethoven

piano trio 2-3-8 & 11

[Harry]

Julius Ernst Wilhelm Fucik.
"A Festival of"
Orchestral Music.

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi.
SACD recording.


Fucik is a champion if it comes to catchy melodies, that move the heart and the head alike. Many see him as a minor composer writing what we Dutch call Hoempapa music. But a fact is, that Fucik was a highly skilled orchestrator and never delivered anything casual. This CD is the proof of the pudding. Järvi gets all the colours and details out that elude many a conductor, and the Scots are keen to follow in that enthusiasm. The result is a highly enjoyable 80 minutes of aural bliss.

[vandermolen]

The long gone Bay Cities CD label produced some interesting releases, including many of American music (some of it now available on different labels). This is one of my very favourites, featuring three fine works:
Meditations on Ecclesiastes by Norman Dello Joio (a lovely lyrical work for string orchestra, rather in the spirit of Bliss's Meditations on a Theme by John Blow).
In Memoriam (a powerful, brooding and memorable work by Douglas Moore)
and
Henry Cowell's eloquent Symphony No.5.
Performances by the Oslo PO conducted by Alfredo Antonini (Dello Joio)
Japan PO conducted by William Strickland (Moore) - these forces recorded my favourite version of Barber's 1st Symphony and I tend to like everything I've heard conducted by William Strickland.
Vienna SO cond. Dean Dixon (Cowell):

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Elgar

Introduction & Allegro, Op. 47
English Chamber Orchestra
Britten

Symphony No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 63
LPO
Solti

[Harry]

Pjotr Ll'yich Tchaikovsky.

Symphony No. 1 in G minor. "Winter Daydreams".
The Snow Maiden, Orchestral excerpts.
Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare.

Gothenburg SO, Neeme Järvi.
SACD recording.

All six symphonies that Järvi recorded for BIS, are to my ears close to what I expect from these works. They are not without fault, but are nevertheless close to the perfection. BIS recordings are not always on par, sometimes too closely recorded, at other times too far away. Detail is another stone of content, due to the miking policy there are certain things you miss altogether, as in the Fourth. I recently listened to a performance under Gergiev with the Mariinsky Orchestra, and sure enough details emerge that the BIS engineers ignore. But this said, the spirit is there, with Järvi at the helm, and in the end the result counts, and that's to my ears more than enough.

[Papy Oli]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

William Walton: 5 Bagatelles. Julian Bream.

[Roasted Swan]

The long gone Bay Cities CD label produced some interesting releases, including many of American music (some of it now available on different labels). This is one of my very favourites, featuring three fine works:
Meditations on Ecclesiastes by Norman Dello Joio (a lovely lyrical work for string orchestra, rather in the spirit of Bliss's Meditations on a Theme by John Blow).
In Memoriam (a powerful, brooding and memorable work by Douglas Moore)
and
Henry Cowell's eloquent Symphony No.5.
Performances by the Oslo PO conducted by Alfredo Antonini (Dello Joio)
Japan PO conducted by William Strickland (Moore) - these forces recorded my favourite version of Barber's 1st Symphony and I tend to like everything I've heard conducted by William Strickland.
Vienna SO cond. Dean Dixon (Cowell):

+1 for the Dello Joio piece - a really impressive work - your analogy with the Bliss Meditations is very apt.  I had this work on this old LP I remember;



but on CD it appeared as part of this 3 disc series (all very good and unusual American repertoire)

[kyjo]

Lennox Berkeley: 2nd String Quartet.

Strong echoes of Britten's quartets. Possibly my mood at time of listening, but much preferred the 2nd to 1st.

These quartets make for great listening when one wants something rather objective, cerebral, and satisfying to listen to.

[kyjo]

+1 for the Dello Joio piece - a really impressive work - your analogy with the Bliss Meditations is very apt.  I had this work on this old LP I remember;



but on CD it appeared as part of this 3 disc series (all very good and unusual American repertoire)

I had high hopes for the Dello Joio work but somehow came away disappointed after listening. To me, it lacked the memorability and variety of the Bliss work.

[kyjo]

Totally agree. For decades it was described as 'amiable but rambling' in the Penguin Stereo Record Guide. They have a lot to answer for.

Indeed they do!

[kyjo]

I've not heard the Meditations on a theme of John Blow, despite being an admirer of Bliss. I find I have the piece on a Lyrita recording with Hugo Rignold. A good recording to discover the piece, anybody?

You simply must hear it - it's his masterpiece IMO. I've not heard the Rignold recording but I know that it's generally highly regarded. The recent Andrew Davis recording on Chandos impressed me greatly.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Varèse and Frank Martin from the Martinon/CSO box set:



A cracking recording, too!