What are you listening 2 now?

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

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Karl Henning

Nielsen
Symphony № 1 in g minor, Op. 7 FS 16
Janáček Phil
Kuchar
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

SonicMan46

Well, some lute and guitar CDs for an afternoon's listen - Dave :)

   

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: MusicTurner on November 30, 2021, 09:57:54 AM
Still playing it ... it's a mixture of rather folksy and pastoral pieces, mostly quite lively. The pianist is good. Finlandia ends the programme.

EDIT: Finlandia works better for orchestra; here, you could perhaps compare it to an early Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody, but the performance is rather fast.
I was able to listen to a snippet of it via your Naxos link.  Must admit, was a bit strange hearing it paired back so much.  But the opening bit that I heard, you could tell that the pianist was giving it their all--intense!

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

MusicTurner

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on November 30, 2021, 10:45:05 AM
I was able to listen to a snippet of it via your Naxos link.  Must admit, was a bit strange hearing it paired back so much.  But the opening bit that I heard, you could tell that the pianist was giving it their all--intense!

PD

Yes, in retrospect, I think this pianist adds a little more contrasts and romanticism to some of the smaller pieces, than many others do; yet Finlandia could perhaps be given more weight. But overall, a good CD sample of Sibelius piano works ...

vandermolen

#55124
Quote from: Roasted Swan on November 30, 2021, 09:44:20 AM
The Bliss is available as a coupling here (for all the negative press Rattle gets - this is a fine Britten War Requiem thrown in......)  Currently on Amazon delivered (in the UK) for around £4.00

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Britten-Requiem-Morning-Charles-2007-11-13/dp/B013GWITLK/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=britten+war+requiem+rattle&qid=1638297610&sr=8-2




I saw Kibblewhite perform Morning Heroes live around the time of his recording.  The narrator in concert was Robert Hardy who was MUCH better than "Gordon.....Alive!!!!!"'s histrionics.  But Westbrook for Groves is best.......
Yes, I remember that excellent British Composers release as well. Robert Hardy's performances made him a good candidate for the Monty Python Hospital for over-acting ward (Simon Callow is another one).
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Karl Henning

Nielsen
Violin Concerto, Op. 33 FS 61
Arve Tellefsen, vn
Royal Phil
Menuhin
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

Brian

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 30, 2021, 09:55:32 AMI'm assuming that Jurowski will continue to conduct the LPO, though.
Indeed, in the concerts thread there was a post about him returning to the LPO this week :)

Karl Henning

Nielsen
Symphony № 2, « De fire Temperamenter » Op. 16 FS 29
Janáček Phil
Kuchar
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: Roasted Swan on November 30, 2021, 09:44:20 AM
The Bliss is available as a coupling here (for all the negative press Rattle gets - this is a fine Britten War Requiem thrown in......)  Currently on Amazon delivered (in the UK) for around £4.00

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Britten-Requiem-Morning-Charles-2007-11-13/dp/B013GWITLK/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=britten+war+requiem+rattle&qid=1638297610&sr=8-2



I saw Kibblewhite perform Morning Heroes live around the time of his recording.  The narrator in concert was Robert Hardy who was MUCH better than "Gordon.....Alive!!!!!"'s histrionics.  But Westbrook for Groves is best.......

It's good to know the Groves recording of 'Morning Heroes' is available in multiple incarnations! I don't know the Rattle War Requiem, though I'd be curious to hear it; for me the recording to beat is Britten's own with Vishnevskaya, Pears, and Fischer-Dieskau. There's something poignant and gripping and emotional about it that moves me every time I listen.

Quote from: vandermolen on November 30, 2021, 11:20:48 AM
Yes, I remember that excellent British Composers release as well. Robert Hardy's performances made him a good candidate for the Monty Python Hospital for over-acting ward (Simon Callow is another one).

I'll continue to look for that box - who knows when it will pop up for a reasonable price? I've had some good fortune with that - I was able to get the long-OOP Charles Munch box for a comparative steal - maybe I'll get lucky again?

Thread duty:

Alfvén
A Legend of the Skerries
Symphony no. 4
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Neeme Järvi




Two absolute masterpieces! 'A Legend of the Skerries' is dark and evocative, and the Fourth Symphony finds Alfvén sounding like a Swedish Richard Strauss, with its luscious horns and diaphanous strings. Both pieces are full of gorgeous melodies and opulently orchestrated; about my only complaint is the wordless vocalises in the latter work. Yes, I suppose they add to the 'Nordic' flair of the Symphony, but I'm not sure they were entirely necessary. But that's a minor issue - this was definitely the first of Alfvén's symphonies to 'speak' to me.
So much great music, so little time...

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

Iota



Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier'

Jingge Yan (piano)



Opus-wise this is the latest sonata I've yet heard with Yan, and as with all the others thus far, I found a huge amount to enjoy.
Perhaps he lacks a little poetry at times e.g in the slow 3rd movement, and perhaps he didn't fully convey the appassionato e con molto sentimento part of the movement's header, but his approach always feels so committed, genuine and finely delivered, and there were many moments of great elegance, that I never felt anything less than fully engaged.
The final movement's monumental fugue might have towered a little more imposingly too, but with so much still to enjoy, the freshness, the scintillating execution, the clarity and energy of it all, I'm still very much looking forward to further explorations of the set.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: SonicMan46 on November 30, 2021, 10:15:45 AM
Well, some lute and guitar CDs for an afternoon's listen - Dave :)

   

I love the Isbin disc!

Linz

Christoph von Dohnányi Mahler 5 Cleveland

Que

On Spotify:



Really nice!
It's all a bit confusing, but it seems this recording for Pan Classics has been reissued on Glossa.

Quote from: SonicMan46 on November 30, 2021, 10:15:45 AM
Well, some lute and guitar CDs for an afternoon's listen - Dave :)

   

Looks good! :)

SonicMan46

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 30, 2021, 01:37:49 PM
I love the Isbin disc!

Years ago, Isbin made several appearances in my home town and we saw her live - probably bought most of my 3 CDs (two added below which are in my non-classical collection database) back then.  As quoted below, she has become quite famous and I need to look on Amazon to maybe add a few more of her recordings - any comments and recommendations from others appreciated.  Dave :)

QuoteSharon Isbin is a multiple Grammy Award winning American classical guitarist and the founding director of the guitar department at the Juilliard School. (Source)

 

VonStupp

#55134
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Requiem

Sarah Brightman, Placido Domingo, Paul Miles-Kingston (treble)
Winchester Cathedral Choir
English Chamber Orchestra - Lorin Maazel


Does anyone listen to this thing anymore???

For as populous as I remember ALW's Requiem being, he is very free with dissonance, and it took my by surprise. I don't think the 80's musical theatre crowd would be happy with that aspect at least.

Only Domingo's Hosanna (complete with electronic drums) and Brightman's Pie Jesu were particularly cloying and jazz-hand worthy, but I think these are the selections that drew audiences to this album.

VS

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

classicalgeek

Bliss
Cello concerto
Meditations on a Theme by John Blow
Robert Cohen, cello
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Barry Wordsworth

(on Spotify)



The Cello Concerto certainly contains some lovely music; I hear some echoes of Elgar's Cello Concerto, and I'm thinking Bliss used that as a model. It didn't really "stick with me" on first hearing, but I do want to listen again. I wanted a chance to hear the Meditations in a different performance, and I think I prefer the Andrew Davis recording, even though Wordsworth is just fine. I think there's a little more polish to the playing in Davis's recording, though I do like Wordsworth's "sheep bells" ;D better.
So much great music, so little time...

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

Mirror Image

Quote from: Brian on November 30, 2021, 12:09:19 PM
Indeed, in the concerts thread there was a post about him returning to the LPO this week :)

Nice! I hope I don't come off sounding like a Jurowski "fanboy", but I have been enjoying his work tremendously this past year or so.

André



Once again this Capriccio series scores by giving the listener an unusual, stimulating program.  Some of these works are practically never played or recorded. The Antheil pieces here can be found elsewhere easily though. I can't say I know them well enough to make comparisons, but I found these performances and sound recordings excellent.

Mirror Image

#55138
It's Russian night!

Rimsky-Korsakov
Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36
Concertgebouw
Markevitch

Glazunov
Chant du ménestrel, Op. 71
Wen-Sinn Yang, cello
Russian National Orchestra
Serebrier

- Intermission -

Rachmaninov
Aleko
Yevgeny Nesterenko (bass), Alexander Fedin (tenor), Vladimir Matorin (bass), Svetlana Volkova (soprano) & Raisa Kotova (mezzo-soprano)
USSR TV and Radio Large Chorus & Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Kitayenko


From these recordings:


Brian

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 30, 2021, 03:48:58 PM
Nice! I hope I don't come off sounding like a Jurowski "fanboy", but I have been enjoying his work tremendously this past year or so.
I'm definitely a fan. In London I saw him do very memorable concerts including Tchaikovsky 5 (the one on the LPO label), Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony, Brahms 4 (also released), and Des Knaben Wunderhorn.