What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

Boris Tishchenko
Symphony #1
'The Blockade Chronicle Symphony'
Edward Serov
Leningrad PO
Northern Flowers

Having listened with pleasure to the three Boris Tchaikovsky symphonies yesterday (favourite so far being #3 'Sevastopol'), it seems timely to hear another Boris. Beginning with #1 and Khronika Blokadi Op. 92, because that makes as much sense as any.

The Sevastopol Symphony is great!
TD
Some politically correct, though enjoyable Soviet material:

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Lovely, PD. One of my favorites from Sibelius.

Don't know why, but I don't recall hearing it being played on the radio.   

+1 I had the Horst Stein LP.

Lucky you Jeffrey!

Followed up with more Sibelius:

Pohjola's Daughter from that same CD.

Now back to my spinning....

PD

[Mirror Image]

+1 I had the Horst Stein LP.

I don't know the Stein performance, but the ones I'm thinking about are Segerstam, Gibson and Vänskä. I love these performances especially.

[aligreto]

Saint-Saens: Piano Trio No. 2 [Florestan Trio]





This is my first time to hear this work. I find the themes of the first movement to be particularly engaging. The accompaniment writing also really enhances them. The music, and the performance, are both intense and filled with drama and emotion. I like the musical language of the second movement. I like the energy and drive in the B section of this movement. The slow movement is meditative in tone and straightforward in its delivery. The fourth movement is charming in its conception and yet robust in its presentation. There is a slight air of anticipation about it; it is always just about to explode. However, it remains calm and intact. The final movement opens in a somewhat poignant tone and develops wonderfully into an ardent and assertive phase. The music is effusive and the work concludes with a satisfactory and positive resolution.

[Sergeant Rock]

Haydn Symphony No. 35, Brüggen conducting the OAE




Sarge

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Britten
Piano Concerto, Op. 13
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
English Chamber Orchestra
Benjamin Britten

[classicalgeek]

Berwald
Symphony no. 2 'Symphonie Capricieuse'
Malmo Symphony Orchestra
Sixten Ehrling



This is such *happy* music... there's no other way to describe it. As much as I enjoyed the Serieuse, I think I like the Second a little better; I'm consistently impressed with how forward-thinking Berwald is, well ahead of his time, while maintaining a thoroughly distinctive voice. I've heard all of his symphonies before, but I haven't listened in much detail until now. And of course Ehrling's performances are some of the best out there! I'm thinking I'll have to explore some of his chamber music next.

[Papy Oli]

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I don't know the Stein performance, but the ones I'm thinking about are Segerstam, Gibson and Vänskä. I love these performances especially.

Alas, I don't know any of the other performances, but I certainly did enjoy this one. 

Saint-Saens: Piano Trio No. 2 [Florestan Trio]



This is my first time to hear this work. I find the themes of the first movement to be particularly engaging. The accompaniment writing also really enhances them. The music, and the performance, are both intense and filled with drama and emotion. I like the musical language of the second movement. I like the energy and drive in the B section of this movement. The slow movement is meditative in tone and straightforward in its delivery. The fourth movement is charming in its conception and yet robust in its presentation. There is a slight air of anticipation about it; it is always just about to explode. However, it remains calm and intact. The final movement opens in a somewhat poignant tone and develops wonderfully into an ardent and assertive phase. The music is effusive and the work concludes with a satisfactory and positive resolution.

I'll have to dig around upstairs as I don't think that I've heard his trios before now.

Myaskovsky's Cello Concerto
Rostropovich
Malcolm Sargent
Philharmonia Orchestra
1956
from the Rostropovich:  Complete EMI Recordings set

First time hearing it---enjoyable if very melancholic; it was also written between 1944-45 though!

PD

[MusicTurner]

(...)

Myaskovsky's Cello Concerto
Rostropovich
Malcolm Sargent
Philharmonia Orchestra
1956
from the Rostropovich:  Complete EMI Recordings set

First time hearing it---enjoyable if very melancholic; it was also written between 1944-45 though!

PD

An extremely beautiful work ...

[Traverso]

Haydn Symphony No. 35, Brüggen conducting the OAE




Sarge

I like these recordings very much 

[SonicMan46]

Prompted by a recent exchange between JBS, SonicMan46 and Brian, revisiting Luigi Cherubini's SQs, in the recording by the Quartetto Savinio (the only one I have in my collection).


CD2: SQ No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6.

What a great composer Cherubini was!

Thanks Guys who have commented and posted on the Cherubini String Quartets - there are 4 complete recordings starting w/ the Melos Quartett from the mid-70s to the latest w/ Q. David & Savinio (pics have been added above) - the only period instrument recording done in the 1990s is Hausmusik London (Monica Huggett and gang) - this is the one I own and enjoy, despite some 'mixed' reviews in the attachment (all 4 groups are in the notes for those interested) - none of these recordings have received uniform high applause, but if one wants PIs, then just one choice.  This morning I put together a Spotify playlist and listened to several SQs from each recording and I must say that I did enjoy the 'newest' entries; I found Q. David a little more polished and slower (on 3 discs), but Q. Savinio faster (on 2 discs w/ no repeats), more aggressive but not as polished - would be happy w/ either to supplement my other set but the price likely would sway me towards Q. S.?  Dave

[classicalgeek]

Thank you for your thoughts Traverso! 

Just finished listening to the Alfvén symphony.  My thoughts:  pleasant but not particularly memorable.  Honestly, it felt rather meandering to me.   

Where to go from here in that set?

Since it's Sibelius' birth anniversary, I think that I'll dive into some of his music for a bit.

PD

That was my impression of Alfven's First Symphony too. Some good moments, but ultimately just OK.

Good idea to put on some Sibelius in honor of his... 156th birthday!

[Mirror Image]

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JEAN!!!!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

That was my impression of Alfven's First Symphony too. Some good moments, but ultimately just OK.

Good idea to put on some Sibelius in honor of his... 156th birthday!

  More to come a bit later [Sibelius that is]!

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JEAN!!!!

Nice photo!

PD

[vandermolen]

Janis Ivanovs Symphony No.5 (1945)
A powerful, brooding wartime work. One of the better Ivanovs symphonies IMO:

[Mirror Image]

For the birthday boy:

Sibelius
Nightride & Sunrise, Op. 55
Helsinki PO
Segerstam

[classicalgeek]

Sibelius, in honor of his birthday:

En saga
Luonnotar
Finlandia
Spring Song
The Bard
The Dryad
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Sir Alexander Gibson
(on Spotify)

Disc 1 of this set (I'll listen to Disc 2 a little later):


Wonderful stuff! And a particularly great performance of En Saga. I've heard better performances of Finlandia, and the Spring Song (which I hadn't heard before) didn't strike me as that original, but there's no denying Sibelius's greatness!

[Mirror Image]

Sibelius, in honor of his birthday:

En saga
Luonnotar
Finlandia
Spring Song
The Bard
The Dryad
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Sir Alexander Gibson
(on Spotify)

Disc 1 of this set (I'll listen to Disc 2 a little later):


Wonderful stuff! And a particularly great performance of En Saga. I've heard better performances of Finlandia, and the Spring Song (which I hadn't heard before) didn't strike me as that original, but there's no denying Sibelius's greatness!

A great set! Gibson was in his element in Sibelius. Ah yes, Spring Song is one of those works, like many in Sibelius' oeuvre, that had a fractured genesis, but I'm glad he ironed it out and the piece saw the light of day.

Some information on Spring Song taken from the Sibelius website:

Op. 16 Vårsång (Spring Song). First version (Improvisation) 1894; first performance in Vaasa, 21st June 1894, conductor Jean Sibelius; score missing. Second version (Kevätlaulu / Spring Song) 1895; first performance in Helsinki, 17th April 1895 (Orchestra of the Helsinki Orchestral Society under Jean Sibelius). Final version: first performance in Helsinki, 12th December 1903 (Orchestra of Helsinki Philharmonic Society under Robert Kajanus)

Sibelius wrote an "Improvisation for orchestra" for the Vaasa National Song Festival of 1894. The first public performance was a disappointment for the composer, as the audience preferred Armas Järnefelt's composition Korsholma. In his review Oskar Merikanto praised Sibelius more than Järnefelt, although he commented that the impressive crescendo of the Improvisation was "completely wasted" out of doors.

In Helsinki the following spring the work was called by its present title, Spring Song. Sibelius rewrote the work in 1902 omitting the Spanish-style climax. When the work was published it was given the subtitle La tristesse du printemps.

The piece has stayed in concert programmes over the decades, but recognition has sometimes beein grudging. According to Erkki Salmenhaara the theme itself is excellent and spacious, but "nothing much is made of it". Gustav Mahler heard the work when he was in Helsinki in 1907 but was not particularly complimentary: "Quite ordinary Kitsch spiced up with certain 'Nordic' harmonic mannerisms to create a national sauce."

It is true that the work was "Nordic" and did not have the Sibelian originality of Kullervo or En Saga. Karl Flodin praised its "charming and fresh Nordic tone" and compared the work to those of Grieg and Sinding.

Yet Spring Song is not without merit. The spacious theme arouses one's expectations, and the climax usually inspires the public. Sibelius liked to conduct the work as late as the 1920s, for example in Vyborg in 1923.

[Spotted Horses]

Over a few days, listened to this disc:



Koechlin's Les Bandar-Log strikes me as a masterpiece. (No ondes Martenot!) From the recording notes I gather that the piece is explicitly inspired by descriptions of monkeys in Kipling's jungle book, but that subtext is a criticism of composers that Koechlin thought were slavish adherence to the fashions of the day.

The Boulez piece, Le Soleil Des Eaux, was unintelligible to me.

The two Messiaen pieces, which I am already familiar with, are interesting.  Particularly in Et Exspecto; Resurrectionem Mortuorum, I wish Messiaen had dispensed with the dominant percussion so I could hear the wonderful harmonies he creates, free from the roar of cymbals, tam-tams and gongs.