What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

That one's not for me. It has to be the most mechanical, soulless, insensitive performance I've heard. The opening horn solo is woefully out of tune, the strings play without vibrato and sound emaciated. The conductor peppers the phrases with prissy diminuendos. The hectic, disheveled coda is a disgrace. I'm afraid the performance never recovers from that unkempt mess even though things do improve somewhat in the humourless scherzo. The mechanically articulated finale is a trial. There's a half-hearted attempt at a diminuendo on the last chord (the score is not clear on that point, although most conductors go for a fully held ff chord. The only good thing about this performance is that the conductor spares us both first and last movement repeats.

[Sergeant Rock]

The talk about snyprrr in the missing thread reminded me of his recommendation for the Shostakovich String Quartet No. 5 played by the Manhattan. Listening now:




Sarge

[Linz]

Listening to Mozarts piano concertos with Mitsuko Uchida and Jeffrey Tate and The English Chamber Orchestra on Cd1 K 175, 238 & 246

[Iota]

Britten: 7 Sonnets of Michelangelo

Anthony Rolfe Johnson (tenor), Graham Johnson (piano)


My favourite recording of these songs, including Britten & Pears' own. Such an intense and intimate beauty in the music that seems to celebrate life to its core, and Rolfe Johnson brings it out like no other, with a perfect partner in Grahame Johnson.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Two back-to-back Tchaikovsky works:

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Nathan Milstein, violin
Wiener Philharmoniker
Abbado

Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48
LPO
Jurowski

Nathan Milstein is one of my favorite violinists.  Good choice! 

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Shostakovich String Quartet No. 14 op.142 played by the Sorrel




Sarge

Sarge,

How do you like their recordings?

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Dvorak: Symphony 9 [Kubelik]





The opening introductions are quite on the solemn side here and the subsequent orchestral chords are powerful and menacing. This sense of power and menace pervades throughout the movement where the tutti is employed and the sense of menace diminishes somewhat into a more lyrical presentation occasionally. This is a big and bold presentation that is well driven. The main theme of the Largo is gentle, yearning and soulful and this tone pervades throughout the movement. This is aided by a very expansive presentation but the music never feels ponderous. It is always lyrical and eloquent. This version of the third movement is quite powerful and it has great presence to it; even those more lyrical passages are robustly presented. The opening of the final movement is assertively presented here and that tone prevails throughout the movement. A very fine version.

Both excellent versions.  I have a particular fondness for the Kubelik one in particular. 

PD

[ritter]

First listen to this intelligently programmed CD, inspired in the world of Marcel Proust:



First and foremost: the hitherto unknown to me Shani Diluka is a superb pianist. Her phrasing, clarity of tone, and nuanced handling of dynamics are quite extraordinary. First, and I mean really first, rate!

We start with the Piano Concerto of Reynaldo Hahn, a person very close to Proust throughout his life (even if Proust could not have known this piece, as it was composed after his death). Diluka is excellent as the soloist, capturing the nostalgic mood of this music perfectly. Unfortunately, Hervé Niquet's conducting is not entirely to my liking: tempi that feel slow (even if the timings do not differ much from those of alternative recordings) and, particularly, a lack of "snap" and playfulness when the music livens up (e.g. in the march-like second theme of the first movement). In any case, it's good to have a new recording of this charming concerto, and even more so with such a great soloist.

We then get Debussy's early Rêverie, not among my favourite pieces by the composer, but beautifully played here (as is a more languorous than usual L'Isle joyeuse near the end of the disc). A Hahn trifle, Ninette, goes by almost unnoticed, but Wilhelm Kempff's arrangement of Gluck's Orpheus' Lament is quite wonderful. Nathalie Dessay sings Fauré's Au bord de l'eau really touchingly (she later does Le Secret).

Some more Fauré (the Romance sans paroles No. 3 and Les berceaux arranged by Diluka for solo piano) is also very good, as are the Prélude from Franck's opus 18 (I found this surprisingly enjoyable), a Nocturno by Richard Strauss (billed as a world première recording) and Wagner's Elegie (one of the better of the composer's not too significant or representative piano works). At the end, we get actor Guillaume Gallienne reading the famous madeleine episode from Du côté de chez Swann, with another, more substantial and enjoyable Hahn miniature (Les Rêveries du Prince Églantine from Le Rossignol Éperdu) as a backdrop. It works beautifully (actually almost brought me to tears — what a text!).

What doesn't work that well IMHO is a concocted "Sonate de Vinteuil" for violin and piano, which uses the Hahn Nocturne as its first movement, a quite terrible Ysaÿe Mazurka as the second, and a bland Sérénade Espagnole by Chaminade as its finale. Here we're really in salon music territory, and it's played as such (with an adequate thin tone) by Pierre Fourchenneret. And, of course, the mystery of the "petite phrase" remains unsolved. 

Despite the not so fantastic orchestral accompaniment of the concerto, and the failed recreation of the fictional "Sonate de Vinteuil", this generous (81') CD is very enjoyable, and the playing of Mme. Diluka is simply wonderful.

[aligreto]

That one's not for me. It has to be the most mechanical, soulless, insensitive performance I've heard. The opening horn solo is woefully out of tune, the strings play without vibrato and sound emaciated. The conductor peppers the phrases with prissy diminuendos. The hectic, disheveled coda is a disgrace. I'm afraid the performance never recovers from that unkempt mess even though things do improve somewhat in the humourless scherzo. The mechanically articulated finale is a trial. There's a half-hearted attempt at a diminuendo on the last chord (the score is not clear on that point, although most conductors go for a fully held ff chord. The only good thing about this performance is that the conductor spares us both first and last movement repeats.

Get off the fence André. What do you really think of it? 

[aligreto]

Both excellent versions.  I have a particular fondness for the Kubelik one in particular. 

PD

Cheers, PD. It is a great work either way.

[Todd]

[vers la flamme]

Franz Schubert: Symphony No.9 in C major, D 944, the "Great". Herbert Blomstedt, Staatskapelle Dresden

First recording of this symphony I've ever heard, and a damn good one. Love Blomstedt's Schubert recordings.

[Linz]

CD 2 from this delightful set with Mitsuko Uchida in K 413, 414 & 415

[Todd]

3

[vers la flamme]

Arvo Pärt: Lamentate. Alexei Lubimov, Andrey Boreyko, RSO Stuttgart des SWR

Not too familiar with this work, but it's sounding good.

[foxandpeng]

I have it here:



A remarkable collection running the gauntlet from progressive (Frankel, Maconchy) to stuffy (Howells).

I do wish Hyperion would sign up to Spotify...

I am following your journey through the Maconchy quartets with not a little interest.

Cheers, Irons. In that case, I'll at least try to write a line about how I feel about them!

Thread Duty:

John Blackwood McEwen
String Quartets Volume 3
Chilingirian Quartet
Chandos

Love these. Lyrical and attractive throughout, and a welcome nighttime listen after a really busy week.

[Symphonic Addict]

Franz Schubert: Symphony No.9 in C major, D 944, the "Great". Herbert Blomstedt, Staatskapelle Dresden

First recording of this symphony I've ever heard

Another case for: better late than never. Hurrah!

[Symphonic Addict]

John Blackwood McEwen
String Quartets Volume 3
Chilingirian Quartet
Chandos

Love these. Lyrical and attractive throughout

+1, there are some real gems here. It's a pity Chandos never finished the cycle.

[Sergeant Rock]

Sarge,

How do you like their recordings?

PD

In general the Sorrel performances are very good especially 14 & 15. I prefer a slower tempo  in the first movement of the 5th (the Manhattan is near perfect for me here). The Chandos sound though is not ideal, being a bit hard and tending to glare in loud passages.

Sarge

[Symphonic Addict]

Fully concur regarding the Mendelssohn. His SQ cycle is nothing short of breathtakingly marvelous, above all nos. 2 and 6. I'm surprised to read that you've just recently come around to the Saint-Saëns 3rd - it's been one of my favorite works since I first got into classical music as a child.

Yeah, I've been neglecting this stunning work for a while. Now I feel it more cohesive, with purpose, and there is a "gothic" flavour to it in all the movements, ending with that exultant peroration. What is your favorite recording of it, Kyle?

I really want one that doesn't rush the timpani at the very ending. I like the timpani overwhelming but not too fast.