What are you listening 2 now?

[SonicMan46]

Two small boxes in the mail today, one from PrestoMusic and the other from BRO - up first:

Benda, Georg (1722-1795) - Piano Concertos w/ Howard Shelley (on a Steinway & Sons) + London Mozart Players - Benda wrote 10 harpsichord concertos - I own the second disc below w/ Sabine Bauer on harpsichord; 4 concertos are present on each disc, 3 appear to be duplicates (as to their keys & movement names; but I'll keep both since the instruments used and orchestras are different) - reviews of the Shelley recording attached.

Lalo, Edouard (1823-1892) - Piano Trios w/ the Leonore Piano Trio; already own the works w/ the Trio Parnassus but will likely 'cull out' that recording in view of the attached reviews.  Dave

     

[Maestro267]

Schubert: String Quartet No. 15 in G major
Quartetto Italiano

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major (w/ Grösse Fuge as finale)
Quartetto Italiano

[aligreto]

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 [Schooderwoerd]





The gentle opening of the solo instrument followed by a repeat of the same music on "light" strings is all very sensitively done. Concerto No. 4 is, thus far, the most successful presentation of these Schooderwoerd interpretations. This is undoubtedly down to the nature and scoring of the music itself which more readily lends itself to these more sparse forces. The opening movement is certainly a very interesting version. The ubiquitous loss of impact in this set thus far is not so apparent in this movement, relatively speaking. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is definitely worth hearing for comparison purposes. It is an altogether more rounded presentation than we have experienced thus far. The slow movement is also quite full sounding and assertive in the orchestral sections. The solo playing is very sensitive and charming. In the context of this cycle the final movement is quite a revelation. Both the solo and accompaniment music are quite full sounding and assertive in their approach to the music. I will go so far as to say that this is quite a powerful presentation and is, by a very long way, the best of the bunch thus far. This concerto is, by far, the most successful presentation, for me, in this cycle and most definitely deserves to be heard. There is a stand out difference here compared to what has preceded this work in this cycle.

[Karl Henning]

NP:

Hindemith
Kammermusik Nr. 5
Wolfram Christ, viola
Berliners
Abbado



I love both Chailly and Abbado in the Kammermusik. I don't believe I could choose between them (nor should I have to).

Nice!

TD:

Tchaikovsky
String Quartet №  1 in D, Op. 11
String Quartet in B^b
String Sextet in d minor, Op. 70 « Souvenir de Florence »

[bhodges]

Saint-Saëns: Bacchanale from Samson et Delila - One of my slightly cheesy favorites (and perfect for the holidays), here with the Taichung Chinese Harmonica Club (plus three dancers, and some feathers). Somehow the arrangement works -- thanks to adroit playing by dozens of young musicians, on harmonicas of all types.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inH6phKOCRg

--Bruce

[foxandpeng]

I've been greatly enjoying the CDs that I was given for Christmas.

My wife (DO YOU REALLY NEED ANOTHER CD?) bought me the Kalevala CD on BIS, my daughter, the excellent CPO recording of 'Echo and Narcissus' by Nickolai Tcherepnin and my son-in-law very kindly and unexpectedly gave me 'Babi Yar'.

Sounds like a great day 😁

Thread:

Peteris Vasks
Oboe Concerto
Vestijums
Lauda

[Karl Henning]

Tchaikovsky
String Quartet №  1 in D, Op. 11
String Quartet in B^b
String Sextet in d minor, Op. 70 « Souvenir de Florence »

Oh, it had been too long since I'd heard the Opus 70. I needed that.

[Karl Henning]

CD 2:
Tchaikovsky
String Quartet №  2 in F, Op. 22
String Quartet №  3 in e^b minor, Op. 30

[vandermolen]

Great stuff, Jeffrey! That Babi Yar from Muti is stunning!

Thanks John. I played the opening, which was stunning, but then had to turn it off as we were having super and it's not really appropriate listening. Am really looking forward to hearing it right through.

[vandermolen]

Sounds like a great day 😁

Thread:

Peteris Vasks
Oboe Concerto
Vestijums
Lauda

It was indeed!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I've been greatly enjoying the CDs that I was given for Christmas.

My wife (DO YOU REALLY NEED ANOTHER CD?) bought me the Kalevala CD on BIS, my daughter, the excellent CPO recording of 'Echo and Narcissus' by Nickolai Tcherepnin and my son-in-law very kindly and unexpectedly gave me 'Babi Yar'.

Nice!  Sounds like you had your Christmas list of possible wishes carefully made out Jeffrey. 

PD

[LKB]

Act 1 of Parsifal

[SonicMan46]

Today, my Bro package included 5 volumes of Howard Shelley doing Mendelssohn's Solo Piano Music, a last V. 6 is about to be released by Hyperion, which will be late and posthumous works - I'll take a look but not sure needed; all of his 6 Books of 'Songs w/o Words' are on the recordings below; reviews attached, for those interested? - Dave

[classicalgeek]

Some Koechlin tonight: Heinz Holliger conducts Vers la voûte étoilée and Le Docteur Fabricius.

Nice to see people listening to Koechlin! Vers la voûte étoilée is absolutely gorgeous! And Le Docteur Fabricius reminds me a bit of a psychedelic Also sprach Zarathustra!

I've been greatly enjoying the CDs that I was given for Christmas.

My wife (DO YOU REALLY NEED ANOTHER CD?) bought me the Kalevala CD on BIS, my daughter, the excellent CPO recording of 'Echo and Narcissus' by Nickolai Tcherepnin and my son-in-law very kindly and unexpectedly gave me 'Babi Yar'.

Excellent! I picked up that Babi Yar when the CSO label was 50% off through the Chicago Symphony store. It's on my listening backlog!

NP:

Hindemith
Kammermusik Nr. 5
Wolfram Christ, viola
Berliners
Abbado



I love both Chailly and Abbado in the Kammermusik. I don't believe I could choose between them (nor should I have to).

The Kammermusiken are some of my favorite Hindemith! I love that way he writes for the solo instruments, and the unusual combinations in the accompanying orchestras. I imprinted on Chailly myself, thought I've heard good things about Abbado as well as a more recent set by Eschenbach.

Thread Duty:

I've been so busy with the holidays that I've barely had time to listen in the last weekI Here are some highlights:

Haydn
Symphony no. 97
Symphony no. 101
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis



That completes my Davis London Symphonies survey. In general, they've been very enjoyable, with lively but never rushed outer movements and 'rustic folk dance' minuets. No. 97 was fine, but I particularly liked Davis's 'Clock' Symphony. Just the right tempo in the slow movement, which never dragged, and a lovely finale.

Schmidt
Symphony no. 4
Vienna Philharmonic
Zubin Mehta



My third listen to this piece since I picked up the disc... and I find more to love about it each time. It hasn't quite 'clicked' for me yet... but I think it's close!

Mozart
Serenade for winds in E-flat major, K 375
Serenade for winds in C minor, K 388
Gran Partita in B-flat major, K 361
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

From the big Orpheus box:




Just delightful! It's hard to imagine anyone doing them better.

Chopin
Fantaisie in F minor
Barcarolle
Krystian Zimerman, piano



Both excellent - perhaps not my favorite version of the Fantaisie, but still great, and the Barcarolle... well, I just adore the piece, and Zimerman is wonderful in it.

[Mirror Image]

Thanks John. I played the opening, which was stunning, but then had to turn it off as we were having super and it's not really appropriate listening. Am really looking forward to hearing it right through.

Hopefully, you'll get a proper airing of the Muti soon. I suspect you'll relish in its grim sound-world. I know I did!

[Mirror Image]

The Kammermusiken are some of my favorite Hindemith! I love that way he writes for the solo instruments, and the unusual combinations in the accompanying orchestras. I imprinted on Chailly myself, thought I've heard good things about Abbado as well as a more recent set by Eschenbach.

I also imprinted on the Chailly, but the Abbado is just as inspired and in this particular release it's coupled with an equally fantastic performance of Der Schwanendreher with Tabea Zimmermann and David Shallon/Bavarian RSO. Definitely worth picking up!

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Hindemith
String Quartet No. 7 in E-flat
Amar Quartet

From this outstanding set -

[vandermolen]

Nice!  Sounds like you had your Christmas list of possible wishes carefully made out Jeffrey. 

PD

Thanks PD 

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Berlioz
Harold in Italy, Op. 16
William Lincer (viola)
New York Philharmonic
Leonard Bernstein

[aligreto]

Saint-Saens: Bassoon Sonata [Nash Ensemble]





The opening movement is wonderful and beguiling music and music making. The second movement is equally as engaging and beguiling with the extra dimension of more driven music. Once again, in the final movement, I find the music to be very engaging. It is also very well played and recorded here.