What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

I've always had a soft spot for this performance and never understood what was wrong with it. It's still one of my favorites. To be clear, I'm talking about the analog recording. 

So, what do you think about the digital one?

I'm curious to hear the analog one. I think certain composers suit some conductors (or viceversa) rather succesfully, and I feel Karajan and the BPO are in tune with the excitement and astonishing presentation they made. The Prokofiev 5 also was a hit. A different approach, but a very valid one as well.

[Symphonic Addict]

Yes, at least his "Haydn Crusade" consistently does. His love for Haydn is infectious.

Sarge

Yes, I also value his endeavor on the matter. Rather insightful.

[Symphonic Addict]

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!

I need to revisit this moving and sublime piece. You realize when it is a masterpiece.

[Symphonic Addict]

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

Love this set, and this is the best Souvenir I've ever listened to. Warm and masterfully played.

[Symphonic Addict]

Currently:




Respighi: Quartetto Dorico, P 144

An underrated piece. It's much better than I had imagined initially.

[kyjo]

Eager to hear the next volumes. This is fabulous!

I've listened to the early Symphony long ago and can't recall it. But I have heard Der Geburtstag der Infantin recently - what a magical work! I encountered it on this splendid Naxos CD which includes the incredibly voluptuous and substantial Prelude to a Drama:

[Mirror Image]

Now playing a war-related program of Hindemith works: Requiem «For Those We Love», Der Schwanendreher, and finally the Trumpet Sonata

From these recordings:



My purpose for this program of works:

Although Hindemith basically kept his music free of biographical features and regarded the autonomy of music as being dissolved from the principle of excessively musical expression, he repeatedly reacted in his music to the political catastrophes of his time. In this way, the extra-musical meanings can be directly and unequivocally determined through musical quotation, texts interspersed in the works, work and movement titles or explanatory notes.

Hindemith's plans to emigrate from Nazi Germany are documented in the viola concerto Der Schwanendreher (1935) through the songs used and in the relationship of the First Piano Sonata (1936) to Hölderlin's poem ‹Der Main.› The Trauermusik (Mourning Music) from the Sonata for trumpet and piano (1939) reacts to the outbreak of the Second World War, the recitative This World's Joy from the Sonata for Two Pianos, Four Hands (1942) to Germany's declaration of war on the United States that made the emigrated Hindemith into an «enemy alien.»

With the composition When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloom'd: A Requiem «For Those We Love» (1946) to the poem of the same title by Walt Whitman, Hindemith not only testified to his gratitude towards the United States for having granted him refuge, protection and security during the Nazi period, but he also reacted to the disclosure of the Holocaust.

At the centre of the work (No. 8 Sing On! You Gray-Brown Bird) Hindemith quotes the Jewish melody ‹Gaza,› which he found in a song book used in New Haven with the text of the hymn ‹For Those We Love› by Walter Charles Piggott. On the one hand, Hindemith derived almost all the main themes of the work from this Jewish ‹Gaza› melody and, on the other hand, he adapted his own melodies to this ‹Gaza› melody so well that it no longer has the effect of a quotation, but unfolds completely in the character of Hindemith's music. The transformation of his own music to fit the Jewish melody can be understood programmatically: the incomprehensible events, which no images of horror can adequately convey, must be retained in an identifying memory and transformed into a personal experience which is impossible to lose.

[Article taken from the Hindemith website: https://www.hindemith.info/en/home/]

[Symphonic Addict]

Stravinsky didn't know that performance because it was recorded after his death ! This is the 1977 recording, made in the Philharmonie, Berlin. A very fine performance indeed.

The one you mention in relation to Stravinsky's scathing remark is the earlier one (1964) from the Jesus-Christus Kirche. It is coupled with the Concerto for Orchestra by Bartok:



I mention the venue because it does play a part in the sonic impression one gets from the two performances. The 1977 (with the Prokofiev coupling) is biting, savage and implacable. The 1964 performance is more colour-oriented, less rythmically sharp. If someone told me the 1964 Rite is rythmically lumpy and sounds caramelized I wouldn't argue with him (but I still like it !).

I believe Karajan took Stravinsky's criticism to heart and changed his conception over the years. The close miking accentuates the sonic difference with that older recording.

Very insightful, André. Thanks for commenting. It gives me a more interesting panorama.

[Karl Henning]

Love this set, and this is the best Souvenir I've ever listened to. Warm and masterfully played.

Superb!

[Symphonic Addict]

I've listened to the early Symphony long ago and can't recall it. But I have heard Der Geburtstag der Infantin recently - what a magical work! I encountered it on this splendid Naxos CD which includes the incredibly voluptuous and substantial Prelude to a Drama:

Wholly agreed, Der Geburtstag der Infantin is a beauty! The CPO recording of it is also stellar and committed. I love Schreker's musical voluptuous aesthetics.

[kyjo]

Bræin: Symphonies 1 and 2



Listened to these on Cesar's recommendation, and they didn't disappoint! Some energetic, concise, and characterful music is contained here. Echoes of Nielsen and Shostakovich are not infrequent, but not to the point of the music becoming derivative. The 2nd Symphony is the darker of the two works, with its impressively brooding opening slow movement. I look forward to the 3rd Symphony. BTW, Edvard Fliflet Bræin has to be one of my new favorite composer names!


Nielsen: Symphony no. 1



It's always a pleasure to revisit this immensely characteristic and quirky first symphony of the Great Dane. You know how Rachmaninoff said Stravinsky was "Bach on the wrong notes"? Well, Nielsen's 1st is "Brahms on the wrong notes"! Great stuff, and in splendid performances and sound.


Milhaud: Symphony no. 1



A charming, pastoral work with some dark undercurrents. Not strikingly memorable, but unfailingly well-crafted music.


Kapustin: Piano Concerto no. 4 and Double Concerto for Violin and Piano



The ever-unpredictable Hurwitz selected this as his Disc of the Year! Well, it sure is great jazzy fun, but will you find the unforgettable tunes of, say, Gershwin here? Not quite. The highlight for me was the tremendous romp that is the finale of the Concerto for Violin and Piano.


Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances, Suites 1-3



I find this "old wine in new bottles" kind of music so irresistible, and nobody did it better than Respighi, who dressed up these simple tunes in delicious modern orchestral clothing. If forced to choose, my favorite would be the 2nd Suite on account of its incredibly infectious, joyful finale which manages to sound like Copland (!) at times in its rhythmic syncopations and open-air feel.

[Linz]

bruckner Symphony No. 4 Gunter Wand BPO one of my favorites

[Mirror Image]

It could happen with conductors too mannered in terms of interpretation like Boulez or someone like that. I do get the point of Russian/Franch aesthetics is something separate. but it doesn't always fulfill my tastes. Moreover, I need to hear the another recording, the early one. I feel a better man by listening to this cinematic performance, it really opened a new view of the piece.

You need to hear the Chailly/Cleveland Orchestra performance of Le sacre, Cesar. It's stunning! Also, the Ozawa/CSO on RCA is a barn-burner.

[Mirror Image]

Last work for the night:

Mahler
Rückert-Lieder
Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Netherlands PO
Marc Albrecht

[Linz]

Now for Kyrill Kodrashin and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra

[Madiel]

Back to Bach.

Another year in which I won't finish the cantatas, as apparently this is just the 3rd one I've played (and the first was on New Year's Day for goodness sake).

BWV 98, Was Gott tut, das it wohlgetan (one of 3 cantatas on that text)

[Madiel]

Langgaard, Rose Garden Play

[Irons]

Hovhaness: Mountains and Rivers Without End.

Fascinating.

[Traverso]

Very insightful, André. Thanks for commenting. It gives me a more interesting panorama.

Indeed,I agree too,I like his first recording of Le Sacre,never bought the second recording.
This composition can be enjoyed in many ways.

[Mandryka]

Skalkottas quartet 3 - the most Schoenbergian music I've heard not by Schoenberg. Better than Schoenberg!