What are you listening 2 now?

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Philippe Verdelot, Madrigals for four voices, ensemble Profeti della Quinta, excellent work  from Verdelot, a French Madrigalist.

[Traverso]

Borodin

Symphony No.2
Symphony No.3
Prince Igor
In the steppes of Central Asia

[Mirror Image]

The sound of this 1954 recording is still quite beautiful - astonishing, in fact: it's almost 70 years old ! The performance finds Reiner in a relaxed, flexible mood, wallowing in the glorious sounds of Strauss' score. No sign of undue tension. He was never a speed merchant but sometimes his readings could sound cold and rigid. Not so here, thankfully. My only (small) quibble is an overly assertive trumpet (Adolf Herseth) in the 4th section, The Hero at Battle - but then I guess it's justified musically.

Great stuff, Andre. You remind me I need to get around to ripping this set to my computer:

[Que]

Hi Guys - concerning the piano pic on the Eurodisc (first pic below), I googled Walter-Flügel in Mozarts Geburtshaus (translation 'Walter Grand Piano in the Mozart Birthplace' from a web translation site) - well plenty of pics appeared but the second one below w/ a gal sitting at presumably Mozart's Walter fortepiano (FP), I believe the instruments are the same; the most revealing evidence (to me as a woodworker) is the grain pattern on the top - so I believe the pics are of the same FP; so why would that pic be put on the cover if the FP was not used?  Don't know?  I have the back labels of the discs and as stated by Andrei, just 'piano' is listed - I'm also currently listening to the recording but hard to tell where I'm at on a single MP3 CD-R containing all 5 CDs, the metadata is whacky (as usual -  ) - Dave

 

Very nice detective work!

[Harry]

Bought in 1989. Never played it it seems.

Carl Friedrich Abel
The Symphonies opus 7.
Cantilena, Adrian Shepherd.


I cannot get too enthusiastic about this performance, tis clearly old school. Sound is okay though.

[bhodges]

Ives: "Concord" Sonata (Molly Morkoski, piano, with Jonathan Moerschel, viola, and Benjamin Smolen, flute, recorded live in November 2019 at the Music Academy of the West, in Santa Barbara, CA)

Prompted by Ives comments elsewhere, found this recent live version. Morkoski is well-known in the New York new music scene, and does a beautiful job with this formidable score.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgMSSktwnEg&t=5s

--Bruce

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No.4 Asahina

[ritter]

Soprano Magali Léger, accompanied on the piano by composer Michaël Lévinas, sings Fauré's La Bonne Chanson and another 21 mélodies.

Disc 6 of this set (a comprehensive survey of Lévinas' activity as composer and as pianist):



Isn't Une Sainte en son auréole, with Verlaine's extraordinarily beautiful words, one of the absolute summits not only of the mélodie repertoire, but also of the art song genre in general? I'd say so! 

[Karl Henning]

László Lajtha's Symphony No. 8
    Nicolás Pasquet, Pécs Symphony Orchestra

First time listening, not even properly ripped and catalogued yet ...but I couldn't wait! Excellent piece.

I'll bet!

[aligreto]

Anton Bruckner
Symphony #4
Riccardo Chailly

Symphony #4
Eliahu Inbal


Economy of posts. Hearing these back to back as I spend a couple of days reacquainting with #4. Tintner later today, I think.

#4 has always ranked highly for me, as it was possibly the first 'big symphony' I ever listened to, and I was determined to get to grips with it.

I have always likes Inbal very much in Bruckner.

[bhodges]

New to me, and ferocious: Martinů's Violin Concerto No. 1 (1932-33), with Josef Špaček, violin, conductor Petr Popelka, and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (recorded December 17, 2021 in Frankfurt). Until 2020, Špaček was the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic, and is now pursuing a solo career. If this is an indication, he should do very well.

Interestingly, in the comments on YouTube, one listener finds this version too fast (and as we know, "fast" does not always equal "exciting"). But as someone hearing it for the first time, it sounds fine. At the curtain call, you can tell how much fun everyone is having from the violinist's grin and the smiles in the orchestra.

This may become one of my favorite violin concertos.

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

--Bruce

[SonicMan46]

Eduard Brunner (1939-2017) on clarinet:

Danzi, Franz (1763-1826) - Clarinet Orchestral Works - a new arrival (used purchase on Amazon MP - jewel box/CD excellent condition).

Krommer, Franz (1759-1831) - Clarinet Quartets & Quintets w/ the Amati Quartett - all on the Tudor label. Dave

   

[André]

The first symphony from 1982 is shot through with quotes and tranformations of the Dies irae theme. The work is very well - if conventionally - structured. Very good, albeit less original and more restrained than his later, explosive works. The viola concerto is recent (2007). It's a big, expansive work that shows both a continuity of style and a greater freedom in expressing his ideas. The more I listen to Tabakov, the more he strikes me as close to Pettersson in the singularity of his artistic vision. His style is entirely different, but the intensity is similar.

[Linz]

Bruckner 4 with Mahler's  tragic reworking of the Symphony conducted by Rozhdestvensky

[André]

Bruckner 4 with Mahler's  tragic reworking of the Symphony conducted by Rozhdestvensky

It's an interesting choice IMO. Mahler cut and re-orchestrated the work, a much more interventionist affair than any of the Schalk arrangements. It just goes to show how badly misunderstood Bruckner was in his time.

[Florestan]

Very nice detective work!

Bottom line, it must have been PB-S' obsession with fortepianos that ultimately led to picturing one of them on the cover of a set played 99.99% on modern pianos.

Actually, I wonder why he even bothered with Steinway and Boesendorfer at all. 

[ritter]

Bottom line, it must have been PB-S' obsession with fortepianos that ultimately led to picturing one of them on the cover of a set played 99.99% on modern pianos.

Actually, I wonder why he even bothered with Steinway and Boesendorfer at all. 

Or they just thought that putting a picture of the composer's instrument on the cover was a good idea....

[Florestan]

Or they just thought that putting a picture of the composer's instrument on the cover was a good idea....

...because almost everybody and their neighbour could identify the composer's instrument at first glance, and the few who couldn't were given a great hint on the back cover: piano. 

[Linz]

A much better 4th now with Rafael Kubelik

[ritter]

...because almost everybody and their neighbour could identify the composer's instrument at first glance, and the few who couldn't were given a great hint on the back cover: piano. 

Exactly!   

THREAD DUTY:

Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in E minor, D 566, and Piano Sonata in E flat major, D 568. Pi-Hsien Chen (recorded live in Cologne in 2017).

Disc 4 of this set: