What are you listening 2 now?

Started by Gurn Blanston, September 23, 2019, 05:45:22 AM

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classicalgeek

#59780
Quote from: kyjo on January 20, 2022, 06:00:37 PM
I love the first two movements of this symphony; they're wonderfully fresh and tuneful in a neo-Dvorakian manner. The scherzo and finale are much less successful, IMO.

The Ives First did have its moments, but I just didn't find it as compelling as I did his Second (still haven't listened to his Third or Fourth recently as I reacquaint myself with Ives.)

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on January 20, 2022, 05:25:47 PM
Ha, you are in a real treat then. Lots of good stuff are waiting for you! Bloch is a rather consistent, variegated, compelling Swiss composer. His music appeals to me in a good degree, if I've heard any work I don't like by him, it has been rather scarce to be honest.

Quote from: kyjo on January 20, 2022, 06:18:11 PM
+1 There's something for everyone in Bloch's output! There's the opulently Late-Romantic early works (Symphony in C-sharp etc.), the "Jewish" works (Schelomo, Trois Poemes Juifs etc.), the "Asian/exotic" works (Evocations, Four Episodes for chamber ensemble etc.), the epic/troubled chamber works (Piano Quintet no. 1, String Quartet no. 1 etc.), and the astringent/neoclassical late works (Symphony in E-flat etc).

I'm looking forward to getting more familiar with Bloch! Maybe once I'm done my current exploration of Ives.

Thread Duty: Speaking of Ives...

Charles Ives
Violin sonatas nos. 1-4
Gregory Fulkerson, violin
Robert Shannon, piano

(on Spotify)



I'm familiar with Fulkerson and Shannon because they both taught at Oberlin (and Shannon still teaches there), where I studied music composition in the 90s. They deliver really stunning performances here, and there are some really genuinely beautiful moments in these pieces too, particularly the Third Violin Sonata. I want to revisit these works soon, to become more familiar with the individual works, but I was really impressed with both the works and the performances. Thanks John/MI for the recommendation!

So much great music, so little time...

Original compositions and orchestrations: https://www.youtube.com/@jmbrannigan

listener

#59781
MOSOLOV: Symphony no. 5, Harp Concerto
Taylor Ann Fleshman, harp   Moscow S.O.    Arthur Arnold, cond.
HARRIS: When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Epilogue to Profiles in Courage: JFK n, Wm. SCHUMAN: Prayer in the Time of War, Symphony no. 4
John BECKER: Symphonia Brevis (Symphony no.3), Robert Whitney, cond.
The Louisville Orchestra    Jorge Mester, cond.  n
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

foxandpeng

Quote from: Linz on January 21, 2022, 09:48:16 AM
Bruckner Symphony No.4 Asahina

I don't know the Asahina. Would you recommend it?

Quote from: aligreto on January 21, 2022, 10:51:46 AM
I have always likes Inbal very much in Bruckner.

Definitely a fan of Inbal. His #4 less so, because of preference for the later performance version, but even here he is earth hearing.

Quote from: Linz on January 21, 2022, 12:23:14 PM
A much better 4th now with Rafael Kubelik

Again, an interpretation that I don't know at all. Loving your recommendations!
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

foxandpeng

Quote from: André on January 21, 2022, 11:17:40 AM


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.

This is so well put. I think Tabakov is probably my favourite contemporary composer, even though that field has a fair few contenders. I get the comparison to Pettersson too.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Mountain Goat

Bruckner: Symphony No. 1, Tapiola Sinfonietta/Mario Venzago. Before buying this set a couple of weeks ago I was not at all familiar with the symphonies prior to No. 4 and had no expectations, but found myself pleasantly surprised, especially by this one.



Quote from: Symphonic Addict on January 20, 2022, 06:48:31 PM
An uncanny coincidence, those are also my very favorites, followed by No. 5 (first version) and No. 13.

Oh yes, Ixion is the catchiest and most exhilarating earworm in existence. I should have warned you.  ;D :D

Great minds think alike  :laugh:

amw

#59785
Quote from: classicalgeek on January 21, 2022, 12:33:45 PM
I'm familiar with Fulkerson and Shannon because they both taught at Oberlin (and Shannon still teaches there), where I studied music composition in the 90s. They deliver really stunning performances here, and there are some really genuinely beautiful moments in these pieces too, particularly the Third Violin Sonata. I want to revisit these works soon, to become more familiar with the individual works, but I was really impressed with both the works and the performances. Thanks John/MI for the recommendation!
The Third Sonata is one of my favourite works of American Romanticism in general (not that there's much competition) or, really, anything that came out of America before the 1930s. I have a vague memory of Ives himself hating the piece, but I haven't been able to find a source for that recently. It wouldn't surprise me though.

("Piece" may not be the right word—the violin sonatas were composed as individual movements, all intended for what became the First Violin Sonata but he kept rewriting, discarding and reshuffling movements until he had about fourteen of them, and then tried to arrange them into separate sonatas that made the most sense together, which is a compositional practice I've also been guilty of in the past—but the outer movements of the Third Sonata at least are closely interrelated thematically and hermeneutically, and were presumably always meant to go together in some way.)

ritter

Georges Enesco's Cello Sonatas, op. 26. No. 1 in F minor & No. 2 in C major. Cătălin Ilea (vc) and Nicolae Licareț (pf).



Although they share the same opus number, these two works are from completely different periods of the composer's career. The first was composed by a teenage Enesco in 1898, while the second is from the composer's maturity (1935).

Linz

Quote from: foxandpeng on January 21, 2022, 12:47:11 PM
I don't know the Asahina. Would you recommend it?

Definitely a fan of Inbal. His #4 less so, because of preference for the later performance version, but even here he is earth hearing.

Again, an interpretation that I don't know at all. Loving your recommendations!
Asahina trained under Furtwangler I believe. He traveled to Germany to learn conductingFrom the western masters and went back to Japan and specialized in Bruckner recordings did a number of cycles look him up at abrackner.com in the symphony listings and you will be amazed by how much he recorded and his sets are highly sought after even in the West.

André

Quote from: Linz on January 21, 2022, 12:23:14 PM
A much better 4th now with Rafael Kubelik

Oh, yes ! That's one of the best IMO.

Linz

Bruckner 4 with Gunter Wand and the BPO

aligreto


Karl Henning

First-Listen Fridays!

Enescu
Octet, Op. 7
ASMF
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on January 21, 2022, 02:48:10 PM
First-Listen Fridays!

Enescu
Octet, Op. 7
ASMF


Fantastic work for a young composer.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Symphonic Addict

Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3

The sound quality of this recording is just astonishing!!! Very impressed with both the performance and the recording.

Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

classicalgeek

Quote from: amw on January 21, 2022, 01:19:06 PM
The Third Sonata is one of my favourite works of American Romanticism in general (not that there's much competition) or, really, anything that came out of America before the 1930s. I have a vague memory of Ives himself hating the piece, but I haven't been able to find a source for that recently. It wouldn't surprise me though.

("Piece" may not be the right word—the violin sonatas were composed as individual movements, all intended for what became the First Violin Sonata but he kept rewriting, discarding and reshuffling movements until he had about fourteen of them, and then tried to arrange them into separate sonatas that made the most sense together, which is a compositional practice I've also been guilty of in the past—but the outer movements of the Third Sonata at least are closely interrelated thematically and hermeneutically, and were presumably always meant to go together in some way.)

The Third Sonata definitely stood out to me more than the others. That's an interesting story, the one about Ives writing a bunch of movements and then trying to make separate sonatas out of them!

TD: moving on to the Third Symphony:

Charles Ives
Fugue in Four Keys on 'The Shining Shore'
Symphony no. 3
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin




So far, I'm most impressed with Ives' Second Symphony... but I really like the Third too. I want to listen again, perhaps this time with the score.
So much great music, so little time...

Original compositions and orchestrations: https://www.youtube.com/@jmbrannigan

Madiel

#59795
Another reconstructed Chopin/Ashkenazy LP.



This one is particularly intriguing to me actually. It has works from around 1826-30. So it's not the very earliest works, which I possibly know a bit better, but works that are still quite early and so tend not to be featured as much as the mature masterpieces.

The 1st piano sonata is going pretty well right now.

EDIT: The Rondo in C (op.posth. 73) has to rank as one of the most spectacular of Chopin's early spectacles. A lot of glittering notes going by very fast indeed in this performance.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

JBS

The Fourth Symphony and Capriccio Italien.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Karl Henning

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on January 21, 2022, 03:34:55 PM
Fantastic work for a young composer.

Superb!

From the same disc—

First-Listen Fridays!

R. Strauss
Sextet from Capriccio, Op. 85


Also for First-Listen Friday:

High time I listened to this album ....
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: JBS on January 21, 2022, 04:30:14 PM
The Fourth Symphony and Capriccio Italien.


Perennial faves, with reason!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

JBS

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on January 21, 2022, 04:36:51 PM
Perennial faves, with reason!

Gatti's Fourth is good, but it won't be replacing Solti's recording as my favorite.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk