What are you listening 2 now?

[SonicMan46]

Enescu, George (1881-1955) - Piano Works w/ Luiza Borac on 3 CDs coming in at 172+ minutes and not including some of the earlier pieces - her main competition is the 3-disc box with Raluca Stirbat (last image below), which indeed is 'complete' at 201+ mins of music - both are Romanian pianists steeped in Enescu's national sound world - attached are multiple reviews of both recordings; I've not heard Stirbat so cannot make comparisons, but the commentators have done so - after reading the reviews, both pianists seem to be 'neck to neck' and a purchase decision may be based more on availability, pricing, wanting all the piano music, and the subtleties of interpretation between the performers. Stirbat is available on Spotify, so I'll take a listen soon.  Dave

   

[listener]

FELDMAN: Durations I-V
    Ensemble Avantgarde
                Coptic Light
    Deutsches  S.O.  Berlin   Michael Morgan, cond.
Vincenz LACHNER: 42 Variations on the C-Major Scale
Ferdinand RIES:40 Preludes for the Piano
   Jost Michaels, piano

[Todd]

[Linz]

Shostakovich Symphony 15 Sanderling with  Cleveland Orchestra

[Madiel]

POUR DES RAISONS SANITAIRES, LE LIVE DE CE CONCERT EST ANNULÉ. 

Oh dear.

[ritter]

Pierre-Laurent Aimard plays Charles Ives' Piano Sonata No. 2, "Concord, Mass., 1840-60" (with Tabea Zimmermann —viola— and Emmanuel Pahud —flute—) and Three Quarter-tone Pieces for two pianos (with Alexei Lubimov), and 6 of Ligeti's Études.

CD 2 of this set:

[Mirror Image]

Dipping my toes into this set (that landed yesterday).



Starting with the fourth (and last) disc, as it includes some of my favourite of Debussy's  mélodies (Trois Chansons de France, Trois Ballades de François Villon, Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé). Most are sung by the men (tenor Gilles Ragon and baritone François Le Roux), except for the Mallarmé songs, which are performed by soprano Magali Léger. A curious turn is that the CD ends with Noël des enfants que n'ont plus de maison sung by a boy soprano (Antonin Rondepierre). I've never cared for that song (I find it downright nasty), but let's see how it works in this version.

Halfway into the disc, and so far, so very good. Jean-Louis Haguenaur, the spiritus rector of this project, is quite wonderful at the piano (a Blüthner instrument that belonged to the composer).

The set come with a 240-page booklet, with full texts and English translations, artist bios, and essays on the music.

Sweet! You have certainly whetted my appetite for this set, Rafael. And a fine evening to you, sir.

[Mirror Image]

Pierre-Laurent Aimard plays Charles Ives' Piano Sonata No. 2, "Concord, Mass., 1840-60" (with Tabea Zimmermann —viola— and Emmanuel Pahud —flute—) and Three Quarter-tone Pieces for two pianos (with Alexei Lubimov), and 6 of Ligeti's Études.

CD 2 of this set:

Rafael listening to Ives?!?!?  Shocked!

[ritter]

Sweet! You have certainly whetted my appetite for this set, Rafael. And a fine evening to you, sir.

That disc I listened to was very good, I must say! Let's see what the other three have to offer.

Rafael listening to Ives?!?!?  Shocked!

Occasionally . I'm rather liking the Concord Sonata this time around! 

Good evening to you as well, John!

[VonStupp]

PI Tchaikovsky
Moscow - Coronation Cantata for Alexander III

Nina Zaborskikh - mezzo, Alexei Polyakov - baritone
Moscow Radio SO & Chorus - Gennady Rozhdestvensky (rec. 1967)

Another new one for me:

VS

The vocal solos were the best of this work - the tunes were superb and I like his orchestrations here especially. Vocal music is a side of Tchaikovsky I haven't really delved in to, although I know a few of his songs.

From the same set and equally unknown to me, although Schiller's poem (here in Russian) is very familiar:

PI Tchaikovsky
Ode to Joy, Kradosti Cantata

Ludmila Belobragina - soprano, Ludmila Simonova - mezzo
Yuri Yelnikov - tenor, Yevgeni Vladimirov - bass
Moscow Radio SO & Chorus - Yuri Simonov (rec. 1981)

VS

[Karl Henning]

Shostakovich Symphony 15 Sanderling with  Cleveland Orchestra

Very nice! The Sarge put me onto that 'un!

TD:

CD 2

Prokofiev
Symphony № 3 in c minor Op. 44
Symphony № 5 in B^b Op. 100

[Karl Henning]

That disc I listened to was very good, I must say! Let's see what the other three have to offer.
Occasionally . I'm rather liking the Concord Sonata this time around! 

Nice!

[VonStupp]

PI Tchaikovsky
Ode to Joy, Kradosti Cantata

Ludmila Belobragina - soprano, Ludmila Simonova - mezzo
Yuri Yelnikov - tenor, Yevgeni Vladimirov - bass
Moscow Radio SO & Chorus - Yuri Simonov (rec. 1981)

This was a noisy thing! Tchaikovsky's harmonies and percussion go wild in the last minutes of the finale; a bit of bombast from Simonov too, I guess.

The sound wasn't great for any of these works, but I find the ears adjust well enough. Rozhdestvensky's Moscow probably sounded the best of them all, including the chorus and soloists.

VS

[bhodges]

Today, a second hearing (live) of George Walker's Lilacs (1996) for soprano and orchestra, and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex (1927), both presented by Opera Philadelphia. The livestreamed version should be available soon for a month, either on the opera company's own channel or on YouTube.

https://www.operaphila.tv/

--Bruce

[Karl Henning]

CD 2

Prokofiev
Symphony № 3 in c minor Op. 44
Symphony № 5 in B^b Op. 100

It's a funny thing: whenever I listen to the Third (which borrows music from his opera The Fiery Angel) I like it fine, but when I contemplate (not often, I admit) "my favorite Prokofiev symphony" the Third never comes to mind. But this Leinsdorf reading is outstanding, and could change that.

[Symphonic Addict]

Mmm this must be good!

[Symphonic Addict]

Sæverud: Symphony No. 3 in B-flat minor

[Daverz]

It's a funny thing: whenever I listen to the Third (which borrows music from his opera The Fiery Angel) I like it fine, but when I contemplate (not often, I admit) "my favorite Prokofiev symphony" the Third never comes to mind. But this Leinsdorf reading is outstanding, and could change that.

I'm not sure there's a bad recording of the 3rd.  Abbado, Muti, and Chailly, all hit this one out of the park, for example.

[Karl Henning]

I'm not sure there's a bad recording of the 3rd.  Abbado, Muti, and Chailly, all hit this one out of the park, for example.

I agree, I've not heard a bad recording.

[bhodges]

Aleksey Igudesman: Funk the String (2016) - From violinist Josef Špaček in December, as an encore after his performance of Martinů's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. Delirious good fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2TWjarEo5A

--Bruce