What are you listening 2 now?

[Todd]

Some works for violin and piano, along with the first piano sonata.  The chamber music proper sounds extremely fine, and the sonata is pretty good.  The Krystian Zimerman disc with him playing the second sonata and a couple piano quintets is at an altogether higher level, mostly because of Zimerman, but this makes a welcome addition to my collection.  Top shelf Dux sound.

[Karl Henning]

TD:

Poulenc
Concerto for Organ, Strings & Percussion
Simon Preston, org

I like the piece fine, am happy to revisit it. But I don't find myself driven to listen to more Poulenc.

[André]

Quartets 1 (Already it is Dusk) and 2 (Quasi una fantasia) . First class Gorecki. I look forward to hearing the mammoth 3rd quartet (almost an hour long).

Another listen to this very fine performance of SQ 1 and 2. They happen to share a theme which itself sounds uncannily like the gorgeous motto from Pettersson's Mesto (the huge slow movement from his 3rd Concerto for Strings). I wonder if Gorecki was aware of the Polish composer's work ? In Gorecki's 1st SQ and in Pettersson's concerto that motif recurs many times, like a leitmotiv. In the 2nd SQ it is alluded to in various places. I have 2 other versions of these quartets (Silesian and Kronos SQ) but I think the Molinaris are particularly intense.

[André]

Act I. The rest later tonight.

[Que]

Live now: Klaus Mäkelä conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Julia Wolfe, Copland and right now, Dvorák Symphony No. 9. Very impressed, and Mäkelä is just 26 years old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMrQDIn6RJU

--Bruce

They really like him at the RCO!

[listener]

RiES  Piano Sonata in c, op.9/2  Sonata in f# op. 26
Susan Kagan, piano
PURCELL vol.6 of the Welcome Songs and Odes on Hyperion
The King's Consort   Robert King, cond

[Madiel]

Last night in between watching epic sets of tennis.

Beethoven, the op.30 violin sonatas

[Karl Henning]

I bear them no grudge for omitting La gazza ladra 

CD 37
Rossini
Overtures to:
Tancredi
L'italiana in Algeri
L'inganno felice
La scala di seta
Il barbiere di Siviglia
Il Signor Bruschino
La cambiale di matrimonio
Il Turco in Italia

[Mandryka]

The thing about this is that it presents Schubert's last three piano sonatas as dramatic strum und drang pieces - it does for Schubert what Bezuidenhout did for Mozart in his first CD, the uncompromising one with the red cover. It's quite a challenge, it's like no other Schubert I can remember. I'm really curious to see if he has anything to say (in the booklet maybe - which I don't have) about how he got to this conception. Mind you, Schnabel and Curzon and Richter never said anything about how they got to their conception. It's all arbitrary imaginative I guess.

The D959 is for the open minded only.

[kyjo]

Now:


CD 36

Rodrigo
Concierto de Aranjuez
Fantasía para un gentilhombre

Villa-Lobos
Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra

What we might consider The Obligatory Rodrigo Program (good and sweet music, just run into the ground) is nicely filled out with a piece completely new to me.

For whatever reason, I find the V-L Guitar Concerto to be a strangely disappointing work. I generally love V-L, and I generally love guitar concerti, but this work just doesn't "do it" for me.

[kyjo]

TD:

Poulenc
Concerto for Organ, Strings & Percussion
Simon Preston, org

I like the piece fine, am happy to revisit it. But I don't find myself driven to listen to more Poulenc.

To the bolded text:

[kyjo]

I bear them no grudge for omitting La gazza ladra 

CD 37
Rossini
Overtures to:
Tancredi
L'italiana in Algeri
L'inganno felice
La scala di seta
Il barbiere di Siviglia
Il Signor Bruschino
La cambiale di matrimonio
Il Turco in Italia

Uhhhh, I do! It's my favorite Rossini overture, and one of my favorite overtures of all time. No Rossini overture collection is complete without it!

[Karl Henning]

[ snip ] It's my favorite Rossini overture, and one of my favorite overtures of all time. No Rossini overture collection is complete without it!

Agreed!

To the bolded text:

Sorry, just reporting ....

[Todd]

Revisiting for the first time in a while.  Pure delight.

[Mirror Image]

Act I. The rest later tonight.

Pounds the table!

[Mirror Image]

TD:

Poulenc
Concerto for Organ, Strings & Percussion
Simon Preston, org

I like the piece fine, am happy to revisit it. But I don't find myself driven to listen to more Poulenc.

Love the piece, but for me, I think Poulenc's strengths as a composer are found in his chamber music, melodies and choral works.

I do rather like his solo piano music, too.

[Mandryka]

The thing about this is that it presents Schubert's last three piano sonatas as dramatic strum und drang pieces - it does for Schubert what Bezuidenhout did for Mozart in his first CD, the uncompromising one with the red cover. It's quite a challenge, it's like no other Schubert I can remember. I'm really curious to see if he has anything to say (in the booklet maybe - which I don't have) about how he got to this conception. Mind you, Schnabel and Curzon and Richter never said anything about how they got to their conception. It's all arbitrary imaginative I guess.

The D959 is for the open minded only.

Here's the booklet, complete with essay.

http://tobiaskoch.eu/wp-content/uploads/SCHUBERT_SONATAS_TOBIAS_KOCH.pdf

[bhodges]

Last night's snowed-in playlist:

Ives: Symphony No. 2 (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Susanna Mälkki, conductor) - Live recording, January 21, 2022, and superb. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vJdc-vJEPk

Brahms: Symphony No. 4 (Frankfurt Radio Symphony / Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor) - Live recording, January 13, 2017. I've been dipping into the Frankfurt ensemble's YouTube channel, which is filled with treasures, including this one. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o69YVL_XKJo

--Bruce

[Karl Henning]

Love the piece, but for me, I think Poulenc's strengths as a composer are found in his chamber music, melodies and choral works.

I do rather like his solo piano music, too.

Noted, thanks.

TD: The Sweet Spot ...

CD 38 with Mischa Maisky, vc & Daria Horova, pf

Saint-Saëns
Cello Concerto № 1 in a minor, Op. 33
Le Carnaval des animaux, № 13: Le Cygne
Allegro appassionato, Op. 43
Romance in F, Op. 36
Suite, Op. 16
Cello Sonata № 1 in c minor, Op. 32

[vandermolen]

John Ireland: 'Legend for Piano and Orchestra'. Today I was walking on the South Downs in scenery which inspired Ireland, who lived, in his windmill, not so far away.