What are you listening 2 now?

[ritter]

First listen to this CD (the PC4 on this occasion— the VC-turned-into-a-PC probably tomorrow):



I've been an admirer of Gianluca Cascioli since his debut album on DG was issued when he was a teenager. To have him in a warhorse concerto was a tempting proposition....but, this is an experiment ("fresh Beethoven" says the blurb). Cascioli works with a highly embellished manuscript of the solo part, apparently in Beethoven's handwriting, and that may or may not have been played in public by the composer. The unfamiliar patterns coming from the piano may be interesting (and they start right at the beginning of the piece), but I'm not convinced that they add anything to the intrinsic quality of this great work (apart from bravura pyrotechnics). If we add to that the HIP-ish approach of conductor Riccardo Minasi and his Ensemble Resonanz, with all those acellerandi and ritardandi, and crescendi and decrescendi, dry attacks, etc., etc., we have a performance that, as one Amazon reviewer puts it, is seasickness inducing (I now realise that this is the effect that, in an entirely different context, Mitsuko Uchida's recording of the Debussy Études has on me).

So, interesting as an experiment? Maybe. Successful? Probably not. Perhaps a second hearing will help me better evaluate the performance, but for now I just find myself longing for Maurizio Pollini and Karl Böhm.

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JS - WTC Selections performed by the Viol Consort Phantasm - recent releases (2019-2020) of mainly selections from the WTC Books plus a few other keyboard pieces w/ 5 or 6 viols - some excellent reviews attached for those interested.  Dave

 

[Mirror Image]

Three song cycles of great contrasts:

Mahler
Rückert-Lieder
Dagmar Pecková, mezzo-soprano
Prague Philharmonia
Jiří Bělohlávek

Falla
Siete Canciones populares españolas (Orch. Markevitch)
Ángeles Chamorro, soprano
Spanish R.T.V. Symphony Orchestra
Igor Markevitch

Berg
Sieben frühe Lieder
Jessye Norman, soprano
London Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

From these recordings:

[Karl Henning]

String Trio, Op. 20
Dorothy Wade, vn
Cecil Figelski, va
Emmet Sargeant, vc

[Bachtoven]

[Linz]

Handel Complete Orchestral Works CD7 more organ concertos

[SimonNZ]

[foxandpeng]

Arnold Bax
Symphonic Poems
Tintagel
The Garden of Fand
The Happy Forest
The Tale the Pine Trees Knew
November Woods
David Lloyd Jones
RSNO

[classicalgeek]

There have been few opportunities to listen over the last few days! When I have had the chance...

Rimsky-Korsakov
Scheherazade
Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti



Another in my recent mini-Scheherazade-o-thon. Muti more than holds his own, but Reiner and Chicago are in a class by themselves!

Bloch
Israel Symphony
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Atlas



Bloch at his very best, from his opulent orchestration to his most Jewish-inspired composition style - this is a real treat. OK, so maybe I could have used that last bit of virtuosity from the orchestra, and I definitely could have done without the vocal bits at the very end, but it had everything I've come to expect of Bloch and more.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Villa-Lobos
Symphony No. 3 'A Guerra'
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Isaac Karabtchevsky



This seems appropriate considering what is happening in Ukraine right now. Beautiful work and performance.

[Karl Henning]

Ivashkin was brilliant!


TD:


CD 13


Iša Krejčí
Symphony № 1 in D
Symphony № 3 in D

Jaroslav Ježek
Phantasy for Piano and Orchestra
Vacláv Holzknecht, pf

Stravinsky
Concerto for Piano and Winds
Zdeněk Jílek, pf

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Villa-Lobos
Symphony No. 3 'A Guerra'
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Isaac Karabtchevsky



This seems appropriate considering what is happening in Ukraine right now. Beautiful work and performance.

Playing this work again! Love it!

[JBS]

First listen to this CD (the PC4 on this occasion— the VC-turned-into-a-PC probably tomorrow):



I've been an admirer of Gianluca Cascioli since his debut album on DG was issued when he was a teenager. To have him in a warhorse concerto was a tempting proposition....but, this is an experiment ("fresh Beethoven" says the blurb). Cascioli works with a highly embellished manuscript of the solo part, apparently in Beethoven's handwriting, and that may or may not have been played in public by the composer. The unfamiliar patterns coming from the piano may be interesting (and they start right at the beginning of the piece), but I'm not convinced that they add anything to the intrinsic quality of this great work (apart from bravura pyrotechnics). If we add to that the HIP-ish approach of conductor Riccardo Minasi and his Ensemble Resonanz, with all those acellerandi and ritardandi, and crescendi and decrescendi, dry attacks, etc., etc., we have a performance that, as one Amazon reviewer puts it, is seasickness inducing (I now realise that this is the effect that, in an entirely different context, Mitsuko Uchida's recording of the Debussy Études has on me).

So, interesting as an experiment? Maybe. Successful? Probably not. Perhaps a second hearing will help me better evaluate the performance, but for now I just find myself longing for Maurizio Pollini and Karl Böhm.

I didn't feel seasick, but otherwise your reaction matches the one I had when I listened to this CD.

TD
The segment of the Warner big Barbirolli box that corresponds to these



At the moment
Symphony no 1 in c minor Op 68
Tragic Overture Op 81

[Mirror Image]

NP: Two back-to-back Concerto for Orchestra: Gerhard followed by the more oft-recorded Bartók:

From these recordings -

[T. D.]

Poor image but best I could find

[Mirror Image]

Poor image but best I could find

Here's one:

[Mirror Image]

Last work for the night:

Dutilleux
L'Arbre des songes
Olivier Charlier, violin
BBC PO
Tortelier

[Que]

Morning listening:

[Harry]

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.
Complete Organ music.
CD I & CD II.

Filippo Turri plays on a Truhenorgel by L Patella 1998. CD I.
Francesco Zanin Organ 2007, CD II

I like Friedemann's organ music much better CPE's. Less flashy and certainly better composed. The Truhe Organ is also a marvel to my ears, tis fantastically recorded. Turri gets the maximum effect out of it. I really like this music. The second CD with the Zanin organ is a State of the Art recording. Your windows will rattle in a positive sense that is!

[vandermolen]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1 'Winter Daydreams'.
I love the cover image as well.
There are passages where I think that Tchaikovsky's later influence on Sibelius are apparent.