What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

One of the very, very few versions that keep it up until the last chord. A superb interpretation and a great execution by the LGO. The 1965 sound is very detailed, letting us hear percussion details most other recordings do not reveal.

[Linz]

 Böhm live Wiener Philharmoniker 1976  on Andante

[vers la flamme]

Anton Bruckner: Te Deum in C major. Matthew Best, Corydon Singers & Orchestra

Great recording of this brief (by Brucknerian standards) but towering work.

[Symphonic Addict]

Juon: String Quartet No. 3

If you have affinity for Haydn or S. Taneyev, this could appeal to you. Even though those composers come to mind when listening to this piece, Juon has a voice of his own. Delightful, witty, incredibly well-crafted music with lots of spark and singularity. Thank CPO for recording jewels like this in such splendid performances and presentation.

[JBS]

CD 1
The two sonatas for violin and piano, and four smaller works for the same combination.
Renaud Capucon violin
Nicholas Angelich was the pianist for the Second Sonata; Michel Dalberto for the rest.

[Symphonic Addict]

Englund: Symphony No. 2

My favorite of his symphonies. Atmospheric, defiant, soulful.

[foxandpeng]

Vagn Holmboe
Concertos
Viola Concerto
Concerto for Orchestra
Violin Concerto 2
Norrköping SO

Last one of the night.

[Daverz]

Still sampling from the Mitropoulos box.  Moved on to Shostakovich (Symphony No. 10) and Vaughan Williams:





The Shostakovich seemed a bit disappointing sonically, I suppose there's not much more than could be done for it, but the Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 4 sounds much better than the previous releases I've heard.  Really fantastic performance.  The coupled Tallis Fantasia is stereo and clocks in at 12:46 (compare with Barbirolli at 16:17). 

[classicalgeek]

I agree about her Ilya Murometz, it's more convincing and powerful. The Chandos recording of VdC is really a knock-out. One of my favorite CDs actually.

And good to see you hearing some Braga-Santos. He's a favorite of mine. I'm liking his later style more and more. It's truly dark and atmospheric music.

Falletta's Il'ya Muromets is high on my wish list. And agree that Simon's Church Windows is spectacular - the ending is simply overwhelming!

And so far I haven't heard anything by Braga Santos that I didn't enjoy. I look forward to listening to more!

TD: winding up the workday (and the workweek) with this:

Shostakovich
Symphony no. 11
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Berglund
(on Qobuz)



This might be my favorite Shostakovich 11 so far... the tension in the first movement is palpable, and the second movement builds to a terrifying climax. The third movement is a true, unrelenting dirge, and the finale comes off quite well, with some excellent playing by the English horn soloist. Indeed, the orchestra as a whole plays marvelously, and Berglund sustains the excitement from first note to last.

[Karl Henning]

The big Mitropoulos box hit the streaming sites today, so I'm sampling some of my Mitro faves.



This particular recording is in good stereo.  The remastering sounds great so far. 

Sweet!

[Symphonic Addict]

Nystroem: Sinfonia breve

Solid performance. The sound quality is astounding for its time.

[Symphonic Addict]

Bax: Northern Ballad No. 3

It could suffer of being a little diffuse, but I find the atmosphere of this piece effective.

The cover art couldn't suit better.

[Mirror Image]

This entire CD:



One of my favorite Saint-Saëns recordings. A joy from start to finish.

[vandermolen]

Good to know about that performance, Cesar. Falletta and Buffalo have been inconsistent for me - their recordings of Schmitt and, more recently Novak, have missed the mark. But I've sampled their Roman Trilogy and Il'ya Muromets Symphony, and they're excellent! I've been very impressed with Geoffrey Simon on Chandos (the recordings are almost 40 years old and more than hold their own!), and I eventually want to collect Neschling's Respighi on BIS; I've read good things about that cycle too!

TD: confirming I do, in fact, like Braga Santos!

Symphony no. 2
Crossroads (Encruzhilada)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Alvaro Cassuto



Complete chamber music, Volume 3
various artists
(both on Qobuz)



Braga Santos is definitely a composer whose style evolved throughout his career, and you can hear it on both of these discs. The chamber music disc in particular spans his entire career; this disc is a collection of miniatures, and they're all charming (with the exception of some iffy intonation by the violinist in the Nocturno). And of course the orchestral works are both excellent; I especially liked the ballet Crossroads, part of his more neoclassical phase (I caught hints of Roussel, although Braga Santos is very much his own voice.) The Second Symphony is in his earlier, more modal (and lushly orchestrated) style, but it's no less alluring. I'd love to follow along to any of his pieces with a full score; unfortunately, his scores are all but impossible to find.

+1 for Falletta's 'Ilya Murometz' - one of the best performances on CD IMO and big thumbs up for Braga Santos (especially symphonies 1 - 4)

[vandermolen]

Bax: Northern Ballad No. 3

It could suffer of being a little diffuse, but I find the atmosphere of this piece effective.

The cover art couldn't suit better.

I like those 2 CDs of Bax's tone poems. I'm less keen on Handley's box set of the symphonies (I prefer Thomson, Lloyd Jones and most of the Lyrita recordings).

[Symphonic Addict]

I like those 2 CDs of Bax's tone poems. I'm less keen on Handley's box set of the symphonies (I prefer Thomson, Lloyd Jones and most of the Lyrita recordings).

Thomson is my go-to regarding both symphonies and tone poems, albeit this Handley CD is up to the expectations.

[Symphonic Addict]

Prokofiev: Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra




And prompted by 'the one who must not be invoked':

Barber: Music for a scene from Shelley

I had zero memories of this orchestral work. Barber captured the eloquence and drama quite well on this score.

[Operafreak]

Salonen / Ravel

Dima Slobodeniouk and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Pekka Kuusisto (violin)

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Dima Slobodeniouk

[Que]

Morning listening: disc 3 of The Magic of Polyphony.

[Que]

Music for Lent by Cristóbal Morales:



Luxurious performances by La Grande Chapelle under Albert Recasens.
Luxurious as wel is the presentation, which is up to Lauda's amazing standards with extensive liner notes and beautiful artwork.

https://laudamusica.com/en/discografia-info.php?ref=LAU019

Harry, if you are not yet familiar with this recording - one for your Qobuz playlist! 

Another Renaissance Gem.