What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

imc
Malcolm Arnold: symphony no 7.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXiyIIa3KHw Downes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrdtAGKGFTw Groves

Arnold's most troubled, puzzling symphony. Each movement being a portrait of one of his children, it is understandable that the work does not seem structured conventionally. Also, in this instance Arnold seems to have laid bare some very personal, even raw sentiments. A troubling work, and possibly the composer's most intimate one. I think it has parallels with Mahler 7 and Vaughan Williams 6 in its refusal to have anything 'pleasoing' to share with the listeners.

Two youtube links, with Charles Groves and the BBC Symphony, then Edward Downes and the BBC Philharmonic. Concerts honouring the composer's 65th birthday (1986, Downes) and 70th birthday (1991, Groves). Both clock in around the same time (39 minutes) but there are big differences in conception. I came down in favour of Downes' urgent, incisive treatment vs Groves' moodier, slacker approach. Downes wins my vote and I think it's a top recommendation anlong with the recorded accounts of Penney and Handley.

[kyjo]

TD:
Erkki Melartin
Traumgesicht
*Marjatta
The Blue Pearl
*Soile Isokoski, soprano
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Hannu Lintu
(on Spotify)



Now this is an absolutely gorgeous disc! It's like Sibelius and Richard Strauss had a love child - maybe a Finnish Vitezslav Novak? It's all plush harmonies and soaring melodies and stunning orchestration - my kind of music!

Nice! Is this your first encounter with Melartin's music? I find him to be a consistently engaging composer whose music is filled with life and lyricism but has a certain dark undercurrent from time to time. Particular favorites of mine are his Symphonies 3 and 4 (don't miss Sakari Oramo's recording of the former on YT!), the Orchestral Suite no. 3  Impressions de Belgique, and his String Quartet no. 4.

[Karl Henning]

Martinu: Sinfonietta Giocosa

Decidedly exhilarating work! This work is full of life and spark. Just my cup of tea.

Very good!

[Karl Henning]

Malipiero: random orchestral works



I found this disc to be a supreme disappointment compared to the other Malipiero/La Vecchia disc on Naxos featuring the early Impressioni dal vero and Pauze del silenzio. It confirmed my hunch that I find Malipiero's earlier works significantly more appealing than his later ones. The two later works, the Fantasie di ogni giorno and Passacaglie (from the 1950s), I found quite dry and uninteresting (and downright weird!), despite fine performances. The slightly earlier Concerti for Orchestra (1931) is the only work on the album I felt compelled to listen to in full. It's still quite reserved and acerbic, but has a certain interest in the way Malipiero spotlights different sections of the orchestra in each movement. I find it ironic how an Amazon reviewer called this music "lush and emotional" - I found it anything but! Perhaps Spotted Horses might find the music on this disc to be of higher quality that I did....

Oh, I love this disc unreservedly! Not that you asked me....

[Mandryka]

K7, just the second movement. Verlet marks it adagio, I wonder if that's Mozart's or some modern editor!  I'm not sure that a harpsichord is the most successful instrument. I'm not sure their tempos are the best choices. Poulet plays like you might have played Brahms in the 1950s. I just think this is a failed experiment actually.

Viva Ibragimova and Tiberghien!

[amw]

imc
Malcolm Arnold: symphony no 7.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXiyIIa3KHw Downes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrdtAGKGFTw Groves

Arnold's most troubled, puzzling symphony. Each movement being a portrait of one of his children, it is understandable that the work does not seem structured conventionally. Also, in this instance Arnold seems to have laid bare some very personal, even raw sentiments. A troubling work, and possibly the composer's most intimate one. I think it has parallels with Mahler 7 and Vaughan Williams 6 in its refusal to have anything 'pleasoing' to share with the listeners.

Two youtube links, with Charles Groves and the BBC Symphony, then Edward Downes and the BBC Philharmonic. Concerts honouring the composer's 65th birthday (1986, Downes) and 70th birthday (1991, Groves). Both clock in around the same time (39 minutes) but there are big differences in conception. I came down in favour of Downes' urgent, incisive treatment vs Groves' moodier, slacker approach. Downes wins my vote and I think it's a top recommendation anlong with the recorded accounts of Penney and Handley.

As someone who thinks "urgent, incisive treatment" is necessary in this symphony I've always come down most strongly in favour of Martin Yates's recording for Dutton. I believe it comes to about 37 minutes but since first hearing it it struck me instinctively as the "correct" way to play the music. This particularly applies to the last movement.

Arnold himself, of course, as conductor, took >50 minutes over the symphony. I don't actually find his approach successful, despite the fact that it's authentic and reflects the will of the composer and etc. (But then I'm a score supremacist, and Arnold deviates heavily from his own score.)

[Linz]

Haydn Symphonies 1, 2, 3 and 4 Max Goberman Coducting The Vienna State Opera Orchestra

[kyjo]

I have grown accustomed to linear notes claiming that this concerto is prosaic or of lower quality compared to the other Mozart PCs, but it has always been one of my favorites.

Yeah, I never pay attention to "received wisdom" opinions like this which are often regurgitated by "critics" and "historians". More often than not, I disagree with them.

[kyjo]

+1 for that fine Madetoja CD  - that's my favourite of his symphonies, although I like all three of them very much. My Amazon account tells me that I bought that Hailstork CD in 2008 but I can't remember much about it - I must try to fish it out of my collection!

I'm sure you'd enjoy that Hailstork CD very much Jeffrey, above all the 2nd Symphony with its sense of looming catastrophe and hard-won defiance at the end (I tailored my description to entice you).

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 4 Remy Ballot with the Altomonte Orchester St. Florian

[kyjo]

I had forgotten how delightful this music was.

Oh yes, I love Hummel's sparkling piano trios, above all the No. 6 in E-flat major. I was reading through the Hummel thread and was annoyed to read so many comments (mostly from years ago) detrimentally comparing him to Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin. Why can't he just be his own man?

[classicalgeek]

👍   

I paid 32.69$Cad for the Landowski box (about 25$USD). Maybe there's a better price somewhere ? I see it for 45 euros at FNAC.

Recension of the box on Musicweb: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/June10/Warner_Landowski_2564695917.htm

The Genzmer box is still around for next to nothing !

I checked Fnac's web site and it says. for the Landowski box, "Stock en ligne épuisé" (online stock sold out.) It does say that it's available in their stores; as much as I hope to travel someday (including to France), well, it's not going to happen anytime soon! I'll continue to keep an eye out for it, though. And the Genzmer box will definitely be one of my next purchases!

I like both Goossens symphonies - I find them quite Baxian (Christo likes No. 1 as well). Unfortunately the best recording of Symphony No.1 with David Measham and the Adelaide SO (Unicorn LP) never made it to CD.

I'll definitely give them another listen, to this disc as well as his other volumes of orchestral music.

Nice! Is this your first encounter with Melartin's music? I find him to be a consistently engaging composer whose music is filled with life and lyricism but has a certain dark undercurrent from time to time. Particular favorites of mine are his Symphonies 3 and 4 (don't miss Sakari Oramo's recording of the former on YT!), the Orchestral Suite no. 3  Impressions de Belgique, and his String Quartet no. 4.

I'd probably listened to him before, years ago - but I can't recall. This is definitely the first time in a while, and I was very impressed! I'll check out your recommendations. There's a complete set of his symphonies on Ondine that's very tempting...


TD:
at Jeffrey's (vandermolen) recommendation:
Joonas Kokkonen
Symphony no. 4
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Osmo Vanska
(on Spotify)



I was definitely impressed with this! Powerful climaxes, and like you said, Jeffrey, the end is very moving.

[Todd]

K466.  Predictably excellent.  Dig the cadenzas.

[André]

As someone who thinks "urgent, incisive treatment" is necessary in this symphony I've always come down most strongly in favour of Martin Yates's recording for Dutton. I believe it comes to about 37 minutes but since first hearing it it struck me instinctively as the "correct" way to play the music. This particularly applies to the last movement.

Arnold himself, of course, as conductor, took >50 minutes over the symphony. I don't actually find his approach successful, despite the fact that it's authentic and reflects the will of the composer and etc. (But then I'm a score supremacist, and Arnold deviates heavily from his own score.)

Timings are just an indicator. In the first movement Downes takes almost a minute more than Groves but sounds more incisive and urgent. Also, the orchestra seem to respond to his direction at the crack of his whip. Under Groves there is less tension in the playing.

Timings for the various recordings:

- Yates:      31:16
- Gamba:   31:52
- Handley:  37:43
- Downes:  38:00
- Penney:   38:04
- Groves:   39:12
- Arnold:      50:16

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Very very late to reply to this, but I know the answer. Naxos uses the complete Scarlatti, Soler, and Liszt as audition discs for young pianists coming out of conservatory looking for recording deals. It's basically their way of scouting for new talent. You'll see a lot of them are actually recorded at university recital halls around the world, which is why the sound quality is so variable.

A lot of international piano competitions have "record a Naxos album" as one of the prize deals. I believe (but cannot prove) that these winners are asked if they want to do a Laureate Series release of the works they played in the competition, or Scarlatti or Liszt. Basically.

Thank you for the info Brian! That's a good idea and I am glad Naxos is always looking for new talents. Plus, regardless of their purpose/intentions, I came to like comparing and contrasting the performances of these diverse artists. These Scarlatti and Soler recordings are nice series.

[André]

Modern music as I like it: big-hearted yet transparent, mixing the delicate with the bold, with no 'system' detectable whatsoever. Excellent programming. The bassoon concerto is the most surprising item here: hyperactive 'insect music' that is both fun to hear and challenging. I've had this recording for some 25 years now and like it as much today as when I first discovered it.

[kyjo]

Oh, I love this disc unreservedly! Not that you asked me....

Then again, you're less picky about your Malipiero than I am, it seems...

[kyjo]

I'd probably listened to him before, years ago - but I can't recall. This is definitely the first time in a while, and I was very impressed! I'll check out your recommendations. There's a complete set of his symphonies on Ondine that's very tempting...

I can confidently recommend the Ondine set of Melartin's symphonies, even if the performances by the Tampere Philharmonic lack the last bit of polish and could certainly be improved upon in the future. They also (apparently) use older editions of the symphonies which excise some sections of music. Don't miss this recording of the masterful 3rd Symphony (which can stand with the greatest late-romantic symphonies, IMO) with the Finnish Radio SO under Sakari Oramo. Just glorious: https://youtu.be/CgLRS_sw5oA

[Karl Henning]

Then again, you're less picky about your Malipiero than I am, it seems...

Possible.

[Symphonic Addict]

I had to stop around the 2nd symphony as I just couldn't take the subpar audio quality --- I'll just wait for the older issues to come before diving back into this Neumann cycle (which I know I'll love once I've heard it in its proper sound).

NP:

Martinů
Sinfonietta Giocosa
Julian Jacobson, piano
Bournemouth Sinfonietta
Tamás Vásáry

Martinů: Sinfonietta Giocosa
Jacobson, Vasary: Bournemouth Sinfonietta

The music is very busy, but the more I listened, the more I enjoyed it.

Good stuff!