What are you listening 2 now?

[Karl Henning]

I remember our Karl Henning expressing admiration for the piece, which left me awe struck at his powers of concentration.

(* chortle *)

[Allegro feroce]

Ginastera's Violin Concerto, by Accardo with the Hopkins Center under Di Bonaventura (1968).

[Mirror Image]

I wasn't a big fan of Norman's Vier letzte Lieder when it first came out, but I must have been particularly curmudgeonly at the time. It's grown on my over the years and now is one of my favourite versions, only second to Schwarzkopf/Szell. I still find the tempo for the last song too slow, and it is amazing she is able to sustain it at that speed, but I would still rate it as one of the very best recordings of these popular songs ever made.

The fill-ups are hardly less desirable, with a particularly radiant Cäcilie and a beautifully floated Wiegenlied, though yet again I find the tempo a wee bit too slow. A superb disc.

For me, this is one of the most overrated performances of Vier letzte Lieder I've heard. Yes, the tempi used throughout are slow, but they're so slow that I feel it's exaggerated. Finding the right balance in this work is incredible important, one can't be too fast, but they can't be too slow either. Norman sings beautifully, but the accompaniment from Masur isn't too involved. I generally like his conducting, but I just think he wasn't the right conductor for this work. You still need a bit of bite in these lieder. It's not some slow-moving homogenized mass of sound. It needs to be driven a bit more than it is here. My reference recording is Schwarzkopf/Szell with Popp/Tennstedt and Piau/Verdier coming second-place for a tie.

[Todd]

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Sibelius Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 104 with Vänskä leading the Lahti SO from this set:

[Papy Oli]

A handful of Buxtehude cantatas.

[Harry]

Antonin Dvorak.

Symphony No. 1 in C minor. "The Bells of Zlonice"

Berliner Philharmoniker, Rafael Kubelik.

[Karl Henning]

CDs 25 & 26
Bartók
Rhapsody for pf & orch, Sz. 27
Scherzo burlesque for pf & orch, Sz. 28
Music for Strings, Percission & Celesta, Sz. 106

Pf Cto № 1, Sz. 83
Pf Cto № 2, Sz. 95
Pf Cto № 3, Sz. 106

I had owned these back at the time of their release, and I'm pleased to welcome them back.

[Operafreak]

Peteris Vasks: Distant Light- Daniel Rowland, Consensus Vocalis & Stift Festival Orchestra

[Allegro feroce]

Akutagawa's Symphonic Ostinata by the Japan Philharmonic under Watanabe (1967).

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Now playing Respighi Feste Romane with Bernstein:



Great performance!

Nice!

[Mirror Image]

Akutagawa's Symphonic Ostinata by the Japan Philharmonic under Watanabe (1967).

Nice! I need to get back to listening to some Japanese music myself. I need to finish Ikuma Dan's symphonies.

[Mirror Image]

Nice!

[North Star]

First listen

Braunfels
Grosse Messe in g minor, op. 37
Simone Schneider (soprano), Gerhild Romberger (alto), Christian Elsner (tenor), Robert Holl (bass)
Heiko Holtmeier (organ)
Philharmonischer Chor Berlin, Berliner Singakademie, Knaben des Staats- und Domchores Berlin
Konzerthausorchester Berlin
Jörg-Peter Weigle

[ritter]

Some homegrown 16th century polyphony:


Tomás Luis de Victoria's Missa "de beata Maria virgine", with interpolated motets. The Studentischer Madrigalchor Münster is led Herma Kramm, and accompanied by the Renaissance Consort Freiburg under the direction of Siegfried Lustig. K. H. Müller-Lancé plays the organ.

Not repertoire I usually listen to bot, boy, is this great music!

[Todd]

Disc two.  No one, and I mean no one, bests Krips in Mozart.  Not Walter, or Bohm, or Mackerras.  Not even Beecham.  No one.  Krips demonstrates big band Mozart is the proper way to deliver Mozart. 

[ritter]

And now, jumping 400 hundred years, but remaining in Spain:


José Ramón Encinar conducts the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia in Francisco Guerrero's Coma Berenices (from 1996, the year before the composer's premature death at age 46) and Sáhara (from 1991).

Disc two.  No one, and I mean no one, bests Krips in Mozart.  Not Walter, or Bohm, or Mackerras.  Not even Beecham.  No one.  Krips demonstrates big band Mozart is the proper way to deliver Mozart. 

I should revisit that set. I remember it being top-notch, as you say...

[vers la flamme]

Niels Wilhelm Gade: Symphony No.3 in A minor, op.15. Neeme Järvi, Stockholm Sinfonietta

First listen to this disc. I really like it. Reminds me a bit of Mendelssohn and Schubert. I shall be exploring more music from this Danish symphonist.

Edit: Slow movement is almost proto-Brahmsian.

Edit 2: Same goes for the third movement allegretto, almost reminds me of a Brahmsian symphonic intermezzo.

[Tsaraslondon]

For me, this is one of the most overrated performances of Vier letzte Lieder I've heard. Yes, the tempi used throughout are slow, but they're so slow that I feel it's exaggerated. Finding the right balance in this work is incredible important, one can't be too fast, but they can't be too slow either. Norman sings beautifully, but the accompaniment from Masur isn't too involved. I generally like his conducting, but I just think he wasn't the right conductor for this work. You still need a bit of bite in these lieder. It's not some slow-moving homogenized mass of sound. It needs to be driven a bit more than it is here. My reference recording is Schwarzkopf/Szell with Popp/Tennstedt and Piau/Verdier coming second-place for a tie.

Schwarzkopf/Szell has always been, and still is my favourite. I like Popp/Tenstedt too and actually heard them do them live around the same time as the recording. Piau/Verdier I've yet to hear.

I agree with you re the speeds on the Norman/Masur version, but I've grown to accept them over the years - and Norman does sound glorious. The recording that has dropped down a bit in my list of favourites is the Janowitz/Karajan. It's very beautiful of course, but her silvery, almost disembodied purity means that I miss some of the deeper meaning in the songs.

[Karl Henning]

Bartók
Divertimento for Strings, Sz. 113
CSO
Boulez