What are you listening 2 now?

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Nørgård Symphony No. 1, 'Sinfonia Austera' with Oramo/Wiener Philharmoniker:



Hard to believe that Nørgård will be 90 yrs. old in July. Still composing with no signs of stopping or so it seems. This is a fabulous performance of the 1st symphony with Oramo/Wiener Philharmoniker.

[JBS]

RVW
Songs of Travel
Job: A Masque for Dancing

Any opinion to opine on how Elder does here?

TD
Second listen

Stoutly recommended to everyone here.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Chávez Piano Concerto with Jorge Federico Osorio/Carlos Miguel Prieto/Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México from this disc:



Rarely heard in concert or on disc, 20th-century Mexican composer Carlos Chávez's spectacular Piano Concerto, completed in 1940, receives an insightful and compelling performance from Mexican-born pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, with his native country's flagship orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico and its music director, the dynamic young conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto.

For performers and audiences alike, Chávez's powerful Piano Concerto is a thrill ride of surprising tempo changes amid a whirlwind of styles. Legendary pianist Eugene List, who gave its world premiere in New York in 1942, marveled at its "immense rhythmic complexity, great technical difficulty and unrelenting thrust and pressure." Reviewing the premiere, The New York Times called the work "imaginatively scored" and praised its "elemental strength and the originality of its orchestral coloring."

[Notes taken from Presto Classical's website]

[Operafreak]

Spohr: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2- Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Howard Shelley

[Mandryka]

The interest here is the piano player obvs.

It's got my attention in a positive way, and this isn't music which has got my attention in that way before! Could be more me, my mood now, than them. I can't say. But I can say the performances are worth a listen.

[Mapman]

Sibelius: Pelléas et Mélisande, suite, Op.46
Segerstam: Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

[Mirror Image]

Last work for the night Schulhoff Suite for Chamber Orchestra with James Conlon/Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks:

[Operafreak]

Weill: Symphony No. 2 & Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5- Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahav Shani

[vandermolen]

Spohr: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2- Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Howard Shelley

I love that painting by Friedrich. Hyperion covers are often very good.

[vandermolen]

Sibelius: Pelléas et Mélisande, suite, Op.46
Segerstam: Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

Looks like a nice CD.

[vandermolen]

Symphony No.5

[Que]

Morning listening on Spotify:



Musically not a very Italian aesthetic, not very expressive.
These secular songs are performed as if they were (sacred) motets, and even then...
If you'd be looking for beautiful soaring female voices and don't mind much else, this will fit the bill. 

[Harry]

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.

Fourth Book of Psalms by David.
CD I from III.

Psalms: 5/6/10/17/18/21/22/30/31/38/39/46/48/51.
Lute variation on Psalm 10 (1597)
Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam, Harry van der Kamp.
Lee Santana, Lute.

Again a kaleidoscope of musical beauty.

[Harry]

Morning listening on Spotify:

Beautiful art work, and from what I remember a fine recording.

[Que]

Beautiful art work, and from what I remember a fine recording.

Good morning Harry! 
I'm streaming, so can't tell you about the art work.

[vandermolen]

Villa Lobos: Symphony No.4 'Victory':

[Maestro267]

Stanford: Piano Trio No. 3
Gould Piano Trio

I really should dive more into Stanford's music. What I've heard sounds wonderfully melodic and lyrical. More Romance in here than the "I say old chaps" glasses and 'tache academiac look the composer gives off.

[Harry]

Dora Pejacevic.

Piano concerto in G minor, opus 33. (1913)
Symphony in F sharp minor, opus 41. (1916-17, revised in 1920)

Peter Donahue, Piano.
BBC SO, Sakari Oramo.

As please I am with the music, which is a treat quite separate from the rest, I have a minor quibble concerning the SACD recording. There is a lot of detail, but the lower strings sound quite muddy and laboured, and struggle to get enough presence. At the beginning of the Piano concerto the basses give a sound that is quite overbearing and frankly a recording error that should have be corrected. In general I heard far better SACD recordings from Chandos, and this one falls short of expectations. The sound in general is just to pompous, produced by an orchestra that is simply to big for the notes to carry. It needs a Mendelssohnian clarity, instead of hammering away on the piano, and thumping basses. A missed chance I think. In this respect the CPO recording is much better and more in balance with the musical requirements.
Still I am happy with it.

[Harry]

Antonin Dvorak.

Complete Symphonies.
CD II from IV.

No. 2 in B flat major, & No. 3 in E flat major.

Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner.

This is the only set I kept, after discarding the Kubelik recordings on DGG. I am still seeking for the set that will awe me, but in the mean time, Suitner has the right amount of drama, and gets a clear sound from this orchestra, in which most of the details are clearly audible. Never does he blow up the music purely for the effects, but has a pure and honest approach.
I am open for suggestions regarding the symphonies. I heard some samples of this set, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, Marcus Bosch, and I quite liked it. any comments on that.

[Operafreak]

Raff: Violin Sonatas Nos. 2 & 5- Ariadne Daskalakis (violin), Roglit Ishay (piano)