What are you listening 2 now?

[JBS]

Interesting. I have a problem with Atterberg (whose 2nd, 3rd and 5th symphonies are amongst my favourites) some of whose later symphonies were premiered in Nazi Germany and I rarely listen to Carl Ruggles since discovering recently that he was a rabid anti-semite. My stuff I know but that's how it is.

Didn't know that about Ruggles. But I have almost nothing by him in my collection, so I can avoid him with no trouble.

[Traverso]

Olivier Messiaen: Livre du Saint Sacrement (1984)

[André]

Intriguing, but it is the London Symphony Orchestra, no?

I found the CD on presto music, and indeed the masonic funeral music is the only think I could imagine myself ever listening to. I was able to purchase the individual track in FLAC format for $1.40.

You're right, it's the LSO ! I also have the Kertesz Trauermusik on another Decca issue where he conducts the Requiem with the WP. I got confuuuused 

[kyjo]

Moeran wrote some lovely pieces (being the Symphony his best achievement), but he's not one of my favorite English composers.

I thought you had a higher opinion of Moeran, Cesar! I love almost everything he wrote, but even if he had just written his G minor Symphony I would still consider him a great composer. The same applies to Walton and his 1st Symphony.

[Mapman]

Last night,
Reger: String Quartet Op. 54 #1
Mannheimer Streichquartett

Reger's music continues to be very interesting. I particularly liked the fugal final movement.

[kyjo]

While I do own (and listen to) HvK recordings, in no case do I feel he "owns" the music, so if one wished, one could boycott HvKand still have a perfectly rich musical experience, IMO.

That sentiment of mine is not personal to HvK. I don't feel that any conductor  "owns" any music.

+1

[Que]

Mine too, but it seems as if I consider him more true HIP than you. He had for baroque organ playing an importance which almost can be compared to Leonhardt's importance for baroque harpsichord playing.

You probably know, that he has published a book about the interpretation of Bach's organ music (in collaboration with Gerhard Weinberger), which is concentrated HIP and more or less sets the standards for his playing.

I didn't know about the book, interesting! 
Still hope his Bach cycle on Corona will someday reappear, or else I'd have to look on the used market.

[André]

This ultra cheapo, anonymous looking 4-cd set comprises symphonies 25, 28, 29, 33, 35, 36, 38-41. Just as essential IMO is symphony 34, but that doesn't really matter. It's one of the unsung glories of the catalogue. The excellent SWF Baden-Baden orchestra is conducted by its then chief conductor Ernest Bour. The French conductor was known as a specialist and huge advocate of contemporary music, creating works by Berg, Bartok, Dallapiccola, Gorecki, Berio etc. Here he imparts bracing energy and immaculate articulation (those swirling string descents !) as well as a welcome attention to winds and brass lines. Recordings hail from 1964-1978 and are spaciously, warmly engineered. Beats any set as well as most single versions, esp. of symphonies 35 and 38, which are unmatched.

[Karl Henning]

Ralph Vaughan Williams
Job - A Masque for Dancing
Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

London PO - Vernon Handley (rec. 1973-1985)

For the afternoon:

VS

Through "just one of those accidents," we might say, Handley was my first set of RVW, I've found no reason not to continue enjoying it.

[Iota]

I think that you keep coming back is a testament to their intrigue, but I also agree that I don't know exactly what to think, so I take sort of a "Zen-like" approach, perhaps modeled after Cage, where I try to simply empty my mind and let the sound stay and resound in the recesses. I don't view it as a puzzle to be unpacked but rather a moment in which to sit and enjoy.

Actually that's pretty much the approach I take to it too (and a number of other pieces), and sometimes that approach turns on a light somewhere in my mind, which hasn't happened with this piece. And as yet I'm still in the kind of limbo you describe and happy to be there, and only mentioned it because on this occasion it seems quite persistent. 

[Iota]

That is an awesome spot to be in.

I have that with Luigi Russolo.

Another one to check out .. 

[prémont]

I didn't know about the book, interesting! 
Still hope his Bach cycle on Corona will someday reappear, or else I'd have to look on the used market.

It's strange, that Brilliant hasn't got Kooiman into the radar, instead of doing a questionable recording with Molardi. But maybe Kooiman's heirs just demand too much money for it.

This is the book I mentioned above:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Ewald-Kooiman/dp/3875372158/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WH0FRAKKFVUM&keywords=ewald+kooiman&qid=1655403777&s=books&sprefix=ewald+kooiman%2Cstripbooks%2C59&sr=1-1

[Mandryka]

It's strange, that Brilliant hasn't got Kooiman into the radar, instead of doing a questionable recording with Molardi. But maybe Kooiman's heirs just demand too much money for it.

This is the book I mentioned above:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Ewald-Kooiman/dp/3875372158/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WH0FRAKKFVUM&keywords=ewald+kooiman&qid=1655403777&s=books&sprefix=ewald+kooiman%2Cstripbooks%2C59&sr=1-1

I didn't know that Kooiman's book was coauthored with Weinberger, and in a way it shows how HIP ideas underdetermine performance, given that their interpretations are prima facie rather different.

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 4 in F minor - Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Daniel. The Naxos/Bournemouth cycle has had a few mentions recently and it reminded me I have No 4 so I gave it a spin - fine performance. May have to consider the est of the cycle now.

That's a fine release I agree.

[Traverso]

It's strange, that Brilliant hasn't got Kooiman into the radar, instead of doing a questionable recording with Molardi. But maybe Kooiman's heirs just demand too much money for it.

This is the book I mentioned above:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Ewald-Kooiman/dp/3875372158/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WH0FRAKKFVUM&keywords=ewald+kooiman&qid=1655403777&s=books&sprefix=ewald+kooiman%2Cstripbooks%2C59&sr=1-1

The Kooiman set ( That I bought in the Netherlands) was half the price it was year ago. I asked the seller the reason for this and he replied that most people who are interested have already these recocordings,It's a small market after all.

[prémont]

I didn't know that Kooiman's book was coauthored with Weinberger, and in a way it shows how HIP ideas underdetermine performance, given that their interpretations are prima facie rather different.

Yes, the HIP issues are only a frame. Each interpreter fills the frame out with his own ideas for his own performance.

Afterthought: On the other hand two performances by the same HIP interpreter may be somewhat different. If they are very different we use to say, that the interpreter has matured between the performances. 

[prémont]

The Kooiman set ( That I bought in the Netherlands) was half the price it was year ago. I asked the seller the reason for this and he replied that most people who are interested have already these recocordings,It's a small market after all.

I bought it at full price more than ten years ago, - got some of the last (maybe even the last) comercially available items. And, yes Kooiman's importance is only acknowledged by professionals and a small group of amateurs first and foremost in Holland.

[Traverso]

I bought it at full price more than ten years ago, - got some of the last (maybe even the last) comercially available items. And, yes Kooiman's importance is only acknowledged by professionals and a small group of amateurs first and foremost in Holland.

It was 45 € for me,lucky me .There is not  one scratch not even on the cases ! There must be still some wandering around but it is not certain for how long.

Good as new !

https://www.marktplaats.nl/v/cd-s-en-dvd-s/cd-s-klassiek/m1846647750-orgel-cd-js-bach-vol-8-ewald-kooiman-weissenau

[classicalgeek]

Great stuff indeed. I strongly recommend this other Dusapin release:

I saw that disc when checking out the selections on Spotify and was curious about it. I'll add it to my backlog.

This ultra cheapo, anonymous looking 4-cd set comprises symphonies 25, 28, 29, 33, 35, 36, 38-41. Just as essential IMO is symphony 34, but that doesn't really matter. It's one of the unsung glories of the catalogue. The excellent SWF Baden-Baden orchestra is conducted by its then chief conductor Ernest Bour. The French conductor was known as a specialist and huge advocate of contemporary music, creating works by Berg, Bartok, Dallapiccola, Gorecki, Berio etc. Here he imparts bracing energy and immaculate articulation (those swirling string descents !) as well as a welcome attention to winds and brass lines. Recordings hail from 1964-1978 and are spaciously, warmly engineered. Beats any set as well as most single versions, esp. of symphonies 35 and 38, which are unmatched.

I have that set, and I agree it contains some real treasures!

TD:
George Tsontakis
*Mirologhia
October
#Violin Concerto
*Colin Currie, percussion
#Cho-Liang Lin, violin
Albany Symphony Orchestra
David Alan Miller
(on Spotify)



At least on this initial exposure, I just couldn't warm up to Tsontakis's music. I'll keep trying, of course...

[Linz]

Georg Solti Conducting Schuberts 9th Symphony an Mendelssohns 4th