What are you listening 2 now?

[Biffo]

Turina:

La Procesion del Rocio, Op 9
Rapsodia sinfonica, Op 66 with Martin Roscoe piano
Danzas gitanas, Op 37

BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena

[JBS]

Malipiero in the morning

[André]

Henri Marteau: Violin Concerto in C major (the 1st. movement only)

That first movement is a concerto unto itself. I love it. A most excellent disc.

[Madiel]

Dvorak cello concerto: Schiff/Davis again.



I find this sufficiently satisfying that I don't need to rush out to get another version (though I might one day).

I've also made a note to myself to listen to this one and not subject myself to Tortelier again.

[Madiel]

Haydn, op.76/1



First listen to the Mosaiques in an op.76 quartet, where I've been imprinting on the Kodaly Qt version for 30 years.  And it's very good, though the differences are interesting. The Kodaly actually take the 1st movement a fraction faster, whereas in the slow movement it's noticeably the other way, and the Mosaiques are a fraction faster in the (very scherzo-like) as well.

I'm perfectly happy with either version to be honest. It's such superb music.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Creston SY2. 

[Todd]

I had misgivings about juicing up Chopin's Nocturnes by adding strings, even if the pianist is of YES quality, and my misgivings were well-founded.  The augmented Nocturnes do not work.  To be sure, YES' contributions are of a very high caliber, which becomes more pronounced in the few Nocturnes recorded properly.  They are tip-top.  Hopefully, she returns to the Nocturnes later and makes a proper recording.

[Spotted Horses]

Brahms, Piano Trio No 1, Op 8. Beauz Arts Trio, Philips



It's been a while since I listened to this music and I would not have been able to bring the themes to mind before listening. But putting it on, it was like reuniting with an old friend. So many wonderful things in this music, the witty scherzo stands out. Beaux Arts is dependable, but perhaps to staid in this music, for my taste. My default recording is the Florestan Trio, although my first recording (on Telefunken LP) was the Haydn Trio Wien, but I've never seen that one on CD.

Also, I read that this is the second published version of the Trio (revised late in Brahms' life), but I haven't come across a recording of the first version, which presumably has more romantic indiscretion. Anyone know of one?

[Florestan]

Also, I read that this is the second published version of the Trio (revised late in Brahms' life), but I haven't come across a recording of the first version, which presumably has more romantic indiscretion. Anyone know of one?

[Operafreak]

Schumann & Grieg: Piano Concertos

Krystian Zimerman (piano)- Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan

[SonicMan46]

Tchaikovsky, Peter - Symphonies Nos. 4-6 w/ Evgeny Mravinsky and the Leningrad PO (now the St. Petersburg PO) - amazing 60 year old recordings - Dave

[VonStupp]

Carl Nielsen
Aladdin Suite
Maskarade Overture

San Francisco SO & Chorus - Herbert Blomstedt

After revisiting some really fine symphonies (1-3) from Nielsen in the last day or so, these seem mere makeweights in comparison. Very different in scope.

I may check out Rozhdestvensky in the complete Aladdin though.

VS

[Mirror Image]

Pounds the table, it's an excellent recording of a very beautiful work, one of my favourites by Zemlinsky.

I'll match it:

Alexander Zemlinsky
Sinfonietta

Yes, indeed. I'll probably go into a Zemlinsky phase pretty soon since I've been meaning to get back to his music for quite some time. A fantastic composer in every way.

[Mirror Image]

Schoenberg: 5 Pieces for Orchestra
Boulez: BBC

Excellent! For me, this is Five Pieces for Orchestra to beat. This is the performance that left the biggest impression on me. Boulez was "in the zone" so to speak in this performance.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Ligeti
Lontano
Berliners
Jonathan Nott

From this set -

[Traverso]

César Franck


CD 2

[Spotted Horses]

Interesting, thanks.

[Lisztianwagner]

It has been noted that Schoenberg's two greatest religious works were unfinished, yet do not seem that way!

Also interesting is that an "A" in Die Jakobsleiter is the last note of the work, parallel with the final note "A" which Moses has on the word "fehlt" (is lacking), (while the violins hold an F#).

Although Schoenberg's literary mind had created much more text for both works, his musical instincts told him otherwise.  Yearning for theosophic revelations, it would seem, symbolized by the lonely note "A" fading away slowly (A-F# in Moses und Aron), is the connection between the works.

Agreed, to be unfinished, their endings sound in a terribly good way, haunting and thrilling. That both Die Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron share the same final note (A/A-F#) is a very interesting aspect, as if almost they shared a connection, though it is certainly accidental because anyway Schönberg's intention was to finish the compositions, coming back over the years to work on them.
Yes, it would seem, since he tried to express such a transcendental matter with a logical and precise technique like dodecaphony (or almost dodecaphony in the case of Die Jakobsleiter); there may be also a curious parallelism between his struggle in completing and Moses/Aron dualism (a very clear and pure idea that it is hard to express by concepts to be understandable and the necessity of using images that make that pure idea worse anyway and so make people far from it).

Now:

Arnold Schönberg
Moses und Aron, 2^ act

[Florestan]

Interesting, thanks.

You're welcome. The original is some 10 minutes longer. Other than that, my ears have not been able to detect any spectacular differences between the two; I believe that the claim, which I've often seen, that the revision is so substantial as to make the final versions basically a different work, is outlandish.

[Linz]

Ernest Ansermet, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande  Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition as the main piece with Ravel La Valse and Respighi Rossiniana after Rossini as fillers