What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Thank you Harry. Yes, it was very nice and the CD player was a bonus!
Now playing - Philip Spratley 'Cargoes: Suite for Orchestra'
This CD might appeal to you too if you don't already know it. The Sinfonia Pascale is especially fine (sections of which remind me of the music of the Finnish composer Einar Englund) although I'm enjoying the shorter works as well.
Review
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Apr/Spratley_orchestral_v12_TOCC0088.htm

As you might imagine I have this CD already, and I concur, it is a fine release.

[Harry]

Johann Sebastian Bach.
The Well tempered Clavier.
CD IV.
BWV 882-893.

Bob van Asperen plays on a Christian Zell Harpsichord, Hamburg, 1728.

Both versions in my collection of the WTC I have, are done now, and I will concentrate in the coming months, which other versions I am going to listen after this. There are many recommendations, and I must cut a clear path, otherwise I drown in the available versions. Will be continued.

[Traverso]

 Shostakovich

Funeral & Triumphal Prelude

Symphony No.8

Novorossiisk Chimes

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

[Biffo]

Wagner: The Valkyrie - Act I - English National Opera Orchestra conducted by Reginald Goodall with Alberto Remedios Siegmund, Margaret Curphy Sieglinde and Clifford Grant Hunding

[Harry]

Giovanni Battista Martini.
Complete Organ Works.

CD I from 9.

Manuel Tomadin plays on a G. Callido & A. Callido-Organ, 1812. Pieve di St. Floriano in Val di Zoldo, Italy.

[Madiel]

Pohjola's Daughter

[Todd]

[prémont]

Giovanni Battista Martini.
Complete Organ Works.

CD I from 9.

Manuel Tomadin plays on a G. Callido & A. Callido-Organ, 1812. Pieve di St. Floriano in Val di Zoldo, Italy.

What I have heard of Padre Martini's organ- and harpsichord works is written in a relatively conservative contrapuntal style and in a way attractive for that reason. Another attractive thing about this set may be the many historical organs used for the set. So I'm of course interested in your impressions.

[Mirror Image]

First-Listen Sunday:

Piston
Symphony No. 5
National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic
David Alan Miller

[DavidW]

Now that is an intimidating pair. Love the Shostakovich, but I don't know the Pettersson as well I probably should. After the 8th, his symphonies just kind start running together to my ears.

Same, well almost.  There is a ferocity about the 10th and 11th that is unmatched (though I still prefer 6-8 overall).  But everything after 11 is kind of blah for me.

[Mirror Image]

Same, well almost.  There is a ferocity about the 10th and 11th that is unmatched (though I still prefer 6-8 overall).  But everything after 11 is kind of blah for me.

Yeah, I seem to recall enjoying the 11th, especially since it was on the shorter side --- it's intensity doesn't wear you out like say the 9th, for example, that just goes on and on. What's nice about the 6th, 7th and 8th are their lyrical moments, especially in the 7th. I'll never understand why at least the 7th isn't more widely performed and not a part of the concert repertoire. It's a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned and I think it would move many concert goers.

[Operafreak]

Arriaga: The Three String Quartets- Aeolian Quartet

[Harry]

What I have heard of Padre Martini's organ- and harpsichord works is written in a relatively conservative contrapuntal style and in a way attractive for that reason. Another attractive thing about this set may be the many historical organs used for the set. So I'm of course interested in your impressions.

In this you are right to a T. And yes the main attraction for me are the historical organs. The music is a bit outside my comfort zone, already firmly with his feet in the classical era. Tomadin, it must be said on this first CD makes a strong case for Martini's music. Articulate, with a steady pace, and he lets space between the notes, every detail is heard in all its glory. The Organ sounds fine and up to the task, the tuning feels right, and there is really nothing to criticize. But its only the first CD.

[Karl Henning]

You're probably not wrong. I've done it before with Mahler. But I can't help it; sometimes his music is all I want to hear.

I used to know a girl who was allergic to strawberries. But she loved strawberries. Once a year, she would eat a pint of strawberries. She would "pay for it," but she always felt that it was worth it.

TD:
Earlier than the Stravinsky & Tchaikovsky, although I neglected to report:

Bartók
Pf cto № 1, Sz. 83
Pf cto № 3, Sz. 116

Schoenberg
Pf cto, Op. 42
5 pf pcs, Op. 23
Peter Serkin, pf

[Karl Henning]

Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4 
    Jaap van Zweden, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra

I've got that box, which overall I like. I don't recall being crazy about the symphonies, though. What's your take?

[Mirror Image]

You're probably not wrong. I've done it before with Mahler. But I can't help it; sometimes his music is all I want to hear.

Oh, I quite understand --- I'm just teasing you. I remember one time I went through a long Shostakovich phase where I played his music almost everyday --- one piece after another. I got burned out for sure, but, man, I learned so much about his music during the process. I'll probably be repeating this process again soon. There are some composers that one just needs to burnout on so only they can come back a year later and do it all over again because they love the music so much. I did this with Debussy, too, which is how he became my favorite composer (my numero uno) as there were parts of his oeuvre that I knew absolutely nothing about until I purchased the Warner and DG Complete sets. I always had an attraction to Impressionism and it's general aesthetic, but I had always kind of struggled with Debussy and I wanted to find out why this was the case. Well, this all ended up being worth the effort.

[Mirror Image]

They are a bit ordinary. Neither bad, nor brilliant. I have much better (such as Jochum, Levine or Abbado). But when the randomiser chooses, I merely listen, and it wasn't at all offensive to the ears.

I will never understand the need or desire to do a shuffle on classical music. I either listen to an entire piece or not at all. There have been occasions where I'll want to repeat a movement, but this is only after the entire piece has finished.

[Karl Henning]

They are a bit ordinary. Neither bad, nor brilliant. I have much better (such as Jochum, Levine or Abbado). But when the randomiser chooses, I merely listen, and it wasn't at all offensive to the ears.

Fair enow.

TD:

[Karl Henning]

I will never understand the need or desire to do a shuffle on classical music. I either listen to an entire piece or not at all. There have been occasions where I'll want to repeat a movement, but this is only after the entire piece has finished.

Obviously, anyone may enjoy or choose either method. Although it is a while since I've done so, I've really enjoyed such a "randomized" listening experience. How else do I enjoy the exquisite wrench of going from a Chopin Ballade directly to a movement from a Carter string quartet, and then to a Captain Beefheart song?

[Iota]

Disc 1
Matteo Messori (organ)

How on earth did Bach keep churning out such magnificent stuff again and again so relentlessly? It's simply breathtaking. Sometimes I forget. I don't know these organ works as well as I know the non-organ keyboard pieces, but having just discovered Messori's piano playing on the 'Bach on the piano' thread, he's yet again in joyful form here.