What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

Allan Pettersson: Symphony No.7. Gerd Albrecht, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Heard it was his birthday, decided to give this a spin. This is weird, weird music. Very dark, very repetitive, full of ostinati. Can't quite make heads or tails of it just yet, but I reckon I'm glad to have heard it. (And I hear this is his most accessible symphony! ) In any case, happy birthday to the great Swedish symphonist.

Great work! His finest symphony I think.

[Que]

Morning listening:

[Harry]

Hieronymus Praetorius.
CD II .

[Operafreak]

Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 & other works for solo instrument and orchestra

Jean-Jacques Kantorow (violin) & Heini Kärkkäinen (piano)-Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow & Kees Bakels

[Harry]

Carl Loewe.
Symphonies No 1 & 2.

[vandermolen]

Malcolm Arnold: Homage to the Queen (dated April-May 1953) - on the night of the coronation of QE2 (2nd June 1953) it was presented by the Sadler's Wells Ballet (now Royal Ballet). Humphrey Searle had been originally offered the commission but recommended Malcolm Arnold as a faster worker. It was Arnold's first ballet:

[Florestan]

[Papy Oli]

Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea (Jacobs)
Act I

First listen to the work.

[Traverso]

Bach


Vol.5


CD 2

[Lisztianwagner]

Arnold Schönberg
Chamber Symphony No.1

Alban Berg
Chamber Concerto



Giuseppe Sinopoli & Staatskapelle Dresden

[Harry]

Gifted by a friend!
Michael Praetorius.
Hieronymus Praetorius III. ( No family of Michael)
CD I from this set.

[Traverso]

At the moment I am in love with Bach's organ works and it is because of Bram Beekman with his beautiful recordings that I almost kneel. Ultimate joy with these beautiful recordings that I would recommend to everyone.
There was a time when Koopman was my reference, but despite all the merits of these recordings I now give in to a less overwhelming approach, where the dust settles and the gates of heaven become visible.
I have many sets of which, strangely enough, Walcha keeps its place alongside other greats.
I am not much of a organ listener, of course I love the organ but the music and the performer will be the deciding factor.
In that respect you are doubly blessed with this set with a choice of beautiful organs.

[Mandryka]

First listen to this CD (the PC4 on this occasion— the VC-turned-into-a-PC probably tomorrow):



I've been an admirer of Gianluca Cascioli since his debut album on DG was issued when he was a teenager. To have him in a warhorse concerto was a tempting proposition....but, this is an experiment ("fresh Beethoven" says the blurb). Cascioli works with a highly embellished manuscript of the solo part, apparently in Beethoven's handwriting, and that may or may not have been played in public by the composer. The unfamiliar patterns coming from the piano may be interesting (and they start right at the beginning of the piece), but I'm not convinced that they add anything to the intrinsic quality of this great work (apart from bravura pyrotechnics). If we add to that the HIP-ish approach of conductor Riccardo Minasi and his Ensemble Resonanz, with all those acellerandi and ritardandi, and crescendi and decrescendi, dry attacks, etc., etc., we have a performance that, as one Amazon reviewer puts it, is seasickness inducing (I now realise that this is the effect that, in an entirely different context, Mitsuko Uchida's recording of the Debussy Études has on me).

So, interesting as an experiment? Maybe. Successful? Probably not. Perhaps a second hearing will help me better evaluate the performance, but for now I just find myself longing for Maurizio Pollini and Karl Böhm.

This to me feels as though it's gilding the lily in the first movement of the 4th concerto. I like the orchestral playing though. And the sound.

[Harry]

British Music for Strings.
Volume I.

[Lisztianwagner]

Anton Webern
Im Sommerwind
Passacaglia



Giuseppe Sinopoli & Staatskapelle Dresden

[j winter]

French music today, with a large helping of Saint-Saens.  First time hearing the piano trios, lovely works...

[Operafreak]

Schumann, Reimann & Mendelssohn: Intermezzo

Anna Lucia Richter (soprano)-Schumann Quartet

[SonicMan46]

Benda, Franz (1709-1786) - Violin Sonatas w/ Hans-Joachim Berg on Baroque violin & Naoko Akutagawa on harpsichord - new acquisition but also own the Anton Steck recording added below - Franz Benda was a virtuoso violinist admired by many - he wrote at least 160 'violin sonatas', a smaller number also lost according to the Douglas A. Lee classification HERE - there are a total of 11 works on these two discs and seems to be just one overlap looking at the key signatures and movement names.  Dave

 

[Karl Henning]

At the moment I am in love with Bach's organ works and it is because of Bram Beekman with his beautiful recordings that I almost kneel. Ultimate joy with these beautiful recordings that I would recommend to everyone.
There was a time when Koopman was my reference, but despite all the merits of these recordings I now give in to a less overwhelming approach, where the dust settles and the gates of heaven become visible.
I have many sets of which, strangely enough, Walcha keeps its place alongside other greats.
I am not much of a organ listener, of course I love the organ but the music and the performer will be the deciding factor.
In that respect you are doubly blessed with this set with a choice of beautiful organs.

Very nice!

[Irons]

Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole

Notable not only the precision of the Chicago Symphony under Reiner, but he is actually smiling on the cover. Not a occurrence often witnessed!