What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Antonin Dvorak.
CD 5.
Symphony No. 8 in G major.
Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner.

[Lisztianwagner]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.7

Leonard Bernstein & NY Philharmonic

[foxandpeng]

Allan Pettersson
Symphonies 10 and 11
Alun Francis
Radio-Philharmonie Hanover des NDR
CPO

Followed up the tenth symphony with the eleventh, by Allan Pettersson.



The two were written at the same time, when Pettersson was hospitalized for a kidney ailment. The tenth is more violently convulsive, the eleventh more contemplative, but still saturated with angst. I struggle with the "formlessness" of Pettersson's music, but I came away with some impression of what the music is about.

Joining you. First listen to 10 & 11 in a long time, so expecting to have to concentrate and repeat. Nightmares, abandonment, brass and brutality ahead...

*buckles up*

[Harry]

Antonin Dvorak.
Symphony No. 9 in E minor.
Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner.

[bhodges]

Suk - Fantastic Scherzo, Op. 25 (Prague Symphony Orchestra / Jiri Belohlavek, conductor). Loving it. Haven't heard any Suk for awhile, and that's not good. 

-Bruce

[Todd]

The fourth disc equivalent from:



Lionheart's Spanish disc is included in the budget big box, it turns out, so it only took a few days to hear it.  Should be in the Renaissance box rather than the Early Music box, but whatcha gonna do.

The disc mixes mostly Guerrero and Morales.  All recordings of this repertoire are welcome, and of course the main attraction is Morales.  Lionheart sound nifty, but in terms of all-male singing, though the work is different, it lacks the vocal differentiation and sheer beauty of Chanticleer, and in this composer's music, one desires overwhelming beauty.  One will accept merely beautiful singing as well. 

[Daverz]

Gustav Holst's
The Planets

Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic

Not one of my favourite recordings of the piece: I don't think Herbert really 'gets' the idiom and the orchestra sound a bit ragged at times, surprisingly. But it's enjoyable enough, I guess. (Except for the 'I vow to thee, my country' tune in Jupiter. That sounds pretty dreadful: very four-square and dull, dull, dull... Yuck).

If you are willing to give Herbie another chance, I think the Vienna recording on Decca is the one to have

.

[Harry]

Johann Pachelbel.
Complete Organ Works.
Volume III.
CD II.
Psalmlieder II.
Christian Schmitt, Organ.
Organs: Klosterkirche Rheinau, Main organ, 1715. Choir organ, 1710/47. and the Johannes Creutzburg organ 1735, in St. Cyriakus, Duderstadt.

[TheGSMoeller]

How's this set pleasing you, Greg?

Morning, Karl. Hope all is well with you!
I think Slatkin/LPO are great with Elgar, very exciting performances! Actually listening to the 2nd symphony from this set at the moment.
I find Slatkin successful with English symphonies, similar with his RVW's with the Philharmonia.

P.S. Fun to see on Twitter your friends were performing some of your chamber music! Perhaps we will be able to hear it sometime

[vandermolen]

Boris Lyatoshinsky: Symphony No.3

[Papy Oli]

Hello All,

Hindemith - Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
(Bernstein, NYP, Concerto Edition)

[ritter]

Some home-grown music this afternoon: Enrique Granados' Goyescas, played by Jean-François Heisser.



From this excellent set of Spanish music:

[Roasted Swan]

Morning, Karl. Hope all is well with you!
I think Slatkin/LPO are great with Elgar, very exciting performances! Actually listening to the 2nd symphony from this set at the moment.
I find Slatkin successful with English symphonies, similar with his RVW's with the Philharmonia.

I would agree - obviously this is repertoire the LPO know VERY well but these are impressive performances and very well engineered.  I don't think the 2 concerto recordings are in the same league (still good just not as good) but all the other orchestral works are very good.  I like that Slatkin uses the organ at the end of Symphony 2.  Personally I find his RVW more variable but this Elgar more consistent.  The companion Apostles/The Kingdom are good too.... I wonder why he never recorded Gerontius?

[Papy Oli]

Strauss - Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.

Nearing the end of my first and a very enjoyable traversal of the Kempe box. Another musical "block" tumbling down for me with Strauss.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Hello All,

Hindemith - Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
(Bernstein, NYP, Concerto Edition)

Nice!

Rorem: Symphony No. 3

One of the great American Thirds. I have no idea why I didn't remember how spectacular this work is.

Excellent music!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

JSB organ works: Piet Wiersma.

[Lisztianwagner]

Strauss - Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.

Nearing the end of my first and a very enjoyable traversal of the Kempe box. Another musical "block" tumbling down for me with Strauss.

Pounds the table, Kempe's Strauss is certainly amazing!

[Florestan]

Hildegard von Bingen


The Ave Maria,O auctrix vite is of a breathtaking beauty and therefore more than worth having this CD. The music is far removed from the atrocities that plague our time and offers a different perspective on what life can be.

Listening on YT. It's something else indeed.

(And I take "atrocities" not only in the political sense, but cultural and social as well.)

[Brian]

Respighi's totally enjoyable youthful piano concerto in A minor - not a lot of hints of the mature composer to come, but a lot of really attractive music packed into a satisfying 21-minute framework. Then, the Toccata, which is not a 20-minute toccata but a neo-baroque, Bach-inspired prelude and toccata (including, near the start, a lovely slow duet between piano and cello). The proper fast repeated notes only start near the end, when the piano gets a very short cadenza that prepares everyone for the finale. Overall, a less satisfying and less structured piece than the concerto.

The 9-minute Slavic fantasy has a slow introduction and then a fast episode that sounds like it's based on one of the dances from The Bartered Bride. The piano part occasionally has bits of Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody color and virtuosity.

Konstantin Scherbakov's album of the solo Respighi piano music is extraordinary, so it is no surprise that he also has loads of fun here. Compared to the solo piano album, this is more of a stream than a buy, but I really like the concerto.

[vandermolen]

Kokkonen Symphony No.4
My favourite work by JK - it has a searching quality which grips from the start. Sections reminded me of the music of another fine Finnish composer Einar Englund: