What are you listening 2 now?

[Brian]

Thanks, Todd and David! Unfortunately you are making a purchase more likely! I was hoping to avoid because I had successfully collected new or used copies of 27-28 of the individual releases.

Cheers for that. Yes, his musical language made it very apparent to me what he was endeavouring to convey simply because he was so effective in doing so.

Some years ago I saw the Navarra Quartet performing that very String Quartet, No. 2, here in Dublin. It was a wonderful experience. As soon as I got home after the recital I ordered this CD so it is a particularly favoured CD in my collection.

I love this one too, especially the Second Quartet, just like you all. A real favorite contemporary quartet.




Usually, when the Dallas Symphony announces the next year's concert program, I immediately stop listening to any music on it, so that when I attend the concert, it will sound fresh, new, and exciting again. However, in May 2024 they are playing Alfredo Casella's Symphony No. 2 (a Dallas premiere, of course) and I can't remember if I have ever heard this piece. My first attempt to listen through the Casella cycle, something like 10 years ago, was a failure. Not sure why. Didn't take a lot of notes back then.

But now, giving it one single listen to check in, I am VERY excited to see the Symphony No. 2 live. This sounds like a mashup of Respighi's Roman Festivals, Mahler's Fifth through Seventh Symphonies, and the Russian romantic music of Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Glière. Which is...a WILD combination. And a total indulgence. And probably incredibly fun in the concert hall. What cool stuff!

A few weeks ago I was absolutely blown away by his Concerto for Orchestra. Now it's time to revisit Symphony No. 3, which I remember not liking a decade ago. By the way, the Chandos series is so much better than the Naxos one, with its rather amateurish orchestra. There is a big difference between second-rate players earnestly trying their best and first-rate players earnestly trying their best.

[Traverso]

Mahler



Maazel is the only conductor from whom I have two complete Mahler sets. I am very satisfied with the recordings he made with the Wiener Philharmoniker, but Maazel thought otherwise, was not satisfied and recorded them again but now with the Philharmonia orchestra. This naturally makes me very curious how Maazel's vision has developed further. The question is which recordings I ultimately find the most   attractive, or maybe,  quite possible that I appreciate both equally.

Starting with his first symphony,all recordings are live.

[foxandpeng]

Antonin Dvorak
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 2
Neeme Jarvi
Scottish RSNO
Chandos

Excursus to keep fresh.

Edit: I'm afraid to say, this was really uninspiring. It just seems overlong and a bit wallpaper-y. My Philistinism, perhaps, but it neither held my attention nor left me wanting another listen.My bad, no doubt.

[Tsaraslondon]

The lion's share of this disc is given over to a reissue of a recital originally issued in 1965, shortly after Caballé had caused a sensation replacing Marilyn Horne as Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall. Here she sings Casta diva and its cabaletta from Norma, the final scene from Il Pirata, and arias from Roberto Devereux, Lucrezia Borgia and Maria de Rohan. The voice is absolutely gorgeous, velvety and rich and mercifully free of excessive vibrato, and, though we get a few of her trademark floated pianissmi, she is not as apt to overindulge them as she was wont to do later in her career. She isn't a perfect technician (her trill is a bit hit and miss and she doesn't negotiate florid music as nimbly as Callas or Sutherland) but you'd go a long way to hear singing of this quality nowadays.

RCA have added here Mira, o Norma from her studio recording of the opera, with an uncredited Cossotto, and Al dolce guidami from Anna Bolena, taken from a slightly later operatic recital, recorded in what sounds like an aircraft hanger in Barcelona. As we only get the first part of the scene, it rather feels that the disc ends in mid air, but the singing is absolutely beautiful. This is Caballé at her considerable best.

[Linz]

Strauss Horn Concerto No.1 in E flat, Op.11 and Horn concerto No. 2 in E flat (1942), Denis Brain horn, Philharmonia Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch

[Artem]

Violin Sonata No.3 and "Haydn" Variations

[Mapman]

Usually, when the Dallas Symphony announces the next year's concert program, I immediately stop listening to any music on it, so that when I attend the concert, it will sound fresh, new, and exciting again. However, in May 2024 they are playing Alfredo Casella's Symphony No. 2 (a Dallas premiere, of course) and I can't remember if I have ever heard this piece. My first attempt to listen through the Casella cycle, something like 10 years ago, was a failure. Not sure why. Didn't take a lot of notes back then.

But now, giving it one single listen to check in, I am VERY excited to see the Symphony No. 2 live. This sounds like a mashup of Respighi's Roman Festivals, Mahler's Fifth through Seventh Symphonies, and the Russian romantic music of Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Glière. Which is...a WILD combination. And a total indulgence. And probably incredibly fun in the concert hall. What cool stuff!

A few weeks ago I was absolutely blown away by his Concerto for Orchestra. Now it's time to revisit Symphony No. 3, which I remember not liking a decade ago. By the way, the Chandos series is so much better than the Naxos one, with its rather amateurish orchestra. There is a big difference between second-rate players earnestly trying their best and first-rate players earnestly trying their best.

I saw Noseda conduct Casella's 2nd in Philadelphia a few years ago. It was a great concert. Hopefully the Dallas one will be similarly enjoyable! It's also nice to see a different conductor (DANIELE RUSTIONI) promoting Casella.

I liked Casella's 3rd when I listened a few months ago. I have not yet heard the Concerto for Orchestra; I'll keep it in mind!

[Traverso]

I just listened to fragments of the first Mahler symphony with Maazel and the Wiener Philharmoniker and my preference goes to the recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
More coherent and less idiosyncrasies. The recording sound of the Philharmonia is excellent and at times superior to the Sony recording.It is my first impression but a clear one.

[Brian]

The one part of Casella's Third Symphony that I like more than the Second is the very ending (i.e. the last 60-90 seconds). The ending of the Second is quite over-the-top and drawn-out, like he doesn't want it to be over.

The rest of the later symphony features somewhat less memorable melodic material and is somewhat more derivative of Mahler. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't immediately like it as strongly as some of the other Casella works I have been revisiting.

[Linz]

Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica' and Fantasia for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra in C minor, Op. 80, Konwitschny, Staatskapelle Dresden

[Madiel]

Antonin Dvorak
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 2
Neeme Jarvi
Scottish RSNO
Chandos

Excursus to keep fresh.

Edit: I'm afraid to say, this was really uninspiring. It just seems overlong and a bit wallpaper-y. My Philistinism, perhaps, but it neither held my attention nor left me wanting another listen.My bad, no doubt.

I wouldn't write yourself off as a Philistine when Dvorak himself wasn't very impressed by his works from this period.

[foxandpeng]

I wouldn't write yourself off as a Philistine when Dvorak himself wasn't very impressed by his works from this period.

Really? That's oddly encouraging. It has been many years since I last spent time with his music, so I recognise my lack of familiarity. More exposure, more appreciation. I also remember that I liked some symphonies better than others, though. The Romantic idiom doesn't always appeal to me as much as more contemporary compositions, so that's also a thing.

Always a school day, I guess.

[Papy Oli]

Eventually found it on Idagio, the only Vasks album cover-less for some reason

Vasks - String Quartet No. 1 (Navarra Quartet}

[Florestan]

It just seems overlong

If there's any consolation to you, Danny, I really think the above describes very well a lot of early Dvorak, including a handful of string quartets. 

My Philistinism, perhaps

Greetings from a fellow Philistine! 

[Lisztianwagner]

Franz Schreker
Der Ferne Klang

Gerd Albrecht & Radio-Symphonie Orchester Berlin

[foxandpeng]

If there's any consolation to you, Danny, I really think the above describes very well a lot of early Dvorak, including a handful of string quartets. 

Greetings from a fellow Philistine! 

Thank you. I feel less deficient standing in such company 🙂

[Mandryka]

Antonin Dvorak
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 2
Neeme Jarvi
Scottish RSNO
Chandos

Excursus to keep fresh.

Edit: I'm afraid to say, this was really uninspiring. It just seems overlong and a bit wallpaper-y. My Philistinism, perhaps, but it neither held my attention nor left me wanting another listen.My bad, no doubt.

That's like the third quartet for me.

[foxandpeng]

That's like the third quartet for me.

I might be taking a rain check on the Dvorak SQs for a bit, then 

NP:

Nicolai Miaskovsky
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 21
Svetlanov
State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia

Fourth time through for 21. Beginning to gather some familiarity with this now. I've found this symphony harder to connect to than others, surprisingly. It feels like a change of style, somehow, which I think has thrown me. Perhaps because there are fewer light moments? Fewer folk or pastoral passages, maybe? It certainly feels like a more modern symphony than some of its predecessors. Not in a bad way, just in a way. Perhaps it is simply more complex? Maybe it's just Wednesday 🤔

Again, purely subjective and open to correction.

What is worth commenting on, is the quality of liner notes included in the Alto booklet, written by our own Vandermolen. Extremely informative and thoughtfully incisive. Credit where such is due.

[Florestan]

Thank you. I feel less deficient standing in such company 🙂

The funniest thing is, we are both in Dvorak's own company, for here is what he himself wrote:

Schubert's case, in fact, is not an exception to, but an illustration of, the general rule that symphonies are made too long. When Bruckner's eighth Symphony was produced in Vienna last winter, the Philharmonic Society had to devote a whole concert to it. The experiment has not been repeated anywhere, and there can be no doubt that this symphony would have a better chance of making its way into the world if it were shorter. This remark has general application. We should return to the symphonic dimensions approved by Haydn and Mozart.

(all emphasis mine)

Source: https://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/dvorak-on-schubert/

[Florestan]

That's like the third quartet for me.

The Third --- and the two preceding it.