What are you listening 2 now?

[JBS]

I am afraid you are the only one dear Jeffrey,   

Not at all, not at all!
TD
First listen to Mme Farrenc. Composer I am most reminded of at the moment (which happens to be the Scherzo of the Third Symphony) is Mendelssohn.

[Symphonic Addict]

Dutilleux: Piano Sonata

Phenomenal work. As far as 20th-century piano sonatas go, this runs to the fore IMO.

[Spotted Horses]

Dutilleux: Piano Sonata

Phenomenal work. As far as 20th-century piano sonatas go, this runs to the fore IMO.

...and Queffelec is a major talent.

[AnotherSpin]

Op. 106

[vandermolen]

Rachmaninov: Symphony No.1/The Isle of the Dead
LSO/Previn

[Todd]

[SonicMan46]

Bach, CPE - Solo KB works - yesterday and today - will go through half of the 26 disc box - left a more detailed post in the CPE Thread with other performers on a variety of instruments and many reviews.  Dave

[AnotherSpin]

[Spotted Horses]

Mozart, Symphony No 31 ("Paris"), Pinnock



This symphony seems to cater to Paris fashion, more emphasis on noise than subtlety. Nicely performed. Listened again to the first movement of the Symphony No 30, more to my liking.

[Roasted Swan]

Rachmaninov: Symphony No.1/The Isle of the Dead
LSO/Previn

very good Isle of the Dead pretty "meh" Symphony 1 I reckon......

[Irons]

very good Isle of the Dead pretty "meh" Symphony 1 I reckon......

Well, that has knocked me back! Previn's recording of the 1st I love with a passion. Good image of Rachmaninov on cover of vinyl.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Well, that has knocked me back! Previn's recording of the 1st I love with a passion. Good image of Rachmaninov on cover of vinyl.

Looks like he might actually be smiling there? 

Soggy day here...not certain what to put on--particularly as I'm wishing that I was off in sunny Rome watching tennis right now.

PD

[Brian]

(cross-post from New Music Log)



If there is music with a funnier backstory, or an album with a funnier booklet note, someone please tell me about it. This album focuses on, yes, music composed to celebrate the Eurostar train from London to Paris and Brussels, and the completion of the Channel Tunnel. There is a fanfare for the first train to Brussels, a fanfare for the Queen's first departure to Paris, and an extra fanfare composed because the composer was notified that actually the Queen would be coming from Paris to London. (And then the plan got switched again, so this one was not performed in the actual train station.)

The main piece, Royal Eurostar by Paul Patterson, is a 12-minute brass and percussion work (to which organ was added for the CD, played by Wayne Marshall) that was meant to be played as the Queen and her entourage boarded the first train through the Chunnel, in the hope that it would reach its climax right as the train left the station. You can't make this stuff up.

Anyway, it's very grand, with brass writing influenced by Gabrieli, the English baroque sackbutts, Respighi, Hindemith, Persichetti, etc. alike. There are sets of timpani to both the left and right, and distant rafters trumpet fanfares. The studio recording sound picture had to be conceived to replicate the real-life performance with musicians on various train platforms. I hope you like fanfares, because there are a LOT of fanfares. Le Marseillaise gets quoted, of course. The climax is definitely grandiose enough that I can tell when the train is leaving the station (around 10') - pity the Queen didn't get to hear the best part. After the climax, the organ and dueling timpani provide a dramatic outro. This is a very silly piece, with lots of huffing and puffing, but I found it endearing and entertaining.

The fanfares are short - a couple minutes each - and generally blend a mix of "national" melodies together (plenty more Marseillaise) in a baroque-sounding musical language of intertwined counterpoint, glittering brightness, and ascending scales.

Also on the disc: a neobaroque suite by Derek Bourgeois commemorating the 300th anniversary of the arrival of William & Mary to the UK; the very dutiful solemn Elgar piece "Sursum corda"; Richard Strauss' fanfare written for the Knights of St. John; and the one well-known piece on the disc, Hindemith's Konzertmusik. (The Hindemith and Elgar works borrow the Philharmonia orchestra.) I quite like the Bourgeois piece but must point out that the melody for "The Death of Mary" sounds a lot like the jazz standard "Someday My Prince Will Come." The Strauss is suitably solemn and grandiose. The Hindemith performance is rather slow (15% shorter than Steinberg at 18:30), but features bold and blazing brass playing.

But let's be honest: all 3 of us who have ever heard this album listened to it because of the Eurostar music. Whatever. It's kinda fun! I'll probably never play it again, but I liked it this time. This is the kind of fun we can have now that Hyperion is on streaming!

[Roasted Swan]

Well, that has knocked me back! Previn's recording of the 1st I love with a passion. Good image of Rachmaninov on cover of vinyl.

Sorry to do that!  For me it really is one of the very few Previn recordings of just about anything that I don't love.  You've got me doubting myself now - I'll need to go and relisten!

[Spotted Horses]

Not at all, not at all!
TD
First listen to Mme Farrenc. Composer I am most reminded of at the moment (which happens to be the Scherzo of the Third Symphony) is Mendelssohn.

I listened to that relatively recently, and it stuck me as evoking Beethoven, perhaps Berlioz. Mendelssohn wouldn't be far away. I think this recording is more impressive than alternatives on cpo.

[Que]

[Brian]

Yeah, I think if anything Farrenc's symphonies are even more muscular and dramatic than most Mendelssohn symphonies (the exception being his First perhaps).

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Reza Vali: The Being of Love. @Traverso you may like this recording!

[JBS]

Yeah, I think if anything Farrenc's symphonies are even more muscular and dramatic than most Mendelssohn symphonies (the exception being his First perhaps).

Berlioz and Beethoven comparisons would be fair--but that particular Scherzo kept reminding me of the music for Midsummer Night's Dream.

[Symphonic Addict]

Widor: Organ Symphonies 5 and 6