What are you listening 2 now?

[Le Buisson Ardent]

NP:

Ravel
Daphnis et Chloé
LSO
Pierre Monteux



I haven't listened to this ballet in years. Truth be told, it's not one of my favorite Ravel works, but it does contain some ravishing music without question and who better to be my musical guide than the man who premiered it: Pierre Monteux.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, 1877 Linz version with revisions - Ed. Robert Haas, Takashi Asahina Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra

Asahina has essentially 3 Bruckner sets This one Pony Canyon, JVC set and the mega set with Jean Jean

[Bachtoven]

[AnotherSpin]

I'm glad to hear you're still able to enjoy music. I guess if the bad guys were bombing us we'd be listening to a lot of the themes from the World War Two movies where we were hitting back - The Dam Busters, 633 Squadron - or at least defying the enemy - Bridge Over The River Kwai, The Great Escape - rather than films about the Blitz bombing campaign against our cities. But then Britain didn't go through the experience of being "liberated" by another bunch of bad guys .

I enjoy or don't enjoy things today in exactly the same way I did before. Things appear and disappear, I am the same as I have always been. Perhaps music (or films, for example) about war are not so interesting now, there is enough war anyway.

[Spotted Horses]

Saygun is a remarkable talent.

[Linz]

Josef Suk Symphony No. 2 "Asrael" National Orchestra of Belgium; Walter Weller

[Le Buisson Ardent]

NP:

Berlioz
Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H. 79
Michèle Losier (mezzo-soprano), Samuel Boden (tenor) & David Soar (bass)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus
Sir Andrew Davis



I was rather saddened to hear of the passing of Andrew Davis. Such a fine conductor. His recent Berlioz series is excellent all-around.

[vandermolen]

Josef Suk Symphony No. 2 "Asrael" National Orchestra of Belgium; Walter Weller

Great work! It's being performed at the Proms this year. If I still lived in London I'd have gone.

[Karl Henning]

Decided to start listening to the set of Bach organ music I recently acquired, Foccroulle. The first piece is the Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV532.



What a great piece. The grinding dissonance and harmonic transformations at the end of the prelude are awe inspiring, to me. The audio in this set is remarkable, based on this piece, the performances brilliant.

I decided to listen to a few of my traditional favorites, Alain II and Weinberger, which were were equally impressive. It is interesting to listen side by side to appreciate how differences in registration can change the character of the music.

Nice! I'm in!

[Karl Henning]

I enjoy or don't enjoy things today in exactly the same way I did before. Things appear and disappear, I am the same as I have always been. Perhaps music (or films, for example) about war are not so interesting now, there is enough war anyway.

Best wishes always!

[Brian]

Just learned MSR is on Qobuz and had to see how my guy James Brawn is doing.

[ritter]

As I go deeper into Harvey Sachs' mammoth biography of Toscanini (I'm now in his years at the Met in New York, and he's just premiered La Fanciulla del West), I thought I'd revisit the conductor's recording of La Mer. It's one of the NBC recordings —from 1950–; an earlier one with the Philadelphia Orchestra is on its way to me from Italy (used, near mint).

It's on CD2 of this valuable 3 CD set of historical Debussy recordings, released by the Aeon label in conjunction with the Musée d'Orsay, where an exhibition was being held in 2012 on the occasion of 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. I was in Paris that year, but missed the exhibition by a couple of days... 

[Le Buisson Ardent]

NP:

Franck
Symphony in D minor
Boston SO
Pierre Monteux

[Ian]

Your avoidance of symphonies with vocals is a bit peculiar, but to each their own.

Why is it peculiar? I mostly avoid them too. It's just a question of taste. I'm a big admirer of RVWs symphonies but I doubt I will ever listen to his first due to the vocals. In general I think it's because the singers sound more like they are yelling to compete with the instruments and the result is cacophonic. RVW's 7th with vocals is fine because they add to the atmosphere of the piece without overwhelming the music.
I have a ticket for a performance of Daphnis & Chloe on Friday, it was supposed to be the Planets but they changed for some reason... I'm not going to bother going despite the fact that I love Ravel's music. The suite No.2 is just so much more enjoyable for me.

[Selig]

Continuing this thread's Foccroulle theme with this.

CD1 recorded at Castaño del Robledo, Huelva, Spain. The organ was built 1750 but the pipework is much older...

[Lisztianwagner]

Béla Bartók
The Miraculous Mandarin

Pierre Boulez & Chicago Symphony Orchestra

[Le Buisson Ardent]

NP:

Janáček
The Fiddler's Child
Elizabeth Layton (violin)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov

[Irons]

Schumann: Piano Sonata No.1



Aware that other Schumann piano pieces are more famous then Op.11 but I am blown away by this work. The first movement is tremendous and time stops still for the second. Third is lighter, or so it seems?! Followed by a big muscular finale.

[Symphonic Addict]

And for something complete different (and rather obscure):

Hristić
The Legend of Ohrid
Radio-Philharmonie Hannover des NDR
Moshe Atzmon

From this OOP recording -



For anyone that likes Khachaturian's Spartacus or Gayane will do well to check out Hristić's The Legend of Ohrid.

A fun disc and the cover art suits the music very well.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

NP:

Rachmaninov
Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28
Yury Martynov

From this OOP set -