What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Camille Saint-Saens.
("His example and his work remain. The man is no more, but his spirit hovers over the world, alive and glorious,and will continue to hover as long as we have orchestras and instruments.)
 
The Complete Etudes.
See for details back cover.
Piers Lane, Piano.

Very well recorded and performed! I like it enormously. These etudes are a cosmos in itself. A multitude of emotions and colours flow in one's ears. It is a bit of a mystery why Saint-Saëns's enjoyable Études are not better known.

[Roasted Swan]

A remarkably diverse but very successful mixed recital programme I've just been listening to and enjoying a lot!;



Opening with meditative Bach and Foulds (which was why I bought the disc in the first place) via upbeat Handel and more Foulds (the miraculous April-England which I posted about recently elsewhere), then the wonderful Beethoven-Liszt Symphony 7 Allegretto and John Corigliano's extended work on the same Beethoven theme before closing with 3 very different Toccatas.  72 minutes well-spent

[SonicMan46]

18th Century American Music on the two recordings below - listening as a Spotify playlist and stimulated by the book A History of American Classical Music - most of the composers of that era were immigrants, mainly from England - American born composers enter the picture in the next century - probably will not purchase these CDs (Spotify is fine) - Dave

P.S. the book was an inexpensive Kindle purchase.

   

[Traverso]

Debussy

preludes book 1
Children's Corner

[Symphonic Addict]

Tubin: Symphony no.1



This symphony does seem a little... unfocused compared to the later ones. The symphonic structure of it is less evident. It's certainly not bad to listen to.

My thoughts exactly. Not an immediate favorite of mine. It sounds somewhat dense and complex, but it has attractiveness enough to cause a good impact.

[Symphonic Addict]

Myaskovsky: Violin Concerto in D minor

One of the most lyrical and "joyful" works by this composer. Even though this performance has its flaws, we can't deny that the soloist and the orchestra play with gusto and enthusiasm.

[Linz]

Felix Mendelssohn  Gade  Octets for Strings, L'Archibudelli & Smithsonian Chamber Players

[DavidW]

This is just part 2. Gielen's performance is especially magical. It reminds me why Gielen is one of my favorite sets.

[Lisztianwagner]

Luigi Dallapiccola
Canti di prigionia
Tempus Destruendi - Tempus Aedificandi

Hans Zender & Ensemble InterContemporain

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, 1878 Version Ed. Robert Haas, Orchestre Métropolitain, Yannick Nézet-Séguin

[DavidW]

There is something magical about listening to Schubert's Impromptus during a thunderstorm. And frankly, the storm can't match Lucchesini's intensity. This is a great recording! I will now eagerly listen to his recordings of the late sonatas.

[kyjo]

Braga Santos: Symphonies 3 and 4

Always a pleasure to revisit these majestic creations. The 4th stands as his best symphony bar none. Some state that it is his 3rd, but I think it suffers from being too much "optimistic". The 4th, however, does feature some moments of drama and mild struggle in the first two movements for necessary contrast, let alone some of the most memorable melodies ever.

Absolutely! Though I enjoy all of Braga Santos' symphonies - even the more challenging 5th and 6th - the 4th, for me, stands as his undoubted masterpiece. As much as any other piece I know, it contains an unstoppable flow of memorable and endearing ideas, one after the other. Though I'm aware that others (such as Hurwitz) rate the 3rd higher, and it's a very fine work in its own right.

[kyjo]

Lekeu: Violin Sonata in G major

A gorgeous sonata rather in the vein of the Franck. This work has been well served on disc, which says, to some extent, how outstanding it is.

Agreed, a wondrous work. Most recently I listened to this excellent recording, where it's enterprisingly coupled with the Magnard violin sonata, a slightly "quirkier" and even larger-scaled work:

[VonStupp]

Enrique Granados
Piano Trio
Piano Quintet in G minor
LOM Trio

What another wonderful surprise! I like Granados' little modal flecks without going whole-hog into Nationalism.
VS

[Linz]

Claudio Monteverdi Vespro della beata Vergine, Cantus Cölln

[Que]

Thanks to the wonders of streaming I came a across this, probably rare, recording I didn't know existed. Comes in a series of hree multidisc volumes, I believe. However, listening to the 1st movement of D958 was sufficient motivation to move on.




Next up is Andras Schiff on fortepiano for ECM. Often Schubert gets violently slaughtered on a massive Steinways. Here Schiff creates the opposite problem on a fortepiano (a 1820 Viennese Franz Brodman), by holding back and tiptoeing through the music. This is not a modern Steinway, you can be bold without killing the music! Technically Schiff is an amazing player with marvellous dexterity, but this is under characterised, fuzzy Schubert.

[Que]

Any thoughts Que?

Actually, we had a brief conversation about this recording some time ago (which I cannot find due to our malfunctioning search engine). But I posted it with the comment: gorgeous. You reponded by telling me that you hadn't heard it for a long time, but that you wrote on your note with the recording: gorgeous.
Performances are not to the level of international acclaimed ensembles but good.

BTW I only now found out there is one other recording of these pieces - by Currende with Erik van Nevel:

[Todd]

[André]

Bruckner, 9th symphony (3 movement version)



The timing difference tells a lot of the story:

Haitink: 23:16 - 11:15 - 24:53 (59:34)
Ballot:  32:12 - 14:19 - 28:30 (75:00)

The church resonance in the Ballot version may explain a little of that difference, but it sometimes sounds like a slow motion dissection of the symphony. Quite beautifully conceived and played, flowing dreamily in I, unmenacing and very leisurely in II. The concluding Adagio loses its dark side of the moon atmosphere, Ballot offering us a forlorn lament of great beauty instead. Fine, but I couldn't help thinking this is a truncated view of the work.

Haitink (from 1965) most closely resembles the classic Walter recording from 1959: lyrical, flowing and suitably grand in the climaxes (I), pounding menacingly and mercilessly (II), and very classically conceived in the Adagio - with a finely balanced grand climax: this feast of grinding dissonances can sound very confused in less expert hands.

The 9th has elicited some widely different conceptions over the last 50 years. Before 1960 every version clocked in at 50-60 minutes max. Nowadays the average is well over 60, with some stretching it way past 70 minutes. The work's ethos has changed from dramatic, choleric, anguished to something along the lines of a farewell to the world, a cosmic aspiration. I can't say this transmogrification has been to the benefit of the work. While there are great beauties and sometimes stunning power in this XL vision of the 9th, I prefer the just as intense but more varied set of emotions faster tempi bring.   

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony In D Minor, 1869 Ed. Leopold Nowak, Dennis Russell Davies, Bruckner Orchester Linz