What are you listening 2 now?

[Florestan]

Well, kinda. You don't miss the opportunity to make some ironic and malicious comments whenever the name Wagner appears on GMG. 

I plead guilty as charged, your honor!

Good evening, Andrei!

Buenas noches, Rafael!

[foxandpeng]

Telemann

Lovely Telemann recording,especially the Suite in D with Crispian Steele-Perkins is a delight.It was recorded in 1988,time flies.

 



 

I loved this CD and the included works when I first began listening to classical music. I rarely, if ever, listen to Baroque music nowadays but Telemann was a huge influence on my early exploration. Fond memories!

[Karl Henning]

You must listen to at least five hundred recordings of Beethoven's sonatas before you can embark on such scientific endeavors.

(* chortle *)

[Karl Henning]

You don't miss the opportunity to make some ironic and malicious comments whenever the name Wagner appears on GMG. 

(* chortle *)

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 6 in A Major, 1881 Version. Ed. Robert Haas, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer

[ShineyMcShineShine]

unscrupulous publishers felt that people wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

They were right!

[Linz]

Henry Purcell Dioclesian Suite
Georg Friedrich Händel Conterto grosso Op.6, Freiburger Barockorchester, Nancy Argenta soprano, Michael Chance, Countertenor, Gottfried von der Goltz

[Todd]

Getting my harp listening in for the rest of the decade.

[foxandpeng]

Andrei Golovin
Symphony 4, 'Light Unapproachable'
Andrei Golovin
The Tchaikovsky SO
Toccata Classics

Listenable. Not startling, but listenable. The opening largo feels a little too expansive and somewhat underwhelming to me. Perhaps repeated plays will bring out some of the ideas more clearly, but it seems to be saying little of enduring import. I'm not sure the Moderato is much more memorable.

Perhaps I don't understand it's structural progression or the quality of thematic development, because I lack the ability to track that adequately. I do know that it takes until midway through the second movement before it feels like it is going anywhere.

[foxandpeng]

Arnold Bax
Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Harp and String Quartet
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble
Chandos

This is a far superior piece of music. Bax rarely fails to please, IMO. This is an attractive concerto that is charming and appropriate for late evening listening. Nothing jarring or dissonant, which works for me tonight. Low lights and a relaxed Baxian mood. Nice.

[Karl Henning]

A friend in LA (a fellow composer) just posted this on Threads. I remember being immediately smitten with the piece way back (Rochester days) but later I grew disenchanted with Adams, so it's time I gave it a fresh hearing.

[foxandpeng]

Arthur Butterworth
Three Nocturnes, 'Northern Summer Nights'
Arthur Butterworth
Royal Scottish NO
Dutton

Gentle. Peaceful, even when energetic. What it says on the tin.

I ought to listen to more Butterworth. I get a flavour of Bax in his music that feels familiar without being derivative.

[foxandpeng]

Granville Bantock
The Witch of Atlas
Rumon Gamba
BBC NOoW
Chandos

Final post for tonight. Feeling the call of thoughtful British tone poems to close out a warm summer's Saturday night. Bantock fits the bill with music to calm and relax the spirit.

[André]

It has been a while since I listened to the great symphonic works.
Yet I choose again one of my favorite pieces by Bruckner.

Fortunately, here in a remastering that does justice to the intentions of the recording director and the acoustics of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Symphony No.1

This is something that struck me when I listened to this set (B0-9). Everything sounded quite a lot fresher, including the older recordings (nos 3, 4, 7 and 9). As for # 1 it's one of the best in terms of hall acoustics and recorded sound.

[André]

Never heard of Ohzawa before listening to this. While I enjoyed the music it sometimes sounded crudely put together, like something an inventive but not very savvy technician had worked on in his garage. Not as good as the best from that series then, but still worth a listen (or two).



Hugo Distler was quite a name to reckon woth during the Weimar Republic and Third Reich period. Cantor at the Jakobikirche, Lübeck, Stuttgart conservatory professor, cantor in Berlin, he is mostly known for his (mostly a cappella) choral works. As a  conscientious objector during the nazi years he ran afoul of the regime and was served an ultimatum to join the Reich's army. Rather than comply he committed suicide the day before he was to be taken to his barracks. Klaus Fischer-Fieskau (DFD's brother) founded the Hugo Distler Choir in 1952, still active to this day.

I have half a dozen discs of his choral works and like his idiom very much. His music attempts to bring the old lutheran style closer to his time. It doesn't sound like jazzed up Buxtehude or Bach, rather closer to a modernized take on Schütz. Here's what Wikipedia has on its entry on the composer :

His works are a re-invention of old forms and genres, rich with word painting, based on the music of Heinrich Schütz and other early composers.[2]

His music is polyphonic and frequently melismatic, often based on the pentatonic scale. His works remain "tonally anchored", while at the same time they "reveal an innovative harmonic sense".[1] Because of these characteristics, his music was stigmatized by some Nazis as "degenerate art".

He is now recognized as "one of the most significant German composers of his generation".[1] He is often associated with other German neo-Baroque choral composers, including Johann Nepomuk David, Ernst Pepping and Wolfgang Fortner.

The harpsichord concertos are clearly in the neo-baroque style, hinting at Stravinsky in places, but with a very clear and solid musical structure. Everything I've heard by Distler sounds unassuming at first, but soon enough I find myself captivated by the authenticity and quality of his music. A minor composer to be sure, but a very fine one all the same.

[foxandpeng]

Caroline Shaw
Evergreen
The Evergreen
Attacca Quartet


Very last one.

Caroline Shaw's Evergreen is outstanding. Each movement's music evokes something tangible about its descriptive title. Her command of writing for strings is brilliant, I think. Her Three Essays, also on this disc, is Glass-like and lyrical, but The Evergreen steps it up and is just really satisfying.

[Symphonic Addict]

Sublime interpretation of an immensely majestic artwork. As far as descriptive music goes, Eine Alpensinfonie reigns supreme in my book.

[Symphonic Addict]

Arnold Bax
Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Harp and String Quartet
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble
Chandos

This is a far superior piece of music. Bax rarely fails to please, IMO. This is an attractive concerto that is charming and appropriate for late evening listening. Nothing jarring or dissonant, which works for me tonight. Low lights and a relaxed Baxian mood. Nice.

A most excellent Bax disc! One of my unquestionable favorites.

[Symphonic Addict]

Continuing with more programmatic music:

Delius: North Country Sketches

Why do not I put his music more often in my listening sessions? I didn't remember how rapturously eloquent and exquisite this work is.

[AnotherSpin]