What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

Catching up...



1960 mono, okay conducting, stentorian soloists, Vishnevskaya's penetrating soprano in particular loud as an engine whistle. I think this one will get the charity shop treatment.



Another russian Requiem, this time from Moscow, recorded in the same year with 3 of the same soloists (was there a Leningrad/Moscow competition going on ?). It was issued in stereo but for some reason my japanese cd issue is in mono. The sound is a bit raw (always was in Moscow Melodiya issues) but immediate and wide-ranging.

The thing is that this is a hair-raising, sizzling, terrific performance of the work. Passionate, deeply spiritual, with an amazing response from the orchestra. It's not only the famous episodes like the Dies Irae or Tuba Mirum that raise the scalp, but even soft, quiet moments like the ominous bass drum taps before Mors Stupebit are endowed with incredible intensity.

Same soloists but a very different kind of response. Markevitch takes some 6 minutes more than Melik-Pashaev, mostly in the lyrical episodes, allowing the voices to take on a more relaxed (less edgy), pleading quality. Overall Markevitch's tempi are more contrasted. The sound is no more than a 6.5/10 but the interpretation gets top marks. Anyone hooked on Fricsay's or Toscanini's Requiem ought to hear this. It's even better (and with better sound).

[André]

Wonderful performances of these two meaty trios. Mendelssohn often has the loud, agitated passages played in unison, creating a full wall of sound quite different from Schumann or Brahms. Exciting and very rewarding. Excellent sound.

[Karl Henning]

Continuing on to CD 2
Wo035
No.1 in d minor
No.2 in G
No.3 in a minor

What's your opinion?

TD:
First-Listen Friday!
Malcolm Arnold
Symphony № 2, Op. 40 (1953)

[Karl Henning]

First-Listen Friday!
Malcolm Arnold
Symphony № 3, Op. 63 (1957)

[Linz]

Bela Bartok CCD 9
Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, Sz. 11,  Gervase de Peyer
Nikolaos Skalkottas Octet
Aram Khachaturian Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, Op. 30
Sergei Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34
Melos Ensemble

[Karl Henning]

Aaron Copland
Nonet for Strings
St Luke's Chamber Ensemble
DRD

[JBS]

What's your opinion?

TD:
First-Listen Friday!
Malcolm Arnold
Symphony № 2, Op. 40 (1953)

Bearing in mind that this is the first listen to this music, I'd say what one might expect from that era: pleasant, sometimes evoking feelings, sometimes not; at points the flute is a soloist accompanied by the other three, and at other points adhering to Goethe's description of a quartet being a conversation among friends.

TD
Brahms
Clarinet Quintet

Verdi Quartett with Francois Benda

Call this a conversation among five friends.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, 1878 Version Ed. Leopold Nowak
Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Paavo Järvi

[Symphonic Addict]

Henze: Tristan, for piano and orchestra

Curious quotations from the 1st mov. of Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in some places. The recorded voice of a child in the last part with the bass drum pounding, like emulating the beats of the heart, was a tad disturbing.

[JBS]

Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758) was a Swedish violinist. Most of his career was in the service of the Swedish Royal Court, but he spent his early twenties in London, often as a musician in Handel's orchestra. (The liner notes suggest he was one of the musicians who performed the Water Music while barging down the Thames in 1717.) Back in Stockholm he eventually became vice-conductor of the Royal Orchestra, presenting his own compositions (apparently mostly religious choral works), some choral works by Handel, and an Italian-based repertoire.

The Assaggi--the word means attempts or tests and is related to the English assay and essay--are something in the nature of fantasias. Biondi's note in the booklet doubts Roman had access to Bach's works for solo violin, but that he was part of an 18th century trend in which violin virtuosi wrote works for unaccompanied violin. Roman probably composed them while on a Grand Tour of Germany and Italy in 1735-1737 during which he met various musicians and composers, and collected works for the Royal Orchestra's library. Ironically he fell out of favor on his return because he went over budget in procuring scores and overstayed his leave of absence, and was forced into semi-retirement in 1745.

There are seven Assagi, each in three or four movements, averaging 10 minutes per Assagio. The recording was made in 2023 and released in Spring 2024.

[SimonNZ]

[Madiel]

Honestly, modern life is amazing. I'm thinking about how I could possibly explain to a 19th century Italian that the way I'm going to try a Verdi opera is by sitting in my house in Australia, watching a recording of a performance about 6 months ago in Barcelona, while a machine washes my clothes for me and I munch on leftover chicken that is perfectly fine after a week because it's been in the fridge.

[Brian]

Aaron Copland
Nonet for Strings
St Luke's Chamber Ensemble
DRD

Wow, I've never even heard of this piece!

[Karl Henning]

Wow, I've never even heard of this piece!

Top-tier Copland!

[JBS]

Wow, I've never even heard of this piece!

Here's the first movement from Copland's own recording. (I thought you had the Copland Conducts Copland box?)

[JBS]

The French Overture BVW 831 transcribed for 2 oboes, bassoon, strings and basso continuo, followed by a partita (for solo flute and strings) and an overture-suite for strings, both assembled from transcriptions of movements from various Bach instrumental works.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Continuing on with the Arnold symphonies --- Symphony No. 4, Op. 71

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Aaron Copland
Nonet for Strings
St Luke's Chamber Ensemble
DRD

Wow, I've never even heard of this piece!

Top-tier Copland!

Here's the first movement from Copland's own recording. (I thought you had the Copland Conducts Copland box?)

Cool piece! I believe this is an early Copland work, so definitely in his Modernist vein.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

It was you who reminded me that the disc of The Fairy's Kiss and Scenes de Ballet existed. Which completed my set of Stravinsky ballets perfectly. And yes, Orpheus is my favourite of the ones I already know.

Very nice, indeed.

[AnotherSpin]

Catching up...



1960 mono, okay conducting, stentorian soloists, Vishnevskaya's penetrating soprano in particular loud as an engine whistle. I think this one will get the charity shop treatment.



Another russian Requiem, this time from Moscow, recorded in the same year with 3 of the same soloists (was there a Leningrad/Moscow competition going on ?). It was issued in stereo but for some reason my japanese cd issue is in mono. The sound is a bit raw (always was in Moscow Melodiya issues) but immediate and wide-ranging.

The thing is that this is a hair-raising, sizzling, terrific performance of the work. Passionate, deeply spiritual, with an amazing response from the orchestra. It's not only the famous episodes like the Dies Irae or Tuba Mirum that raise the scalp, but even soft, quiet moments like the ominous bass drum taps before Mors Stupebit are endowed with incredible intensity.

Same soloists but a very different kind of response. Markevitch takes some 6 minutes more than Melik-Pashaev, mostly in the lyrical episodes, allowing the voices to take on a more relaxed (less edgy), pleading quality. Overall Markevitch's tempi are more contrasted. The sound is no more than a 6.5/10 but the interpretation gets top marks. Anyone hooked on Fricsay's or Toscanini's Requiem ought to hear this. It's even better (and with better sound).

Igor Markevitch – a French conductor of Ukrainian origin.