What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Antonio Caldara.
12 Sinfonie a quattro.
Ars Antiqua Austria, Gunar Letzbor.
Recorded:église St. Maria della Madonna ad Nives, Montemagno, 2003.

This ensemble performs twelve of these symphonies symphonies, clearly conceived as orchestral music, without Lacking richness of sound and melodic tension. Considering the forces Letzbor is using it sounds quite remarkable. I like this version. Not often recorded though. The sound is clear and straightforward. To listen in one go, could be for most an ordeal without nodding off, but for those hardened by battle, might make it unscathed, to the end  

[VonStupp]

Hugo Alfvén
Festival Overture, op. 25
    RSNO - Niklas Willén
Festival Overture, op. 26
    RNCM WE - Clark Rundell
Festival Overture, op. 52
    Iceland SO - Niklas Willén

A couple of occasional overtures from Alfvén.
VS

[Iota]

Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op.83
Mandelring Quartet

A quartet where every theme, whatever its character, seems weighed upon by a strange bleakness which it is incapable of shaking off. And despite the variety of ideas, they all bear the passive quality of a ticking clock, marking time rather than filling it. Nonetheless its whirring and turning of musical cogs is mildly mesmerising, and it holds the attention well. Another quartet that saves its best till last I think.

[Iota]

Benjamin Britten
Temporal Variations

Nicholas Daniel, oboe
Northern Sinfonia - Steuart Bedford

I don't think I have ever come across these variations before, here orchestrated by Colin Matthews.
VS

I don't think I have either. I'll take a listen.

[Karl Henning]

[Henk]

Bad Russian Guide?

[vandermolen]

That's a great LP! One of the best performances of NYM's poetic 21st Symphony. David Measham's performance stands alongside those by Ormandy, Morton Gould and Svetlanov. I had the original Unicorn LP and never looked back!

[vandermolen]

'Excalibur'Soundtrack (1981), mainly Wagner but also some Orff, Rossini and original material from Trevor Jones. One of my favourite films, especially for Nicol Williamson's performance as Merlin:

[JBS]

Since this landed yesterday, and today is the composer's birthday...

Kerner Lieder Op 35 and Fünf Lieder Op 40, garlanded with six other lieder.

[Henk]

Fryderyk Chopin Piano pieces and Piano Concerto No. 2
Orchestre de Paris, Khatia Buniatishvili

Good recording, a shame that I lost the disc, I got the case with the booklet but the disc is gone somewhere.

[Lisztianwagner]

Richard Strauss
Eine Alpensinfonie

Herbert von Karajan & Berliner Philharmoniker

[Que]

L'Horizon Chimérique, Op.118, nos. 1-4   
Romance for Cello And Piano in A Major, Op.69
Berceuse for Violin And Piano in D Major, Op.16
Sonata no.1 for Cello And Piano in D Minor, Op.109   
Romance for Violin And Piano in B-flat Major, Op.28
Nocturne no.13 in B Minor, Op.119
Sonata no.2 for Violin And Piano in E Minor, Op.108

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Wagner orchestral works. Kempe.

[JBS]

This is a 2025 re-issue on Christophorus of a 1994 recording. The recording on Pan released ⏬last year is a new recording.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: John Luther Adams Become Ocean

From this set -




Gorgeous work, but this entire Become Trilogy is truly marvelous, IMHO.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: John Luther Adams The Light That Fills the World

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Last work for the night --- Harrison Seven Pastorales

[Que]

Another recording featuring Busnois' Missa O Crux lignum!
I think the prominence of the counter tenor is an issue here: he beams straight through the music, throwing off the balance between the voices. And I like the idea of songs to be lively, but they sound terribly rushed and unable to bloom. I like the tempi in the mass better (still upbeat) and I think the mass gets a beautiful performance here.

For those that might feel the performances by the "Kapel van de Lage Landen" too restraint or austere, this is definitely a different approach but still with an all male ensemble.

[Wanderer]

Since this landed yesterday, and today is the composer's birthday...

Kerner Lieder Op 35 and Fünf Lieder Op 40, garlanded with six other lieder.

This one has landed here recently as well. Enjoy!

[steve ridgway]

Stravinsky - Petrushka