What are you listening 2 now?

[DavidW]

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique"
Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture
Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32
Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini

That recording was my introduction to the work!

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 1894 Original Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein

[Daverz]

That recording was my introduction to the work!

Same here, on a Seraphim Lp. 



Then on a budget EMI CD.

It holds up extremely well both artistically and sonically.

[Linz]

Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 4 n A minor Op. 63
The Swan of Tuonela Op. 22/2
Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan

[Karl Henning]

Henk, if you can find pianist Barbara Nissman's two-DVD set,  Alberto Ginastera: "A Man of Latin America," I heartily recommend it.
TD:

[Karl Henning]

Julian Bream.

Always fun!

[Madiel]

Last night I went through Act 1 of Ottone in Villa.



Vivaldi's first opera. Listening to such things and enjoying them is dangerous. And somehow the photo on the cover is just right for the tone of the music. Sizing up whether my bookshelves and my wallet would genuinely be okay with hunting down this series.

[brewski]

For today, the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich's death, this superb reading of the Tenth Symphony, with Cristian Măcelaru and the WDR Sinfonieorchester, recorded in June in Cologne. Cincinnati is going to be really lucky to have Măcelaru, starting this fall.

[hopefullytrusting]

An evening with Delius:

Brigg Fair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeSZ7Rzeb54
In a Summer Garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7mGeMFfueI
North Country Sketches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U42P_GaJhzs
A Song Before Sunrise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwRFjWfeef4

[JBS]

Last night I went through Act 1 of Ottone in Villa.



Vivaldi's first opera. Listening to such things and enjoying them is dangerous. And somehow the photo on the cover is just right for the tone of the music. Sizing up whether my bookshelves and my wallet would genuinely be okay with hunting down this series.

I have to admit that the only reason I have all of them is because I made a conscious decision to collect the entire series, and most of them I've listened to only once. It's not fair to say Vivaldi wrote the same opera 100 times (or however many he actually wrote) but there is a certain sameness in them.
So the main question to ask is how deep a dive into Baroque opera do you want to go.

[This does suggest I need to revisit them all once I've dealt with my current influx of Verdi, Bellini, and Strauss.]

TD
Mozart VCs, filled out by the pseudo-Mozart Number 6, performed by Thomas Zehetmair and the Philharmonia.

[Madiel]

I have to admit that the only reason I have all of them is because I made a conscious decision to collect the entire series, and most of them I've listened to only once. It's not fair to say Vivaldi wrote the same opera 100 times (or however many he actually wrote) but there is a certain sameness in them.
So the main question to ask is how deep a dive into Baroque opera do you want to go.

[This does suggest I need to revisit them all once I've dealt with my current influx of Verdi, Bellini, and Strauss.]

Meanwhile, I'm still a few discs away from getting through all of the Bach cantatas when I started in 2012.

Here's the thing though: Vivaldi is more readily digestible than Bach.

The other thing... I'm sorry, but I really do love the visual design of this series and I'm prepared to admit I am that shallow.

More generally I have an attraction to sets and completeness. I have about 4 volumes of the Hyperion Schubert song edition and that hurts. The reason it probably doesn't hurt more is because I'm not actually that sure I particularly like listening to Schubert songs - they might be something I'm supposed to like. Ahem. Anyway. Really this is all between me, my wallet, and my house that already has quite a lot of CDs in it even though it doesn't approach the level of some collections here...

...they even come in nice slipcovers, dammit!

[JBS]

Meanwhile, I'm still a few discs away from getting through all of the Bach cantatas when I started in 2012.

Here's the thing though: Vivaldi is more readily digestible than Bach.

The other thing... I'm sorry, but I really do love the visual design of this series and I'm prepared to admit I am that shallow.

More generally I have an attraction to sets and completeness. I have about 4 volumes of the Hyperion Schubert song edition and that hurts. The reason it probably doesn't hurt more is because I'm not actually that sure I particularly like listening to Schubert songs - they might be something I'm supposed to like. Ahem. Anyway. Really this is all between me, my wallet, and my house that already has quite a lot of CDs in it even though it doesn't approach the level of some collections here...

...they even come in nice slipcovers, dammit!

I pretty much agree with all of that, including the Schubert.*

*Try Goerne's series on Harmonia Mundi.

[Madiel]

I have in fact thought of trying Goerne's series! Maybe one day. Gerhaher is another singer of interest. The list is long... I've stopped midway through considering Schumann piano cycles again. Sigh.

[AnotherSpin]

Prayer is unlimited, it is from a person to impersonal existence. And it is from the person to impersonal existence only in the beginning, because when you relate with impersonal existence, your person is lost. It is like a dewdrop slipping into the ocean; it cannot remain a dewdrop any longer, it is bound to lose its boundaries. It will become the ocean. It is not losing anything, it is gaining everything, but the old identity will be gone.

- Osho

[Madiel]

Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa, Act 2.



There's an aria here that is regularly singled out in commentary on both the work and the performance. And with good reason. "L'ombre, l'aure, e ancora il rio" is just extraordinary, with one singer creating echoes of another.

[hopefullytrusting]

Now some Hindemith:

Matis der Maler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0hPMKRDzvw
Symphonic Metamorphosis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrJBzUsI7Iw
Cello Concerto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR-X9tyaCM8

[Que]

But sure what to think of this bunch.... They sound quite mellow and a bit colourless...?
Tallis, Sheppard, White, Dunstable, it all seems to blend in together.
It's matter of taste, really. But this might be too smooth for me.

[Irons]

Warlock's Curlew, courtesy of Ian Partridge, my fave of the singers I've heard in the work.  Some of the most affecting music on record by a composer who knew how to skillfully, sometimes ingeniously, interweave melody, emotion and tonal color, here with novel instrumentation that underscores (literally!) the unusually intense nature of the experience.  And Warlock's skills were not limited to the somber side of human nature; I'm thinking of Pretty Ring Time, of course, which never fails to buoy one's spirits, mine anyway. But bear this in mind, AI says, "Hearing the Curlew's call" (so impressively dramatized here by the cor anglais) "at night, traditionally associated with bad omens, death, or calamity, could induce anxiety and fear in individuals who believe in these superstitions..." Or even if you don't, says I.

A recording I treasure. Outstanding.

[hopefullytrusting]

Now, some First Symphonies:

Tchaikovsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocIajFkPwyU
Prokofiev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOerZ-ewUcA
Rachmaninoff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr-ifrS5Qq4

[Que]

I was so taken by the Crucifuxus a 6, a 8 and a 10 on the Venetian "Passions" album by Les Cris de Paris, that I explored further. And it seems hard to find comprehensive Lotti recordings , or even combined with similar repertoire. Despite Antonio Lotti being very productive as a composer.

This recording comes highly recommended on the net. But though it is quite OK, I'm afraid the rarity/novelty aspect is fueling the hype. Serviceable but far from ideal, I would say. Getting some real soloists would be a nice improvement, this is technically quite taxing. And perhaps replace the rather sluggish playing Orchestra of St. Pauls. 

Anyway, the music sounds great and tastes like more! 

Perhaps Thomas Hengelbrock could record some more Antonio Lotti? Or perhaps some Italian ensemble could care of this blind spot in recorded repertoire.