What are you listening 2 now?

[ritter]

Tracklist here

William Lawes is pretty much unknown territory for me, but listening to this today it sort of felt like a homecoming, or at least a warm welcome from strangers who rapidly felt like very close friends.
It's a charming mix of vocal and instrumental music, performed with great warmth and engagement, and the music weaves its way through dissonance and consonance in the manner of one completely comfortable following their own path. The ensemble have a very attractive fresh, individual feel to them (though some may not take to some occasional soprano vibrato, I did), and the music is constantly lovely. Very much enjoyed.

I have never listened to any music by Lawes (at least that I am aware of), but the way you describe it certainly has prompted me to explore that recording soon. Good evening, Iota!

Some earlier than usual (for me) music here as well tonight. La Venexiana, led by Claudio Cavina, perform Monteverdi's Sixth Book of Madrigals.

[Iota]

Iave never listened to any music by Lawes (at least that I am aware of), but the way you describe it certainly has prompted me to explore that recording soon. Good evening, Iota!

Some earlier than usual (for me) music here as well tonight. La Venexiana, led by Claudio Cavina, perform Monteverdi's Sixth Book of Madrigals.

Well I was very happy I dived in, I hope you will be too.

I love those Venexiana recordings of the Monteverdi madrigals, they're my most visited ensemble for them. If you do get round to the Lawes at some point, you will find some lovely madrigal-like moments there, but very different from Monteverdi.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No, 7 in E Major, 1885 Version. Ed.Leopold Nowak
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Alan Gilbert

[ritter]

Staying in Italy, but advancing some 350 years in time. Arturo Tamayo conducts instrumental soloists and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in works by Goffredo Petrassi.

[Mister Sharpe]

More improvisatory than I'd been led to believe, but fascinating nonetheless. I have yet to read Lislevand's "Games of Thoughts, Sounds and Structure," in the booklet, which I just know is going to run deep... Cover reminds me quite distinctly of many of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's films - he's fond of such scenes. (Clearly, I see way too many movies, but I'm old enough to recall billboard signs that used to say: "Enjoy life, go to the movies"). 

[Kalevala]

Harry's mention of Vieuxtemps several days ago made me think of these.  The craving must have been serious as it took some digging into box after box but thank goodness I found them without too much trouble. It's a source of amazement to me how much a well-packed standard archival box (aka banker's box) of CDs weighs: 30 lbs!

Any chance of more shelving for you in the near future?

K

[Linz]

Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 3, Op. 20 "The First of May"
Symphony No. 4 in С Minor, Op. 43
Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Sladkovsky

[Mister Sharpe]

Any chance of more shelving for you in the near future?
K

We were packed in happy anticipation of a move that didn't happen (and still might) but as the days grow shorter the odds of that lessen... Some more shelving would be great (in addition to the empty ones currently)! If we stay, I'm gonna build some myself.  I've a friend whose collection is nearly twice as large as mine; to save space he discarded the jewel cases (what an environmental disaster that must have been!) and found slipcases into which disk and inserts fit. He doesn't seem to mind the strain of organizing same (spines are no longer legible). 

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 1903 Edition [Doblinger] Ed. Loewe
Wiener Symphoniker, Charles Adler

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Khachaturian film music.

[Mister Sharpe]

Via AARP, Mahler's 3rd, Andris Nelsons and the Vienna Philharmonic at the 2021 Salzburg Festival.

[JBS]

Strauss Daphne
La Fenice 2005
June Anderson in the title role.

[Kalevala]

We were packed in happy anticipation of a move that didn't happen (and still might) but as the days grow shorter the odds of that lessen... Some more shelving would be great (in addition to the empty ones currently)! If we stay, I'm gonna build some myself.  I've a friend whose collection is nearly twice as large as mine; to save space he discarded the jewel cases (what an environmental disaster that must have been!) and found slipcases into which disk and inserts fit. He doesn't seem to mind the strain of organizing same (spines are no longer legible). 

Oh, boy!  That sounds like an awkward situation to be in--to say the least!  I hope that things work out the best for the two of you.

K

[Mister Sharpe]

Oh, boy!  That sounds like an awkward situation to be in--to say the least!  I hope that things work out the best for the two of you.
K

Thanks, K. Imagine wanting to hear your favorite performance of Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit (Pogorelich, but Michelangeli would do nicely) and not being able to get at it even though you know it's there, somewhere. It's a particularly cruel kind of torment, all because the real estate agent's "stager" says personal items (books, CDs, etc.) are distracting to potential buyers and have to be secreted away. Well, only one more week of it and we'll call it quits and resolve to spend the winter where we are.  And CDs become accessible again (mostly  ). Maybe try again come spring to move back to Howard Hanson-land. 

[Madiel]

The Liszt experiment was not as much fun. I think its size was the main problem. Also, most pianists approach it the same way. In all, I listened to over 30 recordings, and I have linked my top 5 plus the 1 I considered the cutest, lol.

1. Taisa Moroz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlCuYgiBnrk - this one felt the most "Lisztian" to me.
2. Earl Wild: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqc0ItU9IVc - it is in his name.
3. Simon Barere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK8B23FXTuo - the supreme mechanism.
4. Gyorgy Cziffra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwfLz6TTfeI - all nerves.
5. Claudio Arrau: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ9F3DRSgr8 - this one feels the most accurate to the score.

Cutest:
Eva Guo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJyLlf1QzjQ

I have to admit, I did think that Gnomenreigen is not a piece that has a lot of interpretative latitude.

[AnotherSpin]

While skipping through the morning news, I saw that after the recent flights of Russian drones and war planes over Poland and Estonia, there are reports of drones over Scandinavia. Copenhagen Airport had to shut down for a while, can you believe it? As for us, nothing new really, just ballistic strikes hitting barbers and cafés in a small town a few dozen kilometres away. Well, we'll see another burst of Russophilia on the forum soon, the timing couldn't be better.

Since I've started on grim things, I might as well carry on. The recording that honestly turned my stomach was Brumel: Missa Et ecce terrae motus by Graindelavoix with Björn Schmelzer and a certain Manuel Mota. I've no idea who thought it was clever to add someone with an electric guitar, scraping and wailing away in a way that instantly reminded me of an air raid siren. Put together with what's going on outside the window, it gave me some very odd and mostly unpleasant feelings.

The worst bit was that the guitar passages slid straight into the vocal ones, so you couldn't simply cut them out and keep the rest of the music. It's a real shame, because the rest was actually quite interesting. I know friends on the forum are often divided about Graindelavoix recordings, and this was a time when I was completely on their side.

[AnotherSpin]

This time there were no electric guitars, and I felt relieved.

[AnotherSpin]

[Harry]

While skipping through the morning news, I saw that after the recent flights of Russian drones and war planes over Poland and Estonia, there are reports of drones over Scandinavia. Copenhagen Airport had to shut down for a while, can you believe it? As for us, nothing new really, just ballistic strikes hitting barbers and cafés in a small town a few dozen kilometres away. Well, we'll see another burst of Russophilia on the forum soon, the timing couldn't be better.

Since I've started on grim things, I might as well carry on. The recording that honestly turned my stomach was Brumel: Missa Et ecce terrae motus by Graindelavoix with Björn Schmelzer and a certain Manuel Mota. I've no idea who thought it was clever to add someone with an electric guitar, scraping and wailing away in a way that instantly reminded me of an air raid siren. Put together with what's going on outside the window, it gave me some very odd and mostly unpleasant feelings.

The worst bit was that the guitar passages slid straight into the vocal ones, so you couldn't simply cut them out and keep the rest of the music. It's a real shame, because the rest was actually quite interesting. I know friends on the forum are often divided about Graindelavoix recordings, and this was a time when I was completely on their side.

I agree this is a distasteful monster of a disc. Schmelzer is a musician with extreme ideas about music and his misguided thoughts lead to disasters, this is one of them. Horribile! And might I add that most of his recordings are excellent, be aware however of Hooty counter tenors.

[Irons]

Finzi: Clarinet Concerto.

One of Finzi's most important works, a delight. Every orchestral piece from him creates an instantly recognisable sound-world. A Finzi stamp.