What are you listening 2 now?

[hopefullytrusting]

Need to get at least a little classical in before the day's end:

Marian Filar playing Mozart, Brahms, Kabalevsky, and Chopin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSd1FmuVazc

And another testament as to why YouTube is so vitally important - getting to hear Filar, in fairly crisp sound, playing Mozart and Brahms, is something that is only possible today, and only because of the hard work of channel creator to digitize what he found and/or uncovered.

Filar survived seven different concentration camps - an extraordinary life.

Inspired by this, I was going to listen to a bunch of versions of Chopin's Op.25 No.12.

Sadly, that ended before it began because I found the best version straightaway: Sokolov - live - encore - 1987.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vA8qX_p11w

[steve ridgway]

Takemitsu - Voice

[AnotherSpin]

[steve ridgway]

Penderecki - Kosmogonia

[AnotherSpin]

@Que's pick. Rather a nice match with the morning sun after a quiet night without sirens.

[Harry]

@Que's pick. Rather a nice match with the morning sun after a quiet night without sirens.

No matter what you select by La Compagnia del Madrigale its all excellent, no let downs in their series.

[steve ridgway]

Szymanowski - Symphony No. 3 (Song Of The Night)

[AnotherSpin]

No matter what you select by La Compagnia del Madrigale its all excellent, no let downs in their series.

Most likely I'll agree. I've listened to several of their albums and they're all good. Maybe not as striking as some similar ensembles, but that's not necessarily a drawback, it might even be an advantage in some sense.

[Roasted Swan]

Thanks, I get where you're coming from. Honestly, I'd never really asked myself why Bernstein and conductors in the same vein don't appeal to me. But let me try to put it simply.

His style, expressive, theatrical, often exaggerated, doesn't feel rooted in the deeper tradition of European music. It comes across as if he isn't truly speaking that language, only imitating it without understanding its inner logic. Bernstein and the rest don't live the music, they act it out. They don't express, they perform. They don't speak, they gesture.

Instead of opening up the structure of a piece, they impose a ready-made drama on it, turning music into a show rather than an inner experience. The result feels flashy, more like decoration than interpretation, a translation where nuance and depth go missing.

Where someone like Furtwängler or Klemperer lets musical ideas grow naturally, Bernstein tends to go for effect, for applause. It's clever, even entertaining, but it can sound shallow, a sign of an age where style replaces substance.

And in the end it's that lack of real cultural grounding. Without it, the music can feel hollow, as if it's putting on a mask rather than speaking with a living voice.

I find this a genuinely interesting discussion.  And I also find myslef sitting on the fence between the two points of view.  I completely agree with what you write (to the bolded text) above.  However I also think Bernstein was one of the most brilliant all-round musicians of the 20th Century.

For me where I diverge from Bernstein as an interpreter is when I feel his ego and self-belief overwhelm his 'responsibilty' to the score and intention of the composer.  Its the age-old debate of when interpretation adds insight and where it gets in the way.  Personally I do not enjoy many of the later Bernstein recordings which do feel like they are more about Bernstein parading himself rather than serving the music.  Of course when these intents/interpretative paths align the results can be overwhelming - I would suggest the later Mahler cycle is the most 'complete success' in this way.  I still prefer his earlier cycle and many others more objective approach to those scores. 

I also simply cannot come to terms with the grotesqueries of Bernstein's infamous(!?) 'Nimrod' which has nothing to do with real Elgar any more than putting a disco-beat and light show to it would.  Just watch the famous film of Bernstein re-recording West Side Story to know that by that stage of his life music was becoming a vehicle for Bernstein to take centre stage above all else. 

But none of that erases his genius and his understanding of music on a kind of cellular level - it was in every fibre of his being.  So I don't think he was just style over substance - I think he wholly believed in every single note with utter conviction - it was just that latterly too often that belief overwhelmed objectivity.  But it is what made Bernstein Bernstein.....

[AnotherSpin]

I find this a genuinely interesting discussion.  And I also find myslef sitting on the fence between the two points of view.  I completely agree with what you write (to the bolded text) above.  However I also think Bernstein was one of the most brilliant all-round musicians of the 20th Century.

For me where I diverge from Bernstein as an interpreter is when I feel his ego and self-belief overwhelm his 'responsibilty' to the score and intention of the composer.  Its the age-old debate of when interpretation adds insight and where it gets in the way.  Personally I do not enjoy many of the later Bernstein recordings which do feel like they are more about Bernstein parading himself rather than serving the music.  Of course when these intents/interpretative paths align the results can be overwhelming - I would suggest the later Mahler cycle is the most 'complete success' in this way.  I still prefer his earlier cycle and many others more objective approach to those scores. 

I also simply cannot come to terms with the grotesqueries of Bernstein's infamous(!?) 'Nimrod' which has nothing to do with real Elgar any more than putting a disco-beat and light show to it would.  Just watch the famous film of Bernstein re-recording West Side Story to know that by that stage of his life music was becoming a vehicle for Bernstein to take centre stage above all else. 

But none of that erases his genius and his understanding of music on a kind of cellular level - it was in every fibre of his being.  So I don't think he was just style over substance - I think he wholly believed in every single note with utter conviction - it was just that latterly too often that belief overwhelmed objectivity.  But it is what made Bernstein Bernstein.....

Thank you for your interesting and thoughtful comment. I believe it is possible to be a striking artist without fully understanding the tradition or even the meaning of the music; there is no contradiction in that. That said, I am interested in Sibelius as Sibelius, not Sibelius as Bernstein. The composer's name could be replaced with any other .

[Que]

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/a/arm32354a.php

Reissue of the entire series (vols I-IV):

Rather a nice match with the morning sun after a quiet night without sirens.

Good to hear...Small blessings... 

[AnotherSpin]

It is remarkable how almost all early music is beautiful. It contains none of the ugliness, chaos, or perversity found in some modern music. Why, and when, did darkness displace the light? People are the same; they have not changed. Sorrow and suffering have not increased, they were already abundant, so why is it only now that music is often filled with horror and ugliness?

Not all of it, of course, not all.

[hopefullytrusting]

Some of my listening for the upcoming week:

de Graaff's Concerto No. 7 for Lutheal and Orchestra:
https://www.npoklassiek.nl/concerten/ea46319d-a36c-4f53-acf1-6131d3ba57df/canellakis-minnaar-sjostakovitsj-en-de-graaff

Luzzasco Luzzaschi's Madrigali: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9513809--luzzaschi-il-concerto-segreto

Ravel's L'enfant et les sortileges:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8290175--debussy-lenfant-prodigue-ravel-lenfant-et-les-sortileges

Ravel's Sonata for Cello and Violin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqD4KC5gBno
Ravel's Tzigane for Lutheal and Violin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za3behE_Wpc

[Que]

Organ music in transitional "Galant" style is an acquired taste, I presume. Berben delivers these pieces with ample panache, great fun and a beautiful organ.

[vandermolen]

Bliss: Cello Concerto and Violin Concerto

The Cello Concerto receives a smoking performance in stupendous sound quality. It might be my reference recording for that work. Even though I'm not too keen on mono recordings, this Decca recording is rather good. The Violin Concerto has a more complex structure and writing, but it is quite absorbing in the end.

I wish there was a hard-copy CD, especially as the cover art is so good!

[vandermolen]

American Piano Trios
I'm currently enjoying the one by Amy Beach:

[Traverso]

Bach

CD 2

[Mister Sharpe]

Starting with Numero Duo (Kajanus and the Orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society), I think I've time today to listen to much of this box.  Kajanus is a speed demon, but only occasionally do his performances actually seem rushed. I must say, I love these old recordings - some of which received Sibelius' own seal of approval - as much for their sometimes quirky practices as for the simple fact of cheating death. If death exists as a persona, a conscious entity of some persuasion, how it most resent these splendid sonic celebrations of life!

[Todd]

[vandermolen]

Starting with Numero Duo (Kajanus and the Orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society), I think I've time today to listen to much of this box.  Kajanus is a speed demon, but only occasionally do his performances actually seem rushed. I must say, I love these old recordings - some of which received Sibelius' own seal of approval - as much for their sometimes quirky practices as for the simple fact of cheating death. If death exists as a persona, a conscious entity of some persuasion, how it most resent these splendid sonic celebrations of life!

Very much agree - it's a great set!