What are you listening 2 now?

[Traverso]

Nice to have that affirmed, as I am not shy of attaching my musical affection on the occasional whim.

Right....don't be afraid of them hitting you on the nose.

[Linz]

Giueseppe Verdi La Forza del Destino
London Symphony Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache

[Linz]

William Wordsworth Cello Concerto, Op. 73
Symphony No. 5 in A Minor, Op. 68
Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, John Gibbons

[Wanderer]

[hopefullytrusting]

I like your "off the beaten path" approach, here.

The major critique of my professional writing is that I am not verbose enough, and so I am endeavoring to free myself of that practice whilst also opening myself to criticism and praise - both of which I need to also become more comfortable with.

Plus, I like finding the recordings, I like listening to the music, so it just felt like a peanut butter and chocolate scenario.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Thanks for the recommendations, but I have already selected the recordings I am listening to - you'll see that I try to avoid "names," as I like to give others a chance, and, at least with Scriabin, I discovered at least 5 amazing pianists that I will be returning to - one who has already breached my top 5 - Dynasty Battles aka my pineapple and Canadian bacon pizza tier aka the top tier - to put your new system to use.

Pizza metaphors aside, I'd strongly recommend Yuja Wang's smoking hot Prokofiev 8 from her Berlin recital, along with a terrific Scriabin 10. For a complete Prokofiev set, try Matti Raekallio, who is both very good and not very well known. Michel Beroff, who also does some superb Debussy, plays five of the sonatas (1, 2, 3, 6, and 7) as well as all the concertos, but I have them only in his large box set.

[Roasted Swan]

My daughter sang Folk Songs of the Four Seasons in a community youth choir and while I would not call its director a martinet, the very fact that I weighed that word gives an impression of how tough and exacting he was.  Nearly four months of precious Saturday mornings were devoted to her rehearsals; the effort invested made those Saturdays even more precious, esp. so as the experience afforded me weekly exposure to the nitty-gritty of the work.  Not to mention the choir's holiday performance which was ecstatically marvellous! So I can be forgiven, I think, for wondering why the heck this isn't recorded more frequently - its instrumental counterpart certainly is. This was its first recording (in 2009!). Its premiere in 1950 featured a choir of 3000 women (!); VW's wife, Ursula, wryly observed that "the audience seemed far fewer than the performers."    BTW, Am I the only one on GMG who owns this disk?

Oh Fie!  Of course you are not the only one.....!  Vaughan Williams' ability to return to these beautiful songs many times and find new nuances and colours is a minor miracle.  Great to hear that a Youth Choir in the US is devoting such effort and commitment to a quintessentially English work.  I hope they enjoyed the experience.....

[hopefullytrusting]

Pizza metaphors aside, I'd strongly recommend Yuja Wang's smoking hot Prokofiev 8 from her Berlin recital, along with a terrific Scriabin 10. For a complete Prokofiev set, try Matti Raekallio, who is both very good and not very well known. Michel Beroff, who also does some superb Debussy, plays five of the sonatas (1, 2, 3, 6, and 7) as well as all the concertos, but I have them only in his large box set.

Thanks, I will most definitely look into those and @Todd recommendations when I look at purchasing, but that is a ways off - I'm currently on an extended buying break - not that I don't have money - I just have too much music, for me - for me, lol.

[Mister Sharpe]

Oh Fie!  Of course you are not the only one.....!  Vaughan Williams' ability to return to these beautiful songs many times and find new nuances and colours is a minor miracle.  Great to hear that a Youth Choir in the US is devoting such effort and commitment to a quintessentially English work.  I hope they enjoyed the experience.....

Quite agree, Roasted - that was over twentyfive years ago and my daughter and I still talk about the choir and its taskmaster of a director (a talented one, to be sure!), but most of all about VW's lovely songs which now, in retropect, seem to us to be very much about the passage (and fragility) of time itself. Maybe best of all, and I do credit VW for this, she still sings in a choir!   

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphomy No. 6 in A Major, 1881 Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein

[Todd]

Disc 2.

[hopefullytrusting]

Crossing the threshold of the afternoon with Edmonda Lam playing Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFedGoXmSVE

Okay, now we are into something a bit different - not lengthwise but sonically. All the chords, all the notes are off-kilter, as if each of them has been moved down a quarter-step, as the notes all feel like flattened pads. The progressions do not sound like Prokofiev at all, in fact, and he would probably hate this, they sound French - like Satie because it feels like an inside joke. Perhaps, he was testing out the patience of his instructor, but it definitely feels like this was intentional, sort of like a tantrum from a petulant child when they don't get their way.

Normally, this kind of dissonance is meant to induce a sense of foreboding, disquiet, but here, with Prokofiev, it comes off as a virgin struggling to unbutton the brassiere, and in the fumbling actually ends up putting more clothes on her ala Buster Keaton. This is the kind of music I would expect to be playing as he did one of his stunts for comic effect - ta! da! Oh, that's it? I mean, yes, it was death defying and all, but you do that in every film - eventually it loses its pop - even sex can become dull.

As I've stated before, part of what makes these palatable is being able to watch the histrionics of the pianists as they struggle to play quite difficult piano music, although, out of the five I've heard so far - this one sounds the easiest, as long as you don't get bored, and the way Prokofiev will make you move will make sure you get exhausted before you get bored.

Sadly, this is the first one in which I found nothing redeeming in the music.

I cannot recommend this sonata at all.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

[Que]

[Linz]

Guido Cantelli CD2
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major Op. 92
Franz Schubert Symphony No 8 in B minor D. 759 "Unfinished"
Gioacchino Rossini  Overture : La gazza ladra
L'assedio di Corinto: Sinfonia
 Philharmonia Orchestra, Guido Cantelli

[springrite]

Guido Cantelli CD2
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major Op. 92
Franz Schubert Symphony No 8 in B minor D. 759 "Unfinished"
Gioacchino Rossini L'assedio di Corinto: Sinfonia
 Philharmonia Orchestra, Guido Cantelli

Great set. His Brahms 1 remain my favorite version!

[Madiel]

The major critique of my professional writing is that I am not verbose enough, and so I am endeavoring to free myself of that practice whilst also opening myself to criticism and praise - both of which I need to also become more comfortable with.

Plus, I like finding the recordings, I like listening to the music, so it just felt like a peanut butter and chocolate scenario.

In what field is "not verbose enough" a valid critique?

[hopefullytrusting]

In what field is "not verbose enough" a valid critique?

I think it had to do more with how taciturn I aim. Example: My profession is technical communication, so I write very concisely and precisely, apparently too concisely and precisely for those not versed in technical communication, so what I would communicate in a bullet point - they want a paragraph or two - that kind of verbosity.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 1894 Original Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak
Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan

[Lisztianwagner]

Franz Liszt
Faust Symphony

Klaus König (tenor), Walter Heinz Bernstein (organ)
Kurt Masur & Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

[Linz]

Sergiu Celibidache CD 2
Sergei Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
London Symphony Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache