What are you listening 2 now?

[Mister Sharpe]

I'll never forget the first time I heard Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto on the radio, "that sure sounds like VW," I exclaimed to myself, "I didn't know he wrote an oboe concerto!"  I later learned that one of our classical djs (Brit-born) was a BIG fan of it and he played it often. I always wondered if it reminded him of home (but perhaps not; his favorite music, actually, wasn't classical - it was country! ).  Handley conducting the RLPO, Jonathan Small, soloist.

[prémont]

I've especially liked the Schübler Chorales on this.

Fortunately it has been re-released by Brilliant.

[Spotted Horses]

Bacewicz, String Quartet No 6, Lutoslawski Quartet



For this work I find I prefer the Silesian Quartet recording (which I listened to yesterday). The excessive dynamic range of the Lutoslawski quartet recording is an issue. There are extended passages which I cannot hear at all without turning the volume up to a level which would be uncomfortable for the louder passages, and I do not like riding the volume control while listening.

[ritter]

Michael Gielen conducts Schoenberg: Five Orchestral Pieces, op. 16 (with the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg), String Quartet No.2 in F-sharp minor with soprano solo, op.10 --arranged for string orchestra in 1929-- (Slavka Taskova as the vocal soiloist, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra), Variations for Orchestra, op. 21 (SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg).

CD5 of this set:

[Brian]

I'll never forget the first time I heard Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto on the radio, "that sure sounds like VW," I exclaimed to myself, "I didn't know he wrote an oboe concerto!"  I later learned that one of our classical djs (Brit-born) was a BIG fan of it and he played it often. I always wondered if it reminded him of home (but perhaps not; his favorite music, actually, wasn't classical - it was country! ).  Handley conducting the RLPO, Jonathan Small, soloist.

Thank you for the reminders about the birthday boy! I've just dug out the same box set. This afternoon I'll play the Partita for double string orchestra, Piano Concerto, and maybe one of the symphonies (debating 2 or 3). Tomorrow morning I'll play the Oboe Concerto on the drive to work.

[Todd]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Cortot.

[SonicMan46]

Franck, Eduard (1817–1893) - Chamber Works on the discs below - German composer, pianist and music pedagogue; pupil of Mendelssohn; he was the father of Richard Franck, also a pianist and composer - pulled out my modest collection of about a dozen CDs (attached - several burned CD-Rs from MP3 DLs).  Checking Amazon - not much more or new available; enjoy his chamber works the most.  Dave

   

[Todd]

Disc two.

[hopefullytrusting]

First, and maybe only classical, for today: Stravinsky's Piano Sonata

Olga Paliy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6IUbuHDmjY

Having never heard this it feels very Stravinsky - percussive, rhythmic, staccato, and all of it composed in almost a counterdistinctive manner. There is, in my view, a heavy contrapuntal element, so it does almost feel like a schoolwork - sort of like Satie's fugues - and the cliche - to break a rule, you must demonstrate you know the rule. It has a canon-effect - a swirl, but not a whirl - it isn't a dance, at least in the first part. The second part is clearly neoclassical and feels like something Scarlatti would have written, which is absolutely gorgeous to watch played on the piano - very few works are prettier to watch than Scarlatti sonatas, even if you don't like them, they are pretty to watch, so much finger-focus.

I know it is called a sonata, but I am starting to think this is an inside joke. It isn't that his structure is hard to follow - compared to the lunacy of Prokofiev - this is relatively easy, at least for my ears, but I also listen to a lot of piano music that sounds similar to this - where the piano is treated like a percussion instrument, and it is impossible to make a trill ugly - no matter how discordant Stravinsky tries to make it.

His soundscape is wider than the other two sonata sets I've just got finished listening to - Scriabin and Prokofiev - he is playing sounds that would send shiver down both of their spines - truly diabolic. It is very modern, as we move into part 3, which sounds like chromatic neoclassicism aka all the keys are sharpened rather than flattened. The shift that will disturb the ear the most is the slight one. It isn't unnerving to see a picture turned upside down, while it is if that same picture is just slightly askew.

I like Stravinsky a lot, so I went into this predisposed to liking it, and I did like it - enough to at least give it a relisten, but not yet fully sold on purchase.

This is just a flat recommend.

[Brian]

Thank you for the reminders about the birthday boy! I've just dug out the same box set. This afternoon I'll play the Partita for double string orchestra, Piano Concerto, and maybe one of the symphonies (debating 2 or 3). Tomorrow morning I'll play the Oboe Concerto on the drive to work.

Chose Symphony No. 3 and skipped the Piano Concerto due to an unexpected time constraint (partner fell asleep on the couch and it's too rambunctious a work to play during naptime!).

[Karl Henning]

Stravinsky - Élégie For Solo Viola

Exquisite!

[Mister Sharpe]

Listening time interrupted, sadly, by a plumbing situation! So, I deserve something special to lift my spirits and that something special is:  the Piano Concerto for Two Pianos, "a rockin' li'l record I want my jockey to play."

[Mister Sharpe]

I was trying to remember the recording I first heard of VW's Mass in G minor, signed-out from the public library. And it was definitely the very performance included in this set, by David Willcocks.  "There is no reason why an atheist could not write a good mass..." Vaughan Williams is quoted as saying and certainly no one could question this work's intense spirituality.

[Brian]

I was trying to remember the recording I first heard of VW's Mass in G minor, signed-out from the public library. And it was definitely the very performance included in this set, by David Willcocks.  "There is no reason why an atheist could not write a good mass..." Vaughan Williams is quoted as saying and certainly no one could question this work's intense spirituality.

As I recall, Janacek was not especially religious either!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé. André Cluytens · Chœurs René Duclos.

[Mister Sharpe]

As I recall, Janacek was not especially religious either!

He reviled organized religion, that's for certain, though I believe he would say that he worshipped nature. The list of atheist composers is long, inc: Wagner, Shostakovich, Strauss, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Delius, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky (for much of his life but latterly changed his mind) and Verdi. Brahms was likely atheist, too, but he's in a group with Berlioz, Debussy and others who saw no benefit in sharing their personal beliefs publically. 

[Symphonic Addict]

I listened to a new Japanese release of this mass yesterday

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPIZWjwgyKJDTv0p7ZarnPuDea7nktCKE

Sounds quite lovely too.

[Symphonic Addict]

Stravinsky: Jeu de cartes

Such a quirky ballet, full of character and so graphic in what it seeks to express. Very enjoyable work.

[JBS]