What are you listening 2 now?

[ritter]

First listen to this recent purchase: John Neschling conducts the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège in Respighi's Sinfonia Drammatica and Belfagor Overture.

[Mandryka]

Xenakis - Herma

The trio is magnificent

[Linz]

Felix Mendelssohn 'Die Walpurgisnacht', Op. 60
Scharinger, Hölle
Bamberger Symphoniker, Walt, Rappé,

[Lisztianwagner]

Franz Liszt
Dante Symphony

Giuseppe Sinopoli & Staatskapelle Dresden

[Wanderer]

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony no. 3 in D Minor, 1889 Version (aka 1888/89) Ed. Leopold Nowak
Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Bohm

[ritter]

Piano music by Florent Schmitt, played by Biljana Urban.



Schmitt's piano music is fascinating, elusive...

[AnotherSpin]

[Linz]

Gustav Mahler Mahler Symphony No. 8 in e flat major "Symphony of a Thousand"
Jane Eaglen; Anne Schwanewilms; Ruth Ziesak; Sara Fulgoni; Anna Larsson; Ben Heppner; Peter Mattei; Jan-Hendrik Rootering; Netherlands Radio Choir; Prague Philharmonic Choir
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly

[Daverz]

Holst: The Planets - Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jaime Martin

Excellent.

[Todd]

Op 54.

The pictured is not my set, but it can be purchased on eBay for the low, low price of $900.00.

[Todd]

Op 57.  It's been a minute.

Amusingly, Gemini uses some of the exact words I used to describe aspects of the cycle almost a dozen years ago.  A coincidence, no doubt.  Also, Grok uses the standard AI type response of saying the recordings are "often compared" to this or that.  Grok relies primarily on English language sources, and there are precious few mentions of her cycle in the English-speaking world.

[André]

Symphony no 1, Overture Scherzo and Finale and symphony in d minor  (first version of no 4).

1841 was the year of the symphony for Schumann. He composed in succession the symphonic tryptich listed above. The second work was intended as a 'symphonette', but Clara listed it in her husband's list of works among the overtures. Right after these two Schumann set to work on a d minor symphony. He would rework it into what we know as his 4th symphony.

This disc is the first of a series from the Audite label comprising all the overtures, concertos and symphonies. The WDR orchestra conducted by Heinz Holliger is the common link in this project.

Holliger favours brisk tempi and lean textures (I wager that the strings are maybe at 50% of their potential numbers). IMO it's an excellent interpretive decision (Schumann's orchestral works require a lot of those).

Low strings, brass and timpani are more forward than usual, darkening the textures as a result. Thus what we hear is a compact sound, with a solid core. Phrases are crisp, note values kept short - resonance not allowed to linger. It's like there's more air (time) between the notes and, coupled with a resolutely non legato phrasing it all sounds slightly choppy. Curiously I find it quite right for Schumann. It adds an element of quirkiness, of originality, the music turning its back to a gooey concept of 'romantic' music making (think the polar opposite of Furtwängler or Karajan).

The 1841 d minor symphony contains pretty much everything we are familiar with in the 4th. The revision definitely brought improvements, like the saturnine interjections from the trombones in the first movement, heard on clarinets and bassoons in the original. A feeble sound compared to the severe, energetic eructations of the trombones in the definitive version. In fact it seems Schumann merely beefed up everything and went for a punchy, full orchestral sound in his revision. Maybe it's Holliger's doing too, presenting the work like a chamber work - less decibels, lots of clarity.

A very fine disc.
 

[San Antone]

Bach - Mass in B minor BWV 232
Van Veldhoven | Netherlands Bach Society

I love the Netherlands Bach Society's All of Bach project.  So many wonderful performances, done in period instrument/practice performances. This B Minor Mass offers insights to the work to me after hearing dozens of of other recordings. 

My first experience of the work was in 1970 at music school.  A few of us had discovered the Harnoncourt Concentus Musicus recording, and fell in love with it.  Later a local choir director/organist mounted a live performance of the work. I have remained a PI/HIP advocate ever since.

The work has also remained among my favorites and I regularly listen to new recordings.  This is one of the best I've heard.

[JBS]

The lady seems a bit wary or skeptical of something. Is it the music? Or is it us, the viewer-audience?

TD
BBC Music Magazine for September 2025
Itzchak Perlman violin
Mozart Sonata in B Flat Major K378 and Debussy Sonata in G Major are the main works, with a number of encore/virtuosi pieces. The pianists are Bruno Canino and Samuel Sanders, but there's no indication of which pianist was the partner for which piece, nor any indication of where/when these live recordings were made. The final track features Pinchas Zuckerman as violist in Halvorsen's Passacaglia for Violin and Viola in g minor after Handel's Keyboard Suite HWV 432.

[steve ridgway]

Nono - Post-Prae-Ludium for tuba and electronics.

[steve ridgway]

Messiaen - Hymne (For Large Orchestra)

[steve ridgway]

Kagel - Duodramen for soprano, baritone, and orchestra.

[AnotherSpin]

The lady seems a bit wary or skeptical of something. Is it the music? Or is it us, the viewer-audience?

[..]

She is not in the least perturbed by the music, Monteverdi's madrigals are, after all, quite sublime. Rather, she fixes her gaze upon us, the 21st-century vulgarians ogling her portrait on a compact disc sleeve, quietly marvelling at how we have compressed four centuries of exquisite polyphony into a Spotify accompaniment to squat thrusts. Her sidelong glance murmurs, with exquisite restraint: "You call this culture?"

[Wanderer]