What are you listening 2 now?

[Irons]

Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances & Piano Concerto No.2



Outstanding performances all. As sets of Rachmaninov symphonies go, this is the best set on my shelves.



Romantic music can make me feel uneasy. Rach never does.

[Mandryka]

I suppose Hamlet expresses his fatalistic attitude: We might as well accept our life and rest in it, so to speak, because it is what it is, and the things that must happen will happen, no matter what we do.

I can add that during the course of my illness, it has been a great help to me to leave it all to fate.

In the context of the play, it's not clear what the "it" refers to. And no less problematic, what is "special" about the providence of the sparrow's falling?  And what consequences does it have (if Hamlet were to think logically at all) for freedom and responsibility?

Hamlet has been responsible for the deaths of at least three innocent people, possibly four. And he wants to kill a fifth person to preserve his princely honour. Is he trying to exonerate himself? 

Shakespeare seems to be referring to Matthew 10:29

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.

[DavidW]

Foiled! The Handley Arnold symphonies are only available as samples on Qobuz. I'll have to take more drastic actions! I scratched my Handley itch with Bax's 4th and 5th symphonies. I blasted that glorious music on my stereo over my morning coffee.

[prémont]

In the context of the play, it's not clear what the "it" refers to. And no less problematic, what is "special" about the providence of the sparrow's falling -- and what consequences does it have (if Hamlet were to think logically at all) for freedom and responsibility.

Hamlet has been responsible for the deaths of at least three innocent people, possibly four. And he wants to kill a fifth person to preserve his princely honour. Is he trying to exonerate himself? 

Shakespeare seems to be referring to Matthew 10:29

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.

When does a sparrow fall to the ground? It does when it dies. It is the will of the creator, even for a small sparrow. I think that Hamlet uses the sparrow as a symbol of the mortality of all living things and the predestination of existence. But he doubts that the sparrow's fall is a prophesy of the observer's imminent death. By "It" he probably means death. And he also says that we do not know when it will happen to us. But according to the creator's will (= fate) it will happen at some point.
"If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come."

This is how I read the quote, but it's of course a very subjective interpretation.

[Harry]

Simone de Bonefont (ca. 1500).
Missa pro mortuis cum quinque vocibus (1556)

Arnold von Bruck (1500-1554) Mitten wir im Leben sind.
Jacobus de Kerle (1531-1591) Media vita in morte sumus.
Orlandus Lassus (1532-1594) Media vita in morte sumus.
Nicolas Gombert (1495-1560) Media vita in morte sumus.
Huelgas Ensemble, Paul van Nevel.
Recorded live at Abdij van Park in Leuven (Belgium) 2018.

Really an outstanding release, perfectly recorded.

[DavidUK]

Khrennikov Piano Concerto 1 and Cello Concerto 1.

[Traverso]

Bach

Italian Concertos

Beautiful transcriptions played on a beautiful sounding organ from Finland.

[Todd]

[brewski]

Inspired by @DavidW, waking up with Bax Tintagel, in a live recording from December 2024 with Pappano and the LSO — utterly beguiling and in excellent sound. Why, why, why does this piece never show up in U.S. concert programs?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Hovhaness guitar concerto 2.

[Mandryka]

When does a sparrow fall to the ground? It does when it dies. It is the will of the creator, even for a small sparrow. I think that Hamlet uses the sparrow as a symbol of the mortality of all living things and the predestination of existence. But he doubts that the sparrow's fall is a prophesy of the observer's imminent death. By "It" he probably means death. And he also says that we do not know when it will happen to us. But according to the creator's will (= fate) it will happen at some point.
"If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come."

This is how I read the quote, but it's of course a very subjective interpretation.

"Providence" means divine intervention, and the fall of a sparrow is the most  inconsequential thing. So Hamlet is saying that even the trivial events are the result of God's careful management of the world.

I have no idea what "special providence" is. Possibly a technical term in 16th century theology.

And I think "Since no man of aught he leaves / knows aught, what is 't to leave betimes?" is strange. Aught means "anything" and betimes means "early." It's the two aughts which make it hard for me to get my head round. I've not checked the manuscripts for this line.

None of this is likely to be sloppiness on Shakespeare's part. He revised and revised and revised the text.  I've just finished a course on Hamlet, and one of the big things I learned is that it repays close reading enormously. As soon as you read closely, you see how carefully it is crafted.

[Harry]

Dulcedo.
This recording explores the combined sound of the harp, the lute and the harpsichord, three of the most popular plucked stringed instruments in late medieval Europe.

Music by: Jacob Senleches, Francesco Landini, Matteo de Perugia, Petrus de Grudencz, John Bedingham, Gilles Binchois, Domenico de Piacenza, Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro, Alexander Agricola, Anonymous.
La Morra.
Corina Marti (clavicimbalum), Michal Gondko (plectrum lute), Marie Nishiyama (medieval harp)
Recorded: Hanakage Hall, Yamanashi City, Japan, 2019.
No PDF file attached, and I could not find a back cover.
This recording was made with the Japanese market in mind and is primarily available there.

This CD was only meant for the Japanese market, of which the meaning escapes me, for this is of great interest far beyond Japan. All composers on this disc are not born in that country. Well, streaming is possible, for to score a CD seems to be quite difficult  Thus streaming only, this 192/24 bit recording is absolute SOTA quality, and that goes for the music too. This is really superb music making in which La Morra excels themselves. Recommended. The front cover is an image of which the meaning escapes me too, tis all weird to say the least.

[pjme]

[Brian]

Pletnev "in Person" on Onyx.

These are recordings of impromptu, one-time-only performances made to warm up before the "real" recording sessions for DG albums. From the booklet:

"They are not free from defects, as I simply played every piece once from memory to myself in order to familiarize myself with the instruments." - the performer

And from the booklet writer: "Pletnev always had his own very particular methods of preparing himself for a recording session. If for instance there were three days fixed for a recording, it might often turn out that the first day would be spent exclusively with the instrument, explaining exactly he wanted to the attentive piano technician, who would then immediately start work. At first Pletnev would merely walk round the piano, without wanting to produce any sounds, or play table tennis with his recording team....

"On the second day he would often sit down at the keyboard to warm up a little. Then he would check whether the technician had prepared the piano properly. After an agonizingly protracted warm-up he would say to his producer: 'Now you can start the machine if you like.' However, these were never pieces on the recording schedule: those works he ignored, apart from the odd bar here and there.... Music surged forth from his fingers, whatever came to him... And it is from this phase that these records are taken. One run-through, no editing, done.... Only on the third day was Pletnev finally ready to tackle the repertoire as planned."

The result is performances of live concert-like spontaneity, experimental ideas, and surprises. Not "perfect," but plenty interesting.

Beethoven - Sonata No. 2
Bach/Busoni - Chaconne
Chopin/Liszt - A Maiden's Wish
Tchaikovsky - Nocturne Op. 19 No. 4 and The Seasons "November"
Schubert - Impromptus D. 899 Nos. 2 and 3, recorded on Rachmaninov's 1920s Steinway at his Swiss summer villa

[Karl Henning]

Mahler: Symphony No. 7 (Ingo Metzmacher / WDR Sinfonieorchester, live recording from Sep. 27, 2025 in Cologne). After a friend heard the piece last month with the Kansas City Symphony and conductor Matthias Pintscher, I found this version uploaded four days ago, and it's quite fine.

Metzmacher led the BSO in the Hartmann Fourth, and we had scallion pancakes afterward in Copley Square. Love his work.

[André]

Yosifov 4th symphony.

And ?

[DavidUK]

And ?

7

Highly recommended if you enjoy 20th century Soviet/Eastern Bloc orchestral music.

[Iota]

Rautavaara: Symphony No. 8 'The Journey'
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Inkinen

There's a great deal to like about this symphony, particularly in the first three movements, throughout which I felt fully engaged. But my enthusiasm started to waver a bit in the last, first of all with a feeling of a slight overdose of (admittedly very beautiful) washes of orchestral sound which, drifted at times into slightly padded out Hollywood territory for me, and secondly finding his initially very striking/effective technique of embedding piquant parallel motion harmonies within melodies becoming a little overused.
I'll probably give it another go, as in so many ways I found it very appealing, and this was only a first listen. Romantically inclined symphonies post-Mahler often seem to be a bit of a problem for me.

[DavidW]

[Linz]

Narciso Yepes guitar Concertino En La Mineur, Bacarisse
Homenaje A La Seguidilla, Torroba
Orquesta Nacional de España, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos