What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitsky.

At times this is a very fine piece of work, very impressive scoring, that engenders a lot of beautiful melodies, which reach me most when the music is subdued, actually as minimal as possible, then it will culminate in sounds that bear resemblance to the heights Hanson can go. Good sound and performance.

[Karl Henning]

"Papa"
String Quartet in C Op.76 № 3 « Emperor » H.III/77
Quatuor Mosaïques

[asin]B001F0K004[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Сергей Сергеевич [ Sergei Sergeyevich (Prokofiev) ]
Piano Sonata № 3 in f minor, Op.1
Anne-Marie M^cDermott

[asin]B0025X4PRO[/asin]

[Rinaldo]

LvB
String Quartet № 9 in C Op.59 № 3 « Razumovsky »
Vermeer Quartet

[asin]B0001ZA2IE[/asin]

May I quizz you about your opinion on the Vermeers and how they fare compared to other, more prominent sets? It was my first dive into Beethoven's SQs and while I was (and still partially am) very enthusiastic about it, the more time I spend with this set, the more I would like to explore different options.

[Sergeant Rock]

Ravel Piano Concerto G major, Samson Francois, piano, André Cluytens conducting a French orchestra with an impossibly long name




Sarge

[Karl Henning]

May I quizz you about your opinion on the Vermeers and how they fare compared to other, more prominent sets? It was my first dive into Beethoven's SQs and while I was (and still partially am) very enthusiastic about it, the more time I spend with this set, the more I would like to explore different options.

I am honored to be asked, but in all modesty I am incompetent to answer properly.  I only own one other set of the quartets, so my statistical sampling is too low : )

[Karl Henning]

Сергей Сергеевич [ Sergei Sergeyevich (Prokofiev) ]
Sonata for violin solo in D, Op.115
Rouben Aharonian

[PaulR]

Because I am reading and translating an article about Schnittke for class....it seems fitting to listen to Schnittke.

[asin]B000001GNL[/asin]

[Rinaldo]

I am honored to be asked, but in all modesty I am incompetent to answer properly.  I only own one other set of the quartets, so my statistical sampling is too low : )

Ah, my hopes have been crushed! But your post inspired me to play the 3rd disc (SQs 5, 6 & 7) so all is well in this lazy Friday afternoon. No. 5 really shines!

[Sergeant Rock]

Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Jean-Philippe Collard, piano, Maazel conducting the Orchestre National de France




Sarge

[bhodges]

Last night, heard a powerful, big-boned Nielsen Third ("Espansiva") with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic. They're recording a Nielsen cycle for release on Dacapo, and if this is an indication, the set could be quite a contender.

Still pondering the Korngold Violin Concerto on the program, with soloist Leonidas Kavakos. He was excellent, and I liked a lot of the piece--until the strange ending!

--Bruce

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Symphony No. 2 "Romantic".

This is without doubt the most admired Symphony from this composer, and its easily understandable if you enter the first few bars of this work. Its so at ease in the setting in which it is written, that all what comes out sounds perfectly natural. The build up and the succeeding climaxes are a outcome that gives a lot of colour to the term "Romantic" and some subdued passion that never goes over the top. The PPP are so subtle, that they almost get luminosity beyond the grasp of realism. The delicate conversation between brass and violins is astounding, in which Sibelius is casting his genial shadow. Hanson must have written this with the magic of this composer in mind. I even can imagine that Sibelius would have composed in this way, and could have progressed instead of sitting idly by for so many years. His Eight could have sounded like this! But enough of idle talk, its gorgeous music. The melodies keep haunting me in a good way, thanks to the excellent performance, that can hardly be bettered.

[listener]

Piano:  Amy BEACH   Dreaming op.15/3    Ballade op. 6
GOTTSCHALK:  La chute des feuilles, Illusions perdues,  God Save the Queen (arr.)
HELPS: Nocturne, Three Homages (Fauré, Rachmaninoff, Ravel),
Alan Feinberg, piano
d'INDY: Istar, Poème des rivages, Diptyque Méditerranéan
Luxembourg Philharmonic Orch.     Emmanuel Krivine, cond.

[Lisztianwagner]

Sergei Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No.4

[asin]B00000427L[/asin]

[Sergeant Rock]

Still pondering the Korngold Violin Concerto on the program, with soloist Leonidas Kavakos. He was excellent, and I liked a lot of the piece--until the strange ending!

--Bruce

What was strange about the ending?

Listening to Heifetz play it now, Wallenstein conducting the LA Phil




Sarge

[Karl Henning]

“Papa”
String Quartet in B^b Op.76 № 4 « Sunrise » H.III/78
Quatuor Mosaïques

[asin]B001F0K004[/asin]

[Opus106]

First Listen Friday (soon to become Sometime during a Saturday)

Alexander Scriabin
Impromptus and Poèmes
Maria Lettberg

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

The Symphony I most relate too in Prokofiev's oeuvre must be the Seventh in C sharp minor opus 131. Always have a warm feeling inside when the first movement starts. There is where the beauty starts and it ends with the last bars of the Fourth movement. For Prokofiev this is a very harmonious and well balanced work, with no extreme dissonances, and it is as if he has reached a pinnacle, from which there is no return, neither a forward motion. It is closing a era, and also a stop to more symphonies, having said all he had to express. Jarvi is the man to give this work a ravishing interpretation. He controls the culmination of all the excellence of the composition, recorded in great sound!

[PaulR]

How this assignment would be so much easier if I knew German as a first language!  (But then I wouldn't need the class to be able to read German)

[asin]B000FOQ1EA[/asin]
Symphony #1

[bhodges]

What was strange about the ending?

Listening to Heifetz play it now, Wallenstein conducting the LA Phil




Sarge

The final bars sound like 3 or 4 different endings mashed together--with Korngold unable to make up his mind which one to use (at least, as performed here). Basically liked the piece, but was a bit stymied at the end--need to hear it again, for sure. Do you recommend this recording?

--Bruce