What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Lisztianwagner]

Listening to Violin Concerto No. 2 with Kyung-Wha Chung. Amazing performance.

+1

[madaboutmahler]

Happy Birthday, Tony!
Ilaria - for the Bernstein Elgar: *pounds the table!*

[asin]B000001GIY[/asin]
Der Rosenkavalier - Suite

Such happy music perfectly suited to bring what has been such a happy day to a close! Life is wonderful!

Good night everyone!

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Revisiting an old friend. This is one of my favorite Respighi recordings and my favorite recording of the Roman Trilogy.

[Lisztianwagner]

Ilaria - for the Bernstein Elgar: *pounds the table!*

Thank you, Daniel! I saw on the 'what are you playing' thread that the school event went very well, I'm really pleased about it.

Bela Bartok
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta - Adagio

[asin]B000068Q5U[/asin]
Just finished listening to Karajan's performance, but I'll listen to this movement again, I really adore it!! Solti's recording this time.....

[jlaurson]

Very good ear. Shostakovich's 2nd and 3rd are generally regarded as his weakest symphonies. They're almost nothing in the world but propaganda works. Like of today's radio jingle for example. They're trying to sell something. Truth be told, I like the 2nd better than the 3rd. The 8th is a masterwork. I look forward to more of your commentary.

from http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2006/04/jansons-latest-in-shostakovich.html

...Now his second to last installment is out, coupling the often neglected 2nd ("To October" – arguably the weakest in the cycle of 15) with the great 12th, "The Year 1917" op.112.

Mon Dieu. Or rather: Bozhe moi. If the earlier symphonies in this cycle really are lukewarm, Jansons might best be advised to keep going around the block one more time with this orchestra. This is good stuff! ... The second symphony, one movement with a nervous, neurotic wreck of a second scene and the somewhat impressive choral final scene to a text that makes any Russian speaker wish they didn't understand the meaning of the heavy-thumping prose ("O Lenin: / Ty vykoval volyu stradanye / Ty vykoval vloyu mozolistykh ruk. // My ponyali, Lenin, shto nasha sud ba nosit imya: / borba! borba! / Borba! Ty vyela nas k posldenyemu volyu. [...] Vot znamya oktyabr / Vot imya zhivykh pokolyenii i Lenin. / Kommuna i Lenin."*), actually comes across as a mini-glorious overture to the symphony that follows. No small achievement right there, in a work from which Shostakovich distanced himself (in embarrassment?) later in life.
...
...
* "O Lenin: / You forged freedom from our torment. / You forged freedom from our toil-hardened hands. // We understood, Lenin, that our fate has only one name: Struggle (fight / strife), Struggle. / Struggle, you led us to ultimate freedom. / Struggle, you gave us the ultimate freedom. [...] The slogan: October and Lenin. / The new age and Lenin. / The commune and Lenin."

The point somewhere between Karl and egamI rorriM is that no one would ever dare judge DSCH's Symphonies by either No.2 or 3, because it simply would be unfair... much like no one would judge Mozart (or his Symphonies) by K.16... but also that No.2 (and also No.3 -- I've since reversed my opinion above and I think I like No.2 a little better) contains plenty of music that is well worth our attention -- and not just because of the name of the composer. To dismiss it as music would be doing so at our own peril... to claim that it's not one of his weakest efforts among the symphonies would also seem silly.

[TheGSMoeller]

Now:



Revisiting an old friend. This is one of my favorite Respighi recordings and my favorite recording of the Roman Trilogy.

One of the best there is, phenomenal all around. Love that disc.

[Mirror Image]

It's great, Greg. Now listening:



Listening to Symphony No. 3.

[Coopmv]

Now:



Listening to Hamlet.

How do you like this set?  I have owned this set for a number of years and am now listening through the set by Pletnev, which some guy on another forum called a piece of crap ...   

[Mirror Image]

How do you like this set?  I have owned this set for a number of years and am now listening through the set by Pletnev, which some guy on another forum called a piece of crap ...   

My opinion maybe a little biased but it's the first Tchaikovsky symphony set I bought. I had nothing to compare any of the performances to, but I remember being quite taken with Bernstein's way with Tchaikovsky. Of course, he would go on to record many of these works again, but there's a certain enthusiasm and freshness I admire in this set. It remains a favorite though there are many other fine sets available: Temirkanov, Jansons, Svetlanov, etc.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Vers la Voûte étoilée. Exquisite.

[Gold Knight]

Johannes Brahms--Symphony No.1 in C Minor, Op.68 and Symphony No.3 in F Major, Op.90, both performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Herbrt von Karajan.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky--Symphony No.3 in D Major, Op.29 {"Polish"}, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra led by Igor Markevitch.

[TheGSMoeller]

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[Leon]

.[asin]B00570JXNI[/asin]

That is a fantastic recording and had been my favorite transcription until I heard Fretwork's recording.

Thread Duty:

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[TheGSMoeller]

That is a fantastic recording and had been my favorite transcription until I heard Fretwork's recording.

Another wonderfull transcription, I was amazed at Fretwork's presentation, of course I should have expected it considering their Art of Fugue recording is equally impressive.

[TheGSMoeller]

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About to move onto The Spirit of England, preparing myself for the BBC/Lloyd-Jones version to arrive by listening to SNO/Gibson's.

[Karl Henning]

The point somewhere between Karl and egamI rorriM is that no one would ever dare judge DSCH's Symphonies by either No.2 or 3, because it simply would be unfair... much like no one would judge Mozart (or his Symphonies) by K.16... but also that No.2 (and also No.3 -- I've since reversed my opinion above and I think I like No.2 a little better) contains plenty of music that is well worth our attention -- and not just because of the name of the composer. To dismiss it as music would be doing so at our own peril... to claim that it's not one of his weakest efforts among the symphonies would also seem silly.

Well said.

[Lilas Pastia]

AURIC`:  music for the film La Belle et la bête
Moscow Symphony Orch.      Adriano
I was never a Cocteau fan and the music doesn't thrill me.
STRAVINSKY : The Rite of Spring
Ansermet and the Suisse Romande Orch.
early, mono recording which I like, but I'll replace this with the cd reissue.  The surfaces have made this copy junkable¸.  Keep a modern stereo as there aren't many works that include 2 contrabassoons and 2 bass clarinets in the orchestration

Cocteau's film and Auric's movie are two genuine materpieces IMHO. I've seen the film many times and it never fails to enchant me. And Auric's music is wonderful. It only goe sto show that mileage varies .

Numerous listenings to various Romeo and Juliet (Prokofieff) excerpts in different arrangements. This was prompted by listening to a Stokowski 1954 NBC recording. I kept thinking how incredibly lovely Juliet's theme was. Then I listened to another compilation by Leinsdorf and the BSO (Sony-RCA). And then another one by Myung Whun Chung and the Concertgebouw (DGG). And back to Stokie. Incredibly gorgeous music. All these recordings have their own stamp of personality, but for sheer infatuation with the music Stokowski wins hands down. Fabulous playing by Toscanini's orchestra (first horn !) and great early stereo sound.

[listener]

Cocteau's film and Auric's movie are two genuine materpieces IMHO. I've seen the film many times and it never fails to enchant me. And Auric's music is wonderful. It only goe sto show that mileage varies .

At least I'm open enough to have actually bought the disc and listened to it.  I'll try again sometime.
Thread duty: Leopold GODOWSKY : Passacaglia (on the first 8 bars of Schubert's 'Unfinished' symphony,
Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H for the left hand, 2 pieces from the Java Suite, selection of Chopin Étude arrangements and other transcriptions
Marc-André Hamelin, piano    (1987 recording)

[Que]

good evening all 

Received this one couple of days ago :

Francois Couperin - Premier Livre de Pieces de Clavecin
CD1 - Premier Ordre (Olivier Beaumont).

The very best option currently available. Happy to see that F. Couperin's harpsichord works enjoy a lot of airtime at GMG lately, as are D. Scarlatti's BTW. Pinnacles in the history of keyboard music!


Opening the morning with a master of the Renaissance - Josquin Desprez.



Q

[mc ukrneal]

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About to move onto The Spirit of England, preparing myself for the BBC/Lloyd-Jones version to arrive by listening to SNO/Gibson's.

Several of us will be very interested to hear what you think of the different Spirits of England. I love some of the other music on the Dutton issue as well