What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[ChamberNut]

It's so damn cold here!!

We need spring.

Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring

London Symphony Orchestra - Robert Craft
Naxos

[Ephemerid]

It's so damn cold here!!

We need spring.

Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring

London Symphony Orchestra - Robert Craft
Naxos

And you mean it too, don't you!!   

Britten's Six Metamorposes after Ovid for solo oboe (Hansjorg Schellenberger)

[Lethevich]

I just gave the Arnold 7th another spin, and am getting a proper hold of it this time. It'd certainly be a good piece to counteract the popular image of Arnold as practically a light music composer: this is certainly a very dark, unpredictable, angry work, effectively orchestrated.

That's my favourite Arnold symphony - I find its edgy feeling quite unique amongst his output, his usual playful and light of touch quality is still there, but it's filtered through more negative emotions...

[Harry]

Johann Strauss.

Wiener Blut
First act.
Complete recording 1965.

Also no complains, this version is just fine too.

[ChamberNut]

Beethoven - Violin Sonatas 6, 7, 8 Op. 30

Gidon Kremer, violin
Martha Argerich, piano

DG Complete Beethoven Edition, Vol. 7

[karlhenning]

Kremer and Argerich are a great pairing!

[Harry]

Kremer and Argerich are a great pairing!

Maybe....but not for me!

[Harry]

JS Bach
Contrapunctus I.
Pierre Laurent Aimard, Piano.

Horrible!
Bad playing, bad recording, should be banned from the world.

[Harry]

JS Bach.
Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen, BWV 51.
Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren.
Alleluja.

Elly Ameling, Soprano.
Deutsche Bachsolisten/Helmut Winschermann
Philips recording.

Not bad, but the lightly over strained voice of Elly Ameling, and the attack in her voice makes you turn away.
There is no flexibility in her voice, she sings almost legato in one go.
The sound is acceptable, and the playing of the Bachsolisten relatively light, considering the date of recording.
In Schubert Ameling is a top soprano, but this Bach is for me not acceptable in the long run.

[karlhenning]

Not the right time of day, of course, but . . . .

Henning
Evening Service in D

[Harry]

Handel.
Tolomeo.
Aria: "Cielo ingiusto, potrai fulminarmi"
Ann Hallenberg.
Il Complesso Barocco/Alan Curtis.

Hallenberg's voice is not my kind of voice.

[Harry]

Vivaldi.
L' Olimpiade.
"Siam navi all' onde Algenti" ( Aminta)
Simone Kermes, Soprano.
Venice Baroque Orchestra/Andrea Marcon.

The aria is beautiful, the instrumental part also, but Kermes with all her applaudable passion, which I like, her voice is not for me.
Part of me yearns for this, and another part in me rejects it most vehemently.

[Harry]

Haydn.
The Creation.
"The Heavens are telling the glory of God".
Sandrine Piau/Mark Padmore/Neal Davies.
Chetham's Chamber Choir, Gabrieli consort and players/Paul McCreesh.

So English, so polite, so boring and rather loud.
A fuzzy recording, and certainly not my cup of tea.

[Brian]

Well I'm stuck in bed with the flu today, so maybe it's time to compensate for the fact that yesterday I did not listen to any music at all!

[Harry]

Beethoven.
Piano Concerto No. 5 opus 73.
Rondo Allegro.
Mikhail Pletnev, Piano.
Russian National Orchestra/Christina Gansch.

The freedom Pletnev takes in this movement, in other words, what he adds, or leaves out is a sacrilege to the memory of Beethoven, however flashy his playing may be, for he is a outstanding pianist, but one that is very egocentric.
That makes his playing unattractive, however the Orchestra sounds marvelous, and the conducting of Gansch is amazing, wonderful.
For a live recording it sounds really good, but as a interpretation is should be avoided, unless you like PletBeethoven.

[Harry]

Well I'm stuck in bed with the flu today, so maybe it's time to compensate for the fact that yesterday I did not listen to any music at all!

Get well soon my friend, and don't worry I play a little more music for you.

[Harry]

Puccini.
La Boheme.
"Che gelida manima".
Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor.
Prague PO/Marco Armiliato.

Really well done, I like this tenor and certainly this aria very much.
Its time that I listen to a complete rendition of La Boheme.
So I am open to suggestions.

[Harry]

Smetana.
Moldau.
Wiener Philharmoniker/ Herbert von Karajan.

Well this is absolute bliss, as there ever was. The great man himself in full bloom.
No one ever did the magical thing with the Moldau as Karajan does.
What a artist, and vision, recorded in good sound, and the marvelous string section of the Wieners shines throughout.

[karlhenning]

Alleluia (in A-flat), Opus 33

[Lethevich]

Schubert - Symphonies (Sawallisch, Staatskapelle Dresden)



These performances are making me love this music - the spring and bounce in no.4 is wonderful.