What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[ChamberNut]

I'm soooo excited!!  My Amazon order came in today! 

Listening to:

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17 Little Russian

Riccardo Muti, conductor
Philharmonia Orchestra
Brilliant Classics

[ChamberNut]

Both pieces - quite dissimilar, but both quintessentially Vaughan Williams - make a great start. And I would count both of them among his most impressive, so you could do worse. Congrats with your fresh discovery and may you enjoy even much more!  

Thank you Christo!     I do look forward to hearing some more.  And perhaps one day, I'll learn to properly spell 'Vaughan' 

[ChamberNut]

Wagner
Prelude to Act I of Parsifal
Jeemie
from the Big Bayreuth Box

Pounds the table!

Isn't this Prelude gorgeous?   

[ChamberNut]

Onslow

String Quintet in C minor, Op. 38 de la balle

(2 violins, viola, cello, double-bass)
Quintett Momento Musicale
MDG

Fantastic!   

[Lethevich]

Thanks again to Tony for pointing this bargain out.

[Lethevich]

This has always been one of my least preferred RVW symphonies, but it is still well-crafted, highly melodic and compelling. As a plus I get to hear the sublime Serenade to Music as well

[Kullervo]

Debussy - Images, Estampes, etc. (Paul Jacobs)
RVW - Tallis Fantasia, A London Symphony (Haitink/London Phil)

[imperfection]

Sir Georg Solti The Maestro. Disc 1 - Rossini overtures, including The Barber of Seville, Semiramide, La Scala di seta, La gazza ladra, etc. Mendelssohn: Symphony No.3, "Scottish". Symphony No.4, "Italian".



Good sound for a music DVD, video quality is satisfactory given their age. Music wise, since this is Solti, lightness in touch wasn't expected, and it didn't surprise me that almost all the overtures feature very prominent brass and percussion. To people who don't like bombast in Italian opera overtures, you might not enjoy this Disc (I have not yet watched the other 3 yet), but for those who like Solti's sense of hard-driven rhythmic excitement, this won't disappoint. 

[Lethevich]

In between movements 4 and 5 of the 7th I had to do some emergency shopping On my mp3 player it was:



I have come to the conclusion that while I cannot pick much between the Nash and Maggini recordings in terms of quality, this Nash disc is better programmed than the Naxos Maggini one. It has a brilliant mix of RVW at his most abstract and dreamy and his most formal. The Maggini has none of the former, and lacks a little magic as a result. I couldn't listen to a whole disc of VW's lesser pieces, but when mixed with the major ones the results are so compelling.

[Lilas Pastia]

Extracts from Schubert's Rosamunde music with the Czech Philharmonic under Zdenek Kosler. This conductor has some special ideas about tempos, dragging the familiar entr'acte and ballet music to inordinate lengths. However, it is so caressing and suave that it made me accept his POV and wallow in the gorgeous melodies. Totally different from what I usually hear for those two numbers. The Overture is mighty and quite dramatic. Splendid playing, bold and resonant recording. I have no idea when it was issued (presumably on Supraphon). An unusual but rewarding interpretation.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Kurtág, Hommage à Mihály András - 12 Microludes, Op. 13, for string quartet (1978). Arditti Quartet.

What a beautiful language Kurtág speaks in. A fusion of Webern and Bartok, but fully individual and expressive.

[Wanderer]

Brahms: Symphony No.4
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite

(Chicago SO/Giulini)

Busoni: Piano Concerto

(Ogdon/Royal PO/Ravenaugh)

[val]

FAURÉ:      Requiem              / Kruysen, Ameling, Rotterdam Orchestra, Jean Fournet  (PHILIPS)

I love this version, very natural and quiet, with a very pure and intimate poetry. The soloists are remarkable, the Netherlands Radio Chorus also.
This is the 2nd version recorded by Fournet, with a much better sound than the first.

[mahler10th]

Good Morning folks.
Langgaard was in his late teens when he completed this symphony.  Given it's complexity and depth, it is an astonishing achievement.  As expected from a young composer, there's lots of fortissimo, but then, much of his subsequent works are just as beautifully stormy.
IMHO Langaard was a far more interesting composer than his favoured compatriot  Nielsen, and had he been given as much respect and leverage as his nemesis, he would be as widely played as perhaps Mahler or Sibelius is today regardless of his near metaphysical ideas surrounding music and its composition.

[ragman1970]

A very disappointing recording.

[Valentino]

A very disappointing recording.

But a very beautiful cover picture. Why does the recording fail to please? I've read good things about it before.

[ChamberNut]

Strauss, R.

Horn Concerto No. 1, In E flat major, Op. 11
Horn Concerto No. 2, in E flat major

Peter Damm, horn

Oboe Concerto in D major

Manfred Clement, oboe


Duett-Concertino

Manfred Weise, clarinet
Wolfgang Liebscher, bassoon

Staatskapelle Dresden
Rudolf Kempe
EMI

[karlhenning]

Pounds the table!

Isn't this Prelude gorgeous?   

Oh, I've always liked that Prelude!

[karlhenning]

A very disappointing recording.

Really? It's a marvelous account of the Schoenberg.

[Bogey]

'Morning Karl.