What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[karlhenning]

Debussy
Images, Livres I & II
Michel Béroff

[Wanderer]

Cras rules! At least in that beautifully put together Timpani set. I agree with the assessment that the Jeux Ämes d'enfants is simply adorable: this is one of those collections that etch in some remote and privileged corner of the musical memory.

NB: don't overlook his scrumptious piano concerto, also included in the Timpani set (Cras was a good soloist, and his is worth anybody's money).

Duly noted. 

[Henk]

disc 2: Burleske. I like it.



disc 5: Vivaldi - Double and Triple Concertos

[Que]

 

And a very good morning to all!

Q

[mn dave]

Kempff's Schubert.

[The new erato]

[ChamberNut]

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64**

Philharmonia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti

Brilliant Classics

**My initiation into this wonderful work!  Hearing a live performance tomorrow.   

[Bogey]

Over the past few days:

Composer Mendelssohn
Work A Midsummer Night's Dream (Complete)
Performers Philharmonia Orchestra/Ambrosian Singers/Neville Marriner
Medium and Label CD/Philips 411 106-2
Date of performance 1983

A bit of old school:


Composer Brahms
Work Symphony No. 1
Performers North German Radio Orchestra/Furtwängler
Medium and Label CD/Music & Arts 4941(4)
Date of performance 1951

Composer Haydn
Work Music for Winds-Divertimento for 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Horns and 2 Bassoons in E flat major, H 2 no Eb13
Partita for 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Horns and 2 Bassoons in E flat major, H 2 no Eb12
Performers Prague Wind Quintet members and Miami Wind Quintet members
Medium and Label CD/ Helicon Records 1043
Date of performance 1998

Composer Krommer
Work Music for Winds-Partita for 2 Clarinets, 2 Horns and 2 Bassoons in C minor
Performers Prague Wind Quintet members and Miami Wind Quintet members
Medium and Label CD/ Helicon Records 1043
Date of performance 1998

Composer: Schumann
Work: Piano Concerto in A Minor
Performers Lipatti/Philharmonia Orchestra/Karajan
Medium and Label: CD/EMI Classics References 0777 769792 2 9
Date of performance: London, No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, 1948

Composer Charles Avison
Work 12 Concerti Gossi (1774) after Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti
Ensemble The Brandenburg Consort/Roy Goodman
Medium and Label CD/Hyperion 22060
Date of performance 1994
One of our favorite baroque recordings (2cds) on the shelf.

Composer Ravel
Work String Quartet in F major
Ensemble Emerson String Quartet
Medium and Label CD/DG 427 320-2
Date of the performance 1986
Licked it up like a cat at a saucer of milk. The amount of Ravel I have on the shelf is pathetic considering that I have thoroughly enjoyed everything I do have from this composer. I need to definitely expand here.

Composer Rosetti
Work Clarinet Concertos 1 & 2
Ensemble Performer: Dieter Klöcker (Clarinet)/Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra/Holger Schröter-Seebeck
Work Concerto for 2 Horns and Orchestra
Ensemble Sarah Willis (French Horn), Klaus Wallendorf (French Horn)/Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra/Holger Schröter-Seebeck
Medium and Label CD/CPO 999 621-2
Date of the performance 1998

This:


Composers Vivaldi/Sammartini/Telemann/Handel
Works Recorder Concertos
Performer Michala Petri/ASMF/Iona Brown
Medium and Label CD/Philips 400 075-2
Date of performance 1980

Composer Dvořák
Work Cello Concerto
Performer(s) Mstislav Rostropovich/Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Herbert von Karajan
Medium and Label CD/DG 413 819-2
Date of performance 1969

Good morning.

[Moldyoldie]

Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
Barbara Hendricks, soprano;  José van Dam, baritone

Bruckner: Te Deum
Helga Müller-Molinari, alto/contralto; Janet Perry, soprano; Gösta Winbergh, tenor; Alexander Malta, bass

Vienna Singverein
Wiener Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan, cond.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON (2-CD)
I'm certainly not what one would describe as a fervent fan of religious choral music.  When listening to any choral work, whether religious or secular, I tend to take an agnostic's objective viewpoint and allow the performance to either make me feel the composer's inspiration or perhaps even "convert" me.

I've heard only two recordings of Brahms' seemingly popular German Requiem, this being the first.  First impressions, being what they are, left me nonplussed with Brahms' creation and in awe of the absolutely wondrous choral singing as well as the very fine contributions of the soloists; I was particularly enamored of the angelically sung "Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit" by soprano Barbara Hendricks.  The overall tone here is one of utmost reverence and solemnity in a performance that extends over 75 minutes.  Hearing it this morning, and after having experienced the leaner, swifter "period-inspired" performance conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, I've still not been "converted", but remain spellbound by the sheer beauty of this 1985 recording, apparently later re-released on a single CD without the appended Bruckner work.  If it was Brahms' intent to convey peace to the living, Karajan and company channel it marvelously and to a tee.  As can be surmised, I've yet to hear Klemperer's early '60s recording which supposedly set some sort of modern performance standard.

This recording was also my introduction to the Bruckner Te Deum. Initially on first hearing, I found it more musically compelling than the Brahms with its opening organ proclamation; this morning, I found it comparatively turgid and inert.  (I'm consciously avoiding that punnish homonym!)  Maybe it's the performance, maybe it's the work, or maybe it's just me...I don't know.  I'll have to either hear it in isolation or hear another performance to be more conclusive.

[Opus106]

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64**

**My initiation into this wonderful work!  Hearing a live performance tomorrow.   

Your initiation, after I started listening to Mahler! That is so late. 

Hope you have an enjoyable time at the concert.

[Keemun]

I just finished listening to Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 (Davis/BSO).  One thing I don't like about this set is the (sometimes) harsh sound of the brass. 




Now listening to Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 (Bernstein/NYPO).

[Ric]

When great musicians do a recording, it's difficult that the recording could disappoint. In this film, Rostropóvich and Giulini sign one of the best performances of Dvorak's chelo concerto, by intensity and inspiration.

Very good sound. Nice image, like was usually filmed twenty years ago.

[Lilas Pastia]

Shostakovich: violin sonata, piano quintet and viola sonata. Beautiful works, all. The Quintet is probably one of the greatest chamber works of the past century.

[mn dave]

[mn dave]

Nielsen

Sinfonia Espansivo

Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Blomstedt

[karlhenning]

... Good morning.

Happy Sunday, Bill!

[SonicMan46]

Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931) - Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 w/ Rumon Gamba and Iceland PO - just started a thread on this French composer, so please visit and post comments & recommendations; this recording received a 'Best of the Month' review on MusicWeb - click on the image to read the comments! 

[Brian]

From the "Great Conductors of the 20th Century" reissue series: NICOLAI MALKO.

First came a slow and steady overture to "Ruslan and Ludmila"; now a Borodin Symphony No 2 in mono, which is certainly very good, although I am fonder of Tjeknavorian. I am unfamiliar with Malko generally, as the librarian brought this disc to me by mistake when I asked for the George Szell volume. Nicolai Malko is a bit of an unknown, relative to the other conductors in this series, but he premiered the DSch 1 and 2 (neither of which is present in this collection) and participated in EMI's very first stereo recording session (a Prokofiev 7th, which is on this disc). Malko's successor at the helm of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, after he chose to emigrate from Russia, was a young man named Evgeny Mravinsky.

[Kullervo]

Bartók - String Quartets 2, 4 and 6 (Takács)
Fauré - Cello sonatas (Paul Tortelier, cello/Eric Heidsieck, piano), String Quartet (Quatuor Bernède)

Proof that hard-edged modernism and sensuous beauty are not mutually-exclusive (as some have deluded themselves into believing).

[Que]

Good morning.

Very nice to see you around again, Bill!

Q