What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Opus106]

Haydn
Stabat Mater in G minor
Bonney, Barbara, soprano; von Magnus, Elisabeth, mezzo-soprano; Lippert, Herbert, tenor; Miles, Alastair, bass
Concentus Musicus Vienna; Arnold Schönberg Choir
Nikolaus Harnoncourt

[Que]

Q

[mozartsneighbor]

Schubert Sonatas for Piano and Violin. Immerseel, fortepiano; Seiler, Violin (Zig Zag label)
This fortepiano has a gorgeous sound.

[Lethevich]

Another nice discovery - I had heard his name mentioned a lot on GMG, but have rarely listened to him. Superficial, but I enjoy the Haydnesque lengths of the symphonies. A lot of (especially earlier) classical era orchestral works are like baroque - blink and you miss a movement. Very fine playing all round.

[Harry]

Another nice discovery - I had heard his name mentioned a lot on GMG, but have rarely listened to him. Superficial, but I enjoy the Haydnesque lengths of the symphonies. A lot of (especially earlier) classical era orchestral works are like baroque - blink and you miss a movement. Very fine playing all round.

It is a good recording, but a bit more livelier tempi would have been better.

[Lethevich]

It is a good recording, but a bit more livelier tempi would have been better.

I agree it was quite "civilised" playing.

[mn dave]

Holst

Egdon Heath, op. 47

LSO/Previn

[Harry]

Fitting to my somber mood, I play the equally somber 5th Symphony by Martinu!
For good measure I played it twice.

[SonicMan46]

Geminiani, Francesco (1687-1762) - Concerti Grossi (after Corelli Op. 5) w/ Manze & the Academy of Ancient Music - after starting a 'new' thread on this composer last night based on the other CD shown, decided to do some listening to this composer! 

Also, Cello Sonatas, Op. 5 w/ Jaap ter Linden on cello & Lars Ulrik Mortensen on harpsichord - 

P.S.  CLICK on the images for reviews, if interested!

 

[karlhenning]

Britten

Sinfonia da Requiem, op. 20

LSO/Previn

Pretty good take on an excellent piece! How'd you like it, Dave?

[karlhenning]

Fitting to my somber mood, I play the equally somber 5th Symphony by Martinu!
For good measure I played it twice.

Delighted that you are enjoying this box, mijn vriend!

[karlhenning]

Debussy
En blanc et noir
Michel Béroff & Jean-Philippe Collard

[karlhenning]

Sergei Sergeyevich
Cinderella, Opus 87
Clevelanders & Ashkenazy

[Mozart]

Listen to this

Vivaldi La Stravaganza Concerto 4 arranged for cembalo
Enrico Baiano

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/XqXuSu4votY&fmt=18


I love the sound of the harpsichord...

[Que]

Listen to this

Vivaldi La Stravaganza Concerto 4 arranged for cembalo
Enrico Baiano
I love the sound of the harpsichord...

Sounds like great fun! I already learned that Enrico Baiano is a harpsichordist to be reckoned with, with a highly personal style btw. The excerpt must be from this disc:



Q

[mn dave]

Pretty good take on an excellent piece! How'd you like it, Dave?

I'll have to give it some more time, but I liked it the first time around.

[Todd]

It's been quite a while since I last listened to Clemens Krauss' 1953 Ring, so over the last three weekends I have revisited the cycle.  It remains my favorite all-rounder, despite it's sound.  I will say that I might give the edge to Keilberth's '55 Siegfried and possibly Gotterdamerung, but Krauss' way with the first two operas and his just-a-hair behind Keilberth outcome with the last two make this a most satisfying listening experience.  Hell, Hotter's Wotan in Die Walkure and Varnay's Brunnhilde in Gotterdammerung are good enough to put it over the top.

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JS (1685-1750) - English & French Suites w/ Alan Curtis on the harpsichord - after a lot of effort I was able to obtain these recordings at a bargain (Amazon + BRO, about $12 for the 3 CDs) - just listened to these last recordings today - excellent! Highly recommended in this forum - will do some more listening tomorrow!   


   

[Lilas Pastia]

Brahms: symphonies 3 and 4, with the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Georgre Pretre and Kent Nagano. Both are live broadcasts (from 2008 and 1998 respectively). The orchestra is clearly the same, but the performances are rather different. Nagano's Brahms is leisurely and rather loose at the seams, with a rather indifferent slow movement. Quite good nonetheless. The music breathes and expands naturally.

Pretre's third is another matter altogether. The opening is deceptively unheroic, almost gentle. Winds are given especial prominence and strings are always transparent and delicate, clearly in order to give the winds and horns the chance to impart iridescence and transparence to the orchestral fabric. Brass are rather reticent but trumpets are asked to cut through the textures at some nodal points (first and last movement). Timpani rumble with a rather tubby sound (in both symphonies). Casual listening may give the impression this third is nonchalant, diffident even, but the truth lies elsewhere: throughout Pretre gives the tempi ample breathing time. Inner movements and the slow portions of I and IV have an almost brucknerian scope. The famous Poco allegretto languidly unfurls at an adagietto pace. It is insanely lovely. The finale has plenty of drive, but not of an enervated type. This is masterfully held together and the slow, evanescent coda is pure enchantment. The string figurations and shafts of wind/horn colourings at the end are the aural equivalent of a gently descending mist over a forest pond.

The difference between the two symphonies is startling. One is a solid but uneventful performance, firmly anchored on a firm bass foundation (low strings and winds), but it never develops in the kind of titanesque drama that is in the music. The other (Pretre's 3rd) is clearly intended to give the winds a very prominent role, something that is achieved by transparent textures and moderate tempi. It develops and grows in stature as it unfolds, displaying in the process a multitude of subtle touches that coalesce to make a particularly satisfying and touching musical experience. It has a sense of inevitability.

Other great thirds I can think of are Walter's and the similarly conceived Giulini WP (funereally slow in I and II, but picking up speed and steam in IV). I still haven't listened to my Schmidt-Isserstedt Hamburg box, but I'll try to move it up the pile.

[hildegard]

      My Haydn Fest continues...with some of my favorite Quartets




     
      ....and one of my favorite choirs