What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Opus106]

That's it!  I'm sending over the Hoffmeister to India to rough you up!   

He can even do a Bay of Bengal Watch if we have wants.

[ChamberNut]

He can even do a Bay of Bengal Watch if we have wants.

Although I wasn't a fan of Baywatch, I was a huge Knight Rider fan as a KITT....I mean kid. 

[George]

Adagio sostenuto: there were a couple of moments that I felt the music was very Chopinesque - or should I say that Chopin was very Hammerklavier-istic(!) in most of his music?

No, my friend, you had it right the first time. 

[ChamberNut]

Adagio sostenuto: there were a couple of moments that I felt the music was very Chopinesque - or should I say that Chopin was very Hammerklavier-istic(!) in most of his music?

Ah yes....the 8 year old Chopin had such a strong influence on Herr Beethoven.  It is unmistakable!  0:)

[CD]

Continuing with Schoenberg, I've been listening to his violin (Amoyal) and piano (Serkin) concerti (Boulez, London). Why the piano concerto has such a reputation of inaccessibility, I don't know. The violin concerto is made of slightly tougher stuff, but it's still a tasty morsel.

Also listened last night to the Nash Ensemble's disc of Ravel's chamber music. The Mallarmé songs reach me like few pieces do.

[Homo Aestheticus]

Mozart - The Magic Flute

BPO - Karajan

1980

[karlhenning]

Continuing with Schoenberg, I've been listening to his violin (Amoyal) and piano (Serkin) concerti (Boulez, London). Why the piano concerto has such a reputation of inaccessibility, I don't know. The violin concerto is made of slightly tougher stuff, but it's still a tasty morsel.

Also listened last night to the Nash Ensemble's disc of Ravel's chamber music. The Mallarmé songs reach me like few pieces do.

Entire approval, Corey 

[Homo Aestheticus]

Entire approval, Corey  

But does he adore  Moses und Aron ?

That is the question.

[Bulldog]

Two Sonatas for Piano Duet by Johann Wilhelm Wilms on the Carus label # 83.434.  Performers are Hans-Peter and Volker Stenzl on modern piano.  IMO, these pleasing but hardly essential works cry out for fortepiano treatment.  The disc is recommended solely for those who are big-time fans of music of Wilms' period.

[karlhenning]

That is the question.

No, it isn't.

The world doesn't revolve around the few works that you adore.

[karlhenning]

Dmitri Dmitriyevich
Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Themes, Opus 115
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Haitink

(nods to Bill)

[Bu]

[karlhenning]

Tansman
Stèle in memoriam d'Igor Strawinsky
Czecho-Slovak State Philharmonic
Meir Minsky

[karlhenning]

Mozart‡
Vesperae solennes de confessore, K.339
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis

[Florestan]

Paganini

Concerto No.2 for Violin and Orchestra in B minor "La Campanella"

Alexandre Dubach
Lawrence Foster
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo

[Dr. Dread]

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Mayron-Tsong/Performer/159996-2

[ChamberNut]

Mozart

String Quartets K.421, K.428, K.464, K.465

Alban Berg Quartet
Teldec

[Lilas Pastia]

Richard Arnell: piano concerto and 2nd symphony. In a nutshell: it gets better and better. The piano concerto is a grand, smashing affair larded with brazenly confident brass figurations, sweeping string élans, marvelously tummy-wobbling timpani wrtiting and enough melodic material to make the whole cohere and get to the glorious ending with the feeling of elation one gets when listening to one of the great works of the concertante litterature.

The second symphony is another winner, with a perfect 3-movement structure. The kernel of the work is the spacious, ruminative slow movement. The finale has Tchaikovsky written all over it. Not for the melodic content or the orchestration, but the rythmic patterns of Piotr Ilyich's symphonies 1 and 4 are all over the place. A splendid symphony from an unexpected source (two months ago I had never heard a note of Arnell's music).

Arnell's qualities are manifold, but the most striking feature of his symphonic works is his tremendous skill as an orchestrator. His rythmic writing is also extremely intelligent, adapting itself to the instrumentation he uses for his thematic development. This allows his themes to stride forth or expand in the best possible way (much like Tchaikovsky's own inimitable combination or luxuriant orchestration and tremendous rythmic flair). I notice he has a fondness for angularity in enunciating/developing the thematic material. In this respect he reminds me of the best from Walton and Alwyn.

More listenings to Langgaards 15th and 16th symphonies. In 16:I and IV the Straussian influences are unmistakable. Indeed, the symphony could have been labeled 'newly found symphony by Richard Strauss, thouyght to havew been written ca 1935'. The swooping and trilling horns are a dead gieveaway. Mind you, there could be worse influences. I've always thought Szymanowski's 2nd  was the best symphony Strauss never wrote, but Langgaard is a worthy rival. At this point in time I'm tempted to elect Lannggaard as the best danish symphonist, ahead of Nielsen.

[The new erato]

[ChamberNut]

First Listen Friday

Elgar

Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61

James Ehnes
Philharmonia Orchestra
Andrew Davis
Onyx