What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Valentino]

Christo, you're a  0:)!

That remark made me rip the schrink wrap off my De Pacem Domine. Have been staring at it for months, never finding the right moment. And now it's Sunday!

Sleep well/have a nice day, all!

[Solitary Wanderer]

Bach ~ Lute Suites John Williams

[Joan]

That's Polonia by Stanisław Wyspiański (Stanislaw Wyspianski), a very good painter (who'd also done some breathtaking stained glass) but actually more of a literary genius (one of the greatest Polish playwrights). I've posted a few more of his paintings here.

Thanks!

[Christo]

Christo, you're a  0:)!  That remark made me rip the schrink wrap off my De Pacem Domine. Have been staring at it for months, never finding the right moment. And now it's Sunday!  Sleep well/have a nice day, all!

Da Pacem Domine, still wrapped in a shrink wrap? That sounds very postmodern indeed - perhaps another new Tavener?   0:) Have a fine Sunday indeed! For now, I'm ending my Saturday night fever with another oriental piece: Flos Campi, his study in sonorities and sensualities, in one of the finest performances I'm aware of:

[beclemund]

Well I followed up with a non-Pärt composition, but no less heavenly:

[beclemund]

Then followed that with:



Gorgeous, like the last, but I am sure every Brucknerophile has both in his or her library already.

[George]

Then followed that with:



Gorgeous, like the last, but I am sure every Brucknerophile has both in his or her library already.

Indeed, but I have yet to hear mine.

Perhaps tomorrow...

[Solitary Wanderer]

Rule Brittannia is unintentionally hilarious!

[M forever]

It may or may not interest you to know that they had actually scheduled a recording of Schubert's Mass in Eflat D950, but Giulini was unhappy with the choir and canceled it, so they recorded the Bruckner 2 instead.
At least that's what I heard somewhere. Unfortunately, there is no Giulini biography (that I know of). The Musikverein's concert archive shows that they indeed performed that Mass only days before the recording, and they had played the Bruckner 2 in concert in June that same year.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Wagner ~ Cantatas & Overtures Bamberger Symphony/Karl Anton Rickenbacher

[Valentino]

schrink wrap
De Pacem Domine

Today is Sunday it seems. Good morning. Have a not too heavy-headed day!

[beclemund]

It may or may not interest you to know that they had actually scheduled a recording of Schubert's Mass in Eflat D950, but Giulini was unhappy with the choir and canceled it, so they recorded the Bruckner 2 instead.
At least that's what I heard somewhere. Unfortunately, there is no Giulini biography (that I know of). The Musikverein's concert archive shows that they indeed performed that Mass only days before the recording, and they had played the Bruckner 2 in concert in June that same year.

That is an interesting bit of trivia. I, for one, am happy that the fates intervened as the Bruckner 2nd is exceptional. 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Wagner ~ Symps in E & C Major Tokyo Met/Wakasugi

[M forever]

That is an interesting bit of trivia. I, for one, am happy that the fates intervened as the Bruckner 2nd is exceptional. 

*If* it is true. The choir listed in the Musikverein archives was the Wiener Singverein, certainly a very good choir, the one that Karajan always used and shipped around to wherever he needed them. If I could just remember where I heard that, I could research a little more if that information is true.

[Que]

Good morning (afternoon/night)!

This is gorgeous.
The baryton doesn't sound as strange as is looks - it has a very delicate and intimate sound.
Very good music too - as intimate as the sound of the baryon - top drawer Haydn.



Q

[RebLem]

In the week ending Saturday, June 30, 2007, I listened to the following:

1. 10/10 Bach, J.S.: 8 works for lute-harpsichord--Robert Hill, lute-harpsichordist--hanssler CD, Vol. 109 of CBE.

2. 10/10 Bach, J.S.: 6 organ works from the Weimar period, S. 532, 534, 542, 706, 727, 768--Kay Johannsen, organist--hanssler CD, Vol. 93 of CBE.

3. 10/10 Bach, J.S.: Cantatas 109, 110, 111 (71:43)--Rilling, cond usual suspects--hanssler CD, Vol. 35 of CBE.

4. 10/10 Haydn: Syms 63 "La Roxelane," Sym 64, 65--Dorati, cond. Philharmnia Hungarica--CD 18 of London 33 CD set.

5. 10/7 Beethoven: Piano Concerti 2 (30:05) (1960) & 5 (39:00) (1957)+ a 7:37 interview with the opinionated but gracious pianist by John Amis--Dame Myra Hess, piano, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond., BBC SO--BBC Legends CD. As is usual with the BBC, especially from the 50's and early 60's, recording technology was about 10 years behind the best being done by other companies at the time. But the CD is worth it just for the interview, and the performanes are wonderful, too.

6. 10/10 Franck: Violin Sonata in A Major (29:43) |String Quartet in D Major (45:13)--Gidon Kremer, violin, Oleg Maisenberg, paino (VS), Prague Quartet (SQ)--Praga CD, lic. from Chant du Monde. Recordings are ADD from 1978 (SQ) and 1980 (VS). Very fine performances. Highly recommended.

7. 10/10 Franck: Piano Trio 2 (24:04), 3 (28:54), & 4 (18:55)--The Bekova Sisters--Chandos CD. I came to this disc fully prepared to write a negative review. I don't like the look of these women--the cellist has cheaply red dyed hair, all three have the pale, washed out look of women whose skin has never been exposed to sunshine, and their clothing looks like it was designed for a circus clown troupe. If they were a little scruffier, they'd look like they used to work at Tower Records. But, alas, the performances are excellent, and reveletaory, full of felicitous phrasing. Highly recommended.

8. 9/9 Grieg: Peer Gynt excerpts (62:41) |Lyric Suite, Op. 54--Barbirolli, cond, Halle Orch, Ambrosian Singers, Sheila Armstrong, soprano, Patricia Clark, soprano--UNESCO Classics CD, lic from EMI. Performances from 1969 & 1972. Nothing really wrong here; these are good performances and recordings for the period, but they do not compare well with the next item.

9. 10/10 Grieg: Peer Gynt (Premier Recording of the complete music for Ibsen's Dramatic Poem) (101:47)--Per Dreier, cond. London SO, Oslo Phil Chorus, Toril Carlsen, soprano, Asbjorn Hansli, baritone, Vessa Hanssen, mezzo-soprano, Kare Bjorkoy, tenor--2 CD Unicorn-Kanchana set. Ibsen's work was staged a number of times during Grieg's lifetime, and each production was different. Some had massive cuts, some a few, all different from the total manuscript, and from each other. Grieg wrote music for these productions at various times in his life to meet exigent circumstances. Per Dreier has done us the estimable service of gathering every scrap of music Grieg wrote for Peer Gynt together and working it into a fine performing edition for the first time, and then he recorded it. Here it is. And a magnificent, lively, and engaging performance it is, too. Listening to it is like hearing the work for the first time, all fresh and new. Even though it is from 1987, it is an AAD recording, but very good, for all that. Just as an aside, I must say that the Arabian Dance sounds like it was, ah, the inspiration, let us say, for Richard Rodgers' March of the Siamese Children from The King and I.

10. 10/10 Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (27:18 ) |5 Ruckertlieder (19:28 ) |Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) (17:40) |Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (Ruckert) (6:52)--Dame Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano, Sir John Barbirolli, cond. New Philharmonia Orch (5 Ruckertlieder), Halle Orch (all others)--EMI GROC series CD. These are, of course, sublime, magnificent performances. The GROC series often exaggerates the meaning of greatness. Not in this case. Urgently recommended.

On deck for next week are a 5 CD Decca box of Shostakovich solo piano and chamber music with Vladimir Ashkenazy as the lead artist, a Curzon Beethoven Emperor/Mozart PC 26 with Boulez from the 60's, and a 1969 Szell Beethoven 9th with the Wiener Phil.
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[Papy Oli]

Good Morning All 

Bruckner - Symphony No.2
Jochum / SD / Brilliant

[wintersway]

Good morning/day to all!

[rubio]

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 and Capriccio Italien from the Jansons/Oslo PO box set. I liked this good-sounding, middle approach very much. Who is supposed to have the best performances of the Capriccio Italien?

[Black Knight]

I'm listening to Capriccio Italien right now!  Also on the disk: Tchaikovsky 6th and waltz and polonaise from Eugene Onegin. Conductor: Eugene Ormandy with Philadelphia Orchestra.