What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Brian]

Haydn: Piano Sonatas 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, Variations in Fm (Jando)
The 53 sonata is one very stereotypically classical sonata. It sounds nice, but isn't that imaginative. Out of all of these, the Variations in Fm surprised me- I loved it. (Maybe I just have a thing for Theme and Variations more than I know). It sounds very much Schumann-Brahms, and I wouldn't be surprised if they studied this one for inspiration.

That reminds me ... I bought the complete Jando/Haydn box set from ArkivMusic for $10 and need to download the MP3s!

[greg]

Now listening:
Partch- U.S. Highball (Gate 5 ensemble)
(i don't care for the voice acting, but the music is great)
http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/BMqXP56bMhY

That reminds me ... I bought the complete Jando/Haydn box set from ArkivMusic for $10 and need to download the MP3s!

I got mine cheaper  hehe
but, wow... was that one of those accidentally low priced items?

[jlaurson]

If Jens doesn't hear the strains of West Side Story in numbers like the (inarguably fantastic) "God Said," well, we will have to agree to disagree.

I hear it. I just don't like it.

When Jens' review of the Naxos album came out, he dwelt on (to the point of naming the column after) a mid-Mass ditty of Swingle-Singers-style "do bing do bang do bong" jazz silliness. I agree with his sentiment that there was fat to be trimmed. But when he says that the "Mess" is a "confused" piece of "ill-digested regressive emotional petulance and sexual confusion," well, that's not what I hear.

I should point out that I never reviewed the Mass... so perhaps you are referring to Charles Downey's review on ionarts? (That would be the only obvious source of confusion I can think of.)

My gripe with the work--apart from hating 99% of Broadway anyway--is that the lyrics drive me nuts. Same problem with Kaddish. I know if I were G_d, the day after the premiere of Kaddish the newspaper headlines would have been: FAMOUS COMPOSER-CONDUCTOR DIES IN FREAK SUBWAY ACCIDENT

[Brian]

My gripe with the work--apart from hating 99% of Broadway anyway--is that the lyrics drive me nuts. Same problem with Kaddish. I know if I were G_d, the day after the premiere of Kaddish the newspaper headlines would have been: FAMOUS COMPOSER-CONDUCTOR DIES IN FREAK SUBWAY ACCIDENT

I like B'way, so that's one difference, but boy, are the lyrics in a couple of the songs (I think the very worst is "I Don't Know/Easy") really terrible.

Haven't heard Kaddish yet! Matter of fact, aside from the Mass and WSS, my exposure to Bernstein's orchestral music consists of the On the Waterfront soundtrack, the symphony (No. 2?) which contains a big piano part (I think it's called "The Age of Anxiety"...?), and a pretty hefty chunk of the brilliant "Candide." Just a beginner, perhaps.

[Brian]

I got mine cheaper  hehe
but, wow... was that one of those accidentally low priced items?

Kinda sad how long it took me to figure out where you got it for cheaper. 
No, ArkivMusic has a sale until January 4th, if you are willing to go the MP3 download route, they will let you download the complete Haydn piano sonatas (and the Variations, Fantasia etc) for $9.99. I commenced downloading 66 minutes ago; it just reached the 700 megabyte mark (out of, if I remember correctly, 1.49GB).

[Conor71]

Stravinsky: The Fairy's Kiss

[Lilas Pastia]

I haven't hear Mass. I wonder how could sexual confusion be heard in the music though. Maybe it's those lyrics ?

BTW I  agree that Kaddish would be so much better without its embarrassingly portentous text.

[jlaurson]

I haven't heard Mass. I wonder how could sexual confusion be heard in the music though...

Gamelan over trombones! 

[Lilas Pastia]

Ouch, that hurts ! 

[PaulR]

Symphony #14

a whole lot different then Saint Saens.....

[Brian]

I haven't hear Mass. I wonder how could sexual confusion be heard in the music though. Maybe it's those lyrics ?

Nope. There is one part where a guy says, "Dear mom and dad," and I thought he was going to tell them he was gay, but he didn't. 

[listener]

Dargomizhsky: The Stone Guest.  1868,  76 min.  set to Pushkin's version of the Don Juan legend.   No big "song" arias except for two in the first act for the soprano based on Spanish tunes as if to affirm the Spanish setting and keep the audience in place in expectation of something big later on.  Sung dialogues are lyrical enough to avoid boredom (none spoken).  (Re-)orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakoff
French and English texts supplied with the Harmonia Mundi CD seem to follow the sung Russian line by line.
and Bax: some not quite miniature piano pieces

[Brian]

HAYDN | The Complete Piano Sonatas
Jeno Jando

Well, I just downloaded the whole 10CD box for $9.99 from ArkivMusic, and decided to give a listen. The original plan was to start from 1 and go to 62, and I am sticking to that. However, the original plan was also to listen to just the first sonata tonight - well, these sonatas are like Lay's potato chips and I can't listen to just one! Already in the minuet of No. 3 ... who knows how many more before it's time to sleep.

[Que]

This morning a rerun of CD10: Music from the Court of Charles V with sacred music by Nicolas Gombert (c.1500-1557), another composer of the Franco-Flemish School.

 

Q

[mahler10th]

Plenty of Celestial and Mountain gazing antics with Hovhaness.  His music is painting spiritual pictures in the sky for us all.  Beautiful.

[jlaurson]

Bach Organ Works (Mono recordings) Walcha Archiv

P&F BWV 531-536, T&F BWV538

Introduction to the registration of the Arp Schnitger Organ.

Some of the P&F are a little heavy... I don't remember them grinding through the music quite like that in the later set.
The sound has some, very even, background hiss--but is perfectly acceptable and for 1950/1952 it's very good.

[Lethevich]

I don't know what to make of the symphony. Its light avant-gardeisms sound so watered down and half-arsed, the music could be better if it just settled into a more regressive soundworld. A bit of a mishmash, but it's only a first listen.

[Wanderer]

The Holberg Suite at the moment. The whole set is a series of delights.

[val]

BEETHOVEN:     Piano Sonata n. 6 opus 10/2

Brendel recorded for PHILIPS my favorite version. The first movement is played fast, with elegance and good humour. A version with a perfect coherence even if the Allegretto seems a bit too slow and sentimental.

Schnabel is more dramatic, with more accused contrasts. His interpretation of the Allegretto is the best I ever heard. But he takes the final Presto too fast and with a lot of confusion.

Anyway, those two versions seem very superior to all the others that I have listened.

[Conor71]

Mozart: Symphony No. 36 In C Major, K 425, "Linz"



Quite beautiful, I am enjoying this set a lot