What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Harry]

Q

Well Que, what do you think of it, Alan Curtis disappointed me several times in the past, although he is a very good musician, so I am rather keen to know what he made of it.
Let me know, time permitting of course.

[Harry]

Again I play the second CD of this twofar with the Suites.

Musica Pacifica, on Authentic Instruments.

[Conor71]

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 In G Minor, Op. 16

[Lethevich]

Second listen of this recording. It is an amazing find, 20 minutes longer than the final revision, and a spectacular example of different compositional aesthetics which can be applied to the same work (Mahlerian and Sibelian). As much as the final version tightens the piece up, it loses so much - beauty, mystery and poetry. The first version of this piece reveals an RVW to me that I was not aware existed.

Edit: The playing on this is absurdly good, especially in the hushed sections. The tense tone set by the strings and woodwind in the first few minutes of the slow movement is incredible, I can't think of anything more magical and haunting.

[MN Dave]

wtc gould

[karlhenning]

Second listen of this recording. It is an amazing find, 20 minutes longer than the final revision, and a spectacular example of different compositional aesthetics which can be applied to the same work (Mahlerian and Sibelian). As much as the final version tightens the piece up, it loses so much - beauty, mystery and poetry. The first version of this piece reveals an RVW to me that I was not aware existed.

Edit: The playing on this is absurdly good, especially in the hushed sections. The tense tone set by the strings and woodwind in the first few minutes of the slow movement is incredible, I can't think of anything more magical and haunting.

Most interesting, Sara, thank you!

[karlhenning]

Holmboe
Symphony № 6, Opus 43/M.155 (1947)
Aarhus Symphony
Owain Arwel Hughes

[Opus106]

Partitas 3, 4 & 5 from this top-notch set.

Let's paaartii...(ta)!

No. 6 - Leonhardt [EMI]

[MN Dave]

[Opus106]

Partitas 3, 4 & 5 from this top-notch set.

Let's paaartii...(ta)!

No. 6 - Leonhardt [EMI]

Apart from the obvious difference in the instruments and playing techniques used, the two seem worlds apart . For one, in the Leonhardt, I can hear the two opening notes distinctly (more clearly) of the Gigue -- it makes it sound a little more dramatic. And for another, I wanted to get up and dance to Schiff (Decca and ECM).

[listener]

Disc 1 of the BEETHOVEN Sonatas played by Richard Goode  this disc has the "named" ones: 8 - Pathétique, 14 - Moonlight, 15 - Pastoral
DVORÁK  Rhapsody op.14, 3 Slavonic Rhapsodies op. 45

[Papy Oli]

Good evening all 

CD20 off this boxset : Boccherini - Stabat Mater

[The new erato]

[MN Dave]

[Papy Oli]

Off CD 21 :

Rossini - stabat Mater (Marcus Creed - RIAS Kammerchor)

The opening tracks sounds more than promising 

[CD]

Not the whole set, just 10 and 11 — though I think I'll have to get the complete set very soon.

[Lethevich]

Sea Drift has the most grin-inducingly epic sweep. Delius accidentely produced a masterpiece here, I think.

The sound quality on this thing is rather abysmal, though - I'll stick with newer recordings.

[prémont]

... & they're best experienced on piano. (i.e. Schiff ... or Gould of course)

Not in my experience though.

[prémont]

Well you're an exception  , but for most people it's absolutely true - especially new people coming into the fray. (but also lots of us who've been deeply submersed in the vast ocean that is 'art music' for quite some time)

No, I am not an exception, not in my part of the world. 

[Moldyoldie]

Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 "The Inextinguishable"
Sibelius: Symphony No. 3
Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli, cond.
BBC
Both performances are recorded in live performance at London's Royal Albert Hall -- the Nielsen on July 30, 1965; the Sibelius on August 8, 1969, the year prior to Maestro Barbirolli's passing.  Both exhibit the conspicuous audience rustling and dispersed coughing we've come to expect from BBC's welcome series of releases recorded from this venue.  The stereo fidelity of the orchestra is decent enough and one easily adjusts to the unforgiving hall acoustic. Unfortunately, despite the very exuberant and affectionate applause which erupts spontaneously on their respective closing chords, I can't rightly say either performance measures up to the occasion.

Carl Nielsen's flamboyant Symphony No. 4 is arguably the most popular entry in the preeminent Danish composer's symphonic canon. Composed during the brutal depths of World War I, its seamless four movements expound on the dualities of war, culminating in the victory of man's ingenuity for creative good vis-à-vis the forces of his destruction; it presents many a rebus to the interpreter as well as pitfalls to the players.  In the better performances I've heard, this music displays a subtle profoundness and even reverence amidst the rousing ballyhoo. Here, Barbirolli does strive for meaning behind the notes, but renders a performance with nary a truly memorable moment outside of the finale's hallmark tympani duel.  We're guided through the thickets with an interpretation I can only describe as thoughtful and deliberate, but ill-measured and often plodding.  Manchester's Hallé Orchestra, here sounding as scrappy a bunch as one will likely ever hear, do admirably plow through some glaringly sour notes from the trombones and a few ensemble mishaps, not to mention a brass and bass-heavy balance exacerbated by undernourished violins, to effect a true sense of commitment and sponteneity.  Still, a few iterations of the important three-note theme heard throughout (which I shamelessly refer to as the "gotta dance" theme re Singin' in the Rain) are underplayed to the point of being nearly buried.  Likewise, the dynamic clarion horn in the fourth movement (which I can't help but describe as Gershwinian; Nielsen adherents would rightly take exception and evoke the "which came first" argument) doesn't resound with the soul-stirring assurance I've come to expect, but rather with a disappointing lassitude and homogeneity -- this isn't supposed to sound like Sibelius, folks.  Speaking of which....

Barbirolli approaches the often enigmatic Sibelius Symphony No. 3 with the same slow deliberation I've heard recently from the likes of Colin Davis, probing for an elusive meaning that may not necessarily exist -- Barbirolli's first and second movements both exceed ten minutes. The finale, while effecting a nicely pointed crescendo-decrescendo at the movement's dynamic peak (with no caesura), eventually deteriorates into a wheel-spinning sonic morass lacking definition and musical coherence.  To echo Emperor Joseph in Amadeus, is this modern?  I much prefer more flowing, straightforward, and tuneful phrasing in this symphony, even at similarly slow tempi. 

Needless to say, I'm not as enamored of these performances as many reviewers I've read, including in UK's Gramophone, though I'm sure fans of either the conductor or of these two fine symphonies will be curious to hear this...as was I.