What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Florestan]

Piano Trio in E-flat major op. 100 D 929

Heavenly length, heavenly music.

[Opus106]

First Listen (It's not just for Fridays anymore)!:

Skryabin
Symphony № 1 in E, Opus 26 (1900)
Phila Orch
Riccardo Muti

Ouch! Cyrillic, please!

[Harry]

First listen to this 74:21 lasting Symphony, and it was no punishment at all. The ideas keep flowing, and the writing is at times quite captivating, aided by a excellent recording and performance.

Info and music samples.

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDH55351&f=cdh55351

[Antoine Marchand]

Schubert - Chamber Music
Works for Violin and Chamber Orchestra - Trios, Duos, Sonatinas - Fantasy D. 934 - Rondeau D. 895 - "Arpeggione" Sonata
VoxBox, 3 CDs

Susanne Lautenbacher, violin & Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, Heilbronn, direction Jörg Faerber
Bell'Arte String Trio (Susanne Lautenbacher, violin - Ulrich Koch, viola - Thomas Blees, cello)
Paul Olevsky, cello & Walter Hautzig, piano
Gyorgy Pauk, violin & Peter Frankl, piano

Fine performances; rather decent sound quality (digitally mastered from the original analog tapes).

[Christo]

Depending how much free time I get, next up are VCs by Delius, RVW and Brian.

We are waiting (eagerly) for your verdict on these. Of course. 

[DavidRoss]

Voces intimae.  A fine performance that captures the reflective, searching tone of this unusually introspective work.

[Todd]

A second time through for this newest release of The Ninth.  A thrilling opening movement, followed by an excellent second movement, and a very good Adagio.  The biggest problem comes in the finale: the small orchestra and choir simply do not do justice to the music.  This piece needs a big band, plain and simple.  So a good but not even close to great ninth.  Superb sound.

[karlhenning]

 

Ouch! Cyrillic, please!

As you wish, mon ami!

First Listen (It's not just for Fridays anymore)!:

Александр Николаевич
Symphony № 2 in c minor, Opus 29
Phila Orch
Riccardo Muti

[Franco]

A second time through for this newest release of The Ninth.  A thrilling opening movement, followed by an excellent second movement, and a very good Adagio.  The biggest problem comes in the finale: the small orchestra and choir simply do not do justice to the music.  This piece needs a big band, plain and simple.  So a good but not even close to great ninth.  Superb sound.

Could be that your ears are so accustomed to hearing the last movement with large forces that you find anything else anemic.

Jarvi has said that he tried to approach these works as if he had not heard Wagner, Mahler, and the large-group Romantic sound - maybe you might benefit from the same kind of rethinking of the 9th.

[Lethevich]

We are waiting (eagerly) for your verdict on these. Of course. 

I will reaffirm what a useless critic I am when I say that the Delius flew past without making much of an impression. I get kind of frustrated when this happens to me with Delius, as it's an all too common reaction (maybe the recordings are to blame, but I doubt it - I mostly listen to Unicorn's series of his major pieces). Unlike other pictorial composers such as Bax, he seems to lack a certain something to keep me listening unless I am in an ultra-focused mood. Meh

I really enjoyed the RVW. I don't listen to it very often because I get put off by the title. I expect something lesser, and when comparing it to his other major concertos it is less vital - but this isn't really the point, as I love a lot of non-masterpieces. It is perhaps better to treat it as a compact little suite, and enjoy its well-structured and un-rhapsodic style. Its subtle neoclassical leanings do partner it more with the Concerto Grosso than, say, the Lark or oboe concertos, and as I went into it this listen anticipating just that, it was a real delight.

[Opus106]

As you wish, mon ami!

First Listen (It's not just for Fridays anymore)!:

Александр Николаевич
Symphony № 2 in c minor, Opus 29
Phila Orch
Riccardo Muti

Much better, and thanks... Scryabin looks very odd. (Wikipedia even lists Scriabine, which is plainly wrong!) Actually I find Cyrillic in the typographic combination of Georgia and Bold quite pleasing.

Thready duty: lotsa Mozart pieces going back and forth in my head.

[Todd]

Could be that your ears are so accustomed to hearing the last movement with large forces that you find anything else anemic.

Jarvi has said that he tried to approach these works as if he had not heard Wagner, Mahler, and the large-group Romantic sound - maybe you might benefit from the same kind of rethinking of the 9th.

Maybe, but then again maybe not.  I've tried various HIP takes on the 9th, and they all fall short - and I thought that even before I got into either Wagner or Mahler.  The biggest weakness here is the (way too) small chorus, though the lack of heft in the orchestra also detracts.  The Ninth and the Third sound inadequate with small forces; they are purposefully monumental works and to use chamber size forces does them injustice.  The other symphonies fare better under similar circumstances, as Jarvi's cycle demonstrates.

But then, I'm not really a big HIP or HIP inspired fan for music from the 1780s forward.  I've been trying it for years, and just prefer the sound a big, modern band makes.

[Florestan]

Wikipedia even lists Scriabine, which is plainly wrong!

Not quite. Scriabine is the correct French transliteration.

[Bulldog]

Maybe, but then again maybe not.  I've tried various HIP takes on the 9th, and they all fall short - and I thought that even before I got into either Wagner or Mahler.  The biggest weakness here is the (way too) small chorus, though the lack of heft in the orchestra also detracts.  The Ninth and the Third sound inadequate with small forces; they are purposefully monumental works and to use chamber size forces does them injustice.  The other symphonies fare better under similar circumstances, as Jarvi's cycle demonstrates.

Interesting.  ClassicsToday/Hurwitz feels the same way about Jarvi's 9th but praises his Eroica.

[Keemun]

Scriabin
24 Preludes
Mikhail Pletnev



The discussion of Scriabin reminded me that I haven't listened to this lately.

[Opus106]

Not quite. Scriabine is the correct French transliteration.

But I'm not French! I realised it was how the French referred to him, but it just doesn't look right -- to me. In short, I was talking about the subjective wrongness about it.

[Florestan]

The Ninth and the Third sound inadequate with small forces; they are purposefully monumental works and to use chamber size forces does them injustice. 

Judging by the reactions at the world premieres of those two symphonies, you're quite mistaken.

[bhodges]

Tonight: back to the Met, to hear Shostakovich's The Nose one more time.  I really hope they tape this and release it on DVD at some point.

--Bruce

[Scarpia]

A second time through for this newest release of The Ninth.  A thrilling opening movement, followed by an excellent second movement, and a very good Adagio.  The biggest problem comes in the finale: the small orchestra and choir simply do not do justice to the music.  This piece needs a big band, plain and simple.  So a good but not even close to great ninth.  Superb sound.

I would be reluctant to draw such general conclusions based on a single instance.  I have often though a work couldn't be performed a certain way until I heard the one performance or recording the convinced me otherwise.

[Todd]

Interesting.  ClassicsToday/Hurwitz feels the same way about Jarvi's 9th but praises his Eroica.

Yes, I know ClassicsToday likes the Eroica.  I just find it too lightweight.  A bigger band would have made a difference for me. 

Judging by the reactions at the world premieres of those two symphonies, you're quite mistaken.

A number of Beethoven's works were greeted differently when new than they are today.  I'm not entirely convinced that people who hear the first performances always have it right.  (That would apply to other works and other composers as well.)

I would be reluctant to draw such general conclusions based on a single instance.  I have often though a work couldn't be performed a certain way until I heard the one performance or recording the convinced me otherwise.

I'm not basing my outlook on a single instance, but rather on years of listening to different versions of the work in HIP and non-HIP guises.  So far, nary a HIP or HIP inspired performance has worked for me.  Jarvi actually does better than most.  Maybe one day I'll find that magical HIP, small approach, but I wouldn't bet on it.