What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Mirror Image]

Now:



A great recording from an unlikely source: Sakari Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. I guess even Finns dream of a warmer climate.

[PaulR]

[kishnevi]

Continuing on the theme of the day, from some of his Telarc Mozart cycle earlier in the day to the Rachmaninov, and now


Now on Act II, the Water Goblin's aria and his scene with Rusalka.
I've forgotten how good an opera this one is.  Must play it much more often than I have been.

[greg]

Mahler: Das Klagende Lied (Boulez)

Again! Just loving it every time I take a listen. (I can't believe I didn't like it on first listen.)
I'd also like to point out how surprising it is how much he sounds like himself even though this is an early piece. It's like he got most of his main stylistic points down technically already.

[Brian]

BEETHOVEN | Five
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Charles Mackerras

OH CRAP I'm just getting into the finale and the family decided that now is the time to go out for pizza. NOOOOOooooooooooo

Have now returned from the pizza place. I have decided to resolve this crisis by starting the whole symphony over. 

[kishnevi]

Mahler: Das Klagende Lied (Boulez)

Again! Just loving it every time I take a listen. (I can't believe I didn't like it on first listen.)
I'd also like to point out how surprising it is how much he sounds like himself even though this is an early piece. It's like he got most of his main stylistic points down technically already.

Which version is this, the one in two parts or the one in three parts?
I'm curious because the CD cover lists six soloists, but both my versions (Thomas and Rattle) use four.

You are right in saying that even at this early point, Mahler sounds like no one else but Mahler (well, maybe Rott, but not having heard Rott's music, I can't make any real comment there).

[Mirror Image]

You are right in saying that even at this early point, Mahler sounds like no one else but Mahler (well, maybe Rott, but not having heard Rott's music, I can't make any real comment there).

I have heard Hans Rott's symphony and his music is seen as the link between Bruckner and Mahler, but honestly I don't hear it. Perhaps in some historian's mind, but there will never be anyone who sounds like Bruckner or Mahler, there will be, however, many imposters that try to copy these two composer's styles like Richard Wetz, for example, and how he tried to use Brucknerian harmonies and rhythms but ultimately failed and just looked foolish for even trying.

But that's just my two cents.

[Daverz]

Richard Wetz, for example, and how he tried to use Brucknerian harmonies and rhythms but ultimately failed and just looked foolish for even trying.

I find Wetz's Symphony 3 to be very enjoyable.  I don't hear a Bruckner manqué.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



What a great symphony. I think when I first got this recording I listened to it about 4 or 5 times all the way through. Wikipedia has an interesting (and informative) article about this symphony for anyone who would like to read it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._1_(Havergal_Brian))

[greg]

Which version is this, the one in two parts or the one in three parts?
I'm curious because the CD cover lists six soloists, but both my versions (Thomas and Rattle) use four.

You are right in saying that even at this early point, Mahler sounds like no one else but Mahler (well, maybe Rott, but not having heard Rott's music, I can't make any real comment there).

This is the full thing- all three parts!   
btw, I do detect minor influences of Wagner (especially The Flying Dutchman), but yes, he is pretty much just himself.

I have heard Hans Rott's symphony and his music is seen as the link between Bruckner and Mahler, but honestly I don't hear it. Perhaps in some historian's mind, but there will never be anyone who sounds like Bruckner or Mahler, there will be, however, many imposters that try to copy these two composer's styles like Richard Wetz, for example, and how he tried to use Brucknerian harmonies and rhythms but ultimately failed and just looked foolish for even trying.

But that's just my two cents.

*just searched for Wetz... I'll judge for myself. 
I kind of feel the same way about Rott and Mahler, though I haven't really given Rott's Symphony enough time for listening/analysis. I think it's more of a borrowing of motives- or more like Mahler simply stealing motifs/themes from him. (He's done that with Brahms, too- the opening of the 3rd, of course).

Still, I think something like this is forgivable, and more like an homage to those composers- not to mention that he ends up sounding original, anyways.

[karlhenning]

Brahms
g minor Piano Quartet, Opus 25
Derek Han, pf
Isabelle Faust, vn
Bruno Giuranna, va
Alain Meunier, vc

[Brian]

Remember to surface for air periodically.

[Sid]

Heard last night on radio 2mbs-fm Sydney
www.2mbs.com

EVENINGS WITH THE ORCHESTRA Creative links with the New World with David Ogilvie Prepared by Judy Ekstein

MacDowell, E. Piano concerto no 2 in D minor, op 23 (1885). 
Stravinsky, I. Ebony concerto (1945). 
Grofé, F. Grand Canyon suite (1931). 

CHAMBER SOIRÉE with Phil Vendy Prepared by Sheila Catzel

Joachim, J. Variations in E minor (1881). 
Raff, J. Octet for strings in C, op 176 (1872). 
Fauré, G. Piano quintet no I in D minor, op 89 (1906). 

I really enjoyed the Raff Octet, probably just as fine as Mendelssohn's more famous work, very melodious and warm. The MacDowell sounded a bit like Rachmaninov (without the yearning), the Stravinsky was a neo-classical jazzy piece (I don't think Miles Davis would have approved!), and the Grofe was pure dross, marketed for the lowest common denominator, imo.

[Sid]

& my own cd (an out of print one):

Brett Dean - Beggars and Angels (Melbourne SO/Markus Stenz)

I'm gearing up to see a Dean piece live this weekend, so thought I'd give this a spin. This was his first large scale orchestral work (from 1999), and it is Mahlerian and Bergian in scope and colour. This was the title of an exhibition that his wife took part in at Berlin. The piece's contrasts between light and dark symbolise the subject matter well. Dean is probably Australia's most eminent composer, and used to be lead violist in the Berlin Philharmonic before he took to composing full time. He lives in Queensland.

[not edward]

Mackerras' recording of Martinu's Field Mass with the CzPO and chorus, plus his Beethoven's 3rd and 4th from the SCO cycle. Then a big leap to Havergal Brian's 7th, followed by Janacek's From the House of the Dead.

That's quite a range of music to excel in!

[listener]

I can't believe I have this only on a mono LP
BARTÓK  Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta/ Hungarian Sketches
    Fritz Reiner   Chicago Symphony O.

STRAVINSKY:  Piano Sonata in f# (1903/4)   TCHAIKOWSKY  Piano Sonata in G, op. 37
    Paul Crossley, piano
MOZART   Trinitatis Mass K.167      HAYDN Kleine Orgelmesse  (Missa Brevis no.5)
   Karl Münchinger,  Vienna Philharmonic O. & Chorus   Elly Ameling soloist in the Haydn
Crisp playing by the orchestra, clear diction by the choir make you forget HIP arguments, and the recording itself is beautifully balanced.    Münchinger keeps the tempos up as befitting a "Missa in Honorem", not sliding into a Requiem dirge.

[greg]

Schreker- Der Wind
http://www.youtube.com/v/AsWod4xmCgs
Interesting piece.

Also listened to all of the Wetz I could find on youtube (there's very little). I think it would be best to judge him by himself, instead of comparing him to Bruckner. I'm not sure what to think about him, but it's very, very nice to hear more of that kind of music. When you feel like you have pretty much listened to all of what's out there of your favorite style of music, it's easy to be enthusiastic to hear more.

[Antoine Marchand]

Roberto Gini, viola da gamba after Michel Colichon, 1693 (Guy Derat, Paris 1979)

Laura Alvini, harpsichord after Pascal Tasquin, ca. 1780 (David J. Rubio, Duns Tew, 1975)



Gramophone Archive

[Mirror Image]

Also listened to all of the Wetz I could find on youtube (there's very little). I think it would be best to judge him by himself, instead of comparing him to Bruckner. I'm not sure what to think about him, but it's very, very nice to hear more of that kind of music. When you feel like you have pretty much listened to all of what's out there of your favorite style of music, it's easy to be enthusiastic to hear more.

Agreed. I'm curious to hear more of Allan Pettersson's music, but it's hard finding somebody who is knowledgeable about this composer. Heard his Symphony No. 7 and it sounded great. Very dark and troubling work, but I get the feeling from what I have read that this is the general tone of most (if not all) of his music. Any suggestions?

[bhodges]

Tonight, an annual dinner with two musical friends--she's a pianist, he's a musicologist--and we go back and forth, playing a few things we've discovered, or something that we think the others would enjoy.  This evening, of course, we altered our plans somewhat, to include a bit of a Mackerras tribute.

Here's the playlist:

Finnissy: Gershwin Arrangements (Nicolas Hodges, piano)
Delius: Irmelin: Prelude (Szell/Cleveland) - This was the evening's biggest surprise for me, since I had no idea Szell even liked this music.
Howells: Requiem (Dale Warland Singers)
Dvořák: Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, Nos. 7 and 8 (Harnoncourt/Chamber Orchestra of Europe)
Romitelli: Professor Bad Trip, Lesson I (ictus ensemble)
Handel: Israel in Egypt, final scene (Mackerras/Leeds Festival Chorus/English Chamber Orchestra)
Janáček: Kát'a Kabanová, final scene (Mackerras/Vienna PO)
Márquez: Danzon No. 2 (Dudamel/Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, live from the 2007 Proms)

--Bruce