What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[jlaurson]

L.v. Beethoven (1770 – 1827),
Complete Violin Sonatas
Augustin Dumay / Maria João Pires
DG (3CDs)

Yes, I agree about the Schubert. Adding anything else to the work wouldn't be right or right to my ears should I say.

Schubert would probably disagree.

[bhodges]

Mahler: Symphony No. 8 (Tennstedt/LPO, DVD) - Finally got around to listening to this (after maybe two years  ) and it's wonderful.  I'm not totally sold on all of the soloists--e.g., Kenneth Riegel as Doctor Marianus could be a little smoother--but never mind.  Just to have Tennstedt conducting, and filmed so beautifully, is almost compensation enough.

[asin]B000HC2NK6[/asin]

--Bruce

[Mirror Image]

Now:

[asin]B0016A8E1K[/asin]

This is an outstanding set in every way imaginable. Even though I'm still digesting a lot of this music, I think a lot of Ligeti. Even though he's considered an "avant-garde" composer by some, the music never feels too remote that you can't pick up little bits and pieces of melody or harmony along the way. Music that deals with texture as a basis of composition is beginning to really interest me. Will I be getting into Boulez soon? Who knows, but right now I'm soaking in the aural delight of Melodien.

[Daverz]

Is this asin thing not working?

Nelhybel: Etude Symphonique.  An exciting piece.  Nelhybel would probably fit well in the "one hit wonders" thread, though I believe he's well known in the band world.   This is the only work I have of his.

[asin]B00004W3JF[/asin]

Symphony No. 6 and Symphony No. 3.

[The Diner]

[asin]B003Z0BSU8[/asin]

[PaulSC]

[asin]B00006JST6[/asin]

This Bach recital by Yves Rechsteiner. Pedal harpsichord turns out to be the ideal instrument for the Chromatic Fantasy, offering clarity of articulation that an organ can't match and a strength in the pedal-points that's hard to achieve on manuals alone. Rechsteiner plays it to the hilt, with a perfectly even touch in all the rapid figuration; the recitative has great impact, and each voice in the fugue has clarity.

[DavidRoss]

L.v. Beethoven (1770 – 1827),

One of my faves.  Think I'll do the same. 
This, Abbado's "Rome" symphony cycle, Gatti's Tchaikovsky 4,5,6, and the Freire/Chailly Brahms piano ctos certainly rank among the most satisfying new recordings of repertoire warhorses in the past few years.  YMMV, of course.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

[asin]B00005NW4I[/asin]

Listening to Symphony No. 5 right now. I love Rubbra's symphonies.

[Brian]

Today, I listened to nothing but Quartets!

Dvorak: String Quartet No 13. Pavel Haas Quartet
Dvorak: String Quartet No 12, "American." Pavel Haas Quartet
Dvorak: String Quartet No 13. Pavel Haas Quartet
Janacek: String Quartet No 1, "Kreutzer Sonata." Pavel Haas Quartet
Prokofiev: String Quartet No 2. Pavel Haas Quartet
Ravel: String Quartet. Cleveland Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet No 9, Op 59 No 3. Vermeer Quartet
Time Out. Dave Brubeck Quartet

[jlaurson]

J. Brahms (1833– 1897),
Piano Concerto No.3
(transcribed from the Violin Concerto)
Channel Classics SACD

[Coopmv]

Now:




Listening to the outstanding Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished" and this is one of my favorite performances of this symphony with Solti. I also love Bernstein's and Kertesz's performances as well. Bohm, Abbado, and Harnoncourt are also up there.

A wonderful twofer for the money.  I bought this set last year to bolster my collection of Solti recordings.

[Mirror Image]

A wonderful twofer for the money.  I bought this set last year to bolster my collection of Solti recordings.

Well it's Solti with the Vienna Philharmonic. Not much could have went wrong.

[Coopmv]

Well it's Solti with the Vienna Philharmonic. Not much could have went wrong.

I have always associated Solti more with operas than with symphonic works.  I have a good number of operas by him on both LP and CD.

[Mirror Image]

I have always associated Solti more with operas than with symphonic works.  I have a good number of operas by him on both LP and CD.

There was more to Solti than operas, you have to remember his advocacy for Mahler and Bartok. He loved conducting their music and did so on numerous occasions.

[jlaurson]

last listen for the day:


A. Bruckner (1824– 1896),
Symphony No.6
Norrington / SWRSO Stuttgart
Haenssler

[Mirror Image]

Now:

[asin]B000GYHZ6M[/asin]

The finest recording Berlioz's Requiem I have heard. Blows them all away.

Later:

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[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set, which arrived yesterday for a first listen ...

[Sid]

Zemlinsky
Lyric Symphony for soprano, baritone & orchestra
Opera preludes & interludes
Soloists/Cologne PO/Conlon
EMI

I've listened to this recording of the Lyric Symphony more than a dozen times since I got it late December last year. It works both as a great symphony and as a song cycle. As the notes say, it is really both, the former because of it's structure, the latter because it is made up of seven connected songs (German translations of the poetry of Bengali poet Tagore). The first movement acts as an introduction, which is followed by a scherzo like movement, then two slow movements, then three intermezzi and a finale. The songs are about the anticipation, flowering and end of love. The orchestration is quite luscious and displays characteristics of atonality, but often (it is said) returning to different tonal centers in each movement/song. Speech-song, pioneered by Schoenberg, is used in the second last song by the soprano. It is significant to me how the soprano & baritone soloists have each song to themselves, they alternate taking turns, and never combine as a duet. Perhaps Zemlinsky didn't want the work to sound operatic. Another reason might be how, often in relationships we are very close to the other person, but never really know him/her as deeply as we think. We are all kind of encapsulated within our own worlds when we are in love. The accompanying opera preludes and interludes give a good run down of Zemlinsky's many influences, which (judging from these excerpts) ranged from Brahms, Wagner, R. Strauss, Mahler and the Second Viennese School. What I notice about these orchestral extracts from his operas is that there is a song-like or cantabile treatment of the musical material, at any moment I expect a singer to burst out with a song based on the tune. I'm not sure if this is the usual thing with orchestral extracts in operas, or whether Zemlinsky's style just had a close connection with the human voice. This disc is pretty good, the recording amazing, the only problem is that lyrics have not been included (but of course, if they were, it would greatly jack up the price). All in all a very recommendable set of works for those into late c19th & early c20th music from central Europe...

[asin]B000KRN06Y[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Zemlinsky
Lyric Symphony for soprano, baritone & orchestra
Opera preludes & interludes
Soloists/Cologne PO/Conlon
EMI

I've listened to this recording of the Lyric Symphony more than a dozen times since I got it late December last year. It works both as a great symphony and as a song cycle. As the notes say, it is really both, the former because of it's structure, the latter because it is made up of seven connected songs (German translations of the poetry of Bengali poet Tagore). The first movement acts as an introduction, which is followed by a scherzo like movement, then two slow movements, then three intermezzi and a finale. The songs are about the anticipation, flowering and end of love. The orchestration is quite luscious and displays characteristics of atonality, but often (it is said) returning to different tonal centers in each movement/song. Speech-song, pioneered by Schoenberg, is used in the second last song by the soprano. It is significant to me how the soprano & baritone soloists have each song to themselves, they alternate taking turns, and never combine as a duet. Perhaps Zemlinsky didn't want the work to sound operatic. Another reason might be how, often in relationships we are very close to the other person, but never really know him/her as deeply as we think. We are all kind of encapsulated within our own worlds when we are in love. The accompanying opera preludes and interludes give a good run down of Zemlinsky's many influences, which (judging from these excerpts) ranged from Brahms, Wagner, R. Strauss, Mahler and the Second Viennese School. What I notice about these orchestral extracts from his operas is that there is a song-like or cantabile treatment of the musical material, at any moment I expect a singer to burst out with a song based on the tune. I'm not sure if this is the usual thing with orchestral extracts in operas, or whether Zemlinsky's style just had a close connection with the human voice. This disc is pretty good, the recording amazing, the only problem is that lyrics have not been included (but of course, if they were, it would greatly jack up the price). All in all a very recommendable set of works for those into late c19th & early c20th music from central Europe...

[asin]B000KRN06Y[/asin]

I have owned this Zemlinsky set since '09 and it's got some great performances from Conlon:

[asin]B00127ISG8[/asin]

I haven't listened to Zemlinsky in a long time, but I remember thinking that Schoenberg must have learned a lot from him, because Schoenberg's early tonal works have a Zemlinsky-like feel to them.

[jlaurson]

ok: one more before counting sheep.


A. Bruckner (1824– 1896),
Symphony No.8
Thielemann / Dresden Staatskapelle
Profil