What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[mc ukrneal]

Modest goal for today: Jos van Immerseel's complete Beethoven symphonies with the Anima Eterna. I'll certainly be sitting in the library long enough to hear the whole set.

Hmmm - do you listen to them in order? I don't think I've ever listened to two back to back, let alone in order. I may have listened to two of the same symphony (by different conductors) to compare.

[karlhenning]

Maiden-Listen Mondays:

Tippett
King Priam (1958–61) . . . Act III*
London Sinfonietta & al.
Atherton

* Was interrupted on Friday . . . .

[Brian]

Hmmm - do you listen to them in order? I don't think I've ever listened to two back to back, let alone in order. I may have listened to two of the same symphony (by different conductors) to compare.

I pretty frequently listen to two or three Beethoven symphonies in a row. Looking at my listening log last year, I did indeed listen to all of them in a day, in December. That was in order, 1-9, but with different performers in each work. It is fairly frequent for me to listen to even four symphonies in a day (by "fairly frequent" I mean "every couple months" - so not all the time!) in completely random orders. 4, 8 and 7 tend to get played together sometimes. After I saw "The King's Speech," which uses the Seventh very prominently, I listened to three conductors' Sevenths back-to-back while writing my blog review of the film. I'm not sure I've done a whole cycle, by one conductor, in one day.

I should probably also do this with Bruggen, to immerse myself in his sound-world. In any case the Anima Eterna are really good, and this is a lot of fun. On the first movement of "Eroica" and, to be honest, feeling no desire whatsoever to be listening to anyone else!

[karlhenning]

Listened to Harvey's Passion and Resurrection today. Do you know it, Karl? As I listened I kept thinking of your music, for various reasons - I think you would like it very much indeed, this piece. A huge amount to admire and be moved by here, with its fusion of liturgy and ritual with a beautifully thought-through and understanding use of contemporary techniques (at some of which Harvey has no peer). It's the successor to Britten's Church Parables, in many ways, and yet totally its own of course. The final scene, the Resurrection itself, in which the bass/male voice dominated music moves upward into treble/female voices, with a loosening of the edges, mobile scoring, spectralist harmonies for the angels, is utterly ravishing. There's a rather appropriately awestruck review on amazon uk I feel like quoting:

[... quote ...]

So yes. Do listen to it!

No, I haven't (this is the first I know of the piece).  Yes, it's now in my sights : )

[mc ukrneal]

I pretty frequently listen to two or three Beethoven symphonies in a row. Looking at my listening log last year, I did indeed listen to all of them in a day, in December. That was in order, 1-9, but with different performers in each work. It is fairly frequent for me to listen to even four symphonies in a day (by "fairly frequent" I mean "every couple months" - so not all the time!) in completely random orders. 4, 8 and 7 tend to get played together sometimes. After I saw "The King's Speech," which uses the Seventh very prominently, I listened to three conductors' Sevenths back-to-back while writing my blog review of the film. I'm not sure I've done a whole cycle, by one conductor, in one day.

I should probably also do this with Bruggen, to immerse myself in his sound-world. In any case the Anima Eterna are really good, and this is a lot of fun. On the first movement of "Eroica" and, to be honest, feeling no desire whatsoever to be listening to anyone else!

I always find it interesting to hear how others listen. I usually am always mixing it up. It doesn't stop me from listening to a composer or time period back to back, but I usually try to consciously listen to something else so that I don't get overloaded with one style, sound, or instrument.  But your plan sounds interesting, and I suspect one gains a certain appreciation that way, perhaps not noticed when one is regularly changing sound worlds.

[karlhenning]

Schoenberg
String Quartet № 4, Opus 37 (1936)
Schoenberg Quartet

[Opus106]

I always find it interesting to hear how others listen. I usually am always mixing it up. It doesn't stop me from listening to a composer or time period back to back, but I usually try to consciously listen to something else so that I don't get overloaded with one style, sound, or instrument.

I do the same. As I mentioned it briefly in another thread, it's the effect of having been exposed to classical music stations for a long time before I had enough CDs to create even a modestly long playlist. Sometimes I don't listen to a whole CD in one sitting, if it contains two or more works.

Thread Duty:

This evening's programme: apart from the Chopin all are MLM's, if I remember correctly. Unsure about the Dohnányi.

Chopin
Polonaise brillante Op.3 (Richter, Várjon)

Mahler
Piano Quartet in A minor (Rados, Gowers, Konrád, Richter)

Berg
Sonata Op.1 (Várjon)

Strauss

Songs (Németh, Rados)
Traum durch die Dämmerung, Op.29 No.1
Ich trage meine Minne, Op.32 No.1
Heimliche Aufforderung, Op.27 No.3
Das Rosenband, Op.36 No.1
Zueignung, Op.10 No.1

Dohnányi
Piano Quintet in C minor Op.1 (Várjon, Gowers, Környei, Konrád, Richter)

Judit Németh - voice | Katherine Gowers, Zsófia Környei - violin | György Konrád - viola | Christoph Richter - cello | Ferenc Rados, Dénes Várjon - piano

Hungarian Academy of Science
26 November 2010

[MishaK]

Working my way through this:



which my mom brought over from Germany for me. Now playing: Schubert 9.

[Henk]

Stravinsky | songs
Tippett - S. 1
Bach: A strange beauty, Dinnerstein
Mozart | Horn concertos

Getting a better understanding of Tippett's music. It has a similar kind of feeling as Stravinsky's music, understanding Stravinsky makes it easier for me to understand Tippett.

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[karlhenning]

Schoenberg
String Trio, Opus 45 (1946)
Member of the Schoenberg Quartet

[ Edit :: erratum ]

[Brian]

Modest goal for today: Jos van Immerseel's complete Beethoven symphonies with the Anima Eterna. I'll certainly be sitting in the library long enough to hear the whole set.

FOILED! For some reason, my hard drive is missing the Immerseel slow movement to No 6. I'll substitute Bruggen.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

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Listening to Symphony in C right now and this is a very fine performance. I read the editorial review of this recording on Amazon and the author called Dumbarton Oaks not one of Stravinsky's more inspired compositions. What the hell? The work is an acknowledged masterpiece of Stravinsky's so-called "Neoclassical" period. There are some people I have to wonder what their true intentions are when listening to music. What kinds of pre-conceived notions were formed before that person has heard the music? What research did they do to formulate those opinions before even hearing the music? It truly makes one wonder.

[Lethevich]

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I'm not able to really distinguish much between Holmboe's 13 chamber concertos yet (what a charming notion, though: the concertante interplay works even better on smaller scale) - I've not listened to them as much as his symphonies - but No.9 for violin, viola and orchestra is memorable. There's his usual fusion of folk music, not quoted, but implied by rhythm, and also in its somewhat innocent rhetorical gestures: the occasional stompy percussion and brass sections, or braying winds giving the impression not of something militaristic, but earthy. The slow movement has even more of a rustic quality - beautiful, but with a slightly acid edge. Charming, and as always very abstracted and refined.

[karlhenning]

A boxed reissue of the Chamber Concertos would be a sore temptation.

[Mirror Image]

Speaking of Holmboe...

Now listening:

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Listening to Symphony No. 11 right now. This is especially fine music. I haven't spent much time with Holmboe other than listening to a few of the symphonies in this set, which I bought over two years ago! I have a lot of catching up to do!

[karlhenning]

Maiden-Listen Mondays!

Holmboe
Sinfonia in Memoriam (Symfonisk metamorfose), Opus 65/M.185 (1941, rev. 1945)
Aarhus Symphony
Owain Arwel Hughes

[Lethevich]

I keep forgetting about that un-numbered symphony when I play the cycle, must correct this sometime...

np:
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If you can't get enough of Schumann's clarinet music... arrange some more Perfectly fine by me

[Henk]

I initially found it almost eerie how unintimidating his late works were given his reputation.

Does this implies you think to intimidate is a quality? Do you like music that intimidates or inspires you to intimidate?

I suppose you don't mean it in this way.

Henk

[Lethevich]

Does this implies you think to intimidate is a quality? Do you like music that intimidates or inspires you to intimidate?

I suppose you don't mean it in this way.

I meant that people talk about late Schoenberg like it's scary music, or somehow requires a large amount of study to understand, but I found that the music quite lucidly speaks for itself. It surprised me how easy it was to enjoy after having read all those opinions and expecting something "weird".

[bhodges]

I meant that people talk about late Schoenberg like it's scary music, or somehow requires a large amount of study to understand, but I found that the music quite lucidly speaks for itself. It surprised me how easy it was to enjoy after having read all those opinions and expecting something "weird".

I totally agree with you, and wish more people would have a similar reaction. But his reputation (i.e., fearsome) still precedes him in many circles.

--Bruce