What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[listener]

BRUCH    Violin Concertos  1 in g op. 26, 2 in d op. 22
Yehudi Menuhin, violin      London Symphony Orch.       Boult, cond.
and in a lighter mood  Eugen d'ALBERT    : Die Abreise
Herrmann Prey, Edda Moser, Peter Schreier
Philharmonia Hungarica   / Janos Kulka
HAYDN    Flute Quartets, op. 5
J-P. Rampal,  Trio à Cordes Français

[Opus106]

It's "after" a Handel Concerto Grosso, but it's not just an orchestration like his reworking of Bach's "St. Anne" prelude as will be obvious when you listen. It's more akin to Stravinsky's Pulcinella, but is more adventurous and strange.

I was hoping that it would be. I read the not-very-informative Wiki page on this piece, and seeing that it was simply an 'arrangment' (with the usual dose of Schoernberg-ean nit-picks thrown in ), I assumed that it would be the typical heavy-stringed, 20th century rendition of Baroque music a la Stokowski.

[val]

BEETHOVEN:      Piano Sonatas opus 13, 53 & 57             / Claudio Arrau (1984/86)

This recordings were made in the last years of Arrau's long life. The energy, the greatness are not the same of his recordings made in the sixties. But there is still some of the fascination of Arrau's art, the sound, the color, the large phrasing. The 2nd movement of the opus 13 and the first two movements of the Appassionata are deeply impressive.

[KeithW]

Picked this up from Amazon.fr MP a few months ago
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[Conor71]

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 4


Theres such diversity in these 3 pieces - wonderful music and the performances are great too!

[TheGSMoeller]

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BARBER: Orchestral Music conducted by David Zinman

Maybe I am in an unusually receptive mood today, but after listening to Barber's First Essay for Orchestra, followed by the Scene from Shelley, I can't help feeling I've just heard the Sibelius 8th and 9th!

Was just discussing this same disc with my brother earlier today, the Baltimore brass cuts through the orchestra like a canon at times, heavy stuff.

[mc ukrneal]

Posted this in VErdi Requiem thread, but thought it might be of interest here as well:

SO I finally got around to this requiem:
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Opening is quite good and I am drawn in. The choral singing here is quite good, transparent and balanced. Quite a good start. Soloists enter- and a bit of disappointment as there seems to be some straining, but that does seem to level out. Chorus and orchestra were very fine in the opening though.  Dies Irae is coming now. Ach! Not together (unison of the group is always tested here) and because they are not always together the impact is less than it could have been. Still powerful, but could have been amazing. Tuba Mirum is goose bump inducing (not the best I've ever heard - the calls are not always ennunicated as they could be), but what a sound the brass create here.

Waltraud Meier is not entirely ideal, though she is ok (and has a strong enough voice), and I much preferred her when she sang WITH someone. Having said that, I am not enthralled as I sometimes can be in the Rex Tremendae. I think they are good - they just don't have that sublime quality that some achieve here (a bit of shrieking on the soprano's high notes). I enjoyed Domingo's singing and he is probably the highlight of the soloists.  Again, the chorus and orchestra are excellent.

I think to sum up I would say - Chorus and orchestra generally fine. Soloists are a bit of a mixed bag for me. They don't bring the excitement that others can, nor do they bring some of the sublime moments that others achieve. They lie somewhere in the middle - doing nothing badly, but not always doing them particularly memorably either. The sound deserves a special mention here as well - it is very good.

[TheGSMoeller]

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[springrite]

Now playing CD1 from the following twofer for a first listen.  Kathryn Stott has been the concert partner of Yo Yo Ma for many international tours ...

I orders this set. I have been impressed by Stott's Chopin and the feelings she brought out of them. Technically others are much much better but she brings some special feelings that I like.

[The new erato]

Sirius
electronic music & trumpet, soprano, bass clarinet, bass

This seems a little too sirious for me. 

[Lethevich]

[Sergeant Rock]

Portrait of Mrs. Rock 

Continuing the 2011 Pettersson Masochism Tour with the 10th Symphony




Edit: Surprisingly there's no pain or grimness in the opening, no dead weight of existential dread but rather a feeling of striding forth confidently into a conflict. Reminds me of the mood of Walton 1 (helped by some brass and horn calls that could be quoting Walton's first movement motto).

Sarge

[springrite]

38.45
Welt-Parlament ("World Parliament") for choir a cappella
1st Scene of Wednesday from LIGHT



http://www.stockhausencds.com/Stockhausen_Edition_CD51.htm

Listened to the same yesterday. Only the second time that I listened to it since I bought it about 12 years ago. Still do not like it better. I have listened to all my other Stockhausen CDs at least 5 times and liked all of them better each time. But this one did not work as well.

Maybe I am just upset at the short duration for the full price...

[Lethevich]

Ideally, this will be my last listen to the piece for a while to prevent burnout. It's been a good one, though - the final 20 minutes feel increasingly mercurial to me, emotionally a bit of everything thrown in, and often forgoing the hard outer shell.

Edit: and now -
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[Brahmsian]

Brahms

*Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83
4 Klavierstucke, Op.119

Karin Lechner, piano

*Berliner Symphoniker
*Eduardo Marturet, conducting

Brilliant Brahms Cube (BBC) 

[Sergeant Rock]

Following up Pettersson 10 with 11. 10 is so relentlessly harsh and...noisy (I doubt there are more than two or three minutes of soft playing in the entire symphony), one needs 11 as balance. In fact, they were composed together and form what seems a complete work made of two parts.

Sarge

[Lethevich]

Following up Pettersson 10 with 11. 10 is so relentlessly harsh and...noisy (I doubt there are more than two or three minutes of soft playing in the entire symphony), one needs 11 as balance. In fact, they were composed together and form what seems a complete work made of two parts.

I am often concerned when my ideas of connected groups happen to coincide with the way a CD programmes them (such as Simpson's 6th and 7th symphonies) due to worries about subliminal influences, but I agree with you here - nos.10 and 11 are united in their yin/yang explorations, and closed in between two very different surrounding works.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD2 - works of Pelham Humfrey from the following set for a first listen ...

[Opus106]

[It's inevitable, if you think about it. ]

http://www.youtube.com/v/4bMNzqMkW3U

[Sergeant Rock]

Ideally, this will be my last listen to the piece [Pettersson 14] for a while to prevent burnout. It's been a good one, though - the final 20 minutes feel increasingly mercurial to me, emotionally a bit of everything thrown in, and often forgoing the hard outer shell.

I understand the temptation. I had to restrain myself from putting it on repeat yesterday. Definitely among my favorites. It's far less monomaniacal emotionally. I've never felt a compulsion to off myself after listening to this Pettersson symphony 

Sarge