What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Peregrine]

[val]

BEETHOVEN:     Fidelio                        / Furtwängler. Salzburg Festival 1950  (EMI)

This is above all a very impressive document. In the text he wrote for the Festival, Furtwängler says that he sees Fidelio more as a Mass. Five years after the war and the fall of the Nazism we can imagine what he means.
Everything in this version is excessive: the slow tempi of Furtwängler, his powerful accelerations, the glorious voice of Flagstad (but she seems to be singing Brünnhilde, not Leonora), the mystical dimension of some scenes like the Quartet in the First Act or the Prisoners Choir.
Patzak, with his very problematic voice is a mediocre Florestan. On the other way, Anton Dermota sings here Jaquino when he should be singing Florestan (he recorded a remarkable version with Böhm). Greindl has the voice and style of Hagen, not Rocco. Schöffler himself is not convincing as Pizarro.

The great moment of this version is the Overture of Leonora 3, played before the last scene. Furtwängler and the VPO are extraordinary, giving perhaps the most intense version of this work that I ever heard. 

[Henk]

Keep listening. Ligeti's VC is one of my favorite pieces of the last 50 years.

Ok, I think it's a bit theatrical.

Henk

[Henk]

S. 3

Not a really powerful performance.

[Henk]

S. 5

[Subotnick]

Enough electronic/avantgarde for one day. Now for something completely majestic!



TTFN.
Me.

*A Minute Later*

Is it me or does the pic look tipsy? 

[FideLeo]

[Henk]

Concerto Grosso for Strings.

[Subotnick]

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Is it me or does the pic look tipsy? 

It does. It does.

So you can stop checking your medication.

[marvinbrown]

  Music to soothe the soul:

 

 One of 2 Parsifal recordings in my collection (the other is Karajan's on DG) this recording with Knappertsbusch is widely regarded as the best on the market.  

 marvin

[DavidRoss]

[re. Blomstedt/SFSO Sibelius 3] Not a really powerful performance.

If by that you mean it's not overblown, heated with Romantic excess, I agree.  That's one of the things that's so great about it.

[Henk]

the piano playing in the piano concerto sounds a bit like Chopin.

[Henk]

If by that you mean it's not overblown, heated with Romantic excess, I agree.  That's one of the things that's so great about it.

I'll listen to it differently the next time. Compare it with a more romantic version. But I tend to increase the volume so silent some parts are being played.

[Harry]

Good afternoon all my friends and those who are not.

Henry Purcells Theatre Music, Volume VI.

The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood.
Well you all know what singers right, I wrote that to the last 5 cd's.

The works on this cd are simply to much to type out, so you'll have to forgive me, for not doing that, and who reads it anyway, lol!
This box is for me, the nucleus of what Purcell wrote. Inventive, very much brimming with energy, and life affirming gusto, delicious lines he wrote, and expertly performed by all concerned. I can say no other that go and buy it.

[Henk]

S. 2

NP:
(Michel van der Aa - Chamber Music)
Above.

Van der Aa, one of Netherlands leading composers.

Next, I try Ligeti's Violin Concert again, encouraged by Corey:

[Lilas Pastia]

Beethoven by Brautigam. Sonatas 1-7 are remarkable. His lucidity and perfect balance between impetus and care for sonority strike gold in these early sonatas (4 and 7 are full blown masterpieces though, no mere coup d'essai). Beautiful fortepiano sound, clear and very sonorous.

However, the same pianist fails to impress much in the 3rd concerto. He is clearly subservient  to the conductor's conception, which is unfortunate. Andrew Parrott minces the meaty Beethoven flesh into so many sushi bits. That's a big mistake, however tasty some morsels are individually.

[George]

[Blomstedt]

S[ibelius]. 3

Not a really powerful performance.

It didn't move me on my first listen either. Perhaps future listens will convert me...

[Sergeant Rock]

It didn't move me on my first listen either.

Me neither...probably because I prefer my Sibelius Thirds to be " overblown, heated with Romantic excess." Ashkenazy satisfies in that respect.

Sarge

[Harry]

I keep coming back to this one! Why? Because its so bloody good, that's why.