What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[karlhenning]

This morning

Carl Nielsen - Clarinet Concerto (Meyer; Rattle)

Ah, Nielsen in the morning!  

[karlhenning]

Martinů
Fantaisie et Toccata, H.281
Eleonor Bekova

[karlhenning]

Honegger
Symphony No. 2 pour les cordes
Bavarian Radio Symphony
Dutoit

[Lethevich]

Piano concerto, concert champêtre, organ concerto, concerto for 2 pianos, sinfonetta. I am really liking these, they seem less lightweight than Milhaud - not a bad thing in itself, but I don't think that I have the personality to get along with Milhaud's music. Poulenc on the other hand has a more favourable mix of lightness but also power and gravitas.


(Currently still under £6 on Amazon UK marketplace, and highly recommended to any curious individual - the choral music is superb.)

[Keemun]

I didn't get to finish this yesterday (I barely started, actually), so I'm listening to Symphonies Nos. 6 and 7 this morning:
 

[karlhenning]

Honegger
Symphony No. 5 Di tre re
Bavarian Radio Symphony
Dutoit

[Keemun]

[SonicMan46]

Dufay, Guillaume (c. 1400-1474) - Missa Se la face ay pale w/ Guerber et al - beautifully performed and recorded - samples HERE, if interested - 

[Christo]

A new release of one of the best recordings of these wonderful pieces, coming now with very insightful notes, including some colourful, not widely known anecdotes on the Grand Old Man [RVW himself as an octagenerian maintaining he was "neither grand nor old"], by Jeffrey Davis:

   

[Dundonnell]

Henk Badings Symphony No.3(Residentie Orchestra, The Hague/Willem van Otterloo), Symphony No.5(Residentie Orchestra/Andrew Mongrelia) and Symphonic Variations(Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra/Henrik Schaefer).......in honour of my Dutch connections

Excellent stuff-just my proverbial cup of tea

[Dundonnell]

Much to my pleasure I play'd this recording for the third time, and every spin makes it a new discovery.
There is so much to hear in this composer's world of notes...

So glad you are enjoying this composer

[Dundonnell]

Harry, next time just say: Ya ne ponemaiyu.

This morning

Carl Nielsen - Clarinet Concerto (Meyer; Rattle)
Eduard Tubin - Symphony No. 8 (Jarvi)
Robert Simpson - Symphony No. 5 (Handley)

What an excellent selection!! Enjoy

[UB]

Wilhelm Killmayer - Vanitas Vanitatum - 5 Romances for violin and piano. I think Killmayer is one of the neglected 20th century composers. These five pieces are full of joy and energy and to me are pure listening delight.

[Keemun]

[The new erato]

Henk Badings Symphony No.3(Residentie Orchestra, The Hague/Willem van Otterloo), Symphony No.5(Residentie Orchestra/Andrew Mongrelia) and Symphonic Variations(Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra/Henrik Schaefer).......in honour of my Dutch connections

Excellent stuff-just my proverbial cup of tea

While I didn't get much pleasure from the first disc of van Gilse symphonies, the Badings disc is just my cup of tea as well. I'm looking forward to further releases.

[UB]

Henk Badings Symphony No.3(Residentie Orchestra, The Hague/Willem van Otterloo), Symphony No.5(Residentie Orchestra/Andrew Mongrelia) and Symphonic Variations(Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra/Henrik Schaefer).......in honour of my Dutch connections

Excellent stuff-just my proverbial cup of tea

Thanks, your post inspired me to listen to his wild and wonderful Concerto for 2 Pianos.

[Moldyoldie]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 (1878 Haas Edition)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Wilhelm Furtwängler, cond.
MUSIC & ARTS (CD #2 of 5 from boxset)
As much as I love the Brucknerian sound world, the Fifth Symphony has "touched" me in only one recording I've heard, that of Eugen Jochum and the Staatskapelle Dresden on EMI, and even then I'm not often compelled to revisit it.   That said, here Furtwängler surprises in that his reading is seemingly as straightforward and headlong as one will likely ever hear this work.  There's a scarcity of the ultra-deep probing and characteristic stop-and-start mannerisms (usually most effective!) that I've come to expect with this conductor; or perhaps his conception of the work is such that the coherency of the massive overall architecture supersedes a probing for musical insights.  In any case, he and the wartime Berlin Philharmonic  extract a great deal of power from the music when called for, especially from the brass and tympani, as well as rapid bursts of energy when often least expected.  It's a performance I've heard three times now with increasing enjoyment and "accord", though it won't displace Jochum...at least not yet.  The sound does not betray its live origins of Oct. 28, 1942, but is certainly made listenable by the fine remastering.

Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus; Piano Concerto No. 1; Symphony No. 3
Laura Mikkola, piano
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Hannu Lintu, cond.
NAXOS
My second excursion into the world of contemporary Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (love that name!).   Cantus Arcticus from 1972, a "concerto for birds and orchestra", agreeingly melds the pre-taped sounds of Arctic fowl with light complementary orchestration in three mostly disparate movements.  While the use of taped birdsong isn't necessarily unique in serious music, here the combination sounds more of a piece with one's personal contemplation of nature than with the concert hall and its more serious-minded patrons.  It's a pleasant enough confection, I suppose.  I found the final movement titled "Swans Migrating" to be the most aurally compelling.

The first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 1 (1969) is marked throughout by recurring hard staccato dissonant chords banged out against rolling alternate-hand arpeggios and dramatic orchestration.  I have to confess that the purposeful piano dissonances, while certainly ear-catching, are somewhat off-putting and ultimately unconvincing in their musical context here, even after repeat listening.  I found the concluding two movements to be more compelling as soloist Mikkola explores both the work's introspective and outwardly modernist expressions often evocative of Prokofiev.  At one point during the finale, I actually imagined Keith Jarrett in one of his memorable pseudo-improvisations from shortly after the time of this work.

The opening of Symphony No. 3 (1959-60) is nothing if not reminiscent of Bruckner's Fourth Symphony with its solo French horn call, so much so that it sounds obvious!  As the symphony progresses over four movements, we hear this recurring motif in a variety of orchestral statements, usually complemented with flourishes from an ever-present flute, a clarinet, and often a bassoon and what sounds like a cor anglais.  The symphony is hardly Brucknerian in scale at just over a half-hour, but the familiar architectural building blocks are there, even if the work culminates in a soft-spoken hush and not a Brucknerian rush.  The composer talks about his method in the accompanying notes, but in terms mostly foreign to this lay listener.  However, he does make mention of "almost Brucknerian arcs" while discussing the fourth movement.   In any case, I certainly enjoyed the Symphony No. 3 as I would any fine symphony; it makes a most substantive conclusion to a CD offering over 73 minutes of readily accessible and mostly thought-provoking music, even if one with a more purist bent may perhaps deem it somewhat derivative.

[karlhenning]

Dutilleux
Tout un monde lointain
Slava
Orchestre de Paris
Serge Baudo

[ChamberNut]

Sibelius

Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 104
Symphony No. 7 in C, Op. 105

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis
Philips

[Keemun]

Sibelius: Night Ride and Sunrise (Vanska/Lahti SO)