What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[ChamberNut]

Shostakovich

String Quartet No. 10 in A flat major, Op. 118 *
String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 122
String Quartet No. 13 in B flat minor, Op. 138

Eder Quartet
Naxos

*This is my current favorite Shosty quartet.

[jlaurson]

After the first half of day filled with Mahler's Fifth (Jaap van Zweden & Vaclav Neumann, review tomorrow morning here), I'm now listening to Mendelssohn's String Quartets... alternating between the Leipzig String Quartet and the Henschel Quartet.


Mendelssohn-B., Complete String Quartets, Leipzig(er) String Quartet - MDG



Mendelssohn-B., Complete String Quartets, Henschel Quartet - ArteNova

(Unlike the new MDG box, this is also to be had in the US... just that it ain't as dirt-cheap.)

The MDG set is actually five discs... including (as does the Emerson set) the Octet and further a bunch of transcriptions of orchestra works (none of which really stand out).

There is no bad set of these quartets... although I'd not recommend the Coull and don't particularly love the Emerson set. But Pacifica, Eroica, and especially Tallich are stupendous... and Henschel, Leipzig, Ysaye are right behind. Gewandhaus SQ4t and Mendelssohn SQ4t I have not heard. What an embarrassment of riches when just a good decade ago there was a bit of a dearth of these works on record.

[Kullervo]

(Nos. 1-4)

[Sergeant Rock]

Listening to Brahms Fifth Symphony:




Sarge

[Brian]

Great post, Brian, thanks.

— I should be interested in your thoughts on the Levine/BSO release of Daphnis on the recently launched BSO Classics line.

Thanks, I am interested in learning some more about that recording myself. Might be added to the queue...  

Some late-breaking thoughts on the Markl/Lyon Daphnis: great flute solo in the next-to-last number, and a plenty enjoyable sunrise. The pirate dance and bacchanale are not as wild 'n' crazy as on Petitgirard or really any other fine recording - Markl drops his speed-demon approach in favor of attempts at suspense, with mild success.

[jlaurson]

...Naxos ...almost never duplicates repertoire - they have, for instance, only one recording of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata -

Thanks for the Daphnes preview. Just heard the 2nd Suite in concert (BRSO/Jansons). Inappropriately played after the Four Last Songs, but so well that it was worth it.

As per the above:

1987, Péter Nagy (oop) and
1987, Jénö Jandó

Historic releases: Ignaz Friedman & Artur Schnabel.

Apart from that they are not entirely immune to doubling repertoire. Three original recordings of the Paganini Variations and Four of the Rachmaninov 2nd and 3rd PCs, plus two historical ones in each case... (Jando, Biret, Glemser, Scherbakov...)

Still, your point stands: They don't gratuitously double territory once covered.

[karlhenning]

Thanks for the Daphnes preview. Just heard the 2nd Suite in concert (BRSO/Jansons). Inappropriately played after the Four Last Songs, but so well that it was worth it.

I dunno;  I find the idea of treating the Strauss as an 'opener' endearing 

[Brian]

As per the above:

1987, Péter Nagy (oop) and
1987, Jénö Jandó

Historic releases: Ignaz Friedman & Artur Schnabel.

Apart from that they are not entirely immune to doubling repertoire. Three original recordings of the Paganini Variations and Four of the Rachmaninov 2nd and 3rd PCs, plus two historical ones in each case... (Jando, Biret, Glemser, Scherbakov...)

Still, your point stands: They don't gratuitously double territory once covered.

Oh snap, forgot the Nagy. Didn't remember that one (and it wasn't in the ArkivMusic listing). They do double some repertoire - they have two Beethoven symphony cycles, two Brahms cycles (and an additional 2nd with Libor Pesek) and some other doublings where a marquee artist like Marin Alsop (Dvorak Ninth) could serve as a money-making vehicle. This month they actually have a second "second helping": a new Khachaturian Violin Concerto, replacing Mihaela Martin and Ukraine/Kuchar with Nicholas Koeckert and Royal Philharmonic/Serebrier. But generally Naxos doesn't double up much. Only one Also Sprach Z (that may change if Antoni Wit is doing the complete Strauss), one Tchaikovsky cycle (but two Manfreds), one Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, one each of all the Beethoven concerti and overtures, one Scheherazade ... why they chose to wheel out a second Daphnis, especially one clearly inferior to the first and relatively hot on its heels, totally escapes my understanding.

I notice ArkivMusic is selling all the Naxos Historical CDs again though. Are they back in the USA at last?!

[karlhenning]

Thread duty:

Ravel
L'heure espagnole
Maazel conducting

[Todd]

Though I've still not finished the Leonhardt/Harnoncourt set of complete cantatas, I figured I might as well try someone else for a change of pace.  I opted for Eric Milnes and the Montreal Baroque.  Milnes opts for using one voice to a part choruses, and he also opts for women sopranos instead of boys.  It's definitely refreshing to hear a woman's voice instead of a boys - adult women can just plain sing better, and sound better.  The performances of the three works on this disc strike me as quite good.  Light, quick, clear, with a very period focus.  I think I should try some more.

[ChamberNut]

Dvorak

String Quartet No. 6 in A minor, Op. 12
String Quartet No. 7 in A minor, Op. 16

Panocha Quartet
Supraphon

[karlhenning]

Rimsky-Korsakov
Capriccio espagnol, Opus 34
Berliner Philharmoniker
Maazel

[karlhenning]

Sergei Sergeyevich
Autumnal, Opus 8
Russian State Symphony
Polyansky

[DavidRoss]

Sibelius 5th, original 1915 version, Vänskä

The "Ending Chords of the 5th" thread got me thinking about this and I realized it's been two or three years since I last heard it.  Curious.  Again.

[Brian]

BEETHOVEN | Symphony No 9
Cleveland Orchestra
Christoph von Dohnanyi

[jlaurson]

Sibelius 5th, original 1915 version, Vänskä
The "Ending Chords of the 5th" thread got me thinking about this and I realized it's been two or three years since I last heard it.  Curious.  Again.

Same here, except I chose Sanderling's recording of the "normal" version from the cycle on Berlin Classics.


Sibelius, Complete Symphonies, Berlin Symphony Orchestra (Konzerthausorchester)
- Brilliant Classics

I'm one minute away from those chords. :-)


Update 1: Consciously listening to them... a.) I had to laugh at the audacity... b.) I like the tap-dancing suggestion. I sure hope that jokester didn't ruin this finale for me, forever, in making it impossible for me to think about anything other than Fred Astair, Sammy Davis Jr., and
Debbie Reynolds stepping out on the apron of the stage and very somberly doing some stark tap-dancing routines to fill the chilly silence.


Update 2: My computer (lap-top) is planted right in front of the stereo. I can't listen to music without my fingers on a keyboard or my hand clutching a pen. It's a vocational disease, I'm afraid. 

[Kullervo]

I'm one minute away from those chords. :-)

And you're on the computer posting here?

[Kullervo]

Ah so...

[not edward]

[haydnguy]

Hey edward, what do you think about SQ #3??