What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[rubio]

More Annie Fischer. I really enjoy her playing; especially in 10/1 and Waldstein.

[Coopmv]

More Annie Fischer. I really enjoy her playing; especially in 10/1 and Waldstein.

I zipped through my 9-CD set over a month ago and should really take more time to carefully listen ...

[George]

Op. 126 - I can't get enough of the Bagatelles lately, especially when they are played this well.

[Benji]

Beethoven - 'Eroica' Symphony. Cleveland Orchestra - George Szell.

Glorious! 

[RussellG]

Op. 126 - I can't get enough of the Bagatelles lately, especially when they are played this well.

Eschenbach - is he another pianist turned conductor?

Thread duty:  2006

[Coopmv]

Op. 126 - I can't get enough of the Bagatelles lately, especially when they are played this well.

George,  I have this set too.  Do you like Eschenbach more as a pianist or as a conductor?  I will always remember him as a pianist since I have some of my favorite piano pieces by him on LP from many moons ago.  My wife and I attended his last concert as the principal conductor with the Houston Symphony in 99.

[Coopmv]

Eschenbach - is he another pianist turned conductor?

Absolutely.  He is now with the third American orchestra.  He really did a bang-up job at Houston to raise the level of play there.  While Houston has some big-buck backers since all the big oils are down there but it is a cultural desert like LA where money cannot always buy the best talents.  He then moved on to Philadelphia where he ended a stormy association about a year ago.  He is now with the National Symphony in Washington DC.  He was a protege to Karajan though I am surprised he never made many recordings with the latter. 

[George]

Eschenbach - is he another pianist turned conductor?

George,  I have this set too.  Do you like Eschenbach more as a pianist or as a conductor?  I will always remember him as a pianist since I have some of my favorite piano pieces by him on LP from many moons ago.  

Haven't heard him conduct actually. His Mozart on DG is excellent and this bagatelle is played wonderfully.

[DavidRoss]

Just released.  Listened to 4th movement only via download.  Miah Persson is delightful, the orchestra sounds wonderful, tempos are brisk almost to the end but it's all very lovely.  If this is a good indication of the performance overall, Fischer & his orchestra have yet another winner!

[Coopmv]

Haven't heard him conduct actually. His Mozart on DG is excellent and this bagatelle is played wonderfully.

Eschenbach is quite selective when it comes to recording.  Unlike Barenboim who jumped on the WTC bandwagon and ended up getting a horrendous review.  Eschenbach understands where he should not tread.  I have his Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and it is an excellent recording ...

BTW, I like his Schubert recordings on EMI too ...

[Kullervo]

[Benji]

Goldsmith - Overture to 'The Twilight Zone'. Royal Scottish National Orchestra - Jerry Goldsmith.

This is always a treat - Goldsmith conducting his own music. And with my local band, who do great justice to all the film music they record.

BTW this isn't the famous Twilight Zone theme music, but rather a perfectly crafted single movement which ties together all four of Goldsmith's four distinct themes and soundworlds for each of the four segments of the film.

And then the Main Titles to Total Recall, and Capricorn One.

[Moldyoldie]

Sibelius: Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 5
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
James Levine, cond.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Under Levine's direction, Sibelius's dark and morose Fourth Symphony begins powerfully and weighty, more akin to Maazel/VPO than Karajan/BPO, the latter whose opening double-basses arise from silence with a more soft-spoken sullenness.  Levine traverses the four-movement landscape with a fine feel for where the music needs to go and how to get there; one is hardpressed to notice a musical misstep at any point -- and the orchestra does play splendidly!  However, Karajan's Sibelius Fourth (BPO/'78 on EMI) is certainly more characterful and overtly dramatic, putting forth one of the most convincing arguments of this great symphony's gravitas and import. The intensity of Karajan's Il tempo largo is well-nigh unmatched, in my opinion.  Still, all told, I wouldn't hesitate to suggest Levine's performance as an introduction to the Fourth for the novice listener. Seasoned listeners, too, should appreciate Levine's sheer grasp of this great and mysterious music, rendered in up-close and incredibly vivid recorded sound.

Levine effects the popular Symphony No. 5 in a full-bore forward manner much as he did in his overall ill-measured reading of No. 2 with the same forces.  However, the first movement here is taken much too fast for effectiveness in the climaxes.  The usually deliberately demarcated long crescendo building to the opening movement's powerful conclusion (the highlight of the entire symphony for this listener!) lacks meaningful contrast with what precedes it; its intrinsic dramatic impact is effectively fleeced. (sigh!) The andante second movement, also taken at a brisk pace, is also devoid of meaningful contrast.  The buzzing violins which commence the opening of the third movement sound here as if tiny killer bees are swarming an intruder to the hive -- would it be a redundancy to describe it as hyperactive prestissimo?   This leads to the first sounding of the big theme which is seemingly too fast by half, as indeed are its succeeding reiterations -- the transcendental sense of nature's power and grandeur is thus diminished.  Are we noticing a pattern here?  While I've always admired and often appreciated Levine's "no fear" headlong approach to conducting many of the thorniest Late Romantic and 20th Century warhorses, what he does here to the Sibelius Fifth borders on the unconscionable -- an interpretation seemingly borne of a misunderstanding of what makes this a symphony for the ages for all who love it, alas!  All that being said, the performance is coherent, consistent, and mostly enjoyable. DG's fantastic digital rendering of a great orchestra is also a consolation here.

[Lilas Pastia]

Good post, Moldy! I was not aware of these performances. Are they new?

[Moldyoldie]

Good post, Moldy! I was not aware of these performances. Are they new?

They were released in the '90s, I believe.

[Benji]

Sibelius: Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 5
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
James Levine, cond.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Under Levine's direction, Sibelius's dark and morose Fourth Symphony begins powerfully and weighty, more akin to Maazel/VPO than Karajan/BPO, the latter whose opening double-basses arise from silence with a more soft-spoken sullenness.  Levine traverses the four-movement landscape with a fine feel for where the music needs to go and how to get there; one is hardpressed to notice a musical misstep at any point -- and the orchestra does play splendidly!  However, Karajan's Sibelius Fourth (BPO/'78 on EMI) is certainly more characterful and overtly dramatic, putting forth one of the most convincing arguments of this great symphony's gravitas and import. The intensity of Karajan's Il tempo largo is well-nigh unmatched, in my opinion.  Still, all told, I wouldn't hesitate to suggest Levine's performance as an introduction to the Fourth for the novice listener. Seasoned listeners, too, should appreciate Levine's sheer grasp of this great and mysterious music, rendered in up-close and incredibly vivid recorded sound.

That 4th is indeed a stunner. I also discovered it quite recently, on a James Levine celebration DG boxset. On the box set disc it is not paired with the 5th, probably because many reviewers at the time of release shared moldyoldie's low opinion of it.



I couldn't disagree more about the Karajan's interpration being superior though, which is very much bottom of the pile in my own opinion.

P.s. That box set is dirt cheap, and well worth grabbing.

[Brian]

Cool, I also have a modern recording by Jiří Bělohlávek with the Czech Phil.  It's a nice version, but I like Kubelik better.

Bělohlávek's Sinfonietta has a pretty awesome third movement, but for me the others don't hold a candle to Ancerl. I haven't heard that Kubelik - I have a Kubelik recording, but think it's live? - but the Ancerl album is so incredible that, for once, I feel absolutely no need to hear another.

[Moldyoldie]

I couldn't disagree more about the Karajan's interpration being superior though, which is very much bottom of the pile in my own opinion.

For what it's worth, Sibelius himself would disagree with you ...not that there's anything wrong with that. 

Seriously, I've heard many substantially different, but equally effective (and affecting) recorded performances of the Fourth.  It's one of those works whose mysteries are such that a quest for the perfect performance leads to a nonexistent destination.

[DavidRoss]

That 4th is indeed a stunner. I also discovered it quite recently, on a James Levine celebration DG boxset. On the box set disc it is not paired with the 5th, probably because many reviewers at the time of release shared moldyoldie's low opinion of it.

I couldn't disagree more about the Karajan's interpration being superior though, which is very much bottom of the pile in my own opinion.

I share your opinion, Ben.  Much too much has been made of Sibelius's comment praising Karajan's recordings of his work in the '50s--Sibelius was all but forgotten then and was all too willing to praise anyone who promoted his music.  BTW, IIRC Mike Shaffer also praised Levine's 4th.

[Coopmv]

Piano Concertos 1 & 2 from this 14-CD set.  Still not quite at the half-way point of listening through this set ...