What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Gurn Blanston]

There you have it - my two favourite LvB cycles and two of my favourite 9ths (out of three).

Q

And the third one is...?



----------------
Listening to: Harnoncourt  - The Seven Last Phrases of Christ on the Cross: IX. "Vater, in deine Hände"

[Lethevich]

It's a very nice set.
Tallis is no Desprez, but who is? And it's interesting for me to hear the British Renaissance School.

There is a bit of piecemeal on that set - I find that he excels in the motets more than any other area. But he is somewhat less of a rounded composer than Byrd, for example, although it doesn't help that less of his music has survived.

[Lilas Pastia]

The Russian Easter Overture

Favorite music for an Easter morning!
Can spring finally be far behind?

Orthodox Easter is next week, so you can have a repeat performance 

[Lilas Pastia]

Quote from: Brian on Today at 04:26:20 AM
Oh no! He skipped the repeat in the March to the Scaffold! But that's okay - it was already a little fast for me; I was getting motion-sick [TT 4:35].

EDIT: Oh no! Part II. The bells in the final movement are ridiculously high-pitched - they're not scary at all, just kind of goofy. That just about completely ruins it, even though the first three movements were absolutely flawless

Hmm.  Curious mis-reads on Dutoit's part, Brian.

Hmmm... If I'm not mistaken, the bells are supposed to be out of tune. I've never paused to think how out of tune they should sound, though. Sharp? Flat? I personally prefer when they sound real clangy and grotesque.

[Que]

And the third one is...?

Furtwängler's recording from Luzern/Lucerne '54.

Q

[Gurn Blanston]

Furtwängler's recording from Luzern/Lucerne '54.

Q

Ah, well I suppose mine would be Gardiner. Greatly prefer the period instrument sound and more modern performance.

[Que]

Ah, well I suppose mine would be Gardiner. Greatly prefer the period instrument sound and more modern performance.

Me too.  But I'm still waiting for that 9th on period instruments.
(Haven't heard Immerseel yet, but my cards are on a future recording by Bruno Weil)

Q

[jhar26]

[rubio]

This classic recital for the first time. It is indeed very fine, even if there are other performances I prefer for Beethoven Op. 109-111 (Serkin, Schnabel). The Brahms Intermezzo in E Flat minor is excellent. And the sound is surprisingly good.

[AnthonyAthletic]

Symphony No. 2, 'Mysterious mountain'; Prayer of St Gregory; Prelude and Quadruple Fugue; And God Created Great Whales; Alleluia and Fugue & Celestial Fantasy

Hovhaness / Seattle Symphony Orchestra / Gerard Schwarz

Very enjoyable, first listen to Hovhaness' music.  The smaller works sublime, flowing miniatures....something along the way the Tallis Fantasia flows, was my first impressions   

[Bogey]

[Jay F]

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I may have been absent here, due to complex personal circumstances, but I have been listening to music, of course! One piece in particular has become a favourite -

Cornelis Dopper, Gothic Chaconne (Mengelberg, Concertgebouw Orchestra, 1940)

Just as Brahms in his Chaconne in the Finale of his Fourth Symphony, Dopper wrings a whole world of feeling and drama from his grave bass theme.

A chaconne, to quote Wikipedia, is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass) which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and melodic invention. In this it closely resembles the Passacaglia.

Mengelberg's performance is a classic. Yes, the recording isn't perfect, but the power of the work is never in doubt. Dopper wrote it in the early years of the 20th century and had to foreshorten it considerably (from 50 minutes to 15...) I don't know what we have lost, because that original version has never been recorded. Nevertheless, what we have now is an orchestral masterpiece.

For those interested, here is a link:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mmgenqyzndy/Dopper - Gothic Chaconne.mp3

[Brian]

Hmmm... If I'm not mistaken, the bells are supposed to be out of tune. I've never paused to think how out of tune they should sound, though. Sharp? Flat? I personally prefer when they sound real clangy and grotesque.

Oh, the bells are not out of tune - they just sounded like little baby bells, rather than big church bells. My idea for the "Symphonie fantastique" is death-knell sort of cathedral-bell tolling, rather than thin little chimes.

[Brian]

Ah, well I suppose mine would be Gardiner. Greatly prefer the period instrument sound and more modern performance.

Ditto. Gardiner's really is something unique. 

[George]

Nice to see you listening to some Rachmaninoff, Bill. 

How did you like it?

His live 1981 Carnegie Hall performance on RCA of the same work (Rachmaninoff Piano Sonata 2) is incredible! The opening chords sound like thunder from the heavens! 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Superb  0:)

[Solitary Wanderer]

Easter Monday morning music.

I can smell the hot X buns!

[Brian]

Ditto. Gardiner's really is something unique. 

BEETHOVEN | Symphony No 9
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique
von Otter, Orgonasova, Johnson, Cachemaille
John Eliot Gardiner

[Kullervo]

On an Overgrown Path, In the Mist, etc. (Paul Crossley)