What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[SonicMan46]

 

Corey - I can certainly vouch for the disc above (left) - just lovely music and flute playing - have another Koechlin CD on route to me in the mail!  

For me this morning at home, continuing my listening to the Bach Cantatas w/ Suzuki & gang!  Third anniversary box w/ Vols. 23 & 24 spinning today.  

[Opus106]

[Mahler 9/Karajan/DG]

Four complete spins today.  Possibly the Mahler breakthrough I have been hoping for.

You're one tough dude. Mahler's 9th is among my favourite symphonies, but I don't think I can endure more than one listen per, say, a week!


Although, if you are tough in the traditional sense (unaffected emotionally,...), it wouldn't have made you play the CD four times in one day.

[Harry]

 

[Opus106]

Listening to and watching...

Béla Bartók
Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra|Pierre Boulez

Live|May 1, 2003
Hieronymus-Kloster, Lisbon

[Häuschen]

This cassette sounds incredibly good.  Picked it up for $1 and apparently unplayed.

[CD]

have another Koechlin CD on route to me in the mail! 

What did you get? I looked through the Purchases thread and didn't see anything...

[Drasko]

[ChamberNut]

Listening to and watching...

Béla Bartók
Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra|Pierre Boulez

Live|May 1, 2003
Hieronymus-Kloster, Lisbon

Funny.....

I was just listening to Bartok myself. 

The Miraculous Mandarin

Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Charles Dutoit
Decca (Eloquence)

[bhodges]

Four complete spins today.  Possibly the Mahler breakthrough I have been hoping for.

     

Never let it be said that you didn't give the piece an honest try!  (And I assume you would have stopped after 2 or 3 spins if you didn't care for it!)

--Bruce

[The new erato]

This is very fine, late-baroque/early-classical opera in a spirited and very good performance, stunningly well recorded.

[Brian]

JANACEK | Sinfonietta
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Karel Ancerl

Far and away the most-played piece of music in my iTunes library. I listen to the Ancerl Sinfonietta approximately once every two weeks (it's been 15 days), so by December 17 this recording will have been listened to twice as many times as my second-most-played track.  

[stlukesguild]

Just finished listening to Massenet:



The composer suffers from a reputation in certain camps not unlike that of some
Italian opera composers... especially Puccini... that of being essentially a light-
weight composer... this in spite of his ability to repeatedly compose
some of the most achingly beautiful melodies... magnificently orchestrated.
Interestingly, only in Vienna and Italy were his works initially taken seriously...
and both the Viennese and the Italians know the value of a good melody.
Grove's Musical Dictionary (by way of contrast) from the mid-1950s describes
Massenet as only worthy of consideration by those who imagine music as nothing
more than "agreeable after-dinner entertainment". Harsh! 

The book which comes with this CD (a marvelous recording, by the way) points out
that Massenet suffered from the traditional lack of support... especially among the
French... for the work of native composers. It continues to suggest that he may have
been the first since Rameau to have established French as the most natural of
musical languages. Romain Rolland would go so far as to paint the picture of a
"slumbering Massenet in the heart of every French composer".

Regardless of his popularity with critics or the larger public (and we all know that
popularity with the larger public is the one sin that can never be forgiven if one is
to be considered a "serious artist") I am quite loving this music and this marvelous
recording, Hell... I'll even admit that it was almost the packaging... the magnificently
"decadent" graphics that sold me on the album (that and the fact that I knew less
than nothing of Massenet... and had nothing by him outside of a few selections on
recital discs. The work has become one of my current favorites.

Now I'm on to some Nordic orchestral songs... marvelously sung by Camilla Nylund:

[Keemun]

Bogey's post reminded me that it's been a while since I heard Mahler's 7th, so I just started this one:



I have never really connected with this symphony, so I re-read the following synopsis in hopes of better understanding it.

It took Mahler a long search for inspiration before reaching fruition in the form of the Seventh Symphony. This was also the last of the three symphonies (Fifth, Sixth and Seventh) which he wrote during his tenure with the Vienna Opera.

In some ways, the Seventh is a looking-glass inversion of the Sixth. It has been considered the most unapproachable, the most far-reaching in its expressionism and anticipation of hamonic elements whose gauntlet would be later taken up by Shostakovich and Bartók (to say nothing of Berg and Schöenberg). The work is structured in five movements, with a central scherzo sandwiched between two Nachtmusiken ("nocturnes"). It includes an unusual scoring for guitar and mandolin in the second of the two Nachtmusiken, laden with dark, dreamy passages.

From Mahler and the Symphony (Part 2)

I will see if I have a better appreciation this symphony in a little over an hour. 

[Drasko]

Interesting.  What's your opinion of this?

Me like, mostly. Sorry, not much of an opinion at this point, played it for the first time today. Liked first two pieces, some sort of rather beautiful, moody, not so minimal minimalism. Third piece for four saxophones had three of those too much for my nervous system, couldn't finish it. Haven't listened to fourth piece yet.

[Brian]

Now that is a recording I want to hear. How is that Mass? I need to hear the "new" (ie original) nine-movement critical edition.

(Post #5555)

[greg]

Four complete spins today.  Possibly the Mahler breakthrough I have been hoping for.

In one day... 
When I started listening to this one, I spent probably a week (5-7 days in row) listening to the whole thing once each day. And I thought that was a lot!

[Keemun]

I will see if I have a better appreciation this symphony in a little over an hour. 

I still don't care for this symphony.  Oh well. . . .   Now:

Sibelius
Symphony No. 5
Maazel
VPO

[The new erato]

Shostakovich Symphoniy 9 & 10, Jansons on EMI (Oslo/Philadelphia)

[SonicMan46]

What did you get? I looked through the Purchases thread and didn't see anything...

Hi Corey - returned home this afternoon and the disc had just arrived (below left) - just started my listening; now up to a half dozen discs of Koechlin's music - this one received a great recommendation on MusicWeb HERE - the first work on the disc, Nocturne for Orchestra, Op. 129 is just beautiful; Holliger & Hanssler are doing a great service in recording these 'lost' works!

But my previous Koechlin acquisition (below right) of saxophone works is simply beautiful - believe that I listened to that disc 3 nights in a row for our dinner music - if you like sax, a definite recommendation!  Dave 


 

[CD]

But my previous Koechlin acquisition (below right) of saxophone works is simply beautiful - believe that I listened to that disc 3 nights in a row for our dinner music - if you like sax, a definite recommendation!  Dave 

I own that but have yet to listen! I'm in the middle of moving so a lot of things are still in storage. Will be sure to pick that up next time I run by.

Listening: