What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[karlhenning]

Again, because it's just such fun:

Cage
Concerto for Prepared Piano & Chamber Orchestra
Margaret Leng Tan, pf
American Composers Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies

John Cage – The Four Seasons / Leng Tan, Russell Davies, & al.

[karlhenning]

Isn't that him on the cover or it the conductor?

I suspect that may be Henze on the cover.  Fischer-Dieskau is very young in the photo inside the booklet (his performance is from August 1972).

[Keemun]

Mendelssohn
Symphony 5 "Reformation"
Claudio Abbado
London Symphony Orchestra

[Orpheus]

Right now I have this in the tray...

What's the content?

[kishnevi]

Listening to this on and off between irl stuff. Really digging the fortepiano in this, it has a perfect tonal quality - it can be upfront and highly supportive without its resonance competing with the singer. I haven't heard enough to comment on the singer, but so far I am finding the performances very direct - beautifully clear lines, good dynamics without much sign of strain. It's a remarkably uncontroversial performance and would make a good "getting to know you" pick for this cycle due to the great clarity and balance between the performers and recording.

Then you'll probably also like these which I have (but don't have the Winterreise)


Schone Mullerin is on modern piano, and with a different pianist, I don't know the reason for the changes, and also it's available on DVD.   Both are Challenge Classics releases.
Amazon also reveals some other Schubert recordings by Pregardien, one of them being a collaboration with Staier

Thanks, this is great advice - looks like this is the final excuse I need to hear Jacob's Clemenza...

I'd say get the McCreesh first if you don't have it: the Jacobs is excellent , but the McCreesh is outstanding.

And for thread duty:

Solid performance all the way around, and better than the other version I have, the one Brilliant released last year.

[Florestan]

Andrei, I heard Boccherini for the first time this morning, a couple of his Symphonies.
My problem with these things is that I don't listen to music from the Classical era often enough - so when I do listen to it, I can scarcely tell the difference between what is going on.  The Boccherini I heard was terrific, but if someone had told me it was Mozarts music, I am ignorant enough to believe that.  Must do more 'Classical' music  to sort this out. 

John, I'm not an expert myself. For instance, Myslivecek's violin concertos are so Mozart-ish --- or Mozart's violin concertos are so Myslivecek-ish, as Rob Newman seriously or Springrite humorously would say --- that I can't tell the difference at first hearing (well, I can, actually, because I've been listening to Mozart's VCs so often that I know them almost by heart) --- but, as our friend Navneeth said, it doesn't matter. Firstly, nobody will ever ask you to tell Boccherini from Vanhal from Mozart from Haydn from whoever it is. Secondly, and most important, it was universally accepted in the aesthetics of the Classical period that music is an universal language and few (if any) composers of that era tried to concoct a style of their own which should have been easy recognizable for the audience. The composer as a singular and sometimes odd genius, music as expression of the inner soul and originality at the expense of form and structure were alien notions to the Classical composers, who in turn promoted balance and emotional restraint (in line with the general aesthetics and philosophy of that age). Now, I'm sure you have by now noticed that there is plenty of drama, dark moods and melancholy in the Classical music --- Mozart being a first and foremost example, but also Haydn and the whole lot of Classical composers (I recently found drama and even anguish in Dittersdorf and Boccherini); it is only that these moods are never prevailing, just as the happier moods are not prevailing as well --- balance, balance, balance, this was the mot de passe of the Classical era.

For balance --- pun intented --- I point out my username and avatar: I myself am Romantic to the boot.

Do you know what I mean? 

Oh, I surely  know. I sometimes ask myself: why can't I listen to 20th and 21st century music as often as I listen to music composed prior to 1900? The only answer I can find is: I don't know. It just doesn't click on me. I like a lot of modern and even contemporary music, but if you wake me up at 2:00 AM and ask me what I'll have, I'll probably answer Schubert, or Mozart, or Brahms. That's just me. I've always thought that, if it's true we live more than one life, I certainly lived (and more than once) in the timeframe 1700-1850.

[George]

I suspect that may be Henze on the cover.  Fischer-Dieskau is very young in the photo inside the booklet (his performance is from August 1972).

I think you may be onto something.

[bhodges]

Dvořák: Piano Concerto (Vassily Primakov/Odense SO/Justin Brown) - Don't have many versions of this to compare, but liking this just fine.

--Bruce

[Scarpia]

Beethoven Corolian Overture, Immersal, from the Beethoven symphony cycle set.  Very vivid performance which emphasizes delicious dissonances, perhaps due to the wind sonorities.  Immersal is most effective when the brass is mostly honking, not playing legato.

[offbeat]

Oh, but these recordings are still available with EMI. Good to remind us of them\!

tks for that -dont know how i missed that  - has all the original works plus some more 

[Que]

Beethoven Corolian Overture, Immersal, from the Beethoven symphony cycle set.  Very vivid performance which emphasizes delicious dissonances, perhaps due to the wind sonorities.  Immersal is most effective when the brass is mostly honking, not playing legato.

I agree that the Corolian Overture by Van Immerseel is very good indeed, goes with the best I know (Walter's stereo of Furtwängler's BP '43).

Q

[DavidW]

Beethoven Corolian Overture, Immersal, from the Beethoven symphony cycle set.  Very vivid performance which emphasizes delicious dissonances, perhaps due to the wind sonorities.  Immersal is most effective when the brass is mostly honking, not playing legato.

I wish more conductors would take it that way, Immerseel has excellent phrasing.

[Scarpia]

I agree that the Corolian Overture by Van Immerseel is very good indeed, goes with the best I know (Walter's stereo of Furtwängler's BP '43).

Q

Karajan's 60's recording is also hair-raising, but in a different way.

[Brahmsian]

Brahms

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op.15

Karin Lechner, piano

Berliner Symphoniker
Eduardo Marturet
Brilliant Classics

*Way too slow for my liking.  I much prefer the other version I have with Kovacevic, London Philharmonic and Sawallisch.

[mahler10th]

I've always thought that, if it's true we live more than one life, I certainly lived (and more than once) in the timeframe 1700-1850.

Well, you have put a few things right for me Andrei.
Most importantly I've learned from you that with few exceptions, music from the classical era was composed by composers who were not intent on becoming musical virtuosi, but rather becoming accomplished in the 'classical form' that had developed in order to reach a wider public.  No wonder people (IE: ME) can become confused about who composed what during that period.  I don't feel so stupid after all.

In reponse to Orpheus, the Hogwood album has:
Trumpet Concerto in E flat major
Cello Concerto in C major
Symphony No. 104 in D major

Andrei, wonder of wonders, I often think my previous life (lives) was a little later than yours, 1800 - 1920!  It may be I was a bit of a snob, because this is a character trait that I can manifest at will, with an aristrocatic old style English accent of one who has many opinions and damn those who do not agree with them.

Aye, it's okay, I'm not mutiple personality and all that, but there is that character inside me, and it's not me!   

Thread Duty:
Ernest John Moeran
Symphony in G, Sinfonietta
Bournemouth SO
DL Jones

I heard this same work on Radio 3 tonight, Vasily Sinaisky and his BBCPO.  Vasily gave it a lot of depth which I don't think it needs.  Moeran found his symphonies in the landscapes of England and Ireland.  Musical Landscapes imo require colour, not depth.  So I've put on the colourful and fairly dramatic BSO/Jones on to settle the matter.

[SonicMan46]

Mozart, WA - Piano Trios w/ Steve Lubin & Mozartean Players - now being discussed (and debated) in the 'Mozart HIP' thread - I've owned this set for years; in fact, the liner notes list these as being 'cassette sides' (see image below, right) - I've enjoyed these since the original purchase (and can't remember the year?) - 

 

[Brahmsian]

First Listen Friday

Brahms

16 Waltzes, Op.39

Karin Lechner, piano
Brilliant Classics

[karlhenning]

Ray's on board!

[Brahmsian]

Ray's on board!

Actually listening to some music, go figure. 

[Bogey]

This weeks highlight:



An absolute must.