What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Keemun]

Barber
Symphony No. 1 (in One Movement)
Julius Hegyi
New York Philharmonic
June 11, 1987

[SonicMan46]

Mendelssohn, Felix - String Quartets w/ the Pacifica Quartet - my first purchase of this group; own the Emersons in this repertoire, but am really enjoying this 3-CD offering (does not include the Octet); recorded 2002-04 w/ excellent sound (although now listening in my office on a boom box - will re-audition at home later in the week!) - great 10/10 review on ClassicsToday HERE and several reviewers placement on their WANT LIST in Fanfare.  Good 15-page booklet in English only - packaged as 3 discs in a double jewel box - 


 

[Keemun]

Shostakovich
Symphony No. 8
Velery Gergiev
London Symphony Orchestra
Live at the Proms, Royal Albert Hall, August 24, 2009

This is my first time listening to this work.  I've not yet heard a Shostakovich symphony I truly liked (I've only heard 4, 5 and 10).  Perhaps I will like this one. . . .

[Daverz]

Taneyev: Symphony No. 4 - Polyansky on Chandos

A very fine work, indeed, and this recording and performance are very nice.

[karlhenning]

Taneyev: Symphony No. 4 - Polyansky on Chandos

A very fine work, indeed, and this recording and performance are very nice.

A temptation, especially since I've listened to this Naxos disc which Jeffrey & Cato had praised!

[bhodges]

Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur (Magda Olivero/Franco Corelli/Teatro San Carlo, Naples/Mario Rossi, live recording, Naples, November 28, 1959) - Dipping in to a little of this mainly to hear Olivero and Corelli.  Considering the age of the recording, the sound is actually not bad.

Update: after listening awhile, apparently Olivero and Corelli were caught on a very good night.  Several times the audience stops the show for a good minute or two with cheering and applause.

--Bruce

[Que]

Lodovico Giustini da Pistoia. (1685-1743)

12 Sonate da Cimbalo di Pianoforte.
Andrea Coen, Pianoforte.
Recorded by Brilliant 2009.

Pianoforte copy by Kerstin Schwarz, after B. Cristofori 1726.
Disc I, sonate 1-4.

Quite a discovery! The music is heavenly, the recording intimate, and the playing exemplary.

Thanks, Harry. Sounds good.

Q

[karlhenning]

First listen!:

Alkan
Toccatina, Opus 75
Symphony for solo piano, Opus 39 nos. 4-7
Ronald Smith

Alkan – Piano Works; Ronald Smith

[Antoine Marchand]

First listen!:

Taneyev
Canzona (rev. 1883)
Stanislav Jankovsky, clarinet
Novosibirsk State Philharmonic
Thos Sanderling

Taneyev – Orchestral Works: Oresteia Overture, &c.

Curiously, Taneyev has been a name mentioned several times in this thread today. And today I began a 4-CD Brilliant set called "Great Russian Piano Trios". There one CD -the second one- is dedicated to Taneyev's Piano Trio in D major Op. 22 (45'45  ), performed by the Borodin Trio in a 1987 recording licensed from Chandos. I have not listened to that recording yet, but the CD1 (Tchaikovsky & Alyabiev) and CD3 (Rachmaninov) are top notch performances, both of them also performed by the Borodin and licensed from Chandos.   

   

[mahler10th]

Tchaikovsky.
Number 5.
A Russian Composer, Conductor and Orchestra.

Today I decided to erect a massive public square in my bathroom with a design not unlike Moscow Square, so that people can be free to roam around whilst I use the toilet.
I put Tchaikovsky/Pletnev/Moscow on to help and motivate me.

This set is great.  I did have an outstanding Karajan set a while back, but that has gone, this is an outstanding replacement, though.  Some of the most superb pictures can be painted with Tchaikovskys music, as long as it's played well.  And this is.
Now then...I need the toilet....

[jlaurson]

Karl: If you're on an Alkan binge, this might be apropos:

Handed to me two nights ago, at Dinner, from a fellow music lover, with the words: "The Alkan of Alkans". Am listening to it now and, after 10 seconds of wondering about the piano sound, truly, duly impressed:

Osamu Nakamura (a.k.a. Osamu Kanazawa), on an old (1990) Epic/Sony CD (ESCK 8005) from Japan. Or rather a sub-label thereof, by all appearances, called "ESCALIeR"

"Les oevres pour piano, vol.4"

"Concerto" for solo piano in G sharp minor (Which is to say: "Études dans tous les tons mineurs Nos. 8-10" -- how many are there, anyway? min. 12?)
plus: "Salut Cendre du Pauvre!", Paraphrase for piano, op.45

No, not even nearly the 'disgusting' ease with which Hamelin cruises through this... but something rather riveting.

(Also: CDs that are out of print, hard to get, and rare always sound better than they are. An old collector's disease we all know but don't often admit. 

[MN Dave]

chopin
waltzes
magaloff

[Daverz]

A temptation, especially since I've listened to this Naxos disc which Jeffrey & Cato had praised!

I just looked on Classicstoday for more recordings of Taneyev symphonies, and Victor Carr panned this Polyansky recording, whereas the Fanfare critic put it on his Want List.

[Conor71]

Bach: The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

[SonicMan46]

Well, for our dinner music, we listened to the young Chris Thile on the mandolin - see the non-classical listening thread for those interested - he was (and is!) just amazing - kind of a 'bluegrass' Mozart - 

Bach, JS - Trio Sonatas w/ Camerata Köln, of course on period instruments - this is just a wonderful disc - review reprinted HERE - this is just thoroughly enjoyable! 

[Coopmv]

Bach
WTC
Book One
Gould

The usual hum in the background?

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set, which arrived last week.  I have owned this recording on LP for years.  But LP's on the Columbia label have notoriously poor press quality ...

[George]

The usual hum in the background?

I am at work, so I can't tell as the volume is low.

Surprisingly, I received a compliment from an attractive female supervisor from another department who stopped by my department's office today. I was so surprised that I didn't know what to say.  Usually people make fun of my classical music at work when they hear it. 

[kishnevi]

Shostakovich
Symphony No. 8
Velery Gergiev
London Symphony Orchestra
Live at the Proms, Royal Albert Hall, August 24, 2009

This is my first time listening to this work.  I've not yet heard a Shostakovich symphony I truly liked (I've only heard 4, 5 and 10).  Perhaps I will like this one. . . .

His recorded version of 8 apparently is not highly thought of.  I don't have it, although I have his 4, 5, and 9, and the newish one of 1 and 15.  But if you don't like 4,5, and 10, you simply may not be a Shostakovich kind of person.    My personal favorites of all the symphonies are 4, 8 and 11, followed by 5, 7, and 10;  the recordings I most esteem are the ones Rostropovich did with the LSO (on LSO Live)--5, 8 and 11.  It was in fact Rostropovich's 8 that turned me on to Shostakovich.

Thread duty: Bailey/Dinnerstein  Complete Works for Piano and Cello, CD 2. Sonata 5, last movement.

[listener]

HONEGGER   film music:  Les Miserables, Napoléon, La Roue, Mermoz
ANTHEIL  3 String Quartets     Lithuanian Night     Six Little Pieces        - unpredictabilty that should appeal to Ivesians.