What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Lethevich]

Rubbra is really cool. I should rate him up there with Bax and Arnold as worthy symphonists, but his music can be so self-effacing or evasive that it can easily be missed in the clamour for attention. The violin concerto's first movement is so there with his style - the lilting, skittish theme wafting around the lengthy opening movement always feeling far more effortless than the allegro tempo marking would suggest. This effortless feeling is to be found everywhere in Rubbra's music - especially in how he contrasts probing, flowing music with lively dance-like sections into a very tight and organic whole. There's a certain economy of emotional range  unfolding in his usual measured manner. It is as if it portrays the feelings of a steady, emotionally secure person, rather than a questing type of figure - rather inward, occasionally Elgarian in its desire for transcendence. Despite this relative absence of struggle, the style is not "minimal", or anything else quotation-markable. The music side-steps easy description by not roaming far from the style of many of its contemporaries, meaning that the symphonies can be easy to listen to, following quite a familiar template, but may feel a little thematically and developmentally bland unless you become smitten by Rubbra's covert strangeness.

Edit:

(No.1)

The Slatkin is not a great success. Like Previn's Telarc account of the same symphony, the 5th is somewhat skimmed over. Plenty of effort is made to gush over the string writing, but meh. I may be hasty on this one though. In the case of the 6th, I am not, as this recording of it has disappointed me twice. The recorded sound is quite crappy. It buried parts I expect to hear and generally blunts the edge, which is a shame as in the first movement the cartwheeling strings sounded modern to me in a way I had not heard before (but then, I haven't heard this work for a while). The rest of the movement is fine, but it doesn't have that vicious drive all the way through which coheres every section into a vital whole. The recording is finally killed by the sound quality turning the moderato movement into a damp squib, and as much as the scherzo sounds impressive, it's note-playing - there doesn't feel like any great interpretive effort is being made. The finale is bizarrely loud, although so much so that I feel this rip may have been tampered with (I'm not listening from a CD).

[Florestan]

Hanna Farinelli, Sopran

Nice. 

[mc ukrneal]

I needed some cheery music today. Must be an Offenbach day - guarenteed to banish the blues!

[karlhenning]

ALKAN  not piano music    Sonate de concert for cello and piano  op. 47

Fine, fine, super-fine piece.

[karlhenning]

Well, that's sad to hear that your War and Peace experience isn't panning out. Personally I love the piece and find it one of Prokofiev's greatest achievements.

FWIW, I like that DVD (i.e., and that production) very well.

[karlhenning]

I needed some cheery music today. Must be an Offenbach day - guarenteed to banish the blues!

Now why, when I regard that cover, does the phrase banned in Boston come to mind? . . .

[karlhenning]

Thread duty (first listen!):

Dallapiccola
Frammenti sinfonici dal balletto « Marsia » (1942-43; 1947)
Variazioni per orchestra (1953-54)
BBC Phil
Noseda

Dallapiccola – Tartiniana; Due Pezzi; Variazioni per orchestra; Piccola musica notturna; Frammenti sinfonici dal balle

[Todd]

I picked up the newest Volodos disc and have spun it twice, and I must say it is probably the best thing he has recorded to date, bettering even his superb Schubert disc.  Perhaps the most intriguing thing about this recital is how resolutely unvirtuosic it is for the most part.  Volodos only really lets loose in Liszt's Dante sonata – and it's amazing to hear.  The rest of the recital is more about nuance and color and finesse.  The Scriabin selections are tonally gorgeous and evoke just enough mystery.  Perhaps the Seventh Sonata could have been more fiery, but then maybe it would not have worked.  Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales is ravishing, if perhaps more limpid than some.  It doesn't make me forget Abbey Simon or Robert Casadesus, but it offers an equally compelling take.  Likewise, Schumann's Waldszenen is tonally gorgeous and perhaps a bit lower wattage than some, but it's superb.  The three encores are all extremely fine, and once again they are not barn burners.  Excellent sound overall for a concert recording.  It opens up the possibilities of what I'd like to hear Volodos play.  Some Debussy, Faure, and Chopin would certainly be good. 

[Keemun]

Langgaard
Symphony No. 3 "Ungdomsbrus" ("La melodia")
Ilya Stupel
Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra



This seems to be more of a piano concerto than a symphony.  Either way, it is delightful.

EDIT:  Now that I am in the middle of the work it definitely sounds more symphonic.

[karlhenning]

First Listen!

Александр Николаевич
Piano Sonata № 5, Opus 53 (1907)
Piano Sonata № 6, Opus 62 (1911/12)
Piano Sonata № 7, Opus 64 (1911/12)
Maria Lettberg

Skryabin – The Solo Piano Works Maria Lettberg 8 CDs + DVD

[Opus106]

Александр Николаевич

Google translates the second part to simply "N.". Although Nikolayevich translates correctly to Russian.

[Keemun]

These are four of the few Mozart works I consistently enjoy.  Perhaps the fact that I played horn in my younger years has something to do with it.

[Keemun]

More horn. . . .

Brahms
Trio for Piano, Violin & Horn
Borodin Trio - Luba Edlina, piano; Rostislav Dubinsky, violin; Michael Thompson, horn

[listener]

fabulous organ disc  - Pierre Bardon at Saint-Maximin en Provence* playing the 2 Suites by CLERAMBAULT,    MARCHAND Grand jeu in C, D'ANDRIEU Variations on 'O Filii..", and RAISON: Le Vive-le Roy des Parisiens
The organ has sounds that might echo some of  Spanish organs with its very distinctive reeds.  The Basilica is near Aix-en-Provence on the road taken by Popes travelling from Rome to Avignon and pilgrims traveling on to Santiago di Compostella. These are lively works and the recording captures the resonance and a bit of the echo of the building without sacrificing clarity of line.
These are definitely not Lenten meditations!   Short notes on the pieces, and a history of the organ but no stop list, but Bardon has recorded other works on this organ and I think they would have that info.
info: http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/organs/Maximin/history.0.asp

And then the very different style and sound of SZYMANOWSKI's piano music:  4 Studies op. 4, Métopes op.29, Fantasy op.14 and the formidable-looking Masques, op. 34


* not accessible by rail, take a bus from Avignon

[George]

Chopin
Piano Sonatas 1 and 2
Cyprien Katsaris

[abidoful]

Chopin
Piano Sonatas 1 and 2
Cyprien Katsaris

That must be amazing; I once heard a long time ago he's recording of the 1st Sonata, and it was great- I still remember it :)I'm thinking of buying it from amazon.com.u, but the price is too high

[George]

That must be amazing; I once heard a long time ago he's recording of the 1st Sonata, and it was great- I still remember it :)I'm thinking of buying it from amazon.com.u, but the price is too high

It was very good, with nice sound. I don't think it was the best I have heard though. Do you have Andsnes's set? That one is even better and can be had for budget price.

[Drasko]

I guess that one could probably go either way. I've heard Mandeal several times live: average Manfred, spectacular Poeme de l'Extase and Death & Transfiguration (made me almost like the piece, briefly) but also some terribly flabby Beethoven, 5th & 6th.

[Moldyoldie]

From...

Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein, cond.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

I've come to really love this expansive and expressive (often outré) rendition of the popular Fifth.  I can't say as I'm crazy about Lenny's Vienna Second, however - a bloated, belching affair I find hard to digest.

[Conor71]

Bach: Cantata No. 140, BWV 140



Just recently purchased the Gardiner box set of Sacred Works including this work - looking forward to recieving it and getting to know more of Bach's Cantatas and the Passions :