What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[karlhenning]

First-Listen Fridays:

Hovhaness
Symphony № 7, Nanga Parvat, Opus 178 (1959)
Trinity College of Music Wind Orchestra
Keith Brion

Hovhaness – Symphonies nos. 7, 14 and 23 [symphonies for wind band]

[Franco]

George Perle: Quintet for Strings

[listener]

BRAHMS:  Double Concerto (for violin and cello), op.102       "Tragic" Overture
    Oistrakh, Fournier    Philharmonia Orch.     Galliera, cond.
Great works, great recording, playing that makes me not notice it's an old mono recording.
DUKAS Variations, Interlude and Finale on Themes of Rameau
de SÉVERAC   Sous les rosiers roses  suite,   "Peppermint-git" Valse de Concert
ROUSSEL   3 Pieces, op.49      Bourrée from the Suite op.14
Grant Johannesen, piano
RACHMANOFF  6 Moments Musicaux, op. 16    POULENC 12 Improvisations
Elly Kassman, piano
less intensive (attentive?)background listening, I may be contemplating a shopping list vs.budget problem that has arisen from some of the previous postings here -   ALBINONI 12 Concertos, op. 5     3 Sinfonias
I Solisti Veneti        Claudio Scimone, cond.        Piero Toso, solo violin

[karlhenning]

First-Listen Fridays meets Martinů-palooza ka-pow!!

Martinů
Piano Quintet № 2, H. 298 (1944)
The Martinů Quartet w/ Karel Košárek, pf

Martinů – Piano Quintets Nos. 1 & 2

[karlhenning]

Me too on this one. The Second Quintet is such a wonderful piece.

Yes, even a cut above the first!

I've had that disc for years and haven't given it a listen in a while. I might have to pick it up now.

Check PM s'il te plaît.

[karlhenning]

First-Listen Fridays . . . Martinů-palooza . . . !

Martinů
String Quartet № 7 (Concerto da camera), H. 314 (1947)
The Martinů Quartet

Martinů – String Quartets nos. 4, 5 & 7

[Franco]

What with all this attention bieng paid to Bohuslav Martinů, I looked up the Wiki article and discovered this salient factoid:

His notable students include Alan Hovhaness, H. Owen Reed, Jan Novák, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Howard Shanet, Peter Pindar Stearns, and Burt Bacharach.

[karlhenning]

Promises, promises . . . .

[Franco]

Well Bacharach did have some good teachers:

His composition teachers included Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinů, and Henry Cowell.

I knew about Milhaud but never knew he studied with the other two. 

[karlhenning]

My senior year in high school, I was recruited for the pit in Promises, Promises.  Fun to play . . . one of my fonder pit orchestra experiences.

[Papy Oli]

good evening all 

Maiden listen friday evening too for the works in question :



My impressions ?

wooooopeeeeedoobeeeeeedooooo !!!!!! 

how's that for valuable feedback ? 

[karlhenning]

Is it positive? . . .

[Papy Oli]

Is it positive? . . .

Most definitely - great fun 

[Lethevich]

As a multi-sourced compilation, this box is one of Brilliant's biggest successes. The five discs come from about four or five different labels, and all of the performances are top-drawer. The managers of this label must really know their stuff, and that is nice to know in light of the idiocy that the people in charge of the majors spout with ever greater frequency...

[kishnevi]

I actually haven't had much exposure to Ligeti at all. I only heard one work and it is, believe it or not, the work you like so well the Hamburg Concerto. I heard this work on AOL radio years ago and didn't think much of it then but I have been hearing Ligeti's name pop up in classical forums, so I decided to take a chance on at least one box set, which I bought ridiculously cheap (around $14-$16). This one was the highest rated, so I bought it.

I'm not sure if I'll like any of the music in this box set, but I won't know until I have listened to some of his music.

It's good if only for the liner notes, which were written by Ligeti himself.
I did mess up the name of the piece: I meant the Romanian Concerto.  The Hamburg Concerto is far more typical of his orchestral output.

Even if you don't like the works in this box, I'd suggest exploring the chamber music.  I seem to recall someone here mentioning those will be coming out in a box set similar to this.

[karlhenning]

Prokofiev
Cinderella, Opus 87
Cleveland Orchestra
Ashkenazy

[Conor71]

As a multi-sourced compilation, this box is one of Brilliant's biggest successes. The five discs come from about four or five different labels, and all of the performances are top-drawer. The managers of this label must really know their stuff, and that is nice to know in light of the idiocy that the people in charge of the majors spout with ever greater frequency...

I just recently got that too and really like it! - Great compilation & great music .



Bach: English Suites

[Lethevich]

So mediocre, but you can sense that the orchestra are trying hard, which makes it worth a listen through - if only to hear the composition itself rather than the performance.

Edit: Actually, it's starting to sound like this was recorded in one take. The thinness and scrappiness are made up for somewhat by moments of nice atmosphere. It's like hearing your local orchestra playing on one of their good days (members who live in New York, London, etc are excluded from this description ).

[Sid]

This morning on radio 2mbs-fm
www.2mbs.com

LANDMARKS with Derek Parker

Boccherini, L. Cello concerto no 9 in B flat. 
Schubert, F. Symphony no 9 in C, D944, [Great] (1825-28). 
Britten, B. Prelude and dances, from The Prince of the Pagodas (1957). 

Was good to hear the first two pieces, after not hearing them for a long time. The Boccherini was apparently cobbled together from his other cello concertos by another composer. I enjoyed the Schubert, which was a classic recording with the VPO under Solti. & the Britten sounded quite traditional, despite the surface spikiness. This was a 45 minute excerpt from the full ballet which goes for over 2 hours...

[not edward]

Schnittke in austere mode, as with the Choir Concerto. It may be an essay in varying shades of grey, but what greys they are!