What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Henk]

Piano Concerto
Concerto for Orchestra

[Sid]

First listenings:

Langgaard - Symphonies 15 & 16, etc. (Dausgaard) Da Capo

Boring, cliched, predictable, bland, derivative - I could go on but I won't. I'm not surprised this guy felt alienated by the musical establishments in Europe - this music sounds so outdated, it was written in the 1940's & '50's & sounds as if it came from the late C19th (R. Strauss & Wagner easily come to mind, but he didn't have their facility or naturalness). A waste of money, I might even try taking it back to the store.

"Minimalism"
Steve Reich: Vermont Counterpoint; Eight Lines; New York Counterpoint; Four Organs
Philip Glass : Facades; Company
(EMI American classics)

By contrast, a very enjoyable disc. I especially like Reich's Four Organs, as I have been getting into some of the organ repertoire lately. In this work, Reich repeats the same phrase over and over again (for about 25 minutes), but by playing the notes longer and longer, it gets more and more hypnotic. Just proves that it's probably not the material that you have that really matters, it's what you do with it. To me, Glass's works here are much darker, but I love them, especially the saxophone playing against the shifting background of the strings in Facades. It reminds me of clouds moving slowly.

[Mirror Image]

Boring, cliched, predictable, bland, derivative

Much like your post.

You clearly don't "understand" Langgaard. The man could compose in any style of music he chose, which is what those symphonies you listened to reflect. He simply mocked those composer's styles on purpose. He was a genius and wrote his Symphony No. 1 when he was just 16 yrs. old. Go listen to Music of the Spheres and then get back to me. He was so ahead of his time it's almost scary.

[SonicMan46]

This is the only CD I have from her, and I think its indeed the best she ever made.  RE: Mullova

Now Harry - your statement makes no sense, i.e. how can you decide that this is her BEST performance (of all of the recordings she has made) since it is the only one that your own?  Dave 

Personally, I have a LOT of Mullova and she is wonderful in many recordings, both in her earlier violin outings and later in her 'Baroque' repertoire - 

[Sid]

Much like your post.

You clearly don't "understand" Langgaard. The man could compose in any style of music he chose, which is what those symphonies you listened to reflect. He simply mocked those composer's styles on purpose. He was a genius and wrote his Symphony No. 1 when he was just 16 yrs. old. Go listen to Music of the Spheres and then get back to me. He was so ahead of his time it's almost scary.

The cd notes actually say that the 15th symphony is one of his most modernistic & forward looking works, but all I hear is regurgitation of late Romatnic cliches. I'd say Langgaard was a kind of Danish Korngold, pretty much out of step with what had gone on in music for the first few decades of the C20th. That might be ok for some listeners, but I don't really like derivative music, it's just not my cup of tea. I'm only basing this on what I've read in the liner notes & online & the listening restricted to that one disc. It's dissappointed me, because I expected it to be a bit more interesting & individual, especially since these are late works. But yes, the liner notes did say that he was more experimental early on & turned backwards & became somewhat more conservative later...

[Mirror Image]

The cd notes actually say that the 15th symphony is one of his most modernistic & forward looking works, but all I hear is regurgitation of late Romatnic cliches. I'd say Langgaard was a kind of Danish Korngold, pretty much out of step with what had gone on in music for the first few decades of the C20th. That might be ok for some listeners, but I don't really like derivative music, it's just not my cup of tea. I'm only basing this on what I've read in the liner notes & online & the listening restricted to that one disc. It's dissappointed me, because I expected it to be a bit more interesting & individual, especially since these are late works. But yes, the liner notes did say that he was more experimental early on & turned backwards & became somewhat more conservative later...

Well, you've only heard one recording of Langgaard, so your opinion is not one of experience with his music. Are you aware of how much music Langgaard composed?

Again, you tell me his compositional history, which I already knew about way before you ever did, and you think you know his music. I'm sorry, Sid, but I can read too, but the main difference is words cannot summarize music, music must be listened to in order to experience it. You haven't experienced Langgaard at his best yet. One recording certainly isn't going to do him justice. That's for sure.

[Bulldog]

Now:





This is a great recording of Sibelius' Violin Concerto. I still think Viktoria Mullova is underrated.

Have you heard her period instrument recording of Mozart Violin Concertos?  I think she's as good as it gets in this repertoire.

[Mirror Image]

Have you heard her period instrument recording of Mozart Violin Concertos?  I think she's as good as it gets in this repertoire.

I've heard great things about her foray into Classical and Baroque music, but I haven't heard one note of it. I own her concerto recordings of Brahms, Bartok, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich. I imagine she would be excellent. She's done some Vivaldi recordings too, which I'm definitely interested in acquiring at some point.

[Coopmv]

I was having a great nap listening to Siegfried but then all that damn banging during the Forging Scene woke me up. Such a noisy lad, that Siegfried. Curling up now with Act II. This should put me back to sleep...at least until the dragon scene.

Sarge

It was that boring?     

[Coopmv]

Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 In D Minor, BWV 1052
Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 2 In E Major, BWV 1053
Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 3 In D Major, BWV 1054

First listen to this recently arrived Disc 0:).

I have owned this excellent CD for some 20 years ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD3 - Nocturnes from this set for a first listen ...

[Antoine Marchand]

Now:





This is a great recording of Sibelius' Violin Concerto. I still think Viktoria Mullova is underrated.

This is the only CD I have from her, and I think its indeed the best she ever made.

Checking out her website, I found that that disc was her first commercial recording in 1985. Apparently, I stopped in the previous generation of violinists (Elizabeth Wallfisch, Monica Hugget, Lucy van Dael, etc.) because I don't have any recording of her.

[Sid]

Well, you've only heard one recording of Langgaard, so your opinion is not one of experience with his music. Are you aware of how much music Langgaard composed?

Again, you tell me his compositional history, which I already knew about way before you ever did, and you think you know his music. I'm sorry, Sid, but I can read too, but the main difference is words cannot summarize music, music must be listened to in order to experience it. You haven't experienced Langgaard at his best yet. One recording certainly isn't going to do him justice. That's for sure.

I don't think I said that I had more "experience" of Langgaard's music apart from that disc. That was pretty clear. Anyway, I'll listen to that disc a couple of times more, and if my opnion doesn't change, I might take it back & exchange it. I mean, at least I listened to it right through & took it from there. I remember on TC you often would judge a composer (Ligeti & Frank Martin in particular) without having heard much of their music at all. But I'm not a huge fan of late Romanticism in general, I can stomach a few of the key works, but I'd rather listen to (say) Schoenberg's later works than his Transfigured Night. I remember hearing it on radio recently, and thought that it was over the top, those huge swells from the strings, etc. On the other hand, I don't mind R. Strauss' Metamorphosen & have seen it 3 times live. So it really depends on the piece, but all I can hear in this Langgaard disc is repetition of much that had gone on before in music, music that is not of it's time, but of a previous era.

[Antoine Marchand]

This excellent, really excellent, 3-CD set of Mozart's Violin Concertos (it also includes the Sinfonia Concertante K. 364 and the Concertone K. 190):



BTW, nice price on AMAZON MARKETPLACE. 

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD3 - Nocturnes from this set for a first listen ...

[not edward]

Honegger chamber music: the sonatas with cello from the first disc and the 2nd and 3rd quartets from the second. The string quartets definitely breathe the same air as the 2nd symphony, while the cello/piano sonata, dating from 1920, sounds to me almost like a premonition of late Poulenc!

[listener]

LISZT  Douze Grandes Études  - 1837    S.137
     Morçeau de Salon  S.142               Leslie Howard, piano  - brings out the music, not the étude character of the pieces (although his technical command is fabulous and one can listen for a demonstration of skill as well)
LANGGAARD Piano Music   including Sarabande, Morning at the Seashore, 4 Flower Vignettes, Sonata 1, Fantasia of Rage, The Fire-chambers, Music of the Depths...
Bengt Johnsson, piano
    The influence of Gade is strong in the shorter pieces, rather romantically sweet than dyspeptically sour as the later titles might lead one to anticipate.
   

[Que]

Good morning!

Q

[Harry]

Now Harry - your statement makes no sense, i.e. how can you decide that this is her BEST performance (of all of the recordings she has made) since it is the only one that your own?  Dave 

Personally, I have a LOT of Mullova and she is wonderful in many recordings, both in her earlier violin outings and later in her 'Baroque' repertoire - 

What I meant to say Dave was, that she changed her style of playing after this, thats what made me say this. Its highly personal, and in no way meant as a negative side remark about the quality of her playing these days. I happen to like this CD very much, it came in my life when things where kind of hard, so I guess thats why I love it so much.

[Harry]

Claudio Monteverdi.
Lamento d'Arianna. Performing version: Skip Sempe.
Combatimento di Tancredi et Clorinda.

Carlo Farina.
Capriccio Stravagante.

Antonio il Verso.
Lasciate mi motre.

Gasparo Zanetti.
Intrada del Marchese di Caravazzo.

Giulio Mussi.
L'Amaltea.

Guillemette Laurens, Konstantinos Pallatsaras, Jakes Aymonino, Tina Malakate.
Capriccio Stravagante, Skip Sempe
CD 30.



This is beautifully done, apart from the rather irritating voice of Laurens that is really to big and loud for the sensitivities in Monteverdi's music. You could hear her for miles on end. Not that her voice is bad, on the contrary, but simply to loud, for the likes of me. The playing of the instrumentalists is beyond reproach, that is in every respect well done. Some unknown composers on this disc worked well for me too, nice fill ups. The recording is exemplary.