What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[PaulR]

Concerto-Funebre

My first experience with Hartmann.  I'm enjoying this, perhaps surprisingly so.

[Mirror Image]

I'm sure there are many smaller groups in your area, such as those attached to universities, youth orchestras, chamber groups, etc. which play some more interesting repertoire. Here in Sydney, there's plenty going on outside of the major groups, and more often than not, their programs are more interesting. Like I'm going tomorrow to a concert by one of the youth orchestras, and they will be playing Tchaikovsky's 2nd, which probably wouldn't be played by the Sydney Symphony - they always go for his symphonies 4-6. So it's worth keeping your eyes & ears open for everything that's going on in your city. Live music is much better than recorded, imo...

I'm sure there are some interesting things happening in other parts of the United States, but let me remind you Sid of where I live: GEORGIA! People down here wouldn't know high art if it bludgeoned them over the head.

It's bad enough that I get strange looks from people if I'm walking down the street humming Mahler's 5th!!!

[karlhenning]

Concerto-Funebre

My first experience with Hartmann.  I'm enjoying this, perhaps surprisingly so.

I'm not surprised; all the Hartmann I have heard, I like.

[PaulR]

I'm not surprised; all the Hartmann I have heard, I like.

it's just my ill-conceived notion that I would not like a more modern 20th century piece.  One would assume that after all the time experimenting and enjoying a lot of modern pieces that I would get over that....but guess not.

Next will probably be Shoenberg's Violin concerto. (After the 2 symphonies on this disk)

[Sid]

I'm sure there are some interesting things happening in other parts of the United States, but let me remind you Sid of where I live: GEORGIA! People down here wouldn't know high art if it bludgeoned them over the head.

It's bad enough that I get strange looks from people if I'm walking down the street humming Mahler's 5th!!!

Well maybe you should move to New York (just kidding!). Actually, you never know, things can change, probably in your lifetime. I assume you're still relatively young. Things have changed here in Sydney a bit, too. Last year, the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra was established, and this year the Romantic Symphony Orchestra. I can vouch for the former, I went to a concert of theirs a few months back. They perform some of the less well travelled repetoire from the classical era to the early modern era. They did Schubert's 4th, which is much less heard than some of his other symphonies. But going far far back, Sydney was a backwater compared to Melbourne (which has our oldest symphony orchestra). A lot changed after WW2. Today, even Darwin now has a symphony orchestra which it could probably be proud of. Like Georgia, the Northern Territory hasn't exactly had a huge tradition of classical music. So things may change quicker than you think...

[Antoine Marchand]

Unexpectedly fine performances of the complete Mazurkas:





There might be two rather different values attaching to a 'complete' recording of such a genre as the Chopin Mazurkas. One would be the encyclopaedic value: you could use the records as a work of reference, taking them down from their place on your shelves to consult whatever point might arise for your scrutiny. For a recording to serve this purpose, the individual pieces can be played exactly as they would be played individually or in small groups on the concert platform. That was clearly the approach of Artur Rubinstein when he made the first complete recording of the Mazurkas in 1938-9. Each mazurka was presented as a separate microcosm, with all the differentiation of tone and rubato at the player's command used to project dynamic contrasts within every separate expression.

But a complete recording raises another possibility as well. If one is going to have a recording of all the Mazurkas, whose composition spanned virtually the whole of Chopin's creative life, then one might want to see what chronological listening through the entire series could suggest of the composer's evolving spiritual life. And for that purpose, a performance which insists on variety within each mazurka— as opposed to variety from one mazurka to the next—might be less useful. The possibility of 'through-listening' to a genre as large as the Chopin Mazurkas lies essentially outside concert-room probabilities. But it is precisely this full look at the possibility of 'through-listening' that gives Ronald Smith's new recording its immediate and unique distinction among the various complete performances now available on disc. Neither Nikita Magaloff (Decca) nor Nina Milkina (Pye Virtuoso) seems to me to possess the stature necessary for any such gigantic projection. And Rubinstein, as befits a man of his generation, was essentially interested in other things.

If you select any individual mazurka for comparison, you will most likely find that the Rubinstein performance of 1938-9 is more animated—perhaps more 'idiomatic' to the style of piano playing we have become accustomed to for Chopin's music. Ronald Smith makes use of a dynamic range as wide as Rubinstein's, and his rhythmic contrasts are just as bold. But Smith's tone is more consistently dark than Rubinstein's; and his rubati move (to my ears) more consistently round the shapes actually written into Chopin's music, less with the paradoxes of the performer intervening. If you're tempted to conclude from a single mazurka, however, that Ronald Smith serves Chopin less well than Rubinstein, then try the comparison of a whole set of three or four mazurkas together—or better still, several sets in sequence. My own feeling is that with Rubinstein, the infallible animation of intense contrast within each piece is so great that every mazurka becomes a total microcosm which exquisitely spurns combination with its neighbours. After a few of these mazurka-performances from Rubinstein—individually marvellous as they are— I find myself turning away from the gramophone so filled with what I've been listening to that further concentration just isn't possible for a while. So I cannot have from Rubinstein the experience which I've had over and over again from the new records of Ronald Smith. That is the experience of moving forward from one mazurka to the next, from one opus to the next, as if through the composer's autobiography. And thus the new recording seems to give breathtaking views of the broadest landscapes—a countryside wherein the pulses and cycles of nature have attuned themselves to the national yet specially intimate triple-beat of mazurka rhythm, astoundingly varied through all the emotions of intensely individual experience, yet persistent as the pulse which makes the physical basis for life itself in all of us. To have a series of records which can do that is to have a means of understanding something both large and vital about the composer and his music.

-- Gramophone [5/1975]

[Coopmv]

Albinoni, Tomaso - Double Oboe Concertos w/ Anthony Robson & Katherine Latham on the oboes - two volumes of these works (Op. 7 & 9) - 

 

I have owned this excellent CD for a few years.  Great choice Dave ...   

[Coopmv]

Now on Day 8 of an all-Bach binge! - Just ordered this work on Organ too as a companion to above disc.

Excellent CD ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing this CD, which arrived yesterday from Presto after it has been on back order for a while ...

[Mirror Image]

Well maybe you should move to New York (just kidding!). Actually, you never know, things can change, probably in your lifetime. I assume you're still relatively young. Things have changed here in Sydney a bit, too. Last year, the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra was established, and this year the Romantic Symphony Orchestra. I can vouch for the former, I went to a concert of theirs a few months back. They perform some of the less well travelled repetoire from the classical era to the early modern era. They did Schubert's 4th, which is much less heard than some of his other symphonies. But going far far back, Sydney was a backwater compared to Melbourne (which has our oldest symphony orchestra). A lot changed after WW2. Today, even Darwin now has a symphony orchestra which it could probably be proud of. Like Georgia, the Northern Territory hasn't exactly had a huge tradition of classical music. So things may change quicker than you think...

Maybe I should move to New York or better yet how about Australia? But seriously, I'm still hopeful something different will come along, but for now, I'm going to have to hold my breath and wait it out.

[Brahmsian]

SIBELIUS

Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op.82

Symphony No. 7 in C, Op.105

En Saga, Op.9

Sir Colin Davis
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Pentatone Classics

[Mirror Image]

Now:

[Coopmv]

SIBELIUS

Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op.82

Symphony No. 7 in C, Op.105

En Saga, Op.9

Sir Colin Davis
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Pentatone Classics

Ray,  This should be an excellent recording both in terms of performance and sound.  I just bought my first universal player last week so I can start playing my ever expanding SACD collection ...     

[Coopmv]

Now playing this CD, which arrived a few weeks ago for a first listen ...

[DavidRoss]

I'm sure there are some interesting things happening in other parts of the United States, but let me remind you Sid of where I live: GEORGIA! People down here wouldn't know high art if it bludgeoned them over the head.

And yet someone supports the Atlanta Symphony.  And Georgia produced Ray Charles.  And Alice Walker.  Flannery O'Connor, of course.  Carson McCullers.  No doubt one or two others....

[Brahmsian]

Carson McCullers

Have you read The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter?  Pretty good book.

[Sid]

Ravi Shankar

Morning Love (based on Raga Nata Bhairav) - Jean-Pierre Rampal/Ravi Shankar/Alla Rakha/Kamala Chakravarti

Raga Piloo - Yehudi Menuhin/Ravi Shankar/Alla Rakha/Kamala Chakravarti

Prabhati (based on Raga Gunkali) - Yehudi Menuhin/Alla Rakha

[listener]

BEETHOVEN via LISZT
Symphony no. 4      Symphony no. 8    both in major keys (B^b and F)    Cyprien Katsaris, piano
Some surprising echoes in no. 4:  Haydn's "Clock" Symphony in the opening Adagio 1st mvt, an unexpected tango in the Adagio 2nd.   Nicely recorded sound, neither too dry or over-resonant, good dynamic range.   Very interesting to hear details that are obscured in the orchestral versions.

[Lethevich]

Amazon doesn't have an acceptably sized cover scan, so this back cover will have to do

and next:

Playing the instrumental only works - the sextet and new york notes. The sextet is my kind of thing, quite dense, melodically serial, as if some successor to Stravinsky/Schoenberg rather than the post 50s guys. It is probably my favourite thing so far from the composer. New York Notes I had less success with, and it feels a bit out there for me at this time. The Naxos disc I know and like, but haven't heard in a while.

There might be two rather different values attaching to a 'complete' recording of such a genre as the Chopin Mazurkas. One would be the encyclopaedic value: you could use the records as a work of reference, taking them down from their place on your shelves to consult whatever point might arise for your scrutiny. For a recording to serve this purpose, the individual pieces can be played exactly as they would be played individually or in small groups on the concert platform. That was clearly the approach of Artur Rubinstein when he made the first complete recording of the Mazurkas in 1938-9. Each mazurka was presented as a separate microcosm, with all the differentiation of tone and rubato at the player's command used to project dynamic contrasts within every separate expression.

But a complete recording raises another possibility as well. If one is going to have a recording of all the Mazurkas, whose composition spanned virtually the whole of Chopin's creative life, then one might want to see what chronological listening through the entire series could suggest of the composer's evolving spiritual life. And for that purpose, a performance which insists on variety within each mazurka— as opposed to variety from one mazurka to the next—might be less useful. The possibility of 'through-listening' to a genre as large as the Chopin Mazurkas lies essentially outside concert-room probabilities. But it is precisely this full look at the possibility of 'through-listening' that gives Ronald Smith's new recording its immediate and unique distinction among the various complete performances now available on disc. Neither Nikita Magaloff (Decca) nor Nina Milkina (Pye Virtuoso) seems to me to possess the stature necessary for any such gigantic projection. And Rubinstein, as befits a man of his generation, was essentially interested in other things.

If you select any individual mazurka for comparison, you will most likely find that the Rubinstein performance of 1938-9 is more animated—perhaps more 'idiomatic' to the style of piano playing we have become accustomed to for Chopin's music. Ronald Smith makes use of a dynamic range as wide as Rubinstein's, and his rhythmic contrasts are just as bold. But Smith's tone is more consistently dark than Rubinstein's; and his rubati move (to my ears) more consistently round the shapes actually written into Chopin's music, less with the paradoxes of the performer intervening. If you're tempted to conclude from a single mazurka, however, that Ronald Smith serves Chopin less well than Rubinstein, then try the comparison of a whole set of three or four mazurkas together—or better still, several sets in sequence. My own feeling is that with Rubinstein, the infallible animation of intense contrast within each piece is so great that every mazurka becomes a total microcosm which exquisitely spurns combination with its neighbours. After a few of these mazurka-performances from Rubinstein—individually marvellous as they are— I find myself turning away from the gramophone so filled with what I've been listening to that further concentration just isn't possible for a while. So I cannot have from Rubinstein the experience which I've had over and over again from the new records of Ronald Smith. That is the experience of moving forward from one mazurka to the next, from one opus to the next, as if through the composer's autobiography. And thus the new recording seems to give breathtaking views of the broadest landscapes—a countryside wherein the pulses and cycles of nature have attuned themselves to the national yet specially intimate triple-beat of mazurka rhythm, astoundingly varied through all the emotions of intensely individual experience, yet persistent as the pulse which makes the physical basis for life itself in all of us. To have a series of records which can do that is to have a means of understanding something both large and vital about the composer and his music.

-- Gramophone [5/1975]

Wow, Gramophone used to have reviews longer than three sentences? I've been missing out

[pi2000]

Bizet-Carmen
Carmen-Elena Cernei
Don Jose-Giuseppe Di Stefano
Bucharest 1971
Di Stefano is singing in french.The rest of the team.. in romanian(forced by authorithies..)
http://www.opera-club.net/release.asp?rel=323