What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Mirror Image]

Now:



I'm listening to Symphony No. 1 right now.

[MN Dave]

Ligeti: Musica Ricercata - Erika Haase

[Mirror Image]

Now:





Listening to Symphony No. 6 right now.

[MN Dave]

Penderecki Symphony 1 - NPRSO/Wit

[kishnevi]

For those that don't recognize the box, these are the 1961-62 recordings.

Auditing the new purchase.  Six has just ended, Seven and Eight are about to have their turn.    Obvious why so many people like these performances.  Also, unfortunately, sometimes obvious why people sometimes don't like DG's late 1970s remasterings.  But I have no regrets about making the purchase.

[Sid]

Horowitz plays Liszt (Sonata in B minor, Funerailles), Chopin, Schumann, Debussy
Recordings mainly from the 1930's
(EMI)

There are a lot of contrasts on this disc. The Liszt works are played in a rather dark way, with scorching virtuosity, but also hints of lyricism. Horowitz also captures the wistful melancholy of the Chopin works. The Schumann has this rhythmic edge, whereas the Debussy is pure colour and texture. This is one of my favourite solo piano recitals on disc...

[springrite]

On Christmas Eve:

Bach Christmas Cantata
Handel Messiah (Bobby Shaw, Atlanta)
Bach: Sleeper, Awake (Rilling)

[Bogey]

On Christmas Eve:

Bach Christmas Cantata
Handel Messiah (Bobby Shaw, Atlanta)
Bach: Sleeper, Awake (Rilling)

Is this the 16 track highlight disc, Paul?  Beautiful music, indeed.

[PaulSC]

Just finished:
Davidovsky, 5th String Quartet (on a compilation entitled Harvard Composers)

Now playing:
Joachim Raff, Fifth Symphony (Bamberg Symphony/Stadlmair on Tudor)

[Que]

First run of this!



This piqued the interest of some members and they have trouble in locating a good copy. I got mine at French Amazon and despite their expensive shipping (3,40 euros) the grand total was just over 20...which is by no means cheap but not a bad deal for a brand new copy of an OOP item.

All I can say that the presentation of this double disc is well worth it. It is examplarary with a 80-page thick booklet with short essays on festivals in Venice, Vivaldi's relation to the Venetian musical scene and the works themselves. Added is a fair amount of pictures of period paintings.

First impression of the performances is that it sounds anything but clean, smooth and slick (the way I do not like Vivaldi)  - nicely earthy, grounded and probing instead. 

Q

[val]

HÄNDEL:      Messiah                 / Harper, Watts, LSO, Colin Davis  (1966)

40 years ago this was considered a revolution in the way of playing Händel. Today, after Hogwood, Harnoncourt, Koopman, McCreesh, it is difficult to keep the same perspective.
What we have is a traditional version with good soloists (in special Heather Harper), a direction full of energy and a wonderful interpretation of the choral parts. In fact, a superb version of the Messiah, and perhaps the best regarding the 2nd part of the oratorio.

[Brian]

Also, when I first heard the slow movement of the Brandenburgs done as an extended harpsichord cadenza, I wasn't exactly offended by a movement killing all sense of improvisation... if anything, it's the traditional approach which has killed improvisation, seeing as only a tiny minority of students are ever instructed in the art and the last soloist I can remember writing their own cadenzas was Nathan Milstein.

[Lethevich]

(Nos.2 & 3)

Surprisingly I find myself having a Tchaikovsky Christmas. I rarely find myself listening to him, but now everything is demanding a listen.

[Antoine Marchand]

Well, all this conversation about HIP performances has recalled to me this recording:



[Marais, d'Anglebert, Forqueray]

Recorded in 1970 -the year when I was born-, it could perfectly be recorded tomorrow in the afternoon, both musical and sonically (it was superbly remastered using 96KHz/ 24bit technology).

It is also included in the Leonhardt Jubilee Edition (15-CD set):



Strongly recommended. 

[Brian]

DVORAK | Slavonic Dances Op 72
Bavarian Radio
Rafael Kubelik

[Lethevich]

DVORAK | Slavonic Dances Op 72
Bavarian Radio
Rafael Kubelik

!

[Antoine Marchand]

First run of this!



All I can say that the presentation of this double disc is well worth it. It is examplarary with a 80-page thick booklet with short essays on festivals in Venice, Vivaldi's relation to the Venetian musical scene and the works themselves. Added is a fair amount of pictures of period paintings.

Are you kidding, Q? Every disc of the original release just had a miserable booklet of three or four pages in English. 

[mc ukrneal]

!

x2. This is one of the first recordings I bought with my own money. It's special.

[Que]

Are you kidding, Q? Every disc of the original release just had a miserable booklet of three or four pages in English. 

I'm afraid I was dead serious... 
In the words of Harmonia Mundi, printed on the back:

Deluxe Editon, Édition spéciale "Venise et Vivaldi", 2 CDs/ 84 pages

I guess I was lucky.

Q

[Lethevich]

Disc 1: Fatum, The Storm, Hamlet, Francesca