What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Wanderer]

After all the Bantock talk...took this disc from the shelf, blew off the dust and listened to The Sea Reivers. It's always a shock hearing this again: so short! so violent! Listening now to the very different Celtic Symphony. Pure magic.

I'm of the same mind - for both works. I'll put these in tomorrow's listening queue - along with Sappho, another great favourite of mine.

[Mirror Image]

Every time I listen to him he somehow sounds nothing like I expect- very un-English in style, his music was simultaneously daring and dated. As with many composers of the early 20th century, his compositions were a melting pot of ideas (and yet, his style was not eclectric, it was quite unified), strongly influenced by contemporary art movements (such as symbolism) and sundry weird philosophical ideas. On a base level I could say it sounds like Stanford meets Debussy, and Scott draws heavily from the latter, but there are countless other similarities to contempories such as Szymanowski, Delius, Schreker, etc.

To me it sounds as though he was very interested in concertante instrumental interplay, as inventive instrumental passages in his music are something I notice again and again and keep the music from becoming too drab. He is also heavy on 'transcendent' sounding textures, vocalising choirs, etc. The fact that the overture on this disc includes a choir as well kind of sums him up well - everything but the kitchen sink, but at the same time with a perfumed restraint rather than typical late Romantic loudness. I suppose that Vaughan Williams came close to this soundworld in Flos Campi.

I don't consider any of it to be a masterpiece, but it's great fun. The slightly mad third symphony in particular I enjoy just for the embelished orchestra, wind machine and just when you think it can't get more decedant, along comes the wordless choir in the finale And yet, whenever I listen to his music, it often sounds more subtle than my memories of it suggested.

Thanks for the information, Lethe. Sounds like an interesting composer.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm of the same mind - for both works. I'll put these in tomorrow's listening queue - along with Sappho, another great favourite of mine.

Sappho I don't own...must do some shopping.

Sarge

[Wanderer]

My favorites were the Korngold songs--all new to me, and magnificent.

Korngold was indeed a marvelous and idiomatic writer of lieder, in my view in par with R.Strauss. Unfortunately, there aren't many recordings; I particularly enjoy Anne Sophie von Otter's renditions.

[Wanderer]

Sappho I don't own...must do some shopping.

Sorry for waking the money-devouring monster...
I thought you already had the Hyperion box.

[Keemun]

Good to see somebody giving Glazunov's music a spin. I think he deserves better treatment than he usually gets, especially on forums such as this. He wrote some wonderful compositions. Have you heard From the Middle Ages? This is one of my favorite works by him. If you can find it for a good price used, the Jarvi recording on Chandos blows the Naxos recording away:

I received the Glazunov symphonies box set for Christmas and have really enjoyed listening to them.  I agree that he deserves better treatment.  I have not heard From the Middle Ages, but I will be on the lookout for it. 

Now:

Sibelius
Symphony No. 6
Maazel
VPO

[asin]B0000041Z3[/asin]

[Sergeant Rock]

Sorry for waking the money-devouring monster...
I thought you already had the Hyperion box.

No, I don't own the box. I have two discs from the Hyperion cycle: the Celtic/Hebridean and the Pagan. But the box is so cheap now (€29 at JPC) I ordered it rather than the single disc with Sappho. This way I get the hot lesbo cover too 

Sarge

[jlaurson]

Listen what the Arlington Cat dragged in :
(Part 7 of ~50 of stuff found in the sofa cushions)


J.S. Bach (1685 – 1785),
Partitas 4 & 6
Freddy Kempf
BIS SACD

[Wanderer]

No, I don't own the box. I have two discs from the Hyperion cycle: the Celtic/Hebridean and the Pagan. But the box is so cheap now (€29 at JPC) I ordered it rather than the single disc with Sappho. This way I get the hot lesbo cover too 

That's the spirit! 

[Opus106]

J.S. Bach (1685 – 1785),
Partitas 4 & 6
Freddy Kempf
BIS SACD

The one I'm listening to has two Fs. A 41 year-old Wilhelm, or so I was told, playing the Op. 111.

[Mirror Image]

No, I don't own the box. I have two discs from the Hyperion cycle: the Celtic/Hebridean and the Pagan. But the box is so cheap now (€29 at JPC) I ordered it rather than the single disc with Sappho. This way I get the hot lesbo cover too 

Sarge

Lol...it's a great box, Sarge. Just don't show Mrs. Sarge.

[karlhenning]

And, some more Brian:

Havergal Brian
Symphony № 17 (1960-61)
Symphony № 32 (1968)
RTÉ National Symphony
Leaper

[asin]B00480781W[/asin]

[Brahmsian]

Continuing on with my Schubertiad......

Sonata in C minor, D958
Sonata in A major, D959

Brendel
Philips

[Mirror Image]

All of this talk of Bantock...now listening:



Listening to A Celtic Symphony right now.

Next up:

[asin]B0014DAI9U[/asin]

Going to dig into Symphony No. 3 of this very underrated set with Andrew Davis/BBC Symphony Orchestra. This set is really cheap right now through Amazon Marketplace sellers. If you're a lover of RVW, I would say this would be a great addition to your collection.

[Brahmsian]

Now:




Listening to the outstanding Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished" a

Is there anything other intro in classical music greater at depicting the vastness of the universe, than the opening to the Unfinished Symphony?  Not to my ears. 

[mahler10th]

To be out in late spring. Also centre-piece of the Salzburg Festival Mahler Celebrations!

14th August
I WILL go.

PROGRAMME

ALBAN BERG • Violin Concerto – To the Memory of an Angel
HANS ROTT • Symphony No. 1 in E
PERFORMERS
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Violin
ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien
Cornelius Meister, Conductor

[Mirror Image]

Is there anything other intro in classical music greater at depicting the vastness of the universe, than the opening to the Unfinished Symphony?  Not to my ears. 

Lol...yeah, it's one of the best pieces Schubert ever composed for the orchestra I think. Too bad he didn't like the direction he was going with the work and just abandoned it. Wasn't he very ill at the time he writing this work?

[Brahmsian]

Lol...yeah, it's one of the best pieces Schubert ever composed for the orchestra I think. Too bad he didn't like the direction he was going with the work and just abandoned it. Wasn't he very ill at the time he writing this work?

He became ill around that time, and just never returned to it after he got better.  Doesn't matter, this symphony seems almost perfect as it is.

[Mirror Image]

He became ill around that time, and just never returned to it after he got better.  Doesn't matter, this symphony seems almost perfect as it is.

Yes, I agree about the Schubert. Adding anything else to the work wouldn't be right or right to my ears should I say.

You know I think about Bruckner's 9th a lot and what if he had finished it, but the reality is I like it just the way it is right now ---- "unfinished." I think attaching another movement to this would just ruin everything that had come before it. The Bruckner 9th's last movement is a powerful way to go out.

[Brahmsian]

You know I think about Bruckner's 9th a lot and what if he had finished it, but the reality is I like it just the way it is right now ---- "unfinished." I think attaching another movement to this would just ruin everything that had come before it. The Bruckner 9th's last movement is a powerful way to go out.

I couldn't agree more.  To me, the Bruckner 9th does sound complete.