What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Florestan]

Ture Rangstrom

Symphony No. 1

Leif Segerstam / Helsingborg SO

Courtesy of Jezetha.

Interesting contrast between Bax and Rangstrom Firsts, methinks. Bax: dark, tragic, lyric, long-winded, Late Romantic. Rangstrom: crepuscular, sarcastic, down-to-earth, angular, modern.

Now on to:

Wilhelm Stenhammar

Symphony No. 2 in G minor op. 34

Neeme Jarvi / Gothenburg SO

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Interesting contrast between Bax and Rangstrom Firsts, methinks. Bax: dark, tragic, lyric, long-winded, Late Romantic. Rangstrom: crepuscular, sarcastic, down-to-earth, angular, modern.

Now on to:

Wilhelm Stenhammar

Symphony No. 2 in G minor op. 34

Neeme Jarvi / Gothenburg SO

I like your characterisations! Rangström's First is far grittier than Bax's. It's a tank of a symphony, and he never captured that spirit again. All the other symphonies are, for me, a letdown.

Re Stenhammar 2: a great piece! But one which which got its best reading under Stig Westerberg, a recording I once taped from an LP. It's OOP as far as I know, and never even been issued on CD, more's the pity. Westerberg is especially fine in the final movement, with its Brucknerian grandeur, fugal severity and glowing fervour.

[Florestan]

I like your characterisations! Rangström's First is far grittier than Bax's. It's a tank of a symphony, and he never captured that spirit again. All the other symphonies are, for me, a letdown.

Re Stenhammar 2: a great piece! But one which which got its best reading under Stig Westerberg, a recording I once taped from an LP. It's OOP as far as I know, and never even been issued on CD, more's the pity. Westerberg is especially fine in the final movement, with its Brucknerian grandeur, fugal severity and glowing fervour.

That's all fine (and I agree that Stenhammar's Second has a Brucknerian aura) but for me Late Romanticism is a bit tiresome if taken in too large a dose, so here's the antidote. 

[asin]B000V3OKWK[/asin]

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

That's all fine (and I agree that Stenhammar's Second has a Brucknerian aura) but for me Late Romanticism is a bit tiresome if taken in too large a dose, so here's the antidote.

Moderation is all. 

[Luke]

Gavin Bryars (1943- )
Piano Concerto "The Solway Canal"
with chorus and orchestra

For some reason I have a bit of a Bryars habit - I think I have every disc there is of his, about half a shelf's worth. I'm always hoping to recapture the magic I found in the very first piece of his I ever heard, After the Requiem, nearly 20 years ago, I guess. Nothing has ever matched that piece, and its companion on that ECM disc, The Old Tower of Lobenicht, and yet I keep buying, because it's never less than beautiful, and there are some real gems in there if one persists. Had no idea this was coming out, though - everything important in the Bryars discography has been being issued on his own label for a few years now, and I wasn't expecting a Naxos release. But it was bought the moment I saw your post.   

[Sergeant Rock]

I've been listening to the sounds of silence so far today, but the conversation about Rangström vs Bax vs Stenhammar has me leaning towards one of the three. Hmmmm...I'm least familiar with Bax 1 so I'll start there (Bax is still a "problem" composer for me....don't quite get him...the symphonies anyway).




Sarge

[Florestan]

Moderation is all. 

Once I listened to all 9 Mahler symphonies on a single day. For half a year after I cringed in horror at the simple uttering of his name in my presence... 

OTOH, I can spend a whole day with Chopin or Schubert craving for more... 

Bottom line, I guess I'm much more Gurnian than I would like to publicly acknowledge. 

[Florestan]

I've been listening to the sounds of silence so far today, but the conversation about Rangström vs Bax vs Stenhammar has me leaning towards one of the three. Hmmmm...I'm least familiar with Bax 1 so I'll start there (Bax is still a "problem" composer for me....don't quite get him...the symphonies anyway).

Please, do share your thoughts with us.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Bottom line, I guess I'm much more Gurnian than I would like to publicly acknowledge.

Well, you now have outed yourself.

[Rinaldo]

[asin]B000V3OKWK[/asin]

Beautiful cover art.

[Florestan]

Well, you now have outed yourself.

I still have 4 Bax symphonies awaiting, though...  0:)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I've been listening to the sounds of silence so far today, but the conversation about Rangström vs Bax vs Stenhammar has me leaning towards one of the three. Hmmmm...I'm least familiar with Bax 1 so I'll start there (Bax is still a "problem" composer for me....don't quite get him...the symphonies anyway).

You should 'get' the First. I think it might have influenced Brian a bit...

[Florestan]

[asin]B00000IP5H[/asin]
Rosamunde

[Brian]

Bax is a bit of a problem composer for me, too. I listened to his Third again, last night, encouraged by comments that it is pastoral all the way through, but really it seemed kind of drudgy to me. There were nice bits but mostly gray skies. Especially after reacquanting myself with George Lloyd's smashing Fifth Symphony the night before, it was a disappointment.

For some reason I have a bit of a Bryars habit - I think I have every disc there is of his, about half a shelf's worth. I'm always hoping to recapture the magic I found in the very first piece of his I ever heard, After the Requiem, nearly 20 years ago, I guess. Nothing has ever matched that piece, and its companion on that ECM disc, The Old Tower of Lobenicht, and yet I keep buying, because it's never less than beautiful, and there are some real gems in there if one persists. Had no idea this was coming out, though - everything important in the Bryars discography has been being issued on his own label for a few years now, and I wasn't expecting a Naxos release. But it was bought the moment I saw your post.   

The piano concerto was my first Bryars. I'm not sure how I felt about the sung texts - the release and website didn't have lyrics so I had no idea what they were about - but the musical language was certainly interesting and, although it wasn't exactly dramatic, the overall mood went very well with the cover photograph: a bit foggy, a bit mystical, a bit transportative. I'd gladly listen to more from the composer.

Right now, though, I'm in the British Library looking at a first-edition Leviathan from 1651, and my library tradition is in effect: all chamber music, all the time!

Dohnanyi | Sextet
Spectrum Concerts Berlin

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Bax is a bit of a problem composer for me, too. I listened to his Third again, last night, encouraged by comments that it is pastoral all the way through, but really it seemed kind of drudgy to me. There were nice bits but mostly gray skies.

Conductor?

[Harry]

[asin]B0019F8HK0[/asin]

[Brian]

Conductor?

Lloyd-Jones

[Florestan]

Schubert

Impromptus op. 90

Krystian Zimmerman

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Lloyd-Jones

Perhaps I should provide you with Handley's or Thomson's reading (but not now)...

[Florestan]

Beethoven

"Archduke" Trio

Cortot / Thibaud / Casals