What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Scarpia]

And it's not even Sunday!

[asin]B00000424O[/asin]

I've been collecting the Blomstedt/SFO recordings recently, and just when I think I have them all another springs up.  The performances are all good and Decca seems to have done a very good job on the audio in this series.  This is one that is still on my radar.

[Gurn Blanston]

Having listened to two times the complete Tafelmusik by the Freiburger Barockorchester, I can report this is a thoroughly rewarding set. I would really like to have some time to do some comparative listening, but unfortunately it is not possible. I especially liked what I would call an "old taste", a sort of old HIP sobriety and fervour, mixed with some generous doses of flexibility and spontaneity. It is like that old version by Brüggen and his Concerto Amsterdam, but wisely corrected. IMO, one of the great achievements of the Freiburgers, not always one of my preferred Baroque ensembles. Highly recommended! 

Nice review, Antoine, I agree with it all the way. It made me like this music which I had been on the fence about for a long time. The name makes one have low expectations, which were usually fulfilled handsomely...    Better now, though.

And now to Schuricht and the French National Orchestra.



Ordinarily, when I get a new 9th, as I did this one yesterday, I prepare it for the upcoming Sunday and leave it alone. This one intrigued me though, because the file size was so small. The total flac size was barely larger than what a typical 9th is in MP3 format, and the MP3's total only 65 megs. Little alarm bells went off, and so I listen today instead. So now I see; I bet that when this was played 'live' in 1954 at Montreaux, everyone who heard it was delighted. At least through 3 movements it is well played, nice tempos, really an acceptable performance for that time. However, there is nothing there for the sound engineer to work with. Different parts move to the fore and then fade to the back (worse at the beginning), and the overall sound experience is a bummer.    Well, you can't win them all. If I am disappointed with it, it is only because such a nice performance deserved to be better recorded. But then, it was 57 years ago...



----------------
Now playing:
French National Orchestra \ Carl Schuricht - Op 125 Symphony #9 in d 3rd mvmt - Adagio molto e cantabile - Andante moderato

[Coopmv]

Now playing this CD, which arrived from Presto Classical last week for a first listen ...

[SonicMan46]

Schumann: Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 3 (The Benvenue Fortepiano Trio) - Very good results, performing these pieces on period instruments.

Hi Bruce - assume that you're talking about the disc pictured below?  I've owned the Beaux Arts Trio double-disc for so long - been concentrating more on Bob's 'solo piano' works for my collection - good reminder for me to re-explore these chamber works!  Dave 

 

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JS - Trio Sonatas, BWV 525-30 w/ Trio Lazerd - a MP3 download this afternoon based on a recommendation in the 'Consdiering Thread' - apparently a controversial approach to these works that has produced some excellent posts (take a look!) - basically a 'wind trio' w/ clarinet, bassoon, & English horn - enjoying off my den speakers (from my iPod) - now if you're into Papa Bach's music played as transcriptions or alternate arrangements (and like the instruments mentioned), then this disc may be of interest - I like it! 

[Brian]

Now playing this CD, which arrived from Presto Classical last week for a first listen ...

EMI already released a glorious Sabine Meyer Mozart Clarinet Concerto with Dresden and Hans Vonk, why are they remaking it with BPO/Abbado? Oh wait... because the major labels are crazy.

[Brian]

Beethoven | Sonata Op 111
Alexei Lubimov, fortepiano

Definitely falls short of Paul Komen's reading. Lubimov's Opp 109-110 are fantastic, though.

[DavidRoss]

Cowpat!

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set, which arrived a few weeks ago from across the pond for a first listen ...

[Mirror Image]

Rodion Shchedrin: The Dead Souls (Temirkanov)



I like this "green" series, and there are few more nice recordings in it.

Very interesting looking recording. I'm not familiar with Shchedrin's work. What is this piece like?

[Scarpia]

EMI already released a glorious Sabine Meyer Mozart Clarinet Concerto with Dresden and Hans Vonk, why are they remaking it with BPO/Abbado? Oh wait... because the major labels are crazy.

One recording is 20 years old, the other is 10 years old, and now they're crazy?  The second recording is with a much higher profile conductor and is reputed to be dramatically different in interpretation.  Much crazier things have taken place in this world.

[listener]

JANÁČEK  Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba
Vienna Philharmonic       Mackerras
listening to the LP
BERWALD The 3 String Quartets  1 -c (1818), 2-a (1849),- 3 E^b (1849)
Phoenix String Quartet

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD6 and the last CD - Piano Concerto No. 3 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini from this set for a first listen ...

[Lethevich]

Finally located an illicit copy of this terminally OOP cult classic. All I can say is "lol" - this is some of the most committed Bruckner I've heard. Not at all refined, but orchestrally impressive. Païta lets the orchestra go all out at times in ways I've rarely encountered, and his take on the piece is delightfully dynamic, at times almost hurried, yet rather than disintegrating, it gives the piece a curious sense of hurtling momentum. It's not particularly hard-driven because the slow moments display considerable flexibility as well. To cap off an interesting performance, it ends with the fastest three chords I've heard at the end of the finale.



Edit: and now:

[asin]B0000037DI[/asin]

I adore this music. It's so good natured and vital, a really interesting "if you like Bartók/Stravinsky/Hindemith/Szymanowski... (and all manner of related semi-tonalists of the first half of the 20th century)" recommendation. The cover art on this disc could scarcely more closely represent the music contained within - abstract, impressionistic, expressive, pointed, yet charming,

[Sadko]

Very interesting looking recording. I'm not familiar with Shchedrin's work. What is this piece like?

I like it a lot: It is after Gogol's "Dead Souls", which is a grotesque story of a character who has the "ingenious" idea of becoming rich by buying on paper bondmen who are in reality already deceased.

Shchedrin's music has nice opportunities for unusual sounds with this material, and I like to listen to it also without the translation, which I did yesterday. But I guess most people would want to read along the libretto, to enjoy the music fully. Sarcasm and grotesque are there as in Shostakovich, but I find Shchedrin a bit less "loud" and harsh, a bit more subtle, and musically nicely complex, but not very tuneful in this piece.

Rodion Shchedrin: Dead Souls (Temirkanov)



The cast is good, and if I remember correctly the recording was made under Shchedrin's supervision, who fell out with Rostropovich over it, because he felt offended not being offered to do the recording. But Shchedrin thought busy Rostropovich might not have the time to thoroughly rehearse this difficult piece.

[Que]

"Au Concert Spirituel"
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa De Mondonville: Dominus regnavit
Jean-Philippe Rameau: In convertendo

Les Arts Florissants, William Christie

Q

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

"Au Concert Spirituel"
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa De Mondonville: Dominus regnavit
Jean-Philippe Rameau: In convertendo

Les Arts Florissants, William Christie

Q

Yep, that box is up again for his third run through with me

[Sadko]

now listening to:

Shchedrin: The Frescoes of Dionysios (Bolshoi O, Lazarev)

And after that:

Rachmaninov: The Bells & Symphonic Dances (Moscow PhO, Kondrashin)

[Drasko]

Finally located an illicit copy of this terminally OOP cult classic. All I can say is "lol" - this is some of the most committed Bruckner I've heard. Not at all refined, but orchestrally impressive. Païta lets the orchestra go all out at times in ways I've rarely encountered, and his take on the piece is delightfully dynamic, at times almost hurried, yet rather than disintegrating, it gives the piece a curious sense of hurtling momentum. It's not particularly hard-driven because the slow moments display considerable flexibility as well. To cap off an interesting performance, it ends with the fastest three chords I've heard at the end of the finale.

[Coopmv]

"Au Concert Spirituel"
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa De Mondonville: Dominus regnavit
Jean-Philippe Rameau: In convertendo

Les Arts Florissants, William Christie

Q

An excellent set I have enjoyed very much ...