What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Scarpia]

I bought this recording last week. I can't wait to hear it. I never thought Karajan was a good Stravinsky conductor. Have you heard his Rite of Spring? It's way too controlled and he favors smooth surfaces over rough edges. He goes against the score and Stravinsky's intentions, which I guess was a courageous thing to do at that time, but, still, it sounds nothing like Stravinsky, which, in turn, disappointed me. I wasn't too impressed with the Berliners either, but, then again, I've never been a follower of them anyway. Simon Rattle has made many recordings with them, but his best work, in my opinion, is still with the CBSO. Okay....now I'm getting off-topic.

To say that Karajan is not a good Stravinsky conductor is perhaps too broad.  The Symphony in C evokes Beethoven and Haydn in some ways and Karajan brings those aspects of the piece to the surface more than some others.  The results is an interesting contrast to the Stravinsky specialists.

Karajan's "Sacre" is certainly not my reference reading, but it is interesting (he did it twice).  Stravinsky famously didn't like Karajan's recording, but I'm not sure how it "goes against the score."  Again, it is interesting to hear a recording of the "Sacre" which cultivates the traditional rather than iconoclastic aspects of the music.

Incidently, it has become fashionable to play the "Sacre du primtemps" as a savage outburst, but if you listen to the recording by Monteaux, who conducted the premier, you will find it is much more refined and less savage than the typical contemporary performance.  I am not sure Karajan is so far off the style of the original performance.

[not edward]

If the Gielen Stravinsky symphonies disc is anything like up to the standards of the late Stravinsky disc he put out, it must be something very special.

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Well, not actually that edition of the Lutoslawski violin works, but an earlier issue with the Stravinsky concerto. What was striking in this context was how much the violin writing in Chain 2 and Partita has in common with the 7th Bacewicz concerto--and it's not the first time I've thought the two composers were plowing similar furrows (there's clear links in their 1960s output IMO as well).

[Mirror Image]

If the Gielen Stravinsky symphonies disc is anything like up to the standards of the late Stravinsky disc he put out, it must be something very special.

I've got that recording on the way as well.

[Christo]

Absolutely first-rate performances.

Definitely. But we have been knowing that for almost 30 years already, haven't we? 

[Que]

Rerun of this set with Ensemble Gilles Binchois under Dominique Vellard.

Good morning.

Q

[Que]

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I suddenly was in the mood for this again. I had come up to disc 16 before, this set is quite an undertaking!

So, disc 17: trios nos. 118-126.

Q

[The new erato]

What a fine disc this is - though in a variety of styles, from the nearly Chopin/early Scriabin FOUR STUDIES Op 4, via the Debussylike METOPES - Trois Poèmes Op 29 and the nearly Lisztian outpourings of the FANTASY IN F MINOR Op 14 to the final Scriabinesque mysticisms of the final MASQUES Op 34

[The new erato]

Disc 2 from this. Disc 1 was very fine (including her famous Elgar as well as a more variable Alto Rhapsody and Wesendock lieder), but this is even better, including a marvellous Nuits d'Ete, as well as Ravels's Scheherezade and Duparc's timeless essay on love and the sea....

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[Brian]

This is the first time I've listened to the Rite of Spring since 2009. Why? Because 2009 was the year when a very large, socially awkward musicology major at my last university told me that "the Rite of Spring is kind of what the ideal sex sounds like." Obviously, he was a virgin. But I was so scarred that I couldn't get the mental image of him getting off to the music out of my head whenever anybody even mentioned the Rite of Spring. This is an improvement. I can listen to it now, and I am thinking about him a lot, but mostly out of sheer amusement that anybody could possibly want sex that sounds like this. 

P.S. The performance of Petrushka was absolutely fantastic.

[The new erato]

Yes, there's something about the rhytms there that tell me only a virgin could imagine that would work. 

Good recording (seeing as it is my hometown orchestra)?

[Brian]

Yes, there's something about the rhytms there that tell me only a virgin could imagine that would work. 

Good recording (seeing as it is my hometown orchestra)?

I think he mentioned something about Rite as S&M soundtrack too but that memory was so alarming I blocked it out.

Good recording - as far as I can tell after three years away from the music. The 1911 Petrushka is certainly very good, the high clarity and dynamic range one expects from Bergen/BIS and Litton really relishes all the orchestral color to be had. Listening to the Rite, it strikes me how much this music sounds like the logical next step after Rimsky-Korsakov: not surprising given he was Stravinsky's teacher, but I hadn't thought about it this much before.

EDIT: That doesn't mean it's not fierce, barbed and unsexy, because it certainly is fierce, barbed and unsexy!

[Papy Oli]

good afternoon 

starting this one :

[Mirror Image]

To say that Karajan is not a good Stravinsky conductor is perhaps too broad.  The Symphony in C evokes Beethoven and Haydn in some ways and Karajan brings those aspects of the piece to the surface more than some others.  The results is an interesting contrast to the Stravinsky specialists.

Karajan's "Sacre" is certainly not my reference reading, but it is interesting (he did it twice).  Stravinsky famously didn't like Karajan's recording, but I'm not sure how it "goes against the score."  Again, it is interesting to hear a recording of the "Sacre" which cultivates the traditional rather than iconoclastic aspects of the music.

Incidently, it has become fashionable to play the "Sacre du primtemps" as a savage outburst, but if you listen to the recording by Monteaux, who conducted the premier, you will find it is much more refined and less savage than the typical contemporary performance.  I am not sure Karajan is so far off the style of the original performance.

But the Rite of Spring is a savage outburst. Listen to the music. Does it sound anything like Stravinsky's two previous ballets? No, absolutely not. Petrushka was, however, a step in the right direction for Stravinsky, but with Rite, he took music to a new realm of possibility.

[Brahmsian]

Brahms

Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, Op.1
Scherzo in E flat minor, Op.4

Kamerhan Turan, piano
Brilliant Classics

[Scarpia]

But the Rite of Spring is a savage outburst. Listen to the music. Does it sound anything like Stravinsky's two previous ballets? No, absolutely not. Petrushka was, however, a step in the right direction for Stravinsky, but with Rite, he took music to a new realm of possibility.

Le sacre du printemps is invariably presented though it were a tone poem these days but it was written as a ballet score, to be danced to.  It is in invocation of aboriginal music, which is characterized by rhythmic complexity, more than by apocalyptic outbursts.  I feel that a performance that emphasizes the rhythmic complexity and perversity of the score rather than the savagery gets more to the heart of it.  The recording by Monteux (who conducted the premier) is one that puts more emphasis on complexity rather than savagery.  I wouldn't say that Karajan's accounts are good on this account.  I would say Karajan does his best to find coherence in the score, and listening to his recording is like looking at the score through some filtering glasses.

[MishaK]

Bruckner 4

Staatskapelle Berlin
Barenboim
live performance at the Philharmonie Berlin

Streaming video from Arte: http://liveweb.arte.tv/de/video/Bruckner_Zyklus___Symphonie_Nr__4/

[Scarpia]

Continued with the third selection on this release, the Symphony of Psalms.

[asin]B000IMVNDI[/asin]

I would say this is the highlight of the disc, this piece has never engaged me more than in this recording.

[SonicMan46]

Handel, GF - 20 Sonatas, Op. 1 for various soloists & continuo - 3 discs; the HWV numbers range from 359-379 - works for oboe, flute, recorder, and violin (all performers listed on the front art work below) - believe I bought this a while back as a BRO bargain, but cannot find the set listed there at the moment - 

[jlaurson]

How incredibly awesome is this!?!?!



W.G. Mozart (1756 – 1791),
Keyboard Music v.2
Sonata K.330, Rondo K.511, Adagio K.540 et al.
Kristian Bezuidenhout
McNulty copy of an Anton Walter & Sohn (~1802)
Harmonia Mundi

[Sid]

Durufle
Requiem - revised 1961 version
4 Motets on Gregorian themes - a capella chorus
Prelude & Fugue on the name ALAIN; Scherzo - solo organ
Notre Pere (our father) - a capella chorus
Various artists/Naxos

Hovhaness
Cello Concerto (Starker/Seattle SO/Russell-Davies)
Symphony 22 "City of Light" (Seattle SO/Hovhaness)
Naxos

I was in a mood for more relaxing music, so I popped on these two discs.

Durufle's choral music is a combination of plain chant and Faure. I think he had a wonderful talent for writing beautiful & memorable melodies. The Requiem is a contemplative work, it's pivotal Pie Jesu for soprano is like a lullaby for the dying. I also like the 4 Motets, which are now central to the repertoire of most choirs. The organ works are full of colour and understatement. The prelude & fugue is a moving tribute to his friend and fellow composer Jehan Alain, who was killed at the front in WW2. I know that Durufle felt at the end of his life to be out of touch with some of the latest developments (like serialism) but I think he could have drawn solace from the fact that other younger composers like Part, Gorecki and Tavener were beginning to show a similar interest in ancient Christian church music. Maybe he didn't know what these composers were doing (he died in the mid 1980's). His output is very small but of a very high quality. I want to get volume 2 of this excellent Naxos series.

Hovhaness music would be familiar to most here as well. It is a mix of Neo-classicism, oriental and middle eastern harmonies, Baroque counterpoint, and influences of some c20th composers like Vaughan Williams and Sibelius (Hovhaness knew the latter personally). I particularly like his two works on this disc, the lyrical and calming Cello Concerto (one of his earliest works from the 1930's to survive, he destroyed most of the rest) & the 22nd symphony, from his mature period, which has this great fugal ending based on an American hymn. Some great playing here from Starker and the composer himself at the helm in the symphony...

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