What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[DavidW]

I'll admit I'm still on a marathon run of Haydn symphonies from the Weil/Tafelmusik set.  I just love 'em so much!

[Philoctetes]

Listened to Mozart Symphonies No. 25-27, and 38-39; along with String Quartets 13-16.

And while they were all brilliantly put together. I was left yawning. I'm going to get those chamber works that were suggested in another thread, and give those a shot. I think I'll also relisten to his symphonies 40-41, to give those a fresh look.

[Scarpia]

Listened to Mozart Symphonies No. 25-27, and 38-39; along with String Quartets 13-16.

And while they were all brilliantly put together. I was left yawning. I'm going to get those chamber works that were suggested in another thread, and give those a shot. I think I'll also relisten to his symphonies 40-41, to give those a fresh look.

What recordings, of the symphonies in particular?  If you put on some Neville Marriner you'd have me yawning too.

[Philoctetes]

What recordings, of the symphonies in particular?  If you put on some Neville Marriner you'd have me yawning too.

25-27 were Levine and the WP
38-39 were Karajan and the BP

[Scarpia]

25-27 were Levine and the WP
38-39 were Karajan and the BP

Karajan EMI or DG?

Neither is bad, but they monumentalize Mozart.  They don't bring out Mozart the rascal.  Harnoncourt/Concertgebouw is my gold standard.  There are recordings by Minkowski and Jacobs of the later symphonies that make a better case for them.

For the quartets, skip ahead to 21, 22, 23. 

[Mirror Image]

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Listening to Paris: The Song for a Great City. This is wonderful stuff.

[Philoctetes]

Karajan EMI or DG?

Neither is bad, but they monumentalize Mozart.  They don't bring out Mozart the rascal.  Harnoncourt/Concertgebouw is my gold standard.  There are recordings by Minkowski and Jacobs of the later symphonies that make a better case for them.

Karajan was on DG.

Neat. I'll look for their recordings, at a later date, to see if, they present a more palatable Mozart.

40-41, that I have is Beecham.

[Scarpia]

Karajan was on DG.

Neat. I'll look for their recordings, at a later date, to see if, they present a more palatable Mozart.

40-41, that I have is Beecham.

Oh lord, you have Mozart for old age homes!

[Philoctetes]

Oh lord, you have Mozart for old age homes!

I'm limited to what my library system offers. I do believe that they have Harnoncourt though.

[Bogey]

[Drasko]

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Listening to Symphony No. 6. Pure genius, pure Mahler.

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Excellent recording and performances. First-rate music.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD3 - S3, Swan of Tuonela, Karelia Suite, Valse triste & Finlandia from this set for a first listen ...

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Ligeti's music is so accessible and has so much drive that it's almost hard to imagine it being the cutting edge music it actually is. Listening to Melodien right now.

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Listening to Symphony No. 2 "A London Symphony" right now. I don't listen to this symphony enough. Awesome.

[Antoine Marchand]

Harmoniae Sacrae
17th-century German Sacred Cantatas

Tracklist:
1. Franz TUNDER - An Wasserflüssen Babylon      
2. Johann Valentin MEDER - Gott hilf mir      
3. Matthias WECKMANN - Wie bist du denn, O Gott, in Zorn auf mich entbrannt      
4. Heinrich Ignaz Franz VON BIBER - Sonata IV (Fidicinium sacro-profanum)      
5. Christoph BERNHARD -   Sie haben meinen Herrn hinweggenommen      
6. Johann Valentin MEDER - Ach Herr, strafe mich nicht in deinem Zorn      
7. Benedictus BUNS (Benedictus a Sancto Josepho) - Obstupescite


Hana Blazikova, soprano


Peter Kooij, bass


L'Armonia Sonora
François Fernandez, Sayuri Yamagata, violin
Kaori Uemura, Ricardo Rodriguez Miranda, viola da gamba
Peter Rikkers, violone
Leo van Doeselaar, organ
Mieneke van der Velden, direction and viola da gamba

http://www.ramee.org/0905gb.html

   

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Listening to Symphony No. 8. The thing about RVW's symphonies is you simply can't listen to them one movement at a time and then take a break. You have to listen to the entire symphony because they're just so enchanting.

[Sid]

I've concentrated on these for the past week or so:

Richard MEALE
Incredible Floridas (Homage to Rimbaud) (1971) for sextet - piano, violin, cello, clarinet, flute, percussion
Seymour Group/Anthony Fogg, director (at piano)
ABC

MONTEVERDI
Vespers of 1610 - disc 2 of 2
Concerto Italiano/Rinaldo Alessandrini
Naive

Both of these discs were borrowed from the library. I've been familiarising myself with this Meale work as it will be played at a concert here in Sydney Saturday week. This work was written for the hundredth anniversary of visionary poet Arthur Rimbaud's poem "The Drunken Boat" which contains the lines:

You know I've stormed incredible Floridas
Her flow scattered with panther's eyes
And human skin! Rainbows hung beneath horizons
Like bridles on blue-green broods.

Meale's music excellently captures the clashing images and surreal quality of Rimbaud's poetry. This poem is about voyages, both on the high seas and in the minds of men. The work starts with the players reciting these lines of the poem, and then a flute solo playing a fragmentary melody emerges out of the darkness. This phrase becomes the basis of much of which is to follow. Meale's technique is very much like a film, which has many scenes filmed from different angles and edited to form a narrative. In the fourth movement (the work has 6 in all), the piano plays a chord which resembles the opening flute phrase, it reminds me a bit of Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1. This is like the eye of the storm, a calm oasis amidst all of the fragmentation of the rest of the work. All of the players are soloists in their own right in this work, and the whole ensemble is taughtly underpinned by rhythms from the percussionist. This earlier period of Meale's music reflects influences from other continents that were having a decisive impact on Australian composers of his generation at the time - Messiaen, Boulez & other French composers, Varese from the USA, Takemitsu from Japan. This work is a synthesis of stylistic approaches, but it has clarity and purpose at the same time.

I also listened to the 2nd disc of the Monteverdi Vespers, which is my favourite disc of the two, in particular the concluding two Magnificats. This is some of the best music I have ever heard, full stop (after more than 20 years of listening to classical on and off). The greatest composers may have a dozen or so ideas of genius in a single work, but in this work Monteverdi gives us dozens if not hundreds. The use of a particular instrument as a highlight here, the combination of different coloured voices there, it all adds up to something beyond words. I'm still at the beginning of my exploration of these kinds of canonical works, but I doubt that anything will ever surpass this, to be honest. I'd be surprised if I do find something like that. Next on my list is Haydn's The Creation, which will be performed in late May here in Sydney, and which I will also borrow from the library soon (I don't remember ever hearing this great work)...



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...Listening to Symphony No. 8. The thing about RVW's symphonies is you simply can't listen to them one movement at a time and then take a break. You have to listen to the entire symphony because they're just so enchanting.

RVW's 8th was the first symphony I heard by him just over 10 years ago on the radio (they played the Halle under Barbirolli recording). I actually remember the details, which is unusual, but it did strike me as special. I was resting in bed & had the radio on. The first movement struck me as simply "enchanting" (as you say, it's the right word exactly), it was like a fairytale world. I subsequently got it on disc, along with a few of his other symphonies, with the LPO under Boult. This was also unusual, because I purchased very few discs in those years (just a handful a year, if any). I've subsequently moved away from RVW, but I still like the 8th very much, basically because it's short & sweet, a bit of fun, and not too serious at all. The percussive last movement is a bit like Turandot meets the classical pops. It's like the composer was letting his hair down a bit...

[Bogey]

A little Sherlock Holmes' music:





Where have you gone, jwinter?