What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Opus106]

What did Shosta's first PC do, or not do rather, to not deserve a description at allmusic.com?

FLF: Cedric Tiberghien (piano) | Frederic Mellardi (trumpet) | OdP | Rostropovich

[Antoine Marchand]

I'd rather reverse the question!

So far I've only been eying it. With quite desire, I must add  , since the on line samples sounded absolutely wonderfull and the new discoveries on this disc, several unattributed/anonymous, would complement waht I already have collected.

Q

Hi, ~ Que ~. I must confess you have gotten the most stylish change of name seen on this forum. Congratulations! 

[Mirror Image]

Now:

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Time for another RVW symphony marathon, my second this week, with my favorite set. Listening to A Sea Symphony right now. I have to say that I'm very impressed with this performance. Perhaps my judgement of this symphony as being "weak on material" was rather harsh, this is a good piece of music.

[Philoctetes]

 

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[Drasko]

and no picture:
Harrison Birtwistle - Chronometer

[Opus106]

The information at the top nearly forms a meaningless limerick.

[listener]

another round of the "usual"  trumpet concertos
HAYDN in E^b, L. MOZART in D, TELEMANN in D, PURCELL  Sonata for trumpet, strings and continuo
Theo Mertens, trumpet     Concerto Amsterdam       André Rieu, cond.
nice, effortless-sounding, accurate playing by Mertens, good morning listen.
NIELSEN   Symphony 4 - "Inextinguishable"  (the one with the "duelling" timpanists), Helios Overture
Swedish Radio Symphony Orch.      Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond.
previewing a concert this weekend with the Nielsen  (+ Mozart pno conc.27 - Alessio Bax and Takemitsu Rain Coming)
---- later  --- solo violin sonatas:
PROKOFIEV op.111    HINDEMITH  op. 31/1, op. 31/2,  BARTOK,  STRAVINSKY Élégie
Ruggiero Ricci

[Lethevich]

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No.3, 4

Not a retaliatory listen, I just found the Messiaen here at home.

I have a confession... I don't much care for Messiaen either. A lot of his work brings me as close as I can get to really disliking it - something there really grates me.

[Scarpia]

Schnittke

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Definitely a retaliatory listen.  I luxuriated in the image of you Schnittke haters cowering in the corner as this music played.   

One of those Schnittke pieces where things start out sounding like a Vivaldi concerto, before things start to fall apart.  The beginning of the second movement had the most palpable impact on me.

[Conor71]

Now Playing:

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Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 9

Listening to more Haydn Quartets from the excellent Aeolian Quartet cycle . I was prompted to listen to the Op. 9 after reading the thread on Haydn's Sturm Und Drang period - these are excellent Quartets and although they are not quite as sophisticated as Haydn's later Quartets, they still have a lot of charm and have plenty of energy with lovely slow moments too!  0:)

[Drasko]

Harrison Birtwistle - Chronometer

And again. Thoroughly hypnotic.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I promised Lethe/Sara I'd give the Bax Sixth another listen...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

A very generous GMG member gave me this famous reading of one of Delius's major works, still sadly underappreciated. This remastering sounds absolutely terrific (to these ears; the recording dates from 1952).

[Lethevich]

As much as I admire Beecham for essentially making Delius's career, and certainly for allowing him to be remembered by record buyers rather than totally neglected, I find his Delius recordings pretty unlistenable, even the later ones I am okay with his standard rep such as Haydn, but with such coloured music trying to hear through the sound quality becomes a depressing endeavor.

Currently playing from the following two, although it's while me and a friend play a video game so it's not serious listening:

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(Only suites from the latter.)

[not edward]

Finally getting a chance to listen to King Priam.

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First two acts down, and I'm very impressed indeed.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

As much as I admire Beecham for essentially making Delius's career, and certainly for allowing him to be remembered by record buyers rather than totally neglected, I find his Delius recordings pretty unlistenable, even the later ones I am okay with his standard rep such as Haydn, but with such coloured music trying to hear through the sound quality becomes a depressing endeavor.

As you know, I have no problem with that. For me the quality of the performances shines through the relative 'lo-fi'...

[Conor71]

Now Playing:


Bach: Mass In B Minor, BWV 232

I bought this set about 6 months ago but still have'nt listened to it all the way through!  - In the mood for some Bach today and will listen to the recording in full no worries today. Enjoying this so far! - I like Richter's old-school approach to Bach and have enjoyed his recordings of the Passions and Christmas Oratorio as well  0:)

[Coco]

[DavidW]

Harnoncourt/CoE performs the Eroica so intensely that it is emotionally exhausting!!

[Sid]

---- later  --- solo violin sonatas:
PROKOFIEV op.111    HINDEMITH  op. 31/1, op. 31/2,  BARTOK,  STRAVINSKY Élégie
Ruggiero Ricci

I got that very recording on cd earlier this year & I particularly like the Hindemith solo sonatas - one of them concludes with a set of variations on a theme of Mozart, which is a lot of fun!...

Last night listened to these below, after coming back from a piano recital at the Con, buying the Joplin LP from a book shop that was opened until late, & on the way home dropping into the local pub:

MILHAUD
Cello Concertos Nos. 1 (1935) & 2 (1945)
Elegy for cello & piano (1945)
Stanislav Apolin, cello
Josef Hala, piano (in Elegy only)
Brno State PO/Jiri Waldhans
Supraphon stereo LP

Scott JOPLIN
"The World of Scott Joplin" - 14 rags published between 1899 & 1966
Max Morath, piano
Vanguard stereo LP

This was the first time I listened to both these vinyls & they were interesting.

The Milhaud cello concertos have some good ideas, but somehow they don't fully gel with me. The 1st concerto opens with a dark cello solo, which reminded me of the Elgar concerto, but before the page is out goes into something that sounds like an orchestral version of one of Edith Piaf's chansons. Similarly, there are some interesting eerie harmonics at the beginning of the second (slow) movement, which reminded me a bit of Ligeti or Penderecki, but this dissipates into something less gripping. The concluding movement is nothing special, just the usual Milhaudesque bouncy romp.

The 2nd concerto is a bit more cohesive, this time he opens with the orchestra at full tilt. As usual with Milhaud ideas ranging from the very banal to very brilliant tumble on top of eachother, one after the other, without much apparent rhyme or reason. The second movement was the most interesting of the work, it's refinement and lyricisim reminded me a bit of Ravel, but Milhaud's music comes across as much less detached than his, it sounds more emotional. The final movement had an opening that lead to the cello playing a repetitive thing that was slightly varied each cycle, not unlike some of the stuff of one of his students, Steve Reich. But this only lasted a minute or two, the rest of the movement was similar to the rumbunctous ending of the 1st concerto, only longer.

The bonus track, the Elegy for cello & piano, showed off the rich and deep textures and sounds of the cello beautifully. I enjoyed this LP, but I think that Milhaud could have done much more interesting things with the material, particularly the 1st concerto. Maybe he was rushing to meet the deadline of various commissions? Who knows? But even though the concertos don't fully come up to scratch for me, I can hear the craftsmanship and skill of these works, and there are even moments of genius.

The Joplin LP was excellent as well. It was interesting to learn from the notes by the pianist that although Joplin died in 1917, many of his ragtimes were not published until 50 years later. My favourite rags on the LP were "The Ragtime Oriole" (1911) & "The Chrysanthemum - An Afro-American Intermezzo" (1904). The latter sounded to me a bit like Chopin meets ragtime...