What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

Started by Maciek, April 06, 2007, 02:22:49 AM

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Scarpia

Quote from: Coco on May 22, 2011, 05:05:30 PM
Messiaen
La Nativité du Seigneur (1935)
Le banquet céleste (1928)
Apparition de l'église éternelle (1932)

Marie-Claire Alain, organ

Not a first listen, but the first in about 5 years — keeping in mind just how much one grows as a listener over the years. :)

Was growth sufficient to enjoy it?  (I have the Warner Messian edition and I think these recordings are in there, but I haven't listened to them yet.)

karlhenning

I should think la Alain would be excellent in these . . . .

Scarpia

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on May 22, 2011, 05:21:54 PM
I should think la Alain would be excellent in these . . . .

Can you think of something she wouldn't be excellent in?   :)

Coco

Quote from: Il Barone Scarpia on May 22, 2011, 05:21:11 PM
Was growth sufficient to enjoy it?  (I have the Warner Messian edition and I think these recordings are in there, but I haven't listened to them yet.)

Definitely. La Nativité is remarkable and seems to contain everything I like about Messiaen: his unique harmony, rhythmic complexity — coupled with a poetic restraint that is often lacking in his bigger works. I'd go so far to call it his masterpiece (in the original sense of the word).

Coopmv

Now playing CD2 - Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 and Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 from this set for a first listen ...



Mirror Image

Now:



Excellent recording. Dumbarton Oaks is exquisitely played.

Scarpia

Quote from: Coco on May 22, 2011, 06:04:06 PM
Definitely. La Nativité is remarkable and seems to contain everything I like about Messiaen: his unique harmony, rhythmic complexity — coupled with a poetic restraint that is often lacking in his bigger works. I'd go so far to call it his masterpiece (in the original sense of the word).

Sounds like a good place to start.  I've been listening to Vingt Regards... and I'll try that next.

DavidW

Bach English Suites #4-6 performed by Perahia... lovely. 8)

PaulR


Ein Heldenleben

Learning an excerpt for the bass from the piece, so giving it another listen.

Mirror Image

Now:

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Excellent performances.

Sid

#85690
DUFAY
Chansons
Bernhard Landauer, counter-tenor
Ensemble Unicorn
Michael Posch, director & arrangments
Naxos

I got this disc at least a year ago. Dufay was a major French composer of the 15th century. Compared to many composers works of the time, a lot of Dufay's stuff has actually survived which may be not only because of it's quality but also because he was highly esteemed in his time. This disc contains arrangements of his songs for voice and a quintet of instruments, interspersed with purely instrumental arrangements of other songs. The musicians of the quintet named Ensemble Unicorn are highly skilled in playing many medieval instruments, and they play about 30 between them on this disc (though not all at once!). My favourite song is the concluding track, a vocal number titled in translation "Fairwell these good wines of Lannoys." The poet sings of having to leave his home town on a long journey, farewelling his friends, the local women and (not least!) the good wines there. It starts with an instrumental section before the counter-tenor comes in singing a light rondeau. It's kind of tuneful & catchy, this was the popular music of the time. At the end of the song, as he sings "Farewell every pleasing joy/Farewell all my gallant companions" his voice fades out, as he walks away from the microphones. It's an interesting effect, and a nice end to the disc. Criticisms have been made of these arrangments in that the accompanying ensemble is made up of many more musicians than what may have been customary at the time. Generally, you wouldn't of heard a quintet, especially if you were in a small town. But who knows? Maybe if you were in a princely estate, like the cover painting from the Book of Hours, you may well have heard something approximating these lavish arrangements - especially if it was something like a big wedding banquet for the rich. In any case, much of how we interpret early music is guesswork, even though it's educated guesswork.

After the Dufay disc I also listened to Mahler's Songs of  a Wayfarer - which I had just heard at a concert - and some of the songs of Edith Piaf, who (in my opinion) was just as skilled a writer of chansons as the great Dufay...

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mc ukrneal

After discovering some of the chamber music by Brahms, I decided to get some more recently. So I got the Sextets on Hyperion performed by the Raphael Ensemble.
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This is yet another winner. The music is amazing - simply brilliant. And to think I only discovered his chamber works fairly recently! They are brilliantly constructed, hold the listener's attention, and never fail to surprise. I have only this one recording, but it seems to be a real treasure already. The Raphael Ensmble play exceedingly well together. One feels like they are all one living organism instead of individual players. The teamwork and sound are excellent. I didn't think I'd ever have a repeat of my Piano Trio #1 experience, but I simply cannot put this music down. It demands to be heard. The start of the second movement of the first sextet was incredibly moving.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

Sandra

Stravinsky, conducting his own works. Don't have the album cover but I bought this two-volume set 5 years ago. It's titled Historical Recordings. The sound quality is pretty good for an older recording. Most of Stravinsky's chamber works are there.
"Pay no attention to what the critics say... Remember, a statue has never been set up in honor of a critic!" - J. Sibelius

val

ALFREDO CASELLA:     Symphony n. 3 / Italia                         / Köln WDR Orchestra, Alun Francis


I was not very enthusiasmed with this Symphony. But, since it his the first time I listen to it, I admit that ulterior auditions are needed. The interpretation seems good, the conductor directs with energy, with a splendid orchestra.
As for Italia, it's just an anecdotic work, a sort of "pot-pourri" of famous songs.

Sid

Quote from: mc ukrneal on May 23, 2011, 12:23:58 AM
After discovering some of the chamber music by Brahms, I decided to get some more recently. So I got the Sextets on Hyperion performed by the Raphael Ensemble...

Yes, Brahms' sextets are great works indeed. I'm more familiar with the first, I even remember hearing it in concert here in Sydney in the 1990's with members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Brahms is sometimes stereotyped as not being an innovator, but I'm not sure if that is entirely true or accurate. I know Schoenberg was a huge admirer of Brahms' music, and I can't help thinking that he must have really admired these scores (if his own string sextet Transfigured Night is anything to go by).

Speaking generally, Brahms' works are always interesting, particularly because he was very economical and never one for being excessive or bombastic. Philip Glass has even stated that when writing his own violin concerto, Brahms' own work in that genre was something of an influence (for one thing, both Brahms and Glass use smaller orchestras than some other composers in their violin concertos). Even before Glass, Walton was influenced by Brahms' concertos when writing his own, particularly in his orchestration. There are countless other examples. Simply put, Brahms' music was much less conservative than many people stereotype him to be...

karlhenning

Quote from: Il Barone Scarpia on May 22, 2011, 05:24:52 PM
Can you think of something she wouldn't be excellent in?   :)

The organ oeuvre of Jn Rutter? ; )

Lethevich

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Quote from: mc ukrneal on May 23, 2011, 12:23:58 AM
After discovering some of the chamber music by Brahms, I decided to get some more recently. So I got the Sextets on Hyperion performed by the Raphael Ensemble.
[asin]B000002ZKC[/asin]
This is yet another winner. The music is amazing - simply brilliant. And to think I only discovered his chamber works fairly recently! They are brilliantly constructed, hold the listener's attention, and never fail to surprise. I have only this one recording, but it seems to be a real treasure already. The Raphael Ensmble play exceedingly well together. One feels like they are all one living organism instead of individual players. The teamwork and sound are excellent. I didn't think I'd ever have a repeat of my Piano Trio #1 experience, but I simply cannot put this music down. It demands to be heard. The start of the second movement of the first sextet was incredibly moving.

I like that disc - the music doesn't sound heavy like in many performances, such as the Amadeus Quartet (and friends). I recall Santa Fe Listener left a 3 star review on it last time I checked (calling it Divertimento Brahms or suchlike), but it seems to have gone.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

karlhenning

Quote from: Lethe Dmitriyevich Shostakovich on May 23, 2011, 03:30:09 AM

What a tease you are!  I am on tenterhooks waiting for mine to arrive! ; )

Thread duty — my daily Langgaard fix:

My man Rued
Symphony № 6, Det Himmelrivende (The Heaven-Storming) BVN 165 (1919-20, rev. 1926-30)
Danish National Radio Symphony
Frandsen


Behold I shew you a mystery: it doesn't start out especially stormy!

Lethevich

#85698
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on May 23, 2011, 03:41:41 AM
What a tease you are!  I am on tenterhooks waiting for mine to arrive! ; )

It'll be worth it - it's really rather blown me away. Aside from the DShostakovich Preludes & Fugues, I am struggling to think of a large scale 20th century piano work as good as this. Once I have gotten around to the piano concertos, I'll make a thread for the composer :)

I love that Langgaard symphony too - along with the 5th it's my favourite of his ones preceeding the nationalist works.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Coco on May 22, 2011, 06:04:06 PM
Definitely. La Nativité is remarkable and seems to contain everything I like about Messiaen: his unique harmony, rhythmic complexity — coupled with a poetic restraint that is often lacking in his bigger works. I'd go so far to call it his masterpiece (in the original sense of the word).


Another admirer here. And I really don't care for all of Messiaen. But this piece is terrific.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato