What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[karlhenning]

A de Lempicka cover, what's not to like? : )

[Sergeant Rock]

A de Lempicka cover, what's not to like? : )

Indeed....the music ain't bad either    Dmitri Mitropoulos said: "All my life I have searched for the perfect modern work. In this symphony I have found it." He probably had a different definition of modern though 

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

Varèse, the Palate-Cleanser!

Yes, I always need a dose of Varèse from time to time.

[Conor71]

Now Playing:

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Mendelssohn: Piano Trio's

Good morning - I'm digging into this set which I bought a few months ago. This is a really great set so far - the music is wonderful and the performances are good to these ears too! 

[Sergeant Rock]

Listening to a Beethoven Seventh that will make the HIPsters run screaming from the room 




Sarge

[Mirror Image]

Listening to Koechlin's complete cycle of The Jungle Book yet again:

front:



back:

[Conor71]

I have seen many people knocking this set for EMI overuse of NR.  I also happen to have this set.  Your thoughts?

Re: The Barbirolli/Sibelius Edition, Ive always really liked the sound on this one and it does'nt sound as if the noise reduction has been applied too liberally - to these ears the sound is very full and has great depth .
I appreciate the glacial sounding strings in this recording a lot and it's one of the main reasons this has become my primary set of the Sibelius Symphonies

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Really good sound...very natural. Kreizberg, faster than Mehta in the first two "movements," isn't as gut-wrenching. Unlike Mehta he makes me less inclined to jump off the Rheinbrücke after hearing it 

No Rheinbrücke, no Schmidt. 

[karlhenning]

Maiden-Listen Monday (this recording, of course):

LvB
Egmont Overture, Opus 84
Symphony № 9 in d minor, Opus 125
Chhamber Orchestra of Europe (& al.)
Harnoncourt

[Mn Dave]

Symphony № 9 in d minor, Opus 125

nomnomnom

[karlhenning]

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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

It's huge, and wonderfully carried off . . . of course, I've only listened to it once, so I have no right to blab yet . . . and I only followed a little bit of the third part in score. It's music on a scale which makes me feel that my Studies in Impermanence are a trifle! . . . That is self-effacing, but not groveling. ; )

It's not my story at all, yet I cannot help feeling touched that the composer was able to present the score to Shostakovich . . . seeing that photograph really moved me.

[Sergeant Rock]

Havergal Brian Symphony #31


Sarge

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

It's not my story at all, yet I cannot help feeling touched that the composer was able to present the score to Shostakovich . . . seeing that photograph really moved me.

Yes, it's a wonderful picture. To be able to honour one of your heroes with a great work of your own and present it to him...

[karlhenning]

Maiden-Listen Monday:

Dallapiccola
Canti di prigionia (1938-41)
New London Chamber Choir
Ensemble InterContemporain
Hans Zender

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[DavidW]

My maiden listen Monday is Stravinsky's Agon conducted by Craft.

Other listening: Bach organ works bwv 536-541 (mostly preludes and fugues, but a couple of toccata and fugues as well) performed by Stockmeier.

[karlhenning]

Maiden-Listen Monday:

Dallapiccola
Canti di prigionia (1938-41)
New London Chamber Choir
Ensemble InterContemporain
Hans Zender

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This is my new favorite Dallapiccola disc.  And I still haven't heard the rest.  These Canti are beauties.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

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Listening to Three Melodies. Absolutely exquisite.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD4 - Preludes from this set for a first listen ...

[Sid]

Last night I listened to a number of things - including Monteverdi, Kodaly & Schutz, but I'll talk about these two:

Antoine BRUMEL
Mass for 12 voices, "Et Ecce Terrae Motus" (with three organs and brass accompaniment)
Dominique Visse (Conductor), Ensemble Clément Janequin, Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse
Harmonia Mundi

Ariel RAMIREZ
Misa Criolla (arr. J. G. Segade & others)
Joseph Holt (Conductor), Manuel Melendez (tenor), José Sacin (tenor), Pablo Talamante (tenor)
The Choral Arts Society of Washington, with instrumental ensemble
Naxos


These two masses are really different, but both are great. I borrowed the Brumel from the library & hadn't heard it in 15 years. He was a Renaissance composer whose dates are c.1460 - 1515. He started his career as a choirboy at Chartres Cathedral and ended it working conducting a choir in Italy. This mass is his most significant work, and both in terms of the large forces used and the length and complexity of the work, nothing can match it from that time except Tallis' Spem in alium (a masterpiece that I haven't heard yet). Complexity is the word with this work. Some parts come across as a "wall of sound" (like the music of Brumel's teacher Josquin des Prez), but Brumel also builds things up gradually for maximum effect. Take the concluding Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) which is in three parts. The first is choir only, in the second the brass comes in, and in the third the organs. It's one of the most amazing climaxes you're likely to ever hear. It's certainly just as sophisticated (if not more) as anything I've heard from more contemporary composers. I'm actually amazed at how Brumel could get this all down on the page, all of this complexity (I mean - THREE organs!). It's simply staggering. This work was published in the 1500's & we are lucky to have a full copy of the score. This work remained popular even after Brumel's death - the great Lassus, a composer of the next generation, was to direct a number of performances of it in Germany.

If Brumel's mass is amazing because he managed to get things down, Ariel Ramirez's mass is great because he didn't get things down and left a lot of things open. Misa Criolla is based on the Hispanic folk music of Latin America, and like that music, a lot of it is improvised. There's even a cadenza for the percussionist! The work needs to be arranged by someone else to "fit" the specific musicians who perform it. This version has a chamber choir of 100, three tenor soloists and an instrumental ensemble of traditional Latin American instruments made up of 8 musicians, some playing multiple instruments. Technical considerations aside, it is a very exhuberant and life affirming work. The optimistic Gloria can be very fetching. I just found this image on amazon, and there some idiot reviewer rubbishes this performance for not being as good as the 1960's recording. This guy is a fool - doesn't he know that this work can be interpreted very flexibly - even more flexibly than other classical works (the improvisation). What a nobhead  ...

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[Coco]

This is my new favorite Dallapiccola disc.  And I still haven't heard the rest.  These Canti are beauties.

Aren't they? It was love at first hearing for me.