What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Gorgeous music. Great performances so far.

[kishnevi]

Cowen, Taylor-Coleridge and Bax hardly sound alike at all. If you are dismissing all of them at once, you might as well dismiss hundreds more (and from many countries). Maybe it is the performance and not the music, I'd suspect.

I was speaking in very general terms.  Of course I noticed differences among them.  At this point, I'm also suspecting the performances.  Even the Elgar was second rate.   I'll know for sure when I've listened to the next disc in the set, which is RVW (Job: A Masque for Dancing), because that one I can directly compare to another performance.  I'm putting of the Delius disc for now because, simply put, Delius is not a favorite of mine.

Or my ears may have been having an off day.  At any rate,  to this point I have a distinctly less favorable impression of the set than Harry, I'm sorry to say.

Thread duty: a mini marathon of sorts.  Alan Curtis performing Bach--the French and English Suites, three CDs worth.

[listener]

I Musici:
A. SCARLATTI Concerto grosso 3 in F    LEO Cello Concerto in D
F. DURANTE   Concerto for strings and continuo in f
PERGOLESI  Flute Concerto 1 in G
with Enzo Altobelli, cello      Severino Gazzelloni, flute 
PAGANINI  Variations on  "The Carnival of Venice", ..on Rossini's "Mosë",
Sonata for gran viola  (a viola with five strings)
Salvatore Accardo, violin & controviola    The Chamber Orchestra of Europe
   

[springrite]

Mahler 1 (Zander, Philharmonia)

The performance is not that great, but I enjoyed the lecture (on CD 2) very much.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Symphony No. 1. A great performance.

[Todd]

Starting off with Disc 1, LvB's Op 12.  Most excellent.  I've only heard one disc from this cycle (Schumann w/ Maisky), so this will be a nice, long journey.

[kishnevi]

Having finished the Bach Suites with Mr. Curtis,  I decided to go back to the British Symphonic Collection box.

Ralph Vaughn Williams: Job: A Masque for Dancing filled out by Prelude on an Old Carol Tune and Variations for Orchestra (which carry the comment "Orch. Jacob".  Am I to infer that RVW did not write his Variations for Orchestra for orchestra?  Or was this someone "completing" an unorchestrated work?)

Munich Symphony Douglas Bostock cond.

I feel much better about this CD than I did for others in the box, although it still does not contain the power I find in my other recording of this work (BBC SO, Andrew Davis cond.)  At any rate I'm more sanguine about the remaining CDs in this set after hearing this, and the RVW alone is worth the relatively cheap price I paid for this set.

[Lethevich]

If you are looking for something "different", then I would suggest skipping the Holst disc, and trying 7, 8 and 10. Bush's symphonies I don't get along with, but they're anything but typical works, and of the others, they have a more modernist bent than the first six discs of the set. The disc of concertos for orchestra is a valuable addition to the catalogue.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

[asin]B000BV5RD8[/asin]

Listening to A Child of Our Time. Absolutely first-rate music.

[kishnevi]

If you are looking for something "different", then I would suggest skipping the Holst disc, and trying 7, 8 and 10. Bush's symphonies I don't get along with, but they're anything but typical works, and of the others, they have a more modernist bent than the first six discs of the set. The disc of concertos for orchestra is a valuable addition to the catalogue.

Not so much "different" as I am an introduction to composers whom I've never heard before.  The Holst has enough stuff on it that's new to me that I'll be giving it a whirl, probably tomorrow.   Nor,to tell you the truth, is "modernist" something I like in music. I need at least some tonality in my music, dashdanggolldarnit! But I listen to the more modern discs with an open mind/ear.   In theory the Cowen, Taylor-Coleridge and Bax recordings should have been right up my alley--music from that era almost always pleases me.  These ones misfired for some reason.  Do you have any suggestions for better recordings of those works (so you don't need to look at the box again, they were Cowen Symphony No. 6, S T-C Symphony in a minor,  Bax Symphony No. 6)--or for that matter, recordings of better works by those composers?

[Lethevich]

Not so much "different" as I am an introduction to composers whom I've never heard before.  The Holst has enough stuff on it that's new to me that I'll be giving it a whirl, probably tomorrow.   Nor,to tell you the truth, is "modernist" something I like in music. I need at least some tonality in my music, dashdanggolldarnit! But I listen to the more modern discs with an open mind/ear.   In theory the Cowen, Taylor-Coleridge and Bax recordings should have been right up my alley--music from that era almost always pleases me.  These ones misfired for some reason.  Do you have any suggestions for better recordings of those works (so you don't need to look at the box again, they were Cowen Symphony No. 6, S T-C Symphony in a minor,  Bax Symphony No. 6)--or for that matter, recordings of better works by those composers?

Bax is controversial because he simultaneously offers so much, yet so little, depending on your point of view. His orchestration is excellent, the scoring is rich, and with some huge tunes this could've been genuinely great music, getting up to the level of Strauss' tone poems at times. But without them it's only potentially great music, and the 6th symphony is unfortunately as good of a work as you will hear from him (I rate it highly, and am okay with the performance here, though I find it slightly raw). His chamber music is valuable, as this heavily atmospheric, Tolkienistic style is quite rare to find in the medium. He has two kind-of "hits" in his tone poems - above all Tintagel, which is stunning, and also November Woods. Both are fine works, and easy to accidentely pick up in couplings if you like this repertoire. This disc is the stand-out for me, because it's a nice collection of bits and bobs, and a good overview. Nympholept is Bax's core style, and one of his better tone poems, Christmas Eve finds him at his most thematically memorable in one or two spots, though still hardly tuneful. Oh god somebody please stop me typing before it consumes everyone.

I don't entirely "get" Delius, but his North Country Sketches seem to be a work for people who otherwise don't like him. I enjoy his chamber music more than the orchestral works - there is something quite perfect about his writing for the violin, and his violin sonatas are not quite the rose garden so frequently depicted in his music for larger forces - they chart a somewhat darker progression as the composer's physical state declined. At the risk of sounding like a chamber music zealot, I also find Coleridge-Taylor to be at his best in this medium - there is a splendid Hyperion disc. It's somewhat formal music, but also delightful. The Elgar in the set is second-rate, great for one who loves the composer, though. The RVW Variations also didn't grab me, but the Job performance was decent. The Holst selection is nice, and rather more proven rather than fringe repertoire.

Moeran is another composer working in this vein that if you have not heard, he is worth a go. His sometimes Sibelian-leaning symphony is immaculate. An alternative to Cowen might be McEwen, a strange composer who bridged the Stanford and Bax generations. By all rights his music should be horribly conservative, but it frequently sounds both original and highly atmospheric. The Border Ballads are brilliant.

[Mirror Image]

Now listening:

[asin]B00016ZKPS[/asin]

It's been awhile since I've listened to this recording. This is probably one of my favorite American Classics recordings. Lovely music from an American Impressionist.

[Conor71]

Quote from: classicalgeek on Today at 04:29:10 AM

Enjoy!  They're wonderful works, too little-known, relatively speaking.  I'm not acquainted with the Tilson Thomas, but Mackerras' recording is true 'desert island' material for me

:
Thanks - I listened to the Serenades a couple more times at work and enjoyed them so I decided to spend the day listening to all of the Brahms Orchestral works in my collection!.

[Conor71]

Brahms: Orchestral Works

I decided to spend the day listening to all the Orchestral Works by Brahms in my collection - This gave me a chance to have a first listen to a newly arrived set of Klemperer conducting the Symphonies: I was really impressed by these Discs and found them very imposing. I think I will end up listening to them quite a bit!. Next I listened to Gilels and Jochum's classic recording of the Piano Concertos and am now following that up with Oistrakh's outstanding version of the Violin Concerto. Finally I will listen to the Double Concerto.

[Que]

This morning back to of Vernet's Bach Cycle. Clavier-Uebung III today! (discs 12 &13). Luckely, he is playing the Treutmann organ in Graufhof-Goslar.

Q

[mc ukrneal]

Brahms: Orchestral Works

I decided to spend the day listening to all the Orchestral Works by Brahms in my collection - This gave me a chance to have a first listen to a newly arrived set of Klemperer conducting the Symphonies: I was really impressed by these Discs and found them very imposing. I think I will end up listening to them quite a bit!. Next I listened to Gilels and Jochum's classic recording of the Piano Concertos and am now following that up with Oistrakh's outstanding version of the Violin Concerto. Finally I will listen to the Double Concerto.

If you don't have the Hungarian Dances, you would surely love them. This is a wonderful version:
[asin]B0000013KA[/asin]

[Conor71]

Quote from: mc ukrneal on Today at 03:54:52 PM

If you don't have the Hungarian Dances, you would surely love them. This is a wonderful version:

I have'nt heard the Hungarian Dances so this is an appealing Disc for me! - cheers neal!

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

I was speaking in very general terms.  Of course I noticed differences among them.  At this point, I'm also suspecting the performances.  Even the Elgar was second rate.   I'll know for sure when I've listened to the next disc in the set, which is RVW (Job: A Masque for Dancing), because that one I can directly compare to another performance.  I'm putting of the Delius disc for now because, simply put, Delius is not a favorite of mine.

Or my ears may have been having an off day.  At any rate,  to this point I have a distinctly less favorable impression of the set than Harry, I'm sorry to say.

Thread duty: a mini marathon of sorts.  Alan Curtis performing Bach--the French and English Suites, three CDs worth.

I don't know what is wrong with your ears for sure, because there is nothing second rate about Elgar being second rate. There is nothing second rate about the performances, in fact they are bloody marvellous. Should I disregard almost 35 years of listening experience, in which I compared these performances with many others. One should never confuse not liking the music, so it must be a bad performance, or there must be a better performance around. You have me distinctly confused my friend, I can tell you that. I have played again Job, and it has me on the edge of my chair, such is the performance and its effect on me.

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Bax is controversial because he simultaneously offers so much, yet so little, depending on your point of view. His orchestration is excellent, the scoring is rich, and with some huge tunes this could've been genuinely great music, getting up to the level of Strauss' tone poems at times. But without them it's only potentially great music, and the 6th symphony is unfortunately as good of a work as you will hear from him (I rate it highly, and am okay with the performance here, though I find it slightly raw). His chamber music is valuable, as this heavily atmospheric, Tolkienistic style is quite rare to find in the medium. He has two kind-of "hits" in his tone poems - above all Tintagel, which is stunning, and also November Woods. Both are fine works, and easy to accidentely pick up in couplings if you like this repertoire. This disc is the stand-out for me, because it's a nice collection of bits and bobs, and a good overview. Nympholept is Bax's core style, and one of his better tone poems, Christmas Eve finds him at his most thematically memorable in one or two spots, though still hardly tuneful. Oh god somebody please stop me typing before it consumes everyone.

I don't entirely "get" Delius, but his North Country Sketches seem to be a work for people who otherwise don't like him. I enjoy his chamber music more than the orchestral works - there is something quite perfect about his writing for the violin, and his violin sonatas are not quite the rose garden so frequently depicted in his music for larger forces - they chart a somewhat darker progression as the composer's physical state declined. At the risk of sounding like a chamber music zealot, I also find Coleridge-Taylor to be at his best in this medium - there is a splendid Hyperion disc. It's somewhat formal music, but also delightful. The Elgar in the set is second-rate, great for one who loves the composer, though. The RVW Variations also didn't grab me, but the Job performance was decent. The Holst selection is nice, and rather more proven rather than fringe repertoire.

Moeran is another composer working in this vein that if you have not heard, he is worth a go. His sometimes Sibelian-leaning symphony is immaculate. An alternative to Cowen might be McEwen, a strange composer who bridged the Stanford and Bax generations. By all rights his music should be horribly conservative, but it frequently sounds both original and highly atmospheric. The Border Ballads are brilliant.

Well reading this, I will stop recommending anything, for this slaughtering of the British composer box, hits me very hard. And I seriously doubt my own perception of music and its quality, so for now I will refrain from saying, buy this, for its very good. So anyone....never buy anything I am recommending, chances are its second rate.

[Wanderer]

Now:



Truly a passionate performance from Gardiner and the LSO. Gardiner has served Boulanger's music well. Absolutely gorgeous.

Told ya! Great disc.