What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[fridden]

I just got the complete set of Beethoven symphonies with Vänskä and Minnesota Symphony Orchestra and I am now listening to the first symphony with them.
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So far it sounds very good.

[Karl Henning]

Tippett
Little Music for strings
English String Orchestra
Wm Boughton

[Mirror Image]

Tippett
Little Music for strings
English String Orchestra
Wm Boughton

Oh, how lovely.

[Opus106]

Does Vänskä look a bit like David Letterman wearing a wig (and a slightly puffier face, maybe), or is it just me imagining things?

Thread Duty: Martinů | Symphony No. 5 | Jiri B. and CzPO (Live in Prague). I'm having not quite a palooza, but earlier in the evening I did enjoy listening to No. 6 (JB and BBC Phil).

[Karl Henning]

“Papa”
Symphony № 102 in B^b Hob.I:102
Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble
Marc Minkowski

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[Mirror Image]

Does Vänskä look a bit like David Letterman wearing a wig (and a slightly puffier face, maybe), or is it just me?

Yes, I can see some resemblance between Vanska and Letterman.

[Todd]

A second listen.  Meticulously played and ravishing, but a little chilly.

[Karl Henning]

“Papa”
Symphony № 101 in D Hob.I:101
Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble
Marc Minkowski

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[listener]

REGER:
Violin Concerto in A, op.101 (re-orchestrated by Adolf Busch)
2 Romances for Violin and Orch. op. 50
Aria op.103a/3 (orch. Reger)
Kolja Lessing, violin    Göttingen Symphony Orch.,  Christoph Mathias Mueller, cond.
I've heard the piano concerto but not the Reger original of the violin concerto.  Based on that I'll guess that the Busch arrangement is to be preferred.
ROUSSEL: Symphonies 2 in Bb op. 23, 4 in A op. 53
Orchestre National de France, Charles Dutoit cond.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

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Listening to Divertimento on 'Sellinger's Round'. This is really a nice work. Great performance too.

Divertimento on 'Sellinger's Round' is quite Stravinskyian, especially the fifth movement (Allegro assai). Very cool.

[Karl Henning]

“Papa”
String Quartet in F, Op.50 № 5 Hob.III:48
Nomos Quartet

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[Lisztianwagner]

Albert Roussel
Symphony No.3

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[jlaurson]

Earlier:

Now:



L.v. Beethoven
Piano Sonatas
Claudio Arrau (1st cycle)
Decca (ex-Philips), 9 CDs
At last I've added Arrau I to my Beethoven. I've had a couple individual discs from it and was not particularly impressed back then... but did like his later cycle (generally considered a lesser effort). And a colleague absolutely loves the sound of it (he's got the LPs, admittedly.) So it had to be. This is the Italian, jewel-case-in-slip-case re-issue (Gran Concerto) which does not include the concertos or the Diabelli Variations as did the last, very nice, Philips edition. The new, super-budget "Collector's Edition" does, despite its name, include those performances, i think. That's the one the link goes to.

Earlier:



R. Strauss
Der Bürger als Edelmann (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme)
complete opera/musical comedy
K.A.Rickenbacher / MKO / P.Ustinov
Koch-Schwann 2CDs
Rarity in its complete (or any) form. Absurd prices on Amazon.com, but cheap-cheap at Amazon.de. Fairly amusing, and charming music (despite the interruptions)... and even Ustinov is at his most bearable. But hardly essential. In German, of course. Would be interesting if Ustinov did the whole thing in English for the English version. Would be very much like him to do that... but not much like a record label to follow suite. Although the cover was adjusted for the market.

[TheGSMoeller]

Interesting! Particularly the 2nd has my interest. Impressions?

Q

Sorry, Que, missed your post.

Both very good performances, can't really go wrong either way. Biggest difference is the sound, the Mccresh/Archiv disc is subject to some balance issues with instruments and soloists sounding too distant...the Balestracci/NCA is cleaner and benefits from the surround sound disc...with that being said, I find myself enjoying the Mccresh/Archiv slightly more, I find it represents the hefty sound that the Missa was written for, it offers that grand cathedral sound.
But like I said, both very good performancs.

[The new erato]

Still an outstanding disc.

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[Mirror Image]

Albert Roussel
Symphony No.3

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You should get the Naxos series of Roussel, Ilaria. First-rate performances from all involved.

[madaboutmahler]

I have finally finished the Debussy/Martinon box set, and what a beautiful exploration it was. (with many repeats along the way!!! )Thoroughly enjoyed it all, I have posted more thoughts on the Debussy thread.

So, finished off with:

[asin]B000BL99UK[/asin]
Fantasie pour piano et orchestre
La plus que lent (for cimbalom and orchestra)
Khamma
Tarantelle styrienne

[Lisztianwagner]

You should get the Naxos series of Roussel, Ilaria. First-rate performances from all involved.

Sounds brilliant, thanks for the suggestion, John.

I have finally finished the Debussy/Martinon box set, and what a beautiful exploration it was. (with many repeats along the way!!! )Thoroughly enjoyed it all, I have posted more thoughts on the Debussy thread.

So, finished off with:

[asin]B000BL99UK[/asin]
Fantasie pour piano et orchestre
La plus que lent (for cimbalom and orchestra)
Khamma
Tarantelle styrienne

Wonderful, that set is highly beautiful!
Now, nothing can keep you away from Wagner's Ring....

[madaboutmahler]

Wonderful, that set is highly beautiful!
Now, nothing can keep you away from Wagner's Ring....

Apart from the fact that I am not getting the scores until Monday. The scores cost me £80! Luckily, I brought them from the local music shop using a gift voucher I had been given as my bursary at the Chesham Arts Festival recently. Meaning, I am free to spend all my birthday money on more cds! Have my eye on the Tennstedt Mahler cycle, various Tippett discs, more Debussy and Ravel plus some more Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
The school easter holidays starts tommorow afternoon, and lasts 2 weeks. So in those two weeks, I want to at least listen to Das Rheingold, Die Walkure and Siegfried. And I want to listen to them twice each before moving onto the next so I fully get to know the piece, and plot. Very excited!

[Lisztianwagner]

Apart from the fact that I am not getting the scores until Monday. The scores cost me £80! Luckily, I brought them from the local music shop using a gift voucher I had been given as my bursary at the Chesham Arts Festival recently. Meaning, I am free to spend all my birthday money on more cds! Have my eye on the Tennstedt Mahler cycle, various Tippett discs, more Debussy and Ravel plus some more Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
The school easter holidays starts tommorow afternoon, and lasts 2 weeks. So in those two weeks, I want to at least listen to Das Rheingold, Die Walkure and Siegfried. And I want to listen to them twice each before moving onto the next so I fully get to know the piece, and plot. Very excited!

I'm not surprised the scores cost so much, they're very long and require the use of a very large orchestra! I suppose you could listen to the whole Das Rheingold, Die Walkure and Siegfried in two weeks; I recommend you to pay the highest attention when you listen to them if you really want to understand their beauty and power (but I'm sure you would have done it anyway ), because Wagner's compositions are not simply "operas", they are works where music, poetry, singing and even psychology merge themselves. Haha, the libretto is absolutely worth reading too!
So glad you will start your wagnerian journey soon, tell me what you think about the Ring once listened Das Rheingold!