What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[George]

Morning Q! 

I'm off to work (for the clampdown).

Hop-alongee-long. 

[Thom]

Stenhammar Symphony no. 2 (great music)

[SonicMan46]

Goodmorning all!  Joseph Haydn.  Complete Piano Trio's.  Van Swieten Trio.

Q & Harry - just a great box set all the way!  I must put mine on for another spin, soon - 

I had a number of 'free' CDs on my BMG account (of course, not really after their S&H!) which just arrived, so my morning music:

Mozart - Divertimenti, Nos. 10 &17 w/ the Gaudier Ensemble - I love this group & have many of their recordings - would not think this would disappoint - delightful music!

Saint-Saens - Piano Trios w/ the Florestan Trio; this disc has been featured & recommended numerous times on this thread - I do own the excellent Naxos equivalent - comin' up next!   

 

[The new erato]

Stenhammar Symphony no. 2 (great music)

In agree. The old Caprice recording under Westerberg is one of the best sounding recordings (LP, havne't heard the CD) in my collection.

Me, I'm listening to this:



Also a great sounding recording of a fabulous symphony.

[Maciek]

a still unknown pianist called Piotr Paleczny

You must be kidding (or am I missing the irony?)!

[not edward]

You must be kidding (or am I missing the irony?)!

I guess he's less well-known out of Poland. Personally, I find him notable for having recorded both my favourite and my second favourite Szymanowski Symphonie Concertante. (He also recorded my least favourite Lutoslawski concerto, though...)

I'm listening to this disc: a bit more bite to it than some ECM recordings in similar vein:

[rubio]

Sibelius Symphony No. 6 and No. 7 + En Saga performed by Segerstam/BBC Scottish SO. I really liked this disc that came with the last issue of BBC Music Magazine. Segerstam's soundscape is lush and warm, maybe some more chill could be nice from time to time. I have not heard many different performances of these symphonies. I only recall Karajan. The En Saga by Segerstam is especially nice - dark and brooding. Any suggestions for other excellent performances of the En Saga?

[Harry]

Stenhammar Symphony no. 2 (great music)

Excellent performance too.

[Que]

Q

[paul]

John Harbison's Concerto for Bass Viol and Orchestra that I recorded from a broadcast last night with Ed Barker, double bass and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine. After listening to it a few times, I think the piece is very good and it's a nice addition to the double bass repertoire. It sounds fiendishly difficult and has a really beautiful slow section.

Up next, Mozart 33:



I need more recordings of this symphony. The best that I have is Carlos Kleiber conducting the Bayerisches Staatsorchester on a DVD by DG. Maybe it would be worth going through the trouble of making a CD of the audio. Neville is probably the best of the bunch I have with the others being Böhm/BP and Pinnock/English Concert but for me, Kleiber easily surpasses them all. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Drasko]

Any suggestions for other excellent performances of the En Saga?

Vänskä & Furtwängler.

[sidoze]

You must be kidding (or am I missing the irony?)!

I certainly don't know him, and I used to search quite far abroad for Chopin recordings. What has he recorded? Does he tour outside Poland?

[BachQ]

Brahms 3 (Bruno Walter)  0:)

[greg]

there's 7 CDs I've listened to over the past 2 weeks


have only heard this concerto once, years ago.
nice rediscovery, recognized the last movement theme (actually, i've heard that last movement a few times). Nice to sorta rediscover Brahms after not listening to 'new' Brahms for a long time.


the 6th symphony i never cared for much....... but the Overture on Hebrew Themes I've always loved. The new one for me, though, was the Love for 3 Oranges Suite- and yeah, it was sweet 


Walton..... hm, interesting. Never heard this guy's stuff. But that symphony is pretty impressive, it's sorta neoRomantic, but in a modern way. Hard to explain, i guess.


1 review, 1 star on amazon, lol
actually, i really liked this CD. It's surprising, too. Never heard these works, it's really refreshing stuff.


first time really getting into Elgar. I've heard his Cello Concerto once, a few years ago, but not much more at all. His style is actually more complex than i thought, and overall it's pretty good. I enjoyed it somewhat, too, but it seems like his style lacks a certain factor that should make him stand out from the rest of the crowd. Sure, he's got skill with counterpoint and stuff, but I don't know if it's just because I haven't heard enough, or maybe this guy is just lacking an 'it' factor. It's like he's stepping into the worlds of various Romantic composers but he's not totally in his own world like many other composers, mainly the most succesful ones like Beethoven, Brahms, Stravinsky.


actually, mine had a different cover...
first look at Tippet Symphonies, i'm just familiar with his string quartets. He's ok, but his musical language doesn't catch my attention much. The 2nd symphony could be played in the background and i could forget there's music playing. The 4th symphony is close to be exceptionally sweet- it has some amazing moments but the overall construction seems random even if he didn't intend it that way.


and finally:
Shostakovich- Symphony 8/ Rostropovich
The last Shosty symphony ever, for me...............i couldn't wait!!!!

...

...
and, well, i didn't find it very impressive at all. Sounds like more of the same Shosty watered down. His symphonies for me are wildly incredible one second and achingly boring the next. He's totally unpredictable 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Perfect Sunday morning listening  0:)

[Maciek]

I certainly don't know him, and I used to search quite far abroad for Chopin recordings. What has he recorded? Does he tour outside Poland?

At your service.

First of all, I agree with Edward: his Szymanowski 4th might be the best available. His two recordings of the Paderewski PC are also (IMO) the best available. I haven't heard his Lutoslawski PC, so can't comment on that. I also have his Pictures at an Exhibition (Polskie Nagrania, recently re-re-released), which are rather uninteresting.

As for his Chopin, here are some of his recent recordings:

The Best of Chopin (DUX 150): Polonaise in A flat Major op. 53, Fantasie-Impromptu C sharp Minor op. 66, Nocturne F sharp Major op. 15 no. 2, Scherzo B flat Minor op. 31, Piano Concerto E Minor op. 11 (version with string quintet). This won the 1999 "Fryderyk" Award for classical music; later re-released without the dreadful "best of" title, under an almost identical cover:


He is also one of the pianists featured in BeArTon's Chopin's Complete Works in the National Edition recording project (the National Edition is supposed to be the definitive edition of Chopin's works, the first critical edition in history). He has recorded 3 discs in this series - the Ballades + Fantasy in F Minor, the Sonatas in B flat and B Minor, and both the Piano Concertos (with Sinfonia Varsovia under Maksymiuk):

(the covers in these series look uncannily similar to Muza's old "golden" Chopin's Complete Works series - but this one is something entirely different)

I haven't heard him perform outside Poland () but according to biographical info he has performed in various places, amongst them: Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Royal Festival Hall in London.

It's also worth noting that apart from winning the 3rd Prize in the Chopin Competition (and the Prize for the Best Performance of the Polonaises), he also won: the Gold Medal in Sofia (1968), Gold Medal in Pleven (1972), Gold Medal and Grand Prix in Bordeaux (1972) and a prize (don't know the details) in Munich (1969).

Over here he is considered one of the best Polish pianists, in the same league as Ewa Poblocka or Janusz Olejniczak (Krystian Zimerman or Piotr Anderszewski are of course an entirely different category, for several reasons). He was, for instance, invited to perform during the gala concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of the (Warsaw) National Philharmonic - a very prestigious concert.

[Mozart]

Mozart Violin Concertos

[Solitary Wanderer]

Gotterdammerung Act.3.


Finished!

[Kullervo]

Stenhammar Symphony no. 2 (great music)

What's with the huge WARNING on the front?

[Don]

Mozart Violin Concertos

What do you think of Mutter in this program?