What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Coopmv]

She is probably the best violinist of her generation ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from the following box, a recent arrival for my first listen ...

[Lisztianwagner]

From the BBC Proms:

Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum
interval
Mahler: Symphony No.6

Leipzig Gewandhaus/Chailly

[bhodges]

Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit (Inon Barnatan, piano, from Darknesse Visible) - My first encounter with Barnatan, and he's quite good. Love this program of Ravel,  Adès, Britten and Debussy.

[asin]B0074XY8VS[/asin]

--Bruce

[Conor71]

Chausson: Piano Trio In G Major, Op. 3


Continuing with some oh-so French listening today - first up I played the ABM Disc of Debussy Piano Music, a really great Disc. Now I am listening to the Ravel/Chausson Piano Trios played by the Beaux Arts Trio. I think the Ravel Trio has to be one of my favourite Chamber works, its very beautiful. Next up I plan to play a couple of Discs from the Martinon set of Debussy/Ravel Orchestral Music - there are still some of the Debussy works which I dont know very well yet .

[bhodges]

From the BBC Proms:

Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum
interval
Mahler: Symphony No.6

Leipzig Gewandhaus/Chailly

Now listening to the Messiaen - fabulous. It's here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mdgy0

--Bruce

[Lisztianwagner]

From the BBC Proms:

Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum
interval
Mahler: Symphony No.6

Leipzig Gewandhaus/Chailly

Amazing concert! Such a wonderful performance by Chailly/Gewandhaus, I incredibly enjoyed it!! I listened to Messiaen's Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum for the first time, what an extremely brilliant composition, the use of percussion was great, really thrilling. Concerning the 6th symphony, no words to describe how much I love this piece, it always strikes me very much; such powerful, passionate and hauntingly beautiful music! Chailly chose to reverse the Scherzo and the Andante moderato, a very interesting choice; overall the performance was excellent, just the tempo of the Scherzo was too fast, too aggressive.

Now listening to the Messiaen - fabulous. It's here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mdgy0

--Bruce

Thank you, Bruce; it was the first time I listened to the Messiaen, I extremely appreciate it!

I'll provably listen to it again

[North Star]

Amazing concert! Such a wonderful performance by Chailly/Gewandhaus, I incredibly enjoyed it!! I listened to Messiaen's Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum for the first time, what an extremely brilliant composition, the use of percussion was great, really thrilling. Concerning the 6th symphony, no words to describe how much I love this piece, it always strikes me very much; such powerful, passionate and hauntingly beautiful music! Chailly chose to reverse the Scherzo and the Andante moderato, a very interesting choice; overall the performance was excellent, just the tempo of the Scherzo was too fast, too aggressive.

Thank you, Bruce; it was the first time I listened to the Messiaen, I extremely appreciate it!

I'll provably listen to it again

I'll you now, Ilaria. Great piece, isn't it! Hearing it live must be something else, though.

Serge Baudo, Ensemble de Percussion de l'Orchestre de Paris; Orchestre de Paris
[asin]B001DCQJUY[/asin]

[bhodges]

Amazing concert! Such a wonderful performance by Chailly/Gewandhaus, I incredibly enjoyed it!! I listened to Messiaen's Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum for the first time, what an extremely brilliant composition, the use of percussion was great, really thrilling. Concerning the 6th symphony, no words to describe how much I love this piece, it always strikes me very much; such powerful, passionate and hauntingly beautiful music! Chailly chose to reverse the Scherzo and the Andante moderato, a very interesting choice; overall the performance was excellent, just the tempo of the Scherzo was too fast, too aggressive.

Thank you, Bruce; it was the first time I listened to the Messiaen, I extremely appreciate it!

I'll provably listen to it again

Thanks for posting this. I keep forgetting that these great Proms concerts are available for a week - but then they're gone. I know I've missed a few...

You might enjoy my review of the Messiaen (first time I heard it live) with James Levine and the MET Orchestra - it was quite an afternoon.

Am much looking forward to the Mahler, but I have to log off for dinner with friends, so I may have to get to it tomorrow. But Chailly and the group certainly sound very impressive in this concert.

--Bruce

[Lisztianwagner]

I'll you now, Ilaria. Great piece, isn't it! Hearing it live must be something else, though.

Yes, of course; music is much more impressive, much more powerful when you listen to it live. Daniel was very lucky to attend the Prom.

Thanks for posting this. I keep forgetting that these great Proms concerts are available for a week - but then they're gone. I know I've missed a few...

You might enjoy my review of the Messiaen (first time I heard it live) with James Levine and the MET Orchestra - it was quite an afternoon.

Am much looking forward to the Mahler, but I have to log off for dinner with friends, so I may have to get to it tomorrow. But Chailly and the group certainly sound very impressive in this concert.

--Bruce

What a pity, I've missed some of these concerts too; this year the BBC Proms were definitely stunning!

Thank you for the review, I will certainly read it!

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD5, the last CD from the following set for a first listen ...

[pbarach]

Beethoven symphony 6, first Zinman and then Scherchen.

[Lilas Pastia]

Schumann, piano concerto in A minor. Claudio Arrau, Eugen Jochum, KCOA. A noble, broad yet tautly structured interpretation. Arrau's inimitable tone is as beautiful as any pianist ever produced (especially the bass notes from his formidable left hand). The conducting is excellent and the orchestra mostly so. Live from the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, from an April 21, 1977 concert.

The Grieg concerto follows, with the same conductor and orchestra, this time from a January 28, 1979 evening. Emil Gilels is the aristocratic, refined pianist. I don't think he's recorded or played this concerto often, but it's a splendid interpretation: lofty, pensive, warmly romantic yet utterly classical in feeling. Surprisingly, it's not the first time I hear wrong notes from this pianist, but in a live performance I'd rather have inspiration and spontaneity than literalness and note-perfect delivery.

The sound is very good in both works. A Tahra release.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from the following set, a recent arrival for a first listen ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD4 from the following set for a first listen ...

[Mirror Image]

Now:

[Lilas Pastia]

Symphonies 7 , 8 by Beethoven. Peter Maag conducts the Padua e Veneto Orchestra.

This is my first encounter with Maag's Beethoven. I bought this because it was waiting to be picked up in the clearance bin for 1.99$. I started listeneing and started to be intrigued, then surprised and ultimately very impressed. I read extensive reviews of the complete set from Amazon reviewers and can only confirm what apparently everybody else has found out already: these are surprisingly intense, committed, original interpretations. I don't hear an execution, but an interpretation of the music. Maag chooses generally brisk tempi, but he is surprisingly unpredictive with them. The Scherzo of the 7th is an instance in point. The Presto sections are bouncy, unpretentious, unferocious, simply zippy and scherzando. Then comes the trio section - Assai meno presto - much less speedy. I generally don't like a big tempo slowdown. IIRC the metronome markings do not sustain that view, and it usually sounds bloated, coarse and much too loud. Well, wait 'till you hear the way Maag conducts it. It's slooooow, but magically sustained, never loud or overbearing. It sounds like the aural equivalent of a nightscape with a bright full moon, with clouds slowly passing before la Luna. The first time it's really surprising, the second it's like there's no other way to play it.

There are countless instrumental details in these two performances that perk up the ears. Not really the orchestra's doing I suppose, rather the conductor's choices. In other words, these are unusual, and unusually stimulating performances. The sound is big and resonant, belying the fact that only 35 musicians are playing. But it does allow a lot of detail to come through. Winds and timpani in particular are very clearly heard. Not loud, simply clear and well into the picture. Strings are audibly on the small side in terms of numbers. Their sound is slightly lean, but never acidic or wiry. Winds are excellent. Horns never force. They are heard throughout without ever forcing their tone. I wish the trumpets would pierce the texture at climaxes though. To hear the WP trumpeter rip through the full orchestra in the coda of 7:I in Böhm's 1970 version is to hear what a real beethovenian climax is meant to sound. Maag, like most others is too concerned with impeccable balances at that particular moment. But that counts for little in view of a superb achievement. This is Beethoven with personality.

The Eight is just as good. The first movement is weighty and dynamic at once. The second is delightfully delicate and bouncy, an absolute treat. I don't think I've ever heard that movement played so winningly. One of Beethoven's 'greatest hits' !  The finale is, well, simply too long, but every single version I've heard makes me wish Beethoven had cut the development by half. Sometimes Beethoven got carried away and simply couldn't stop. Most of the time he got away with it but in some rare instances he did not. Beethoven's writing is first and foremost rythmically driven, with short motifs elaborately and extensively subjected to all kinds of variations. The emphasis is on forward motion, not melodic wallowing. Which is why I generally prefer repeatless readings. Some conductors make repeats sound inevitable, but they are not thick on the ground. Actually, the vast majority make repeats sound like a bow to latter-day convention - something Beethoven would have ferociously opposed.

All told, it whets the appetite for more. Maag and his orchestra have recorded the Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Mozart (32-41) symphonies. A complete set is available. I'm tempted.

[Gold Knight]

Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.3, Op.27 {"Sinfonia Espansiva"} and Symphony No.4, Op.29 {"The Inextinguishable"}. Both feature the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Herbert Blomstedt.

[Coopmv]

CD1 was wonderful

Now playing CD2 from the following twofer for a first listen ...

[Lilas Pastia]

Continuing apace in the 50-disc French EMI set of Beethoven works, I've left the piano sonatas 27-32 and the violin sonatas for a later encounter. Tonight was devoted to the Op. 1 Piano trios  here performed by the Hungarian Trio. As their name implies, they're hungarian musicians, refugees from the 1956 soviet invasion who settled in France. Members are Georges Solchany, Arpad Gerecz and Vilmos Palotai. I have heard Solchany in the Bagatelles and Variations and found him to be a very serious, utterly dedicated, unpretentious performer. IOW the real thing: musica prima, personalita seconda. Arpad Gerecz is a well-known quantity, having played and recorded extensively throughout a long career. I had never heard of cellist Palotai.

But hear I did, as Beethoven entrusts the cello with many soloistic opportunities in his youthful Trios. The foremost characteristic of these artiste as a group is how effortlessly each asserts a distinct, strong musical personality while always blending to produce a beautifully meshed ensemble sonority. From what I hear, this is achieved by never playing ff in solo turns, reserving the tonal outbursts for those rare climaxes where Beethoven requires the three instruments to become one. Since they don't vie for the limelight individually, their voice is heard all the more clearly. A different sonic combination than, say, Harrell, Ashkenazy and Perlman, but ultimately a more musical one. Real home-made fruit ice cream vs. industrial chocolate mousse.