What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[North Star]

Poulenc
Late wind sonatas
Michel Debost (flute), Maurice Bourgue (oboe), Michel Portal (clarinet), Jacques Fevrier (piano)
[asin]B000ENWI7Q[/asin]


Attention, Daniel!
Ireland
Piano Concerto
John Lenehan, John Wilson & RLPO
[asin]B005KNODZ0[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Дмитри Дмитриевич [ Dmitri Dmitriyevich (Shostakovich) ]
Prelude & Fugue in d minor, Op.87 № 24
Olli Mustonen

[asin]B00012SZFO[/asin]

[listener]

from yesterday's acquisitions
LYATOSHYNSKY: Symphony 4 in b^b, op. 63  Symphony 5 in C op. 67 "Slavonic"
Ukranian State Symphony O., Theodor Kuchar, cond.
seems to be all of one kind of Soviet mechanical music, but wait! there's a key change and we're getting a sense of structure  and the bits are getting developed and the orchestration has some interesting sounds.   I'm starting to like this - I'll approach it as maybe a Ukranian Sibelius piece.
- follow-up: I was distracted and did not notice any change between the two works.  Second-rate Myasovsky describes it better.

[TheGSMoeller]

Now:



Listening to Symphony No. 6. Fantastic performance. I've forgotten how much I enjoy this Ozawa cycle.

Bravo! It's a great set, John.

[Rinaldo]

3rd & 4th

[asin]B0000647HP[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Bravo! It's a great set, John.

Indeed, Greg. So far I've listened to the 1st and 6th, very impressive. I think I read a review where Hurwitz didn't like the set. This set is a great contrast with Rozhdestvensky's. Ozawa seems to favor broader tempi and a super-clean attack whereas Rozhdestvensky is much more hard-edged and a hit the target with all your strength type of interpretation. Both are completely valid.

[Sadko]

Rimsky-Korsakov

Piano trio in C minor

David Oistrakh (violin)
Sviatoslav Knushevitsky (cello)
Lev Oborin (piano)

[stingo]

So far...

HAYDN Baryton Trio No. 1
Esterhazy Ensemble

HAYDN Piano Concerto in D, Hob XVIII:11
Jolanda Violante, fortepiano
L'Arte dell'Arco
Federico Guglielmo, conductor

[asin]B001FY7BFC[/asin]

[Sadko]

DVOŘÁK
Piano trio E minor op. 90 'Dumky'

SMETANA
Piano trio G minor op. 15

David Oistrakh (violin)
Sviatoslav Knushevitsky (cello)
Lev Oborin (piano)

[jlaurson]

J. Haydn
Notturni & Scherzandi
Jessop Haydn Ensemble & Trinity Haydn Ensemble
Denis McCaldin
divine 2CDs
German link - UK link

[classicalgeek]

Keeping the Haydn theme going...


Franz Joseph Haydn
String quartet in E major, op. 54 no. 3
Festetics Quartet

[Mirror Image]

Continuing with the Ozawa Prokofiev symphony set:



Listening to Symphony No. 2. Very good so far. Next up will be Symphony No. 7.

Then I'll listen to a new acquisition:

[TheGSMoeller]

Sifting through this set. Expressive, and impressive. 

[Coopmv]

WAGNER - Siegfried
Boulez/Chereau DVD

[asin]B0009F2EPU[/asin]

I have the original record set released on Philips I bought years ago and also this DVD set, which I have yet to open after two years.  Time is too short and always in short supply here ...

[not edward]

I'm clearly failing to keep up with new music these days: I think of Georg Friedrich Haas as a comparatively younger figure, but he's turning 60 this year.

[asin]B00016L96M[/asin]

I know it's not exactly a new thought, but I think the best description of in vain is as a polar opposite to Reich's Music for 18 Musicians. Similar ensemble size (Haas uses 24 players), duration and musical arc, but everything else seems the other side of the coin: Haas very much European to Reich's American, Haas' claustrophobic pile-ups of fourths (perfect and augmented) and microtones as compared to opposed to Reich's tonal harmony, and Haas' work sometimes relentlessly dark in comparison to the celebratory Reich. (This work isn't the only one of Haas' to invoke the idea of a cry of protest or despair that goes unheard.)

I missed a chance to see it live last year (complete with the lighting effects that are in the score)--I hope it'll come along again soon, because I think it'd be a remarkable experience live.

[classicalgeek]

Some wonderfully evocative Scandinavian orchestral music:

Hugo Alfven
Swedish Rhapsody no. 3, op. 47 'Dalecarlian'
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Petri Sakari, conductor

[Brian]

First listens to these rarely-heard and rarely-played works by Prokofiev. Boris Berman and Oleg Marshev are among the very few pianists whose sonata cycles also includes the Etudes, Pieces, Sonatinas, and unfinished 37-measure fragment of Sonata No. 10, which makes this a handy addition to almost any Prokofiev piano collection.

[asin]B009TBNW7Y[/asin]

The Fifth Sonata is in the much later revised version.

[classicalgeek]

Sifting through this set. Expressive, and impressive. 

A very fine Brahms cycle!  One of my favorites, up there with Mackerras, among others.  I actually bought it from Japan about five years ago, as I'd heard great things about it, but it was hopelessly out of print in the States!

As for me, I'm finally observing Shostakovich Symphony Month!

Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony no. 10 in E minor, op. 93
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Daniele Gatti, conductor


From a broadcast of a 2006 concert.  Fine performance so far.

[TheGSMoeller]

David Lang: Orpheus Over and Under (for two pianos)

[jlaurson]

J. Haydn
Notturni & Scherzandi
Jessop Haydn Ensemble & Trinity Haydn Ensemble
Denis McCaldin
divine 2CDs
German link - UK link

Wow... disc 1, with the Jessop Student orchestra, turned out to be quite horrendous. Where was quality control when they issued that off-key, intonation and accuracy challenged clunker.