What are you listening to now?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

What do you think of that performance, Jessop?

I hadn't heard it before but it's very good. It is very grand but not quite as grand as Sinopoli's. The thing about this symphony is how much the tempi vary in each interpretation. Chailly takes his time to the most wonderful effect I have heard in the more lyrical subjects in the exposition and recapitulation and the changes tempo are imperceptible, almost like Elliott Carter and his metric modulation. The only thing about this interpretation is that there are times in some of the most heroic or climactic moments of the first movement that it feels a bit restraint. Perhaps because Chailly views things on more of a macro level in terms of the underlying pace of the movement. Personally I think that there could have been a bit more variety in the phrasing in these moments in the work, but the way Chailly builds up from 23:48 to 24:03 is absolutely thrilling. The middle movements are all pretty good to me, but where this interpretation really shines is in the finale where the fast pace is really complemented by wonderful micro-phrasing and really obvious articulations and accents that bring the movement to life. Around the 2nd minute and the 3rd minute of the last movement this is really apparent, with the music always seeming to be moving forwards to the next idea, the next colour, the next mood, in what always sounds like a logical fashion. The timpani+trumpet combination sound bright and dazzling, and the last couple of minutes (which are my favourite last minutes in any Mahler symphony) have that kind of heightened passion and intensity that I felt was missing at times in the recap/coda of the first movement.

Now listening to some wonderful French music........

[GioCar]

Indeed, I've been fixated with Nono's music as of late  . I've always very much admired his "orthodox Darmstadt" music, but am now reappreciating his later, "quietist" period.

I still haven't heard Da un diario italiano. Your comment makes that CD go straight to my wishlist, GioCar.   

Saluti cordiali,

Very glad for that, you won't be disappointed.
We all would need to listen to Nono's voice much more now, in our dark times...Have you ever heard / see Intolleranza 1960?
I really wish I had the chance to see it staged live at least once.

Saludos cordiales 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Ah, Luigi Nono is one composer I haven't yet really come to love, hopefully I will soon seeing that his music is much admired here! Any recommendations as to where to start?

[GioCar]

EML

Frescobaldi: CD2 from his Opera Omnia

[asin]B005910DMA[/asin]

Wow! Wonderful music! In CD2 there is the 1637 appendix of his "Toccate e partite, libro 1 - 1615", that one with the monumental and glorious "Cento partite su passacagli" (more than 100 variations on a passacaglia bass - in 10 minutes of music!).
All the rest in that CD is absolutely amazing as well, a sort of preparation to this Frescobaldi pinnacle.

[GioCar]

Ah, Luigi Nono is one composer I haven't yet really come to love, hopefully I will soon seeing that his music is much admired here! Any recommendations as to where to start?

If I were you, I'd go straight to Prometeo - Tragedia dell'ascolto. I recommend this recording (altough a live/staged experience could be a lifetime one)

[asin]B000VKW79G[/asin]
The second part of the title (tragedy of listening) is almost always omitted, but is the true key of this masterpiece

If "it clicks" for you, you are going to be a Nonian for the rest of your life 

PS thanks for you very interesting review of Mahler 7 with Chailly.

[Crassus]

A fascinating arrangement for String Trio by Sitkovetsky of Bach's magisterial keyboard magnum opus.
Different but still retains the essence of the original.

[asin]B00570JXNI[/asin]

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

If I were you, I'd go straight to Prometeo - Tragedia dell'ascolto. I recommend this recording (altough a live/staged experience could be a lifetime one)

[asin]B000VKW79G[/asin]
The second part of the title (tragedy of listening) is almost always omitted, but is the true key of this masterpiece

If "it clicks" for you, you are going to be a Nonian for the rest of your life 

PS thanks for you very interesting review of Mahler 7 with Chailly.

Hm I can't find that on Spotify or YouTube..........anything else I could start with?

[king ubu]

Prometeo - Tragedia dell'ascolto ... (altough a live/staged experience could be a lifetime one)

uhm, yes indeed! 

thread duty:



New arrival, first spin - three sonate da camera and five motets, sung by bass Wolf Matthias Friedrich and soprano Raquel Andueza (three for soprano, one for bass, one for both) - wonderfully played, as I've come to expect from Amandine Beyer and her Gli Incogniti.

review in French:
http://passee-des-arts.over-blog.com/article-beatus-vir-motets-inedits-et-sonates-de-rosenmuller-diriges-par-amandine-beyer-56147916.html

[The new erato]

First spin of this:



which have languished unplayed for too long in this box:

[asin]B003W16TBS[/asin]

[aligreto]

Shostakovich: String Quartets No. 7 & 8 [Pacifica Quartet]....

[Que]

EML

Frescobaldi: CD2 for his Opera Omnia

[asin]B005910DMA[/asin]

Wow! Wonderful music! In CD2 there is the 1637 appendix of his "Toccate e partite, libro 1 - 1615", that one with the monumental and glorious "Cento partite su passacagli" (more than 100 variations on a passacaglia bass - in 10 minutes of music!).
All the rest in that CD is absolutely amazing as well, a sort of preparation to this Frescobaldi pinnacle.

I got that set after my dissapointment with the Vartolo set (Tactus), and made hardly any serious dent in it...
Will hsve to return to it ASAP. 

Q

[aligreto]

I got that set after my dissapointment with the Vartolo set (Tactus), and made hardly any serious dent in it...
Will hsve to return to it ASAP. 

Q

I bought that set just over a year or so ago. I worked my way slowly through it and there is a wealth of enjoyment in there 

[Camphy]

[Que]

Anyways, I started my morning with listening to Volume III of The Leiden Choirbooks:

[asin]B006WG3U2Q[/asin]

[asin]B00YJKUZ1Q[/asin]

I think any doubters will be converted by the absolutely breath taking opening with a motet by Clemens non Papa, a composer well represented in these manuscripts.

Q

[Que]

New arrival, first spin - three sonate da camera and five motets, sung by bass Wolf Matthias Friedrich and soprano Raquel Andueza (three for soprano, one for bass, one for both) - wonderfully played, as I've come to expect from Amandine Beyer and her Gli Incogniti.

review in French: http://passee-des-arts.over-blog.com/article-beatus-vir-motets-inedits-et-sonates-de-rosenmuller-diriges-par-amandine-beyer-56147916.html

I'm drewling......   

Q

[The new erato]

I'm drewling......   

Q

Just buy. It's very fine, and perhaps it can encourage other to do more Rosenmuller.

[Harry]

I got that set after my dissapointment with the Vartolo set (Tactus), and made hardly any serious dent in it...
Will hsve to return to it ASAP. 

Q

O, dear really?
Well its time you start again, for there is some fine music in this box.

[cilgwyn]

A Die Fledermaus marathon. I'm listening through ten complete sets. This one now:

[Que]

A Die Fledermaus marathon. I'm listening through ten complete sets. This one now:

I would be interested in your shortlist when you are done!

(And I'm sure I'm not the only one)

Q

[ritter]

Very glad for that, you won't be disappointed.
We all would need to listen to Nono's voice much more now, in our dark times...Have you ever heard / see Intolleranza 1960?
I really wish I had the chance to see it staged live at least once.

Saludos cordiales 

Oh yes...I've heard Intolleranza 1960 in the Teldec performance from Stuttgart (alas, in German translation--I don't know of any commercial recording in the original Italian  ). I must revisit it (as well as Al gran sole carico d'amore).

If I were you, I'd go straight to Prometeo - Tragedia dell'ascolto. I recommend this recording (altough a live/staged experience could be a lifetime one)

[asin]B000VKW79G[/asin]
The second part of the title (tragedy of listening) is almost always omitted, but is the true key of this masterpiece

If "it clicks" for you, you are going to be a Nonian for the rest of your life 

Great recommendaton, GioCar, as Prometeo is the magnum opus of Nono's late period. Most of his music from the 80s was somehow "gravitating" towards the Tragedia dell'asoclto, e.g., Io - frammento da Prometeo and Das atmende Klarsein (I found the latter fascinating in a recent listening).

jessop, I would also suggest some of the earlier pieces from the 50s. Il canto sospeso is generally regarded as one of the high points of the "Darmstadt school":

[asin]B0000028YX[/asin]
I have a particular fondness for Polifonica - Monodia - Ritmica, available here:

[asin]B00002432E[/asin]
And then there's the fascinating ...sofferte onde serene... from 1976, which is profoundly beautiful:

[asin]B00000E3Z2[/asin]

And so much more...