What's on your MP3 player?

[Mark]

Supposing you have one, naturally.


I've been listening to A LOT of Phillipe Herreweghe's work recently. I'm very impressed. Could it be that I'm about to join the 'crunchy granola' brigade?

[Keemun]

Everything I listen to is on my iPod.    I would say the fastest growing collection on my iPod is Bruckner's symphonies... I keep adding them at a rate faster than I can listen to them.     HIP Bach has made some significant progress as well.  Here are the two most recent additions:


(The Russian one is Bruckner 4 - Emil Tchakarov/Leningrad Philharmonic, courtesy of www.abruckner.com)

Mark, I noticed you have Herreweghe's Bruckner 7 pictured in your post.  How is it?  I can't really imagine what it would sound like (aside from short clips online), but if it's good I might give it a try.  (eMusic is great for that sort of thing.)

[not edward]

Right now:

Scherchen's live Beethoven cycle from Lugano: a second-rate orchestra getting whipped into a shape it can't quite hold.
Scherchen again in various Honegger pieces (including the best Pacific 231 I've ever heard).
Furtwangler conducting Brahms 2 & 3 and Bruckner 5.
Boulez's live Mahler 2.
Karajan live in Mahler 6.
Kubelik live in Das Lied von der Erde.
Dohnanyi's recording of the two Ives Orchestral sets.
The Juilliard Quartet's mono recordings of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.
Sofronitsky playing Scriabin sonatas.
Plus a bunch of bootleg live recordings of music by Adams, Carter, Denisov, Dutilleux, Martinu and Scelsi.

[Lethevich]

Mark, I noticed you have Herreweghe's Bruckner 7 pictured in your post.  How is it?  I can't really imagine what it would sound like (aside from short clips online), but if it's good I might give it a try.  (eMusic is great for that sort of thing.)

I've only heard them on radio broadcasts, but from those the 7th seemed to work a lot better than the 4th. I am unsure if I could call it a success before listening to it properly, but it worked wonders with the lyrical quiet sections and for revealing detail sometimes buried under the string section. The brass also doesn't sound puny, as may be expected with "HIP" Bruckner played by a... decidedly not "big name" orchestra. It's obviously reined back, but works well.

Edit: I also want HIP Wagner...

[drogulus]

   

[Scriptavolant]

Schoenberg complete quartets
Charles Ives complete symphonies
Schnittke Symphony No. 3
Stravinsky (Persephone, Symphony for wind, Concerto for 12 instruments)
Integrale des melodies de Mussorgsky
Gieseking: Complete Ravel and Debussy piano music
Mozart Piano Concertos complete (Brendel/Marriner)
Bach: Partitas with Hewitt
Monteverdi: Libro dei madrigali 3 & 4
Sorabij: Villa Tasca, Passeggiata Veneziana
Arvo Paert: Fratres
Beethoven 3 Late Sonatas (Pollini, Schnabel, Brendel, Solomon, Gould, Serkin)
Italian Contemporary music Miscellanenous (Berio, Maderna, Nono, Scelsi)
Mendelssohn: Ouvertures
Delius: Orchestral Works
Love Songs from the Middle Ages
Malipiero Almost Complete Symphonies

[Norbeone]

Everything I have is on my Mp3 player. 7 Gigabyes of that is Bach. But I do have a lot of other stuff on it too.

[Mark]

Thanks, Lethe, for stepping in to answer Keemun's question about the Herreweghe Bruckner Seventh. I couldn't have answered as I've yet to hear it.

[longears]

What to me is essential repertory--core works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Mahler, Debussy, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Barber, Copland, Adams, Tchaikovsky, Dvorák, Mendelssohn, et al, plus Mingus, Miles, Brubeck, Evans, Gordon, and so on, plus some Talking Heads, Pretenders, Nirvana, Lyle Lovett, Chris Rea and the like.

[orbital]

I have 56 GBs of music in there. 50 GB's of classical and 5-6 of other stuff (Led Zeppelin, The Cure, Radiohead, etc)
Chopin alone must be abot 15-16GB, Bach following with 10 or so.

[Mark]

I'm looking forward to exploring Maxwell Davies' first two Naxos Quartets (a series of ten was commissioned by the label; two remain to be written/recorded). I love the Maggini Quartet, so this should (I hope) be a treat.

[Bonehelm]

I got 149GB classical music on my ipod classic (new version), about 30 of which are Mahler cycles, and that is only symphonies.

[mahlertitan]

the core of my Ipod Nano consists of a Bruckner cycle by various conductors/orchestras. I also have some mendelssohn, dvorak, strauss, ziehrer, and Beethoven piano sonatas.

[Lethevich]

Thanks, Lethe, for stepping in to answer Keemun's question about the Herreweghe Bruckner Seventh. I couldn't have answered as I've yet to hear it.

I am highly adept at butting in...

[Mark]

I am highly adept at butting in...

I'm glad you do: our tastes and opinions are often broadly similar.

I've listened to the Herreweghe Bruckner Seventh since I last posted in this thread. My initial impressions are in no way unfavourable, but this isn't 'heart-on-the-sleeve' Bruckner playing (much as one might expect from a technician like Herreweghe). Nor is it uninvolving, however.

Let me paint you a picture which I think might help describe how I felt while listening to this recording. I don't read music, so a score is to me no better than a blank sheet of paper. But Herreweghe brings the score to life; it's as though I'm sat with a copy of the printed score in my lap, and I can 'hear' it; every note is clear as day, leaping off of the pages. I found this incredibly fascinating and surprising. Now, the downside to such (trademark Herreweghe) clarity is that this could, to some, sound like little more than an academic exercise; a recording made for lecturers who want to clearly illustrate certain points and nuances in the score.

So, while this particular Seventh didn't enthrall, it didn't disappoint, either. If clarity of texture is paramount to you in all things - Bruckner included - you'll love this. If not, and you prefer a 'cathedral of sound' approach, you'd better leave this one in the store.

[Don]

No Ipod - no mp3 - no need.

[Mark]

I enjoyed Herreweghe's interpretation of the 7th. It is very different from the others i have heard. He brings out the "Lyricism" in the "lyric" symphony. Every phrase is made very delicate, an\d  he paints an almost impressionist picture of the E major symphony. The strings are masterful throughout; the brass does not have the raw power that some other German orchestras have, but it worked efficiently in this very "lyric" interpretation.

When i got this recording, i didn't expect much, since it's by an unknown conductor (to me), and a French orchestra(i believe). It is therefore a very pleasant surprise, that Bruckner's 7th apparently works well under Herreweghe. The symphony is well paced, cogent, and contains some great contrasts. For instance, the heavenly string playing in the beginning compared to the "rustic trot" starting from bar 124 in the first movement. There were a few things that irked me somewhat, but not to an extent that undermines the performance.

Overall, a wonderful recording, it is especially interesting to hear a French orchestra performing Bruckner.

And as I'm sure we can agree, MT, Herreweghe's is a leaner Seventh than many, with clarity aforefront.

[BachQ]

Brahms PC 1
Brahms PC 2
Brahms op. 24

[gmstudio]

Everything I listen to is on my iPod.    I would say the fastest growing collection on my iPod is Bruckner's symphonies... I keep adding them at a rate faster than I can listen to them.     HIP Bach has made some significant progress as well.  Here are the two most recent additions:


(The Russian one is Bruckner 4 - Emil Tchakarov/Leningrad Philharmonic, courtesy of www.abruckner.com)

Mark, I noticed you have Herreweghe's Bruckner 7 pictured in your post.  How is it?  I can't really imagine what it would sound like (aside from short clips online), but if it's good I might give it a try.  (eMusic is great for that sort of thing.)

Thank you for this! Am downloading the Bruckner as I type this...

[Keemun]

Lethe and Mark,

Thank you for the helpful and thorough reviews of the Herreweghe Bruckner Seventh.   I'm undecided if I am going to download it or not, as I really like the "cathedral of sound" in my Bruckner.  That said, I've never given HIP Bruckner a try, so I might take a chance on it.