What are you listening to now?

[SymphonicAddict]

Playing here,right now! This is,easily, one Raff's best symphonies. It has long been my personal favourite. It has lots of good tunes,and I would place it above the Fifth because it just seems more tightly structured to my ears. I like the Fifth,of course,but this one seems to benefit from the fact that it doesn't have a program. Enjoy the Fifth for the colourful orchestration,tunes and story. Enjoy this one for the narrative of the symphony,itself. I particularly like the 'Beethovenian' third movement and the inexorable manner in which it builds to a majestic climax (with timpani). The performance and sound quality is as excellent as always. Again,I love the use of these Arnold Böcklin paintings.

It's a great symphony with no doubts. That CDs box is a real treasure. Hours of pure enjoyment.

[Moonfish]

Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata             Repin/Berezovsky

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[Baron Scarpia]

Melartin, Second Symphony

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Splendid music, I would say the second symphony is more distinctive than the first. Presumably Melartin is coming into is own style. It is in four movements which play without pause. There is a sort of "doom" motif that keeps returning at key moments. Very imaginative use of the orchestra, particularly brass. A wonderful discovery.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Back to the basics:



#morninglistening to #Beethoven w/@KarajanMusic & @berlinphil on @dgclassics in THE classic #symphony #LvB cycle from 1963

: http://a-fwd.to/1YX0QjX

2nd of seven cycles he recorded.

[SymphonicAddict]

This set is excellent, maybe the best one about Madetoja. Overall, my favorite work is the indisputably gorgeous 2nd Symphony, imbued with a nostalgic atmosphere which I find poignant (and it's a homage to the composer's brother). The cold and quiet Finnish landscapes can also be perceived throughout.

[Todd]

[Sergeant Rock]

Raff Symphony No. 4 G minor op.167 (1871)




Sarge

[aligreto]

Brahms: A selection of songs from Deutsche Volkslieder





Both Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau sing divinely and Moore's accompaniments are wonderfully sensitive.

[aligreto]

Reading your reviews I sometimes get the uncanny feeling that we've been separated at birth.

Yes the original separation was and continued separation still is painful     

Cheers Florestan. I am glad that someone enjoys my ramblings. 

[aligreto]

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That title should read The Real Strauss 

[aligreto]

Melartin, Second Symphony

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Splendid music, I would say the second symphony is more distinctive than the first. Presumably Melartin is coming into is own style.

Yes, I would also agree with that statement.

It is in four movements which play without pause. There is a sort of "doom" motif that keeps returning at key moments. Very imaginative use of the orchestra, particularly brass. A wonderful discovery.

Great stuff, isn't it? And it keeps getting better if you have not heard the rest of the symphonies 

[Baron Scarpia]

I've had the discs forever (actually I got the individual releases before they were boxed up) but never got around to listening to them. Thanks to you for motivating me to dig them up.

[Malx]

Rameau, Nouvelles Suites de Pieces de Clavecin 1728 - Blandine Rannou.

Second disc from this fine two disc set - a different harpsichord this time again by Marc Ducornet - after a French harpsichord of the Hemsch School.
Having had a little look around the internet this is a Double-Manuel with 61 notes (for those who may be interested in such details).

[aligreto]

I've had the discs forever (actually I got the individual releases before they were boxed up) but never got around to listening to them. Thanks to you for motivating me to dig them up.

That was a very easy task really as the music genuinely sells itself. I am delighted that you are enjoying the cycle.

[Jamie]

Symphony No.70

[Traverso]

Brahms: A selection of songs from Deutsche Volkslieder





Both Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau sing divinely and Moore's accompaniments are wonderfully sensitive.

Beautiful, I go listen to it myself

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Beautiful, I go listen to it myself

Disgusting.  I hate this recording so much; Schwarzkopf is the least natural singer and her rendition of these folk-songs, where she makes a totally weird pretense of going folksy, makes me cringe so hard, that I have to cough tooth-dust.

I reckon most, not just German-speakers, will feel similar, once they hear someone like Werner Guera sing these... http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2005/01/schne-wiege-meiner-leiden.html

[Traverso]

Disgusting.  I hate this recording so much; Schwarzkopf is the least natural singer and her rendition of these folk-songs, where she makes a totally weird pretense of going folksy, makes me cringe so hard, that I have to cough tooth-dust.

I reckon most, not just German-speakers, will feel similar, once they hear someone like Werner Guera sing these... http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2005/01/schne-wiege-meiner-leiden.html

Ah..... you are suffering just by  memory . It is La Schwarzkopf,she does it in the famous Straus songs,Hugo Wolf songs and very effective there,also in "die Witwe" How would you define 'natural" ? Is Dieskau natural ?

[Sergeant Rock]

Bach Chaconne arranged for orchestra by Raff




Sarge

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Ah..... you are suffering just by  memory . It is La Schwarzkopf,she does it in the famous Straus songs,Hugo Wolf songs and very effective there,also in "die Witwe" How would you define 'natural" ? Is Dieskau natural ?

No, Dieskau also was never natural.  Not, at any rate, at the height of his career. Something like it, in his very early days... but then the style of art-song and singing as such was still quite different. He was, in some ways, more natural than most that had come before him, but he was never artless. For better, often, and also sometimes for worse. His Papageno has once been described as a tourist in Lederhosen, which is an apt image for the kind of naturalism-and-lackthereof of his. Schwarzkopf, on the other hand, sounds calculated and patronizing and all kinds of horrid things when she "goes native".

As "Die Witwe", she is not natural either, but then there is nothing that is or should be natural in operetta. Also, she sounds artful there, but not too self-conscious. In the Brahms, she sounds only self-conscious. I really do shudder, just thinking about it.