What are you listening to now?

[Madiel]

Prokofiev, Ode to the End of the War, op.105

[asin]B000W1V3SU[/asin]
Rather spectacular piece because of its scoring: winds, 8 harps, 4 pianos, brass, percussion & double basses.

[Sergeant Rock]

Stanley Bate Symphony No.3, Boult conducting the CBSO

https://www.youtube.com/v/mrOnGinlWuI


Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Stanley Bate Piano Concerto No.2, Yates Conducting the Royal Scottish




Sarge

[Mahlerian]

Takemitsu: Rain Tree Sketch II, Masque for two flutes
Aki Takahashi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Naomi Orita


Takemitsu: Uninterrupted Rests
Aki Takahashi

[Que]

.[asin]B002DYLU0A[/asin]
Q

[Mahlerian]

Symphony No. 4 - Nelsons/Boston.  Via Tidal.

[asin] B07CXC3311[/asin]

So far, so good!

I have to say, that Amazon review is something else. "A depiction of a Soviet committee meeting?"  Why on earth would Shostakovich care to depict such a thing, and how is this reviewer so sure about his intent anyway?

Maybe it's just a piece of music?

[cilgwyn]

A lovely,romantic piano concerto,in the best English tradition. One of my favourites,now.Yet,I have only come to really appreciate it's qualities,gradually. Reading the works of Arthur Machen,who inspired some of his best music,really did help to open up his music. I'm a fan,now!

[Draško]

[bhodges]

Wagner: Parsifal -- Live broadcast from Bavarian State Opera with Kirill Petrenko conducting, and a great cast: Christian Gerhaher, Rene Pape, Jonas Kaufmann, Nina Stemme.

--Bruce

[ritter]

First encounter with the music of Paul Le Flem, and it's turning out to be most agreeable  :

[asin]B00018HVO4[/asin]

All the music contained in this CD is from early in the career—i.e. from 1905 to 1912–of this Methuselah if composers (he died aged 103 in 1984, and I can only think of Elliott Carter in terms of comparable longevity). The music sounds very French, but in an amalgam of styles; Debussy's L'isle joyeuse comes to mind in a couple of pieces, as does Fauré, but occasionally—e.g. in the first movement of the Violin Sonata from 1905—some jazzy syncopations can be noticed (which must have sounded really innovative at the time, as Children's Corner is only from 1908).

There's more music available of his on CD, which I look forward to explore. Particularly, there's a Fourt Symphony from 1975 (i.e., 70 years after the Violon Sonata  ) That must be interesting (and is one of Le Flem's last works, as the onset of blindness around those years made him stop composing altogether).

[Wakefield]

JSB: Cello Solo Suites No. 1, 2, 3, transcribed
Wolfgang Rübsam [Keith Hill lute-harpsichord 458]



https://goo.gl/J9KFDh

Rübsam has achieved here a handful of truly beautiful transcriptions and interpretations. Without the eccentricities of his Bach on Naxos (when played on the organ), these are some of the best keyboard transcriptions of this music that I have listened to.

[Marc]

Authentic Renaissance & Baroque organs in the Netherlands.

Buxtehude, Weckmann, Bach, Scheidemann, Sweelinck, Muffat and Fischer in the Nieuwe Kerk of Amsterdam and the Buitenkerk of Kampen, NL.
Organs by Schonat/Van Hagerbeer/Duyschot and by Hinsz.
Organist: Gustav Leonhardt.





https://www.amazon.com/Orgues-Renaissance-Baroques-French-Leonhardt/dp/B00003GPKK/?tag=goodmusicguideco

[SonicMan46]

Abel, Carl Friedrich (1723-1787) - Flute Works from the 2 CDs shown below - BOY, has been a while for this transitional classical composer, friend and partner of JC Bach in London - here's a Carl Abel - GMG thread that I started back in 2009 that has not seen any life since 2010; AND my CD collection, about 9 discs is the same as then - if anyone has some 'newer' recommendations, please post to the thread.  Dave

 

[Mandryka]

JSB: Cello Solo Suites No. 1, 2, 3, transcribed
Wolfgang Rübsam [Keith Hill lute-harpsichord 458]



https://goo.gl/J9KFDh

Rübsam has achieved here a handful of truly beautiful transcriptions and interpretations. . . . 

Look out for his Goldberg Variations due to be released on Naxos next month.

[SonicMan46]

Abel, CF (1723-1787) - Baryton & Viola da Gamba Works from the two discs below - continuing my Abel listening for the remainder of the afternoon - hard to decide how much overlap exists on these recordings - the Hyperion booklet has a listing using WKO numbers (Knape's catalogue numbers), but the Foulon notes does not?  Dave

 

[ritter]

Wagner: Parsifal -- Live broadcast from Bavarian State Opera with Kirill Petrenko conducting, and a great cast: Christian Gerhaher, Rene Pape, Jonas Kaufmann, Nina Stemme.

--Bruce

Watching Act III, and finding it superb! 

[bhodges]

Watching Act III, and finding it superb! 

Yes, yes, yes! (Also having fun comparing notes with a friend who is actually there.) Petrenko and the orchestra just sounded marvelous -- those final pages, wow -- and the cast, ditto.

Had intended to tune in, catch the first act, see how it goes...and ended up watching the whole thing.

--Bruce

[ritter]

Yes, yes, yes! (Also having fun comparing notes with a friend who is actually there.) Petrenko and the orchestra just sounded marvelous -- those final pages, wow -- and the cast, ditto.

Had intended to tune in, catch the first act, see how it goes...and ended up watching the whole thing.

--Bruce

I thank you for the tip, Brewski  ...And yes, Kirill Petrenko is an extraordinary conductor. Wagner of the highest calibre. I saw his Ring live in Bayreuth in 2014, and it was really memorable. It would appear as if this man has managed to reconcile two ways of approaching Wagner that seemed irreconcilable: the attention to the "vertical" aspects of the music and to transparent orchestral textures  à la Boulez on one hand, and, on the other, the more "transcendent" interpretations of yesteryear (but still with fleet tempi—this wasn't a slow Parsifal by any means*. I can't express it better than this.

* at least Act III.

[Malx]

Sofia Gubaidulina, Viola Concerto - Yuri Bashmet, Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev.

Another piece that is getting more and more impressive with each play. The coupled Kancheli I have yet to grasp.

[Jamie]