What are you listening to now?

[vandermolen]

Gilson - The Sea

A magnificent depiction of a warm landscape on water, written before the famous Debussy's La Mer. There is a recurring theme that unifies the work and certainly it becomes an earworm. A very fine work.




Hausegger - Wieland der Schmied

Just the kind of work I like so much: lush orchestration, vibrant climaxes and an epic feel to it. Almost at the beginning it appears a magical fragment that seems coming from a fairy land. Absolutely stunning.

Great choices Cesar!

[vandermolen]

The Gilson/De Boeck disc is a superb set of little-known works. I have these performances by Rickenbacher, but with another visual, on the Discover label, as well as another version of De Zee on Naxos, conducted by Frédéric Devreese, himself a fine composer. The symphony by De Boeck is also a very fine work

....................

TD:



The Cantate de Noel reminds me of Vaughan-Williams' Hodie with its prominent use of popular carols. Honegger's Christmas cantata evolves from darkness and gloom to joyful noises without quite shaking that initial impression of unease. It is a less radiant and affirmative work than VW - much shorter too, by more than half.

I find Honegger's last-ditch Christmas Cantata very moving. I think that it was you who introduced me to the fine Gilson work.

[Biffo]

I really like those Hickox versions of the Haydn Masses. I think that they are very well interpreted and presented. My go to in these works.

I bought a couple of them (Harmonie, Nelson) around the time they were first issued to supplement versions I already had (mainly Guest). I have always enjoyed them; the Harmoniemesse is my favourite of the late masses and Hickox my favourite version. Not really sure why I didn't buy more of the series but a few months ago Chandos had a sale and I bought a couple more; only just got round to listening to them.

[Florestan]

[Harry]

A GMG favourite, I would say. 


My morning listening on vacation in Sweden, arranged by my wife through her Spotify :



Q

That means for me you have a very good wife
And that particular recording is one I cherish.
Have a pleasant vacation.

[Florestan]

Apart from the performance, what distinguishes Angela Hewitt as an excellent musician is the liner notes she writes for her recordings: informative, wittty and not too technical, they are a delight to read.

[Florestan]

An all-time favourite!

The second volume is great too.

[Biffo]

Schoenberg: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op 36 - Hilary Hahn with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

[Karl Henning]

Schoenberg: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op 36 - Hilary Hahn with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Beauty!

[Biffo]

Beauty!

I thought so but it is the only recording of the Schoenberg I have and it is a recent acquisition. It was recommended in this forum.

[Sergeant Rock]

Simpson Symphony No.8




Sarge

[Mahlerian]

Schoenberg: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op 36 - Hilary Hahn with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Beauty!

The Sibelius on there ain't half bad either!

[Traverso]

Buxtehude

I have just listened to the various recordings I have of the organ works of Buxtehude.
The recordings with Saorgin I have only a few days and the recordings with Foccroulle are also very recent.
Saorgin is the most exuberant with beautifully recorded organs, Foccroulle has risen in my appreciation after re-listening, a beautifully balanced performance with a lot of atmosphere and nicely recorded.
Harald Vogel is now my third choice, so I made a remarkable change in my appreciation.
The least of the four is Spang-Hanssen, still  good but less convincing than Saorgin and Foccroulle.
The Harmonia Mundi recordings are in my opinion the most beautiful, not too spacious with lots of color and presence.
Foccroulle is perhaps the first recommendation but I would not want to miss Saorgin. It is a pleasure to listen to these recordings and as often is the case, it is good to have multiple recordings of the same work. (S)
I'm very glad with the Saorgin recordings wich are a feast for the ear. Foccroulle is my first recommendation but they lack a bit  the splendour and brilliance of the Saorgin recordings.
Vogel is stiil very attractive but my personal choice is clear I hope.



   


               

[Karl Henning]

...but, often, a wonderful one! 

If that is atrocious, I don't want to be prim!

[Biffo]

Bruckner: Symphony No 5 in B flat major - Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (1977). Sometimes I think this recording is sonically splendid but a bit heartless, other times just magnificent. Today was a bit of both; HvK doesn't convince in the 1st movement but the Finale is excellent. My problem is I can't listen to this work very often, I have to be in the right mood. I have two performances from Jochum I probably prefer.

[Mandryka]

Could you please provide some links? You made me curious about that.

I once started a thread about this, but her interview seems to have disappeared from the web.

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,23773.msg850020.html#msg850020

The idea that she can produce more brilliance in tone from a modern piano than from a harpsichord is strange because, quite frankly, if you compare what she did with (eg) the Chromatic Fantasy with (eg) Hantai or Leonhardt, it just, as a matter of fact, isn't more brilliant.

[Malx]

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No 30 - Francois-Frederic Guy.

As a contrast same sonata - Glenn Gould

[Kontrapunctus]

Stunning sound and excellent playing on this Blu-ray audio disc. (It also offers videos of the artists performing--and three different mixes!)

[SonicMan46]

Villa-Lobos, Heitor (1887-1959) - Chamber Wind Works from the two discs below (just one overlap, i.e. Quintette en Forme de Choros from 1928) - stimulated by some discussion recently of the second recording below in this thread - own a LOT of Heitor's music but have not listened to these recordings in a while.  Dave

 

[Que]

That means for me you have a very good wife
And that particular recording is one I cherish.
Have a pleasant vacation.

She is! 
The main reason we visited Sweden was to attend the wedding of my wife's Swedish friend with a Dutch guy. In her speech the sister of the bride (who is a strong willed lady) had some marital advice for the groom, which was to remember three little words: "you ...are...right" (I always add a fourth: "honey". A universal marital advice for a man being married to woman, if there ever was one.... And the rewards are rich. 

Sweden is absolutely gorgeous!

Q