What are you listening to now?

[Kontrapunctus]

More vinyl goodness.

[Iota]

Britten, Curlew River
Britten, Pears, Shirley-Quirk (and company).


The Noh-inspired paring down of forces provides such a natural setting for Britten's dramatic sense here, it burns like phosphor at times. A very affecting and stylistically visionary work, I think.

[Karl Henning]

Earlier:

Koechlin
La méditation de Purun-Bhagat, Op.159
Les heures persanes, Op.65 (version orchestrale
SWR Radio Symphony Stuttgart
Holliger

Twoof my very favorite Koechlin works;
And the Op.159 is a beautiful piece to do my therapy homework to.

[TheGSMoeller]

Telemann: Overture (Suite) in G Major, TWV 55:G10, "Burlesque de Quixotte"

[André]

[JBS]

The first three CDs of this set
[asin]B0013D8JDS[/asin]

Which are in a way the least interesting CDs in this. The rest is all 20th century music, much of it written for Rostropovich himself, and much of it unknown to me. Among the composers completely new to my ears are Halffter, Hoddinott,  Moret,  Gagneux, Landowski, and Knaifel. And I don't think I have ever heard the Jolivet, Penderecki, Milhaud, Honegger, or Schedrin concertos before.

This was one of those bargains from the Arkivmusic Warner sale.

[Mirror Image]

Javier Perianes plays Book 1 of Debussy's Préludes:

[asin]B07FT6DQXY[/asin]
The playing is first-rate, and I think the real strength here is the immaculate, very eloquent phrasing. The sound Perianes produces, though, is a bit pedal-heavy IMO, and therefore too "misty and mysterious" for my taste. I prefer my Debussy a bit more muscular. But still, very good....

Hello, Rafael. that's a very nice recording from Perianes, but I wouldn't rank him on par with Jacobs or Hiroko Sasaki (who performs on a 1873 Pleyel grand piano). If you haven't checked out Sasaki's recording, then please do so. To say I was spellbound throughout the entire duration would most definitely be an understatement.

[asin]B00IICJ8PU[/asin]

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Earlier:

Koechlin
La méditation de Purun-Bhagat, Op.159
Les heures persanes, Op.65 (version orchestrale
SWR Radio Symphony Stuttgart
Holliger

Twoof my very favorite Koechlin works;
And the Op.159 is a beautiful piece to do my therapy homework to.

Any ondes Martenot in those works?

[Que]

Morning listening:

[asin]B07F5FYWYD[/asin]
The Antonio Castiglione (Casteliono) lute anthology, printed in Milan in 1536, is one of the most important documents of the period, testifying how relevant the use of this instrument became - the very first to be dedicated intavolatura - beginning the diffusion of music for domestic performance that would become the fortune of the main printers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Featured composers: Pietro Paolo Borrono, Francesco da Milano, Marco da Laquila and Alberto da Mantua.

Q

[Kontrapunctus]

Excellent playing (duh...) and great sound.

[pjme]

Any ondes Martenot in those works?

No - neither work has a part for ondes Martenot. La méditation has an obligato part for large organ, Les heures Persanes has  a vibraphone and (I could not find the orchestral score for Les heures Persanes) - apparently - a part for "harp-lute": developed by Gustave Lyon:
"...as in three movements of Les Heures persanes – the lute harp, a short-lived instrument constructed by Pleyel-Lyon whose sonority was more metallic than the harp. Perhaps Koechlin was here inspired by the sound of traditional African instruments such as the kora."
https://www.philharmonia.co.uk/paris/essays/44/les_heures_persanes_op_65bis

Jungle book has no ondes at all - in Les bandar logs he uses a "marteau" (a hammer, to be struck on a piece of wood).
P.

[vandermolen]

More vinyl goodness.

That Pettersson VC No.2 LP made a huge impact on me when it first appeared. One of the greatest VCs of all time IMO.

Thread duty:

[Madiel]

Continuing to dabble in Schubert songs, slowly.



I only listened to 4 songs just now, but the pleasant surprise was the earliest of them An Emma (D113). A thoroughly charming song.

[cilgwyn]

I'm not usually that mad about Brass band music;but this one is great!! Although,the last track (The Padstow Lifeboat) began skipping last night! Some light scratches visible. After a clean;I'm hoping it will work! The way the band get all the sonorities,humour and atmosphere of Arnold's music is quite brilliant and fun! Arnold conducts the last track,with the "insistent offkey foghorn (based on the real one at Trevose in Cornwall" (Quote from Gramophone review,which describes it as a stunning aural experience"!) I love the jolly artwork too! Perhaps I should add some more Brass Band music to my collection?! Oh,and I'll have to hear his Symphony for Brass Instruments,won't I?

[vandermolen]

I'm not usually that mad about Brass band music;but this one is great!! Although,the last track (The Padstow Lifeboat) began skipping last night! Some light scratches visible. After a clean;I'm hoping it will work! The way the band get all the sonorities,humour and atmosphere of Arnold's music is quite brilliant and fun! Arnold conducts the last track,with the "insistent offkey foghorn (based on the real one at Trevose in Cornwall" (Quote from Gramophone review,which describes it as a stunning aural experience"!) I love the jolly artwork too! Perhaps I should add some more Brass Band music to my collection?! Oh,and I'll have to hear his Symphony for Brass Instruments,won't I?

The Padstow Lifeboat is great fun.

[cilgwyn]

The Padstow Lifeboat is great fun.

Not when it's skipping,it isn't!! So far,so good.........wait.......YES,it just played to the end!! The whole cd is great,though! Some of the playing is quite thrilling! I love the whistling on one of the tracks! Superb! I wish my mother was still alive to hear this one. She liked Arnold. I remember my parents sitting down to watch a program about him,on BBC2,back in the eighties (or nineties?) expecting some jolly looking man;and being confronted,by,a close up,of this miserable,embittered face,wailing about the disdain of the musical establishment towards his achievement! Of course,my mother knew his music from the jollier,more upbeat works.

[cilgwyn]

And now,this! Can't wait to hear,the new Holbrooke cd,of his Symphony No 3 & other works,from Cpo (see,right!)!

     

[Florestan]

Last night:



Utterly charming, all of them, the third particularly so, especially in the second movement.



Symphony in A major

I didn't like this at all, I stopped it after a few bars into the second movement. Too much bombast.

Then KV 375 from this:



Bliss!

[Florestan]

Earlier today, on radio in the car:

Beethoven - Triple Concerto, Carmignola, Gabetta, Lazic, Giovanni Antonini, Kammerorchester Basel

Great!

Boccherini - Symphony No. 26 in C Minor, Op. 41, G. 519, Akademie fuer Alte Musik Berlin

Sturm und Drang Boccherini --- blew me away!

Faure - Violin Sonata No. 1 op. 13, Perlman, Ax

That's music that gently takes the listener by the hand, voluptuously caresses him and eventually makes love to him --- as opposed to music that grips the listener by the throat, brutally shake him and eventually f$%^&s his a$$... 

James Horner - Pas de deux (Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra), Mari & Hakon something, Vasily Petrenko conducting some orchestra

If all music composed in 2014 sounded like this, I would be a huge fan of contemporary music. 

[Iota]

Schnittke Piano Concerto
Ralf Gothoni (piano/director), Virtuosi di Kuhmo


Something like spending the night out in a rough neighbourhood. Not something I do much these days, which may explain why I like it so much. Plenty of poetry and diamonds in the rough of course, as with the real world example.