What are you listening 2 now?

[Madiel]

I never knew Faure was the French Brahms.

Then you've forgotten conversations within the last couple of years that you were involved in, where the exact same thing was brought up and you went through the exact same thing of saying how such a comparison wouldn't occur to you.

[Ratliff]

Then you've forgotten conversations within the last couple of years that I'm pretty sure you were involved in. Apologies if it wasn't you, but I think it was.

Rhetorical device.

[JBS]

I'm trying to think of ways in which Faure might be like Brahms, or in which Medtner might be like Brahms, and not succeeding. But I think Faure and Medtner might be thought of as parallels of each other, to a certain degree.

Two addenda
1)I've always like Hamelin's Medtner.

2)I've been listening again to Stott's Faure set, and liking the music much better.  So my complaints a few days ago about Faure's piano music should be written off as results of a couple of bad ear days.

[Madiel]

Rhetorical device.

It would be a lot simpler to say that you disagree with the characterisation of Faure as the French Brahms. Instead of acting as if you don't recognise its existence.

[vers la flamme]

I'm trying to think of ways in which Faure might be like Brahms, or in which Medtner might be like Brahms, and not succeeding. But I think Faure and Medtner might be thought of as parallels of each other, to a certain degree.

Two addenda
1)I've always like Hamelin's Medtner.

2)I've been listening again to Stott's Faure set, and liking the music much better.  So my complaints a few days ago about Faure's piano music should be written off as results of a couple of bad ear days.

Fauré and Medtner both utilize a lot of the free-flowing tonality as Brahms, the constant modulations, the dense textures, etc. Moreover I hear the same kind of autumnal, almost melancholic nostalgia in all three composers. Fauré wrote in a lot of the same genres as Brahms as far as chamber music. Apparently, there are others who don't hear the music of these two composers that way, but I can't unhear it.

I'm going to try and check out Hamelin and Tozer in Medtner, once I've spent more time with this Demidenko.

[Ratliff]

It would be a lot simpler to say that you disagree with the characterisation of Faure as the French Brahms. Instead of acting as if you don't recognise its existence.

Life would be quite dull if everything was expressed the simplest way.

I'm trying to think of ways in which Faure might be like Brahms, or in which Medtner might be like Brahms, and not succeeding. But I think Faure and Medtner might be thought of as parallels of each other, to a certain degree.

What I see in common between Faure, Brahms and Medtner is that it is the sort of music that a person is liable to think is boring if they don't pay close enough attention.

[André]

Disc 1, hymns 1-6, with alternated plainchant verses. I like that combination, it makes a lot more sense than playing just the organ interpolations like so many beads on a string. Titelouze predates the Baroque, and the organ here, a 1699 Julien Tribuot instrument, is very well suited for the task.

[Mirror Image]

A ballet double-bill -

Falla
El Amor Brujo
Marina Heredia (soloist)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Pablo Heras-Casado



Ginastera
Estancia
Luis Gaeta (bass-baritone)
London Symphony Orchestra
Gisele Ben-Dor

[Karl Henning]

RVW
A Sea Symphony
A London Symphony
Dir. Boult

[Mirror Image]

Thanks John for the recommendation (2-CD set shown below for those interested; note total of 87 mins) - I'm listening to the Hänssler recording with Valentin Rautiu and Per Rundberg at the moment w/ headphones - streaming from Spotify; excellent MusicWeb review HERE; but not sure that I want to drop $20 when the streaming option is just fine for my ears - NOW, if I see these in the 'used' Amazon MP at half that cost, then maybe a choice for me?  Dave

 

You're welcome, Dave. If you can find it for a good price in the used market (and in a desirable condition), then don't hesitate to jump on it. A fantastic set.

[Daverz]

Very nice work. Did you like it ?

Yes, I like it, but in the past I've had to turn it off at certain points because it gets so damn loud.  Rouse likes loud.  I have smaller speakers now, so the room doesn't get overloaded with bass, and the loud bits aren't as annoying.

Just listened to:

[asin]B07YTD412F[/asin]

Symphony No. 4.  I still don't connect with this work after decades trying.  I'll give this new recording another listen when the neighbors are not around. 

[asin]B00M14IEQA[/asin]

Brahms Symphony No. 2.  As you might imagine, the orchestra plays gloriously.

[Mirror Image]

Yes, I like it, but in the past I've had to turn it off at certain points because it gets so damn loud.  Rouse likes loud.  I have smaller speakers now, so the room doesn't get overloaded with bass, and the loud bits aren't as annoying.

The only Rouse recording I liked was this one:



One of the reasons I like this is because it's not your typical 'in-your-face' Rouse that I find personally shallow and empty, but these works, especially Odna Zhizn which I find to be the best work of his that I've heard.

[Mirror Image]

2)I've been listening again to Stott's Faure set, and liking the music much better.  So my complaints a few days ago about Faure's piano music should be written off as results of a couple of bad ear days.

Good to read. Fauré's solo piano music is exquisite.

[Ratliff]

[asin]B00M14IEQA[/asin]

Brahms Symphony No. 2.  As you might imagine, the orchestra plays gloriously.

I found the slow movements in that set of Brahms symphonies revelatory, even after decades of listening to Brahms.

[Mirror Image]

I think I'll have time for one more work:

Debussy
Préludes, Book I
Kocsis

[steve ridgway]

Pierre Henry - Mouvement-Rythme-Etude. Minimal rhythmic sounds of all sorts, quite a variety across the 21 sections, with a calming slow and spacious feel. I particularly like the clicks like records stuck in grooves.

[asin] B008PUXMWA[/asin]

[Que]

Morning listening via Spotify:

[asin]B01IWW97WO[/asin]
Q

[Christo]

[asin]B07YTD412F[/asin]

Symphony No. 4.  I still don't connect with this work after decades trying.  I'll give this new recording another listen when the neighbors are not around. 

Took me more than two decades too, though already a RVW aficianado in the mid 1970s. I recall the very moment I was taken over: the then new Bryden Thomson on Chandos did it: mysticism instead of sheer bitterness/harshness. This fabulous new recording underlining exactly these 'mystical' qualities and therefore - for me, perhaps not for many others - a clear winnner (both symphonies in this recording are). 

[Tsaraslondon]

Saint-Saëns: Symphony no 3 in C minor "Organ"

Peter Hurford - organ
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal - Charles Dutoit

Widor: Symphony no 5 - Toccata
Widor: Symphony no 6 - Allegro

Peter Hurford - Organ

Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre
Saint-Saëns: Phaéton
Saint-Saëns: Marche héroique

Philharmonia Orchestra - Charles Dutoit

Urbane and civilised, but perhaps Dutoit's Organ Symphony is a little lacking in abandon.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Jeremiah by Singer Pur, the three track I download, very well done, but else to expect it's Singer Pur