What are you listening 2 now?

[Biffo]

Dvorak: Piano Quintet No 2 in A major, Op 81 - Rudolf Firkusny piano and the Ridge String Quartet

[vandermolen]

And much better sound on CD then other LP versions on my shelves. The Fedoseyev 7th has a fine image of the Troitsky Gate on the cover but the sound is unacceptable, I am surprised that EMI allowed it to be issued. I also picked up Rozhdestvensky's 7th CD so consistency is good news.

Another great nostalgia trip Lol!
That LP gave me great pleasure when I discovered it in the 1970s I think. The 7th Symphony is one of the best.

[vandermolen]

Out of all British composers I find Bax the most difficult. The 5th, especially the cracking first movement is, I think, the least typical of him and probably the reason I like the most. I pretty much agree with your list but would swap 4 with 3. I quite like 7 too.

I have picked up previously your coolness towards Norman Del Mar, Jeffrey. I don't think you are being unfair at all as you are giving credit where credit is due. I do not have much by him but one album sticks out which includes my favourite recording of Elgar's Serenade.

I agree that it is a fine album Lol.
So is this one:

[vandermolen]

I like Berglund in Sibelius. I feel that he has a different take on the interpretation and presentation of the music.

+1

[Traverso]

Beethoven

Symphony No.4 & 8

[Traverso]

I like Berglund in Sibelius. I feel that he has a different take on the interpretation and presentation of the music.

I have also his other set with the Bournemouth Orchestra,Ashkenazy ( you like that one too ),Maazel and a few Karajan recordings,I like them all for different reasons.

[Traverso]

I am starting to explore this recent purchase:





Das neugebor'ne Kindelein BuxWV 13
Quemadmodum desiderat cervus BuxWV 92
Nichts soll uns scheiden von der Liebe Gottes BuxWV 77

I was particularly taken with BuxWV77

Looks very nice Fergus ! 

[vandermolen]

Prokofiev, Symphony No.3:

[Roasted Swan]

Out of all British composers I find Bax the most difficult. The 5th, especially the cracking first movement is, I think, the least typical of him and probably the reason I like the most. I pretty much agree with your list but would swap 4 with 3. I quite like 7 too.

I have picked up previously your coolness towards Norman Del Mar, Jeffrey. I don't think you are being unfair at all as you are giving credit where credit is due. I do not have much by him but one album sticks out which includes my favourite recording of Elgar's Serenade.

I am not sure I've ever heard of a general coolness towards Norman Del Mar.  He had a notoriously hard beat to follow but was acknowledged as a fine and thoughtful musician.  The question about his Bax 6 is really an engineering issue.  By the very high standards of Lyrita this disc is easily one of their worst recorded...  Del Mar produced several very well regarded recordings.  Here are a few of my favourites;

opulently recorded in a resonant Guildford Cathedral
he's very good in Delius - but takes a more muscular approach which works well
still the best Mass of Life.  A young Kiri Te Kanawa in a mini skirt caused the gentlemen of the BBCSO a degree of distraction.....
a great recording of Strauss rarities
a famous recording of these works too - the concerto with a very young Robert Cohen and "In the South" recorded in a single take
the best version of this sprawling work
another fine Lyrita disc - better than Hickox.....

and many more....

last interesting fact... Del mar is buried in the same churchyard in Surrey as Delius.....

[Harry]

Biagio Marini.
Per le Musiche di camera
Concerti A quattro 5,6 Voci & instrumenti Opera Settima Gardano, Venezia 1634.

Coro Costanzo Porta & Cremona Antiqua, (On historical instruments) Antonio Greco.

[Todd]

3.  A qualitative step up over 2, which was a step up over 1.

[Maestro267]

It baffles me how Paavo managed to shave some 10 minutes or so off the recording I own of No. 3 (the 50-minute Sinaisky).

[ritter]

3.  A qualitative step up over 2, which was a step up over 1.

My favourite of the four. A delightful, reined in work.

[Christo]

Vaughan Williams, Heroic Elegy & Triumphal Epilogue (1901), discarded together with other juvenalia, but highly enjoyable:

[Harry]

Carlo Gesualdo.
Tenebrae.
CD I.
Graindelavoix, Björn Schmelzer

For me this set is the best that happened to me this year.!

[Iota]

Ockeghem: Missa Mi-Mi


An immensely subtle and beautiful recording.

Was interested to discover that the title comes from the opening E - A descent in the bass voice on which both pitches would have been sung on the 'Mi' syllable (though am sure most here already know this).

[aligreto]

Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas [Purcell Quartet]





Dixit Dominus Domino meo BuxWV 17
An filius non est Dei BuxWV 6
Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele BuxWV 71

BuxWV 17 is a fine work and Kirkby does it great justice.

Looks very nice Fergus ! 

This is a recent purchase of mine, Jan. I find it to be equally as appealing a presentation as its sister CD, Vol. 1, which I think is also excellent.

[vandermolen]

I am not sure I've ever heard of a general coolness towards Norman Del Mar.  He had a notoriously hard beat to follow but was acknowledged as a fine and thoughtful musician.  The question about his Bax 6 is really an engineering issue.  By the very high standards of Lyrita this disc is easily one of their worst recorded...  Del Mar produced several very well regarded recordings.  Here are a few of my favourites;

opulently recorded in a resonant Guildford Cathedral
he's very good in Delius - but takes a more muscular approach which works well
still the best Mass of Life.  A young Kiri Te Kanawa in a mini skirt caused the gentlemen of the BBCSO a degree of distraction.....
a great recording of Strauss rarities
a famous recording of these works too - the concerto with a very young Robert Cohen and "In the South" recorded in a single take
the best version of this sprawling work
another fine Lyrita disc - better than Hickox.....

and many more....

last interesting fact... Del mar is buried in the same churchyard in Surrey as Delius.....

Interesting RS. Of the CDs that you posted I have the Delius PC one which is indeed excellent and the Rubbra. That is a fine disc although I prefer both Hickox's and in particular Rubbra's own recording of Symphony No.4. However the Del Mar recording on Lyrita gave me much emotional pleasure and was, for many years, the only recording that I knew. I agree about Bax's 6th Symphony on Lyrita. The recording is very 'boxed in' which robs it of some atmosphere. I have the Bantock CD as well but haven't properly listened to it yet. Interesting about Delius and Del Mar being buried in the same graveyard. I'd always assumed that Delius was buried in France.

Now playing
Hilding Rosenberg: Symphony No.6 'Semplice'.
A pity that BIS did not record a complete cycle as they did for Vagn Holmboe:

[vandermolen]

My favourite of the four. A delightful, reined in work.

My favourite as well.

[André]

Listening to the Lukas Foss right now on youtube.

It was my first ever Sibelius lp on the old Nonesuch label. Who could resist those psychedelic LP covers ? 

Update after listening to the whole performance:

As an interpretation it is just perfect. The execution is very good, although one senses the brass are challenged and the strings slightly undernourished. Even if it's on a youtube clip from an lp original, the sound seems very good: wide stereo separation and depth of stage are all one could ask for. Foss is more lucid and clearheaded than Ormandy in Return of Lemminkäinen. If it had been done with a better orchestra it would sweep the board.