What are you listening 2 now?

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

Ravel - L'enfant et les sortilèges

[Harry]

Second rerun. New arrival.

Stanislav Moniuszko.
String Quartets No 1 & 2.

Julius Zarebski.
Piano Quintet, opus 34.

Plawner Quintet.

[Biffo]

Sibelius: Pelleas et Melisande Op 46
             Scenes historiques - Suite No 1 Op 25 Nos I & II, Suite No 2 Op 66 No I

Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli

[aligreto]

De Lalande Lecons De Ténebres [Desrochers]: Lecon du Mercredy

[vers la flamme]

First encounter with Roger-Ducasse.

Joel Hastings was my girlfriend's piano teacher in university. There's actually a drawing of him she made up on the wall in our piano room. He was a talented guy and a convincing interpreter of this composer Roger-Ducasse, about whom I otherwise know nothing. He's now deceased. Rest in peace.

[ritter]

Good morning all,

Ravel - L'enfant et les sortilèges

"Keng-ça-fou, Mah-jong,
Keng-ça-fou, puis' -kong-kong-pran-pa,
Ça-oh-râ, Ça-oh-râ...
Cas-ka-ra, harakiri, Sessue Hayakawa
Hâ! Hâ! Ça-oh-râ toujours l'air chinoâ".

Priceless! Are you enjoying it, Olivier? Good day to you...

[Roasted Swan]

I know I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about how good the old Readers Digest sourced recordings were.  Charles Gerhardt producing/Kenneth Wilkinson engineering.  Here's another fine example;



A thrilling and drammatic performance in very good sound for 1962.  Yes its a bit "glorious technicolour" in your face and not the most natural balance but impressive all the same.  And a very strongly characterised interpretation by Leibowitz.  Add in his own orchestration of "Night on a Bare Mountain" and all in all a very enjoyable listen to standard fare.

[Roasted Swan]

I listened to this disc recently;



Interesting/well done arrangements made for full orchestra of virtuoso piano works.  BUT "performed"  here by a 'digital' orchestra - so samples of an orchestra.  Stanhope in his liner claims that even an expert couldn't tell the difference between a real orchestra and this digital one.  That is patent nonsense and I did struggle to listen to the whole disc.  A shame since the music is actually very interesting.  The revelation for me was Godowsky's Passacaglia (on a theme from Schubert's Unfinished Symphony).  Goodness me what a massive work.  Now going to check out this version of the piano original....

[Papy Oli]

"Keng-ça-fou, Mah-jong,
Keng-ça-fou, puis' -kong-kong-pran-pa,
Ça-oh-râ, Ça-oh-râ...
Cas-ka-ra, harakiri, Sessue Hayakawa
Hâ! Hâ! Ça-oh-râ toujours l'air chinoâ".

Priceless! Are you enjoying it, Olivier? Good day to you...

Hello Rafael,
I think I appreciated its quirkiness (case in point, the extract you quoted above  ) more than anything else. Read Colette's libretto in full but musically I only managed the first part. I lost interest getting to there, probably still my own shortcoming with the opera form. Still, that leaves plenty of Ravel for me to get to and enjoy.

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

One of my very first French Baroque CDs, if not the first :

[Madiel]

Joel Hastings was my girlfriend's piano teacher in university. There's actually a drawing of him she made up on the wall in our piano room. He was a talented guy and a convincing interpreter of this composer Roger-Ducasse, about whom I otherwise know nothing. He's now deceased. Rest in peace.

I saw while I was still listening to the album that Hastings had passed away not very long after making this recording, aged just 46. It's an excellent disc.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Reger, PC.

[Biffo]

Franz Schmidt: Symphony No 1 in E major - Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Järvi

[Karl Henning]

Bizet
Symphonie en ut
NY Phil
Lenny

Musiques pour le petit déjeuner du roi.

[Brahmsian]

Bizet
Symphonie en ut
NY Phil
Lenny

Musiques pour le petit déjeuner du roi.

A marvelous discovery for me in 2020 was Bizet's symphony.

[Biffo]

Sibelius: Symphony No 1 in E minor - Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli (1969)

[vandermolen]

RVW
A London Symphony
LSO
Previn

Best performance of the 1936 version IMO, along with Boult's Stereo EMI recording.

[vandermolen]

The fourth. I like the pacing and playing here because of the details and the grandeur displayed. Really appealing to me. Fast tempos are not always akin to my tastes.

An underrated set IMO.

[Mirror Image]

Good morning all,

Ravel - L'enfant et les sortilèges

Merveilleux, Olivier!

Hello Rafael,
I think I appreciated its quirkiness (case in point, the extract you quoted above  ) more than anything else. Read Colette's libretto in full but musically I only managed the first part. I lost interest getting to there, probably still my own shortcoming with the opera form. Still, that leaves plenty of Ravel for me to get to and enjoy.

Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges is certainly unique and the composer himself was inspired to write this work after seeing many American musicals. L'enfant is described by Ravel as being a "Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties". It's not only unique to Ravel's own oeuvre, but to opera in general. What I love about it is its contrasts from the absurd to the melancholic, but written in typical Ravel fashion with some of the most exquisite melodies and textures I've ever heard. All I can suggest is to keep listening maybe something will click for you and I hope it does because it doesn't get any more magical than L'enfant.

[Biffo]

More Sibelius - Karelia Suite Op 11 - Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli