What are you listening 2 now?

[The new erato]

Listening to this and finding it strangely attractive:

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Khachaturian Piano Concerto. Mindru Katz/Adrian Boult.

[Papy Oli]

Starting this set of Bach Harpsichord concertos (Pinnock):

[Karl Henning]

I acknowledge that there was no need for you to respond to my initial post about Glass in the first place. Your response to my post came across negatively to me as if you're somehow smarter than I am because you've "saved your money" and it's a curious comment especially after I said I'm going to keep trying with his music. So, no, I didn't waste my money and I'm glad to have his music in my collection.

No single approach will suit everybody.

[Mirror Image]

My favorite Koechlin work at this moment in time. Sublime!

It is a beautiful work --- no doubt about it and I've loved it for years.

[Mirror Image]

Beautiful piece!  I don't have any of Koechlin's music, so decided to check it on on youtube.    A good choice before going to sleep.

PD

Indeed. Koechlin always is nice for late night listening.

[Mirror Image]

Not to take any sides here, but I have never understood the point of having any opinion on how other people spend their time or money. As long as it doesn't hurt other people directly or indirectly (e.g. environment) we shouldn't care.

I am from a generation where the only possibility of listening to significant amounts of music was to have a personal library, and I always dreamt of having one. Old habits and dreams die hard, and I now have a large library which I love, but which also seem sligthly over the top and frankly to some degree unneccessary. But I still buy the occasional disc for the thrill. I still like books on paper too, and quite often have to discard them as useless paper. Even though I have a kindle (but I have grown into hating amazon for a number of reasons).

When I signed in today, I thought about my exchange with Madiel and I know he probably meant well, but it's just the way he phrased what he said to me that rubbed me the wrong way. I totally sympathize with a lot of what you wrote above, erato. People would think my own collection is over the top, too, but I don't care. I buy what I want and it's no one else's business how I spend my money.

[Mirror Image]

No single approach will suit everybody.

Indeed.

[Traverso]

Elgar

The Music Makers
The Sanguine fan

[Roasted Swan]

I hadn't heard of Philip Sawyers before Irons.  Did you hear some of his music over the BBC?  Or how did you hear about him?  Just curious.  I did a quickie check and see that he is a contemporary British composer.

PD

Philip Sawyers is definitely a composer worth hearing.  For many years he was a violinist at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden so he not only worked with many of the true greats he also understands on a deep and practical level what makes music work.  I like his compositions a lot.

[Irons]

I didn't know that there was an LP of the Cologne recording Lol.
NP
Frankel Symphony No.1
Not the easiest music (for me) but oddly gripping and searching, conveying a sense of journey.

You had me worried there for a moment, Jeffrey. But senior moment not, it is indeed a LP on my shelves.

Weirdly, I listened to Frankel's 4th Symphony last night. For once I'm lost for words and unable to make a meaningful (or not) comment. In danger of splinters in my backside from sitting on the fence too long! He can do the attractive stuff as the "Mephistopheles Serenade" is a romp and entertaining. But the symphonies? I just don't know.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Philip Sawyers is definitely a composer worth hearing.  For many years he was a violinist at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden so he not only worked with many of the true greats he also understands on a deep and practical level what makes music work.  I like his compositions a lot.

Thank you for the background info on him RS.  I did find the first movement of his cello concerto uploaded to youtube--by the conductor--and liked it. 

PD

[Irons]

This is a great release. I am thoroughly enjoying everything I am hearing from Sawyers, particularly his symphonies.

I'm about to make the plunge on his two violin sonatas which with genius programming are coupled with the Elgar.

I hadn't heard of Philip Sawyers before Irons.  Did you hear some of his music over the BBC?  Or how did you hear about him?  Just curious.  I did a quickie check and see that he is a contemporary British composer.

PD

To be honest PD nor had I. Took a punt at a charity shop and came up trumps.

[SonicMan46]

Schuman, William (1910-1992) - Symphonies w/ Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony (he also did No. 8; all 5 discs packed into a box by Naxos, each in a separate jewel box, so not much on space saving; Nos. 1/2 withdrawn) - Wiki bio HERE w/ a list of his many compositions, many seem to be neglected and unrecorded when checking Amazon USA.  Dave

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I'm about to make the plunge on his two violin sonatas which with genius programming are coupled with the Elgar.

To be honest PD nor had I. Took a punt at a charity shop and came up trumps.

Glad that it worked out both for you and the charity shop! 

Looking forward to your reviews!

PD

[Mandryka]

NP:

Glass
Violin Concerto No. 2, "The American Four Seasons"
Robert McDuffie, violin
LPO
Alsop



I'm going to be honest here and say that all of the Philip Glass I've heard so far hasn't done much for me. I liked his Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 pretty well, but I think that overall his later work is dull. I'm going to keep trying and I don't regret buying recordings of his music, but so far there hasn't been any musical rewards.

It's probably not fair to say that after Einstein on the Beach say, he just basically repeated the same winning formula albeit with some small variations. But that's how it feels to me. I don't find his music dull, I just find it all too sweet.

[Mirror Image]

It's probably not fair to say that after Einstein on the Beach say, he just basically repeated the same winning formula albeit with some small variations. But that's how it feels to me. I don't find his music dull, I just find it all too sweet.

Yeah, I've got some earlier Glass on the way in the Glass Sony box set I ordered, so I'm looking forward to hearing those earlier works.

[JBS]

Sorry that it was an unmemorable trip to Iceland for you.  Do you happen to know whether or not the recording of Metacosmos on your CD is the same one as that live performance on her website?  I did see that it was with the same forces.

PD

The details in the CD imply it wasn't recorded in concert, but I wouldn't be surprised if the recording was made at the time of the concert performance.  The recording dates were February 19-23, 2018 and March 4-12, 2019.

[Mandryka]

Yeah, I've got some earlier Glass on the way in the Glass Sony box set I ordered, so I'm looking forward to hearing those earlier works.

Here's one I've been enjoying recently, one of the exceptional ones maybe - an exceptional instantiation of the winning formula 

[Karl Henning]

Listening to this and finding it strangely attractive:

(* pounds the table *)