What are you listening 2 now?

[Traverso]

Beethoven

Yesterday I watched and listened to Bruckner's seventh symphony (available on Blu-ray) that Haitink gave at his retirement as conductor.
It was very touching to see this fragile man, but the music was not that of an elderly man.
The rendition was powerful, and a fleeting hand-blown kiss between parts showed his appreciation for the great playing orchestra.
I wish I could have hugged this insecure man, a temptation I rarely have.
When the orchestra disappeared from the scene, the hall quickly emptied but one person kept on clapping stubbornly and indeed Haitink, supported by his wife, came on stage again in front of an almost empty hall, cheers from those who were still present, a dignified farewell with a beautiful performance of Bruckner, he will be missed.


For now a few String Quartets played by the unsurpassed  Alban Berg Quartet

Op.135 & Op.59 No.3 "Rasumovsky"  (live recordings)

[Irons]

NP:

Vaughan Williams
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Sinfonia of London
Barbirolli

Without doubt a legendary recording.

[Mirror Image]

Without doubt a legendary recording.

Absolutely!

[Roasted Swan]

Oh yes! The Holberg Suite, in particular, is a tremendously endearing, energetic, and lyrical work which never loses its charm. The solemn and passionate 4th movement Air is an excellent contrast to the other movements. It's easy to underrate Grieg because he didn't compose many works in standard forms (besides the PC, early Symphony in C minor, 3 violin sonatas, Cello Sonata, and String Quartet), but he always excelled at what he did. All his works bear a uniquely personal lyrical stamp.

Well said! + 1

[Mirror Image]

Oh yes! The Holberg Suite, in particular, is a tremendously endearing, energetic, and lyrical work which never loses its charm. The solemn and passionate 4th movement Air is an excellent contrast to the other movements. It's easy to underrate Grieg because he didn't compose many works in standard forms (besides the PC, early Symphony in C minor, 3 violin sonatas, Cello Sonata, and String Quartet), but he always excelled at what he did. All his works bear a uniquely personal lyrical stamp.

Indeed. I think it's all too easy to think of Grieg as nothing more than a miniaturist and of marginal importance, but I think this would actually be doing a disservice to his music. There are so many gems scattered throughout his oeuvre and thankfully labels like BIS, Naxos and to a lesser extent Warner have made these gems widely available to the listening public.

[Florestan]

Indeed. I think it's all too easy to think of Grieg as nothing more than a miniaturist

It's better to be a first rate miniaturist than a second or third rate monumentalist. 

[Mirror Image]

It's better to be a first rate miniaturist than a second or third rate monumentalist. 

Nice alteration on the Strauss quote.

[Florestan]

Nice alteration on the Strauss quote.

[SonicMan46]

Field, John - Nocturnes on a Spotify playlist w/ Florent Albrecht on a fortepiano and Elizabeth Joy Roe on a modern one.  A few months ago, I found the 4-disc Bart van Oort box also shown (older recordings using three period pianos from Chopin's era, i.e. 1823 Broadwood, 1842 Pleyel and an 1837 Erard) - reviews attached of van Oort (2 excellent and MusicWeb's comments not as complimentary), for those interested.  Dave

   

[classicalgeek]

I may join you in this symphony. I haven't heard it in quite some time.

NP: The 6th

Hope you enjoyed it! Boult's is a pretty great performance.

The Sixth is a beauty. It's also the only RVW symphony I've managed to hear live, when Paavo Berglund guest conducted the BSO.

That must have been quite the experience. I attended a few BSO concerts (mostly at Tanglewood) as a teenager growing up in New Hampshire; I don't think I realized how lucky I was to have a world-class orchestra within an hour's drive. The Seattle Symphony really are an excellent group, but few are in the same class as Boston.

I agree with the view that it combines the violence of No.4 with some of the 'spiritual' qualities of No.5 to create a most disturbing synthesis. No.6 is one of my favourite symphonies.

Yes! I think you captured the essence of the Sixth Symphony.

Thread duty:

Last night, worked my way through more of the Munch box:

CD 68
Berlioz:
Le Corsaire: Overture
Overture to 'Benvenuto Cellini'
Royal Hunt and Storm from 'Les Troyens'

CD 53
Brahms: Symphony no. 4 (stereo version)

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Charles Munch



Of course the Berlioz is unparalleled - full of energy and passion. The Brahms 4 had its ups and downs for me - Munch really gets the orchestra to dig in at the ends of the first movement and Scherzo, for instance. But I could have used more warmth in the slow movement, especially in the second theme. And the finale was lacking that last little bit of drive and fire, especially at the end. So not my favorite Brahms 4, but I'm glad I heard it.

[ritter]

Some Albert Roussel in this rainy autumn afternoon in Madrid....



CD3 of this set: the Piano Concerto and the Concertino for cello and orchestra (with the Orchestre de Paris under Jean-Pierre Jacquillat and, respectively, Daniel Laval, and Albert Tétard as soloists), Résurrection (Michel Plasson conducts the Toulouse Capitole Orchestra), and Symphony No. 1, "Le poème de la forêt" (French National Orchestra under Charles Dutoit).

This time around, I'm mightily impressed by the Piano Concerto. Despite its brevity (less than 17' in total), quite a thrilling piece —particularly the central adagio movement—. Very French, very 1920s, but very seductive.

[Florestan]

Very French, very 1920s, but very seductive.

Why the "but"? 

[ritter]

...could just as well have been "and". 

Good evening, Andrei.

[Florestan]

...could just as well have been "and". 

That's more like it. 

Good evening, Andrei.

Good evening, Rafael.

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams 'A Cotswold Romance' and 'Death of Tintagiles' (also the subject of a fine tone poem by Loeffler):

[Scion7]

at the beastly hour of seven a.m., I was listening to Ravel's  Morning Song of the Jester  on the classical station when I had to run out and pick up a few things for the nurse

[Spotted Horses]

Hope you enjoyed it! Boult's is a pretty great performance.

I'm generally a Boult admirer, but became put off the RVW cycle because EMI kept re-releasing a CD transfer they did in the very early days of the CD, and I found the audio strident and unappealing. I wonder if there is a more recent master available by now.

Note added: In the Musicweb review I read that even the 2013 box set of complete Boult/RVW on EMI contains the 1986 masters of the stereo symphony cycle. I do have the cycle Boult did for Decca, so I guess I will be content with that.

[foxandpeng]

Of those I've heard the 'Austera' is by far my favourite Danny. You might also enjoy Blomdahl's 1st Symphony, which is rather in the same spirit and shows the influence of his teacher Hilding Rosenberg (whose 2nd and 3rd symphonies are two of my favourites).

As ever, we have lots of overlaps 🙂. I like the Blomdahl symphonies very much, and unsurprisingly, Rosenberg's too. A complete and available cycle of his symphonies is long overdue.

I am in the ferocity and existential maelstrom that is Emil Tabakov this evening, however. One of my absolute favourite living composers, for sure.

Emil Tabakov
Symphonies #2 and #6
Tabakov
Symphony Orchestra of Bulgarian National Radio
Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra
Toccata

[ritter]

at the beastly hour of seven a.m., I was listening to Ravel's  Morning Song of the Jester  on the classical station when I had to run out and pick up a few things for the nurse

Well, at the —less fitting—  violet hour of 7 pm, I too am now listening to Ravel's Alborada del gracioso (along with the rest of Miroirs, the Sonatine, and Le tombeau de Couperin). Claude Helffer is the (superb) pianist.


(Sorry for the fuzzy picture, but I couldn't find a better one online)

[vandermolen]

As ever, we have lots of overlaps 🙂. I like the Blomdahl symphonies very much, and unsurprisingly, Rosenberg's too. A complete and available cycle of his symphonies is long overdue.

I am in the ferocity and existential maelstrom that is Emil Tabakov this evening, however. One of my absolute favourite living composers, for sure.

Emil Tabakov
Symphonies #2 and #6
Tabakov
Symphony Orchestra of Bulgarian National Radio
Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra
Toccata

Actually I prefer Blomdahl's 1st Symphony more than the better-known (I was going to write 'famous' although that is hardly the case) 'Facetter' Symphony. I find, quite often, it is the first symphonies by 'modernist' composers which I like best, before they went all 'atonal' (or at least more modernist) if you know what I mean. Other examples are the first symphonies by Robert Simpson (I know that he was not really atonal), Benjamin Frankel, Norgard, Blomdahl, Shchedrin. Do you know the Robin Walker CD on Toccata Danny? I thought it was great and have had some lovely exchanges with the charming cat-loving composer who very kindly sent me some other CDs of his fine music: