What are you listening 2 now?

[ritter]

CD 22 ("Musique Française": Couperin, Ravel, Debussy, and Roussel) of the Éric Heidsieck box.

[Harry]

Joachim Raff.

Symphony No 5, "Lenore".
Abends, Rhapsody.
Prelude to "Dornröschen".
Overtures to "Dame Kobold", "König Alfred",  "Die Eifersüchtigen".

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Neeme Järvi.

I loved the Overtures already for a long time, and that includes the Prelude and Rhapsody on this disc. The Symphony puzzled me for many years but I finally got the hang of it. Brilliantly orchestrated, as always with Raff, this work is packed full to the brim with harmonies carefully interwoven with the base melody. In fact in such a way that it dazzled me many times. The SACD did a lot to discover all this hidden content.
Recommended.

[TheGSMoeller]

Synchronicity!

I happen to be playing the exact same CD for the first time right now.

Well, you know, great minds... 

[Karl Henning]

Chabrier
España
BSO
Ozawa

RVW
Symphony № 3 « A Pastoral Symphony »
LSO
Previn

The last I heard the Chabrier was in my survey of the Mercury Living Presence box. I am not saying that anything was wanting in the Doráti recording. All I say is that I find the piece marvelously fresh today.

[Karl Henning]

Some of the bigger works are not too shabby either. The Piano Concerto is a mainstay of the repertoire. Maybe a collection of miniatures, the complete Peer Gynt is outstanding and justly famous.
I agree with praise for Holberg Suite. 

I don't mind being the contrarian here: the Holberg Suite is all the Grieg I require.

[Karl Henning]

Good morning all,

Back to this one today, from scratch. Didn't have time to go beyond the 1st mvt earlier in the week.

Shostakovich - Symphony No.4
(Barshai)

I've rarely heard a Fourth that I do not like. Barshai's is very good.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I don't mind being the contrarian here: the Holberg Suite is all the Grieg I require.

Interesting Karl!  A case of over-familiarity or??

PD

[Karl Henning]

Interesting Karl!  A case of over-familiarity or??

PD

In the case of the pf cto, especially, PD. Compound that with lesser Grieg being regular safe-as-milk fare on WCRB, and I just don't feel any need to seek him out. That said, decades ago in the Wooster Chorus we sang a brief sacred anthem of his which was fine. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra recording of the Holberg Suite reminded me how evergreen I find that piece.

[Traverso]

Franz Schubert


String Quartet D 887
String Quartet D 471

Leipziger streichquartett

[JBS]

In the case of the pf cto, especially, PD. Compound that with lesser Grieg being regular safe-as-milk fare on WCRB, and I just don't feel any need to seek him out. That said, decades ago in the Wooster Chorus we sang a brief sacred anthem of his which was fine. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra recording of the Holberg Suite reminded me how evergreen I find that piece.

Keep in mind that the PC is really an outlier among Grieg's works, and Holberg more typical. The overwhelming majority of what he wrote was choral, song, or piano, with some incidental music and orchestrations of piano works thrown in, and one or two other suites and some chamber works to fill out the list.

TD


The remastering of this set, done last year, is quite good.

[Karl Henning]

Keep in mind that the PC is really an outlier among Grieg's works, and Holberg more typical. The overwhelming majority of what he wrote was choral, song, or piano, with some incidental music and orchestrations of piano works thrown in, and one or two other suites and some chamber works to fill out the list.

That's fair.

[André]

Better to purchase this one,very fine interpretations and very well recorded, very recommendable 

+1

On top of getting that same 6th as on the single issue, there are formidable performances of other major Haitink goodies, all in an inexpensive box.

[VonStupp]

Francis Poulenc
Mass in G
Tenebrae - Nigel Short

The 20-minute, a cappella Mass in G from Poulenc is so interesting (Video of the Sanctus provided below). It's cadences are abruptly jazzy, the singing lines bear a simplicity ala the renaissance, and the oddly shifting harmonies, rhythms, and textures are singular unto Poulenc's choral style.

Tenebrae is the most aggressive version I have heard. They really make the Mass in G sound like a 'modern' work and their singing is quite in your face. At just over 30 singers, there is a fullness still, although the liner notes allude to Poulenc using 80 singers.

I did a quick comparison to Robert Shaw on Telarc, and that much larger chorus is like being wrapped up in a warm blanket, with buffed edges to Poulenc's modernisms, recorded in a loose cathedral acoustic. Both are fair approaches, I think.

As a side note, I think Poulenc's Mass in G would be an excellent pairing with Vaughan Williams' Mass in G Minor, but I have never seen it programmed that way.

VS

  https://www.youtube.com/v/XIdx9hOl2tM&ab_channel=Tenebrae-Topic

[André]

Program:



Some well-known works from Schubert and Wolf mingle with lesser-known ones by Ives, Orff (excellent), Puccini (!) and Webern (beautiful). The major offering and a totally unknown quantity is Wolfgang Rihm's big one-movement 9th quartet. That one takes the listener on a ride in uncharted territory. The whole disc has a rewarding feeling of adventure to it. Recommended.

[SonicMan46]

Chopin, Frederic & Field, John - Nocturnes w/ Bart van Oort on fortepianos - reviews attached.

Beethoven, LV - Piano Pieces w/ Tobias Koch on fortepianos - reviews attached.  Dave

 

[ritter]

Philippe Entremont plays Satie.



From this set:

[VonStupp]

Francis Poulenc
Quatre petites prières de saint François d'Assise
Litanies à la Vierge Noire
Salve Regina

Tenebrae - Nigel Short

The first choral music I ever heard of Poulenc (and performed) were the Four Short Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi and I was hooked. For men's chorus, they are absolutely beautiful, yet Poulenc's voice is still subtly at the forefront. (Video below)

The Litanies of the Black Virgin for women's voices was new to me, as was Salve, and the organ role of the former adds significantly to the weight of the work.

   https://www.youtube.com/v/gun7BMqSKsU&ab_channel=burntgoat

[foxandpeng]

Interesting! I found this interview with Martin Anderson from Toccata Classics.  http://www.mstation.org/martin_anderson.php
PD

This is a great article, showing an outstanding approach to turning out unrecorded works. Harry, particularly, has done a great job championing Toccata and their stable via the WAYLT thread.

NP one of Walker's influences, Harrison Birtwistle.

Harrison Birtwistle
Complete String Quartets
String Quartet: The Tree of Strings
Arditti Quartet
Aeon

After a busy and enjoyable day, out and about since before 9am, this is another first time exploration for me. Decent single malt from the SMWS October outturn, muted lighting, and some good quality incense burning ...

[Traverso]

+1

On top of getting that same 6th as on the single issue, there are formidable performances of other major Haitink goodies, all in an inexpensive box.

That was the reason to recommend this box

[Traverso]

 Shostakovich

Two great symphonies played by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra