What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

Pounds the table! I LOVE Barbirolli's Sibelius.

Yes, that's a fabulous set! 
I still with that JB had recorded Tapiola.

[Mandryka]

Ending the night with this


Still not hearing anything that might be labelled "Schubertian".

Vocality and sonority. Their way of forming the sounds and projecting the voice is the sort of thing that you could hear in Schoene Muellerin for example.

[vandermolen]

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.

The last movement of Raff's 5th Symphony is terrific (that ghostly ride). Jarvi's performance is rather fast (as in his Atterberg series) but still enjoyable.

[vandermolen]

Milford: The Darkling Thrush

Was it Jeffrey who mentioned this work somewhere?. I think it's nice enough, passable, but not necessarily essential or very substantial. I was having higher expectations from this. Anyway, a good listen.




Glazunov: The Seasons

This is much better stuff. I can notice Glazunov wanted to be melodious but without sounding with too much saccharine. A very apt cover art, rather natural.

Yes, it was me and I love the 'Darkling Thrush' but I love the Hardy poem as well. The Milford work strikes me as much more personal than the VW. Milford had a particularly sad life.
That Glazunov recording is very fine as well. Yes Cesar, great cover art. The Britten Violin Concerto has also grown on me recently.
NP
William Alwyn
'Pastoral Fantasia' (1939)
Lovely early morning listening, with elements of 'The Lark Ascending' (like Milford's 'Darkling Thrush') about it. Somehow this work had passed me by until now. From the CD notes 'The Pastoral Fantasia for viola and string orchestra was composed between June and October 1939. As the clouds of war were gathering, it is clear that this gentle rhapsodic work is a nostalgic look back to an England of times past when things moved at a slower pace and life in general was more pleasant. However, with the onset of World War II this way of life would be shattered forever.'

[Que]

Morning listening:

Do you remember why you had a problem with this one? I'm listening to the first mass, the one contentiously attributed to Fry, this a.m.

(Particularly enjoying the first Busnoys motet.)

I still remembered, but decided to refresh my memory. And the idea of revisiting appealed to me. 

I bought this recording from 2000 after I was totally won over by the Henry V recording (2011) (below). There was a lesser degree of clarity and expression that was a bit disappointing. Some of it sounds a bit rushed and glossed over. Could be the way it was recorded, could be the (fully) different composition of the Consort, could be that over time their style changed for the better (IMO). Still a nice recording, I enjoyed it. 

I tend to avoid their older recordings and the Franco-Flemish Flemish repertoire. But besides the Henry IV recording I have enjoyed their new batch of recordings tremendously - absolutely marvelous.

 

 

[Artem]

Jakob Ullmann Voice, Books and Fire were really unsettling, scary 70 minutes of music for a dark late evening.

[Irons]

Heard to its best advantage in the 2011 remastering in Warner Masters series. I can't make up my mind whether the disc in the big Barbirolli box is yet another remastering but it sounds fine. The Silvestri is an excellent performance but needs remastering ( along with several other discs in the Icon box). I am not as enamoured with the Winchester acoustic (or possibly it is just the recording) as others seem to be. I prefer Davis/BBCSO recorded in Gloucester Cathedral - a BBC Music Magazine disc.

Barbirolli/Sinfonia of London recorded in the Temple Church in the City of London in the middle of the night is perfection.

That is interesting. I have assumed down the years that the front cover image is of the Kingsway Hall.

In the vinyl era the collected wisdom was that there are two great recordings of English string music, Barbirolli of course on EMI and Britten on Decca.

[Que]

On Spotify, but I need to buy the set because this is exceptionally good:

[Irons]

Me too. I think that the original plan (for the EMI set) was for Boult and Barbirolli to split the cycle between them which is why Barbirolli re-recorded symphonies 2 and 5 (both great performances IMO) but after his death in 1970 (which I remember reading about in the newspaper on my way home from school) it was decided that Boult should record the complete cycle himself. I was delighted recently when Barbirolli's live 70th birthday concert which featured the 6th Symphony came to light and of course there is the first recording of the 8th symphony which was dedicated to Barbirolli. I like the brief 'Flourish for Glorious John' which Slatkin recorded as part of his (underrated) cycle.

What happened to the Boult cycle, Jeffrey? The only Boult/Sibelius I know of is a set of tone poems on Nixa.

[vandermolen]

What happened to the Boult cycle, Jeffrey? The only Boult/Sibelius I know of is a set of tone poems on Nixa.

I meant the VW cycle Lol.

Sorry - I must have thought that I was on the VW thread 

Senior moment! Will delete post.

[Madiel]

Mozart, Ascanio in Alba



I have access to the Naxos booklet, but they only give the libretto in Italian (with a short English synopsis). The only English translation I can find online is absolutely appalling. Just as well the plot is reportedly predictable and boring and I can pretty much just listen to the music, but I'd still prefer to have a better idea of what they're singing about!

Act 2 tonight.  Right now I'm not even bothering with the libretto...

[Biffo]

That is interesting. I have assumed down the years that the front cover image is of the Kingsway Hall.

In the vinyl era the collected wisdom was that there are two great recordings of English string music, Barbirolli of course on EMI and Britten on Decca.

All the rest of the album was recorded in the Kingsway Hall. The 1986 CD issue makes no mention of the recording venue nor does the original LP issue (with the same photo on the cover). The 2011 Warner Masters reissue was the first time I had seen the Temple Church mentioned. The venue was suggested by Bernard Herrmann who attended the recording session.

[Traverso]

Schubert




String Quartet D 804--
String Quartet D 18
String Quartet D470 (fragment)

[Spotted Horses]

Hindemith Piano Sonata No 3, Heidsieck.



This piece was written about the same time as the two previous cantatas and has a similar texture. A work of four brief movements, the first lyrical, followed by a fast scherzo-like movement, a movement in a moderate march-like tempo, and a brisk finale. Beautifully and convincingly performed by Heidsieck.

[aligreto]

CD 1: Codex Las Huelgas - Music from 13th century Spain [Van Nevel]





The vocals, both solo and accompanying, are very fine and well balanced here. The higher register vocals are particularly crystal clear, which I really like. All of the vocals are very well delivered. The recording is made in a very sensitively reverberant acoustic which enhances the atmosphere. Any instrumental accompaniment is minimal and it is also very sensitive and appropriate to the vocal line. The solo instrumental music is also minimally scored and is very atmospheric.

[aligreto]

Yesterday I watched and listened to Bruckner's seventh symphony (available on Blu-ray) that Haitink gave at his retirement as a 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.

A truly great recording !

Very fine words, Jan.

[Spotted Horses]

All the rest of the album was recorded in the Kingsway Hall. The 1986 CD issue makes no mention of the recording venue nor does the original LP issue (with the same photo on the cover). The 2011 Warner Masters reissue was the first time I had seen the Temple Church mentioned. The venue was suggested by Bernard Herrmann who attended the recording session.

The story of the recording in the Temple Church is also told in the 2000 release in the "Great Recordings of the Century" series, for which the recordings were new remastered. It makes the recording especially meaningful to me because I visited the Temple Church on a visit to London and Cambridge with my then future wife. The Temple Church is not a huge space, although the stone construction gives it strong reverberance. Perhaps more suitable for recording a small ensemble than a space such as Winchester Cathedral.

[Traverso]

CD 1: Codex Las Huelgas - Music from 13th century Spain [Van Nevel]





The vocals, both solo and accompanying, are very fine and well balanced here. The higher register vocals are particularly crystal clear, which I really like. All of the vocals are very well delivered. The recording is made in a very sensitively reverberant acoustic which enhances the atmosphere. Any instrumental accompaniment is minimal and it is also very sensitive and appropriate to the vocal line. The solo instrumental music is also minimally scored and is very atmospheric.

A fine box Fergus 

[Traverso]

For Schubertians I would wholeheartedly recommend this TV series

There are two editions, one incomplete and often unintelligible German the other complete, better picture quality although still not great.
Notwithstanding some flaws one of the most beautiful things made for television with a very dramatically gripping ending.

I'm sorry to say that it is only for the more educated members for it has no subtitles and the language is German.

I have searched many times for a better edition of the television series from Austria.   The first edition contains two parts of 100 and 131 minutes, the complete edition has two DVDs and contains approximately 279 minutes and is also Dolby Digital2.0 (stereo)
It was broadcast twice on Dutch TV, shortly after each other before sinking into obscurity for good.
It has also aired in the U.K and there seems to be an edition with English subtitles (first edition) but I think it will be hard to find.
I was happy when I saw the new edition on the JPC site for a very reasonable price.
It has been beautifully filmed and shows a time image of the last years of Schubert's life. Impressive cinematography and excellent actors with a beauty and ugliness that will not leave you unmoved. Especially the ending with the death of Schubert is poignantly portrayed.

I would almost say to buy this series anyway, I think it is easy to follow what happens because many images speak for themselves.
Austrian German is a variant of German that closely resembles Bavarian. Bavarian is a variant of German, which is distinguished by, for example, the softening of unvoiced plosives.
The intelligibility is sometimes very bad, sometimes you only hear some mumbling.

  new edition



  the not complete first edition ,not recommended.

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Cantata Angenehmes Wiederau BWV 30a [Leonhardt/Café Zimmerman] 38





I like the style and musical language of this secular Cantata. Unrestricted by tying his music to strict Liturgical texts JSB has more freedom of expression and it shows in this work. It feels "lighter" for a start and it has a more relaxed flow to it even if it has the signature Bach sound. This is a most enjoyable presentation. All of the vocals are also excellent.