What are you listening 2 now?

[Karl Henning]

Quite possibly a first listen:

JSB Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248

[ritter]

Quite possibly a first listen:

JSB Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248

"Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset due Tage!"...love it! 

THREAD DUTY:

The Beethoven concerto poll inspired me to revisit the Violin Concerto, in this recording that I had never listened to until now:


David Oistrakh may have been a great virtuoso and all, but one word that doesn't come to mind when listening to his playing here is "elegant" 

CD 38 of the big Cluytens box (the filler is an odd compilation of single movements from works by Mendelssohn and Mozart  ):



EDIT:

Since we're at it.... Following the VC with PC2 (Solomon is the soloist).


CD 13 of the box.

[ritter]

And now for something completely different....

CD1 of this:


Désiré-Emmanuel Inghelbrecht conducts the Debussy Nocturnes (1958) —wow, what a performance!—, Paul Paray does the overture to Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys (1970), Charles Munch is at the helm for the second suite from Roussel's Bacchus et Ariane (1966), Roger Désormière and Pierre Bernac give us Poulenc's Chansons villageoises (1944, in still occupied Paris), and Manuel Rosenthal leads Magnard's Hymne à la justice (September 1944, the first concert after the liberation). The latter work will be new to me,

Quite a roster of French conductors, n'est ce pas?

[Linz]

Now some Messiah The most extravagant version I have with Otto Klemperer conducting

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Smetana
String Quartet No. 1 In E Minor, "From My Life"
Panocha Quartet

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Martinů
Symphony No. 2, H. 295
BBC SO
Jiří Bělohlávek



Losing Bělohlávek in 2017 was a major blow to Czech music as he was an ardent champion of Martinů's music throughout his career. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have had so many world premiere recordings of Martinů's works. My only hope is that Jakub Hrůša continues to carry that banner. He's already off to a fine start having recorded the VCs (w/ Peter Frank Zimmermann) and the 4th PC, "Incantation" (w/ Ivo Kahánek). I'd be nice if he records the symphonies with the Bamberger Symphoniker, but I'm not holding my breath. Of course, also there's Tomáš Netopil who has recorded a good bit of Martinů as well --- Bouquet of Flowers, late period orchestral works like The Parables and Estampes (et. al.) and the Neo-Baroque infused opera Ariane (coupled with the gripping Double Concerto for Strings, Piano and Timpani).

[Todd]

Musica Callada.

[Daverz]

Now some Messiah The most extravagant version I have with Otto Klemperer conducting

There's a Stokowski recording.   



NP: Schubert Symphony No. 5



An older (good sounding) mono recording with the Wiener Philharmoniker.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Strauss
Metamorphosen, TrV290
The Nash Ensemble

[kyjo]

I like Malipiero pretty well. His 6th symphony is extremely moving to me. I also like his PCs and SQs. I'm not much of a fan of his symphonies in general, though but I think a lot of this boils down to the fact that the Marco Polo recordings don't do the music any favors. I wish some conductor and a label like CPO, Hyperion or BIS would record all of his symphonies, but I seriously doubt it'll ever happen.

Completely agree, John. Malipiero's symphonies sound quite promising (especially some of the earlier ones like the Sinfonie del silenzio e della morte), but the Marco Polo/Naxos recordings aren't really satisfactory. Almost all those recordings the Moscow Symphony Orchestra made under Antonio de Almeida are, to be frank, just not great. A pity, since they recorded so much interesting repertoire.

[kyjo]

Mario Castelnouvo-Tedesco can also go in that bracket.  Pizzetti taught him, Casella mentored him. I seem to remember you have an interest in music for guitar, in which case he's on target for you: Wikipedia says he wrote nearly 100 works for guitar.

Oh yes - I knew I forgot someone! I love MC-T's music - it's so sunny and tuneful. He composed lots of music in all genres except symphonies. I'm not the biggest fan of music for solo guitar, but guitar+orchestra or in a chamber setting - count me in!

[kyjo]

Saw this release mentioned somewhere around here.



At first I thought, "I should get that," then I thought, "wait, I have that." (I swear the cover art had nothing to do with the purchase.)

Anyway, finally listened to the first two pieces over the past two days.

The first trio is indeed charming, especially the first movement. The second trio is a bit more substantial, with a weighty first movement and a finale that builds to an impressive apotheosis. Will try to find time for the third trio.

Lalo's output is small. I'm thinking of getting a recording of his symphony, possibly the BIS release.

Lalo's 3rd Piano Trio is sensational - don't miss it! I'm not a huge fan of his rather dour Symphony in G minor. His ballet Namouna, on the other hand, is one of the most enchantingly magical ballet scores I've heard recently! In other words, an uneven composer, but when he's "on" he's certainly worth hearing.

[kyjo]

13, 12 and 10 are my favorites.

5 and 7 are also very good.

I remember the others being rather depressive and somewhat dry.

Thanks, Cesar!

[Daverz]

Oh yes - I knew I forgot someone! I love MC-T's music - it's so sunny and tuneful. He composed lots of music in all genres except symphonies. I'm not the biggest fan of music for solo guitar, but guitar+orchestra or in a chamber setting - count me in!

There's a Guitar Quintet that's had a bunch of recordings recently, including one with Sharon Isbin and the Pacifica Quartet.



Of C-T's purely orchestral music I've heard, I'd commend his Shakespeare overtures to all.  There are 2 Naxos CDs of them.

[Mirror Image]

Completely agree, John. Malipiero's symphonies sound quite promising (especially some of the earlier ones like the Sinfonie del silenzio e della morte), but the Marco Polo/Naxos recordings aren't really satisfactory. Almost all those recordings the Moscow Symphony Orchestra made under Antonio de Almeida are, to be frank, just not great. A pity, since they recorded so much interesting repertoire.

I think 20th Century Italian music needs a champion, but there doesn't seem to be any in sight. And yes, those Malipiero Almeida recordings aren't great by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, they just give us an idea of what his music might sound like if it were in more capable and passionate hands.

[Mirror Image]

NP: Bruckner's 6th

From this set -

[JBS]

Christmastide means long stressful shifts at work, and little time for music, so making sure tonight it's something calming before sleep

CD 12
Mozart
Piano Concertos 24, 25, and 5

[Karl Henning]

I think 20th Century Italian music needs a champion, but there doesn't seem to be any in sight. And yes, those Malipiero Almeida recordings aren't great by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, they just give us an idea of what his music might sound like if it were in more capable and passionate hands.

Very good music. A pity that these are the only recordings we have.

[Mirror Image]

Very good music. A pity that these are the only recordings we have.

Back when Alun Francis was recording so much on the CPO label, I often wished that he had embarked on a Malipiero symphony cycle.

[Mirror Image]

And one more work for the night:

Stravinsky
Octet
London Sinfonietta
Chailly