What are you listening 2 now?

[Madiel]

You listened to it three times or you spread it out over three nights? Anyway, this, for me, is the reference recording for King Roger.

Spread it out over 3 nights. An act at a time meant that I didn't get worn out and could pay proper attention.

[Linz]

Georg Szell Bruckner 7 with The Wiener Philharmonker

[classicalgeek]

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 [Ashkenazy]

My reference Rachmaninov Symphony set! The Second is perhaps my favorite recording - the Concertgebouw sounds gorgeous.

TD: A comparison of Sibelius 1 for me:

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis


Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Paavo Berglund


Vienna Philharmonic
Leonard Bernstein


To my surprise, I slightly preferred the Berglund/Helsinki performance - exciting, rhythmically taut, expressive where it needed to be. Davis/Boston do an excellent job, and have long been my preferred Sibelius cycle. And I actually enjoyed Bernstein/Vienna, though they approach it from a different, almost Tchaikovskian angle - and it works, for the most part. I particularly enjoyed Bernstein's interpretation of the finale.

[SonicMan46]

Romberg, Andreas (1767-1821) - Chamber Works shown below representing most of my Romberg collection; German violinist and composer bridging the Classical-Romantic periods, writing music in the same manner as Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven but at a lower tier, as Jerry Dubins states in his review of the Symphonies "Andreas Romberg was a victim of the same mass casualty that consigned the efforts of countless composers to an historical limbo. Its name was Beethoven, and it left the future legacies and reputations of many in doubt following the inevitable comparative appraisal."  Well, an unfair exaggeration IMO - the little Romberg music I own (and not much more available for purchase) is quite pleasent; brief biography HERE - a list of his works quoted below from the same link (not sure how many are 'lost' or 'gone'?) - some reviews attached.  Dave

Works:
DRAMATIC : Opera: 8 operas.
ORCH.: 10 syms.; 20 violin concertos; 2 concertos for Violin and Cello; 2 concertos for 2 Violins; Concerto for Clarinet and Violin.
CHAMBER: Many; including 19 string quartets; Octet for Strings; Clarinet Quintet; 8 flute quartets; String Quintet; Piano Quartet; 3 violin sonatas.
VOCAL: Various sacred vocal works; many secular choral pieces, including the popular Lied von der Glocke (1809); part-songs; lieder. (Source)

     

[Linz]

Symphony 2 from this set CD4 also contains the 1st movement to Bruckner's 8th Symphony

[Daverz]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 3, original 1873 version



I was going to say that I was settling in to listen to it, but it's done already.  The entire 1873 version in 56:35.

[Karl Henning]

Shostakovich & Weinberg
String Quartets nos. 1-3
Emerson SQ & Quatuor Danel



Sibelius
En Saga, Op. 9 (1892 - original version)
The Wood-Nymph, Op. 15 (1894-1895)
The Dryad, Op. 45, No. 1 (1910)
Dance Intermezzo, Op. 45, No.2 (1907)
Pohjola's Daughter, Op. 49 (1906)
Night Ride And Sunrise, Op. 55 (1908)
Sinfonia Lahti
Osmo Vänskä

Happy New Year, Karlo!

[vers la flamme]

Zoltán Kodály: Háry János Suite, op.35a. János Ferencsik, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra

[Mirror Image]

NP: Bartók String Quartet No. 3, Sz 85 (Keller Quartet)

[vers la flamme]

Henri Dutilleux: Sonatina for Flute & Piano. Emmanuel Pahud, Eric le Sage

[Mirror Image]

NP: Bernstein Symphony No. 2, "The Age of Anxiety" (Zimerman/Rattle/Berliners)

[listener]

a couple of discs that arrived today:
American Choral Music
PERSICHETTI: Flower songs  IVES: Psalm 90   CORIGLIANO: Fern Hill
FOSS: Behold, I Build an House COPLAND: In the Beginning
University of Texas Chamber Singers & Chamber Orch.,  Seon Wong Cho, organ (Ives & Foss)
James Morrow, cond.
good anthology of works by major composers, no texts (probably copyright issues) to help non-English speakers
MIASKOVSKY:  Sonatas for Cello and Piano  opp. 12 & 81,
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV:  Serenade for Cello and Piano op. 37
Lilianna Kehayova, cellon  Kristine Miller, piano

[foxandpeng]

Felix Mendelssohn
Symphony 3 'Scottish'
Thomas Dausgaard
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
BIS

[Symphonic Addict]

Les djinns from this glorious disc:

Wow! How had I been missing this stuff all this time!

Hurrah for my namesake! 

[Symphonic Addict]

Superb music.

Yes, indeed! Love it too

[Mirror Image]

NP: Mahler 7th  (Chailly/Concertgebouw)

[Mirror Image]

TD: A comparison of Sibelius 1 for me:

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis


Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Paavo Berglund


Vienna Philharmonic
Leonard Bernstein


To my surprise, I slightly preferred the Berglund/Helsinki performance - exciting, rhythmically taut, expressive where it needed to be. Davis/Boston do an excellent job, and have long been my preferred Sibelius cycle. And I actually enjoyed Bernstein/Vienna, though they approach it from a different, almost Tchaikovskian angle - and it works, for the most part. I particularly enjoyed Bernstein's interpretation of the finale.

Nice Sibelius 1st-a-thon you had going on there, classicalgeek. One of the best 1st performances I've heard comes from Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Gothenburgers on Alpha:



I'm generally not a fan of a composer's (especially with whom I admire) first symphony, but Sibelius is quite good --- not outstanding, but good. Nielsen's 1st is another one I like, but don't love. Mahler's 1st always gave me a bit of problems, but I'm coming around to it (my least favorite Mahler symphony along with the 8th). My votes for favorite first symphonies go to Dvořák, Brahms, Martinů, Tchaikovsky, Walton --- to a lesser degree Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, Roussel, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, et. al.).

[classicalgeek]

Nice Sibelius 1st-a-thon you had going on there, classicalgeek. One of the best 1st performances I've heard comes from Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Gothenburgers on Alpha:



I'm generally not a fan of a composer's (especially with whom I admire) first symphony, but Sibelius is quite good --- not outstanding, but good. Nielsen's 1st is another one I like, but don't love. Mahler's 1st always gave me a bit of problems, but I'm coming around to it (my least favorite Mahler symphony along with the 8th). My votes for favorite first symphonies go to Dvořák, Brahms, Martinů, Tchaikovsky, Walton --- to a lesser degree Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, Roussel, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, et. al.).

Interesting - Mahler's First is one of my favorite Mahler Symphonies, just so full of life! I haven't warmed up to Dvorak 1 yet (and I just adore most of his music), and I like but don't love Tchaikovsky 1. I really like most of the other first symphonies you mention - Shostakovich 1 is a really fine piece, Walton's First is one of my favorite 20th-century symphonies, I think Nielsen's First is a really original work, and who doesn't love Brahms 1? Rachmaninov's First is a better work than it gets credit for... Elgar's First is another I really enjoy, with a really moving final apotheosis... I delighted in Stenhammar's First, even though it's not the most original work... and there's Arnold Bax... and Brian's Gothic...

Back to thread duty: a *Third* Symphony, one of my perennial favorites:

Brahms
Symphony no. 3
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter



A really nice performance. And the slow movement gets me every time - definitely by far my favorite slow movement of a Brahms symphony!

[Symphonic Addict]

Boehe: Symphonische Epilog zu einer Tragödie, Op. 11

This is the kind of music I should like instantly because of the thematics and the orchestral colour it seems to possess, but with this composer it's a little frustrating that situation. The work is very nice background music, hardly ever it reaches important moments, and when they happen, they just are not convincing enough to insist on this composer or work. This work meanders too much, or maybe does it need a more-appropriate conductor like N. Järvi?

[Symphonic Addict]

A tremendous disc all around!