What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Bruckner 3 Celibidache from this set

[André]

Most performances of the work use the revised version. This Chandos disc uses what is touted as the original version. The main differences are obvious: the concluding orchestral Intrada is also used, quite logically, at the beginning of the work, giving it a perfect arch-like structure. That is a typical bartokian feature, here applied to Janacek. I've read that some do not consider the re-assignment of the Intrada as bookends to the Mass legitimate in any way. I guess one may always skip it, or plug it in if using a recording of the revised version (there's a simple solution to most problems ).

The other salient departure from the familiar text is the elaborate orchestral interlude at the centre of the Credo (Veruju) movement, with additional music featuring prominent clarinet and timpani parts. This is quite good actually, and now that I've heard it I would probably miss it from recordings of the revised text. Lost on me was the metrical change from 4/4 (revised) to 5/4 (original) in the outer sections of the Kyrie (Gospodi). So much for the textual differences.

The interpretation is excellent, the execution very fine and most of the singing very good (descending order of quality here). The soloists are clearly not czech-sounding (3 are Danish and one Austrian). The slavic tang and powerful, tightly projected sound emission are not to be found and, truth be told, both men struggle mightily and are rather painful to hear. In this they're not alone, as the soloists are a big component of a successful performance of the Mass. Indeed, the best performances of the Glagolitic Mass all hail from its motherland. The sound is excellent.

The Kodaly Psalmus Hungaricus is a beautiful work and it sounds quite well here (very fine sound). What galled me though is that, in this multi-sectional work sung in Hungarian in a resonant acoustic there is no banding. A single track for the whole duration. I was quickly lost trying to follow the words in the booklet. I had no trouble following the czech words, but it would seem Hungarian is another matter entirely for a non-native . Of course it helps that there is a translation, so all was not lost.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Soviet Trumpet Concertos. Bibi Black et al./Moscow.

[bhodges]

Bruce, you probably heard this from the DVD of that Salzburg production ? This is one of the best opera performances on DVD I've come across. A stunning work and a great performance of it.

Edit: I see from what you wrote in the Schreker thread that it's from that video indeed. I didn't know it was available on YT 

Yes, though I'm glad some kind soul put it up on YouTube, the DVD is vastly preferable (and never mind copyright issues). But at least someone can get the gist of it.

The production has grown on me. I didn't quite like it at first -- maybe seemed a little mannered? -- but now I like it better. Robert Brubaker and Anne Schwanewilms are terrific, too.

--Bruce

[Karl Henning]

CD 45

Stabat Mater, Hob.XX:BIS

[Symphonic Addict]

Revisiting two old friends:


Sibelius: Kullervo

Is it me, or are there some passages with a Janacekian accent to it in this performance? Anyway, magnificenlty played.





Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake

My favorite Tchaikovsky ballet. The French touch is particularly present yet without losing Russian flavour through the score




And this:

Franck: Les éolides

There is a strong reminiscence of Saint-Saëns' Le rouet d'Omphale.

[Linz]

Vivaldi Concerti per flauto traversiere Kuijken, Academia Montis Regalis

[aligreto]

Beethoven: Piano Sonatinas in G maj & F maj, Kinsky-Halm ahn. 5 Nos.1 & 2 [Brautigam]





These are two very charming works irrespective of their provenance.

[TheGSMoeller]

Daphnis et Chloe Suite no.2 from this recording. I always prefer the chorus included in this work, but this would be the best version of the suite minus-voices I've heard.

[Todd]

[DavidW]

Sibelius' 1st and 2nd Vanska

[Symphonic Addict]

Dvorak: Symphony No. 1

I hear a Beethoven influence in spots. It comes from stormy passages to 'too-triumphant' culminations. That ending is insane! As much as I adore this work, I do think it has its flaws.




Rawsthorne: String Quartet (1935)

Acerbic, but not too much. This quirky and serious Rawsthorne appeals to me.

[Klavier1]

[André]

K. 377, 379 and 526. Badura-Skoda plays a 1785 Anton Walter fortepiano, Irnberger a 1656 Jacobus Stainer. Their music making is superb and they exploit the delicate yet strangely assertive qualities of their instruments very well. There are 4 discs in the series, presenting the sonatas as 4 recitals rather than chronologically. A superb disc.

[André]

Intense, gorgeous music.

[Mapman]

Beethoven: Symphony #6
Mravinsky: Leningrad Philharmonic

I can see why this recording is not better-known. The sound quality and orchestra aren't particularly great. I prefer the clarinet playing of Robert Marcellus with the Cleveland Orchestra. However, the brass did make the climaxes exciting.

[Klavier1]

[bhodges]

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 (Skrowaczewski / Frankfurt Radio Symphony, live recording from 6 September 2013) - Wow, what a document. The conductor was just shy of his 90th birthday for this concert, sometimes hard to believe. Great audio and video, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Rtd4tnFwU

--Bruce

[JBS]

Revisiting two old friends:


Sibelius: Kullervo

Is it me, or are there some passages with a Janacekian accent to it in this performance? Anyway, magnificenlty played.





Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake

My favorite Tchaikovsky ballet. The French touch is particularly present yet without losing Russian flavour through the score




And this:

Franck: Les éolides

There is a strong reminiscence of Saint-Saëns' Le rouet d'Omphale.

That Franck recording is now part of this set (which btw I just ordered)


TD

[Mapman]

Lili Boulanger: D'un Soir Triste and D'un Matin De Printemps
JoAnn Falletta: The Women's Philharmonic