What are you listening 2 now?

[Biffo]

Haydn: Sympnony No 94 in G major Surprise - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner

[Mandryka]

Cassandra Miller For Mira

https://vimeo.com/196021210

[vers la flamme]

Holy cow, it's vers la flamme! Good to see un-lurking. The Strauss Kempe box set is a mandatory acquisition for anyone who loves Strauss.

NP:

Glazunov
Symphony No. 8 in E-flat, Op. 83
USSR Ministry of Culture SO
Rozhdestvensky

From this long OOP set -

Good to see you too, and everyone else. Haven't had much time for these boards (or indeed for music  ) between school and work lately.

Now for a bit more Strauss before work:



Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung, op.24; Der Rosenkavalier, op.59: Waltz Suite. Rudolf Kempe, Staatskapelle Dresden

First listen, sounding amazing. The Staatskapelle Dresden at the top of their game under a killer conductor.

[Traverso]

Monteverdi

This Maria vespers is my first acquaintance and I immediately fell in love with this work. The opening, the recorders increase the upward festive joy in an appropriate way. The choir sounds a bit heavy, but does not detract from a convincing performance. Many performances have appeared afterwards and there is only one recording that disputes it as my number one and that is the recording that has become a classic, Parrott and his superb soloists and choir. The sound is still more than excellent and the performance may fall short on points, but as a whole this is a wonderful performance. Many later recordings, despite all what is called progress, lack what makes music what it is, it is more than the execution of all kinds of correctly applied stylistic ideas. This Jurgen Jürgens recording is a warm bath and I wouldn't want to miss it.

[Harry]

Felix Woyrsch.

Symphony No. 4 in F major & No. 5 in D major.

NDR Radiophilharmonie, Thomas Dorsch.

I love every one of his Symphonies, and consider him quite underrated in the classical music establishment, but this self educated composer has more to say, as many a composer that is more known and even more famous.

[DavidW]

Chailly the St. Matthew Passion

[steve ridgway]

Webern - Five Pieces For Orchestra. I like these short and varied pieces.

[foxandpeng]

Thanks for the warm wishes, everyone. Greatly appreciated. As long as my concentration and headache allows, I will be aiding my recovery with fine music.

Thread:

Vagn Holmboe
Complete Symphonies
Symphonies 2 and 3
Owain Arwel Hughes
Aarhus SO

[Madiel]

Yesterday night I thought It'd be nice to have a gentle, genial and relaxed Schubertiade as a stress-reliever. So I started with this:



My German is extremely rudimentary, beside the title and a few words or combination of words here and there I understand nothing without the help of a translation --- yet it's rarely that I listen to German Lieder booklet in hand. I just wallow in the sound and treat the voice(s) as just another instrument. In this case it worked wonderfully. A great beginning.

And then...

...then I spinned this for the first time:



Eight punches in my stomach on a row! I have never ever heard them played like that. These muscular, powerful, heavy, dark, uncompromisingly soulful, un-poetic, un-lyrical, dirge-like through and through (feellings enhanced by Leonskaja's observing all the repeats all the time) performances would not be out of place amidst the ruins of Mariupol or besides a mass grave in Bucha or Berdyanka...

My evening was ruined, my mood darkened considerably and it took me quite a while before getting asleep.

No, really, Schubert's Impromptus might not be the happiest music in the world but until yesterday I had no idea they can be among the darkest pieces of music in the world.

I think tonight I'm gping to get me some Chopin waltzes.

I tried some of Leonskaja's sonatas a while back. I stopped trying them.

[Madiel]

Thanks for the warm wishes, everyone. Greatly appreciated. As long as my concentration and headache allows, I will be aiding my recovery with fine music.

Thread:

Vagn Holmboe
Complete Symphonies
Symphonies 2 and 3
Owain Arwel Hughes
Aarhus SO

My warm wishes also. And I think symphony no.2 is perhaps Holmboe's first masterpiece, so enjoy.

[Operafreak]

 


Hanson conducts Hanson

Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, Eastman Rochester School Of Music Chorus, Howard Hanson

[North Star]

Martin
Cello Concerto
Ballade for Cello and Piano
8 Preludes for Piano
Christian Poltéra
Kathryn Stott
Malmö Symphony
Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen

[Papy Oli]

JS Bach - St John's Passion part II (Gardiner, Archiv)

[Spotted Horses]

Roussel, Symphony No 2, Martinon, ORF



Reminds me that I am much more familiar with Roussel's 3rd and 4th symphonies than the earlier ones. As I read in various recording notes, Roussel's early impressionistic style came to an end with the deprivations of the First World War, and he emerged with a more austere, expressionistic style. He described his second symphony as reflecting a person's journey through life, reflecting enthusiasm, joy, stress and suffering, and finally tranquility and acceptance.

Martinon's performance is impressive. The audio from 1968 is good, except that there is considerable tape saturation whenever the bass drum is involved. I will have to delve into my collection for a modern account of the work. Maybe Janowski.

[aligreto]

Roussel: Symphony No. 1 [Janowski]





What an enchanting and atmospheric sound world this work is. I imagine a snapshot of the same forest location for each different season. The music is wonderfully evocative of an appropriate atmosphere for each of the relevant seasons. The orchestration is rich and vibrant. It has everything from the mystical to tense drama. Janowsky allows the music to be lush where appropriate but it is never effusive or sentimental. He allows it to flow over and around you. He also allows it to be free and unreigned where appropriate.

[Operafreak]

Rimsky-Korsakov: Le Coq d'Or Suite and other works- London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati

[aligreto]

Roussel, Symphony No 2, Martinon, ORF



Reminds me that I am much more familiar with Roussel's 3rd and 4th symphonies than the earlier ones. As I read in various recording notes, Roussel's early impressionistic style came to an end with the deprivations of the First World War, and he emerged with a more austere, expressionistic style. He described his second symphony as reflecting a person's journey through life, reflecting enthusiasm, joy, stress and suffering, and finally tranquility and acceptance.

Martinon's performance is impressive. The audio from 1968 is good, except that there is considerable tape saturation whenever the bass drum is involved. I will have to delve into my collection for a modern account of the work. Maybe Janowski.

That was a very co-incidental post. 

I am not at all familiar with Roussel's music and this is a maiden voyage, for me, into his symphonies.
Your comments are very interesting and informative and I will certainly bear them in mind as I progress with the other symphonies.

[Harry]

Dmitri Shostakovich.

Symphony No. 11 in G minor, "The Year 1905", opus 103.

Gurzenich Orchester Koln, Dmitrij Kitajenko.

These recordings with the complete Symphonies are making a huge impression on me in terms of performance and interpretation as well as the excellent SACD sound.

[Madiel]

Dvorak, The Heirs of White Mountain.

Apparently the original version was the work that first made Dvorak's name in his own country. It's a very patriotic work for one thing. The sentiments now perhaps feel a bit dated/grandiose, but it's listenable.

[Florestan]

I tried some of Leonskaja's sonatas a while back. I stopped trying them.

Care to elaborate a bit, please? What is it that you disliked? I ask because our tastes overlap a good deal sso it might help me spare some precious time which I could spent elsewhere than this set.