What are you listening 2 now?

[kyjo]

Braunfels: String Quartet No. 3

A first listen to this recent release. I hope the other quartets will be more engaging as this one left me wanting more. More listens will be necessary to grasp it better I guess.

Braunfels strikes me as a rather uneven composer. Some works of his have grabbed me immediately (e.g. the Te Deum), while others have left me a bit disappointed and are rather lacking in memorability.

[kyjo]

Copland: Symphony No. 2 'Short Symphony'

The rhythmic elements of the work make it interesting, but I much prefer his Symphony for organ and orchestra and Symphony No. 3.

While it may be the least substantial of Copland's symphonies, I do enjoy the spiky rhythmic energy of the Short Symphony, which also exists in an effective chamber version as his Sextet. What do you think of his early Dance Symphony? I find it to be a very engaging and surprisingly "meaty" work given its title. The Chicago SO/Morton Gould recording is particularly excellent!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

If I understand you correctly, there is a causal relationship between onions and  Vaughan Williams.

  No, just that I wanted to listen to some music and that I also wanted to make some good headway on making my soup!    Chopping up veggies is basically brainless, but you do need to mind your knife skills.  I was also cooking some bacon which takes a while on the stove top.  In the end, it was all good.  75% of the way towards making tonight's dinner (even before having my breakfast) and able to enjoy some music at the same time.

And, yes, the smell of onions does normally effect my tear ducts which is why I made my comment.  I love his (VW's) fifth symphony.

PD

[Traverso]

Messiaen


Livre du Saint Sacrament   1984

[Traverso]

  No, just that I wanted to listen to some music and that I also wanted to make some good headway on making my soup!    Chopping up veggies is basically brainless, but you do need to mind your knife skills.  I was also cooking some bacon which takes a while on the stove top.  In the end, it was all good.  75% of the way towards making tonight's dinner (even before having my breakfast) and able to enjoy some music at the same time.

And, yes, the smell of onions does normally effect my tear ducts which is why I made my comment.  I love his (VW's) fifth symphony.

PD

I wil listen to this Fifth symphony,at the moment I'm buried in the massive organ world of Messiaen.

Despite earlier statements by Boulez about Messiaen,after his passing he called him the greatest musician of the century.( Los Angeles Times)

[Traverso]

Messiaen


I am deeply impressed by Livre du Sacrement, Hans-Ola Ericsson is a great interpreter, I am really overwhelmed....

[SonicMan46]

Bloch, Ernest - String Quartets w/ the Griller Quartet (Nos. 1-4) and the Pro Arte Quartet (No. 5) - Bloch wrote five SQs - the Grillers recorded the first 4 in 1954, now on 2 remastered CDs, but never the last which was written in 1956; the Pro Arte Quartet recorded all five which are available at the Laurel Records Website, where I purchased the second CD below - reviews are attached (Classics Today gave the Griller Quartet 10 for performance but only 6 for the 'old' mono sound - I probably would have given an 8, the remastering is quite good).  Dave

 

[kyjo]

Wow, this cover art is funny. He's writing "Dear Mozart," on the paper! 

Now, inspired by my own post in "New" Music Log, revisiting the symphony cycle of Lepo Sumera:

What did you think? I've been quite impressed by what I've heard of Sumera, especially his 2nd Symphony. His idiom is broadly minimalist but free of repetitiousness or predictability, and often possesses a Nordic power which appeals to me. He passed away way too young at the age of 50....

[Karl Henning]

Too much protest against the artwork I presume

Other labels have reissues with alternate artwork. This series is tailor-made for that practice.

[vandermolen]

No sir , the whole album

VMT (very many thanks )

[Lisztianwagner]

Meanwhile...
Richard Strauss's
Also sprach Zarathustra

Herbert von Karajan, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

What do you think about it? I notice you're not usually particularly enthusiastic about Karajan's recordings, but I hope this version can be an exception.

[Lisztianwagner]

Aaron Copland
Appalachian Spring

Leonard Bernstein & NY Philharmonic

[Todd]

Revisiting disc two, some proper HIP Wagner and Debussy.  Wagner's Faust Overture is irrelevant.  Siegfried's Funeral March sounds as potent and compelling as any, even shrouded in ancient sonics.  The Parsifal bleeding chunks are more than that.  The pacing, the drama, the beauty, and the lightness make one sad that Toscanini never recorded the whole opera, even in the crudest, earliest 1920s electrical sound.  If his take on the whole opera was like this - and one assumes it would have been - than the definitive recording could have been made a century ago.  And if that were not enough, Debussy's La Mer is one of the greatest ever.  Zippy tempi sound entirely natural, and the lightness (again) and detail, even masked by mono balances and sonics, put some modern versions to shame. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Aaron Copland
Appalachian Spring

Leonard Bernstein & NY Philharmonic

Great choice (in my opinion anyway)!

But, did you enjoy it though ?

Best,

PD

[Lisztianwagner]

Great choice (in my opinion anyway)!

But, did you enjoy it though ?

Best,

PD

Immensely, Appalachian Spring is one of my favourite Copland's works! And Bernstein's rythmic and colourful approach to the composition is perfect, he never disappoints as conductor in this music.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Immensely, Appalachian Spring is one of my favourite Copland's works! And Bernstein's rythmic and colourful approach to the composition is perfect, he never disappoints as conductor in this music.

Happy to hear that you liked it.  And like you, I do love Appalachian Spring. 

PD

[Karl Henning]

CD 40

Shostakovich
Symphony № 10 in e minor, Op. 93
Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York (NY Phil)
Rec. 18 Oct 1954 (i.e. only about a year after the piece's completion.)

[Que]

[Irons]

Crossed over from vinyl thread.

Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments.



Only Stravinsky can open an exuberant romp of a first movement with a funeral march for wind band! A brilliant concerto grosso work which I enjoyed very much.

[vers la flamme]

Béla Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin Suite, op.19. Ádám Fischer, Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra

Good performance—trademark weird Nimbus sonics. I like it, but I think I would like to find another recording of this work.