What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Carl Nielsen.
The Danish Symphonist.
CD IV.
Aladdin suite.
Symphonic Rhapsody.
Overture Helios.
Cupid and the Poet, Orchestral Suite.
Royal Liverpool PO, Douglas Bostock.

Super performance and recording, all done to the highest standards, also artistically.
A rather complete offering and every disc a gem.

[Traverso]

Mozart

[Traverso]

[Karl Henning]

Hartmann: Symphony No. 3; Charles Ives: Robert Browning Overture/ Bamberger Symphoniker, Ingo Metzmacher

Very nice!

[Karl Henning]

Sergei Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No.2

Gil Shaham (violin)
André Previn & London Symphony Orchestra

Very nice, too!

[Todd]

from

[j winter]

It's a Mendelssohn morning...

[Karl Henning]

It's a Mendelssohn morning...

I've been dipping into the quartets of late, myself.

[kyjo]

Arthur Bliss: Meditations on a Theme of John Blow.
In a way this work reminds me of 'Job' by Vaughan Williams:

Agreed about the stylistic connection between these two utter masterpieces. Besides being both written on biblical subjects, they both share compelling contrasts between sections of blissful beauty and sections of threatening spookiness!

[Harry]

Streaming on Qobuz.
So far its the best performance I heard of these Suites.
But alas OOP.
I just wonder why these Suites are so little recorded.

[Brian]

Streaming on Qobuz.
So far its the best performance I heard of these Suites.
But alas OOP.
I just wonder why these Suites are so little recorded.

Agreed on all counts! During our discussion of these Suites a couple weeks ago, a GMGer pointed out to me that Svetlanov's recordings of the Suites are also available on Qobuz - the only set to compare to Dorati, I think.

[kyjo]

I'm somewhat pleased to read your comments on the RVW sonata which I think is applicable to the whole CD. Beautiful playing and the sound top drawer but I remained unmoved, why I have no idea.

Yeah, I agree with Cesar about that somewhat unconvincing recent recording of the RVW Violin Sonata. Definitely the finest version I've heard (not that many exist) is the one by Hugh Bean and David Parkhouse on EMI. They're fully up to the technical and interpretive challenges of this fascinating score.

[Florestan]

It's a Mendelssohn morning...

Very recently I finished the Eroica Quartet set. Their performance gives the big lie to any claim that Mendelssohn was unable to compose emotional, passionate and turbulent music --- problem is, this consistently stern and uncompromising approach works well for Op. 13 and (especially) Op. 80 but is rather tedious and enervating in the other quartets. I would like to hear these works in a more genuinely Mendelssohnian approach, any recommendations? Did the Coull Quartet satisfy you?

[Harry]

Agreed on all counts! During our discussion of these Suites a couple weeks ago, a GMGer pointed out to me that Svetlanov's recordings of the Suites are also available on Qobuz - The only set to compare to Dorati, I think.

Well I compared them Brian, and my vote is forget about Svetlanov, Dorati is the set to have. The only chagrin I have that I cannot get the CD's, so I am streaming them now. The remastered sound is very good, so I want them, want them.......... I have the CD's by Svetlanov and I happily trade them for Dorati. Any takers?

[Mapman]

Well, it's certainly juicy, attractive, post-Romantic stuff done with orchestral aplomb.

The opening (with its repeated timpani beat) had me hooked, but then it went off in flashy but seemingly mostly pointless directions. I think you're probably pushing it, if you write a 50+ minute symphony: I don't think any ideas I heard there warrant that sort of length. The thing is also oddly mis-shapen: 15 minutes for the Allegro; 13 minutes for the Molto adagio; 5 minutes for the Scherzo; 3 minutes for the Intermezzo and then a whopping 16 minutes for the Finale. The shorter, inner movements are a bit overwhelmed by the much longer outer ones, though they seem to contain the best tunes.

Curate's Eggish, therefore: good in parts, but it's not going on my list of desert island discs any time soon!

That's a fair assessment of Dohnányi's 1st. I thought that Dohnányi perhaps wasn't quite sure what style he wanted to write the symphony in. Sections seem to have a clear influence (such as Dvořák or Bruckner), but the piece isn't entirely cohesive. The symphony is full of enjoyable music, but I'm not entirely convinced that it works as a Symphony.

[Operafreak]

Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22-Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä


   

[Maestro267]

Suk: A Summer's Tale
Czech PO/Pesek

[Papy Oli]

Last night and today:

Bach - Cantatas BWV 14, 16-19 (Harnoncourt, Leonhardt)

[j winter]

Very recently I finished the Eroica Quartet set. Their performance gives the big lie to any claim that Mendelssohn was unable to compose emotional, passionate and turbulent music --- problem is, this consistently stern and uncompromising approach works well for Op. 13 and (especially) Op. 80 but is rather tedious and enervating in the other quartets. I would like to hear these works in a more genuinely Mendelssohnian approach, any recommendations? Did the Coull Quartet satisfy you?

I'm enjoying the Coull Quartet, beautiful tone and well recorded if a bit distant, but this is a first listen and I'm still familiarizing myself with Mendelssohn's chamber music so I don't really feel confident enough to make a recommendation.  I found this set for a whopping 3 dollars at Princeton, so I picked it up -- I only have one other set (Quatuor Ysaÿe) so I thought some variety was in order. 

[Florestan]

Agreed on all counts! During our discussion of these Suites a couple weeks ago, a GMGer pointed out to me that Svetlanov's recordings of the Suites are also available on Qobuz - the only set to compare to Dorati, I think.

There is also this set, which I enjoy very much: