What are you listening 2 now?

[aligreto]

Welcome back, Fergus!

Thank you Manabu. I hope that you are well.

[Papy Oli]

Shostakovich - Symphony No.1

Ancerl / Czech PO



I am liking that "Gold" Series so far.

[prémont]

New arrival. A really horrible interpretation.

I already had that feeling when I saw it mentioned.

[aligreto]

Poulenc: Eric Le Sage Plays Poulenc





From CD 6: Sonate pour violoncelle et piano [Salque/Le Sage]

The opening movement is both quirky and jaunty. It is always entertaining and engaging.
The second movement is a slow one. The music is somewhat dark in tone but it is also always very engaging. The piano lines here are particularly noteworthy for their quality.
The scherzo-like third movement is an animated, amusing and humorous affair, I find.
The final movement opens in a quite dramatic and grandiose fashion. Very soon, however, the music takes off in a quite different direction. It develops into an animated display from both instruments.

[71 dB]

Paillard J.S.Bach box disc 7: BVW 1060R, 1044, 1057

The Adagio ma non tanto e dolce of BWV 1044 is played very interestingly here. 
I have used to much more "rigid" and straightforward approach.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Veselin Stoyanov: Grotesque Suite - Bay Ganyo. Varna Philharmonic Orchestra.

[Spotted Horses]

Poulenc: Eric Le Sage Plays Poulenc





From CD 6: Sonate pour violoncelle et piano [Salque/Le Sage]

My goal is to catch up to you in Poulenc survey.

[Traverso]

Mozart - Spohr - Weber

[Todd]

[Linz]

Beethoven Symphony 9 in D Minor "Choral" Wolfgang Sawallisch

[Lisztianwagner]

Paul Hindemith
Konzertmusik

Herbert Blomstedt & San Francisco Symphony

[vandermolen]

Nice to see The Grand Return of Fergus 

TD
Klami: Sea Pictures

[Linz]

Hans Rott Symphony No. 1 and Symphony for String Orchestra Gürzenich Orchester Kölm

[Christo]

I think it's the finest new cd I've heard in years, with the sublime Third Symphony (1965) towering over it all.

[Todd]

I've been waiting to listen to Kun-Woo Paik's recording of Goyescas.  I keep hoping it will be available for legitimate download in the US, but so far that has not occurred.  I did find a download store out of Montenegro that allows unlimited downloads for thirty days for just over twenty Euros, but I do not feel like providing my credit card info.  So I decided to stream the recording.

Apparently, Paik has long wanted to record this piece, and it kind of shows.  This is a long, slow take.  Using Alicia de Larrocha's Hispavox recording as a benchmark, Paik is slower in every movement, by a minimum of around thirty seconds at the low end, and over two minutes at the high end.  The whole thing comes in at about sixty-three minutes.  What does one get in such a slow recording?  Lavish attention to detail, that's what.  That, and a wonderful languidness.  Well, those things, and lovely tone and exaggerated dynamics due to the close recording.  Everything is on display in Los requiebros, where Paik sort of lets the right hand briefly meander, and he delivers some very guitar like playing, albeit it slowly.  El fandango de candil, clocking in at over seven minutes, sounds languid and heavy and sluggish – and feels just right.  But it is the thirteen-and-a-half minute El Amor y la Muerte that serves as the centerpiece itself.  Paik starts with left hand playing so heavy and thick it almost approximates an organ.  The pulse of the music nearly dies, which seems appropriate, as it grimly yet beautifully and at times tenderly proceeds through to the exhausted coda.  The dark yet bright, serious yet comical, slow (over eight-and-a-half minutes) yet never sluggish Epilogo sounds just right.  To cap things off, Paik ups the energy, rhythmic elan, and tonal brightness in a most satisfactory El pelele.

This recording is so good that I will hunt down a copy to own, in some format, and it may even require a full shoot-out with the heavy hitters to determine the best recording ever.  People less susceptible to Paik's magic may be less enthusiastic.

(And I not at all secretly hope that Arcadi Volodos, who has spent many years in Spain, takes up this work because, well, because.) 

[j winter]

Enjoying this... I tried a couple of other versions earlier and they just seemed too fast and manic for me today (a reflection of me having a somewhat stressful week at work rather than of any artistic merit of the performances)... this serves nicely, more relaxed and flowing in tempo without seeming slack, good piano tone.



Following up with CPE...

[Lisztianwagner]

From the New Year's Concert 2023:

Heiterer Muth. Polka française, op. 281
For ever. Polka schnell, op. 193
Zeisserln. Walzer, op. 114
Glocken-Polka mit Galopp aus dem Ballett Excelsior
Allegro fantastique. Orchesterfantasie, Anh. 26b
Aquarellen. Walzer, op. 258
Banditen-Galopp, Op.378
An der schönen blauen Donau, Op.314

Franz Welser-Möst & Wiener Philharmoniker

[SonicMan46]

Several more recent arrivals:

Gernsheim, Friedrich (1839-1916) - Piano Works, Vs. 1 & 2 w/ Jens Barnieck, apparently more to be released which piqued my interest as to 'how much' he wrote for the piano (on which he was a child prodigy)?  So, checked out his list of works HERE - at the bottom are those w/ Opus numbers which did not include the 3 juvenilia sonatas from his mid-teens but all are on the 2 CDs, along with the others in BOLD - thus there appears to be a LOT left for more recordings.  BTW, Barnieck had to 'reconstruct' these early sonatas from manuscripts.  Dave

 

Auf der Lagune, Op.71
Auf der Piazetta, Op.68
Capriccio in E minor
Fantasie und Fugue, Op.76 (organ)
Fantasie, Op.27
Fantasie, Op.81
Ins Stammbuch, Op.26
4 Klavierstücke, Op.61
2 Piano Pieces, Op.39
Piano Sonata, Op.1
6 Preludes, Op.2
Romanze, Op.15
Romanze, Op.23
Stimmungsbilder, Op.36
Suite, Op.8
4 Tanzstücke, Op.30
Tondichtung, Op.72
Variationen, Op.18
Variationen, Op.22
Walzer, Op.70
Weihe der Nacht, Op.69
Piano Sonata No. 1, 2, 3 (1853-54)

[aligreto]

My goal is to catch up to you in Poulenc survey.

I have been gone from here for quite a while. I thought that you might have done so by now.
How far in are you and are you still enjoying the set?

[Karl Henning]

Hello Maestro Henning. I hope that your health is good.

Warm thanks!