What are you listening 2 now?

[Florestan]

KV 570

[Mandryka]

A bit of Forqueray and Marais. Very loud.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 6 in A Major 1881 Version. Ed. Robert Haas, Yannick Nézet - Séguin and the Ochestre Métropolitain 

[aligreto]

Poulenc: Eric Le Sage Plays Poulenc - From CD 6:





Sonate pour deux clarinettes [Meyer/Portal]

This is music that is equally wonderfully exciting and inventive. Like a lot of Poulenc's music, it creates a seriously interesting sound world. That voice is always worth listening to. Please also bear in mind that I have no formal musical education whatsoever so my powers of description are rather limited.

[Florestan]

Maiden listen: Trio-Impromptu Op. 4

Had I not known the composer beforehand, in a blind test I'd have guessed Gabriel Fauré.

@Madiel, give it a try, should be right up your alley.

[Brian]

What a magnificent CD! So glad this is available streaming on Qobuz. A light, chamber-like, lively Pulcinella suite, the most characterful Casella Scarlattiana I have heard, and the biggest surprise for me - Malipiero's "Ricercari per undici istrumenti," which is very Stravinsky-like, a perfect Pulcinella pairing, and my favorite Malipiero work yet. If the Malipiero superfans can recommend similar pieces of his from this sound world, I'll dive in.

[Florestan]

bear in mind that I have no formal musical education whatsoever so my powers of description are rather limited.

There are musically-trained people out there who write much worse reviews, for which they are probably paid.

[Todd]

I waited long enough.  This recording has received plaudits here, there, and everywhere, so it had to be good.  And it is.  Now, the estimable Mr Andsnes has laid down at least two definitive recordings in his career: his second recording of Grieg's PC (though he may be dethroned in my ongoing survey) and Bartok's Violin Sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff.  I've never heard a bad recording from him.  This recording of Dvorak's Poetic Tone Pictures most definitely continues that trend, but it does not set a new standard.  To be sure, aided by glorious sound, he makes each piece stand out - until the next one arrives.  Beauty, vibrance, rhythmic brio, each piece has it all.  But here Ivo Kahanek looms very large. 

I did not have time to do a full A/B, but two pieces immediately stuck out upon first listen as illustrating the reasons why I prefer Kahanek.  The two pieces are Žertem and Bacchanalia.  Under Andsnes' fingers, one hears playing perhaps informed by Grieg.  That is not so with Kahanek.  In Žertem, the playing sounds more identifiably Czech and otherwise Central European as the name Schumann pops into mind.  Kahanek, more spaciously recorded, offers starker dynamic contrasts and more halting rhythm.  It's mischievous and occasionally hard-hitting, but not heavy.  In Bacchanalia, the names Brahms and Smetana come to mind.  The weighty and propulsive left hand playing smacks of Johannes in a blend of his Hungarian inflected writing and his early sonata writing.  (Relistening to his Second Sonata just a couple days ago probably helped instill that in my aural memory.)  And though there is a proper Furiant in the collection prior to this piece, once the listener moves beyond the weighty playing, one hears writing similar to Smetana's more propulsive dance writing.  And in both these pieces, the writing sounds more immediately Dvorakian.  Now, if this reads like criticism of the Andsnes recording, it really is not.  Had Kahanek not recorded this work, Andsnes would emerge as my clear favorite.  Interpretive differences are minor, but they're there, and those are what make the difference.  It's certainly impossible to fault Andsnes' playing as playing, or even his interpretations.  I just prefer Kahanek.

It's clear, to me at least, that Dvorak's piano music deserves more attention and more recordings.  Here, I just can't help but think that Herbert Schuch's the guy who should record the music.  Alessio Bax and Claire Huangci also seem like they could add a little something special, and David Greilsammer should pluck at least a few pieces out and drop them in another concept disc.  Zlata Chochieva, too, though she should record everything.

[Traverso]

Adams

[Linz]

Haydn Symphonies No. 95 in C minor, Symphony No. 99 in E flat major and Symphony No. 104 in D major "London" London Philharmonic Orchestra

[Lisztianwagner]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.8

Leonard Bernstein & Wiener Philharmoniker

[Symphonic Addict]

[Symphonic Addict]

Adams

Curiously I heard this very work last night, but it did nothing for me.

[Papy Oli]

Both were new to me when I originally bought this disc, but that's quite a few years ago now. I think the other works were all on an LP Simon Rattlle did back in his CBSO days, called simply The Jazz Album. I enjoyed that too at the time, though I haven't heard it in years.

The Antheil work definitely piqued my interest. I'll have to explore this composer further at some point.

[Karl Henning]

No surprise:

Martinů
Symphony № 2, H. 295 (1943 Darien, Conn.)
Prague Radio Symphony
Válek

[Traverso]

Ligeti

String Quartet 1 & 2
Ramifications Orchestre de Chambre de toulouse / Louis Auriocombe
6 bagatelles  Barry Tuckwell Quintet

[Traverso]

Curiously I heard this very work last night, but it did nothing for me.

That is certainly not my experience....

[Bachtoven]

Excellent playing and sound. (Played on a piano.)

[Brian]

Saw this posted a few pages back. Couldn't resist!



Wow, the bass drum is really resonant on this recording.

[Madiel]

Maiden listen: Trio-Impromptu Op. 4

Had I not known the composer beforehand, in a blind test I'd have guessed Gabriel Fauré.

@Madiel, give it a try, should be right up your alley.

Okay.