What are you listening 2 now?

[Karl Henning]

CD 30

Schoenberg
Erwartung, Op. 17
Dorothy Dow, soprano
Křenek
Symphonic Elegy, Op. 105 for String Orchestra (in memoriam Anton Webern)
Recorded 19 Nov 1951

Schoenberg
Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4

Philharmonic Society of New York (New York Philharmonic)
recorded 3 Mar 1958

This disc is Dream Programming for me: Schoenberg's high-octane monodrama Erwartung, Krenek's exquisitely expressive Symphonic Elegy in memoriam Anton Webern, and the string orchestra version of Verklärte Nacht.
. Only the Křenek was new to me, and what a rich, powerful piece and an intense performance. (Trivial factoid of the day: the original LP—released 23 May 1952—uses diacritics for both Schönberg and Křenek.) Dorothy Dow's musical command and dramatic presentation of Erwartung is stunning, jaw-dropping. In fact, exhilaratingly fearless music-making on everyone's part. The accompaniment is a model of clarity and verve. As a rule. I have a slight preference for the original sextet version of Verklärte Nacht, and while I've certainly enjoyed other "big band" readings of the piece, the profile of this recording has a winning intimacy to it. The arc of this assembled reissue is completely satisfying: first the searingly unrelenting Erwartung, then the mournfully dramatic Krenek, and (a little curiously, perhaps) "cooling down" with the more conservatively Romantic Verklärte Nacht.

[DavidW]

[Mapman]

Brian: Symphony #10
Loughran: LSSO

I think the performance is better than that of #21 on the same disc. Brian's music is interesting, although I don't know how much I like it at this point.

[Undersea]

Currently:



Bruckner: Symphony #5 in B flat, WAB 105


Particularly enjoy the 5th and 8th Symphonies from the above Set.

[Bachtoven]

I'm glad to see more pianists recording Medtner's Sonatas. I haven't compared this to other Medtner that I own, but it sounds fine on its own terms.

[Operafreak]

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D major/


    London Philharmonic Orchestra, -    Bernard Haitink

[Operafreak]

 Lyapunov: 12 Études d'Exécution Transcendante

Florian Noack (piano)

[Que]

Morning listening. I'm already behind with my cantatas project for this year.... 

More cantatas for the 1st and 2nd Sundays after Epiphany:
BWV 32 Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen
BWV 3 Ach Gott, wie manches Herzesleid.
BWV 13 Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen..



Once again I was pleasantly surprised by how absolutely delightful also the "lesser known" cantatas can be.

[Undersea]

Currently:



Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante in E minor, Op. 125


Brilliant work, as are all of Prokofiev's Concertos - I am sorely tempted by the Prokofiev Collector's Edition which is being released next month...

[Que]

No idea when I last heard this, but the return is very a happy one.

Glad that I randomly pulled this off the shelf!

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

Ravel - Daphnis & Chloé (Dutoit).

[Lisztianwagner]

Thanks to @Roasted Swan for the interesting suggestion:

Arnold Schönberg
Verklärte Nacht (arr. Steuermann)

Het Collectief

[vandermolen]

Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 12 [Pacifica Quartet]





The Pacifica Quartet offers a suitably dark and bleak but also a powerful and sometimes quite an assertive presentation of this work. This is a robust and oftentimes aggressive performance and presentation. I find it to be a suitably stark and bleak but in a strong and powerful way. The performance is of quite a high quality. The music can often be really attacked which ultimately yields up terrific and exciting performances throughout the work. There is also a vast amount of emotional intensity brought to bear in this intense and tension filled presentation. There is also a very fair modicum of drama brought to bear here. This presentation has a great presence to it.
I do not think that any superlatives can adequately describe the quality of this work.

You must listen to the NYM SQ 13 as well Fergus - one of his finest works I think.

[vandermolen]

Prokofiev: Symphonic Sketch 'Autumn'

[Tsaraslondon]

Kronos take us on a journey around the musical territories that connect eastern Europe with the Mediterranean and the Orient and, as such, is best listened to it one sitting; the programming is superb and brilliantly thought out.

If you like Golijov, who arranged a couple of the tracks, then you will like this.

[Tsaraslondon]

Good morning all,

Ravel - Daphnis & Chloé (Dutoit).

Such a beautiful disc.

[vandermolen]

Such a beautiful disc.

I agree 

[aligreto]

Victoria: Requiem [McCreesh]





This is a very fine work indeed and it is given a very fine performance here. The choir is well balanced and rich and full sounding in tone. The recording is also full sounding and spacious in a suitably reverberant acoustic which lends to a very engaging atmosphere. There is, however, a  somewhat dark hue to the tone of this presentation. Perhaps it was just my mood at the time of listening.

[aligreto]

The Pacifica set is brilliant!

It is a very fine set indeed Karl.

[aligreto]

You must listen to the NYM SQ 13 as well Fergus - one of his finest works I think.

Cheers, Jeffrey. I particularly favour the later Shostakovich myself and regard them, in my limited experience of the genre, to be among the best String Quartets to be written by any composer.

Edit: Apologies Jeffrey. I glanced over the NYM part rather too quickly for my own good there. Yes, I agree, it is also another wonderful String Quartet.