What are you listening 2 now?

[aligreto]

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 Op. 132 [Alban Berg Quartet]





The music is sent to you in waves of emotional intensity in this presentation from very early on in this movement. The performance of the opening movement finishes very strongly.
The performance of the second movement is also intense and ardent and the interaction between the players is top class. It is not exactly discursive but it is engrossing.
The music in the slow movement is divine and we get a very good account of it here. Tempi are appropriate but the music seems to be able to breathe which is very beneficial. This is a very elegant presentation that is also full of restrained emotion. The level of intensity at the conclusion is tremendous.
The final movement is an ardent affair and this somewhat troubled music is given a good outing here. The intensity level of the entire performance is maintained here as the music is delivered energetically yet in a controlled manner.

[aligreto]

Today:




Dvořák: Symphony #3 in E Flat, B 34


Revisiting this Symphony Cycle after seeing it discussed here and elsewhere - personally I really enjoy it...

Yes, a terrific set.

[aligreto]

Bach


Cantatas...... In tempore Nativitatis but whatever 

Doing some catching up? 

[j winter]

Dipping into the Ormandy box this afternoon for some old-school satisfaction...

[Symphonic Addict]

Myaskovsky: Symphonies 13 and 14

The 13th suffers from being too lethargic, languid and lugubrious. A rather anonymous work IMO. However, the 14th has a stronger and more definite character.

[aligreto]

Villa-Lobos: Five Preludes [Costanzo]





The music is well played and I like the tone from her instrument.

[Karl Henning]

I'm not sure what happened or changed towards the end, but it sure sounds like the first 15+ years of the Ozawa/Boston marriage were electric and exciting.

Yes! I think it was in his final season that I heard a live broadcast of the Symphonie fantastique which did no one any credit and was downright painful to listen to.

[ritter]

Back to Mediterranean neoclassicism...



Both works on this CD are rather obscure. Nowhere on the CD cover (or in the liner notes) is it mentioned the the 1932 Malipiero Violin Concerto we get is actually his first (he wrote a second one in 1963). It's an OK piece, but clearly in its composer's more "angular and brittle" vein —an impression enhanced by the fact that the solo part is for violin  —. That particular aspect of Malipiero's style becomes tiresome to me, but since the concerto is only 21 minutes long, it's all good  .Perhaps the extended cadenza in the third movement is the most interesting part.

The Casella Violin Concerto in A minor (1928) is from his mature period, and so far —I'm halfway through the second movement— it is proving to be a much more interesting, varied and inspired piece that the work that precedes it on the CD. I'm really enjoying it!

André Gertler plays with panache and brilliant technique, but not a particularly seductive tone. The orchestral accompaniment (the Prague Symphony Orchestra under Václav Smetáček), OTOH, sounded stolid and unidiomatic to me in the Malipiero, but improves markedly in the Casella.

[Karl Henning]

From Triad's heyday:

[Karl Henning]

Composer : Alexander Tikhonovich Grechaninov
Recording : Symphony No. 1 (Polyansky - 1995)
Performers : Valéry Polyansky, Russian State Symphony Orchestra

I'm jiggered if I can find the anthem, but Grechaninov was the first Russian composer whose music I sang in choir.

[aligreto]

Parry: Symphony No. 4 [Bamert]





The music is big and bold in the opening movement and it is powerfully delivered here. There are also some fine lyrical passages in there although there is something of a disconcerting or foreboding undertone to the music. This is augmented by the drama and tension that is created. I like Parry's orchestration, firstly with the brass and then with the woodwinds. The music is well driven by Bamert.
The music of the slow movement is wonderfully lyrical and melodic. Once again there is a forlorn and poignant atmosphere to it no doubt added to by the initial scoring for the lower registers, in the main, which sets the tone. Bamert infuses the requisite amount of atmosphere into the presentation.
The third movement is charmingly quirky and it is a wonderful contrast to what has preceded it. I really like the scoring for the woodwinds. Once again Bamert drives this buoyant music well without ever letting it get unruly.
The atmosphere and tone in the music of the final movement reflects that of the opening two movements. However, the music is more intense, agitated and excited here. Bamert drives it well. The work concludes with a definitive resolution.

[aligreto]

From Triad's heyday:

Invigorating 

[ritter]

And now, more from the Respighi box that arrived yesterday.



CD 8: The Concerto in modo misolodio and the Metamorphoseon modi XII.

These late works are actually what led me to buy the set in the first place. TBH, there still are remnants of the "flashy bombast" I associate with this composer, but so far, the Concerto (I'm halfway through the first movement) is turning out to be quite interesting.

[SonicMan46]

Hofmann, Leopold (1738-1793) - Flute & Oboe Concertos w/ the performers on the cover art below; beginning bio quoted, much more at the link.  Prolific composer of symphonies and concertos of many types - according to the concerto catalog by Allan Bradley (Source), Hofmann wrote 13 flute concertos and 12 are included in the 3 Naxos volumes.  Dave

Leopold Hofmann was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the most gifted and influential composers of his generation. Although a church musician by profession, Hofmann was also an important and prolific composer of instrumental music. His symphonies, concertos and chamber works were played all over Europe and the avidity with which they were collected is attested to by the large number of manuscript copies which have survived the ravages of time and fashion. (Source)

[Papy Oli]

Another assortment of Scarlatti sonatas...on guitar.

[Lisztianwagner]

First listen to Skalkottas:

Nikos Skalkottas
Piano Concerto No. 1

[Todd]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

From Triad's heyday:

Sounds very good and luminant!

[j winter]

Wow, this is REALLY good... from 1945, not sure if this was the premiere recording but it must have been one of the first.  Excellent sound for the period, and a fiery performance -- the closing bars are about as passionate as any I've heard.  Well worth a listen if you've got the big Ormandy box...

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Massenet: Visions (Symphonic Poem) and other works.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Jean-Luc Tingaud.