What are you listening 2 now?

[Lisztianwagner]

On youtube:

Charles Villiers Stanford
Symphony No.5

Vernon Handley & Ulster Orchestra


Stanford's music seems quite interesting so far, this and Symphony No.3 sound very lyrical and elegant, but also expressive works, with a wide orchestration and a sense of majesty in the style of the German Romantic composers. The Blue Bird instead was brief, nonetheless deep and intimate.

[Tsaraslondon]

These two compilations feature 78s made by Björling in the 1930s and the 1940s in Sweden. He would have been only twenty-two at the time of the first recording (Vladimir's Cavatina from Prince Igor) and 38 at the time of the last, so we can certainly consider this the time of his vocal prime. The voice is of course a magnificent one and its wonderful ringing top register one of its greatest glories (right up to a stunning top Db in Rossini's Cujus animam). He is sometimes considered a cool performer, but I rather prefer his comparative restraint to the sobbing and sliding we get from some of his Italian contemporaries. I don't know whether he spoke French or Italian, but he sings the languages well. However I do wonder if he spoke French better, as it is the performances of French repertoire that I find the most sensitive. The ebulliently joyful aria from Offenbach's La belle Hélène is admittedly sung in Swedish, but all the French items are beautifully sung, particularly Faust's Salut, demeure and Des Grireux's arias from Manon. The voice would appear to have grown in size over these years and he gains in vocal confidence, though, if I'm honest, I prefer his earlier recording of O soave fanciulla (with Hjördis Schymberg) where he takes the written, quiet, lower ending, to the later one (with his sister Anna-Lisa Björling) where they both blast out the top C. Still these two discs kept my interest throughout. No chance of these heading for the jettison pile.

[vandermolen]

On youtube:

Charles Villiers Stanford
Symphony No.5

Vernon Handley & Ulster Orchestra


Stanford's music seems quite interesting so far, this and Symphony No.3 sound very lyrical and elegant, but also expressive works, with a wide orchestration and a sense of majesty in the style of the German Romantic composers. The Blue Bird instead was brief, nonetheless deep and intimate.

3 and 5 are, by far, my favourites.

[aligreto]

Gregorian Chant [Clervaux] CD 1





Wonderful!

[San Antone]

Rudolf Buchbinder : The Diabelli Project

[Sergeant Rock]

Atterberg Cello Concerto




Sarge

[Traverso]

Bach

CD 2

Harpsichord Concertos  IV BWV 1055 -V BWV 1056  -VI BWV 1057 & VII BWV 1058

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Bloch: Suite For Viola and Orchestra. Timothy Ridout (viola), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins.
Orientalist beauty.

[Todd]

Disc 11, Debussy, Ravel, and Mozart from 1948-49.  The Debussy Images sound fantastic, light and breezy, with nimbleness on display.  Though the 78s mask it, Gieseking also plays with some dynamic power.  The smaller pieces sound superb.  The Ravel Miroirs sounds freer, more spontaneous than the later recording, based on memory, though A/Bs will be easy.  Indeed, everything here sounds more spontaneous because it is.  The disc closes with Mozart's K545, with Gieseking playing with precious restraint, as in his later Mozart.  This single disc offers an almost ideal encapsulation of the pianist's art.

[VonStupp]

And this is the CD

Good catch!

[vandermolen]

Bloch: Suite For Viola and Orchestra. Timothy Ridout (viola), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins.
Orientalist beauty.

Great CD!

[vandermolen]

Kalnins: Symphony No.6

[Traverso]

Telemann





part of this box

[DavidW]

Bloch: Suite For Viola and Orchestra. Timothy Ridout (viola), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins.
Orientalist beauty.

I think the Bloch was the best part of the album.

[DavidW]

A blast from the past, I haven't listen to this in close to 20 years.



I enjoyed Essay #1 best, and in fact I replayed it.

[VonStupp]

Antonín Dvořák
Stabat Mater, op. 58

Janice Watson, soprano
Dagmar Pecková, mezzo
Peter Auty, tenor
Peter Rose, bass
London PO & Choir - Neeme Järvi (rec. 2010)

For today:

I still own Robert Shaw's Telarc recording, issued around his death. It is 2CDs and 85 minutes long.

While I enjoy bold choices in interpretation, ones that occasionally go against the grain, Neeme Järvi, on 1 CD and 67 minutes in length, has the potential to just sound wrong.

I know timings don't tell the whole story, but a 20-minute difference between recordings seems substantial! We'll see...
VS

[Papy Oli]

Bizet - Symphony in C (F.-X. Roth, Les Siècles)

[vers la flamme]

https://www.amazon.com/Knowing-When-Stop-Ned-Rorem/dp/0671728725

Damn, that looks good. Also, I didn't realize how many diaries he published.

[Todd]

[Que]

Not sure if we needed two Vivaldi concertos, but other than that the programming of this disc is interesting and performances very engaging.