What are you listening 2 now?

[DavidW]

Time for Verdi!

[Lisztianwagner]

On youtube:
Hans Pfitzner
Das dunkle Reich

Rolf Reuter & Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berliner


First listen ever to Pfitzner's music.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E Flat Major, 1878/80 Version (1880 with Bruckner's 1886 revisions) - Ed. Leopold Nowak [1953], Eugen Jochum Staatskapelle Dresden

[Cato]

Maiden-Listen Monday!

Ernst Toch
Pf Cto № 1, Op. 38 (1926)
Todd Crow, pf
North German Radio Hamburg Symphony
Leon Botstein

Oh, I do like this!

Count me in!  I hope to hear this later today!

[Karl Henning]

I have been listening to a 1920's ballet by Vladimir Dukelsky (a.k.a. Vernon Duke *), Zephyr et Flore'.

I'm in, again

[ritter]

Jacques Février plays Debussy's Études (1961 recording originally released on Disques Véga).

On CD4 of this set:



Somehow Février's Debussy, which isn't very virtuosic, not that nuanced, and rather matter-of-fact, works splendidly for me. One of my favourite traversals of the composer's piano music.

[classicalgeek]

Just now:

Mieczyslaw Karlowicz
Symphonic Poems, vol. 1
Stanislav and Anna
Lithuanian Rhapsody
Episode at a Masquerade
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Antoni Wit
(on Spotify)



Decadent late-Romantic stuff, in the vein of Richard Strauss, with Tchaikovsky thrown in for good measure. Though the last one (Episode at a Masquerade) meanders quite a bit, it's really great stuff. And extremely well orchestrated on top of that.

[JBS]

Maconchy: Dialogue for Piano and Orchestra*
Luytens: Eos
Luytens: Music for Piano and Orchestra*
Wallen: Piano Concerto**

*Martin Jones pianist
**Rebecca Omordia pianist

The Maconchy and Wallens are interesting works that will need further listening.
Luytens was a serialist, and the two relatively short works included here are more than enough for me; those more in sympathy with serialism would probably want to explore Luytens more if they aren't already familiar with her.

[Karl Henning]

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5

It was recommended by the guy who mustn't be named. A fine performance, but not so much the recording. The percussion is not as audible as I wanted except for the timpani and cymbals. There's an interesting passage for the orchestral piano in the 1st mov. and I missed that part because it sounds sinister.

Listening now.

[Cato]

Ernst Toch
Pf Cto № 1, Op. 38 (1926)
Todd Crow, pf
North German Radio Hamburg Symphony
Leon Botstein

Wow!  What a ride!  The ominous opening leads to some very dramatic episodes and the whole first movement never loses momentum: the polyphony of Toch is, as always, quite clear and full of sparks!

The Second Movement is also powerful, deliciously dissonant, and mysterious.

The Finale is a Circus of the Bizarre, complete with a slippery glissando that is as unexpected as it is delightful.

Highly recommended!

[Karl Henning]

Maiden-Listen Monday!

Heinrich Ignaz Franz van Biber
Sonatæ Tam Aris quam Aulis servientes
Sonata № 1 a otto, C. 114

[Bachtoven]

This recording uses a harpsichord and organ to play the violin solos, which helps to set those lines apart from the string orchestra.

[ritter]

...
Luytens was a serialist, and the two relatively short works included here are more than enough for me; those more in sympathy with serialism would probably want to explore Luytens more if they aren't already familiar with her.

I got a CD of Lutyens' (not LuYTens  )piano music (also played by Martin Jones) last year, and found it very interesting (but I am in sympathy with serialism  ). I intend to explore her music further (there's a cantata on texts by Salvatore Quasimodo that intrigues me).

Good evening, JBS!

THREAD DUTY:

Some Milhaud now (the first to string quartets, and two song cycles, on texts by Léo Latin and Jean Cocteau, respectively).

[Que]

[Mandryka]

Wigmore Hall, Guy and Bavouzet. Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky. Two enormous pianos on stage. Smart audience - mixed ages, lots of 30 somethings, some octogenarians. I'd say 70% full, maybe less. There's even someone wearing a mask à la covid. Bell ringing furiously. We're under starter's orders. Turn off mobiles. Byeee.

Bavouzet's a hoot, charming and articulate and funny. He'd be fabulous at a party. Clearly, Guy and Bav have a rapport, though Bav upstages him a bit. They were most impressive in Rapsodie Espagnol because the music has some cool timbre effects. The Rite of Spring and Jeux are all fireworks and the audience loved them - not my cup of tea really. I thought the Jeux transcription, which is by Bav, was not at all interesting, it is possibly untranscribable. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Hindemith Clarinet Concerto.

[Karl Henning]

Bruckner
Symphony № 3 in d minor (1889 version)

[Peter Power Pop]

That Debussy 2-CD set is fabulous.

Debussy: Nocturnes

[JBS]

I got a CD of Lutyens' (not LuYTens  )piano music (also played by Martin Jones) last year, and found it very interesting (but I am in sympathy with serialism  ). I intend to explore her music further (there's a cantata on texts by Salvatore Quasimodo that intrigues me).

Good evening, JBS!

THREAD DUTY:

Some Milhaud now (the first to string quartets, and two song cycles, on texts by Léo Latin and Jean Cocteau, respectively).

One would think I would notice how her name is spelled on the CD cover. But one would be wrong.

I read somewhere (but can't find it now) that this recording is the final installment of Jones's traversal of Lutyens's piano music. The booklet includes an "also available" listing of a "Piano Works Volume 2" so there is apparently at least one more CD beyond this and the one you heard last year.

[JBS]

TD
The final CD of this set is Kairos--that is, Sinfonia IV as bridging movements among Sinfonias I through III


CD 5 of this set is the Sinfonias played straight through, I to IV

Don't know why Dacapo spelled it Kairos for the box set but Chairos for the original issue.
Perhaps our expert knows? @Madiel