What are you listening 2 now?

[VonStupp]

Le Cid is tremendous and this is a very good version but for even less glove and more guts(!) the Bonynge/National PO version on Decca origianlly coupled with an equally muscular "Les Patineurs" is better still...

If I haven't given much time to Massenet, Meyerbeer is off my radar. I will see what I can find. Thanks!
VS

[Mandryka]

Does anybody know this?

Excellent -- just buy it. It's music making by amateurs coming from the heart. Savall for the polish, these guys for the soul.
 
Does this link work for you?

https://open.spotify.com/track/3idG51YIp3fvkCjfkWIbT2?si=34009c838e1d45a8

In fact @Todd and @Traverso I'd come across these other recordings before but had forgotten about them. It's Savall who sticks in my mind when it come to Sibil. The one @premont found is new to me.

I vaguely remember finding one which was a real mass in a Church in Barcelona, as if the Sibil tradition is alive and kicking now. I'll look for it later, I don't think I'm imagining things.

Here's an old post of mine which I will probably live to regret. It's a bad idea to write withering things like this!

Jordi's 40 year hegemony on the Sibil market has finally been smashed! They do some things which are unforgivable unfortunately - pulse underlined with a drum, a choir which sounds Christian scouts and sorority chicks round the camp fire, that sort of thing, which for me is a deal breaker despite the lead singer - Vera Marenco -  having a nice and characterful voice.

[DavidW]

I think this is the DSCH symphony that I've heard the least.

That is not only my favorite Shostakovich symphony, but it is in my top 5 all time symphonies.

[Roasted Swan]

If I haven't given much time to Massenet, Meyerbeer is off my radar. I will see what I can find. Thanks!
VS

Constant Lambert arranged Meyerbeer's music to create the ballet "Les Patineurs" so there's quite a lot of Lambertian 'colour' in the work - great fun though (listen to those double basses in the opening in this Decca version......)

[Karl Henning]

Been playing through Karajan's 70s box, which I acquired 2nd hand. Enjoying that fat, rich, Berliner sound.

Nice catch!

[ritter]

And now, more from the Robert Craft box:



I already had this on LP (and it's also in the big Stravinsky Original Jackets box), but it's a pleasure to revisit this disc with superb renditions of the Symphonies for Wind Instruments, Le Chant du rossignol , and pioneering recordings of the discarded 1917 and 1919 versions of Les Noces (the 1919 one only in the first two tableaux).

[Karl Henning]

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JS - WTC, Bks. 1/2 w/ Christine Schornsheim on a 1624 restored Ruckers harpsichord - excellent reviews (attached) and even an endorsement from Hurwitz (YouTube at bottom if interested). Now there are so many choices on different instruments and recorded in numerous decades, e.g. BBC Magazine's top choice is Edwin Fischer on piano from the 1930s! Plus with the many threads in GMG dedicated to these works, the 'top' listings can be mind-boggling and many; how to pick a small handful for an occasional listen?  Dave

 

[vandermolen]

Cyril Scott's early Piano Concerto (1900) (Realised and completed by Martin Yates, 2012)
Very much enjoying this - it is rather in the spirit of the more familiar one (PC No.1) recorded by John Ogdon and Bernard Herrmann for Lyrita. There are hints of Rachmaninov. This Dutton CD is a nice discovery:

[Daverz]

Ax and Uchida are my favourites along with Pollini. Gould was certainly brilliant, it was the first I listened to those recordings and I enjoyed his interpretations, very expressive and moving; yes, maybe the orchestral playing was a bit rough, it didn't exactly have the clarity and the  vivid sonorities of other performances I've heard, like for example Abbado/BPO, but anyway that wasn't annoying in my opinion, it somehow helped expressing the dramatic tension and the restlessness perceivable in the composition. Instead, what was probably a bit more disappointing was the sound quality of the recording, as it often sounded like it was in a close box.

Listening to the Gould/Craft Schoenberg Piano Concerto again (via Qobuz), the orchestra sounds fine.  What I probably didn't care for at the time was the dry sound, which doesn't bother me as much now.  Also, I didn't remember the concerto as being less than 20 minutes long, and with perspective not the difficult work I remember.

[VonStupp]

Jules Massenet
Cinderella (Suite)
Thaïs (Suite)
Le Cid (Suite)
Academy of SMitF - Neville Marriner

Maybe not as recognizable as suites from Bizet or Tchaikovsky, nor particularly deep musical setting, but they are just as bubbly, joyous, and carefree as a set of Offenbach or Suppè overtures. The pipe organ at the end of Thaïs was a pleasant surprise, and I am happy to have heard them.

The liner notes spend most of its time surrounding the foyer de la danse, an exploitative aspect of the Paris Opera I haven't heard about. I will have to read further...
VS

[Lisztianwagner]

Jean Sibelius
Symphony No.6

Vladimir Ashkenazy & Philharmonia Orchestra

[Symphonic Addict]

Mennin: Symphony No. 8

A very good work that suffers from a so-so recording. It shares some titles of the movements with some of Honegger's Liturgique (Dies irae and De profundis clamavi).

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony in F Minor, 1863 One version only - Ed. Leopold Nowak, Eliahu Inbal, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt

[foxandpeng]

Walter Piston: Symphony No.2. Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony

Part of an attempt to hear more American composers.

Two of my favourite Piston symphonies. Huge fan.

[Lisztianwagner]

Karl Weigl
Old Vienna

Alin Francis & Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

[Mapman]

Mahler Symphony #2
Gielen: SWR

A good recording, with an especially beautiful choir. Sadly, the organ is a bit under-powered.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Jean Sibelius
Symphony No.6

Vladimir Ashkenazy & Philharmonia Orchestra

I don't know his recordings of the symphonies, but I do enjoy a disc that I have of some of Sibelius' other works.

PD

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Max Reger Piano Works.

[brewski]

Tonight's livestream from Aspen was terrific.

Aspen Festival Orchestra
Robert Spano, conductor
Daniil Trifonov, piano

Brian Raphael Nabors: Of Earth and Sky: Tales from the Motherland
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F major
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

The Nabors was quite interesting, very much influenced by Bernstein and Copland, worth a second hearing.

Though I would love to know why the Gershwin replaced the originally-programmed Prokofiev Third Piano Concerto, never mind. Trifonov was clearly having a great time, as was the orchestra. He did an encore that I didn't recognize, but sounded like Debussy.

The Stravinsky was fantastic, with the orchestra going for broke, especially the percussion section. The musicians are young Aspen students, with mentors from orchestras around the country playing alongside them. The principal bassoon was Daniel Matsukawa of the Philadelphia Orchestra, whose opening solo was glorious.

There are 5 more livestreams, and at least based on today, highly recommended.

https://www.aspenmusicfestival.com/how-to-watch-amfs-virtual-events/2023-livestream-events

-Bruce