What are you listening 2 now?

[JBS]

I keep reminding myself it's been a very long time since I've listened to any Dvorak other than the Cello Concerto. So time for this set, and beginning at the beginning

Symphony no 1 in c minor "Zlonické zvony" [The Bells of Zlonice"] sine op. B9 (1865)

[vandermolen]

Ernest Chausson.
Symphony opus 20.
La Tempete, opus 18.
Viviane opus 5.
Soir de fete opus 32.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Yan Pascal Tortelier.
Recorded in 1997 at the New Broadcasting House, Manchester.

Truly a great performance. I am impressed how much effort Tortelier has put into this orchestra, to get such results. The magic worlds he weaves out of this music is astonishing. A well laid pattern, brimful with details and set in a luscious image.
I never heard a better performance of the opus 20 as the present CD, and well recorded it is too. More of this!

Nice Burne-Jones (I think) cover as well!

[vandermolen]

Sergei Prokofiev
Symphony No.7

Vladimir Ashkenazy & Cleveland Orchestra

I think that there is a complete set from Ashkenazy after all:

[ritter]

First listen to this purchase, that was delivered today:



Very interesting recital of music by the composers of the "Group of 8" (based in Madrid), written specifically for that quintessential Spanish instrument, the guitar. These composers (see the back cover for their names) were the "musical section" of what has been called the Spanish "silver age", i.e., the flourishing of the arts in the first third of the 20th century (until the outbreak of the Civil War). Their aim was to create a "nationalist avant-garde", which would unite tradition and modernity, reject the excesses of romanticism, and find inspiration in the rich folk roots of Spanish music.

The recital appropriately starts with Falla's Homage to Debussy, as the "8" wanted to build on Falla's oeuvre to establish their style, and finishes with a short work by Adolfo Salazar, who is better known as a critic and musicologist than as a composer, and was regarded as a kind of theoretician of the movement.

Really interesting from a historical viewpoint, but not only that: there is very much to enjoy in this CD.

[Wanderer]

[Todd]

More fine, old-fashioned Monteverdi from Corboz and his forces.

[JBS]

And another "about time I listen to this again"

Number 1 in F Op 18/1
Number 14 in c sharp minor Op 131

[Lisztianwagner]

I think that there is a complete set from Ashkenazy after all:

Cool, thank you for searching! It must be a relatively recent set if Ashkenazy recorded it with the Sidney Symphony Orchestra. I'll see if I can find it on youtube or Spotify.

[vers la flamme]

And another "about time I listen to this again"

Number 1 in F Op 18/1
Number 14 in c sharp minor Op 131

This looks like a really good set. I'm not really in a critical listening phase with the Beethoven quartets at the moment or I'd consider getting it (I'm also getting ready for a big move and thus shouldn't be buying CDs anyway). How do you rate it compared to other Beethoven SQ recordings?

Now playing:



Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita No.2 in C minor, BWV 826. András Schiff

This is doing really good things to my brain right now.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Early morning listening.
Bloch: Trois Poemes Juifs

Love the composition.

[JBS]

This looks like a really good set. I'm not really in a critical listening phase with the Beethoven quartets at the moment or I'd consider getting it (I'm also getting ready for a big move and thus shouldn't be buying CDs anyway). How do you rate it compared to other Beethoven SQ recordings?

I liked it a lot the first time through. This will be a repeat to see if that impression holds up. (It did with this first CD.)
But there are so many alternatives I'm loathe to rate any set against others.
Two basic things to know about this set: the recordings were made in concert (each CD is a complete concert), and there's little attempt to present them together in chronological sequence other than the three Razumovsky quartets.

Now playing:



Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita No.2 in C minor, BWV 826. András Schiff

This is doing really good things to my brain right now.

That's a good recording.

[vers la flamme]

^Thanks for your comments. That would have been an interesting tour.



Aaron Copland: Billy the Kid. Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony

First listen to this recording in several years. Sounds good, but not as good as the Bernstein/NY on Columbia in my opinion.

[Todd]

6.

[Mapman]

August Söderman: Svenskt Festpel, Konsertuvertyr F-Dur, Overture Zohrab

I heard Swedish Festival on the radio when I was in middle school and enjoyed it. This was my first opportunity to hear more of Söderman's music. I was especially impressed by the overture Zohrab. The opening is wonderfully mysterious, and that character reoccurs during the overture. Some of the other themes remind me of Mendelssohn, in particular his Scottish Symphony.

[brewski]

Another disc (No. 3) that makes its own concert program:

Berio: Requies for chamber orchestra (in memoriam Cathy Berberian, recorded April 6, 1986)
Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death (with Kolos Kovacs, bass Nov. 1, 1987)
Zemlinsky: Die Seejungfrau (Oct. 24, 1986)



-Bruce

[vers la flamme]

Allan Pettersson: Symphony No.7. Christian Lindberg, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra

Definitely one of the best CDs I purchased this year.

[Symphonic Addict]

Today was the day for three B's (or four):

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3
Berlioz: Harold en Italie
Brahms: Symphony No. 3

All performed by Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. The interpretations of the Berlioz and Brahms are extraordinary and intense, the Beethoven a little less.

[JBS]

[Madiel]

Mozart: Symphony in G, "Alte Lambach"



A marvellous little work. The misattribution of it for many years is, alas, one of the strongest demonstrations of what can go wrong with musicology when people start with assumptions.

[Madiel]

Mozart (arranger): Piano concerto no.4