What are you listening 2 now?

[foxandpeng]

Glad I'm not alone I listened to Symphony Fantastique loads of times before I really got into it. Now it's one of my most listened to pieces.

This PMD Symphony No.1 is probably not the best choice of background music for a romantic evening!   

We have some similarities in that, no doubt 🙂

Yes, my wife would agree with you. We usually share similar musical, literary and cultural interests, but her response to my love of classical music and the choices within that range to which I gravitate, rarely meet with any romantic overtures.

'Is there something wrong with you?', is a more likely response.

[Roasted Swan]

I really liked parts of it so yes, that is a possibility. I've listened to it twice and I am not knowledgeable enough to be able to analyse it or why I don't like it. But yes, simplicity could be used. I actually had the word «  childish » associated with some sections.

Actually this allows me to ask a question to you all that I had been wondering about... what do you do if you like certain parts of a symphony rather than the whole work? Do you listen to only the movements that you like? Or do you force yourselves to listen to the whole thing, even parts that you don't like? Or just not listen to any of it?
Sorry if this is an idiotic question but remember I am a newbie to the classical music world 

No such thing as an idiotic question and likewise no "right" way to listen to or respond to any piece of music.  That is the glory of music - the infinite number of possible ways of engaging with it where none is the right way and none is the wrong. 

My personal feeling is that if a composer has conceived a work as a whole, whenever possible it is preferable to engage with it in the manner in which it was created.  However, clearly there will be times when an excerpt might be more practical/preferable.  This is certainly - for me - the case with operas when time simply does not allow 2+ hours in one go.  But for multi movement symphonic works I do tend - almost without exception - to try and listen to the complete work.  Any composer worth their salt will have tried to create a piece where the whole conveys a greater message than the sum of its parts.  Not every moment of the piece can work on the same exaulted level of musical inspiration - there will be natural highs and lows but that is simply the musical topography of the work.  Accept that and go with the flow.  But even then - don't worry if a piece still doesn't engage you.  Everyone on this forum will have blank spots with supposedly "great" works or composers that leave them cold.

[Harry]

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729).

Sonates pour le Violon et pour le Clavecin (Paris 1707).

Lina Tur Bonet, Baroque Violin, Patxi Montero, 7 strings Bass viol, Kenneth Weiss, Harpsichord.
See for details back cover.


My first encounter with this female composer, and it was more than pleasant. The Sonatas have a remarkably modern nature, and captivate with their original, at times bold harmonic sounds. Well written I can say. Recording is very good.

[Bachtoven]

This is a wonderful new release, as expected.

[Traverso]

Jacobus Handl-Gallus

Harmoniae morales (20-53)

[vers la flamme]

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.8 in E-flat major. Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, etc

RIP maestro Ozawa 

[Brian]

I have a friend on Orkney at the moment, putting the finishing touches to a couple of books he is writing, so the daily photographic updates make PMD's sonic landscape all the more connective

As a full-time writer...this is the dream life! Where should I go to finish a book? Hmmmm...

[Lisztianwagner]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Choral Fantasy

Pianist: Vladimir Ashkenazy
Teresa Cash, Mary Shearer, Jon Garrison, D'Anna Fortunato, Martin Horning, Terry Cooke (vocal soloists)
Cleveland Orchestra & Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

[Todd]

Some of the good stuff.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, 1878 Version Ed. Leopold Nowak, Valery Gergiev, Münchner Philharmoniker

[SonicMan46]

Fasch, Johann Friedrich (1688-1758) - the 4 discs below among my collection of 14; a contemporary of JS Bach and Handel, Fasch is considered a late Baroque/early Classical composer in the galant style (short bio below). No recent purchases, so will explore Amazon this afternoon.  Dave

 

Fasch was born in Buttelstedt, just north of Weimar. After his father's death in 1700, Fasch lived with his maternal uncle; he was a choirboy in Weissenfels and studied under Johann Kuhnau at the St. Thomas School in Leipzig. In 1714, Fasch traveled to Darmstadt to study composition for three months under his former Leipzig prefect Christoph Graupner among others. He then roamed Germany, becoming a violinist in Bayreuth in 1714. His next major post was Prague, where he served for two years as Kapellmeister and court composer to Count Morzin. In 1722, he became court Kapellmeister at Zerbst, a post he held until his death. Also in 1722, he was invited to apply for the position of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, his alma mater, the St. Thomas School, but he chose to withdraw his name. The Leipzig opening was eventually filled by Johann Sebastian Bach, who had considerable esteem for Fasch. (Source)

[Lisztianwagner]

Franz Liszt
Piano Concerto No.1

Krystian Zimerman (piano)
Seiji Ozawa & Boston Symphony Orchestra

[ritter]

Seiji Ozawa in memoriam.

Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (Part II only ^* )



This 2 CD set holds a special place in my heart, as it was a present I gave my dad (a fervent Mahlerian) not long after it was first released in the early eighties. When he passed away in 2006, it reverted to my own collection.

Also, I'll always associate the Eighth as a work with my father. When my sister and I were kids, and he would be driving us anywhere and wanted us to notice something in the scenery, or a particular building, or whatever, he'd semi-sing "Blicket auf! Blicket auf!". 

IMHO, Ozawa does a splendid job with the Eighth.

^* I find much to admire in Part II, but find Part I close to insufferable 

[Brian]

The cover artwork illustrates the "concept" of this album: Ravel refused to be a teacher for Lennox Berkeley, but influenced him anyway, while Berkeley in turn gave private composition lessons to Adam Pounds. Certainly the world does not need another recording of the orchestral version of "Le Tombeau," and Wilson could have added interest by adopting (as Oramo did on BIS) the interesting, totally idiomatic orchestrations of the two missing movements by contemporary British composer (and fellow Ravel influence-ee) Kenneth Hesketh. Ah well.

The Berkeley piece is for quite small orchestra, but with just about every instrument represented, including some percussion. It is a transparently scored, pleasingly crafted, gently melodic piece where you can certainly hear the composer blending his influences with more neoclassical structures. The four movements are of equal lengths, all 4-5 minutes. The finale is almost Ibert-like in its wit and mirth. It's a totally insubstantial but totally pleasant piece that I'm glad to know.

Adam Pounds' half-hour symphony was written during the 2020 pandemic and has the pandemic as its inspiration, with a couple of tributes to the past thrown in as well. (The inner movements are a waltz and a "hommage to Anton Bruckner".)

I'll give it another listen because my experience was interrupted by multiple internet outages. However, the first impression was of a rather generic, superficial piece in a tonal neoromantic style. You really need a memorable thematic hook or good tunes to make this kind of music compelling in 2024, and I thought this was more like pleasant background music. The transitions between movements can be a bit odd: quiet melancholy woodwind solos to end the first movement, followed immediately by a forte major/minor key waltz that sounds like TV show theme music, followed by the elegy for Bruckner, which, to be honest, reminds me more of the Fauré orchestral elegy, with its songful, small-scale melancholy. Don't expect Wagner tubas, that's for sure.

This is a wonderful new release, as expected.

Listening to this next!

[Karl Henning]

In memoriam

[Mandryka]

A special, touching, largo in the Chopin B minor sonata

[Todd]

Disc one.  More of the good stuff.

[Lisztianwagner]

Some Ozawa's Mahler for me too:

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 1

Seiji Ozawa & Boston Symphony Orchestra

[Que]

The quality of the picture made a little bit of dectective work necessary, but here we are: 



This is presumably a HIP performance? Looks promising, would you recommend it?

[Florestan]

The quality of the picture made a little bit of dectective work necessary, but here we are: 



This is presumably a HIP performance? Looks promising, would you recommend it?

Absolutely and unreservedly.