What are you listening 2 now?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

More lovely pieces from this album:



Copland's Quiet City; Henry Cowell's Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 10; Paul Creston's (very clever) A Rumor.
Particularly impressed by Celia Nicklin on the *oboe and cor anglais and Michael Laird on the turmpet in the Copland work.

*on the Henry Cowell piece.

[Harry]

High praise! What instrument does he play?

Steinway D.

[Karl Henning]

some more Martinu -- Three Fragments from the Opera Juliette (on Supraphon).

Oh, I need to revisit Juliette!

And, TD, in case you want to dip your toes:

[Karl Henning]

They've been around for a while. They were the orchestra on Rachel Podger's first Vivaldi recording.

TD

First listen. I have not read the liner notes, so I have no idea why they have a pizza on the cover.

I do love Rachel Podger's La Stravaganza!

[Karl Henning]

Diavolo is a pizza, in the Italian cuisine.

Concurrent thanks to @Florestan 

We had scarce an idea, as there is no Diavolo on the menu board at Woburn House of Pizza. In Boston and Cambridge, at The Upper Crust, it may be a different matter.

[Lisztianwagner]

Sergei Rachmaninov
Symphonic Dances (version for two pianos)

Daniil Trifonov, Sergei Babayan (piano)

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Sergei Rachmaninov
Symphonic Dances (version for two piano)

Daniil Trifonov, Sergei Babayan (piano)

What were your thoughts on it LW?

[Lisztianwagner]

What were your thoughts on it LW?

I've just started listening to it, but it sounds extremely captivating so far, beautifully played! I'm a great fan of Trifonov, especially of his Rachmaninov and Liszt.

[DavidW]

[Brian]

Well, now that I've inspired everyone else to listen to the Trifonov/Babayan Rachmaninov, I can post my own thoughts   

I had never before been disappointed by either of the two pianists - until now, I think. Trifonov's Symphony adagio transcription is very excitingly played, but I don't know how to feel about the virtuoso filigree additions he made in the climaxes to give the pianists more notes. The Suites are very good. The Symphonic Dances are the fastest I have ever heard - 30 minutes flat! - which is thrilling in the first movement but also means that the biggest climaxes, especially the ending, simply do not have the tremendous impact of my favorite recording, Ashkenazy/Previn. I think the reason is that with Ashkenazy/Previn, you have a real sense of apocalyptic intensity, while with Trifonov/Babayan the intensity was at 10/10 already at the very beginning so it can't go up any higher.

Also, I'm not sure about the engineering. The right channel piano sounds clangy or maybe out of tune in some passages, and the microphones are placed so closely that you can hear breathing. I wish the mics were farther away so that you would have more of a sense of the impact of hearing the music in a concert hall. Probably the playing would sound more colorful and dramatic if it wasn't recorded so closely.

-

TD

[Karl Henning]

[Brian]

Saw the conversation in the Concerts thread and couldn't resist a 42-minute highlight reel of the world of zarzuela...

[Karl Henning]

A first listen:

@ritter @brewski 

[Florestan]

Saw the conversation in the Concerts thread and couldn't resist a 42-minute highlight reel of the world of zarzuela...

A penny for your thoughts, Brian! 

[Brian]

A penny for your thoughts, Brian! 

I think Ms. Berganza was in later age and heavier voice but still frequently lovely, infectiously cheerful, and the English musicians do a good job adapting to the idiom. Found it on streaming!

[Symphonic Addict]

Braunfels: Phantastische Erscheinungen eines Themas von Hector Berlioz

The genius of this composer continues glittering. Worth the 51:29 minutes length.

[ritter]

I ordered this CD last summer, and after a series of vicissitudes, I received it only today (after having bern  fully refunded by the label, and the delivery came with another interesting disc of Spanish piano music —for free—).



Rosa García-Ascot was the only female member of the Madrid "Group of 8", the musical counterpart of the literary "Generation of 27" (Lorca et al.). That "Group of 8" sought to revitalise Spanish music, following in the footsteps of their predecessor Manuel de Falla. She married composer Jesús Bal y Gay, and they emigrated to Mexico during the civil war.

García-Ascot's piano music, mostly short pieces, is very enjoyable, and an excellent example of the "Scarlattian neo-classicism" that dominated Spanish music in those years. For instance, the allegro first movement of the  Petite suite is reminiscent of E. Halffter's famous Danza de la pastora.

The programme of the CD is very well thought, with music by Falla and Domenico Scarlatti also included. Beautifully played by Ignacio Clemente.

[Cato]

Too much time has gone by since I have heard this: Tchaikovsky's Symphony #3!

[Todd]

[Symphonic Addict]

Tippett: Piano Concerto

There's a distinctive lyricism to this concerto that makes it so special among other British instances. And this is a most eloquent rendition of it.