What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[not edward]

I really don't understand why the piano concerto isn't better known, particularly with that wonderful slow movement.

Now queueing up Petrassi's concerti for orchestra (all of them, conducted by Zoltan Pesko).

[Lilas Pastia]

More listening to this disc of music by Alexander Lokshin:



I totally agree with this review from Music Web, except about the Shostakovich bit. IMO the vocal writing reminds me of DSCH (symphony 14, 7 Romances on verses by Blok). A worthy addition to the catalogue. Available cheap at eclassical, but alas, without the notes and texts.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

More listening to this disc of music by Alexander Lokshin:

I totally agree with this review from Music Web, except about the Shostakovich bit. IMO the vocal writing reminds me of DSCH (symphony 14, 7 Romances on verses by Blok). A worthy addition to the catalogue. Available cheap at eclassical, but alas, without the notes and texts.

Never heard of him. Interesting. Did you download from eClassical, Lilas? If not, and you have the CD, could you tell me which scenes from Goethe's 'Faust' have been set?

[Lilas Pastia]

I downloaded from eclassical and the sections are not described as such on the site (Andante, Adagio, Variation I , Variation II, etc). In any event, in ths particular case I did not miss reading the texts. The music stands on its own.

[Que]

Q

[Wanderer]

Fux: Kaiser-Requiem K.51-53 (Clemencic Consort).

This is utterly charming (if a requiem may be called that). It exudes a glowing consolatory feeling, reminiscent of Brahm's Ein deutsches Requiem.
Good call, Harry! 

[Harry]

Fux: Kaiser-Requiem K.51-53 (Clemencic Consort).

This is utterly charming (if a requiem may be called that). It exudes a glowing consolatory feeling, reminiscent of Brahm's Ein deutsches Requiem.
Good call, Harry! 

I am glad you like it Tasos!

[Que]

Fux: Kaiser-Requiem K.51-53 (Clemencic Consort).

This is utterly charming (if a requiem may be called that). It exudes a glowing consolatory feeling, reminiscent of Brahm's Ein deutsches Requiem.

Seems like the right performers to me.
And I discovered it's on Arte Nova, so the price is right as well..

Noted, thanks Tasos, Harry!


I'm listening to this, perfect for a Sunday morning.

Again very impressed with the work, which is in "Baroque-looking-back-at-Renaissance" style, as well as the stunningly perfection of the performance. The mixture of choral movements with organ interludes is great. Currently reissued at reduced price (click picture).



Q

[FideLeo]

What is the "Baroque-looking-back-at-Renaissance" style like? 

[Que]

What is the "Baroque-looking-back-at-Renaissance" style like? 

Very interesting. I guess the "conservative" style was appropriate for the occasion (written for a convent) and it gives the music a nice austere/introspective atmosphere.

Q

[Papy Oli]

Good morning everyone 

Haven't listened to that CD in a long while - No.39 at the moment

[rubio]

Sound- and performance-wise there are better Mravinsky DSCH 8th out there (e.g. on BBC Legends). But it is still good, of course.

[mahler10th]

The Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge under Groves and the RPO is outstanding!

[Wanderer]

Two magnificent versions of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

The Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge under Groves and the RPO is outstanding!

How is the Tippett Corelli Fantasia? It's one of my all-time string orchestra faves...

[Mark]

How is the Tippett Corelli Fantasia? It's one of my all-time string orchestra faves...

Here, here! An excellent re-imagining of its source.

[mahler10th]

How is the Tippett Corelli Fantasia? It's one of my all-time string orchestra faves...

It is quite sublime - it is not a work I am familiar with but on first listening my guess is that it's a great recording.  Light strings, swelling, tickling, hiding and swirling in what is a beautiful recording.  Sir Charles Grove was a bloody fine conductor.  His Holst Planets is the best I have too (against Rattle (BPO), Karajan (BPO) and DL Jones with my home Orchestra, RSNO.  Groves should be more revered methinks. 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

It is quite sublime - it is not a work I am familiar with but on first listening my guess is that it's a great recording.  Light strings, swelling, tickling, hiding and swirling in what is a beautiful recording.  Sir Charles Grove was a bloody fine conductor.  His Holst Planets is the best I have too (against Rattle (BPO), Karajan (BPO) and DL Jones with my home Orchestra, RSNO.  Groves should be more revered methinks. 

I agree. He was also no mean Delian and - a fine Brianite (and I wish there were more of them)!

[SonicMan46]

This morning, a couple of composers 'new' to me, purchased because of great reviews in Fanfare:

Clemence de Grandval (1828-1907) - Oboe Works w/ Lajos Lencses; French female composer who lived a long life (piano lessons from Chopin & composition w/ Saint-Saens) and composed much (nearly all unknown) - hopefully, this CD will start a re-discovery of her compositions - this is a lovely disc w/ Lencses excellent, as usual.

Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) - Oboe Sonatas w/ Glaetzner & Goritzki on oboes; 'basso continuo' section includes Christine Schornsheim on the harpsichord; contemporary of JS Bach - Fasch really needs to be re-discovered!  If interested in Baroque oboe works bridging on the early classical era, this disc is highly recommended!

CLICK on either image - will take you to Arkiv Music w/ the Fanfare reviews, if interested! 

 

[Lilas Pastia]

Schubert: 9th symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Herbert Blomstedt. This is an ultracheap Berlin Classics release. Digital 80s recording, no venue specified (probably the Lukaskirche). An excellent, if ultimately unexciting version. What is most remarkable, unsurprisingly I should say, is the magnificent playing of the strings. The slow introduction to I is a case in point. Very slow here, actually. But there is still a firm pulse and the magnificent tone and gorgeous legato help make this part of the movement the high point of the whole symphony (talk about burning your ships too early!). The transition to the main allegro is smoothly and cunningly achieved, the tempo slowly picks up, but it's the tension in the playing that creates the feeling of urgency. Splendid!

The coda of I is not the mountainously grand, orgasmic moment it is under Sinopoli. Blomstedt shows up his colours a that particular point: this will be a solid, musical and unmanipulated reading. IOW expectations are toned down a bit. In that sense it succeeds admirably, but some opportunities are missed. Also, Blomstedt for all his unimpeachable musical honesty cannot disguise the fact that in rythmically active music he is dull as dishwater. In the finale for example he sets a perfect tempo, but he is so predictable that one could set his stopwatch after his beat. That is the main fault I had found in his SD Beethoven set: safe, reasonable tempos that move with the precision of a swiss watch. Admirable but in the end it's self-defeating to listen to something when you can predict exactly how it will proceed and end. Curiously, when playing Bruckner, where the rythms are not of the repetitive kind found in Beethoven and Schubert allegros, his feeling for the musical paragraphs finds an admirable expansion, blooming fully within a rock solid architecture. Some of the most satisfying Bruckner I've heard is from this conductor (symphonies 2, 4, 7).

So, this is a perfectly recorded version that presents the work in an admirable way ant it's played by one of the world's greatest orchestras in magnificent form. It should satisfy anyone who enjoys his much admired Beethoven symphony cycle. As for me, I prefer a higher sense of drama and am not against agogic or rythmic emphasis in this work. Some manipulation actually makes it come startlingly alive in places I thought I knew well. Sinopoili, Böhm, Giulini, Munch and Karajan achieve that.

BTW this is my third SD Schubert 9th (Sinopoli and Böhm are the others) and although the sound of the orchestra is quite similar, the way they play is markedly different depending on who conducts them. Fascinating.