What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Johann Sebastian Bach Gerhard Weinberger (Wagner Organ St. Marien Angermuende) CD5

[VonStupp]

Vincent Persichetti: Mass
William Schuman: Carols of Death
William Bolcom: The Mask
Irving Fine: The Hour-Glass
Lukas Foss: Psalms

Dwight Bigler, piano
University of Texas Chamber Choir
James Morrow

What wonderful finds! The Persichetti, Bolcom, and Foss were new to me; the Persichetti is notable for its chant-like solemnity ala a Duruflé or Bruckner motet, the Bolcom for its mix of ragtime and topical seriousness, and Foss for its Bernstein-like rhythmic profile.

I might have preferred Volume 1 for its orchestra, but this 2nd Volume is quite fine too.
VS

[Harry]

BERWALD, Franz Adolf (1796-1868).
The Complete String Quartets, 1-3.
The Yggdrasil Quartet.
Fredrik Paulsson, violin l; Per Oman, violin ll;
Robert Westlund, viola; Per Nystrom, cello.
Recorded in 1996 at Länna Church Norrtälje, Sweden.

Still, for me the best performance of Berwald's String Quartets, in splendid sound. Berwald is for me an important composer. He is a bit neglected, and not regarded as belonging to the greats, but not for me.

[Brian]

Ormandy-themed day here.



First Listen Friday for the works by John Vincent. The symphony was apparently popular enough that this was a stereo re-recording after Ormandy did the premiere in mono.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

NP:

Tippett
Triple Concerto
Gyorgy Pauk (violin), Nobuko Imai (viola), Ralph Kirshbaum (cello)
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis

From this OOP set -

[Traverso]

Mendelssohn

[Harry]

Amy Beach (1867–1944)
Quartet for Strings, Op.89.
Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op.34.
Pastorale, Op.151,for Woodwind Quintet.
Dreaming, Op.15 No.3 from Four Sketches for piano.
Ambache.
Recording venue, St Michael's Church, Highgate, London 2002.

What a lovely release, artistically and soundwise top notch. Beach is one of my favourite  female composers.

[Spotted Horses]

Faure, Nocturne No 13, Le Sage



There is a remarkable amount of naked dissonance in this piece, not the usual Faure dissonance in which there is dissonance subtlety embedded in a complex texture. I like it, and Le Sage makes the case for a forceful presentation.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to listen to Crossley. Slower, more poetic. I also liked it, but as before, the I didn't find the audio pleasing, a bit of a honky-tonk sound.



Then went on to a fist listen to the Pfitzner Violin sonata, which I was and briefly discussed on this site.



It definitely had it's moments, but coming after Faure, it didn't captivate me with the same level of engagement. Further listening is warranted.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Mendelssohn

Nice recording!

[Todd]

[JBS]

Another one from the Warner Mehta set.


Number 62 on @Peter Power Pop 's
list
https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/mehta-1990/

[Mandryka]

Then went on to a fist listen to the Pfitzner Violin sonata, which I was and briefly discussed on this site.



It definitely had it's moments, but coming after Faure, it didn't captivate me with the same level of engagement. Further listening is warranted.

The Pfitzner is challenging, complicated, like his C sharp minor quartet. There's a recording where Wihan Quartet pair it with the Schoenberg 4th quartet, and I think of it as the Mona Lisa of CDs - quite demanding, not immediately appealing,  but nevertheless rewarding and probably "great"

Fauré is voluptuous, sensual. Pfitzner is . . . not quite that. Germany v France - Catholics v Lutherans - wine v beer.

[Spotted Horses]

The Pfitzner is challenging, complicated, like his C sharp minor quartet. There's a recording where Wihan Quartet pair it with the Schoenberg 4th quartet, and I think of it as the Mona Lisa of CDs - quite demanding, not immediately appealing,  but nevertheless rewarding and probably "great"

Fauré is voluptuous, sensual. Pfitzner is . . . not quite that. Germany v France - Catholics v Lutherans - wine v beer.

Well, yes, I am no stranger to German music, Relatively recently I've come off a survey of (new to me) music by Hindemith, Braufnels, Toch, Reger. The Pfitzner definitely merits more listening. Aside from this piece I only recall listening to a pair of cpo discs of Pfitzner orchestral music. I have had the cpo string quartet discs for a long while, but have not found time to listen.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Bartók: Kossuth, Cornelius Meister & Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The Pfitzner is challenging, complicated, like his C sharp minor quartet. There's a recording where Wihan Quartet pair it with the Schoenberg 4th quartet, and I think of it as the Mona Lisa of CDs - quite demanding, not immediately appealing,  but nevertheless rewarding and probably "great"

Fauré is voluptuous, sensual. Pfitzner is . . . not quite that. Germany v France - Catholics v Lutherans - wine v beer.

Well, yes, I am no stranger to German music, Relatively recently I've come off a survey of (new to me) music by Hindemith, Braufnels, Toch, Reger. The Pfitzner definitely merits more listening. Aside from this piece I only recall listening to a pair of cpo discs of Pfitzner orchestral music. I have had the cpo string quartet discs for a long while, but have not found time to listen.

I found, and listened to, the recording that you (SH) had posted an image to, and I must admit that it didn't do much for me--on first listen anyway.  It's on youtube.

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Bartók: Kossuth, Cornelius Meister & Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

I haven't heard of that work before now.  What did you think of it?

PD

[SonicMan46]

Quantz, Johann (1697-1773) - Flute Concertos on the recordings below, all period instruments. An innovative flute maker and prolific composer writing over 200 sonatas and over 300 concertos for the flute - Frederick the Great (being an amateur flute player and composer himself) paid Quantz nearly 7x the salary of CPE Bach (second quote below).  Dave

Quantz was a German composer, flutist and flute maker of the late Baroque period. Much of his professional career was spent in the court of Frederick the Great (1741-73). Quantz composed hundreds of flute sonatas and concertos, and wrote On Playing the Flute, an influential treatise on flute performance. His works were known and appreciated by Bach, Haydn and Mozart. (Source)

As the royal flute teacher, Johann Joachim Quantz held a unique position in the royal household. His salary of 2000 Thalers a year made him the most highly paid wind player in all of Europe; Frustratingly, Frederick never perceived the exceptional talents of Carl Philipp Emanuel. He was the lowest paid among all the musicians, receiving around 300 Thalers a year. (Source)

   

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I haven't heard of that work before now.  What did you think of it?

PD

An early work of Bartok. It's just OK, if somehow interesting.

[Spotted Horses]

I found, and listened to, the recording that you (SH) had posted an image to, and I must admit that it didn't do much for me--on first listen anyway.  It's on youtube.

PD

I saw some indications that I will get it eventually. I was drawn to some of the intricate passage work in the piano part. Maybe some Pfitzner solo piano music would suite me better. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be any...

[Mandryka]

@Pohjolas Daughter @Spotted Horses The most accessible Pfitzner I've heard is the op 50 string quartet