What are you listening 2 now?

[Bachtoven]

Perhaps an unusual pairing of composers, but he plays both with aplomb. He plays Scriabin's Sonata No.6 and 7 with ferocious intensity at times. Superb sound. 24/96 FLAC download.

[SonicMan46]

Faure, Gabriel (1845-1924) - Orchestral Works w/ Michel Plasson and Yan Pascal Tortelier - attachment shows Faure's 'Orchestral Works' in the dotted list (Source); the works recorded by each conductor are marked - just over a dozen works included (4 duplicated) - the works at the bottom are orchestrated versions of chamber/vocal pieces (seen in the link under his Opus numbers) Dave

P.S. Reviews attached for those interested.

 

[Lisztianwagner]

Béla Bartók
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

Georg Solti & Chicago Symphony Orchestra

[ritter]

Ralph van Raat playing 20th century French piano music, including the 19-year old Boulez's withdrawn Prélude, Toccata et Scherzo.

[NumberSix]

[JBS]

[André]

Currently listening to his elegant, incendiary performances of the Liszt piano concertos. I used to have an lp of them on the Seraphim label many decades ago. The sound is still top notch (Abbey Road no 1 studio, 1964). Not everything is so well recorded. French EMI mono recordings of piano works have not aged well, but there are enough unique qualities heard here to justify holding this set in high regard. Other treasures include the Chopin PC2, Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante, the Franck Quintet, Schumann Études symphoniques, the Prokofiev concertos, some of the Bach and Fauré items (a magical Impromptu no 2). 

[Linz]

Johann Sebastian Bach Organ Works Vol. 10, Gerhard Weinberger (Trost Organ Waltershausen)

[JBS]

Currently listening to his elegant, incendiary performances of the Liszt piano concertos. I used to have an lp of them on the Seraphim label many decades ago. The sound is still top notch (Abbey Road no 1 studio, 1964). Not everything is so well recorded. French EMI mono recordings of piano works have not aged well, but there are enough unique qualities heard here to justify holding this set in high regard. Other treasures include the Chopin PC2, Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante, the Franck Quintet, Schumann Études symphoniques, the Prokofiev concertos, some of the Bach and Fauré items (a magical Impromptu no 2). 

I have the Complete Warner Recordings set, or whatever it's currently called.  Rather strange that they didn't include any of his Debussy or solo Chopin in your set. They did put in the film score he composed, which was well worth hearing.

[Linz]

Henry Purcell Anthems and Hymns, Gustav Leonhardt

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Sandor Balassa.

[SonicMan46]

Faure, Gabriel - Piano Quartets - continuing into the late afternoon with my two recordings of these works - the Domus performance is almost legendary, so a keeper; however, the Nash Ensemble are excellent too - could cull out the latter if a 'better' recording is available - any favs out there?  Dave

 

[kyjo]

A wonderful opera!

[Cato]

A wonderful opera!

Great cast!  Nicolai Gedda and Regina Resnik were great singers.

Consider this for Gedda:

[kyjo]

Some in-the-car listening from a recent road trip - a healthy mix of the famous, the somewhat-known, and the ultra-obscure :

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3



Simply great stuff, of course! The poetic slow movement certainly prefigures Chopin and other Romantics, and the catchy, inventive finale never fails to put a smile on my face. This is an excellent performance/recording as far as I'm concerned.


Rubinstein: Piano Quintet in G minor



A fine work - one of Rubinstein's best - but this tepid, anodyne performance doesn't do it justice, unfortunately. The only other recording is a live one on YouTube, which has inferior sound quality and some occasionally scrappy playing, but is much more energetic and really digs into the work's more dramatic moments.


Hindemith: Konzertmusik for Strings and Brass; Der Schwanendreher



The Konzertmusik is Hindemith at his most serious, and the contrast between the string and brass sections makes for some interesting textures. The viola concerto Der Schwanendreher is a lighter-hearted work with some delightful folksy touches. Hurwitz has been talking a lot recently about how Hindemith hasn't been receiving much attention these days, but I can kind of see why that's the case. His music just doesn't display enough overt emotion to be appealing to general audiences (I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing, btw).


Hugo Kauder (1888-1972): String Quartets Nos. 1-4



These quartets are a pretty major find, especially the first two. Oddly enough, each successive quartet becomes progressively more conservative in idiom. The First quartet is a dramatic, passionate work with unsettled chromatic harmony characteristic of Reger, Schmidt, and co. The Second is a lighter-hearted, pastoral work with an absolutely delightful central scherzo. The Third and Fourth quartets inhabit a simpler, more modal harmonic language - the Third is a fine work, but the Fourth is less interesting than the previous ones. Fantastic performances by the Euclid Quartet; I'd really like to hear more by this long-lived, prolific composer!


Ikuma Dan (1924-2001): Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2



Two tonal, relatively conservative symphonies (both from the 1950s) from this important Japanese composer. The First is a one-movement work that passes the time well but is rather forgettable overall. The Second has a massive, 25-minute long first movement that would have benefited from such judicious pruning. However, the subsequent two movements are much better, with some suggestions of exotic Japanese coloring in the slow movement. The heroic character, modal harmonies, and breezy orchestration of this work often reminded me of Braga Santos - if without that composer's exalted degree of inspiration. I'm looking forward to revisiting the rest of his symphonies - I recall the Fourth being particularly fine.


Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1, orch. Schoenberg



It had been too long since I'd listened to this imaginatively delightful orchestration. In fact, I think I actually prefer the second movement Intermezzo in this version to the original! Maybe the addition of a xylophone in the zingaresca finale is a bit "incongruous", but what the hell, it's great fun!


Wirén: Violin Concerto



I'm surprised that this fine concerto hasn't received a modern recording, but fortunately the performance here is quite good overall (if not outstanding). The first two movements traverse a serious and often troubled landscape, while the catchy, high-spirited finale is more typical of the joie de vivre we usually associate with this composer.

[Selig]

All of the interpreters have their moments, but I'm most impressed by Ute Gremmel-Geuchen at the moment...

[foxandpeng]

Georgy Sviridov
Canticles and Prayers
Sigvards Kjava
Latvian Radio Choir
Ondine

This is outstanding in every way. Along with Kilar, this is amongst the finest contemporary choral/spiritual music I've heard.

[Lisztianwagner]

Alban Berg
Three Pieces for Orchestra
Three Pieces from the Lyric Suite

Herbert von Karajan & Berliner Philharmoniker

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony no. 9 in D Minor, 1894 Original Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Markus Poschner

[JBS]

A wonderful opera!

This was the original 4 act version. The explicit use of non-marital sex and abortion (technically, it's an intentional self-induced miscarriage) on the main stage of the Met in the 1950s was a bit of a surprise. The 1960s revision reduces the number of acts to three, and along the way apparently cut the lines that made it clear Erika was pregnant by Anatol and wanted to end the pregnancy.

TD
Second listen to George Lloyd's First and Third Piano Concertos