What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

Adolphe Biarent: Symphony in D minor

One of those symphonies where the last movement is the best, and also an instance where the work presents a good narrative and drama, but the absence of distinguishable/memorable is detrimental to hold the whole thing better.

[Symphonic Addict]

Børresen: Symphonies Nos. 2 Havet (The Sea) and 3



It's great to revisit these two highly enjoyable late-romantic Danish symphonies. I probably wouldn't have guessed the 2nd was about the sea had I not known its subtitle, but that hardly matters since the music is filled with melodic freshness and sweeping vitality. The 3rd may be a bit less memorable than the 2nd (save for its rumbustious, catchy finale), but it has the added interest of being slightly darker and more harmonically complex. Interestingly, there are some rather Elgarian touches along the way! Superb performances by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under that fine conductor Ole Schmidt.


Dvořák: Symphony No. 2



The first two movements might not be very melodically memorable by Dvořák's standards, but there's certainly plenty of inventiveness that catches the ear throughout. The scherzo and finale are simply on a higher plane of inspiration, especially the expansive and rather extraordinary scherzo. Rowicki and the LSO take a muscular, fiery approach to Dvořák, which I appreciate - nothing of innocuous peasantry here!


Melartin: Symphony No. 4 Summer Symphony



Some members here have commented on the "triteness/banality" of some of the melodic material in this symphony. I can understand where they're coming from, but I find the work as a whole to be quite endearing and life-affirming, if not quite on the same level of his masterful 3rd Symphony. The slow movement, which its rapturous wordless vocalises for three (I think) sopranos, contains some passages that sound very close to Mahler in one of his earlier Wunderhorn works. The performance here is certainly more than passable, but I can imagine some more polished orchestral playing and a greater sense of forward momentum really bringing this work to life.


Nielsen: Symphony No. 3 Sinfonia espansiva



I wanted to hear another Nordic symphony with wordless voices in its slow movement, so this was the natural choice.   (I could've also gone with Alfven's 4th.) Great as this whole symphony is overall, the inexorably propulsive and thrilling first movement steals the show for me every time whenever I hear it. These recent BIS recordings totally deserve all the accolades they've been given - the sound quality is beyond stunning, and oh those horns!!


Edgar Meyer: Violin Concerto



A classical YouTuber named Charles Coleman (yes, there is another besides DH!) nominated this as one of the greatest recordings of all time and said that he liked the Meyer concerto even better than the Barber (), so I simply had to hear it. Well, the Barber Violin Concerto is IMO one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, and the Meyer certainly didn't challenge it in my affections. I generally found the more animated, folksy sections (evocative of the composer's Appalachian heritage) to be more engaging than the slower, more atmospheric ones. In particular, I found the rather static first half of the second movement to be rather interminable, but it eventually gathers steam and the final few minutes quite thrilling and virtuosic. Needless to say, the solo part is quite flawlessly executed by Hilary Hahn.

Great selection of works, Kyle! That Borresen disc is a highlight in the CPO symphonic catalogue. The 2nd Symphony has a sort of "Nielsenian" vitality I find quite invigorating. The 1st Symphony is pretty good as well.

[Madiel]

Nielsen: Symphonic Suite for piano



Romanticism? Nielsen isn't having any of it as he bashes the piano and pianist into submission. Koppel's performance and acoustics emphasis just how harsh and angular and LOUD this music is. McCabe's recording is somewhat smoother, though the climax in the middle of the 3rd movement still feels pretty big. I'm not quite sure which I prefer... is feeling worn out at the end of Koppel's version a good result or not?

[JBS]

Ending the evening with Bach's works transcribed for lute

From this (which I ordered from Presto after cancelling the order from Arkivmusic).

[AnotherSpin]

Two versions of the 17th Sonata that resonated particularly well with me this morning. Perfectly matched my mood after a minute and a half of browsing through the news headlines, sipping from a large cup of hot sweet tea with condensed milk, and breathing the scent of the sea from an open window. What might happen in another moment or day doesn't matter; there is only what is now.

[steve ridgway]

Webern: 3 Lieder, Op.18

[Irons]

Whilst I do agree with you, Lloyd was so "at home" writing bold, epic, and colorful symphonies that I'd have a hard time imagining him writing for the much more intimate and sometimes austere medium of the string quartet. The only chamber works we have by him are his Violin Sonata and Lament, Air, and Dance (violin&piano), which are fine works if not on the level of most of his symphonies. I would've certainly been interested to hear a "bigger" chamber work like a piano quintet from his pen, however!

Of all Lloyd's chamber works only one did not feature piano. You are a musician and I'm definitely not, so not for a moment doubt the accuracy of your point. I tend to think symphonies and string quartets in the same breath, be it Shostakovich, Miaskovsky, Dvorak et al. You use the word "intimate" which I like because for me a string quartet is an intimate symphony where as other forms of chamber work are not. 

[Madiel]

Mozart

Flute Concerto No.1 (and soon I'll throw in the Andante that Mozart wrote as an alternative movement)
Oboe Concerto

[Traverso]

Louis Couperin

CD 1

[JBS]

CD 1 of this set, which is built around works composed by, or dedicated to, or first performed by Eugene Ysaye.

CD 1 is all concertante works composed by Ysaye.

Violin Concerto in e minor: allegro appassionata non troppo vivo
Yossif Ivanov violin
Jean-Jacques Kantorow conductor

Violin Concerto in d minor allegro moderato
Nikita Boriso-Glebsky violin
Jean-Jacques Kantorow conductor

Poeme Elegiaque in d minor Op 12
Tadi Papavrami violin
Francois-Xavier Roth conductor

Caprice d'apres l'Etude en forme de valse de Saint-Saens
Maria Milstein violin
Christian Arming conductor

Orchestra in all four is Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege.

[Todd]

3.

[steve ridgway]

Didn't know they had Tunnock teacakes in Salzburg!! 

Unliked after doing appropriate research as recommended by @Todd and realising this may have been a sneaky attempt to drag me into the culture wars .

Tunnock's sparks online boycott row after 'donating' treats to LGB Alliance

The row began after the LGB Alliance, which has been criticised as trans-exclusionary for dropping the T from the LGBT acronym, posted to thank the company for caramel wafers it "donated".

[Madiel]

Unliked after doing appropriate research as recommended by @Todd and realising this may have been a sneaky attempt to drag me into the culture wars .

Or you could have done the research I did: googling Tunnock tea cakes and discovering how similar their wrapping looks to the image on the cover of the Bruckner album in question.

Some people armed with hammers see nails everywhere.

[Madiel]

Nielsen: Violin Sonata no.1



Such an interesting work. I say that because while I'm not sure I love it, I do like it and I definitely want to listen to it again and see if I love it after further listens. I can kind of understand why critics at the time complained that the piano and violin were arguing past each other (particularly in the 1st movement, there's a lot going on), but Nielsen's grasp of structure is evident and it feels like a fully developed composition.

[VonStupp]

Gustav Mahler
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Rückert-Lieder
Kindertotenlieder
Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit

Karl Engel, piano
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Bavarian RSO - Rafael Kubelík
Berlin PO - Karl Böhm

Having heard Janet Baker in these recently, I thought I would pull out DF-D as well.
VS

[Papy Oli]

Unliked after doing appropriate research as recommended by @Todd and realising this may have been a sneaky attempt to drag me into the culture wars .

Tunnock's sparks online boycott row after 'donating' treats to LGB Alliance

The row began after the LGB Alliance, which has been criticised as trans-exclusionary for dropping the T from the LGBT acronym, posted to thank the company for caramel wafers it "donated".

I'll live.... 

Or you could have done the research I did: googling Tunnock tea cakes and discovering how similar their wrapping looks to the image on the cover of the Bruckner album in question.

sometimes it is that simple...

[Madiel]

sometimes it is that simple...

I'm a fan of Occam's razor.

[SonicMan46]

Mendelssohn, Felix (1809-1847) - Piano Trios, Quartets, et al w/ the Atlantis Trio/Ensemble - Penelope Crawford plays an 1835 Conrad Graf fortepiano (Opus 2148 - attached is a Graf piano, ca. 1835 with a close Opus model number).  Dave

 

[Spotted Horses]

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No 2, HJ Lim



Following up Annie Fischer and Claudio Arrau I put on HJ Lim's recording. Dazzling! Even the second movement started to make sense to me.

[steve ridgway]

I'm a fan of Occam's razor.