What are you listening 2 now?

[Daverz]

Maria Herz: Piano Concerto

A fine concerto.  Playing and sonics are excellent.

[Linz]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Complete Clavier-Concerte
Concert 26 D-Dur KV 537
Concert 27 B-Dur KV 595
Anima Eterna Jos van Immerseel

[Symphonic Addict]

Whereupon up in the Heaven Enescu told Haydn: I owe it to you, dear Papa! and Haydn humbly smiled and winked: You put it to excellent use, child!. 

 

Needless to say I blushed that day of the concert.

I have heard lost of excellent performances (and the one above is outstanding) but in terms of sheer exhilaration none of them can top this one:

It must be seen (as opposed to merely listened to) to be believed.

Thanks. I'll check it out later.

[Symphonic Addict]

Ha! I love that (and bet that at least a few of those onstage found your enthusiasm charming). It is exhilarating — a real showpiece. Envious that you heard it live, since at least in the U.S., it doesn't seem to show up on concerts that often.

Sometimes I am very expressive when a work I love is performed, I can't help myself.

This year there have been some interesting works being performed, including an almost complete Bruckner cycle.

[Symphonic Addict]

Revueltas's four concise string quartets are amazing! It's been long from my last listen to them, today they felt so fresh and compelling. I found them totally arresting, full of interesting dissonances, cleverly interwoven with rhythms of his native Mexico in some parts. Moreover, this is one of the best recordings of the Cuarteto Latinoamericano I've heard.

[André]

I've listened to his sixth and seventh frequently, but I don't think I've ever heard his 8th. I will have to remedy that.

Klemperer's EMI B8 has many fine things in it. It's hugely controversial though. He conducted it almost brutally  in the 1950s but when he took it to the studio he added 12 minutes on top of making a gigantic cut in the finale (about 7 minutes). That's some 91 minutes (less the cuts = 85) to just 72 in his Cologne recording from 1957.

The tempi are sometimes mindboggingly slow (a 19-minute scherzo!). That being said, like Klemperer's B9, this 8th exudes a feeling of numbed despondency that eerily mirrors what I imagine must have been Bruckner's state of mind during the last years of his life. Impressive in a weird way.

[André]

Revueltas's four concise string quartets are amazing! It's been long from my last listen to them, today they felt so fresh and compelling. I found them totally arresting, full of interesting dissonances, cleverly interwoven with rhythms of his native Mexico in some parts. Moreover, this is one of the best recordings of the Cuarteto Latinoamericano I've heard.

One of the most bracing Revueltas discs.

[André]

A superb disc. The concerto in F, Wq12 is a peach. Splendid playing and recording.

[André]

Disc 52 pairs late Böhm performances (1979-1981). The Schubert 8th (the Unfinished, not the Great C major) was a staple of his repertory throughout his career. The Dvorak New World however came as a surprise when it was issued (I bought the lp when it came out). Like the Tchaikovsky symphonies he recorded at the same period (with the LSO), this is not repertoire associated with this conductor. There are however hints that Böhm knew and loved them. There's a Stuttgart (or Frankfurt ?) New World from the 1950s and a Czech Philharmonic Tchaikosvsky 4th out there. Maybe his record company (DG) didn't think they would sell, especially as Karajan laid claim to this repertoire early on.

Anyhow both works receive tremendous perormances. The Schubert is weighty and dramatic, very winterreisey in character. This is not your Great Romantic Symphonies kind of performance. Truly admirable.

The Dvorak is my favourite performance of this work. Tempi are normal. Allegros surge, the orchestra erupting mightily at the slightest provocation. The Adagio is suitably melancholy and wistful. This is another kind of 'dramatic': jumpy, excitable, conquering. The orchestra must be heard to be believed. I've never heard so much detail emerge from Dvorak's very full textures. It's the orchestra that sounds special: in turns sensitive, flammable, brilliant, alive to every mood. One of my top 5 Böhm recordings ever.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

NP:

Beethoven
String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat, Op. 127
Quatuor Ébène

From this set -



It doesn't get any better than Beethoven's late SQs and Stravinsky thought similarly.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

Last work for the night:

Berg
Lulu Suite
Anat Efraty (soprano)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Daniele Gatti

[Le Buisson Ardent]

Alright...one more work:

Brahms
Schicksalslied, Op. 54
Collegium Vocale Gent & Orchestre des Champs-Elysées
Philippe Herreweghe

[steve ridgway]

Messiaen: Quator Pour La Fin Du Temps

[steve ridgway]

Crumb: Federico's Little Songs For Children

[NumberSix]

Orpheus in England
Emma Kirkby
Jakob Lindberg (lute)

Lovely 17th century songs. Kirkby's voice is positively angelic.

[steve ridgway]

Scelsi: Uaxuctum

[steve ridgway]

Ives: The Gong On The Hook & Ladder, Hallowe'en, In Re Con Moto Et Al, Op. 20

[steve ridgway]

Takemitsu: Fantasma/Cantos II

[Harry]

To let you all know, all notifications and alerts don't work anymore, I am literally out of seeing what is posted or not. The only resort is "Unread Post" but I am afraid that might be gone too in a while. My whole system has been checked yesterday on any bugs or faults in my computer setup and software, but nothing is found that should block GMG. So if I do not react or miss alerts you know why. Until it will be improvising. I also have some serious ongoing health issues that hamper my pleasure even more. Messages to Rob are bounced back also with no apparent reason. O, well.

[Florestan]

Made a one day business trip to Lisbon today, and in my car, driving home from the airport, caught the last movement of Mahler's Sixth recorded live at this year's Proms (September 6). Simon Rattle conducted the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

I hadn't listened to the work in years, and tonight it unnerved me (in a negative way). I could mostly hear the excess, the schmalz and the kitsch (those violin solos!  ), and only a few moments stood out as truly magnificent. I clearly have fallen out with Mahler's music over the past couple of years. Maybe it's a temporary thing, maybe not...

Seine Zeit ist vergangen?

Exit Mahler, enter Chopin?