What are you listening 2 now?

[ritter]

"Concert champêtre" was one of the works that marked my love of Poulencs music.  - in this LP version


...quickly followed by.... the Litanies pour la vierge noire de Rocamadour, Gloria and Stabat mater (Régine Crespin) and the Suite Française. Les animaux modèles, Les biches and that exquisite miniature Bucolique...

Nice, Peter! That could be my Poulenc list as well, even if I would add the Piano Concerto and "C", form the Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon.

[Brian]

@Harry is having a really good day of listening with some great albums!

TD



Love this cover art too.

I was interrupted 4 minutes into track 1 so I am starting this album over again this morning.

[Madiel]

"Concert champêtre" was one of the works that marked my love of Poulencs music.  - in this LP version

Hurwitz also recommends Van de Wiele, but he goes for a different version with Pierre Dervaux conducting. It's a bit curious because both records list the same orchestra AND both have Poulenc and Fevrier doing the concerto for 2 pianos as well. But it seems they really did do the same programme twice only a few years apart, perhaps because the Dervaux one is mono and the Pretre is stereo.

[DavidW]

I know it is the wrong time of year. It was just what was up next in the box set.

[Traverso]

Messiaen

Livre du Saint Sacrement (1984)

[pjme]

....Poulenc list as well, even if I would add the Piano Concerto and "C", form the Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon

Yes - indeed.
I never heard the van de Wiele /Dervaux version of Concert champêtre. I should investigate the version with piano again - there's an old one (1970) with Gillels and more recently Stephano Bollani and Mark Babbington recorded it aswell.

[Harry]

The Italian Intermezzo.
Music without Words.
BBC Philharmonic Gianandrea Noseda.
Recording venue Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester; 5 and 6 August 2008 (excerpts from I Quattro Rusteghi, I gioielli della Madonna), 12 November 2009 (excerpts from La traviata, Manon Lescaut), 10 December 2010 (excerpts from Pagliacci, Edgar, Suor Angelica), & 22 and 23 March 2010 (other works).

This is truly wonderful! These are magical, uninhibited heart-on-sleeve performances, played with great passion and insight and a beautiful orchestral tone. Idiomatic, infectious with Brio! Good sound and a sublime performance.

[71 dB]

Elgar - Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf, Op. 30
Emily Birsan, soprano
Barry Banks, tenor
Alan Opie, baritone
Bergen Philharmonic Choir
Choir of Collegiûm Mûsicûm
Edvard Grieg Kor
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis
Chandos CHSA 5149(2)

[brewski]

Last night,The Handmaid's Tale, the opera by Poul Ruders based on Margaret Atwood's novel, produced by the San Francisco Opera, and outstanding by all concerned — if at times, difficult to watch. (The company livestreamed it last Friday, but I had to wait to catch it on-demand.)

Hadn't heard it since the 2003 production from the Minnesota Opera, and the piece seems even more prescient now. Lisa Hirsch has a great review, here.

Ruders' horror-movie score is entirely fitting for the subject matter, and includes strains of "Amazing Grace" floating here and there. Fantastic set design by Chloe Lamford, who also designed the SFO production of Kaija Saariaho's Innocence.

-Bruce

[Roasted Swan]

A Golden Cello Decade, -1878–1888-
See for details the back cover.

Steven Isserlis, cello.
Connie Shih, piano.
Olivia Jageurs, harp.
Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, on 5–7 July 2021.

This disc will put a smile on everybody's face, and gladden the heart if it needs it. A sentimental potpourri, certainly, but there is nothing wrong with that, now is it? Apart from this some real gems are on this disc, Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch is one of them, beautiful played on Cello, Piano & Harp. It makes quite an impression. Strauss Cello Sonata is another, and what to think of the almost forgotten Cello Sonata by Luise Adolpha Le Beau  (1850–1927) in D major, Opus 17, for me a highlight on this disc, and makes me wonder why she is forgotten in the first place. Beautifully recorded and performed!

Aah!  I didn't realise Isserlis had recorded the Le Beau Sonata - I can imagine he is excellent in it!

[Harry]

Adrian Willaert. (Adriano 2)
Missa super "Benedicta" a 6.
See back cover for all details.
Dionysos Now.
Recorded: 2021.Karmelieten Kerk, Gent, Belgium.

Volume I in this series is still a no go zone for me. That has in a great part to do with the fuzzy recording, in which the voices sound nasal, and clearly out of focus. Swimming one could even say. Very unattractive. In that respect Volume II fares much better. the recording is focussed now, and no fuzziness. I can clearly distinguish all the different voices, and the balance is quite good.
Beautiful, polyphonic monuments in the Mass, brilliant even. For example, this mass has a polyphonic structure, one voice begins, the second voice imitates, embellishes, and passes the torch to a third, fourth, and fifth voice. The result is a web of melodies that seem to have no end. The chansons are different, they sound polyphonic, but highly rhythmic. Everyone sings the same text at the same time, so that one can hear and understand the texts of the individual verses very well. Gorgeous, this one is going to stay.

[Harry]

Aah!  I didn't realise Isserlis had recorded the Le Beau Sonata - I can imagine he is excellent in it!

Yes he absolutely is!

[Traverso]

Josquin Desprez

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Love the recording!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

HINDEMITH, P.: Symphonische Tanze. Fricsay, Berlin.

[Linz]

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach  Keyboard Music, Vol. 3, Miklos Spanyi

[Cato]

Not desert island performances, but excellent ones nonetheless, superbly played and recorded. Overall a very fine one stop shop set.

Hi André !


What would you recommend as "desert island" performances for the late symphonic poems?


I have used the phrase "Too much time has passed since I last heard..." 


Today the blank is filled by...


Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A Major

[NumberSix]

Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A Major

Ahh. "Sabine"

One of my favorite names. But only if it's pronounced Frenchly. 

[Lisztianwagner]

Sergei Rachmaninov
Preludes Op. 23

Pianist: Vladimir Ashkenazy

[André]

Hi André !


What would you recommend as "desert island" performances for the late symphonic poems?

That's an easy one :



That' the LP version I bought almost 50 yrs ago. There were 2 discs. They've been condensed onto one cd (minus the Husitska overture):



Recorded in 1968. Fine sound, with the Prague Rudolfinum Hall reverb adding greatly to the atmosphere. Hugely characterful wind and brass playing.

Harnoncourt's performances are very polished in comparison. It can be a plus or a minus depending on the pov. I find them excellent, just not as spooky and savage as Chalabala's.