What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

Bliss: 'Hymn to Apollo'

[Mandryka]

I started to listen to Osborne's Debussy etudes, and it suddenly became so clear what @Todd was getting at with the expression "museum quality." It's that the Osborne is impeccably realised and presented, with no sense of the excitement of discovery. So I took refuge in Bavouzet's first recording.

[vandermolen]

M. Weinberg: Symphony No.5
National Polish Radio SO
Gabriel Chmura
I was sorry to read that Gabriel Chmura died in November 2020:

[Traverso]

Richard Strauss



Ein Heldenleben

[Traverso]

Hendrik Andriessen

Symphonische etude

[Traverso]

Haydn

Symphonies 47-46-26 ( Lamentione)  & 49 (La Passione)

[Harry]

Georges Onslow.
Sextet, opus 30.
Quintet, opus 79bis.
Ensemble Concertant Frankfurt.
Gianluca Luisi, Piano.
Recorded: 2006, Fürstliche Reitbahn, Bad Arolsen, Germany.
See back cover for more details.

Onslow's music is very much a choice. He is a forgotten composer, even shortly after his death, and thought of as second tier. Werther that is the truth, for some, I rather deny that thought. Highly melodious, well crafted compositions, very much detailed in the outer movements, and intertwined by memorable ideas. I have a lot of music by Onslow, and continue to add to my library. Sextet and Quintet carry the epitaph, brilliant with an added extra. A good recording, and thoughtful performance.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Yakov Flier - Chopin, Brahms & Albéniz: Piano Works.

[Traverso]

Beethoven

Symphony No.8

I've always had a good feeling with this cheerful symphony.

[Irons]

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture.

A spellbinding performance!

 

[Kalevala]

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture.

A spellbinding performance!

 

Lovely, am listening to it now.  Hard to beat Szell and Cleveland. 

K

[Harry]

Anton Ferdinand Titz.
String Quartets for the Imperial Court of St, Petersburg.
Volume II.
See back cover for details.
Recorded: 2008, Grunewaldkirche, Berlin, Germany.
Played on Period instruments.

Slender, tonally sensual, historically informed, fresh effervescent views,  that's the first thing that comes to mind. Committed and well phrased. This ensemble has an inbred sense of harmony. The details are almost of filigree qualitý, and so is the music. Haydn comes to mind, but just a little, for Titz has this Eastern European folk inclination, that colours his music. Maybe it's not terribly serious music, but it is well written, and a treat to listen to. Yes, and in this respects it pains me that so little of him is recorded. Of the three volumes already released, Qobuz has only the second album on offer, which is a shame really, for listening to volume 2, I am quite curious to the rest of it. A pity. Good performances and superb sound.

[Kalevala]

@Irons Quite enjoyed the Berlioz!  And appreciated the cinematography too.  I know virtually nothing about conducting, but noticed that Szell was very controlled (articulate?) with his movements vs. some other conducting that I've seen that seemed to me to be over the top.

K

[JBS]

CD 4, the non-symphonies CD of this set, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard


Two pieces from Maskarade (Overture and Cockerel's Dance)
Prelude to Sir Olaf He Rides
Snefrid
Prelude to Act II of Saul and David
Rhapsody Overture: A Journey to the Faroe Islands
Prelude to Act III of Willamoes
Pan and Syrinx
Cupid and the Poet
Overture Helios

[Traverso]

Beethoven

Egmond overture

A resounding performance that will hold your attention until the end.
Beautifully captured in the famous Sofiensäle Wien.

Wiki

The subject of the music and dramatic story is the life and heroism of a 16th-century Dutch nobleman, Count Lamoral of Egmont (1522 - 1568). The work was composed during the Napoleonic Wars, when the French Empire had extended its dominance over most of Europe. In the music for Egmont, Beethoven expressed his own political concerns by glorifying the heroic sacrifice of the Count of Egmont, who was sentenced to death for taking a brave stand against oppression. The overture later became an unofficial anthem of the Hungarian uprising in 1956.

[SonicMan46]

Korngold, Erich (1897-1957) - listening to just half of my modest dozen or so discs shown below, mostly his 'classical' output but also excerpts from his films - he scored 16 Hollywood pictures (see list below - * on the 12 in the CD conducted by Charles Gerhardt).  Dave

Erich Korngold was an Austrian composer and conductor, who fled Europe in the mid-1930s and later adopted US nationality. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and composer of classical music, along with music for Hollywood films, and the first composer of international stature to write Hollywood scores; he scored 16 Hollywood films in all, and received two more nominations for Oscars. Along with Max Steiner and Alfred Newman, he is one of the founders of film music. (Source)

Korngold's Film Scores (same link above)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
Captain Blood (1935)*
Anthony Adverse (1936)*
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)*
Juarez (1939)*
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
The Sea Hawk (1940)*
The Sea Wolf (1941)
Kings Row (1942)*
The Constant Nymph (1943)*
Between Two Worlds (1944)*
Devotion (1946)*
Of Human Bondage (1946)*
Deception (1946)*
Escape Me Never (1947)*
Adventures of Don Juan (1948) (unused)

[kyjo]

Finally started my Leif Segerstam in memoriam listening, with one of his most celebrated albums.

Up next:



EDIT: Wow, the review on Qobuz is so harsh on Rautavaara! Check this out:
"Einojuhani Rautavaara is arguably Finland's most popular modern composer because of his approachable, neo-Romantic orchestral music; yet his works' consistently somber tone, gray orchestration, and fairly static pacing make them predictable and tedious. ...Rautavaara is most recognizable for his slow harmonic rhythms and overcast colors, and his monochromatic music is barely disturbed by exciting ideas or startling innovations.... Cantus Arcticus (1972) is a tedious slog through Rautavaara's austere Scandinavian scenes. Even the Clarinet Concerto (2001), which should be a dynamic showpiece, is dominated by too many stretches of brooding melancholy."

Sure, they are being a bit harsh on Rautavaara, but I don't completely disagree with their assessment. I enjoy his 3rd Symphony, 1st Piano Concerto, 1st Cello Concerto, Cantus Arcticus, Divertimento for Strings, and a select few other works, but overall I find him an inconsistent composer whose music can sound rather "samey". Just my two cents, of course!

BTW that Sibelius Tempest/Segerstam disc is a real winner! Prime late Sibelius in wonderful performances and sound. RIP Leif Segerstam.

[Lisztianwagner]

Alfred Schnittke
Nagasaki

Hanneli Rupert, Cape Town Opera Voice of the Nation
Owain Arwel Hughes & Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra

[AnotherSpin]

Beethoven

Egmond overture

A resounding performance that will hold your attention until the end.
Beautifully captured in the famous Sofiensäle Wien.

Wiki

The subject of the music and dramatic story is the life and heroism of a 16th-century Dutch nobleman, Count Lamoral of Egmont (1522 - 1568). The work was composed during the Napoleonic Wars, when the French Empire had extended its dominance over most of Europe. In the music for Egmont, Beethoven expressed his own political concerns by glorifying the heroic sacrifice of the Count of Egmont, who was sentenced to death for taking a brave stand against oppression. The overture later became an unofficial anthem of the Hungarian uprising in 1956.

Several battalions of Ukrainians fought on the side of the Hungarian rebels in October 1956. They were formed from former members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (УПА). They reached Budapest and took part in battles against the Soviet occupation forces. They defended the bridges across the Danube that connected the two parts of the Hungarian capital, Buda and Pest. Most of them were killed.

[Iota]

Maderna: Quadrivium



I particularly like all the percussion sounds .

A fantastic work! So absorbing, like being held in a magic spell for half an hour. What wonders Maderna creates. Great performance too.