What are you listening 2 now?

[88]

Richard Strauss' "Elektra"

[Mandryka]

Richard Strauss' "Elektra"

I still remember the book that came with the LP, the black and white images. It was a real work of art. When Solti played it in London, people used to say that you could hear it in the tube trains which go under Covent Garden, it was so loud.

(Oh, and welcome here!)

[88]

I still remember the book that came with the LP, the black and white images. It was a real work of art. When Solti played it in London, people used to say that you could hear it in the tube trains which go under Covent Garden, it was so loud.

Haha, well, none of the artists are known for quiet subtlety!
Thank you.

[Kalevala]

Richard Strauss' "Elektra"

First of all, welcome to the forum! 

And now whose recording did you listen to and what did you think of it?  Was it your first time listening to it or have you heard other ones?

K

[Karl Henning]

Beethoven SQ Op.131.

I wonder why the scare-quotes for "late?"

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Alexander Yossifov: Symphony No 4 Apriltsi. Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Vassil Stefanov.

[88]

First of all, welcome to the forum! 

And now whose recording did you listen to and what did you think of it?  Was it your first time listening to it or have you heard other ones?

K

Thanks. That was my first, but I later bought Sinopoli's; however, I prefer Solti's. Nilsson is incomparable in my opinion.

[88]

I wonder why the scare-quotes for "late?"

Maybe to indicate that Beethoven didn't call them that?

[Lisztianwagner]

Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Trio No.2

Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano), Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay (violin), Mats Lidström (cello)

[vandermolen]

Pyotr Iliych Tchaikovsky
Symphony No.6

Evgeny Mravinsky & Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra

A great set!

[vandermolen]

Aaron Copland: Symphony No.3
London Symphony Orchestra Cond. Aaron Copland (Everest, to be reissued on Alto later this month)
I do not know of a better recorded performance of this great work:

[vandermolen]

Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Trio No.2

Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano), Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay (violin), Mats Lidström (cello)

Love the photo!

[Kalevala]

Love the photo!

I can't see the photo well.  Is that supposed to be DS on a train or whom?

L

[vandermolen]

I can't see the photo well.  Is that supposed to be DS on a train or whom?

L

Yes, it's Shostakovich by the train window.

[Cato]

Greetings 88!

Richard Strauss' "Elektra"

Excellent!  I used to have my German IV students translate the libretto, and then we watched a Metropolitan Opera performance with Hildegard Behrens, which I had taped off television in 1994: the Met used to sell a DVD of the same performance.

Check their website for availability!


Here is a taste from YouTube:

[Kalevala]

Yes, it's Shostakovich by the train window.

And please pardon my grammar lapse.  In my defense, I'm pretty tired today (watching and post-election).  Not that I don't mess up other times.   

K

[VonStupp]

Howard Ferguson
Amore Langueo, op. 18
Dream of the Rood, op. 19
Two Ballads, op. 1

Partita, op. 5a
Piano Concerto, op. 12
Overture for an Occasion, op. 16

Gerald Finzi
Eclogue, op. 10

Anne Dawson, soprano (Dream)
Martyn Hill, tenor (Amore)
Brian Rayner Cook, baritone (Ballads)

Howard Shelley, piano (PC & Eclogue)
City of London Sinfonia &
London SO & Chorus - Richard Hickox

My first exposure to Howard Ferguson, aside from a Piano Sonata I looked at in college. I really liked Ferguson's Piano Concerto; very Romantic. Finzi's Eclogue fits well with it, and is the gem of that album.

The two 30-minute cantatas remind me of George Dyson, of which, I liked Dream of the Rood best - a dream of Jesus' Crucifixion from the viewpoint of the tree which was made into the cross.

A solid mix of works from a composer who only wrote 19 Opuses.
VS

[88]

Rihm's 4-movement "Verwandlungen" is at times surprisingly melodic, then others parts are full of dissonance and violence.

[AnotherSpin]

I can't see the photo well.  Is that supposed to be DS on a train or whom?

L

Looks like Shostakovich. In the USSR, there were four types of carriages in long-distance trains: crowded and filthy "common" and "platzkart" classes for the common people, the "coupe" class for more important folks, and the "SV" (sleeping car) for nomenklatura, the party elite. The differences were in the number of seats/beds in each compartment and the general comfort level. The photo shows one of the two higher-class types. Shostakovich, as a victim of the regime, likely traveled in an SV car. It's interesting that he's smoking in the corridor, which was prohibited; people usually smoked in the far edge spaces between cars, near the toilettes, or waited to step out onto the platform at stations at lengthy stops.

[Linz]

Ludwig van Beethoven Concerto pour violon et orchestre op.61 in D major, Sonate pour violon et piano no.9 op.47 ''A Kreutzer' in A major, Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov, The Prague Philharmonia & Jiri Belohlhavek