What are you listening 2 now?

[Kalevala]

I'll give Nemtin a shot--perhaps in a bit.

K

@Cato

I gave it a brief sample.  It didn't click with me, but that could be due more to hearing the horrible news of the crash over the Potomac this morning.

K

[Spotted Horses]

I purchased this set back in 2011.



There are over 90 discs in the set. Listening to these discs can be intimidating.

I am halfway through the set, and so far, I have not heard a work that I did not like.

It may be a while before I make another entry.

I really should go through it like that. As it is, I tend to pick out the well known pieces, which doesn't make use of it very well, since I already have those pieces in many other recordings. I sometimes resolve to listen to the Schubert transcriptions, but have not put that into effect.

[Que]

Italian Baroque music for Lute.
Works by: Molinaro, Terzi, Frescobaldi, Piccinini, Cazzati, Zamboni, Brescianello, Anonymous.
Massimo Lonardi, Lute.
Recorded: 2022. Could not find a back cover.

Recordings from this label, (Nar Classical) are hard to find as CD, mostly only downloads. It's a pity for they have often interesting music and musicians in their repertoire. Lonardi is in all respects a good Lute player. He has a style of playing that simply feels good and proper. He is able to choose just the right tempi, and feels his way into the music which gets you clean lines and a open presentation, of all the composers on this disc. Very recommendable.

I spotted recordings by him available streaming before.
BTW it seems that recordings on this mysterious (digital) "NAR" label were originally issued on Agorá (nicer cover!).
This recording was issued in 1997.

[Harry]

I spotted recordings by him available streaming before.
BTW it seems that recordings on this mysterious (digital) "NAR" label were originally issued on Agorá (nicer cover!).
This recording was issued in 1997.

Wow, I did not know that, I certainly could not find info about this, and thought it was released in 2022. Anyways Lonardi is a good Lutenist and I like him very much. Thanks you for enlightening me on this.

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, 1872/77 Mixed Versions. Ed. Leopold Nowak, Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti

[Madiel]

Hoping for an answer.

It took quite some years of people asking me how I thought one recording compared to another before people finally seemed to work out what my answer would be 99% of the time: that I hadn't listened to any other recording.

Of course I sometimes do wild things like compare 4 different cycles of Schumann piano works. But not often.

[foxandpeng]

Josef Schelb.
Orchestral Music.
Volume I.
See for details front cover.
Recorded on 12 December 2014 in the Weinbrenner Saal, Kurhaus, Baden-Baden.



Ignored by most be seen and heard by me. This is a harsh statement I guess, but Schelb's music got no attention at all, not from the critics and listeners alike. He came, he saw, and disappeared. So it was and so it still is. I am a staunch admirer of this composer. For me he produces superb music, wrought with all the emotions I consider necessary. His masterly build up scores is something to be admired, and dare I say it, to be cherished. Still he is again forgotten. Performance and sound are excellent.

Thanks for this, Harry. Noted with interest!

[brewski]

Messiaen: Turangalila Symphonie (Gustavo Dudamel / Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela / Yuja Wang / Cynthia Millar). May not have heard this version, recorded in 2017 for Arte, and it's great.

[Cato]

Personally, I prefer Rozhdestvensky, at least in the qualities I am concerned with when it comes to Bruckner: sonic fidelity, note articulation, and blasting brass - I find that Jochum can, at times, muddle and mush, which might be a Wagnerian thing, but I find that I think, compositionally, Bruckner wanted to emulate Brahms more (sort of like Schoenberg), and so, on those merits - I would recommend this symphony, and in fact the entire set, over Jochum's (Rozh is my favorite conductor though, so there is also that, but I find him a master of what I love).

Thanks for the reply!  I do not believe I have ever heard a muddle or a mush, when listening to a Jochum performance of any composer (e.g. Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, or his recordings of Brahms symphonies).

I think that if Bruckner did indeed try to emulate Brahms compositionally, he failed in every way! However, perhaps I have been missing something! 😇

I will look into the idea!

On Amazon (and I assume other sites too...) if you search "Bruckner - Selected Works" in the digital music tab it comes up with a £7.99 download that seems to be all of Rozhdestvensky's Bruckner recordings.  As you might expect with that conductor the interpretations are emminently sane and effective - yes the brass does have an edge you won't get in more 'standard' versions but I have to say I enjoy these versions......

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002A6228U/ref=sr_1_1?crid=HJ1YPH9V4SOV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.iJthGx6wXgqccvdFsIPktseyrOcPuwsQnZ-yDV1lvyvqIdIf8cG_shZl6NAGWJQoRq1gbIMlz1kEES92GoSPbspYxIN7cd0Mrb8Z6FzlKtw.-Tqv5RYXn2jC5qkNvi9FHxP4omwS0cQIRtRsZdq87fM&dib_tag=se&keywords=Bruckner+selected+works&qid=1738262822&s=dmusic&sprefix=bruckner+selected+works%2Cdigital-music%2C77&sr=1-1

Very interesting!

Here is the YouTube link to the First Movement:

The other movements are available here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP1cCp_isulfw0xG31YSfuw

[foxandpeng]

Kalevi Aho
Symphony 4
Osmo Vanska
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
BIS

Late, but Worth a listen while winding down towards sleep.

[Kalevala]

Janacek - Sir Charles Mackerras from a 2-CD set on Supraphon "Conducts Janacek".   A great set!

K

[hopefullytrusting]

Thanks for the reply!  I do not believe I have ever heard a muddle or a mush, when listening to a Jochum performance of any composer (e.g. Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, or his recordings of Brahms symphonies).

I think that if Bruckner did indeed try to emulate Brahms compositionally, he failed in every way! However, perhaps I have been missing something! 😇

I will look into the idea!

Very interesting!

I can, of course, only speak to what my ears hear, and I fully admit that my ears are limited in that ability, especially compared to many, if not most, on this forum. (I have not been classed as hard of hearing, but I most definitely have things that I find difficult to hear).

Maybe smoosh is a better word, but I find Jochum sometimes squeezes things together (maybe it is a layering-structural issue, and rather than hearing a chord, I hear a cacophony (hence, the Wagner comparison, where I find that happening on more than one occasion).

When I was speaking of the Brahms (Schoenberg) comparison, I was speaking specifically about articulation, where I can hear each note or each chord in and of (and for) itself. I find that the Bruckner I like is one where the focus is on clarity on all levels, which is also the Brahms that I prefer, and I find Schoenberg to be the capstone (although, some might say Webern, but I find Webern to be altogether in a different genre/school).

But, I'm ramblin'.

[JBS]

Strauss upon Strauss



Full list of waltzes
Artist's Life Op 316
Roses From the South Op 388
Overture to "The Gypsy Baron"
Tales From The Vienna Woods Op 325
Emperor Waltz Op 437
Overture to "Die Fledermaus" Op 362
On the Beautiful Brown Danube Op 314

Interesting how the tracklisting gives one operetta an English title and no opus number, but gives the other its German title and opus number.

[pianococo90]

Aureliano Cattaneo
Trío for violin, cello, and accordion

[KevinP]

Bought this a few months ago, but sometimes I buy music faster than I can listen to it,  especially if I get hooked on one particular purchase.

Really like the flute and harp concerto--admittedly a combination that generally appeals to me (so long as we're not taking cheesy wedding music).

[Harry]

Bright & Early.
Lute Music.
Hopkinson Smith, Lute,  SIX-COURSE LUTE MADE BY JOEL VAN LENNEP, BOSTON, 1977.
See back cover for details.
RECORDED ON APRIL 2021, AUDITORIUM JEAN-PIERRE DAUTEL, CONSERVATOIRE & ORCHESTRE DE CAEN (FRANCE).

Hopkinson Smith approaches these mysterious treasures reminiscent of distant times and reveries of the Middle Ages on his six-part lute built in the late fifteenth-century tradition. With the humility of one who appreciates the incredible richness and expressiveness of these works, he is the lone lutenist who has become a storyteller through his instrument, like a true creator! Well recorded.

[Irons]

Berg: 4 Pieces for Clarinet and Piano.

Anthony Pay (clarinet) Daniel Barenboim (piano).

A compelling study in concentrated bleakness.

[Que]

I'm currently gravitating again towards French and Italian music from the 14th century: Ars Nova/ Ars Subtilior and the Trecento.
This ensemble also participated in the excellent box set with music by Zacara da Teramo.

[Que]

Bright & Early.
Lute Music.
Hopkinson Smith, Lute,  SIX-COURSE LUTE MADE BY JOEL VAN LENNEP, BOSTON, 1977.
See back cover for details.
RECORDED ON APRIL 2021, AUDITORIUM JEAN-PIERRE DAUTEL, CONSERVATOIRE & ORCHESTRE DE CAEN (FRANCE).

Hopkinson Smith approaches these mysterious treasures reminiscent of distant times and reveries of the Middle Ages on his six-part lute built in the late fifteenth-century tradition. With the humility of one who appreciates the incredible richness and expressiveness of these works, he is the lone lutenist who has become a storyteller through his instrument, like a true creator! Well recorded.

Massimo Lonardi did a very nice album largely dedicated to Joan Ambrosio Dalza:

 

[Roasted Swan]

Don't get distracted by the cover's young chick's good looks. There's more to this set than meets the eye.

It's a 2-disc set, part of a trio of such sets from CPO. They were made to document German Radio's project of commissioning works for radio transmission - no concerts, no discs, just radio. It started in 1929 (the year Germany started airing radio broadcasts) and ended in 1933 - entartete stuff and all that. Think of the movie Cabaret.

Strictures were put forward to make sure the new works would suit the medium: no fancy, lush post-romantic harmonies, no more than 17 instruments - generally a few winds, percussion and string trio. All the vocal parts had to be intelligible, using clearly enunciated easy vocal lines or sprechgesang.

Despite these constraints, composers responded enthusiastically. Works for the radio project poured out from the pen of Weill, Hindemith, Haas, Braunfels, Schreker, Toch, Sutermeister and lesser luminaries. All kinds of works, some purely instrumental, but most including spoken or sung parts. Listeners familiar with Kurt Weill will know what to expect (his Berliner Requiem is part of this set). There's a fascinating short radio opera from Sutermeister (a Hansel und Gretel-type story featuring a narrator, 2 singers, a small chorus and instruments), a 'radio overture' from Haas, etc.

What makes this set (and presumably the other 2) especially valuable is the quality of the realization: outstanding musical execution (instruments and singers), superb sound, experienced theater actors for the narration. I even found myself thinking that German actually sounds lovely when spoken/sung with such care for enunciating the words, finding the right rythm, accents and colours.

Not forgotten masterpieces maybe, but superbly crafted gems in a loving realization. Recording of the month on Musicweb.

This set of 3 sets(!) is superb.  Lovingly recreated here by an ensemble who clearly "get" the idiom.  Across all the discs the quality of the music is very high - allowing for the parameters you mention.  But also I find this a collective memorial to a time when it was believed that Mass Media should/could educate entertain and inform........  The CPO catalogue is full of treasures but this is one of my personal favourites.