What are you listening 2 now?

[André]

Symphony no 2 improves with each movement. Which is another way of saying it doesn't start very promisingly. I find it way too objective, as if the orchestra expressing feeling had been strictly verboten. Second movement: good enough, with a nice build up and terrific playing from the timpani. The scherzo is very good. The finale is generally excellent. It just misses the last ounce of uplift, the Monteux, Barbirolli or Szell touch.

Symphony no 5 is excellent throughout and has a lot more tension in all movements. The first movement is strong and purposeful, the slow movement tinged with longing. There's a suitably lugubrious bassoon solo. The finale starts with the strings scampering at a breackneck pace, crackling with electricity. Definitely holds its own with the best of the second tier. That is, behind Rozhdestvensky, Davis BSO, Sargent, Karajan BP (EMI), Ole Schmidt, Ormandy (mono) and Mäkelä.

Overall a fine disc, but I'm not tempted to buy the others in the series (of course it's a complete set, what else ?).

[Karl Henning]

Oh my!!!  I watched that concert on television with my grandmother, who was an excellent professional pianist in night-clubs!

It was on a Saturday night: she found it noisy, and sort of shook her head in puzzlement, but I was enthusiastic! 

On another trip down Memory Lane today...

Wow! Seems your gram's reaction was in line with Bostonians at the Première as Lenny was saying!

CD 7
Giacomo Puccini
Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut
Pietro Mascagni
Intermezzo sinfonico from Cavalleria rusticana
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Two Intermezzi from I gioelli della Madonna
Gian Carlo Menotti
Sebastian — Ballet Suite

Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Phila
Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor

I shouldn't be surprised that the Menotti is very good!

[JBS]

A CD I may have last listened to perhaps 20 years ago, of a recording taped before I was born, making me realize I should listen to this music more than once every four or five years.

This is why I try not to cull my collection.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP:

Schubert
Piano Trio No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 100, D. 929
Rachmaninov Trio Moscow

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Glazunov No. 5. Golovanov/USSR.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP:

Finzi
Clarinet Concerto, Op. 31
Robert Plane, clarinet
Northern Sinfonia
Howard Griffiths

From this set -

[vandermolen]

Isn't that heresy?!   

K

Yes, probably 

and probably that explains my receiving another 'sorry vandermolen you are banned from using this forum' message yesterday!

[steve ridgway]

Birtwistle: The Fields Of Sorrow (1972) — For 2 Sopranos, Chorus And 16 Players

I've been a bit busy on X Twitter but am pleased to report that my initial attempt to introduce a young lady to 20th century avant garde classical was well received 🐍🍎.

[Irons]

Arthur Butterworth, Symphony No 1, opus 15.
Malcolm Arnold, Organ Concert, opus 47.
Ruth Gipps, Symphony No.2.
Ulrik Spang-Hanssen, organ.
Munich PO, and Royal Aarhus Academy Symphony Orchestra, Douglas Bostock.
1-5 Recorded at Arco Studios München, 1998 & 6-8 Recorded at Gellerup Church Aarhus, 2001. Organ Concert.

Superb performances and ditto sound. All three works are in good hands with Bostock

An Arnold bonus. The original Classico release just included Butterworth and Gipps.

[Irons]

Prélude a L'Aprés-Midi d'Un Faune.

Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra conducted by Jean Fournet.

[Madiel]

Today's non-randomised Schumann piano trial:



I'd ended up seeing 2 reviews of this volume, which said very similar things and I think they're both right. The glaring issue here is that Carnaval is frenetic. That's the best word for some of the fast sections, which are so fast they're breathless. The characters are not so much dancing as hyperventilating. I kind of understand the aesthetic argument for this sort of Schumann piece, but it felt like Pescia pushes it too far.

Some of the Novelletten are pretty brisk as well, but it just works better in that music. Not a disaster of an album, but not as good as the others in the series I've listened to with other pianists. The worry is that Pescia gets the most volumes in the series.

[Que]

Music at the court of the Queens of Aragón, from early 13th c. - early 16th c.

A pleasant suprise, actually. With the exception of the "Palestina Lied" by Walther von der Vogelweide with full blown oriental instrumental accompaniment and in truly atrocious German...

[Madiel]

2nd half of this album.



K.289 probably isn't authentic Mozart. Maybe my listening is influenced by already knowing it's considered doubtful, but then it's also hard to ignore the relentless chugging bass lines in several movements that just sound unimaginative. The sequence of keys in the 5 authentic divertimenti of the same type does rather invite the idea that there must be a 6th one to complete the sequence, so it's not hard to believe that someone in the 19th century undertook to fill the gap, i.e. it might be a deliberate scam rather than the misattribution of the work of another quality composer. Certainly, there are other doubtful Mozart/Haydn works I've liked better than this one. To me it lacks spark.

K.411 is for 5 clarinets (2 regular and 3 basset horns), and I didn't know until this moment that I needed that many clarinets in my life. Delicious.

[Harry]

An Arnold bonus. The original Classico release just included Butterworth and Gipps.

Correct!

[Harry]

Music at the court of the Queens of Aragón, from early 13th c. - early 16th c.

A pleasant suprise, actually. With the exception of the "Palestina Lied" by Walther von der Vogelweide with full blown oriental instrumental accompaniment and in truly atrocious German...

I am not a great fan of this ensemble, and I regret this for they have often interesting projects.

[Madiel]

Nielsen: Theme and Variations, op.40



He didn't write a piano piece for over a decade, then he starts this one only a couple of months after the Chaconne.

I've started with McCabe's version first this time. There's definitely some similarities to the Chaconne. This time the theme is key-shifting, in the way that Nielsen so liked, which means the variations are harmonically unstable too. Some of the variations are pretty darn crazy before there's a quiet, peaceful close.

I'd forgotten with the Chaconne that there's an edition of Nielsen's works freely available online. It did help me make sense on a 2nd listen of the Theme and Variations as to what I was hearing.

[Madiel]

Poulenc: 5 Poems of Paul Eluard



Out of Poulenc's preferred poets (all very contemporary), I think Eluard might be the most interesting. The words don't come across as random nonsense (*cough* Apollinaire *cough*) but are more evocative than literal.

This was Poulenc's first set of Eluard settings, and it's quite strange while also beautiful (so an excellent fit for the words, then). There are some startling changes of mood packed into a total running time of less than 7 minutes, and Poulenc's harmonies are very hard to pin down.

[ritter]

Poulenc: 5 Poems of Paul Eluard



Out of Poulenc's preferred poets (all very contemporary), I think Eluard might be the most interesting. The words don't come across as random nonsense (*cough* Apollinaire *cough*) but are more evocative than literal.

This was Poulenc's first set of Eluard settings, and it's quite strange while also beautiful (so an excellent fit for the words, then). There are some startling changes of mood packed into a total running time of less than 7 minutes, and Poulenc's harmonies are very hard to pin down.

Ah, but you pay attention to the words?? 

I should revisit the Poulenc songs soon. He really did choose some great poets...

[Madiel]

Ah, but you pay attention to the words?? 

Heh. You know it.

I mean the degree varies. For these I'm not sitting there reading every word on every listen. But I still think it's worth having some idea of what's being sung when a certain song suddenly erupts, and almost as suddenly dies down again a bit later.

[Madiel]

Poulenc: Suite française



I own 2 different arrangements of this (solo piano and cello/piano), but this could be the first time I've heard the full version for winds, brass, percussion and harpsichord. It's incidental music for a play about the famous/infamous Queen Margot, which explains the slightly archaic tone (similarly for the song À sa guitare, which I just listened to).

I do like context.