What are you listening 2 now?

[nico1616]

Beethoven, string quartet opus 18/1

[André]

Mozart sonatas come in all colours and flavours. Fortepianos of all makes, Steinway, Bechstein (used by Youn), Fazioli, Bösendorfer etc. Interpretations are all over the place, too. Large-scale readings, miniature ones, forceful, 'masculine' readings (sometimes from female pianists such as Lili Kraus or Mitsuko Uchida - so much for stereotypical  gendered music-making).

Disc programs also have their own agenda: collection of the big sonatas, mix of major-minor tonalities (sometimes restricted to a single disc, as only 2 of the sonatas are in the minor: K310 and 457/475), mix of 'public', declamatory works with more delicate, private ones, etc. Mozart piano playing is like picking up a kaleidoscope: ever changing, constantly revealing new shades and tones.

William Youn uses a Bechstein, which suits Mozart's music very well: a very even, clear tone from top to bottom, always singing, not especially percussive sound, not as pingy on top or deeply resonant as a Steinway. Kempff is a Bechstein man and there's a touch of his restraint and classicism in Youn's approach. That makes the big A minor sonata K310 somewhat less imposing and dramatic than usual. The more emotion-laden works sound closer to Haydn's  than to Cherubini's overt pathos for example.

This is the 3rd disc of Youn's Mozart integral set I've listened to and it's very satisfying. He never attempts to jack up the scale of the works, to underline the shifting harmonies or the dynamic contrasts. It's more restrained, less forceful than Kraus (my favourite), but tighter than Uchida. It's also more beautiful in sound than van Oort and has a tad more personality than Kempff. K 330 fares best in this recording, a truly magical reading. K 310 like I said is unusually chaste and unsplashy - very beautiful but ultimately too low profile for my taste.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 3 in D Minor, 1889 Version (aka 1888/89) Ed. Leopold Nowak
Bruckner Orchester Linz, Martin Sieghart

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing Reger Piano Quintet, Op. 64

[Mandryka]

Philip Glass
Koyaanisqatsi
Michael Riesman
Philip Glass Ensemble
Orange Mountain Music

Feeling the Glass vibe at the moment. Almost a hypnotic minimalism.

You really need the film - it's a good film, indeed the whole qatsi cycle of films is exceptional I think

[foxandpeng]

You really need the film - it's a good film, indeed the whole qatsi cycle of films is exceptional I think

I shall bear that in mind!

[Symphonic Addict]

Parsadanian: Symphony No. 7 (Peeter Lilje, Estonian Radio Orchestra)

A sort of mystic veil covers it, partly due to a male choir that bookends the piece. I wish there were recordings of his other symphonies. Some appear on Youtube, but with a sound quality that makes you not want to try them.

[Karl Henning]

Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles

Such is the vividness of Stravinsky's ear for instrumental colour, single chords seem to carry immense meaning. And threadbare harmonies conjure up perception of an unlimited vastness. Genius in such naked form is a very transfixing thing.

A superb score!

[brewski]

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra (Ormandy / Philadelphia). Believe it or not, I don't recall ever hearing this recording. It's excellent, perhaps without the bite of some others, but there are many ways to play this masterpiece.

Only because I stumbled across it in a search, posting the Spanish version of the 1963 cover, which uses the same photo of the orchestra.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Before dinner --- Revueltas Ventanas

[Karl Henning]

[Symphonic Addict]

Always a guaranteed pleasure to revisit one of Schubert's masterpieces.

[VonStupp]

FJ Haydn
Symphony 30 in C Major 'Alleluia'
Symphony 31 in D Major 'Hornsignal'
Symphony 32 in C Major
Symphony 33 in C Major
Austro-Hungarian HO - Ádám Fischer

A lot of C Major amongst this quartet of symphonies. Hob. 1:31 goes straight to my mother-in-law, for she loves horn with a capital FH!
VS

[Daverz]

Cyril Scott: Symphony No. 3

It sounds somewhat like Bax, but with the Scandinavian influence replaced with Debussy.  We even get a wordless chorus in the finale.

[JBS]

Kandinsky is a suite for piano quartet of 11 short movements each linked to a painting by Wassily Kandinsky. Lyrisches, the subject of the first movement, is the artwork on the CD cover.

Trienta y tres formas... (the full title in English is 33 Ways to Look at the Same Object) is just under 29 minutes in length, for one piano four hands, is more atonal than usual among Sierra's works.

All three works were written between 2003 and 2008. This was a first listen, and will need a few more to reach any intelligent opinion.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Erkin: Symphony No. 2, Violin Concerto & Dance Rhapsody "Köçekçe".

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing Grieg Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 & 2

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Always a guaranteed pleasure to revisit one of Schubert's masterpieces.

Absolutely! Do you have a favorite performance of Schubert's Octett? I really enjoy these two recent(ish) performances:



And this one, too:



When @Florestan gets up, I'd like to hear from him, too and every other Schubertian here for that matter.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing Schubert Schwanengesang, D 957

[brewski]

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien (Ormandy / Philadelphia). I grew up with the old Dorati/Minneapolis recording and loved it, but this has even more refinement, with some fantastic woodwinds.