What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Mily Balakirev Symphony No. 1 in C Major
Russia, Symphonic Poem
Overture on Three Russian Songs
The State Academy Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov

[Spotted Horses]

My delight at discovering the Lutoslawski Quartet's recordings of Bacewicz has turned to ashes. I decided to queue up the middle movement (which I found baffling in the Lutoslawski Quartet's recording) in the Silesian Quartet recording. Nothing baffling about it, it is marvelous! In the Lutoskawski Quartet's recording it is so sotto voce that I couldn't hear anything, even turning the volume up, with some bizarrely loud outbursts. No such problem with the Silesian Quartet recording. Haunting, dissonant harmonies. The outer movements are find in both recordings, but the Silesian Quartet struck me as a bit more convincing.

Moving on the the second quartet (in the Silesian Quartet recording) another brilliant work and another haunting slow movement. And I noticed that the slow movement, which comes in at 8 minutes in the Silesian recording is 12 minutes in the Lutoslawski Quartet recording. What's up with that? I'm not even going to try to listen to the Lutoslawski Quartet's recording.

My dismissal of the Lutoslawski Quartet's performance of the Bacewicz quartets was premature. The first quartet was a disappointment because of the slow movement performed too quietly. Then I saw that in the second quartet the Lutoslawski came in at 12 minutes for the slow movement, vs 8 minutes by the Silesian Quartet. I thought 12 minutes must be a disaster. But curiosity got the better of me and I listened. Exquisite! (Not that the Silesian performance of the same movement wasn't also beautiful.) So I am back to thinking I have to listen to the two cycles.

[Florestan]

Vilvoorde, in Flemish Brabant, is located in Flanders. When a train passes through Flanders, conductors are required to announce in Dutch only. The digital information displays on the train must also be in Dutch only.

Nationalist idiocy on stilts.

[Traverso]

[Lisztianwagner]

Sergei Bortkiewicz
Symphony No.1 & 2

Martyn Brabbins & BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony no. 3 in D Minor, 1878 Version Ed. Fritz Oeser (Scherzo coda not included) Based on 1880 Stichvorlage
Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim

[prémont]

Even though Vartolo never fails to rub me to wrong way. 

Concerning Vartolo, my own experience is that patience usually will become rewarded.

[Linz]

Ludwig van Beethoven Missa solemnis, Op. 123
Luba Orgonasova soprano Birgit Remmert alto Christian Elsner tenor, Bjarni Thor Krisinson bass
Europa Chor Akademie, Orchestre Philarmonique du Luxembourg. Michael Gielen

[AnotherSpin]

Historical Organs of Umbria - another fine album on the La Bottega Discantica label. Fabio Ciofini performs pieces by:

Marco Antonio Cavazzoni
Girolamo Cavazzoni
Bartolomeo Tromboncino
Francesco Bianciardi
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Bernardo Storace
Anoymous
Pietro Giuseppe Sandoni
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli
Johann Simon Mayr
Gaetano Donizetti
Vincenzo Bellini

[Que]

Historical Organs of Umbria - another fine album on the La Bottega Discantica label.

Love that series. Before the advent of streaming I acquired on disc the recordings on the regions of Marche, Emilia and Puglia.

[Linz]

Franz Schubert Symphony No. 3 in D, D200
Symphony No. 5 in B flat, D485
Symphony No. 6 in C, D589
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

R. Strauss: Don Juan; Tod und Verklärung.  Orchestra of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire · Hans Knappertsbusch.

[VonStupp]

Jean Sibelius
Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 47
Serenades, op. 69
Earnest Melodies, op. 77
Humoresques, opp. 87 & 89
Suite in D minor, op. 117

James Ehnes, violin
Bergen PO - Edward Gardner

A very different Sibelius concerto compared to the Heifetz and Francescatti I recently heard.
VS

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Paul Creston: Symphony No. 2 (Recorded 1956). New York Philharmonic/Pierre Monteux.

[Que]

[Symphonic Addict]

Martinu: Tre Ricercari and Memorial to Lidice

Two highly contrasting scores.

[Symphonic Addict]

Prokofiev: Symphonies 4, op. 112 and 5

This interpretation of the 4th is a case in point where a "right" performance makes an important difference in order to appreciate a work you hadn't come to grips with. Revelatory to say the least.

[Symphonic Addict]

Pijper: Piano Sonata and three Piano Sonatinas

Aphoristic yet substantial works. The first two piano sonatinas interested me the most.

[AnotherSpin]

[steve ridgway]

Nono - No Hay Caminos, Hay Que Caminar...