What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

Stupendous disc, mostly for the colourful and magical Four Episodes for chamber orchestra. Each of its movements (Humoresque macabre, Obsession, Calm and Chinese) displays character and personality.

[Symphonic Addict]

Flotow: His two piano concertos

Nice, charming, and too short (among other details) to consider them remotely essential.

[JBS]

Rather a shame the All-Knowing Seashell appears only in the first scene.

[hopefullytrusting]

First, the cutest bug on a pug on a rug playing of Chopin's Prelude Op. 28, No. 7:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XLgNItPKl-k

This is now the only way I will ever hear the piece - bravo!

Followed by, Mompou playing Mompou's Variations on a Theme of Chopin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rThRRa9gayc

I always find variation sets interesting because it is amazing to see how the seed grows, and Mompou's range is tremendous. In each variation, though, the primary melody is never lost - it is always front and center no matter what the accouterments surrounding are. Each variation also fits very nicely around the melody - it is very much like fashion - the piece is trying on a new wardrobe, seeing how it likes, then returns to its point of origin recognizing that its first state was best and preferred. The set is also fairly complicated, given its relative small size and the ease of the prelude upon which it is based, so there are definitely some feats of the fingers - fireworks, as it were in the piece. Highly enjoyable.

Following by, Noskowski's Fantastical Picture on Chopin's A-Major Prelude:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV-i0c1YTVI

This piece is lovely and lush, such a flowing, swooping open into a pastoral and a call to the rolling fields. It feels very much like a tone poem more than a set of symphonic variations, in fact, my ears have not even heard the primary melody of the prelude it was based upon - this feels like a variation in the Beethoven sense of variation or translation in the manner of Pope.

The piece is rich listening for my ears - it is delightful and feels like spring - birds fluttering, chipmunks and squirrels scurrying - a walk through a park - midday, blue skies, fluffy clouds, and dancing every where - very much like a classical Disney musical. This feels like a piece that would accompany writing about smalltown USA - parade with high school marching bands, floats, and the queen of the fair.

In short, it feels nostalgic. If you told me a USA composer wrote this, I wouldn't have blinked an eye, but to have it come from someone so far removed, and most definitely not trying to allude to any of the things I have mentioned so far demonstrates, I think, the power of music, or of the ears to transform and translate, not dissimilar to what the nose can construct from a smell. Highest recommendation for this work - I suspect it will show up sooner rather than later on my own purchase pile.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Thanks, I get where you're coming from. Honestly, I'd never really asked myself why Bernstein and conductors in the same vein don't appeal to me. But let me try to put it simply.

His style, expressive, theatrical, often exaggerated, doesn't feel rooted in the deeper tradition of European music. It comes across as if he isn't truly speaking that language, only imitating it without understanding its inner logic. Bernstein and the rest don't live the music, they act it out. They don't express, they perform. They don't speak, they gesture.

Instead of opening up the structure of a piece, they impose a ready-made drama on it, turning music into a show rather than an inner experience. The result feels flashy, more like decoration than interpretation, a translation where nuance and depth go missing.

Where someone like Furtwängler or Klemperer lets musical ideas grow naturally, Bernstein tends to go for effect, for applause. It's clever, even entertaining, but it can sound shallow, a sign of an age where style replaces substance.

And in the end it's that lack of real cultural grounding. Without it, the music can feel hollow, as if it's putting on a mask rather than speaking with a living voice.

This post requires a detailed response. It reads like a mixture of misinformation and subjective personal impression, without any specific references to any performances or recordings (other than the Vienna Sibelius 2 upthread) from Bernstein's long career.

First the idea that Bernstein lacked "real cultural grounding" or "roots in the deeper tradition of European music" is manifestly false. Bernstein studied piano with the Russian virtuoso Isabelle Vengerova, composition with Walter Piston, and most importantly conducting with Fritz Reiner. He was mentored by Dmitri Mitropolous and Serge Koussevitzsky, and became Koussevitsky's conducting assistant at the Boston Symphony and later assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Artur Rodzinski. He got his "big break" in 1943 when Bruno Walter as guest conductor fell ill and entrusted him to take over a difficult program including Strauss's Don Quixote without rehearsal. Toscanini was sufficiently impressed by Bernstein to invite him to guest conduct the NBC Symphony. This is hardly someone who has no roots in the European tradition.

Bernstein's reputation for podium antics is well-known and partly justified, but his early years with the New York Philharmonic reveal a conductor of great musical discipline. Just listen for example to his NYP versions of the Schumann Symphonies, the Haydn Paris Symphonies, the (underrated IMO) Harold Shapero Symphony for Classical Orchestra, and the Missa Solemnis. And if you can find it on one of the NYP's special edition boxes, the most intense account I have ever heard of the Berg Three Pieces for Orchestra.

Somehow in his later years, as he became older, more corpulent, and more a myth unto himself, Bernstein became often slower and sloppier in his conducting.  On records, his Sibelius 2 and 5 were far better in New York than Vienna. Then there's that notorious Nimrod, and compare his finale to the Tchaikovsky Pathetique from 1953, normally paced at just 11 minutes, with the DG version where he stretches the movement to 18. Hurwitz defends this bloated recording by arguing that Bernstein wanted a finale that matched the dimensions of the first movement, which begs the question of why if Tchaikovsky wanted such a thing he wouldn't have written 18 minutes of music. And when I heard his Mahler 2 in New York live in 1990, it was an overwhelming experience, but I couldn't help wondering if such a ponderous performance would have been tolerated from a younger unknown conductor. Still, there are some great performances from the latter days, such as the Mozart C minor mass and a delightful Haydn 88 where he conducted the Vienna Phil only by moving his eyes.

So I'm more with Swan than with Spin on this issue. Bernstein's lapses should not take away from his real achievements.

[Brian]

I think it is also worth saying that in his earlier years, before his DG ultra-slow personality cult performances, Bernstein rarely distorted or disregarded a composer's written intentions. Or, perhaps, not more than average for a conductor of his day. In his New York days, he seems to have very clearly gotten the spirit of a European like Haydn.

[AnotherSpin]

This post requires a detailed response. It reads like a mixture of misinformation and subjective personal impression, without any specific references to any performances or recordings (other than the Vienna Sibelius 2 upthread) from Bernstein's long career.

First the idea that Bernstein lacked "real cultural grounding" or "roots in the deeper tradition of European music" is manifestly false. Bernstein studied piano with the Russian virtuoso Isabelle Vengerova, composition with Walter Piston, and most importantly conducting with Fritz Reiner. He was mentored by Dmitri Mitropolous and Serge Koussevitzsky, and became Koussevitsky's conducting assistant at the Boston Symphony and later assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Artur Rodzinski. He got his "big break" in 1943 when Bruno Walter as guest conductor fell ill and entrusted him to take over a difficult program including Strauss's Don Quixote without rehearsal. Toscanini was sufficiently impressed by Bernstein to invite him to guest conduct the NBC Symphony. This is hardly someone who has no roots in the European tradition.

Bernstein's reputation for podium antics is well-known and partly justified, but his early years with the New York Philharmonic reveal a conductor of great musical discipline. Just listen for example to his NYP versions of the Schumann Symphonies, the Haydn Paris Symphonies, the (underrated IMO) Harold Shapero Symphony for Classical Orchestra, and the Missa Solemnis. And if you can find it on one of the NYP's special edition boxes, the most intense account I have ever heard of the Berg Three Pieces for Orchestra.

Somehow in his later years, as he became older, more corpulent, and more a myth unto himself, Bernstein became often slower and sloppier in his conducting.  On records, his Sibelius 2 and 5 were far better in New York than Vienna. Then there's that notorious Nimrod, and compare his finale to the Tchaikovsky Pathetique from 1953, normally paced at just 11 minutes, with the DG version where he stretches the movement to 18. Hurwitz defends this bloated recording by arguing that Bernstein wanted a finale that matched the dimensions of the first movement, which begs the question of why if Tchaikovsky wanted such a thing he wouldn't have written 18 minutes of music. And when I heard his Mahler 2 in New York live in 1990, it was an overwhelming experience, but I couldn't help wondering if such a ponderous performance would have been tolerated from a younger unknown conductor. Still, there are some great performances from the latter days, such as the Mozart C minor mass and a delightful Haydn 88 where he conducted the Vienna Phil only by moving his eyes.

So I'm more with Swan than with Spin on this issue. Bernstein's lapses should not take away from his real achievements.

Thank you for your thoughtful response to what is, of course, only my subjective impression. I hardly expect universal agreement, nor shall I quibble over details or engage in debate. Suum cuique.

[AnotherSpin]

I think it is also worth saying that in his earlier years, before his DG ultra-slow personality cult performances, Bernstein rarely distorted or disregarded a composer's written intentions. Or, perhaps, not more than average for a conductor of his day. In his New York days, he seems to have very clearly gotten the spirit of a European like Haydn.

I can't really see the fuss over his recording of Haydn's Paris Symphonies. I've listened to it several times over the years, as I have to many other Bernstein recordings, and I've come to the clear and final conclusion that his conducting just doesn't appeal to me anymore. But everyone has their own Haydn, and I see no need to poco about it.

[AnotherSpin]

Vaet: Missa Ego flos campi & Other Sacred Music

Cinquecento

[steve ridgway]

Stockhausen - Gruppen

[steve ridgway]

Kagel - Transición II

[Selig]

Yes, this is stunning. I had a long list of recordings of the cello suites that I wanted to try, but right now I would prefer to listen to Rübsam again and again.

[steve ridgway]

Takemitsu - Distance

[Roasted Swan]

Rather a shame the All-Knowing Seashell appears only in the first scene.

If it were being written today it would be the all-knowing Google.......

[Florestan]

If it were being written today it would be the all-knowing Google.......

Chat GPT, actually. 

[steve ridgway]

Messiaen - Chronochromie

[Harry]

Chat GPT, actually. 

Not for long anymore, for their servers are absurdly overloaded with eager people who want to know all. Their servers are constantly overloaded and is getting useless in this fashion. There are no signs that they can get more server space, so the hordes of angry people who are not able to chat with chat GPT but paying for it, will leave that building forthwith. There is a massive exodus going on, or so I am told by a tech guy closely connected as an employee of the said chat service    

[Harry]

The Virtuoso Clarinet.
Michael Collins, Piers Lane.


This is lightweight fun. Really outstanding performances by both musicians, and well engineered by Chandos. Here is nothing to offend anyone, but only offers pure pleasure. Virtuosity is the keyword here. There are many excellent reviews Europe wide, by  Anthony Clarke – Limelight magazine. au – 10 May 2011, Richard A Kaplan – Fanfare March  April 2011,  David Cairns, The Sunday Times – 13 February 2011, and
Jessica Duchen, Classic FM Magazine – January 2011.

[prémont]

Yes, this is stunning. I had a long list of recordings of the cello suites that I wanted to try, but right now I would prefer to listen to Rübsam again and again.

I recognize the situation. 

[Mandryka]

Rather a shame the All-Knowing Seashell appears only in the first scene.

I've actually seen this performed - very lush and decadent music!