What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[ChamberNut]

Prokofiev

Cello Sonata, Op. 119

Michael Grebanier, Cello
Janet Guggenheim, Piano
Naxos


The cello sound on here is incredible, powerful, dominant, robust! 

[Harry]

Do you really have to make a new post every time you listen to one little 5 minute piece in that set?

O, there are a few more that do that Corey.........

[marvinbrown]

  It's snowing in London...a rather rare occasion...so I felt it appropriate to play that recording that rarely gets played......"rare" is the operative word..... rarely played, rarely remembered:

 


  Rare indeed!  Any Questions??

  marvin

[ChamberNut]

Shostakovich

String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68
String Quartet No. 12 in D flat major, Op. 133

Eder Quartet
Naxos

[marvinbrown]

Shostakovich

String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68
String Quartet No. 12 in D flat major, Op. 133

Eder Quartet
Naxos

  Yes that 2nd Quartet  0:), such a sublime piece  0:)!  Certainly one of Shosty's many fine moments.

  marvin

[ChamberNut]

  Yes that 2nd Quartet  0:), such a sublime piece  0:)!  Certainly one of Shosty's many fine moments.

  marvin

I pretty much enjoy most of the quartets.  In particular, the gargantuan 2nd movement of SQ # 12.  One of my favorites! 

[mozartsneighbor]

Mozart, Piano Concerto #22, Perahia

[karlhenning]

I pretty much enjoy most of the quartets.  In particular, the gargantuan 2nd movement of SQ # 12.  One of my favorites! 

Excellent!

[Dundonnell]

While I didn't get much pleasure from the first disc of van Gilse symphonies, the Badings disc is just my cup of tea as well. I'm looking forward to further releases.

I was a bit disappointed by the van Gilse as well although his two later symphonies may be more interesting.

You are probably referring to the CPO Badings disc containing the 2nd, 7th and 12th symphonies. Those works are very fine but the three I was actually listening to were made available some months ago by Lethe(to whom much thanks again!) and are even better pieces, in my opinion.

I also listened to the very lyrical and highly attractive Cello Concerto No.2 by Badings(Michael Muller with the Dutch Radio Chamber Philharmonia/Henrik Schaefer) and a real discovery-the beautiful Violin Concerto by Emil Bohnke played by Kolja Lessing with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra(Israel Yinon). This latter is a total eye-opener, full of gorgeous melody.

[Kullervo]

Bartók - String Quartets 1, 3 and 5 (Takács)

[Lilas Pastia]

Beethoven: Emperor Concerto, Symphonies No 3, 5, 7 and 9 (downloads)
Bruckner: symphony no 8 (download)
Bliss: Film Music
Glass: Dracula (music for string quartet).

The Emperor and Eroica are live performances from the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Willem van Otteloo. Good FM broadcast sound from the late sixties. Performances are among the most dynamic and involving I've heard, with a particularly thrusting and massive orchestral sound. Very, very exciting and satisfying. Rubinstein was 82 and plays the work to the hilt, while preserving a patrician balance. He doesn't attempt to battle against the orchestra. He commands attention whenever his part dominates, and recedes poetically within the orchestral fabric when required (there's a lot of that light and shade effect in the work, something not properly appreciated by some soloists and sound engineers). Going back to the Eroica: Otterloo is not a poet or a philosopher, so the slow movement is slightly prosaic. But, my! What he does with the rest is arresting and he nails the work's signposts with thrust and power, while preserving the work's classical structure (no tone poem effect). A valuable claim to a "top ten" position (likewise with the concerto).

The 5th and 7th are with Scherchen and the Radio Svizzera Italiana orchestra. Lugano, 1964 (live performances in ok stereo). Rather uneven. The 5th's first two movement are immensely imposing and dramatic. Scherchen holds the fermatas in I quite longer than is usual, to great dramatic effect. The strings in III get a bit messy and the finale is goo but not outstanding. In the 7th, I found the introduction much too fast (the whole first movement is dispatched in 10 minutes), while II and III are just ok. The Allegro con brio finale is truly exhilarating and ends the symphony with splendid panache (winds and horns are outstanding). The 9th is from the Westminster cycle and features the Vienna State Opera Orchestra (1953?). Okay I, II and III, and a good finale. But the orchestra is scrappy at times and the chorus mushy. The soloists are very well recorded, but they obviously sing into the microphone (unnatural balance). The bass Richard Standen has a light voice. His big opening solo is a plea, not a command, and he is almost intimate in his delivery. I quite like the idea. The tenor (Petre Munteanu) sings very well, also in a lieder-like way. No hectoring, no blustering. Very musical. Ladies are only fair. Percussion are unusually well recorded (never heard the triangle part so well), but overall it's a rather messy stew. Honestly, I can't say I got any revelation from the conductor in this work. IMO the peaches in his Westminster cycle are 2-6 (I haven't heard the 7th).

The Bruckner is with Herreweghe's Champs Élysées orchestra. It attempts to present the work à la HIP, meaning with minimal vibrato. IMO it succeeds surprisingly well. Vibratoless string playing is not really that much different when the note values are short. The sound they make is just slightly leaner. When note values are long (the slow tempos of the adagio and the middle part of IV) the effect is quite arresting and very appropriate. It's impossible not to notice that the orchestral forces are smaller than usual, but they play very well for the most part. There's a bit of confusion in the brass mêlées that end the first and last movements. The trumpets do not project over the brass section in climactic moments, but overall these players are quite impressive (horns esp.).  Very good timpani playing but for some reason I had the impression they were tuned lower than what I normally hear. They rumble powerfully instead of raging. Like a rock singer with a slightly hoarse voice. I thought I'd find the answer in the OCE website, but although they describe at length the advantage of PI for the strings and winds, they don't peep a word about their timps. All the same, I did hear some things differently and to good advantage. It doesn't make for a great interpretation, but a competent one. The first movement is not apocalyptic enough (insufficient orchestral weight), the scherzo doesn't bite enough (it's too brisk), but apart form a matter-of-fact buildup to the "Gates of Heaven" climax the adagio is lustrous, chaste, intense and very poetic (fine coda). The Finale opens timidly but it gets better as it proceeds. The coda is unusually detailed, proceeding at a very measured clip and with full advantage taken of the clarity the HIP allow. Overall it has enough "special interest" points to warrant listening and the occasional return visit. Excellent recording (live from the Philharmonie, Berlin last September). I'll be listening to their 2004 Bremen 5th soon.

I really enjoyed the Glass disc, a string quartet adaptation of the Dracula story minutely detailed in 26 micro movements. Apparently it's conceived more or less as a set of variations. Structurally it holds up quite well. There's not much variety of sound and effects (this is minimalist music after all) and I'm still not sure the string quartet is a good medium for Glass. But still, this is very good. Thanks to the nice poster who offered me to sample it  .

The Bliss is a commercial Naxos disc and is not really worth listening to again. I love Bliss (symphonies, concertos, ballets, organ and choral music) but this particular offering is rather faceless. It pales in comparison to the Hollywood brigade of Salter, Dessau, Herrmann, Tiomkin, Steiner and a few others.

[Kullervo]

Nielsen - Symphony No. 3 "Sinfonia Espansiva", Symphony No. 6 "Sinfonia Semplice" (Kuchar/Janáček PO)

First listen!

[Daverz]

Brahms, Symphony 4 - Otto Gerdes/Berlin Philharmonic.  A DG Lp I picked up today.  Otto who?  Well it's a gorgeous performance.

[M forever]

The Bruckner is with Herreweghe's Champs Élysées orchestra. It attempts to present the work à la HIP, meaning with minimal vibrato. IMO it succeeds surprisingly well. Vibratoless string playing is not really that much different when the note values are short. The sound they make is just slightly leaner. When note values are long (the slow tempos of the adagio and the middle part of IV) the effect is quite arresting and very appropriate. It's impossible not to notice that the orchestral forces are smaller than usual, but they play very well for the most part.

This shows us that when it comes to music and instruments from that period, the differences between them and "modern" instruments aren't really that big anymore. The differences in wind and string sound are very noticeable, but not at all decisive. The overall forces and the sound they produce may be a little "smaller" than what modern orchestras can do, but the internal balances are pretty much the same. I like the silky clarity the strings produce, but that can easily be achieved by a "modern" string section as well when it plays and sounds and articulates really well together as an unified section (see Harnoncourt's recording with the BP "on modern instruments"). In other words, these qualities in this particular performance are more due to the high level of the performers than the instruments and their setups as such.

This is isn't really completely "authentic" though. Some of the instruments they use are more representative of what French orchestras in that period played than what German or Austrian orchestras played and probably sounded like.

The really odd thing is that while the strings play more or less completely vibrato-less, the horns play with a little bit of vibrato in many places. I think it sounds very nice - but it is a total anachronism.

Herreweghe also tries too hard in many places to sound "HIP" somehow. There are exaggerated articulations and artificially shortened note lengths which sound a little like a parody of "HIP". That's a pity because the actual playing and music making, without these mannerisms, is really very good.

Very good timpani playing but for some reason I had the impression they were tuned lower than what I normally hear. They rumble powerfully instead of raging. Like a rock singer with a slightly hoarse voice. I thought I'd find the answer in the OCE website, but although they describe at length the advantage of PI for the strings and winds, they don't peep a word about their timps.

The timpani that were played in Bruckner's time can still be heard in Vienna today, they are the same down to the last detail, the (slightly smaller than modern timpani) size, the handwheels for tuning, the goat skin heads.

I'll be listening to their 2004 Bremen 5th soon.

I did, last night. It was a revelation for me. But not necessarily of the kind which people usually mean when they use that word. But I will refrain from further comments about that now because I don't want to "influence" you.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Scriabin, Op.11 preludes, Pizarro.

Scriabin, 4th piano sonata, Gavrilov.

[Lethevich]

The li'l motet collections. The performances of these are rougher than I am used to - performances by ensembles like The Gents which familiarised me with this music were more refined, but perhaps only showing one side to the music. My favourite of the motets, Si Quaeris, certainly sounds completely different in this set, with the rougher voices and much larger acoustic environment, but just as interesting.

[Daverz]

Vorisek's wonderful very late Classical symphony on a Phiips Lp I picked up today (the other Lp I picked up is the Smetana Quartet playing Janacek's quartets on Artia.)

[chankaiming]

Lisrtened to Prokofiev piano concerto No.1,4&5 last night.

I always love Prokofiev's music, as a great pianist, Prokofiev's piano concertos are exciting pieces that require the best pianist to bring it off. Although Prokofiev live in 20th century, his music are tuneful with eastern spirit.

His piano concerto no.1 was composed during his student days, a lovely short concerto with wonderful modern melody in all three movement, I suspect he draw his inspiration from Mozart piano concerto.

His fourth piano concerto was a piano concerto for left hand written for a pianist who have lost his right hand in the war, but for some special reason, the pianist did not performed it, while the fifth concerto was made known to the Western world by Richter's famous recordings.

Ashkenasy sound too heavy handed to me when he playing Chopin or Mozart, but his Prokofiev was second to none. The recording by Decca was engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson, the piano tone was trueful with full ambience of a concert hall, a disc to treasure!

[Catison]

Some orchestral favorites:

Tubin - Symphony No. 1 (Jarvi)
Hindemith - Symphony 'die Harmonie Der Welt' (Blomstedt)
Atterberg - Symphony No. 3 (Rasilainen)

[Harry]

In the player this morning to my great pleasure, Volume 40 already!