What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[mn dave]

 0:)

[Haffner]

0:)

Violin concertos? I never knew...!

[karlhenning]

Henning
I Sang to the Sky, & Day Broke, Opus 55
NEC Wind Ensemble
Charles Peltz

[Daverz]

Are three really needed? I prefer them as a pair only.

Well, you probably know the story: Mahler was superstitious about that 3rd whack, so he removed it and rescored that bit.  Zander makes a very good case for the third hammer blow in his talk on the 3rd CD.

I'd be curious to hear that version though. Is the rest of the performance awesome ?

I'll have to give it another listen when the neighbors are not around.

[karlhenning]

Henning
Alleluia in A-flat, Opus 33
Choir of the Cathedral Church of St Paul, Boston
Mark Engelhardt, director

[Brian]

MN Dave and Andy ~ I have had such a hard time checking that Haydn Violin Concerto disc out from my university library! You have to go to the reserve desk and ask them to pull it out of the CD cabinets for you, see, and the first time they pulled it out, put it on the counter, and then the clerk was about to give it to me when she said, "You have an Overdue Item." (The way she spoke, Overdue Item was definitely capitalized.) So she told me to go to the main library desk and bring the CD with me so they could clear things up. But the new set of librarians insisted that I had an Overdue Item, even though I knew it had been returned the week before (it was a Bartok CD). So I gave them the Haydn CD and said, "I guess you can keep this." A few days later they found the Bartok CD in the cabinet and took me off the Naughty List, but when I went back to check out the Haydn album, ... they had lost it.

Anyway, my listening for tonight has been:

BRAHMS | Symphony No 2
Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian Radio
Rafael Kubelik

SIBELIUS | Finlandia, Valse Triste
Staatskapelle Dresden
Kurt Sanderling

SHCHEDRIN | Carmen Suite
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev

SHCHEDRIN | Concerto for Orchestra No 1, "Naughty Limericks"
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev

JANACEK | Sinfonietta
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Karel Ancerl

Now on to some Martinu from the Czechs and Ancerl...

[Daverz]

[Haydn] Violin concertos? I never knew...!

Yeah, that one's a winner.

[mn dave]

Yeah, that one's a winner.

I agree. First listen this evening and I'm very happy with the purchase.

Get it, Brian!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Poor quality pic of Stravinsky's A Fairy's Kiss ballet (from ArkivMusic 'on demand').





Nowhere near the showiness and primacy of the early "Big Three" ballets, A Fairy's Kiss aims for calmer waters.

I keep half-expecting something convulsive from the orchestra, here - I mean, it's a ballet, and ballet from Stravinsky is supposed to mean eruptions! But Stravinsky is resolute in his desire to keep the temperature cool.

The net effect is jarring at first: with no bombast, what to do?

Stravinsky instead goes for reflectiveness, muted colors, and warmth. And as a concept it all comes off beautifully!

[Que]

Anyway, my listening for tonight has been:

BRAHMS | Symphony No 2
Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian Radio
Rafael Kubelik

How do you like that Kubelik cycle?
(I believe a particular someone - who is no longer with us - provocatively called it "crap that you don't need".... )


Listening now (I'm quickly becoming a fan of Hans-Cristoph Rademann and his ensemble):



And a very good morning to all!

Q

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Poor quality pic of Stravinsky's A Fairy's Kiss ballet (from ArkivMusic 'on demand').





Nowhere near the showiness and primacy of the early "Big Three" ballets, A Fairy's Kiss aims for calmer waters.

I keep half-expecting something convulsive from the orchestra, here - I mean, it's a ballet, and ballet from Stravinsky is supposed to mean eruptions! But Stravinsky is resolute in his desire to keep the temperature cool.

The net effect is jarring at first: with no bombast, what to do?

Stravinsky instead goes for reflectiveness, muted colors, and warmth. And as a concept it all comes off beautifully!

It's one of my favourite Stravinsky ballets. It's wonderfully poetic and rather melancholy. Stravinsky himself and Oliver Knussen are excellent in this work.

[mozartsneighbor]

[Opus106]

Marching to the first movement of Mahler's 6th.

Haitink conducting the Chicago SO at this year's Proms.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Léon Orthel, Scherzo No. 2 for orchestra, Symphony No. 2 and Evocazione for orchestra. Can't get enough of these pieces.

[mozartsneighbor]

[Ric]

This morning, I've enjoyed these amazing recordings. Soloist, conductor and orchestra are at very high level. One word can summarize the performances: beauty.

[Haffner]

MN Dave and Andy ~ I have had such a hard time checking that Haydn Violin Concerto disc out from my university library! You have to go to the reserve desk and ask them to pull it out of the CD cabinets for you, see, and the first time they pulled it out, put it on the counter, and then the clerk was about to give it to me when she said, "You have an Overdue Item." (The way she spoke, Overdue Item was definitely capitalized.) So she told me to go to the main library desk and bring the CD with me so they could clear things up. But the new set of librarians insisted that I had an Overdue Item, even though I knew it had been returned the week before (it was a Bartok CD). So I gave them the Haydn CD and said, "I guess you can keep this." A few days later they found the Bartok CD in the cabinet and took me off the Naughty List, but when I went back to check out the Haydn album, ... they had lost it.

This is a terrific story that helped my morning shine, thank you. Have to check out the VC soon. I didn't even know there was a Haydn VC (unusual for me, since he's one of my favorite composers).

Woke myself up this morning with the Marriner-conducted Nozze Di Figaro Sinfonia.

[mozartsneighbor]

This is a terrific story that helped my morning shine, thank you. Have to check out the VC soon. I didn't even know there was a Haydn VC (unusual for me, since he's one of my favorite composers).

Woke myself up this morning with the Marriner-conducted Nozze Di Figaro Sinfonia.

I am another Haydn fanatic who had never heard about the VC. I am going to track down a copy pronto...

[rickardg]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Concerto
Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major "Kreutzer"
Isabelle Faust, violin
Alexander Melinkov, piano
The Prague Philharmonia/Jiří Bělohlávek

The cover is somewhat misleading, this isn't very gruff LvB, I don't get (much) of the feeling I'm being yelled at. I enjoyed both works, though I haven't got much to compare with. The sonata particularly was a blast.

Harmonia Mundi's way of coupling an orchestral piece with a chamber work is great (their Dvorak concerto discs are similar). Sometimes I have difficulties keeping my attention up for two or more symphonies or string quartets in a row but I can listen to discs like this without my mind wandering.

[ChamberNut]

Shostakovich

Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93

WDR Sinfonieorchester
Rudolf Barshai

Brilliant Classics