What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[ChamberNut]

Chopin

Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65

Alexander Kniazev, cello
Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Warner Classics

[ChamberNut]

Rachmaninov**

Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19
Vocalise, Op. 34, no. 14 (arr. Wallfisch)

Alexander Kniazev, cello
Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Warner Classics

**I take no responsibility for the spelling, it's what appears on the cover of this disc. 

[Dundonnell]

I think he is a few up (27) on HB who also has a series that ground to a halt.

I have just listened to the 5th symphony on Chandos, and the vol 2 of string quartets on cpo, both very good discs.

HB 32, Weinberg 19 plus four chamber symphonies

Miaskovsky 27, Niels Viggo Bentzon 24.

None of them can beat the 67 of Alan Hovhaness or the 208(as at August 17th 2008!) of that model of sanity Leif Segerstam

[Brian]

New Hyperion disc:

BRAHMS | Hungarian Dances arr. Joachim for violin and piano
Hagai Shaham, violin; Arnon Erez, piano

Wonderful! A real delight, and Hagai Shaham has the "gypsy" style down for sure. 

[imperfection]

Carlo Maria Giulini, Chicago symphony orchestra
Schubert: Symphony No.9 "The Great" in C major



Delightful, full of joy and enthusiasm. Very lyrical when need be, very powerful where appropriate. 

[Brian]

BRAHMS | Symphony No 4
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Kent Nagano

The soft, quiet opening was an immediate surprise; the emphasis on lyricism over intensity makes for an interesting reading, not what I'm used to. I'm only halfway through the first movement, so I can definitely see either ending up disappointed or giving Nagano major bonus points for a creative new approach to the symphony.

[Brian]

I think I've figured out what makes Nagano's Brahms 4 so different. He makes the symphony sound so ... well ... Brahmsian.

What has, or had, always struck me about this symphony is how different it is from the other 3. The first three Brahms symphonies seem to be a matching set of sorts, and they have an awful lot in common or sometimes seem to cross-quote each other (like the motto theme of the Second deriving from a bit of material in the First). The slow movements I sometimes mix up; listening to the works in tandem one can pick out all the items from Brahms' compositional bag of tricks. And I'd never quite seen the Fourth in the same light. It's (for this listener at least) on a different plane.

But then the past couple mornings during the walk to school I'd been going over the Fourth in my head trying to figure out (and eventually sort of "getting it") what everyone's talking about when they say the material from the first movement appears in the finale. And an accidental byproduct was a growing realization that those good old Brahmsian tricks from the 2nd and 3rd Symphonies really were present in the Fourth - started to see how it fit into the cycle. And along comes Nagano. His performance of the Symphony is coupled with Schoenberg, but oddly, his Fourth looks backward at the other three symphonies; he seems to "round the edges" of the first three movements, brings out the lines being played "within" the orchestra, and generally highlights elements of the symphony which make it more easily relatable to the other three. The first three movements are rather tame in comparison with, say, Ormandy/Philadelphia (on the Great Conductors reissue series). But the finale is terrific. And I've never heard the symphony this way before. Food for thought, but now I'm putting on Carlos Kleiber's Vienna recording ... with a twist! This is from 1979, not 1981, a live recording captured by Golden Melodram. Not quite like the legendary DG album.

[Que]

Listening to this disc:                                       From the 15-CD Leonhardt set:

       

And a very good morning to all.

Q

[Harry]

Listening to this disc:                                       From the 15-CD Leonhardt set:

       

And a very good morning to all.

Q

Since I have played the box twice, its always interesting for me, to know what you think about the individual issues in this release.
So...............if you please!

[Harry]

Luigi Boccherini.
String Quintets.

Opus 60, No. 3.
Opus 62, No. 5.
Opus 31, No. 2.
Opus 13, No. 4.
Petersen Quartet.
Capriccio recording 1993.

As always from this box, the recordings are exemplary, and the performance is pivotal.
Boccherini's music has much more to say, as we sometimes think, and that goes certainly for the String Quintets, little pearls on a string.

[ezodisy]

chopin op 25 etudes - Ginzburg

I bought this CD in Venice, I think it's the only classical CD I've bought this year.

do you like that one?

[Opus106]

Listening to this super-famous recording for the first time.

Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 2
Richter/Warsaw Phil./Wislocki

[Wanderer]

This box will take you quite some time my friend.

Hopefully. 
So far, very interesting (and sometimes revelatory) renditions of Liszt, Chopin 1, Tchaikovsky 1, Rachmaninov 2 and an absolutely brilliant Weber Konzertstück.

Rachmaninov**
**I take no responsibility for the spelling, it's what appears on the cover of this disc. 

Oh get a grip, Rachmaninov is orthographically fine. 

[Maciek]

that model of sanity Leif Segerstam

You forgot to mention self-restraint!

[Maciek]

Brian, is the Nagano Brahms on Harmonia Mundi?

[Harry]

Beethoven.
Symphony No 3 in E flat major, opus 55, "The Eroica".
The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood.

This box was and is still laying around, and occasionally I take a plunge in it, but since it is nearing the end of the year, I finally resolved to investigate the whole box. After David Zinman's sublime and all over ruling interpretations, at least for me, it is hard for contenders to measure up. Hogwood is a case in point. With his interpretations I feel emotional bereft of impulses, not all the time mind, but often. In the third symphony I encounter some anomalies I don't warm too. Being, and what was started right away in the introduction "Allegro con brio" is the deliberate tempi, and although the flow of the music is evident, still I feel Hogwood is holding the reigns to tight, in a effort to control something, although what escapes me. Not better heard than in the second movement, in a irritating way no less, the "Marcia funebre" theme is suffering under it in such a way, that for me the impact, that should be thunderous, is a lame excuse for a feeling. The building up of the strings is non existent, and I had to get back to Zinman, and Karajan for that matter, to realize how it should be done. That is not to say, that I do not enjoy Hogwood, but he simply is not my cup of tea, (Sorry Keemun) , at least not in the first three symphonies. I was promised that the fourth would be much better, so I will hear!
And the third movement "Scherzo: Allegro vivace suffers the same fate as the preceding movements, to tight he keeps control, and this Vivace never comes out quick enough, so in essence it could be a top interpretation, for Hogwood is a stickler for details, but alas. A pity. The brass sound is wonderfully raspy though, and thats the good thing about authentic performances I guess.
The last movement "Finale; Allegro Molto" has a fine introduction on the strings, and reminds me that this is really a good recording, but somehow the molto element comes not out well. And yes the stress of my criticism is on the tempi in any performance of Beethoven symphonies, because I think that defines a good performance what for me are the right tempi. I only have to put Zinman in the player, or Norrington to hear how it should be played.
Well, we will see how it goes further!

[The new erato]

Oh get a grip, Rachmaninov is orthographically fine. 

According to the "Members who have left" thread it is now officially safe to write Rachmaninov. 

[Harry]

Luigi Boccherini.
Oboe Quintets, Opus 55, No.1-6.
Lajos Lencses, Oboe.
ParisII Quartet.

What absolutely delightful and friendly works these Oboe Quintets are. And well performed and recorded too.
Recommended.

[karlhenning]

According to the "Members who have left" thread it is now officially safe to write Rachmaninov. 

. . . or even . . .

Rakhmaninov
Second Concerto in C Minor, Opus 18
The composer as soloist
Phila
Stoki

[Harry]

Silvestre Revueltas.

Redes Suite. (1938).
Orquesta Filarmonica de la ciudad de Mexico, Enrique Batiz.

Revueltas is a composer I really admire, and this piece is the reason for this. So well recorded and performed, it shines out brightly as a incentive to look further in this composers world. Coming from this inexpensive box from Brilliant for me this was the release of the year 2007, and it well deserved it. I now dive in it for the third time, yah!