What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[not edward]

Second listening. First impression: great disc, never heard something like it before.

I was at the UK premiere of Fragments pour un portrait. I enjoyed it a lot, though wasn't 100% sure it was greater than the sum of its parts. (But given that it held its own in a program that also included Carter's clarinet concerto and the world premiere of Boulez's sur Incises, it certainly had its attractions!)

I must get another listen some day.

[prémont]

BTW, what do you think about Stephen Preston? Some people (not my case) have problems with the sound quality of his flute sonatas in the Brilliant-Bach Edition.

I do not find any reason to complain about the sound quality, neither about the recording as such nor the soft, sometimes almost recorder-like sound of Prestons traverso. And I like his tempi and phrasing very much. Some ( I can imagine Wentz among others) may find him boring, but in these ears his playing draws full attention to the music, and this is what matters to me.

[Solitary Wanderer]

[Fëanor]

My first listen.  Mighty good stuff, I should say. 

[Franco]

Ferruccio Busoni: Doktor Faust
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Karl Christian Kohn, William Cochran, Ferdinand Leitner, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

[Harpo]

Georges Enesco: Cantabile & Presto for Flute & Piano
Irena Grafenauer, flute; Michael Grandt, piano
Philips 426 248-2


Heard this on NPR this morning

[Sid]

Szymanowski - String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2; Stravinsky - Concertino, Three pieces, Double Canon (Goldner SQ) Naxos

Szymanowski's SQ's have a luminosity & intensity that even outdoes Janacek. There are obviously many influences here, from Beethoven to Ravel & Bartok, but Szymanowski integrates these so skillfully into his own style. The first quartet is lighter, the second darker. The coupling with Stravinsky provides an interesting contrast. Stravinsky's music is more intellectual & has less raw emotion. I like his quirky three pieces. The performers are the excellent Goldner SQ, based in Sydney, Australia. A first class disc, IMO.

[Lilas Pastia]

Erland von Koch: Nordisk Capriccio, Viola concerto, Symphony no 2 and a few ballet numbers. I've listened to this at least 6-7 times in the past weeks. The Capriccio is a short, catchy piece with a starring part for the timpanist. I can imagine it serving the same function as Adams' Fast Ride in a Time Machine (or some such title - wait: it's Short Ride in a Fast Machine - in any case, it's not very good music, but it has the misfortune to be a popular piece). Von Koch's work is really good and does not outstay its welcome (it's some 7 minutes long).

The viola concerto is not exactly bad, but I don't think anyone could redeem this instrument's ungainly sound when pittted against an orchestra. For my money, only Berlioz did, but he had second thoughts and his Pilgrims dropped the viola along the way - it never made it to the final orgy. Walton, Hindemith and Bartok wrote bearable works for the instrument, but von Koch's is not as good.

The symphony is another story. This has grown to become one of my favourite scandinavian works. Like the symphonies of Milhaud for example, it is deceptively simple in construction, has good tunes and much rythmic sophistication. The more one hears it, the better it becomes.

A Phono Suecia disc.

[SonicMan46]

Vanhal, Johann Baptist (1739-1813) - Piano Quintets, Op. 12 w/ Miklos Spanyi on fortepiano & the Authentic Quartet on period instruments - if interested, just left a longer post in the Vanhal Thread and re-quoted in Gurn's Classical Thread -  

[Fëanor]

More comparitive listening for my edification ...

J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, Nos. 1-4, BWV 846-849
= Sviatoslav Richter
= Glenn Gould

[Solitary Wanderer]

Disc.2.

PC's #3 & 5

[George]

My first listen.  Mighty good stuff, I should say. 

Cool, I need to pick that one up sometime. 

[RussellG]

Recorded 2005:

[PaulR]

Symphony #4

Enjoying this

[Lethevich]

Great stuff - if you like the Classicist Romantic style of Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns, then these are worth looking into. They also have moments hinting towards Schumann and Brahms - not trifling music.

[Harry]

I do not find any reason to complain about the sound quality, neither about the recording as such nor the soft, sometimes almost recorder-like sound of Prestons traverso. And I like his tempi and phrasing very much. Some ( I can imagine Wentz among others) may find him boring, but in these ears his playing draws full attention to the music, and this is what matters to me.

That's how it is with me, I own this recording since it was released, and still find this one the best ever.

[Harry]

Great stuff - if you like the Classicist Romantic style of Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns, then these are worth looking into. They also have moments hinting towards Schumann and Brahms - not trifling music.

A complete surprise to me was how high the quality of the music is.

[Harry]

Health, Love & Happiness to all.

A rerun again, and the last time. I stick to my original review, technically well played but rather stiff in the bones. I could not say it otherwise.

[val]

BORODIN:    String Quartet n. 2             / Talich Quartet         (CALLIOPE, 1986)

As intense as the version of the Borodin Quartet but more elegant and subtle, in special in the famous Notturno, this is my favorite version.

[Florestan]

John Field

Complete Nocturnes

Miceal O'Rourke