What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[secondwind]

A favourable position to be in - these works are magical.

The Enigma Variations are always good--I never get bored with them.  The Vaughan Williams was nice--sounded an awful lot like Vaughan Williams.  The Tippett was a pleasant and interesting surprise, I guess because Tippett is a new composer to me.  Perhaps I'll have a chance to see the opera someday.  I'd never heard of it before.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set, which just came in a few days ago ...

[Lilas Pastia]

Some good oldies: Borodine, In The Steppes of Central Asia and Polovtsian Dances. RIAS Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay. Rimsky-Korsakoff: Antar and Capriccio espagnol. LSO, Hermann Scherchen. Colourful and exuberant renditions all. Scherchen's Capriccio takes the cake here, with a frenzied coda that keeps getting faster and faster. Excellent mono sound.

I've had much fun and genuine listening pleasure discovering the piano trios of Anton Eberl (1765-1807). A pupil and dear friend of Mozart, he conducted the first russian performance of Haydn's Creation in St-Petersburg (he was the Court composer there in the early 1800s).

Ella Fitzgerald in Berlin. Eternal Ella.

[The new erato]

Ella Fitzgerald[/b] in Berlin. Eternal Ella.

The one where she forgets the words to Mack the Knife?

[Lilas Pastia]

Exactly ! She sings of Bobby Darrin and Louis Armstrong, and then makes a great imitation of the satchmo growl to enthusiastic response from the berliners. Weill would have cheered. Not so sure about brecht, though.

[prémont]

"JdP" used up his grace period long, long, long ago 

I am mightily surprised that he ever succeded in saving up for a grace period.

[SonicMan46]

Haydn, Joseph - String Quartets Op. 17 w/ the London Haydn Quartet; a young group playing w/ gut strings and classical bows; also own their Op. 9 set - Hyperion is packaging these as 2 discs at the price of one and in a slim jewel box - excellent performances that have gleamed repeated praise; this set was selected as a 'recording of the month' on MusicWeb (link to the review in the Haydn SQ thread).

Schmidt, Franz (1874-1939) - Symphony No. 2 w/ Sinaisky & Malmo SO; purchased the Naxos release of the first symphony - an outstanding performance and fine sound recording - short reviews on the Naxos Website HERE - well, Schmidt composed four symphonies, so I'm assuming that Naxos will complete that cycle! 



 

[Brian]

Schmidt, Franz (1874-1939) - Symphony No. 2 w/ Sinaisky & Malmo SO; purchased the Naxos release of the first symphony - an outstanding performance and fine sound recording - short reviews on the Naxos Website HERE - well, Schmidt composed four symphonies, so I'm assuming that Naxos will complete that cycle!  

Dave, I've been thinking of lending those Schmidt symphonies an ear. To whom would you compare his style? What's a good "vantage point" that will tell me what to expect?

[Coopmv]

Dave, I've been thinking of lending those Schmidt symphonies an ear. To whom would you compare his style? What's a good "vantage point" that will tell me what to expect?

I am curious about Schmidt symphonies as well.  This composer is an unknown to me ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD2 - works of Christopher Simpson from this set ...



Here is the original release ...

[bhodges]

Mario Diaz de León: Enter Houses Of (International Contemporary Ensemble) - Music for instruments and electronics by a guitarist who used to perform in Minneapolis punk bands in the 1990s, now studying composition at Columbia University and writing for classical ensembles (since 2001).  Some of these works I heard live a few weeks ago, and it's not easy to categorize what this guy is doing.  I find the electronics ravishing, much more fascinating than usual, and the way he integrates them into the instrumental fabric is very sophisticated.  Elements of minimalism, folk music and noise (but thankfully not too loud) combine in a highly original way.  The composer contributes the electronics, and the playing of the International Contemporary Ensemble (a.k.a. ICE) is at their usual high level.

--Bruce

[Brian]

KHACHATURIAN | Violin Concerto
Henryk Szeryng, violin
London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati

[SonicMan46]

Brian & Stuart - these are my initial discs of this composer's works and my first hearing his symphonies.  His name has been on my 'wish list' for a while though since others (Sarge for one, I believe) had raved about his symphonic output; until these Naxos releases, I had been 'eyeing' the Jarvi box on Chandos, but did not like the price; plus, the recordings were only of the symphonies vs. the fillers being included on the Naxos offerings.

Schmidt's background was Austro-Hungarian; he studied at the Vienna Conservatory; Bruckner & Fuchs were his composition/theory teachers. He played under Mahler, and their relationship was not the best. Wagner was an influence along w/ other Eastern European composers, including some from the early 20th century.  His orchestration is lush w/ a late 19th century post-Romantic flare.  If Bruckner & Mahler are to your liking w/ some Hungarian folksy rhythms included, then Schmidt should please.  Hopefully others may 'chime in' w/ their impressions.

BTW, Jerry Dubins reviewed the first Naxos release of Symphony No. 1 in Fanfare (Sept-Oct issue) which prompted me to start purchasing these releases. He felt that the Jarvi & Sinaisky performances were pretty much a 'draw' - he enjoyed both equally, but felt that Naxos offered better value regarding price and the addition of other Schmidt works on the discs.

[offbeat]

Gavin Bryars - The Black River - love this so haunting 

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set and another Glossa recording -  Gramophone Editors Choice - October 2001, which just came in a few days ago ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD2 from this set ...

[SonicMan46]

Offenbach, Jacques (1819-1880) - Piano Works Vol. 1 w/ Marco Sollini - well, a bargain disc from BRO & my first disc of Offenbach, of course more known for such works as the Tales of Hoffman - this is light salon type piano music - enjoyable but need to do another listening - question is does this composer have an instrumental output of interest? 

[Antoine Marchand]

Franz Joseph Haydn - String Quartet in D Minor Op. 76, No. 2 "Quinten" ("Fifths"): The Perfect Happiness.

[CD]

[Bogey]

How is that A and D Minor, Corey?  I really enjoy little bit of SQ action that Sibelius produced and have them on a 2 cd set and would not mind exploring other performances.