What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Lethevich]

The tone poems/solo orchestral movements from these discs:



One thing which tends to surprise me about The Rock is how delightful it is for most of its duration - not that much angst in sight. Wish he wrote more like this.

[prémont]

Much better sets come from ... Huggett/Koopman on Philips..

I used to own this set (from the early 1980es) on LP, but after transferring it to CD with my CD-recorder, I gave it to a friend. A beautiful unfussy set with good balance and rapport.

[Brahmsian]

Stravinsky

Symphony in three Movements

Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Symphony in C
*Symphony of Psalms

CBC Symphony Orchestra
*Festival Singers of Toronto

Stravinsky conducting

Sony Classical

[Antoine Marchand]

balance and rapport

Those are crucial words in these works. 

[prémont]

Another interesting set: Frédérick Haas/Mira Glodeanu on Ambronay, one of the most "sensual" versions of these works that I have heard ever.

Well put. I do not think this set is the most stylish version, I have listened to, but it is never-the-less very interesting. I have got very few specific complaints here, the smudgeness of Glodeanu´s melism´s in the first movement of the h-minor sonata being one of them.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set.  Performance is excellent, as is the SQ ...

[Christo]

Sunday evening. The right moment for the Winchester Cathedral Choir under David Hill with some sacred motets by a.o. Duruflé, Tavener, Barber, Holst, Wood, and David Hill himself. An uneven program with some genuine beauties among them.

much better even:

[Air]

I took out one of my Desert Island Discs today...



Oh my.  What exceptional performance AND recording quality! 

Daphnis et Chloe is simply magical; even if there were any readings that equal Dutoit's (and there isn't, IMO), nothing can match the atmosphere of the studio.  Magic, power, poise, color, and glamour all dazzle in this majestic recording.

[prémont]

Those are crucial words in these works. 

The reason why I  use them.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD3 from this set.  I am actually starting to like the cycle, though not HIP, but was quite well executed.  This CD includes Symphonies Nos 2 & 5.

[The new erato]

I took out one of my Desert Island Discs today...



Oh my.  What exceptional performance AND recording quality! 

Daphnis et Chloe is simply magical; even if there were any readings that equal Dutoit's (and there isn't, IMO), nothing can match the atmosphere of the studio.  Magic, power, poise, color, and glamour all dazzle in this majestic recording.

Playing this now. In fact I have both the original LP issue + this Legends CD. Slotted perfectly into my listening after my 3rd playthrough this weekend of Nørgård's 3rd symphony which have the same ecstatic, mystic quality with wordless voices as well.

[Coopmv]

Playing this now. In fact I have both the original LP issue + this Legends CD. Slotted perfectly into my listening after my 3rd playthrough this weekend of Nørgård's 3rd symphony which have the same ecstatic, mystic quality with wordless voices as well.

Erato,   How do you like the SQ on these Decca Legends?  I have a few of them and think they all sound great.  I also believe Decca no longer makes them ...

[The new erato]

Erato,   How do you like the SQ on these Decca Legends?  I have a few of them and think they all sound great.  I also believe Decca no longer makes them ...

This one sounds great (no, fabulous!) at least. But the source material is great as well. Cannot generalize as I don't know that many (but the Curson/Britten Mozart disc sounds fine as well, despite being considerably older). Decca always was a class act when it came to sound......

[Brian]

Rex Richter, have you heard the Boulez Daphnis? A former member of this forum who departed several years ago made me buy it and I've been so thrilled with it (and with the fantastically deep DG sound) that I have acquired three different recordings since but have considered none of them rivals to the crown. Dutoit is a great conductor so that is a really tempting recording!

[Brian]

Call me a softie, but I love this:



Overtures and waltzes!

[Brian]

From Lehar through to dinner-time, an unusual playlist...on the surface, that is:

LEHAR | Vilja-Lied -Ana Maria Martinez, soprano; Prague Philharmonia, Stephen Mercurio
RAVEL | Ma Mere l'Oye -Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, Charles Dutoit
SCRIABIN | Le poem de l'extase -USSR State Symphony Orch, Evgeny Svetlanov, BBC Legends

Call it ravishing romanticism, if you will. 

[CD]

It's walking weather here, so I took on the iPod:

Hindemith - Symphony in B flat for Concert Band, Symphony in E flat (Albert/Melbourne SO)
Honegger - Symphony No. 2 (Dutoit/BRSO)

[Coopmv]

It's walking weather here, so I took on the iPod:

Hindemith - Symphony in B flat for Concert Band, Symphony in E flat (Albert/Melbourne SO)
Honegger - Symphony No. 2 (Dutoit/BRSO)

A good portion of Michigan Ave in Chicago is a nice place to walk ...

[George]

Much better sets come from Blumenstock/Butt on Harmonia Mundi, Huggett/Koopman on Philips, van Dael/van Asperen on Naxos, Kuijken/Leonhardt on DHM and Podger/Pinnock on Channel Classics.  Even the Manze set on Harmonia Mundi leaves the Comberti in the dust.

No love for Carmignola/Marcon?

[George]

Erato,   How do you like the SQ on these Decca Legends?  I have a few of them and think they all sound great.  I also believe Decca no longer makes them ...

I found the Ashkenazy Rachmaninov Preludes to have worse sound than the original. The Legends version sounds veiled in the upper frequencies. Still perfectly listenable, but not an improvement, even with all that 24 bit mumbo-jumbo.