What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[secondwind]

Mozart, String Quartet #22, KV 589, played by the Franz Schubert Quartet of Vienna.

[CD]

[Bogey]

This week's listening:



The Quartetto Italiano make this set a gem, and playing this cycle through more than once was a pleasure.



A past rec. from Don.  Continued thanks for pointing this one out.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set - Ballades and Impromptus by Bella Davidovich, whose CD singles are almost impossible to find.  The set just arrived today when it was shipped by Presto Classic on 12/23.  This is trans-Atlantic snail mail for sure ...

[Coopmv]

Ture Rangström - Symphonies 3 and 4

I have the Complete Symphonies set.  IIRC, I enjoyed the set.

[Coopmv]

Kurt Atterberg - Symphonies 3 and 6 (Rasalainen/Hanover RSO)

How do you like this CD?  I have the Complete Symphonies set.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD2 from this set - Ballades and Impromptus by Louis Lortie ...

[CD]

How do you like this CD?  I have the Complete Symphonies set.

No. 3 was very exuberant and colorful. It reminded me of Scriabin in a way but not as outré. Definitely a grower. The 6th I enjoyed but was expecting something more from its reputation (beat out Brian's 1st in a composition contest at the time IIRC).

[listener]

LEMMENS Prière; Fanfare; 3 Sonatas - Pontificale, O Filii, Pascale
LEFÉBURE-WÉLY   4 Offertoires, a March, and 2 Sorties (here translated "End part"'s)
Nice-sounding Callinet organ from 1834

[Christo]

Cooke's 3rd - thanks to Christo for prodding me towards this disc, even though I initially bought it for Havergal Brian. This is one of the most convincing neoclassical symphonies I have so far heard. It has quite a wonderfully buoyant filmic sound - like the scores to those rollicking* 40s-60s WW2 fighter plane films. Indeed, it sounds like some bizarro-world combination of Walton and Hindemith at times. Wonderfully balanced, but also emotionally engaging.  *Underrated word.

His even more rollicksome  but also more rocking (more meat, as you would put it) First (1947) is even better, I would say. 
                               

In the meantime, I see Corey playing one glorious disc after another (Silvestrov, Tubin, Englund). People with taste, here! 

[Harry]

Antoine Forqueray.
Complete Harpsichord Works.
Yannick le Gaillard, Harpsichord.
Instruments used: Goujon-Swanen, Ruckers Taskin, Ruckers Dubois.
Recorded 1982.

It has to be said that the instruments sound fabulous, every one of them, and that the playing by Le Gaillard is extremely fine, with a fine sense of rhythm, and a excellent spacing out of the notes, with just the right tempi. His somewhat laid back playing opens fiestas of contemplation, with just the right amount of upheaval when called for. For me this belongs to the best I ever heard from this composer.

I am afraid its sold out, so I sorry no image.

[val]

BRAHMS:    Piano Concerto n. 2                    / Richter, Chicago Orchestra, Leinsdorf

A legendary recording that doesn't enthusiasm me. Richter is an extraordinary pianist but I don't think he has the style or even the sound required in this work.
He plays with a sort of impatience, almost exasperated, with sudden accelerations of the tempo. The lyricism, the large phrasing, a sound more dense, of the best interpreters of Brahms - Arrau, Curzon, Rubinstein, Serkin -doesn't exist here.
The direction of Leinsdorf is good, with energy, but a little prosaic.

To me, the great versions of this masterpieces are Richter-Haaser/Karajan and Gilels/Jochum, with Serkin/Szell not far.

[Que]

Q

[Henk]

Toccatas

[Coopmv]

Q

Q,  Is this a single CD and not a twofer.  I have a number of Vivaldi twofers on Virgin Classics by Biondi and Europa Galante and believe I have them all.  I have never seen this CD jacket before ...

[Harry]

I think this is a fine release, well played and recorded, but this performance makes me wish for one on Authentic instruments.

[karlhenning]

Back in November I started listening to every CD in my collection: things were interrupted by Christmas, etc. but today I am back on track!

Boulez



Le Marteau has more in common with Hildegard of Bingen than one might realize at first or second hearing: the vocal lines, as well as the flute part, and the instrumentation present a skewed, rhomboid Medievalism which more than once today made me think of Hildegard and other medieval works.

I pound the table for that piece, and for that recording in particular (though I shall soon have occasion to hear an earlier recording).

[Que]

Q,  Is this a single CD and not a twofer.  I have a number of Vivaldi twofers on Virgin Classics by Biondi and Europa Galante and believe I have them all.  I have never seen this CD jacket before ...

It's a single disc and to my knowledge not also availble on any of the twofers ( with Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione and L'Estro Armonico)

Q

[Papy Oli]

Good afternoon all 

Earlier on :



Pretty good version. A bit underwhelmed by the 3rd mvt but the rest was very enjoyable. After his 2nd and 6th, i am looking forward to his next mahler instalment.

then :



Piano concerto K.467 & K.503 - LP bought ages ago for £1.00 in a charity shop.

Now :



Odd tempi...different... interesting... 

[MN Dave]

A morning raga by Ravi Shankar. Who else?