What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[not edward]

This is also why I'm probably the only one, along with Sarge, who has never changed their avatar.

Morbo says "Avatars do not work that way."

So I'm several years behind hand, but I'm rather taken by these Bartok sonatas:


As I am with this collection of the Faure nocturnes:


Whisper it, but I've always preferred Dorati to Boulez in Chronochromie:


Music to shoot yourself to? I don't know, but I'm glad that Holliger has recorded the mouthwateringly depressing Ich wandte mich und sah an alles Unrecht, das geschah unter der Sonne:


I think this is a rather more characterful reading of the concerto than the overly sober Bohn/Knussen:


And then I returned to Munch's outrageously great Honegger:

[Franco]

[Renfield]

You must forgive that arrogant young man, Dave. 

Indeed, new person! That arrogant young man with the memory of a 70-year-old with Alzheimer's, sometimes.

(Which is why I tend to qualify even statements as sweeping as the avatar one with 'probably'.)

But either way, sorry Dave. And also edward?! I seriously can't remember if you ever had another avatar.

Same with Gurn, even while I was typing that first post; but I thought he'd correct me like you guys, if I was wrong.


I think the main issue could be that I was thinking of avatars depicting people. Mine has Mahler, Sarge's has Sarge - but Dave's is an x-ray, albeit of a person, Wanderer's is scenery, and edward's is Morbo. This is almost worth a study: are images of human faces/figures classified separately in one's memory than non-human depictions, in forum avatars? Or humans vs. scenery and/or (pop) cultural references? I hardly think of edward as Morbo, but I do think of Sarge as Sarge, even though I know what he looks like.

Err, apologies. Ranting. Still, I just realised, has Teresa ever had another avatar? Or owlice, or secondwind? Or Tsaraslondon?


Now (or: shortly) listening to:




Concerto No. 1.

[jlaurson]

...but I do think of Sarge as Sarge, even though I know what he looks like.

...that nearly threw me off, too... but by now my mind has him solidly aligned with the trim drill Sergeant   (somehow sounding much better than my rank, petty officer) again... and the GMG-world is in order.

Thread duty:


J.S.Bach,
Toccatas
Andrea Bacchetti
Dynamic

[George]

Indeed, new person! That arrogant young man with the memory of a 70-year-old with Alzheimer's, sometimes.

(Which is why I tend to qualify even statements as sweeping as the avatar one with 'probably'.)

But either way, sorry Dave. And also edward?! I seriously can't remember if you ever had another avatar.

Same with Gurn, even while I was typing that first post; but I thought he'd correct me like you guys, if I was wrong.

Gurn's used to be Mozart, now it's Haydn. Unless I am having a senior moment. 

[bhodges]

Britten: Peter Grimes, Act III (Runnicles/Met Opera, DVD)

--Bruce

[Sergeant Rock]

ith 'probably'.)
But either way, sorry Dave. And also edward?! I seriously can't remember if you ever had another avatar.
Same with Gurn, even while I was typing that first post; but I thought he'd correct me like you guys, if I was wrong.

Gurn's used to be totally HIP Mozart, I believe. Now it's Haydn (edit: just saw George beat me to the punch)

Err, apologies. Ranting. Still, I just realised, has Teresa ever had another avatar? Or owlice, or secondwind? Or Tsaraslondon?

Or Opus106? Others who have seldom or never changed (I think): SolitaryWanderer's great CDF painting, Cato's bust, Hollywod's Hollywood sign, PSmith08's Hedonism Bot, Drogulus as guitar hero, Valentino's Juliette Binoche, Keemun's cup of tea, JoshLilly's Raff portrait, Jezetha's Havergal Brian (not sure if he's always used the current pic or several).


Thread duty: Szell, Bartok



Sarge

[Renfield]

Or Opus106? Others who have seldom or never changed (I think): SolitaryWanderer's great CDF painting, Hollywod's Hollywood sign, PSmith08's Hedonism Bot, Drogulus as guitar hero, Valentino's Juliette Binoche, Keemun's cup of tea, JoshLilly's Raff portrait, Jezetha's Havergal Brian (not sure if he's always used the current pic or several).

Well spotted!

Goes to show how much situational priming can limit one's (or at least my) attention.

I must've only been thinking of people in the Mahler thread. (The Renfield-PoV version of GMG would seem to consist of the Mahler thread, the Bruckner thread, the Purchases thread, the Karajan thread, the Furtwängler thread, and 'the other threads'. )


On-topic: still Gardiner's Brandenburgs.

[Sergeant Rock]

Well spotted!

I do poorly remembering names but images I remember. My mental skills haven't advanced much beyond a 3-year-old's

Sarge

[Opus106]

Or Opus106?

Actually, he has. But only a couple of times.

When I joined it was a mosaic of paintings and photographs of composers in black-and-white. Soon after, I changed to one closer to my current avatar with the design 'resolved'. Then, during a time when GMG had a hiccup and everyone who had uploaded their avatars had lost theirs, I was avatar-less. After that it has stayed the same way as you see it today*.




*Well, except for one freaky Rodent Friday when I changed it to the Haussmann portrait 'shopped with the head of a mouse.

[Scarpia]

Janacek, Sinfonietta, Previn, LA Phil, Telarc.  Not the definitive version, but well done and recorded in exceedingly realistic (if not flamboyant) Telarc sound.

[Renfield]

I do poorly remembering names but images I remember. My mental skills haven't advanced much beyond a 3-year-old's

Sarge

In that case, I'm probably a newborn. If it doesn't form, or belong to a pattern, I can hardly remember it.


And Scarpia's choice inspires me to follow Telarc-Previn suit:

[jlaurson]

Actually, he has. But only a couple of times.

...After that it has stayed the same way as you see it today.

Now there's just the discrepancy between your name's Beethoven reference and your avatar's Bach-point. (But, for Gawdssake, don't change either, if you don't want to confuse the hell out of Sarge and me.)

Thread duty: A second listening to this disc, in anticipation of an interview with the young(ish) man.


J.S.Bach,
Toccatas
Andrea Bacchetti
Dynamic

[Opus106]

Now there's just the discrepancy between your name's Beethoven reference and your avatar's Bach-point. (But, for Gawdssake, don't change either, if you don't want to confuse the hell out of Sarge and me.)

[listener]

lps
J.C.F. BACH: Concerto for Fortepiano , Viola and orch. in E^b
    Sonata in D  for harpsichord, flute, cello     Sonata no.2 in G from "6 Quartets"  (flute and strings)
    classic 1966 DGG Archive recordings from Berlin.
LAMBERT Concerto for Piano and 9 Instruments   Gordon Watson, piano
    8 Songs by Li-Po              Alexander Young, tenor                Charles Groves, cond.
MASSENET   Scenes Pittoresques        Scènes Alsaciennes
   Paris Conservatoire O.     Albert Wolff, cond.
DVOŘÁK  Symphony 1 "The Bells of Zlonice"
    Prague Symphony O     Václav Neumann    switching between Czech and English keyboards is trickzy.

[Franco]

Bartok: Romanian Folk Dances
Adam Fischer, Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra



One of my favorite CDs.

[Opus106]

Bartok: Romanian Folk Dances
Adam Fischer, Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra

One of my favorite CDs.

Have you listened to the other Fischer in these works, Franco? If you have, could you share with us your thoughts on the two recordings?

[Franco]

Have you listened to the other Fischer in these works, Franco? If you have, could you share with us your thoughts on the two recordings?

I haven't heard the Ivan Fischer recording, but since I love these pieces so much I may indulge in it and offer my humble opinion.

[Opus106]

I haven't heard the Ivan Fischer recording, but since I love these pieces so much I may indulge in it and offer my humble opinion.

Oh, okay. Thanks.

[bhodges]

Babbitt: Transfigured Notes (1986) - This was one of the centerpieces of a concert last night by the Orchestra of the League of Composers.  I'd forgotten that it was commissioned by Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and then deemed "unplayable" and not performed until years later.

It's about 30 minutes long, for string orchestra, written as a sort of response to Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, and it very much resembles the Schoenberg in texture.  The violins are often very high up on the stave.  While I can't say that I thoroughly enjoyed it (and a hesitant performance didn't help), I did "get" what the composer had in mind: a wash of sound, creating an almost meditative atmosphere, despite the spiky textures and wide intervallic leaps.

There's one recording, below, made in 1991, with an array of Boston musicians and led by Gunther Schuller.

--Bruce