What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD10, the last CD - rest of Nocturnes and Preludes from this set for a first listen ...

[Conor71]

Ravel: Gaspard De La Nuit, Sonatine, Valses, Piano Concerto In G Major

Ah, so pretty! .

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD5 from this set for a first listen ...

[Sid]

...To describe a preference for something doesn't require ridiculing other things you don't have a taste for - it gives the impression that you are trying to justify your own preferences, which should never be neccessary.

Yes, I agree, it's probably not a good idea to elevate something & put down another thing at the same time. But I was probably just trying to describe that type of music, "cowpat pastoral" but if people are so sensitive, I'll leave out the "cowpat." Don't forget that it's this type of music that was popular in the early to mid c20th in the UK, and I think it delayed the recognition of some composers who refused to compose in this more conservative style, eg. Luytens, Tippett, Rawsthorne (I bet more people have still heard of Vaughan Williams rather than those three even today, even in the UK itself, not to speak of other places like here in Australia). Maybe I was being judgemental, but I see this pastoral style as probably being the reason behind some people's erroneous views that every British composer has to sound like RVW, Moeran & Finzi...

Thank you for your review, though - I find the Britten quartets to be rather neglected given their uniform high watermark of quality.

Thanks for reading. Yes, these are very good if not excellent works and I think they deserve attention, especially from people like me who have favourites amongst some of Britten's other more well known works.

I agree Sara. I know Sid knows RVW's music pretty good, but probably not as well as he thinks he does. The general problem I have with Sid is he mouths off about composers he doesn't like too often without having heard much of their music (I used to be guilty of this). Hearing only five works from a composer doesn't make someone an expert on that composer and reading about them on the Internet certainly doesn't either.

I didn't say I was an expert on anything. But it's probably fair to say that I've heard more Vaughan Williams than the average classical listener at least here in Australia - compared to friends, family & colleagues I have heard more of his stuff. But not as much as some people here like yourself, but everything is relative.

From my own experience of talking with Sid, he seems to listen to music based on sound rather than the emotional element of the music, which is fine, but if I don't get any emotional satisfaction from a piece of music, I don't really have a reason to listen to it. I also don't pretend to like something just because it's hip or modern and I'm not saying Sid or anyone else does this, but I'm simply just giving my opinion.

Yes, I do tend to over intellectualise things about music, but I'm definitely not following things that are "hip" or "cool." I have a wide ranging taste, and I can listen to anything classical with ease - except most operas - & I listen to a lot of non-classical stuff as well which I obviously don't talk about here, such as techno, metal, dubstep, rock, pop, electronica, drum & bass, you name it. In classical, I have settled into the chamber realm more lately, but I have a solid 20 plus years of wide ranging listening to back my opinions up. & in most of my reviews here, I emphasise that it's my opinion, reaction, etc. only. These things aren't universal, as you rightly point out...

[Mirror Image]

I didn't say I was an expert on anything. But it's probably fair to say that I've heard more Vaughan Williams than the average classical listener at least here in Australia - compared to friends, family & colleagues I have heard more of his stuff. But not as much as some people here like yourself, but everything is relative.

Yes, I do tend to over intellectualise things about music, but I'm definitely not following things that are "hip" or "cool." I have a wide ranging taste, and I can listen to anything classical with ease - except most operas - & I listen to a lot of non-classical stuff as well which I obviously don't talk about here, such as techno, metal, dubstep, rock, pop, electronica, drum & bass, you name it. In classical, I have settled into the chamber realm more lately, but I have a solid 20 plus years of wide ranging listening to back my opinions up. & in most of my reviews here, I emphasise that it's my opinion, reaction, etc. only. These things aren't universal, as you rightly point out...

We all have our preferences in music and we're both alike in that we listen to a lot of different kinds of music. I guess my question to you is do you have an emotional attachment to the music you like or is it all intellectual?

[Lethevich]

I definitely don't mind a spade being called a spade, it is at times pastoral/idyllic (although with far more musical and emotional content than an easy dismissal would recognise), and informed generalisations can strongly aid description, but that specific analogy can feel like a lazy assassination at times. Lutyens, for example, turned out to be a product of her time with (so far) little popular appeal. Also, being born 30 years after the composer calls into question whether the criticism is even valid from her POV. Not every composer can do a Schoenbergian radical adaptation in a style which has become their personal vocabulary. Lutyens had it easy, being born with all the pioneering work towards a modernistic manner of composition almost already underway. It's cool to be able to talk about this without insults flying!

np:
[asin]B001AVUAC6[/asin]

[Sid]

We all have our preferences in music and we're both alike in that we listen to a lot of different kinds of music. I guess my question to you is do you have an emotional attachment to the music you like or is it all intellectual?

Good question. I suppose for me it's mostly intellectual. Not that it's easy to separate the two. Like I was at a recital of Mendelssohn's second piano trio last year. When the theme from the first movement came back as a big chorale in the coda, I felt a rush of energy & excitement. It was a kind of emotional release, but yes I had to listen to the recording many times to hear what Mendelssohn was doing in that piece. So it wasn't exactly spontaneous, but based on experience that was already there. I mainly have an emotional response when listening to a piece of music for the first time, once I subject it to repeated hearings, I begin to notice more technical things regarding especially themes & structures. But them memorable thing about that Mendelssohn recital was that even though I knew the piece well, it still held that "surprise" that I didn't expect. & there I was in previous years having kind of written off Mendelssohn, since I'd only heard his orchestral works. Maybe if I hear a smaller scale chamber work of Vaughan Williams that will make me similarly reasess my current views of him, who knows. The door is always open with me, although I sometimes don't come across that way here online...

I definitely don't mind a spade being called a spade, it is at times pastoral/idyllic (although with far more musical and emotional content than an easy dismissal would recognise), and informed generalisations can strongly aid description, but that specific analogy can feel like a lazy assassination at times. Lutyens, for example, turned out to be a product of her time with (so far) little popular appeal. Also, being born 30 years after the composer calls into question whether the criticism is even valid from her POV. Not every composer can do a Schoenbergian radical adaptation in a style which has become their personal vocabulary. Lutyens had it easy, being born with all the pioneering work towards a modernistic manner of composition almost already underway. It's cool to be able to talk about this without insults flying!

Yes, I agree it is sometimes unfair to compare composers of different generations to eachother. One thing that I do give RVW credit for, is with that so-called "pastoral" music - like the Tallis Fantasia - resurrecting harmonies in music that had not been heard in hundreds of years. I think that was quite a radical thing to do, even though this style now can sound a bit cliched with all the musical developments that have occured since it's day. It would be hard to say how the audience hearing it for the first time would have reacted. The music in vogue then was quite Brahmsian or Mendelssohnian (i.e. German) and people wouldn't have been used to the harmonies in that piece, in the concert hall at least...

[Mirror Image]

Good question. I suppose for me it's mostly intellectual. Not that it's easy to separate the two. Like I was at a recital of Mendelssohn's second piano trio last year. When the theme from the first movement came back as a big chorale in the coda, I felt a rush of energy & excitement. It was a kind of emotional release, but yes I had to listen to the recording many times to hear what Mendelssohn was doing in that piece. So it wasn't exactly spontaneous, but based on experience that was already there. I mainly have an emotional response when listening to a piece of music for the first time, once I subject it to repeated hearings, I begin to notice more technical things regarding especially themes & structures. But them memorable thing about that Mendelssohn recital was that even though I knew the piece well, it still held that "surprise" that I didn't expect. & there I was in previous years having kind of written off Mendelssohn, since I'd only heard his orchestral works. Maybe if I hear a smaller scale chamber work of Vaughan Williams that will make me similarly reasess my current views of him, who knows. The door is always open with me, although I sometimes don't come across that way here online...

Yes, I'm similar in I get emotionally attached to a work first, then after that first initial listen, I begin to study the psychology/philosophy of the composer during the time it was composed to get a better understanding of what was happening around them when that inspiration struck them to start composing the work in question. Of course, in some cases, the composer may have a reactionary response to what is happening around them, but it's always interesting for me to read the history of a work to help with my own understanding of it, so I can get the most out of it. It already hit me emotionally, now all that is left to do is to figure why it affected me so much, which this can take a lifetime within itself to figure out.

[Conor71]

Ravel: Violin Sonata No. 2, Piano Trio, String Quartet

Some more Ravel - I wish Ravel had written much more chamber music as I find the PT and SQ so beautiful! 0:).

[Mirror Image]

Ravel: Violin Sonata No. 2, Piano Trio, String Quartet

Some more Ravel - I wish Ravel had written much more chamber music as I find the PT and SQ so beautiful! 0:) .

Ravel's Piano Trio is one of the most incredible pieces of chamber music I've heard from any composer. I wish he had composed more chamber music as well. The same goes for Debussy whose output in this genre is so amazing. Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp is a masterpiece and may very well be my favorite piece of chamber music ever composed.

[Que]

Jean Charles Ablitzer plays the organ of the St.Jacobikirche in Cuxhaven-Lüdingworth, Lower-Saxony, Germany, built by Antonius Wilde in 1598–99 and extended by Arp Schnitger in 1682–83. A really characterful and small but energetic sounding organ!

Volumes 1, 2, 3 & 5 are still availble for €7 at jpc. Organ lovers shouldn't hesitate.

Good morning.

Q

[Que]

Richter - The Authorised Recordings (Brahms & Schumann)

[asin]B00000416U[/asin]

CD 3 Schumann:

March in G minor, Op.76 No.2
Concert Studies on Caprices by Paganini
Novelette in F, Op.21  No.1
Blumenstück, Op.19
Nachtstücke, Op.23

The CDs arrived today, I'm not sure I like Richter in this repertoire, but at 2 EUR for a 3 CD set I couldn't resist

I'm not a devoted Richter fan myself, but his Schumann is very special indeed IMO.

Q

[val]

SZYMANOWSKI:       Krol Roger                      / Hampson, Szmytka, Simon Rattle

A beautiful version of this opera. The singers are in general good and Rattle's direction subtle and full of colour.

[The new erato]

The three volumes of Hindemith's viola music on Hyperion really is something special!

[Que]

.[asin]B00005V8RR[/asin]

In the Italian Baroque cantatas field this is premier league!

I hope and pray that resurrected ARCANA might decide to do that follow up after all.

Q

[The new erato]

.[asin]B00005V8RR[/asin]

In the Italian Baroque cantatas field this is premier league!

I hope and pray that resurrected ARCANA might decide to do that follow up after all.

Q

I think we had a discussion of this once......I am a fan of this disc as well and regret lacking the last 6 (or 4?) cantatas.

[Que]

I think we had a discussion of this once......I am a fan of this disc as well and regret lacking the last 6 (or 4?) cantatas.

Indeed.  In fact, I picked up on this one because of your recommendation!

Q

PS: Gunar Letzbor and Ars Antiqua Austria switched in the mean time to Challenge Records. Maybe they would be interested - I might send them an email.

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Volume III, of this series on the Helios label.
It will take some considerable time before these works will sink in, for they attract, and push you away at the same time.
The performances are top notch though. It is considered rightly a mile stone in the recording history.

[Antoine Marchand]

Early this morning:



Right now (for second time this morning) the Book I of the WTC performed by Peter Watchorn:

[SonicMan46]

Haydn-Hummel-Neruda - Trumpet Concertos w/ Niklas Eklund - I've not listened to my older recording of these works in ages, so this new arrival was a welcome one!  Eklund plays the valved trumpet with polish and gusto - also have a disc on the way w/ a 'keyed trumpet' - 

Koechlin, Charles - Piano Quintet & SQ No.3 w/ Antigone Quartet - went on a Koechlin binge a few years ago; this disc was on the wish list for a while - if you're a fan of his music another excellent offering -