What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Coopmv]

Now playing the following CD, which arrived from Presto Classical late last week for a first listen ...

An interesting performance by the BPO on tour to Moscow, which also reminded me of the Karajan 1963 Beethoven cycle.

[listener]

SHOSTAKOVICH again, the two piano concertos played by Shostakovich himself, + the 3 Fantastic Dances op. 1
French National Radio Orch.    Cluytens, cond.
GENZMER  Organ Concerto    PEETERS Toccata, Fugue and Hymn for Organ  MARTIN Passacaglia  (original version, for organ solo)
Edgar Krapp, organ  Bochum Symphony Orch.,  Othmar Maga, cond.
Healey WILLAN Piano Concerto in d     Sheila Henig, piano
SCHUMANN   Overture, Scherzo and Finale, op. 52
CBC Vancouver Chamber Orch.   John Avison, cond.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 - Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos from this set for a first listen ...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Maybe, in my feel this recording is the greatest one in the history of the phonography. Such a deep emotion. It's difficult to describe using words.

Regards.

I agree this is a tremendous recording of one of the most powerful pieces I know.

[Mn Dave]

I agree this is a tremendous recording of one of the most powerful pieces I know.

Well, I need it.

[Coopmv]

I agree this is a tremendous recording of one of the most powerful pieces I know.

This should be added to my collection ...   

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Well, I need it.

You'll not be disappointed. The intensity is incredible. Beethoven and Klemperer at their monumental best.

[Mn Dave]

You'll not be disappointed. The intensity is incredible. Beethoven and Klemperer at their monumental best.

That's what I like to hear.

[Mn Dave]

Berg
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[Scarpia]

Berg
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Wonderful, odd piece.

[karlhenning]

Berg

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Wonderful, odd piece.

Yes! And that's the recording of the Kammerkonzert which is in the DG Berg Box.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD3 from the following set for a first listen ...

[Mirror Image]

This is one of the finest Debussy recordings I have heard.  The Nocturnes is ravishing and crystal clear.  One of my purchases of the year so far, no doubt about it.

Yes, that is a fine recording indeed. I think I'll revisit it later.

[Coopmv]

Now playing the following CD, which arrived last week from across the pond for a first listen ...

[Mirror Image]

A Brazilian friend introduced me to this very interesting composer who I had not heard of before. 

Some background info from Wikipedia:

Camargo Guarnieri

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (February 1, 1907 Tietê, São Paulo – January 13, 1993 São Paulo) was a Brazilian composer.

He studied piano and composition at the São Paulo Conservatório, and subsequently worked with Charles Koechlin in Paris. Some of his compositions received important prizes in the United States in the 1940s, giving Guarnieri the opportunity of conducting them in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago. A distinguished figure of the Brazilian national school, he served in several capacities; conductor of the São Paulo Orchestra, member of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and Director of the São Paulo Conservatório, where he taught composition and orchestral conducting. In 1936 he was the first conductor of the Coral Paulistano choir. His œuvre comprises symphonies, concertos, cantatas, two operas, chamber music, many piano pieces, and over fifty canções. He is universally recognised as the most important Brazilian composer after Heitor Villa-Lobos. Shortly before his death in 1993, he was awarded the Gabriela Mistral Prize by the Organization of American States as the greatest contemporary composer of the Americas.

I am listening to the first disc of an excellent set from BIS of his symphonies and other orchestral works performed by John Neschling and the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra - a decent introduction to this important Brazilian composer.

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I own this three disc series and it's really good. I doubt this music could be performed any better. John Neschling and the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra are incredible. Their Villa-Lobos recordings are essential listening.

[Coco]

[Mirror Image]

Excellent recording. One of my favorites.

[Lethevich]

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This is great fun so far, a little Stravinskian at times, including the trademark under-control-yet-somehow-a-bit-impetuous edge. I'm surprised at its power, really - it's very uncomplicated, written in a direct mostly-tonal language with very idiomatic balletic "episodes" which transition quite expertly like sunlight playing through a wooded canopy. The protagonists are well-characterised, and the music cycling through various emotions to fit the story retain an appropriate sense of each personality. It continually suggests dance, too, which is more than I can say for some of the obscure ballets I have encountered. I can't describe it so well as just to say "it's very good".

[Antoine Marchand]

Georg Philipp Telemann - Concerti, Quadro, Sonate con Basso di Viola Solista

Another Arcana disc, another gem:



I really loved that sonata in E minor for viola da gamba and basso continuo (TWV 41:e5).     

[Coco]

Messiaen
La Nativité du Seigneur (1935)
Le banquet céleste (1928)
Apparition de l'église éternelle (1932)

Marie-Claire Alain, organ

Not a first listen, but the first in about 5 years — keeping in mind just how much one grows as a listener over the years.