What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[KeithW]

Listening to Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus before moving on to the Sinfonia Antartica (No.7). Both performances by Slatkin and the Philharmonia

Wonderful piece.  Ricky Gervais (of The Office) wrote, directed and starred in a film called Cemetery Junction - set in 1970s England.  He described the film as a love letter to England - and the film started with this Vaughan Williams work.  The film was great - the main character begins to move away from his working class roots, starts to wear suits and listens to RVW.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/apr/10/ricky-gervais-cemetery-junction-soundtrack

[BobsterLobster]

I'm a massive fan of Nigel North and virtuoso fiddle playing, so I thought I should give this a go:

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and how fantastic it is! I feel that North's unpretentious spontaneous style of playing brings the best out of Manze, and the organ sounds lovely (not words I'll use often... I'm not a huge fan of organs).
A must for anyone interested virtuoso baroque violin!

[KeithW]

Since Karl reminded us that we are still in Advent, I dug this one out:

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[Conor71]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 In Bb Major, WAB 105, "Tragic"


I'm not sure why but I'm finding it impossible to fatigue on Bruckner the last couple of weeks - Must have listened to his Romantic Symphony 5 Times yesterday!. I had my iPod playing a Bruckner Playlist while I slept and had the Adagio from this Symphony as the soundtrack to a dream, pretty cool!

[Karl Henning]

Maiden-Listen Mondays!

“Papa”
String Quartet in D, Op.76 № 5 (Hob.III/79)
Quatuor Mosaïques

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[Lisztianwagner]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.2

[Bogey]

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A gem for sure.

[Conor71]

Bruckner: Mass No. 2 In E Minor, WAB 27

I think this is my favourite of Bruckners Masses - the opening to this piece is very beautiful

[Karl Henning]

Bruckner: Mass No. 2 In E Minor, WAB 27

I think this is my favourite of Bruckners Masses - the opening to this piece is very beautiful

Is that the Mass with the all-winds accompaniment?

[Mirror Image]

Now:

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Listening to Chavez's Sinfonia de Antigona.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 - Goldberg Variations by Pierre Hantai from the following twofer, which arrived 2 days ago for a first listen ...

[listener]

a collection of overtures: 
NICOLAI Der Tempelritter, SCHREKER Die Gezeichneten, WOLF   Corregidor
WEBER/MAHLER Die Drei Pintos, GOLDMARK  Merlin, GOETZ Francesca da Rimini
National Philharmonic Orch.  /  Kurt Herbert Adler, cond.
all new to me except for the Schreker and Weber.
NIELSEN     Symphony no.l,  Prelude to Act 3 of "Saul and David"
London Symphony Orch.  /  André Previn
and for the season
Jozef KOBLERKOWICZ  (fl. 1735): Ego mater pulchrae dilectionis
Marcin Jozef ZEBROWSKI; Magnificat
Warsaw Chamber Orch.,    Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense
Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa, sop.        Jerzy Dobrzanski, cond.

[Coopmv]

Now playing the following CD, which just arrived today for a first listen ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD2 - Harpsichord Concertos by Pierre Hantai from the following twofer, which arrived 2 days ago for a first listen ...

[Mirror Image]

Now listening:



Just finished with Part 1 and all I can is wow....

The instruments are crystal clear, much clearer than the Marco Polo recording, I can actually hear the woodwind section! The brass section are amazing. Loud, brash, but melodic when the music calls for it. The audio quality is just really fantastic and clearly blows the Marco Polo away. The performance is very confident. Even though Brabbins is navigating through a complex score as well as a huge orchestra, he always keeps his eye on the ball. This may end of being one of my recordings of the year. All things are saved for last. Anyway, I really have a new appreciation for this work. I've always been in awe of it, but Brabbins has made me a fan all over again.

[Mirror Image]

Finished the Gothic w/ Brabbins about 15 minutes ago and I have say this is a much more successful recording than the Marco Polo. In fact, I don't know why I continue to compare the two, because quite simply Brabbins elevated this work into a completely different realm. I will be listening to this again very soon.

Now listening:



This is my first time hearing this work in its entirety and I have to say that, so far, the fragments, which are usually performed, hold no candle to the real thing. MTT, always the capable conductor, navigates through these delicate textures and harmonic clouds admirably well. I liken this work to be one of the most ambitious things, outside of Pelleas et Melisande or Jeux, Debussy's ever created. Gorgeous work with some narration that doesn't intrude and actually feels like it's fully integrated into the orchestral fabric. To those who love Debussy, this recording is a must.

[stingo]

You might like Lindberg's complete Dowland for lute, which is available from Brilliant for a song (so to speak).

Thread duty:  Handel, Chaconne in G HWV 435. from CD 3 of Suites de Pieces pour le Clavecin, Michael Borgstede, harpsichord.

Thanks for the apt suggestion. Already have it.

[stingo]

Piano Concerti No.2 and No. 4 from

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BEETHOVEN Symphonies and Concerti
Leon Fleischer, piano
Cleveland Orchestra
George Szell, conductor

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Good morning to all and some Christmas Cheer.

[Que]

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Now I started, I might just as well do a re-erun of this set.

Q