What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

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Listening to Symphony No. 12.

[Lisztianwagner]

Now:

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Listening to Symphony No. 12.

Great choice, Haitink's set box is definitely outstanding.

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Great choice, Haitink's set box is definitely outstanding.

Absolutely, Ilaria.

[TheGSMoeller]

Ok, ok, I'll listen to some DSCH. An old favorite recording of mine, a live performance full of fire and a roaring bravo after the final chord from the audience that rivals any other...that is if anyone else keeps track of the audiences reactions from live discs

[Mirror Image]

Ok, ok, I'll listen to some DSCH. An old favorite recording of mine, a live performance full of fire and a roaring bravo after the final chord from the audience that rivals any other...that is if anyone else keeps track of the audiences reactions from live discs

I haven't heard any of Solit's Shostakovich performances, but I don't understand why Decca doesn't reissue these recordings or put them in a box set or something?

[TheGSMoeller]

I haven't heard any of Solit's Shostakovich performances, but I don't understand why Decca doesn't reissue these recordings or put them in a box set or something?

That would nice, John, I have Solti's 8, 10 and 15, and all very good.

[Antoine Marchand]

Suggested by Gurn in da Haus:



CD6:

Piano Trio in D major Hob. XV/16
Piano Trio in G major Hob. XV/15
Piano Trio in F major Hob. XV/17

Van Swieten Trio
Bart van Oort, fortepiano [after Walter, ca. 1785, by Gerard Tuinman, Utrecht, 2002]
Marion Moonen, flute
Jaap ter Linden, cello

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That would nice, John, I have Solti's 8, 10 and 15, and all very good.

Have you heard his 5th? I'd be interested in how he handled that Largo movement. I believe he recorded this with the Vienna Philharmonic.

[TheGSMoeller]

Have you heard his 5th? I'd be interested in how he handled that Largo movement. I believe he recorded this with the Vienna Philharmonic.

I have not, John.
But his 10th is nasty-good, possibly my favorite 10th with Karajan a very close second.

[Cato]

What hath Rott wrought?

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[Bogey]

Spinning four recent vinyl purchases (pics from the web)

   

and this one, from one of my all time favorite films:

[listener]

FRANÇAIX:  11 Variations on a theme by Haydn *, Mozart New-Look, Musique pour faire plaisir (arrangement of 3 piano pieces of Poulenc),
Hommage à l'ami Papageno,   Quasi improvvisando,  Danses exotiques
Mainz Wind Ensemble,  Jean Françaix, piano
* from his 94th symphony
REKASIUS Music for Strings   TÜÜR Insula deserta   URBAITIS Lithuanian Folk Music
KUTAVICIUS Northern Gates VASKS Cantabile JUOZAPAITIS Perpetuum mobile
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orch., /Juha Kangas

[Lisztianwagner]

Good morning all

Richard Wagner
Lohengrin, Act 1^

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[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Disc II today of a set that I consider musically very valuable, and a must for all music addicts who love this period of musical extravagance. The musicians are by all means the greatest's in their trade, and the quality of performance reflect this. They tie together all musical strings in such a extraordinary way, that it becomes positively a feast to be part of this experience. Cafe Zimmermann plays the first part of this CD, ( Track 1-11) which is a very fine introduction to what is to come, namely some stupendous beautiful organ compositions, played by Celine Frisch, on the Historic organ of the "La chapelle de l'Hospital Charles Nicolle de Rouen", a warm, yet detailed instrument, perfectly captured in this recording. Warmly recommended.
See review 23-4-2012 & 3-5-2012.

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Giovanni Paisiello. (1740-1816)

Complete Piano Concertos 1-8.

I found a review that more or less reflects what I feel about these concerti and the performance. Not really outstanding, but fun enough to have, considering the low price, and the often inventive writing.

CD I.

This well-filled double-disc set was first released in 1994 and re-issued a decade later by the German Arts label. Arts are in fact still selling the originals. Aside from the new cover picture, this repackaging by Brilliant provides new notes by Malcolm MacDonald.

Surprisingly perhaps, especially to those who know Paisiello only as a composer of operatic or sacred music, this is not the sole recording of all eight concertos, though the original Arts release was the first. It was soon followed by Mariaclara Monetti and the English Chamber Orchestra on ASV (229) in 1996. Also, Naxos have to date made the first five Concertos available, featuring Italian pianist Francesco Nicolosi with the Campania Chamber Orchestra and Collegium Philarmonicum. Apart from these, however, there are just one or two insignificant recordings of individual works.

Soloist Pietro Spada has played an important role in the re-discovery of Paisiello's keyboard concertos - not strictly piano: the first two were written specifically for harpsichord, the rest for fortepiano - that goes beyond these trailblazing performances. For one thing, most of them were published by him in the late 1970s. For another, he wrote cadenzas for all but two of the works, so well-suited that they were used again by Monetti for her ASV set.

It would be wrong to exaggerate the significance of Paisiello's Concertos. As a rule of thumb, the higher the Concerto number, the better Paisiello's writing, due in part, no doubt, to his exposure to his friend Mozart's Piano Concerto in G, K453 in 1784, which must have opened his eyes and ears to possibilities he had not imagined previously. That makes CD 2 definitely the more interesting, with Concertos nos. 5, 6 and 8 constituting Paisiello's best writing, along with the sole minor key work, no.4 from CD 1.

On the whole, however, though thoroughly melodious and ideationally interesting enough to burke ennui in the listener, nothing much leaps off the page as profound or stunningly imaginative, although Concerto no.8 at least comes close to genuine, memorable originality. The works certainly never rise to the artistic heights of Mozart and Haydn, with many of whose keyboard concertos they are contemporaneous. Yet that should not really be a surprise: the first two were composed while Paisiello was at the royal court in St Petersburg, and dedicated to two ladies of the gentry. The remaining six were commissioned by the Princess of Parma: in other words, Paisiello sensibly made them sufficiently utilitarian to render them acceptable and accessible to the competent amateurs paying his fees.

The Orchestra da Camera di Santa Cecilia and Pietro Spada give a reasonable, technically sound account of the Concertos, though they seem underwhelmed by Paisiello's music: Francesco Nicolosi on Naxos offers a little more excitement. Malcolm MacDonald's booklet notes are okay, though half the space they take up is concerned with Paisiello's role as an opera composer, barely relevant to these Concertos. MacDonald also all but contradicts himself at one point: after stating that Paisiello's "eight keyboard concertos demonstrate that he must have been a performer of outstanding gifts" he says a page later, not altogether elegantly, that Paisiello was "evidently a fine keyboard player, but it is not clear whether his eight keyboard concertos were written with himself in mind as soloist."

Whether Brilliant or Arts are responsible, there is more than a suspicion of added reverberation at the ends of movements - in fact, the degree is faintly ludicrous - but otherwise sound is reasonably good, though the strings sometimes come across a bit muddy. The recording can be characterised as intimate, which is apt, but the piano is possibly a little too prominent in its placement. The booklet gives the wrong recording year for CD 2 - not 1989, but 1992, recorded at the same time as the first CD, at least according to Arts' original discs.

-- Byzantion, MusicWeb International

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I've only heard the first movement so far and I'm reminded of Lindberg's Graffiti in some parts. This first movement is percussion heavy, which is typical of Sculthorpe's sound.

[val]

VILLA-LOBOS:             Floresta do Amazonas                     / São Paulo Orchestra, John Neschling

A long work, in certain moments not far from "film music" but also with powerful moments. It is a pity that the soprano Anna Korondi sings the poems in a way that makes the words totally incomprehensible.
But in general it is a very interesting and stimulating work and a decent interpretation of John Neschling.

[Lisztianwagner]

Now, on Youtube:

John Adams
Harmonielehre, 3^ movement

Edo de Waart
San Francisco Symphony orchestra

The previous parts were absolutely gorgeous, so excited to listen to the third movement now!

[madaboutmahler]

Let us know what you think, Ilaria! Hope you enjoy it. A brilliant end to such a great work!

[Lisztianwagner]

Finished listening to the 3rd movement of Harmonielehre, what an absolutely brilliant, powerful final part! I was very impressed by Adams' work, it's wonderful, simply wonderful!!

I will post my thoughts on the Adams thread.