What are you listening to now?

[HIPster]

Now:

Witold Lutoslawki - Concerto For Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim
(Erato)

[TheGSMoeller]

Filled with delightful music...


[asin]B000VL9XK6[/asin]

[HIPster]

Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians (ECM)

[asin]B0000031QC[/asin]

[Geo Dude]

[asin]B0060OQMH0[/asin]

Let me know what you think of this one; I have much of Watchorn's work and love it, but I've heard that that one is a bit heavy.

[HIPster]

Telemann:

[asin]B002USOVR8[/asin]

A recent favorite purchase. . .

I'm firmly in the Paul Dombrecht fan club.

[Beorn]

 [asin]B000A2AD2S[/asin]
disc3

[TheGSMoeller]

[Bogey]

[Todd]

[Wakefield]

Let me know what you think of this one; I have much of Watchorn's work and love it, but I've heard that that one is a bit heavy.

If you liked his previous Bach, go ahead with these suites. These interpretations are top notch and have been recorded in sumptuous sound quality. Honestly, I think the only prevention should be about the preludes added by Watchorn at the beginning of every suite. Watchorn argues good reasons to justify this addition, but some listeners could experience it as an uncomfortable novelty.

The Little Preludes (CD3) are a nice bonus. 

[Wakefield]

J S Bach: Leipzig Chorales
Manuel Tomadin
Brilliant Classics

Listened to this to day, and I am mildly underwhelmed. Tomadin plays the early Weimar version of these works, which compared to the Leipzig versions haven´t got much more than musicological interest. So he doesn´t include "Vor deinen Thron".
He uses the Zanin organ (built 2006) in the Church of S, Antonio Abate, Padova. This is the organ Simone Stella uses for his Böhm and Buxtehude recordings, but either the organ is relative unsuited for Bach´s music or Simone Stella has got a much better idea of how to use it than Tomadin.

Tomadin can not be faulted from a technical point of view, but he plays so to say without much direction, and often I wonder, what he wants to say. The result is bland and often boring. And strangely enough the passacaglia is overembellished, as if he finds the plain version insufficient.

Considering the many recordings I own of this music, Tomadin would not even qualify among my top 30.

Thank you very much for this, Premont. Mr. Tomadin is out this time...

[TheGSMoeller]

Quartets this evening.

Prokofiev: String Quartet No. 2, op.92
Russian String Quartet




Haydn: String Quartets Op. 54, No. 2
Endellion String Quartet

[TheGSMoeller]

Followed by more Prokofiev...

Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 8 in B flat, op.84
Vladimir Ashkenazy




Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1, op.80
Pierre Amoyal (v) - Frederic Chiu (p)

[listener]

Dag WIREN: Symphony no. 4 op. 27
Swedish Radio Orch.     Sixten Ehrling, cond.
easy to follow, quite classical in style
Hilding ROSENBERG: Symphony no. 2 "Sinfonia Grave"
Stockholm Philharmonic Orch.,  Herbert Blomstedt, cond.
SAINT-SAËNS: Violin Concerto 3 in b, op. 61
VIEUXTEMPS: Violin Concerto 5 in a, op. 37
Arthur Grumiaux, violin    Lamoureux Orchestra       Manuel Rosenthal, cond.
Grumiaux's somewhat wide vibrato reminds me of an elderly, but earnest soprano, but it's not so excessive as to be unbearable.

[Mirror Image]

Thumbs up! Great recording, Todd.

[Mirror Image]

William Schuman
Symphony No.7

http://www.youtube.com/v/mYm3blG70iM

A great symphony, Ilaria. I hope you enjoyed as much as I have.

[Geo Dude]

If you liked his previous Bach, go ahead with these suites. These interpretations are top notch and have been recorded in sumptuous sound quality. Honestly, I think the only prevention should be about the preludes added by Watchorn at the beginning of every suite. Watchorn argues good reasons to justify this addition, but some listeners could experience it as an uncomfortable novelty.

The Little Preludes (CD3) are a nice bonus. 

Thank you; this is exactly what I was hoping to hear.  I've heard that he 'weighs down' the suites with tempos that are a tad slow and rhythms that are inflexible; in other words, plays them more like the English Suites.  It's good to hear that he's versatile.  Merely out of curiosity, are those preludes he includes in front of each suite their own individual track?  Seems to me that it would solve the problem if one got tired of it.

Thread duty:

I rarely listen to lieder, but this disc has been with me for a good six years and is nothing short of brilliant:

[Mirror Image]

Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians (ECM)

[asin]B0000031QC[/asin]

One of the classic works of Minimalism. Makes most of Glass' early works look amateurish in comparison IMHO.

[Octave]

One of the classic works of Minimalism. Makes most of Glass' early works look amateurish in comparison IMHO.

I think a number of Glass' early works make M18 sound like elevator music: accomplished, effective, but slick to a fault.  And I am speaking as a fan of M18, especially the burning live 'oral tradition'/'renegade' Hungarian performance on Hungaroton. 
That said, I am finding it difficult to like much Glass at all beyond his early music, which is the most denuded, focused, raw, and challenging of his work, more immersive and fixated than didactic.  I still need to act on some more GMG Glass recommendations, though.  My recently-purchased VIOLIN CONCERTO first, then maybe that new recording of Symph 3 that Brian mentioned.  I'm afraid too many movies [w/Glass scores] have blunted my responsiveness to his thang.  Of course, if I'm having trouble liking his later-than-early music (post ~1980), then maybe the early music is not the most challenging!   

Thread duty, speaking of elevator music that I love, and of great Hungarians:

[asin]B003E1QDN0[/asin]
Klára Würtz plays Mozart (Brilliant reissue, 5cd)
alt. ASIN: B003AO1L06

[asin]B0040T7CO4[/asin]
Sviatoslav Richter in Spoleto (Musical Concepts reissue)

[Mirror Image]

I think a number of Glass' early works make M18 sound like elevator music: accomplished, effective, but slick to a fault.  And I am speaking as a fan of M18, especially the burning live 'oral tradition'/'renegade' Hungarian performance on Hungaroton. 
That said, I am finding it difficult to like much Glass at all beyond his early music, which is the most denuded, focused, raw, and challenging of his work, more immersive and fixated than didactic.  I still need to act on some more GMG Glass recommendations, though.  My recently-purchased VIOLIN CONCERTO first, then maybe that new recording of Symph 3 that Brian mentioned.  I'm afraid too many movies [w/Glass scores] have blunted my responsiveness to his thang.

I really dislike most of what I've heard of Glass' earlier music (Glassworks, Einstein on the Beach). I just don't dig his musical language. It just sounds kitschy to me. I'm not a huge Reich fan either but Music for 18 Musicians is the pinnacle of his output IMHO. I prefer his ECM recording. I never felt the need to explore other performances beyond his own group. I did own Reich's later Nonesuch recording but I got rid of it along with several other Reich recordings I had that were just collecting dust. Minimalism is a dead-end street. Thankfully, John Adams realized this and quickly switched gears early in his career.