What are you listening to now?

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Just finishing up Chamber Concerto. A work I don't love, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. Next up is Three Pieces for Orchestra.

[springrite]

Now:



Just finishing up Chamber Concerto. A work I don't love, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. Next up is Three Pieces for Orchestra.

The chamber concerto is my favourite Berg work! With time, I think you will love it. It is as twisted as you are (or as I am)!

[Mirror Image]

The chamber concerto is my favourite Berg work! With time, I think you will love it. It is as twisted as you are (or as I am)!

You never know, Paul. I definitely need to listen to it more often so I can at least get a better grasp of it. It's certainly twisted.

[EigenUser]

Now:



Just finishing up Chamber Concerto. A work I don't love, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. Next up is Three Pieces for Orchestra.

I will try this soon.

Currently, starting this, but I doubt I'll finish today.
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[North Star]

Berg
Chamber Concerto
Barenboim, Zukerman
Ensemble Intercontemporain
Boulez

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Philip Kennicott's article from New Republic "Rediscovering Bartok's Anxious, Hypnotic, Intellectually Exhausting Quartets" might interest Sarge and Brian.  I think he has their measure. 

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116358/bartok-reviewed-should-folk-music-be-kept-out-classical-music-hall

A snippet therefrom:

There are occasional moments in Bartók's String Quartet No. 1 when the gloom lifts, when the densely woven musical lines pause momentarily for a spot of pure, consonant sunniness. In the string quartets of Beethoven or Brahms, these rare and radiant episodes would have a temporal and harmonic meaning, they would bring the argument to a conclusion, or summation, before moving on with a new idea. But in Bartók's musical language, the effect is almost visual. They don't suggest closure, or rest. Rather, it seems as if the music has been pierced, like sun through a canopy of trees, or the enlightenment of a restless mind finding something definite and tangible in its search for certitude. In a small, intimate way, they remind the listener of one of the most thrilling moments in all of twentieth-century music, the "fifth" door of "Bluebeard's Castle," Bartók's sole opera. When opened by Bluebeard's relentlessly inquisitive new wife, the tyrant's majestic realms are represented in a gigantic, brilliant blast of orchestral sound, with the stage direction: "in a gleaming torrent, the light streams in."

[amw]

What is the "easiest," most approachable, charismatic Bartok SQ set? I was sent a Bartok SQ set to review, against my will, and am worried because I really don't understand them at all.

Either of the Takacs sets, the Tatrai, the Mikrokosmos, or some other Hungarian group generally. The Ebène's ongoing cycle is also shaping up to be rather accessible.

(My favourite, Juilliard '63, is a rather aggressive take, as are most of the "modern"/good sound recordings—Arcanto, Belcea, Hagen.)

It may help to listen to them in order, and to think of them as Beethoven with slightly different notes and rhythms (the first quartet starts with an overt homage to Op. 131).

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Satie
Socrate
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Good idea.  Me too.   0:)

[EigenUser]

Now:



Just finishing up Chamber Concerto. A work I don't love, but I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. Next up is Three Pieces for Orchestra.

Currently, this.

I don't get it? What's so twisted about it? I like it so far more than any other Berg I've heard, except maybe the piano sonata.

[Mirror Image]

Currently, this.

I don't get it? What's so twisted about it? I like it so far more than any other Berg I've heard, except maybe the piano sonata.

Twisted as in completely insane. I assume this is what Paul meant with this description. Glad you enjoyed it. It's definitely better than anything Stockhausen composed, but Berg was a master anyway.

[EigenUser]

Twisted as in completely insane. I assume this is what Paul meant with this description. Glad you enjoyed it. It's definitely better than anything Stockhausen composed, but Berg was a master anyway.

Well, I certainly don't think I'm capable of making such judgements, but perhaps you are...

Now that you mention Stockhausen, the Berg does remind me of Tierkreis a little bit.

[Ken B]

That set looks like an appealing anthology - I really liked Brilliant.  Karl Haas made something of a Hummel fan of me.

I am listening to disc 4 right now. I like this set.

[Moonfish]

Richard Strauss

5 Klavierstucke Op 3
Stimmungsbilder Op 9
Piano Sonata in B minor Op 5

Gitti Pirner/Piano

New pieces for me and they are deligthful! R. Strauss keeps surprising me with his early compositions.

from
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[PaulR]

Some Prokofiev never hurts:

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[Mirror Image]

Well, I certainly don't think I'm capable of making such judgements, but perhaps you are...

Not really, I just like poking fun at Stockhausen whenever I get the chance.

[EigenUser]

Not really, I just like poking fun at Stockhausen whenever I get the chance.

Absolved!

I still don't get how this is more twisted than usual for the 2ndVS... And while I do like it, now I'm starting to have trouble enjoying it because I'm trying to focus on the twisted-ness that I can't seem to find.

[Mirror Image]

Absolved!

I still don't get how this is more twisted than usual for the 2ndVS... And while I do like it, now I'm starting to have trouble enjoying it because I'm trying to focus on the twisted-ness that I can't seem to find.

Well we all hear things differently, Nate. Paul said that the Chamber Concerto was twisted and perhaps he meant in a psychotic kind of way? Maybe he meant actually musically jumbled? I don't know. Let him elaborate on that. I'll be waiting around the corner.

Thread duty -



Listening to Der Schwanendreher. A fine work and performance.

[Moonfish]

Chopin: Etudes Op 10 & 25     Ashkenazy

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[EigenUser]

Well we all hear things differently, Nate. Paul said that the Chamber Concerto was twisted and perhaps he meant in a psychotic kind of way? Maybe he meant actually musically jumbled? I don't know. Let him elaborate on that. I'll be waiting around the corner.

I know, but I've seen similar comments elsewhere. The ending is puzzling, though.

[Rinaldo]

Hm. I had this disc

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for quite some time but never cared much for it. And now it's playing out of sheer what-should-I-listen-to-oh-let's-give-this-a-spin and I'm enjoying it immensely. If there's a Suk fan club, count me in.